Book Description
In 1945, many Europeans still heated with coal, cooled their food with ice, and lacked indoor plumbing. Today, things could hardly be more different. Over the second half of the twentieth century, the average European's buying power tripled, while working hours fell by a third. The European Economy since 1945 is a broad, accessible, forthright account of the extraordinary development of Europe's economy since the end of World War II. Barry Eichengreen argues that the continent's history has been critical to its economic performance, and that it will continue to be so going forward.
Challenging standard views that basic economic forces were behind postwar Europe's success, Eichengreen shows how Western Europe in particular inherited a set of institutions singularly well suited to the economic circumstances that reigned for almost three decades. Economic growth was facilitated by solidarity-centered trade unions, cohesive employers' associations, and growth-minded governments--all legacies of Europe's earlier history. For example, these institutions worked together to mobilize savings, finance investment, and stabilize wages.
However, this inheritance of economic and social institutions that was the solution until around 1973--when Europe had to switch from growth based on brute-force investment and the acquisition of known technologies to growth based on increased efficiency and innovation--then became the problem.
Thus, the key questions for the future are whether Europe and its constituent nations can now adapt their institutions to the needs of a globalized knowledge economy, and whether in doing so, the continent's distinctive history will be an obstacle or an asset.
Average customer rating:
- Genius
- Excellent edition of The Republic
- Not the best
- "republic" of the soul...aka: self help
- Very good for an inexpensive translation
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The Republic (Penguin Classics)
Plato
Manufacturer: Penguin Classics
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The Prince (Bantam Classics)
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ASIN: 0140449140
Release Date: 2003-02-25 |
Book Description
Ostensibly a discussion of the nature of justice, The Republic presents Plato's vision of the ideal state, covering a wide range of topics: social, educational, psychological, moral, and philosophical. It also includes some of Plato's most important writing on the nature of reality and the theory of the "forms."
Translated with an Introduction by Desmond Lee
Customer Reviews:
Genius.......2007-09-07
If you can only have five books on your library shelf, this book has to be one of them. Plato argues against democracy and total freedom and does such an amazing job. You may not agree with him, but after reading the book you will have so much respect for someone that is seeking the absolute truth no matter what it turns out to be.
Excellent edition of The Republic.......2007-05-06
Shorey's english rendering of the Greek in the Loeb edition is, in my opinion, excellent. More than anything, he captures the passion and fervor of Socrates beautifully, as his english rendering of the text is significantly more poetic than the vast majority of translations of The Republic. While, obviously, there are countless other editions and translations of The Republic, few of these do "justice" to the work qua literature as Shorey does. Shorey's translation, while perhaps a little less accessible to beginning readers than Alan Bloom's or WHD Rouse's, is not difficult to the point of inaccessibility, and its strengths in other regards are too significant to make it necessary to purchase anything other than the Loeb edition of The Republic.
It is my hope that this review is actually helpful to someone that is deciding which edition or translation of The Republic to buy. Far too many Amazon reviews are little more than opining on the ostensible subject matter of a book that the individual either did not read, or did not understand.
Not the best.......2007-01-10
This work is poorly written and difficult to understand. Philosophy books are dense in the first place, but this edition adds to any confusion and created lots of headaches. Furthermore, the book in other editions usually have line numbers so that people can compair notes across editions, the Dover book lacks these. I purchased a different book and found in depth analysis to be much easier.
"republic" of the soul...aka: self help.......2006-12-20
i have no comments on this particular translation of republic, as it is the only version i have read.
republic does not live up to its namesake. as "socrates" says (i think we all know that socrates is really just plato's play dough after book 1) at the close of book 9, the vision of kallipolis only "exists in theory" or perhaps there is a "model of it in heaven." the earlier differentiation between theory and practice make it clear that plato only intended to use kallipolis as a model for the human soul. therefore, the suggested policies of eugenics, infanticide, communal property, and holding women and children "in common" are probably not to be taken seriously. plato himself predicts the inevitable unraveling of such a city.
after reading republic for the second time, it occurred to me that it is little more than a self-help manual. reason should rule spirit and passion. "dabbling" weakens the character. understand the difference between necessity and luxury. shatter your illusions about what you think you know, etc etc. not that these are not important, but such ideas do not require the complex analogy of a totalitarian society. thus, i think republic is slightly overrated.
the most compelling portion of this book, in my opinion, was the critique of the various constitutions. while the critiques of oligarchy, tyranny, timocracy and democracy map on nicely to the individual soul, they also make logical sense independently. while convention has led us to disregard the former 3 constitutions, democracy is often placed on a pedestal as the most ideal form of government. plato challenges this notion and succeeds with vigor in tearing down this pedestal. democracy, even in its representative form, is not much more than tyranny of the majority. we can witness democracy's inherent flaws today in the U.S., on issues such as abortion and gay marriage. this, in my opinion, is the only significant thing republic has to offer to the modern political theorist.
Very good for an inexpensive translation.......2006-11-10
I'm wrapping up a semester of teaching this translation of Republic, and I've had few complaints. Waterfield's editorial hand is visible, but that in itself, in the hands of a competent teacher, leads to good discussions above and beyond Plato's ideas.
With regards to Plato's masterwork, there's no good place to start save reading it for oneself. Plato is dead wrong in places (with regards to poetry and marriage just to get rolling), but his genius is that he's wrong as an idealist philosopher, encouraging readers to assert and refine their own ideals as counter-arguments. In other words, in order to refute Plato, one must out-Plato Plato.
Deconstruction is fine for deconstructionists, but a good discussion of this juggernaut of ancient thought is the life for me.
