Book Description
Presented here together for the first time are the greatest of the ancient Chinese classics of strategic thought: The Complete Art of War. Probably the most famous work of strategy ever written, Sun Tzu's Art of War has sold millions of copies in many languages around the world. Lost for more than 2000 years and only recently recovered, the Military Methods of Sun Pin (Sun Tzu's great-grandson) is a brilliant elaboration on his ancestor's work. Only The Complete Art of War brings the wisdom of these two ancient sages into a single volume and gives the reader a unique opportunity to master the essentials of Chinese thought on strategy, organization and leadership.
The Sun family writings on strategy have proven their value through the ages, and they continue to reward careful study. By unveiling the complex, often unexpected, interrelationships of armies locked in battle, they reveal the enduring principles of success in the struggle of life itself. With a practical index to the essential principles of strategy, and Ralph Sawyer's thoughtful chapter-by-chapter commentaries, The Complete Art of War is designed to bring the reader new insights into the nature of human conflict.
Whether it is playing the game of politics or building a successful marriage, closing a deal or managing a large organization, making war or even making peace, The Complete Art of War stands as one of the ultimate guides to a deeper understanding of human affairs.
Customer Reviews:
Excellent.......2006-01-01
Bought a copy. Lost it. HAD TO buy another to replace it. An excellent book, Sawyers commentaries modernize and place in context applicable to today's managers. Clearly a lot of work went into his explanations. A must have, must read, must study. Provided me with months worth of reading material at lunch.
The teachings of the greatest military geniuses of all time........2003-11-10
Sun Tzu collected his teachings into the ancient Chinese treatise on military strategy known as "The Art of War" about twenty-five hundred years ago. Afterward his teachings were passed down through the Sun family, or a group of disciples, who edited or expounded upon the original writings until they assumed their current form. Sun Pin was the great-grandson of Sun Tzu, and he used the teachings of his brilliant ancestor to develop his Treatise "Military Methods". This wonderful translation by Ralph D. Sawyer includes both of these ancient texts.
"The Art of War" has been studied the world over by military, political and business leaders seeking to understand the nature of human conflict in all it's forms. Although thousands of years old, the teachings of Sun Tzu remain relevant even today. The maxims of Sun Tzu have been applied by students of "The Art of War" to such modern conflicts as the Korean and Vietnam Wars.
Sun Tzu's teachings range from the seemingly simple, such as "Someone unfamiliar with the mountains and forests cannot advance the army", to the more complex and thought provoking, such as "In order await the disordered. In tranquility await the clamorous. This is the way to control the mind." The manual covers such diverse topics as training, supplies, terrain, the seasons and the use of spys, and includes detailed commentary by China's greatest military leaders through the centuries.
"The Art of War" should be read by anyone who studies military history or strategy, and is part of the curriculum of many of the world's military academies. Studying the teachings of Sun Tzu can help you to form strategies for conflict resolution or negotiating in business, political or social endeavors through a greater understanding of human interaction.
Sun Tzu and Sun Pin are timeless.......2001-06-18
The Art of War is the oldest and best military treatise this world has seen. It is amazing how Sun Tzu can talk about strategy and warfare in thirteen short chapters. His book is just the best about competition and strategy. And now we get to Sun Pin, the military strategist. I have awesome respect for him. He was betrayed and mutilated by his best friend, and still, he survived. He defeated his nemesis in a great strategic way that Sun Tzu would have mostly likely done. These two are the best and if they were in this world today, they would won every war that we fight, by their ability to adapt. If you want to get Ancient Strategy and Chinese Culture, get this book.
Excellent.......2001-06-04
The publishing of both Sun Tzu's and Sun Pin's works together makes for a valuable purchase. I've found that this translation is also quite easy to follow, and the comments assist with interpretation. These works represent awesome insights into the nature of warfare.