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
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History: Fiction or Science? (Chronology, No. 1)
Anatoly Fomenko
Manufacturer: Mithec
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Binding: Paperback
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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
The Oxford Translation of Aristotle was originally published in 12 volumes between 1912 and 1954. It is universally recognized as the standard English version of Aristotle. This revised edition contains the substance of the original Translation, slightly emended in light of recent scholarship; three of the original versions have been replaced by new translations; and a new and enlarged selection of Fragments has been added. The aim of the translation remains the same: to make the surviving works of Aristotle readily accessible to English speaking readers.
Customer Reviews:
Marvelous- It's ALL in here folks! (BOTH VOLUMES).......2006-11-26
I studied philosophy in a French speaking Institute in Europe. These two volumes came in very handy. The first question that may come to mind for those shopping for Aristotle is whether it's necessary to purchase the "Complete Works" and not just a volume of Major Works. In fact, it's not necessary- you'll get so much enrichment from even one major work of The Philosopher, especially with the aid of a competent professor. However, the complete works will ensure you that you have everything, and provide a good deal more reading enjoyment (even Aristotle's final will and testament is printed in Vol. II).
Aside from that, the translations contained in these works are considered the best available in English (and perhaps any) language other than the original Greek. To testify to this fact, some of my native French professors would occassionally ask to borrow my volumes to make photocopies of certain passages (or more), telling me that they felt the English translations were far better done than those in their native tounge! (And we know how much the French care for their native tounge!)
All in all, excellent books and money well spent.
a bit of irony.......2006-05-07
is that, although these volumes contain the absolute worst translations of aristotle available, they're probably the best bet for people who are serious about aristotle and the worst bet for people who are just reading this or that text for a class, personal interest, etc. the reason they're good for people who are serious about aristotle is the very simple reason that it's all there, so if you're scanning your bonitz and bonitz says the definition of some term or another is in one of the writings on animals, you can at least (with a bit of detachment) see what in hell he's talking about (if the greek isn't there) without having to get up! in other words, you've got it all, sister!, which is really the only advantage to be culled from having these books. the margins are just meaty enough to import greek phrases, retranslate sections of text, etc., so it turns out to be a nice reference tool for scholars. why? because it's all there! now, if you're just 'into' aristotle, as i said, don't (for godsakes) get these books. read apostle's translations. sachs is alright, but he can throw you off. of course, you can also get the real cheapies from hackett, and some of them aren't bad (in general, by the way, hackett's the way to go for translations). besides, these things are weighty and difficult to maneuver; they're really for reading at a table, so you can't really tuck up with them, if you see what i mean. another nice thing about these volumes is that they stay open by themselves (no finagling with or breaking the binding)! i'm not joking: aristotle scholars couldn't have a better english-language resource.
Where's Volume 2?.......2004-12-01
(This is not a review, it's just instruction for those who, like me, had trouble finding Volume 2 or the two-volume set). If you're at the "Complete Works of Aristotle, Vol. 1" page, you can click on "Other Editions: Hardcover" to get to Volume 2. But how do you get to the two-volume set? The easiest way is to do a normal search for books by Aristotle. You will find an entry for "Complete Works of Aristotle, Vol. 1". Neither the second volume nor the two-volume set will appear in the results! Instead, click on "Other Editions: See all (3)". Then you'll get a page listing each volume individually, plus the two-volume set. (I had to give a rating just to post this, so I just gave it a 4 for now.)
for the student of logic and biology.......2004-09-03
The first volume of Aristotle's complete works will give any Analytical Philosopher a fine felicity. However, if, like myself, you find logic to be a tedious and removed (although worthwhile) activity, you will find the first 314 pages to be, well, an antidote to insomnia (However to note, the medievals considered these logical works to be some of the finest of Aristotle's. There are also some good sayings, such as '...if you can find noone else to argue with, then argue with yourself' in these works). Then, you will reach the Physics, a must read (along with Augustines Confessions (Book 11 in that work I believe) and Immanuel Kant's Critique of Pure Reason) of any student who considers the contemplation of time a worthwhile activity (in my own philosophy, I consider the contemplation of time to be that which is most important in Philosophy, mainly because it allows us to realize that 'given enough time everything becomes insignificant' and therefore, what has significance, the 'given' or now, is what should be given priority, rather than the secondary relations to social and bodily pleasures which for the most part, dominate our lives, and make the enjoyment of the given, life itself, forgotten). After the Physics, there are 13 smaller works that deal with topics such as the heavens, memory, dreams and youth and old age. These begin to become a precursor for Aristotle's zoological works 'History of Animals', 'Parts of Animals', 'Movement of Animals', 'Progression of Animals' and 'Generation of Animals'. These works are interesting mainly from a historical perspective (hearing Aristotle talk about the flatulence of elephants is intriguing to say the least). Then, you will come to works which many believe to be authentically Aristotle's, 'On Colours', 'On Things Heard' and 'Physiognomics'. With that ends volume one of Aristotle's Complete Works. For the reader who is not disciplined in Philosophy, I would not recommend diving into Aristotle without first finding some gear (i.e., previous philosophical experience) otherwise you will find these Aristotlean waters to be cold and uninviting. You may want to pick up an introductory title to Philosophy, such as The Story of Philosophy, then read Plato's complete works, and then come to this book, and then volume 2 (which should be read by every man, woman and child on this earth.)
Also recommended: Toilet: The Novel by Michael Szymczyk. The Oxford Companion to Philosophy. The Collected Dialouges of Plato. Volume 2 of Aristotle's Complete Works.
Great for Classicists and Novices Alike.......2003-08-16
Barnes' translation is painstakingly accurate as well as highly readable, making these the best (as well as, quite obviously, the most comprehensive) Aristotle volumes on the market, for those familiar with the Aristotelean corpus in its original Greek, as well as for anyone who wants a good introduction to the seminal thinker.
As seems to be a common complaint--alas, the index leaves very much to be desired, and the editorial introduction is not great: Durant's famous essay (available in the "Story of Philosophy") eclipses it easily. Nonetheless, these two volumes should replace all the Aristotle on your shelf: they are a pleasure to own and read.
"Ho anexetastos bios ou biotos anthropoi--the unexamined life is not worth living." Said by Plato, proved by Aristotle.
Book Description
Scott Baldridge presents a concise guide to the geology of the Southwestern U.S. Two billion years of Earth history are represented in the rocks and landscape of the Southwest U.S., creating natural wonders such as the Grand Canyon, Monument Valley, and Death Valley. This region is considered a geologist's "dream", attracting a large number of undergraduate field classes and amateur geologists. The volume will prove invaluable to students and will also appeal to anyone interested in the geology and landscape of the region's National Parks.
Customer Reviews:
The big geologic picture on a land where geology dominates the view.......2007-04-03
The title of this book says it all. The story begins two billion years ago and follows the formation of the continental crust of what is now the southwestern US. It then follows that chunk of land to the present, as supercontinents form and disintegrate, island chains collide, and mountains rise and fall. Unlike so many books about the geology of the southwest, Baldridge focuses on the plate tectonics behind the processes. This approach allows the reader to understand the "why" behind advancing and retreating seas, uplifts, faults and volcanoes. The geographic area studied is the southwest, although the Colorado Plateau seems to gather the most attention. It is seen in a broad geological context that includes what happened in places like Death Valley, the Rio Grande Rift and Southern Rocky Mountains. Baldridge places his explanation in standard geologic time, but his chapter breaks are in locations driven by the regional geology, not the standard hierarchy. For a Grand Canyon example, the Chuar and Tonto groups are a single chapter, a fresh (and justifiable) perspective. The story that comes through is a "life story" of the southwest, in which a reader can see the region's geology evolve, illustrating how events in its past shape its response to new conditions.
The book's broad scope means that the history of individual rock layers are often not there - indeed, many layers are not even mentioned (although the fame of Grand Canyon's rock column is evident, most of ours are). The layers serve to illustrate a "story line" driven by the forces acting on the land, they do not break the story into pieces because of what is (or is not) preserved in today's exposures. In developing this evolutionary presentation, Baldridge has to sort through many, often conflicting, hypotheses. He does a good job of finding common threads. In many cases, he presents different mechanisms but concludes with the salient points that seem to be areas of agreement or with the conditions that a solution must explain.
This book is not for the geologically faint of heart. It assumes a pre-existing general understanding of plate tectonics and other geological principles. It is not the place to learn how plate tectonics works, but is the best place I have found to understand how plate tectonics worked on the Colorado Plateau. It will not tell you how the Grand Canyon was carved, how Monument Valley formed, what makes the Supai Group red, or other specific questions. But it does provide the vast historical panorama against which such questions can be asked. From a degree of technicality, it is less technical than Beus and Morales' Grand Canyon Geology, but certainly well beyond Price's Introduction to Grand Canyon Geology. In the preface, Baldridge says his target audience is "upper level undergraduates and graduates." I would expand this to include anyone with a real interest in the Colorado Plateau, and who wants the "big picture" only hinted at in most treatments of the region (like Baars' The Colorado Plateau: A Geologic History). For readers with a more casual familiarity with geology, it could be a difficult read, but the rewards are great for a comprehensive understanding of the area's history.
I liked it - a lot!
Geology of the American Southwest: A Journey Through Two Billion Years of Plate-Tectonic History.......2006-11-10
An excellent introduction to the geology of the American Southwest, including most of the Colorado Plateau in Utah, Colorado, New Mexico, and Arizona, as well as parts of California (in particular Death Valley), Nevada, and Texas. All chapters devote considerable space to a discussion of the plate tectonic settings and paleogeography of the geologic period under consideration. The tectonic settings and processes are of central importance in understanding the amazing and extensive rock record being described. This book contains a host of useful maps, stratigraphic and correlative diagrams, and crisp images of many rock formations discussed in the text. For example, a figure on page 170 I found particularly useful displays a cross section of the famous Jurassic sedimentary rocks spanning the Arizona-Utah border (which is equally applicable to southwestern and far western Colorado), showing schematically but clearly the complex horizontal and vertical relationships, including unconformities, of the major Jurassic rock units present in what can be at times a confusing area of geological terrain. The geology of many of the National Parks and Monuments in the American Southwest, particularly Grand Canyon National Park, is interwoven very nicely with the overall theme and level of the book. All in all, a very useful reference covering 2 billion years of Earth history in this part of the United States, particularly appropriate for undergraduates and graduate students studying geology and the Earth sciences. An extensive bibliography, cited frequently in the text, provides many points of introduction to the supporting literature, and opportunities for further exploration. Undergraduates who plan on participating in a geology field camp in the American Southwest will no doubt benefit by reading this book before their departure.
Book Description
An investigative history of Western complicity in Saddam Hussein's crimes reveals the story his trial never will.
In February 1991, the Shia of southern Iraq rose against Saddam Hussein. Barry M. Lando, a former investigative producer for 60 Minutes, argues compellingly that this ill-fated uprising represents one instance among many of Western complicity in Saddam Hussein's crimes against humanity. The Shia were responding to the call for rebellion from President George H.W. Bush that was broadcast repeatedly across Iraq by clandestine CIA stations. But, just as the revolution was on the brink of success, the United States and its allies turned their backs: U.S. troops destroyed huge weapons caches to prevent them from falling into rebel hands and blocked rebels trying to reach Baghdad. In the end, tens of thousands, possibly hundreds of thousands, were massacred.
Because of restrictions imposed by the Special Tribunal prosecuting Saddam Hussein, the extensive role of the U.S. and its allies in his crimes will never be explored at his trial. But as Web of Deceit demonstrates, the nations that now denounce Saddam most prominently secretly backed the dictator from his rise to power in the 1960s and '70s to his offensives in Iran and, despite warnings, took no action to stop his invasion of Kuwait. They also turned their backs when he used chemical weapons against the Iraqi people and persisted in international sanctions long after they had proved ineffective and, for hundreds of thousands of Iraqi civilians, lethal.