suffering.......2001-04-20
The text does not remotely fill the entire page to lengthen the book and suggest a happier price. Sun Pin's addition is severely garbled because the original text was damaged and it's contadictory. The most likely reason that Sun Pin's methods were forgotten and preserved only in a tomb was because (GEE GOLLY) people believed it wasn't worth reading. The commentary uses the word obvious extremely often among various other uneeded lengthening exercises.The author describes himself as an imaginative entrepenuer.(Sun Tzu flirts with perfection)
Amazon.com
Zecharia Sitchin's Earth Chronicles series is based on the premise that mythology is not physiologically based, psychologically metaphorical, or culturally allegorical but rather the repository of ancient memories, and that the Bible ought to be read as a historical scientific document. While the debate regarding the origins of myth is far from conclusive, and the dangers of assuming that the subjectivity of the reader/researcher will not intervene are obvious, Stitchin is an expert in ancient language and history. While the reader may scoff at his unfortunately characteristic long leaps of logic resulting in conclusions (such as that gods from outer space destroyed a spaceport on the Sinai Peninsula four millennia ago), he does present some compelling ideas not easily ignored. The series, of which this is the third volume, deserves a read by those fascinated with the search for the origins of humankind who don't mind spending time separating wheat from chaff. --P. Randall Cohan
Book Description
Eons ago, the Earth was a battlefield. Mighty armies clashed, led by giant warriors meticulously skilled in the art of combat. These wars would shape man's destiny and live on for centuries in legend, song and religious lore -- brutal and terrible conflicts that began lifetimes earlier on another planet.
In the astonishing third volume of Zecharia Sitchin's The Earth Chronicles, the internationally renowned scholar parts the mists of myth and time to return to the violent beginnings of humanity -- employing ancient text, religious documents and archaeological findings to reconstruct epic events that support the existence of extraterrestrial "god" who once set nation against nation, army against army, and man against man.
Customer Reviews:
The wars of Gods and Men.......2007-03-09
Again anything this man writes I endorse as he was the 1st to make me think of how, why what and where we came from as man.
Wars of Gods and Men: Book III of the Earth Chronicles.......2007-01-23
A great Esoteric read of mankinds hereitage to the pre - Sumerian stage in mankinds forgotten past. Good historical text that captures the era when mankind was in communication with his Spirt, creation and realized his Cosmic destiny.
The Wars of Gods and Men.......2007-01-12
Another great book by Zachariah Sitchen, I have read all eight books of his Earth chronicles and they are all very mind boggling.This book gives a new slant on the great pyramid in Egypt.
The Real Mind Boggling Questions remain un-answered.......2006-02-23
I do agree with many reviewers that Sitchin's work provides a "new" angle, and for many, a new vision, to understand the mythology and religius theories of "beginning", history and "end". His premises might have been "mind boggling" for many a readers. There are, off course, good reasons for that. However, his having convincing reasons to establish new concepts while exploring and explaining religius traditions and myths, he has not been able to even slightly touch the most important questions asked by most curious human minds in all known human history. I would like to mention a few of them here in most simplest terms:
1 . (Lets start with Questions on Sitchin's own theory). If
humans were created by terrestrial gods from some other part
of the Universe, then who is behind all this Universe? Why
should'nt we start probing the signs of the most Ultimate,
behind the veil? Why should we repeat the same mistake as
did by our ancesters, by assuming those Terrestrial Visitors
on our planet as "gods"?
2 . On "what" those terrestrial gods used to fight? Why they
created such an imperfect creature as man, to be used as
pawns in their game of chess? Why not a better warrior
force? Why not something, some "technology" superior
than "Iron" and "Nuclear" power?
3 . How much of this "Universe" is the creation of those
terrestrial gods? (As far as God or "gods" is concerned,
Creation does not mean molding raw material in to different
shapes- Creation means creating raw material and all
its "working principles" out of nothing.
4 . In case those 'gods' were also creation of some other
'creator'then who was that "Creator"?
5 . Where should this series of creators end?
6 . Whoever is "gods", why they want to be "Believed" in to them?
7 . Can man someday become another god for the beings "created"
by him at another planet? If yes!, but why?
8 . Should man demand from those inferior beings to worship him?
For what?
9 . Did those gods perform some experiment on this planet and
abandoned it when it went wrong? What went wrong? In case
the experiment is still on-going then what kind of
"gods" are those who did not know the results of their
experiment, already?
10. Do those "gods" fix destiny?
11. (Coming to traditional questions). What is Destiny?
12. Is it "all" happening in my mind or in God's/ gods' mind?
13. What is my experience, what is matter, what is time and
space??? What is Universe, anyway? Does it include my inner
universe? Who am I? Who "you" are? Do I exist? What is
Existance?
14. What is "Knowledge"? What is the "Source" of Knowledge? What
is "Wisdom"? Does "Wisdom" include "Knowledge" and
"Creativity"?
15 . (Little of Mysticism) What is "Alive" and what is "Dead"?
What is "Soul". What is "Spirit"? What is "ecstasy", "Awe",
"revelation", "Nirvana", "Divine Unity", so on and so forth.
I have full respect for all such attempts that endeavor to explain the questions of creation and existence. However when one explains the fundamental questions by the logic whose own fundamentals are questionable then the matters are not solved, rather become even more complicated. If we really recognize lesser gods playing "God" on this planet, then lets find the "One" who is "Real" "The Greatest", the "Unique". "None" exists like "Him". His wisdom has created all that exists, has existed and will exist. Our whole thinking process leads us to one exhausted conclusion, that there can not be many "gods" who created everything. Creators of replica or molders of genes can not be true god. Besides its bold logical analysis of Religion, Mythology and History, Sitichin's theory leads ones world view to Chaos, which causes deep disturbing pain to the Believers in the Sigular Diety. General human tendency is that we can not live with chaotic common sense and voids in logic. Whole human struggle revolves around "putting meaning in to Chaos". The only meaning that man has yet been able to put in this Chaos of life and Universe is to attribute it to a most Original Creator who is beyond all understanding of His creation. He created us such that, we are bound to understand, with certain premises and under fixed boundaries. (As Emanuel Kant puts it), It is meaningless to say whether "outside" world exists or not. By our existence we are bound to think in a pre-destined "Format" of thinking. We are bound to think through Logic, Time, Space, Matter, Events, Causality, Beginning (Creation), End, Creator, Destiny, etc. God has created us such that we can only and always think through these formats of thinking. We are innately bound to have a "Universe" around us. We are bound to have "Beginner", "Creator" for "Everything around and within us", including our innate process of thinking.
Wisdom starts where our logic ends. Wisdom is to accept with pure submission that my "logic" can not "grasp" the "Real One". All my faculties of reasoning are not capable to comprehend him. They are not equipped with such tools and format of thinking.
My "format" of thinking leads me to a blind, exhaustive conclusion that "There has to be Someone who is the Ultimate Originator of All This".
"Why" did he do it?
Do not expect an answer, because, "Why" is the part of my format of thinking but the answer to this "why" may not be understandable for my "format" of thinking.
Book III of the Earth Chronicle series.......2005-09-18
To be honest, I have not yet starting reading this book. This is the 3rd book in the Earth Chronicle series. I am currently reading the second book and devoured the first book. The 12th Planet is the first book and I highly recommend it to anyone interested in ancient civilization and human culture, its art and deep historic meaning shed light where our current culture provides ignorant knowledge. Sitchin is classic within metaphysical circles and is essential in educating oneself about the 'Gods' and the truth concerning mythlogical origins on our planet. Sitchin's gift is his ability to analyse ancient text directly and logically and then take it to a much higher level than popular culture can even imagine.
Average customer rating:
- Not a credible account -- do research on the author
- Extrememly Beneficial
- helpful
- informative
- Its war time
|
Prepare for War
Rebecca Brown
Manufacturer: Whitaker House
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Demons and Deliverance: In The Ministry Of Jesus (Spiritual Warfare Series)
ASIN: 0883683245 |
Book Description
Do you know how Satan can use "doorways" including yoga, role-playing games, and meditation, to bring demonic destruction into your home? In this spiritual warfare manual, Rebecca Brown writes from seven years experience helping deliver many people out of hardcore satanism. In this sequel to her best-selling book He Came to Set the Captives Free, you will learn to stand victoriously against Satan, deal with the dangerous New Age teachings, recognize and deal with satanic ritualistic abuse of children, minister in the area of deliverance, and handle the rarely discussed problems people face after deliverance. Satan hates you and wants to destroy you. To be victorious you must Prepare for War.
Customer Reviews:
Not a credible account -- do research on the author.......2007-08-20
I have read this book several times and have written to the author to get her story as well. The author's real name is Ruth Bailey, who had her medical license revoked in the state of Indiana. She also got in trouble with the medical board for giving her patients an unusually high dose of Demerol, for having delusions about patients suffering from demonic oppression, and for repeatedly misdiagnosing her patients. The real "Elaine" has been known to fabricate sensational stories to get attention (All these findings have been documented by Bob and Gretchen Passantino and researcher John Baskette in the Answers in Action website, Pastor Charles Younts - Director of Missions, and Pastor G. Richard Fisher). If you Google: Rebecca Brown or Ruth Bailey, you'll find the links to these investigative articles.