Web of Deceit draws on a wide range of journalism and scholarship to present a complete picture of what really happened in Iraq under Saddam, detailing—for the first time—the complicity of the West in its full and alarming extent.
Customer Reviews:
All Roads Lead to Britain.......2007-09-16
I suppose we will never see the end of the damage done by the old European colonial system. Even my hero, Churchill, was guilty of moving boundaries of countries to serve the empire. Very eye opening book and gives insight into some of the reasons "they hate us".
Web of deceipt.......2007-06-26
most excellent & informative. brings the hypocrisy of the western world out into the light. a must read.
The One Book No US Politician Will Read, That You SHOULD Read.......2007-06-19
This is one of two books that I have read together, both documenting the decades of deceit by both the US and UK governments, and to a much lesser degree, by France, Germany, and Russia, among others.
The two compelling facts that stay with me as I put the book down, are two:
1) From Churchill to Kennedy to Bush (Cheney), all of our Presidents in the US, but most especially Reagan, Bush, Clinton (Brzezinski), and the current and failed crew of neo conservatives that use Bush Junior as a talking doll, have been complicit--let me spell that again--complicit in the mass murders, the massacres, the torture that we first condoned and now practice ourselves. The US White House denizens are all long overdue for formal indictment, at least by a Truth and Reconciliation Commission. The author documents, very ably, a long string of broken promises (e.g. to the Bedouin leader for a free Arab state in return for help in WWI, to the Kurds, etc.) and complicity in mass murder. In the author's views, the sanctions are a war crime against the children, women, and elderly of Iraq, a war crime that lasted thirteen years.
2) Salaam Hussein was a creature spawned in large part by the CIA. Although I have spent 30 years in the intelligence business, it was not until I embarked on my broad non-fiction reading program that I have been able to understand that the CIA specifically, but all the rest of the classified intelligence community, is complicit in mass murders, genocides, running cocaine into the US to wipe out poor communities now addicted to crack, made affordable by the CIA's drug runners, and made politically kosher because Wall Street demands drug money--laundered drug money--for its liquidity.
I join Lee Iacocca in asking, "Where is the outrage?" There is not a candidate for President today, not even Ron Paul, who can outline in chapter and verse, as I now can on the shoulders of the 900+ authors whose hard-earned insights I have absorbed these past six years, the evil that Lionel Tiger and others show is inherent in industrialization and the centralization of power. We need to destroy the current corrupt elections process, implement electoral reform across the board, and start putting bright honorable people in office, instead of these nakedly immoral and profoundly evil creatures who will inflict any sacrifice, impose any burden, on We the People so that they may profit.
A few of the many gems from this superb work:
1) All our Presidents in recent time have lied to us, and the most humiliating of all of these lies was not the weapons of mass destruction, but the abandonment of the Kurds and the refusal to listen when Iraqi generals approached Iraqi dissidents who in turn came to the Department of State only to be shunned away. Salaam Hussein promised to leave Kuwait, but US wanted to destroy his army, and refused to hold off on what proved to be 40 hours of pure slaughter. Gulf II was not only more lies, but the active suppression of facts and dissident views, not least of which were General Tony Zinni's views--he was called a traitor by Condolezza Rice, who appears to know nothing of honor, decency, and truthfulness.
2) CIA is creating more long-term havoc than it is worth. I am finally persuaded, with absolute certainty, that we need to get out of the covert action business. CIA should become the National Analysis Agency, and the small clandestine arm should be limited to multinational operations against transnational crime and terrorism, with an Inspector General in every Station.
3) Jimmy Carter, advised by Zbig Brzezinski, comes out of this book looking both more ignorant and more unscrupulous than Reagan or either of the Bushies. Brzezinski not only masterminded the tacit okay for Pakistani development of nuclear weapons in return for aid in Afghanistan, he also began the process of helping Salaam Hussein acquire, develop, and utilize weapons of mass destruction, and I hold Brzezinski directly accountable for the mass murder of Kurds, Iraqi Shiites, and Iranians.
There are many other notes from this book that I have, but rather than lay them out here I am going to simply say that this book moves to the top of my list of books on evaluating the Iraq misadventure that has given us a $2 trillion debt and 75,000 amputees whose lives are forever shattered ***for no good reason***
The betrayal of the public trust by both the Executive and Congress, by both politicians and senior civil servants and military flag officers, has been outrageous. The author uses the words ignorance, arrogance, incompetence, amorality, illegality, hypocrisy, and cynicism sparingly. This is not a vendetta book. This is a reasons indictment and joins a host of other books that demand the immediate impeachment not only of the sitting President and Vice President, but also of the Republican ***and*** Democratic leadership in the Senate and the House of Representatives.
I am ashamed of our Republic and what these amoral thieves have done "in our name." I am disheartened by the knowledge that all of our brave troops have died, been disabled, and suffered for ***no good reason.*** This makes me very angry. Angry enough to begin speaking out, pleading with America to wake up and find within itself the means for a non-violent restoration of the Constitution and We the People as individuals with liberty for all, lest America be disgraced, and our children's' futures sacrificed, forevermore. Shame, shame, shame.
Devil's Game: How the United States Helped Unleash Fundamentalist Islam (American Empire Project) (American Empire Project)
Unintended Consequences: The United States at War
The Sorrows of Empire: Militarism, Secrecy, and the End of the Republic (The American Empire Project)
Manufacture of Evil: Ethics, Evolution, and the Industrial System
Sleeping with the Devil: How Washington Sold Our Soul for Saudi Crude
Vice: Dick Cheney and the Hijacking of the American Presidency
Statecraft as Soulcraft
Why the Rest Hates the West: Understanding the Roots of Global Rage
The Unconquerable World: Power, Nonviolence, and the Will of the People
Breaking the Real Axis of Evil: How to Oust the World's Last Dictators by 2025
And, so we solemnly pray for..........2007-05-24
Barry M. Lando presents a virtual rogue's gallery of the good Christian boys and girl who the knuckleheads at my church pray for, apparently because they have put young men and women from our community at the point of the spear to "fight for our freedom." The author's revelations appear authentic, and are not as surpising as they should be. As a veteran, not a hero, of Desert Storm, I remember the TV interview of the young African American soldier from our fort who was raring to go to Kuwait to "restore democracy." Apparently, the poor sap did not realize Kuwait never had democracy and he himself, as a black in the south, did not either. It was about oil then and is about oil, and a rather dangerous vendetta mixed with bizarre religious tones now. How fascinating that we propped up both Iran and Iraq during a lengthy and bloody conflict that killed both civilain and soldier alike. Then, we merrily ran sanctions that killed perhaps half a million or more children in Iraq, while at the same time, praying, wailing and beating their chests in agony when a brain dead woman was taken off life support. This rather reminds me of the Kingston Trio's "Merry Minuet." Perhaps this is something more than irony, but I do not know what it is. Colon Powell and Tony Blair were added to the cast of villians. I had hoped Powell had been duped by the sock puppet, but he appeared to go along of his own volition. I should have figured Blair all along, considering the imperialistic horrors that have been inflicted upon the Southwest Asian Peninsula by his country for more than a century. The civilian and military deaths add up to quite a tidy total, but as Stalin would have agreed, this is merely a statistic and no one cares. So, this is why I gave the book a 3 star. It is a swell documentation of a murderous disaster, but it does not accomplish a darn thing. This book will not cause one policy change. America will still believe the president, inspired by Jesus, is fighting the war to protect us from terrorism, instead of actually fanning the fires of terrorism. Since the publication of this book, things have gotten from bad to worse. One voice on Christian radio denouncing gay marriage will get more attention than all the press run of this title. Folks who wish to read more books on this subject, which also have not changed a darn thing, might read "All the Shah's Men" by Stephen Kinzer and "Sleeping with the Devil" by Robert Baer.
They're all Idoits.......2007-04-03
After reading this book, you'll discover that Bush isn't the only idiot when it comes to the current Iraq situation. In fact the idiocy of today goes way way back. It's a fasinating history and make you realize that our leaders don't read history because they foolishly repeat it. In the case of W, it makes you wonder what the hell he thought he was going to do once he got there. Makes you appreciate George W's policy of not going to Bagdad during the Gulf war, though he screwed up too. And Clinton! Don't even get me started... Buy the book, read the book, it's very very good.
Average customer rating:
- The moral case for the free market
- AMAZON! PLEASE READ THIS
- Very well written book about capitalism and democracy
- Propaganda?
- greenspan
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Capitalism: The Unknown Ideal
Ayn Rand ,
Nathaniel Branden ,
Alan Greenspan , and
Robert Hessen
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ASIN: 0451147952 |
Customer Reviews:
The moral case for the free market.......2007-09-14
For anyone interested in an economic case for capitalism, this is not the right book - Rand was a philosopher, not an economist (in spite of her sound understanding of economic theorems.) However, for anyone interested in a moral defence of the system and an understanding of its intellectual history and opponents, this is a vital piece of work. Rand includes essays on voluminous topics, such as the gold standard, distortions of what actually happened during the Industrial Revolution, the proper role of government (I disagree with her on this), and so on. It is essential to understand that Rand was not a corporate shill, nor did she approve of the status quo - to the contrary, she strongly opposed the notion of corporate welfare and the like, and believed in a free market economy. Unfortunately, her adulation of big business gave ample ammunition to her critics. She replicates her essay on the rights of individuals toward the end of the book, which is in itself an excellent read. Taken in conjunction with The Virtue of Selfishness, this work will spur the youthful mind into further inquiry on the philosophical origins and defences of laissez-faire.
AMAZON! PLEASE READ THIS.......2007-07-17
Can you please take down that disgraceful "editorial review" you've allowed to creep its slimy way onto this site (and somehow barnes and nobles as well? who is pushing this stuff?). It is a smear on this book's page, and frankly it makes your site look tawdry and muckraking.
Unless of course, you posted that review to get all of these wonderful reviews defending the author of this book from attack by its own salesman.
Take that review down and replace it with something neutral at the very least.
Really, its almost criminal.
Very well written book about capitalism and democracy.......2007-04-06
Although this book was written many years ago, it rings true for today's issues. The book is made up of multiple (25 or so) mini essays, each about 5-10 pages long.
The book has a clear and logical philosophy that is consistent. Its' basic premise is that pure capitalism is the first and only moral system for man. This is because capitalism equals freedom which frees a man from coercive oppression, and that man can only create wealth and new ideas when free to use his mind. The book states that the US briefly came close to pure capitalism in the 1700 and 1800s, but is now heading to fascism, as the state leaves property in private ownership, but the state controls output and use of the private property.
This book is the best I've read in several years, because it helped me unify my outlook on several fronts (political, economic, legal, social, etc) into one grand, consistent theory. I think this book will appeal to liberals and conservatives alike. Both are damned in this book by Rand, but I think the left, right, and center will recognize parts of Rand's philosophy that are dear to them too.
Read it for yourself to see, the book is cheap.
Propaganda?.......2007-04-06
The only "outlandish piece of propaganda" about this book is the Library Journal's unabashed hit-piece pseudo-review of it on this website. The essence of capitalism is a political-economic system based on individual rights where all property is owned privately. If you wish to engage in thought about the authentic meaning of capitalism, read Ayn Rand's articles in this book, then if you decide to reject capitalism for statism, do so with the full knowledge of what capitalism is and be prepared to take the consequences for selling your soul.
greenspan.......2007-04-05
this book with its essays by greenspan show a good example of a guy who used to fight against courruption & the federal reserve and then sold out to those who battled against.