I am in no way a Satanist (but a born-again believer in Christ who is vehemently opposed to Satanism). The author claims that her account is factual, and it is important for readers like me to determine whether her findings are factual and to discern truth from error. After doing research on her background and reading through her book, I came to the conclusion that much of what she wrote is fabricated.
Rebecca Brown may have pointed out some helpful principles on spiritual warfare, but her story about herself and "Elaine" are purely fictional.
I have read numerous credible accounts (written by Christian evangelical authors) on Satanism and would highly recommend books by Clinton Arnold on demons and spiritual warfare. C. Fred Dickason has published helpful studies on Demon Possession and the Christian. Bob and Gretchen Passantino has also written a carefully researched guide on Satanism on the Zondervan Guide to the Cults series. Another great study on Satan and demons is Powers of Evil by Sydney Page. All these authors are much better authorities on Satan and spiritual warfare.
The Bible tells us to "test all things; hold fast to what is good" (1 Thess. 5:21 NKJV). It is important to research the qualifications of the author to see if she is a credible authority. Unfortunately in this case, Rebecca Brown is not. The good book tells us "Do not participate in the unfruitful deeds of darkness, but instead expose them" (Eph. 5: 11). As for Rebecca Brown, she will do well to heed Prov. 19:5 (NKJV), "A false witness will not go unpunished, and he who tells lies will not escape." Please carefully do your own research and discern the truth from falsehood.
Extrememly Beneficial.......2007-06-26
I have read this book many times and the Lord recently led me to pick it up again. I must say that pg. 66-67 is an answer to prayer and was a huge encouragement for a friend of mine helping her lead someone to Christ.I have found the book scripturally sound and I really appreciate Ms. Brown's boldness. Bottom line is, Jesus said a bad tree cannot produce good fruit, and a good tree cannot produce bad fruit. Her books have produced excellent fruit in my life, and several of my friends lives who I have lent the books to.
Bethany K. Scanlon
Author of Where's my mate?,Where's my money? and Born of the Spirit
helpful.......2007-05-14
I am really glad I have "stumbled" across this book. It has helped me in understanding spiritual warfare and given me some insight in my own life. Rebecca Brown is very easy to understand and for everything she relies on scripture and her own experiences. I don't think you can get any more real than that.
Jamie
informative.......2007-03-09
havn't read it yet, my husband love it. We are refering it to others
Its war time.......2006-10-12
This book is a good tool for deliverance ministry.
It was a slow start due to the story telling but it helped to set the stage. Not only was there life application but also profound insight into the spiritual realm. I enjoyed the book and read it in no time!
Product Description
Due to the pressure and scrutiny of the Inquisition, Nostradamus was forced to scramble both the meaning and the order of his quatrains. He made sure humanity would not be able to decode them until we had become sophisticated enough. With the discovery of the lost manuscript, that time has finally arrived. Using cutting-edge data mining techniques, Dr. Michael Rathford sifted this complex word puzzle searching for significant patterns and relationships. Almost immediately, he came up with the predictive model known as The Nostradamus Code. When the prophecies-within-prophecies are deciphered, the hidden timeline of World War III is revealed. You will read about Osama Bin Laden, the next major terrorist attack on the US, war with Iran, the nuclear destruction of Rome, a confrontation between the US and China/Russia, and great detail on the timing and the course of World War III.
Customer Reviews:
Blatant Rip-Off.......2007-08-20
This piece of rubbish has surely been produced for suckers, and it has to be said that I'm one of them. Overpriced at 0$ absolutely not recommended. The worst book con I've ever come across, I'd be ashamed if I were Amazon for having the nerve to sell such ****. The only good thing to say about it is that it is soooooo small. A cynical delve into the metaphysical as a means of making a fast buck. Just don't go there.
NB. I was forced to give it 1 star, as a zero isn't available in the rating window - please do something about this, Amazon.