Our money was taken from us in the middle of the night by corrupt bankers. The federal Reserve is bogus.
Book Description
In this landmark work, a Nobel Prize-winning economist develops a new way of understanding the process by which economies change. Douglass North inspired a revolution in economic history a generation ago by demonstrating that economic performance is determined largely by the kind and quality of institutions that support markets. As he showed in two now classic books that inspired the New Institutional Economics (today a subfield of economics), property rights and transaction costs are fundamental determinants. Here, North explains how different societies arrive at the institutional infrastructure that greatly determines their economic trajectories.
North argues that economic change depends largely on "adaptive efficiency," a society's effectiveness in creating institutions that are productive, stable, fair, and broadly accepted--and, importantly, flexible enough to be changed or replaced in response to political and economic feedback. While adhering to his earlier definition of institutions as the formal and informal rules that constrain human economic behavior, he extends his analysis to explore the deeper determinants of how these rules evolve and how economies change. Drawing on recent work by psychologists, he identifies intentionality as the crucial variable and proceeds to demonstrate how intentionality emerges as the product of social learning and how it then shapes the economy's institutional foundations and thus its capacity to adapt to changing circumstances.
Understanding the Process of Economic Change accounts not only for past institutional change but also for the diverse performance of present-day economies. This major work is therefore also an essential guide to improving the performance of developing countries.
Customer Reviews:
Starts out great but fizzles out.......2006-12-25
North starts his book out emphasizing the important role played in economic development by the uncertainty of the future that impacts the decision makers whose actions will create technological and institutional change over time.This uncertainty is the uncertainty emphasized by Schumpeter,Keynes,Knight,Ellsberg,and Mandelbrot( or mild risk versus wild risk),as opposed to the risk emphasized by neoclassical economics in the form of the standard deviation of a normal probability distribution.Throughout the book North correctly emphasizes uncertainty and not risk as being the environment in which decision makers make choices that will determine future economic growth and change.Unfortunately,North devotes only one small paragraph on p.13 to this vital distinction(uncertainty versus risk).North needs to have spent much more time and pages carefully covering this distinction since it is crucial to understanding the process of economic change .North needs to provide the reader with at least two chapters devoted to covering the risk versus uncertainty topic.The only readers who will benefit from this book would be readers who have already read the relevant works of Knight ,Keynes,Schumpeter,Ellsberg,and Mandelbrot that deal with this topic.I would recommend that a potential reader first cover chapters 7 and 8 of Knight's 1921 book,Risk,Uncertainty and Profit ,and then read chapter 7 on the business cycle from Schumpeter's 1912 book The Theory of Economic Development.North needs to substantially revise the book .His preliminary chapter on cognitive psychology can be filled out more completely once he has added the chapters on uncertainty and its impact on the irreversible nature of investment in long run,long lived, physical,durable capital goods which is " cast in concrete " and essentially irrevocable.
Lacks the rigor of his previous books.......2006-10-19
The book's main conjecture can probably be best described backwards: at the end of a number of steps, the political and economic outcomes may be observed. These outcomes are the result of the behavior of a number of relevant actors. Their incentives are structured by the prevailing institutions, which, in North's understanding, consist of formal rules, informal norms, and their enforcement characteristics. Institutions themselves, however, are not exogenously given; they are created by humans who act intentionally. North argues that institutions are created based on the relevant actors' beliefs. If the results of the institutions people create are not as expected, people will update their beliefs--they will learn--and institutional change will continue endlessly. To understand the process of institutional change, then, one must understand how beliefs come into being, receive updating, and form the basis of human action. Such understanding is North's current goal....
North tries to deal with the question by delving into cognitive science. To understand how beliefs are formed and how humans learn, he asserts, we must first understand better how our brains work. Thus, he enters territory where, owing to the academic division of labor, economists are amateurs. However, rather than seriously engaging the relevant issues, he barely scratches the surface. Far from familiarizing the reader with the relevant issues by a thorough survey of recent discussions in cognitive science, he barely mentions two or three competing standpoints and then ends the chapter....
In sum, at the outset of my reading of this book, I hoped to find further substantial progress in the new institutional economics. While reading it, however, I realized that it lacked the rigor of the same author's previous books in this field of research. Instead of offering intriguing new arguments, North repeats questions without offering any real answers.
Economic Change For the Business Executive.......2005-11-24
I think everyone interested in general business, economics or business strategy should read this book. For some a topic as big as the one Professor North is tackling here might require thousands of pages and a great deal of analytical complexity.
Most students of economics recognize Nobel Prize winner Douglass North and his work. As a specialized student of management, finance and accounting, I am not qualified to analyze the work in relation to its place in the professional field of economics -- although I understand its intentions and direction. My review rather focuses on the relevance of Professor North's statement in this book as a guide for my students of corporate strategy, business policy, finance and accounting; including as well my many clients in executive positions and the practice of law.
The systems view of economic change provided by Professor North casts light on long-term organizational thinking and helpful to our search for corporate and business strategy models in the increasingly efficient capital market environment revealed by modern financial economics.
More to follow....
Book Description
The first full-length translation in English of an essential work of postmodernist thought
Customer Reviews:
Baudrillard's Great Science Fiction Novel.......2007-04-12
This is Baudrillard's most famous work, and indeed, it is a must-read for those who wish to acquaint themselves with the basics of postmodern thought. It is beautifully written, and comes across like a sort of non-fiction equivalent of William Gibson's Neuromancer with its glittering display of polished, gleaming words patterned into strange, mercurial sentences that are not always easy to follow. But, as with Finnegans Wake, it is not so much the particular thought of the moment that counts, as it is the impression and impact upon the mental sensorium of the total experience. Baudrillard is a dazzling word-smith and it is likely that you will come away from this book with one or two new words to add to your vocabulary.