You've got to be kidding.......2007-06-02
Luckily, I only borrowed this from a library. It was the biggest waste of time I've ever read. First, the thing is poorly formatted and written, as if the editor was blind. Secondly, I read it because it had "2007-2012" on the cover - that's the ONLY reference to those dates in the book, the text talks about 'decades after the 00s'. Third, he makes really ridiculous statements like 'The Earth, after a relative period of peace, will suffer a great natural disaster' (ooh, vague, there)... and further down the same paragraph 'Religious leaders will lose credibility because of the inability to explain the earth changes. Christianity will falter.' I'm not a Christian, and even *I* know that religious leaders attribute natural disasters to God's wrath. It's profoundly stupid in ways I can't begin to describe. Skip this one.
The Nostradamus Code World War 3.......2007-05-31
I found this book very intresting and a bit scary too.
Misleading title ...........2007-05-20
I would rate this book (Zero)... no star at all. I was disappointed with this book. There is absolutely no analysis of the quatrains and no reasoning of interpretations. The cost is too much for 85 page book. I do not recommend it to anyone .. it's a waste of money and time.
Nostradamus Code WWWIII.......2007-05-14
The book was very interesting as well as a bit unnerving. I have always been interested in Nostradamus and his works.
Average customer rating:
- Fascinating and Flawed
- Helpful in Working With Torture Victims
- Densely written but rewarding treatise
- Good but limited insights
- Profoundly intriguing!
|
Body in Pain: The Making and Unmaking of the World
Elaine Scarry
Manufacturer: Oxford University Press
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ASIN: 0195049969 |
Book Description
Part philosophical meditation, part cultural critique, The Body in Pain is a profoundly original study that has already stirred excitement in a wide range of intellectual circles. The book is an analysis of physical suffering and its relation to the numerous vocabularies and cultural forces--literary, political, philosophical, medical, religious--that confront it. Elaine Scarry bases her study on a wide range of sources: literature and art, medical case histories, documents on torture compiled by Amnesty International, legal transcripts of personal injury trials, and military and strategic writings by such figures as Clausewitz, Churchill, Liddell Hart, and Kissinger, She weaves these into her discussion with an eloquence, humanity, and insight that recall the writings of Hannah Arendt and Jean-Paul Sartre. Scarry begins with the fact of pain's inexpressibility. Not only is physical pain enormously difficult to describe in words--confronted with it, Virginia Woolf once noted, "language runs dry"--it also actively destroys language, reducing sufferers in the most extreme instances to an inarticulate state of cries and moans. Scarry analyzes the political ramifications of deliberately inflicted pain, specifically in the cases of torture and warfare, and shows how to be fictive. From these actions of "unmaking" Scarry turns finally to the actions of "making"--the examples of artistic and cultural creation that work against pain and the debased uses that are made of it. Challenging and inventive, The Body in Pain is landmark work that promises to spark widespread debate.
Customer Reviews:
Fascinating and Flawed.......2001-05-07
The Body in Pain includes many interesting ideas and theories that could be made into engrossing analyses, yet Elaine Scarry manages to even make torture boring. Her frankly very intelligent observations would be much better suited to a 20 page scholarly essay than a 300 plus page repetitive rant that seems to care more about displaying her verbal acuity than proving a point, let alone attracting readers. I have counted the number of times she uses the word "sentient" and "sentience": some pages include these terms more than 8 times. One would think that an author so obviously bent on proving her intelligence would deign to consult a thesaurus. Perhaps "feeling" is too plebeian a term for her....
Helpful in Working With Torture Victims.......2001-03-05
I have worked with several individuals who suffered extreme physical torture sometime during their lives. Scarry's work helped me to understand the internal world of the sufferer in ways I would never have even begun to approach. Each one of these individuals lacked the language to discuss their experiences. What they were left with was inarticulatable images, physical sensations, emotions, profound helplessness and alienation. Scarry's book helped me find language to give to my patients -- language that helped to normalize their reaction to, and experience of inexplicable events. Her exploration of the abyss of human destruction is accomplished such original, humane, and thoughtful detail. Her book is an ingenius work of art.