One of the things, of course, that has made this book so popular is its visual quotation in the science fiction film The Matrix, but I must say that the book does little towards an elucidation of that film. Indeed, Baudrillard himself has stated his dislike of the film (see the book "The Conspiracy of Art" for his comments), and he has stated how it compares less favorably with films built around similar themes such as The Truman Show, Mulholland Drive and others (I think David Cronenberg's Existenz is a much better take on the virtual reality theme. The Matrix seems cliched by comparison, especially since Cronenberg was already there first with his early 80's classic Videodrome). The theme of hyperreality displacing the real is not really what The Matrix is all about (there is too little in it irony for that; and no ambiguity; instead it concerns how technology robs the human soul of its spiritual potentialities) but it is what Simulacra and Simulation is about.
The French philosophers are fond of developing a single metaphysical concept and then exploring its ramifications in numerous books and their sequels: Debord's "Spectacle," for instance, is essentially equivalent to Baudrillard's hyperreality; Foucault's "episteme," though a completely different idea, is nonetheless monolithic in Foucault's thought. And much of Baudrillard's writings are an exploration of his concept of the hyperreal and how it has displaced the real.
The point of the book is that we postmoderns live inside a media-generated dome that seals us off from the "real" world. Indeed, we are so convinced by our own fabrications that we can no longer differentiate reality from its simulacrum. When spending money on gambling in Las Vegas, are we really losing all that money, or is it just a part of the "game"?
The best essay in the book is "The Precession of the Simulacra," and it is also the longest. I saved it for last and began with the shorter essays. Baudrillard's piece on J.G. Ballard's novel Crash is one of the best in the collection, as is his essay on "Hypermarket and Hypercommodity" and "The Beauborg Effect." Each of these pieces feels more like reading a science fiction novel than anything else but, let's face it, we live in a world that is stranger than science fiction. It takes an artist to make the contours of such a world visible to our perception, and Baudrillard does a fine job of this. He is, however, less successful with his pitiful one page ramblings on Apocalypse Now, which is disappointing and sheds almost no light on Coppola's masterpiece. (For this, the reader would do well to consult Ebert's Celluloid Heroes & Mechanical Dragons).
I confess that there are paragraphs I did not understand and words that sound as if they are made up, but this is actually true of most authors who have something profound to say (Lewis Mumford, for instance, or Heidegger). But Simulacra and Simulation is an important work and should be read despite its difficulties. Read it just the way you would a poem by Holderlin or Rilke. That is, don't try too hard to understand it, just let the imagery sink into your consciousness and enjoy the alterations that it produces upon you.
--John David Ebert
author, Celluloid Heroes & Mechanical Dragons: Film as the Mythology of Electronic Society
The Key to Understanding Jean Baudrillard.......2007-01-09
Baudrillard's classic is neither easy to read, nor is it the last word in continental postmodernism. It is also replete with ideas of questionable merit. So, why I have rated it with fives stars? Because buried within its pages, among the dross and the drivel, are enough intellectual gems to make the entire exercise more than worthwhile! Even with its flaws, Simulacra and Simulation reveals Jean Baudrillard to be one of the great thinkers of the twentieth century. Any person deeply interested in critically understanding the postmodern, media saturated era in which we live, needs to read this book.
The most useless book I have ever read........2006-09-19
Hardly being a serious look into the (supposed) simulated world, Simulacra and Simulation unnecessarily confuses, compounds, and over-estimates the reality of simulation, and implies simulation in virtually everything while failing to give any real evidence or examples for this phenomenon. Through and through, Baudrillard fails to adequately define his terms, concerns, and sources for his critiques. While never settling on one particular point, his arbitrary method of critiquing never moves beyond the realm of opinion. Critical analysis of the subject matter (whatever that is) is never applied, instead being sacrificed for ever more obscured superficial observations. Baudrillard gives us no example as to the cause of his concerns (whatever those may be) let alone giving us any real solutions as to how we may pierce through our alleged self created illusions. Nor does he give us any real insight as to how these critiques can be applied in any useful way to our education or our daily life. If this is what is passing for philosophy today, I can only imagine how useless the field will become in fifty years if we continue to look to Baudrillard as the top of his field. Superfluous and meaningless double-talk is all you will get out of this useless excuse for a book. For anyone interested in reading "Simulacra and Simulation", I would sooner recommend Dr. Seuss "Green Eggs and Ham." You will have more fun reading it, and you will probably learn more as well.
Where is real?.......2006-09-08
What is real anymore? Where can I find it at? In our mass-multi-media world, is there really anything "real" anywhere? Or is it all just one large simulation? I do not claim to be on the Postmodern bandwagon, or to 100% agree with their ideas and thoughts, but this was a very interesting read that will possibly make you ask "What is real?"
Jean Baudrillard is a Rockstar.......2006-04-15
Jean Baudrillard is not practical. He discusses the death of the real in an often persuasive way, but offers no conclusions as to how this should affect the practice of cultural theory or human behavior. Nor does he offer suggestions for preventing the death of the real--he just wallows in it.
Still, Baudrillard sure is a hoot. I love reading him the way I love reading J.G. Ballard and watching David Cronenberg movies. He offers a great, cynical rush: highly recommended to masturbatory pessimists and fans of new wave science-fiction.
Book Description
"[This] magnificent critical survey, with its inherent respect for both the 'Westt's mainstream high culture' and the 'radically changing world' of the 1990s, offers a new breakthrough for lay and scholarly readers alike....Allows readers to grasp the big picture of Western culture for the first time."
SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE
Here are the great minds of Western civilization and their pivotal ideas, from Plato to Hegel, from Augustine to Nietzsche, from Copernicus to Freud. Richard Tarnas performs the near-miracle of describing profound philosophical concepts simply but without simplifying them. Ten years in the making and already hailed as a classic, THE PASSION OF THE WESERN MIND is truly a complete liberal education in a single volume.
Customer Reviews:
pity about the lapse into new age speculation.......2007-09-29
I won't write much here as many have done a great job of summation, however I did just want to voice my disappointment with the epilogue. Much of the book seems to have the intellectual and reasearch rigour I like to see in such books, but the new age nonsense really leads me to question his credibility and so doubt I read till I reached it. Though its obviously not as up to date or the same in its attempted scope I would personally recommend Russell's "History of Western Philosophy" for a more insightful look at Western thought or even Watson's "Ideas: A History of Thought and Invention, from Fire to Freud".
A Nice Survey and More Importantly, Critique of the Western Mind.......2007-08-17
Tarnas begins with Plato, working backward and forward from him. Plato's Forms, in particular, set the stage for the rest of the book, in my view. According to Plato, there are transcendent Forms for 'Man', 'Tree', 'Woman', for example, that the soul was exposed to before birth and remembers later in life. These Forms are timeless, trancendent and most, Beautiful.
Aristotle, the tenth in line from Pythagoras, quickly relegates Plato's Forms to the particular, noting their birth, maturation and decay within the object with no recourse to a transcendent realm.
The important thing is, in the greek rationalism of both Plato and Aristotle, the world is knowable and is a Cosmos, an ordered whole that can be readily understood by the human mind.
The philosophies of Plato and Aristotle move to the Arabics during the Dark Ages, until the medieval times, when the Arabics courteously return the two behemoths to western civilization where St. Augustine applies Platonic thought to theology, while St. Thomas Aquinas later does the same with Aristotle.
Somewhere in the mix, Ockham applies his razor to the idea of the Forms, being the first to deny a Form's transcendent or immanent reality, but rather positing that the Form is a construct of the human mind. Party pooper.
Modern science, which has divested the world of anything human,where the universe now contains no spirit or transcendent form, sets it's sights on a disenchanted universe that is now viewed as being mechanistic at best, lifeless at worst.
Man is taken, by way of Copernicus, then Kepler and Galileo, from being the absolute center of the Ptolemaic universe, to being a nondescript inhabitant on a planet moving about a sun, which is one of potentially millions of such stars in the now vast space of the experienced world.
During the Enlightenment, man having eaten the soul of the Cosmos and stolen it's intelligence and claimed it for himself, suddenly turns the lense on himself thorugh Descartes and Kant.
Not only is the Cosmos dead and lifeless and altogether inhuman, but man is incapable of perceiving said Cosmos in an objective way. Man inherently attaches Reality to the universe by viewing the world through the apriori lenses of time, space, cause and effect and so on.
So now, we have a dead and lifeless vast impersonal universe inhabited by man, who, due to his psychological makeup, can never understand said world objectively.
Nietzsche sounds the death knell. He says God is dead, but really, it is man, glourious understanding, at one with the world, man who is crucified. Nietzsche pronounces the birth of the modern era, where not by intelligence, which has been discounted, not by religion, which is suffering cognitive disonance due to the emerging scientific worldview (Darwinism, Atomism, the everexpanding nothingness peered at through ever stronger telescopic lenses), but sheer Will that will decide who is right.
Finally on to the postmodern picture. History has been dominated by white european males. Not only is the universe (and man) unknowable, but we don't even know the proper questions to ask. Language is a prison, seeking to encapsulate experience and reduce Reality to the constructs of the human mind. Western man, through the prevailing dichotomy of his science and religion, has raped women, the environment, destroyed the ozone, produced the atomic bomb, and on and on. No one has hold of the Truth. Truth is provincial, localized and relative, dependent upon a contingent human being. No world view has precedence over another. There is no prevailing meta-narrative that can capture global humanity and unite it.
But dear reader, there is hope. There is hope from the beginning pages of this book through to the epilogue. Tarnas wisely weaves a thread throughout that offers a glimpse into a potential new birth for mankind. Tarnas points out history seems to be coming to a culmination, something is definitely on the horizon for all of us.
I leave it to you, to read this wonderful book, to discover what possibilities (if not facts) lie ahead for humanity.
The book is well worth the read.
Informative, but hard to read........2007-07-02
A great account of Western history, but with too many unnecessary words and too many complex sentences. The wording of the book makes it a lot less enjoyable than it should be. I wish I could find a similar book without Tarnas' annoying writing style.
"Wordy" but informative.......2007-06-27
I got this book because it was required text for a graduate course that I am taking with the University of Denver. I initially found the sentence construction distracting-- The author uses such complex sentences with so many extraneous words that at times it is difficult to follow his meaning; however, once you get used to the author's writing style, it is easy to follow. The book is a fascinating detail of how people in the Western world have come to think and believe as they do. It outlines the great philosophers and thought movements throughout time, beginning with the Greeks. The author also explains why there is such a dichotomy in Western thinking today. This is a "must read" for anyone interested in Western philosophy, and for anyone who simply wants to understand why it is so difficult for the East and West to understand one another. This book would be a good companion to "Guns, Germs, and Steel."
Excellent.......2007-01-13
An amazingly articulate, well-written treatise on the origins of Western thought. Where our ideas originate from is fantastically revealed. Although a challenging read, this book is delightful to encounter.
Books:
- The First Man-Made Man: The Story of Two Sex Changes, One Love Affair, and a Twentieth-Century Medical Revolution
- The Intelligent Universe: AI, ET, and the Emerging Mind of the Cosmos
- The Last Man on the Moon: Astronaut Eugene Cernan and America's Race in Space
- The Lost Colony (Artemis Fowl, Book 5)
- The Lost Colony (Artemis Fowl, Book 5)
- The Machine That Changed the World : The Story of Lean Production
- The Natural History of Madagascar
- The Number : A Completely Different Way to Think About the Rest of Your Life
- The Philosophy of Set Theory: An Historical Introduction to Cantor's Paradise (Dover Books on Mathematics)
- The Pterosaurs: From Deep Time
Books Index
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