Densely written but rewarding treatise.......2000-07-11
Elaine Scarry's "The Body in Pain", an influential study on the relationship between pain, torture, warfare and creativity is a stunning achievement, from the standpoint of Marxism. I confess that I have not read the sections on the structure of warfare, but I was extremely impressed with the passages on torture. Scarry's central premise is that pain, a radically subjective, hence inexpressible and incommunicable experience, results, during the process of torture, in destroying, or deconstructing the victim's voice (his or her power of articulation) and by extension, the victim's world. It is the prisoner's pain, incommunicable because unsharable, which is denied by the torturer as pain but translated as the wholly illusory phenomenon of power, that of the torturer and the regime he represents. These parts of the book are expounded with considerable insight and sophistication, in dense and convoluted prose. The second part, dealing with how pain is converted to creativity, explains how the radical subjectivity and inexpressibility of the sufferer's pain is mitigated into the objective (hence sharable and communicable) activity of work, which is a self-imposed, milder and socially more profitable form of pain. This treatise is absolutely vital reading for any one who aspires to seriously dabble in literature, psychology or philosophy. A tour de force.
Good but limited insights.......1999-12-20
What an odd and wonderful book! It attempts to address three topics -- pain/torture, warfare, and creativity. On the subject of pain/torture it is remarkably acute. The description of what pain is and what it does to consciousness and life's enjoyment is terrific and, in my experience, unprecedented. Similarly, its description of torture and what torture means is stunning in its immediacy. However, when it goes from torture to warfare, the book goes off the rails. It is clear that Ms Scarry has a limited knowledge of warfare and a very limited understanding of what it means and how it is carried out. Warfare is usually a last resort and often involves activity by those who are free against those who are trying to create and perpetuate some form of slavery. (see the work of Victor Davis Hanson, e.g., The Soul of Battle.) This applies whether the war is conventional or nuclear. Her idea that taking the process of war to the civilian population is somehow a function of nuclear war is simply wrong. This approach to war is thousands of years old and, as Hanson points out, important and -- in some contexts -- virtuous. War is a horror, but it is better than slavery, torture, or conquest plus annihilation. Scarry doesn't address this. This book makes the experience of pain clear, but offers a wooly and uncertain explanation of war. Its Marxist approach to creativity is shallow and forgettable.
Profoundly intriguing!.......1999-11-10
This book will change the way you see the world. A must for all art professionals and material culture theorists!
Book Description
With war and violence flaring all over the world, many of us are left feeling vulnerable and utterly helpless. In this book Pema Chödrön draws on Buddhist teachings to explore the origins of aggression, hatred, and war, explaining that they lie nowhere but within our own hearts and minds. She goes on to explain that the way in which we as individuals respond to challenges in our everyday lives can either perpetuate a culture of violence or create a new culture of compassion.
"War and peace begin in the hearts of individuals," declares Pema Chödrön at the opening of this inspiring and accessible book. She goes on to offer practical techniques any of us can use to work for peace in our own lives, at the level of our habits of thought and action. It's never too late, she tells us, to look within and discover a new way of living and transform not only our personal lives but our whole world.
Customer Reviews:
Practicing Peace -- Really.......2007-01-22
With so much discussion and dispute about what it will take to bring peace to Iraq and other troubled places in the world today, it is hard to believe that a tiny book of barely 100 pages could even begin to offer an answer. It suggests no commitment of troops or dollars, no complicated strategy, and no national policy. The answer is not easy, and because it requires individual, personal commitment, it may not make headlines. With disarming clarity, Pema Chodron provides a plan that is so practical and so down to earth that it is probably irrefutable.
What can one person do to bring about peace? This book answers the question. I've considered carrying extra copies of the book to give to friends and strangers: maybe this review will encourage you in some way to pick up a copy for yourself.
Inspiring Book .......2007-01-10
This book is a wonderful guide for opening the heart and finding peace within. A very quick, inspiring read.
Buddha at War.......2006-12-06
As others have mentioned, this book is not about the subject of the title (I expected something global along the flip side of Sun Tzu, which it isn't). My son purchased three books on the Buddha at War for a term paper. This book added little to his notes. On the other hand, Pema Chödrön is a gifted writer. This is a good read. The book is very short, so it is also a quick read. You can find the subject of the book on page 85: "In this book I've been exploring the topic of peace at the personal level, the level of each of us working with our own minds and our hearts." If this navel-gazing interests you, Pema does a wonderful job of presenting it. I admit that her writing grabbed me and I read the entire book even though it wasn't on point for its stated topic.
The courage to just be.......2006-11-21
This small book (95 small format pages of text) reflects Pema's prior works. It contains 6 of her lectures edited by Sandy Boucher (author of "Dancing in the Dharma" & "Turning the Wheel"). The chapter titles are provocative (e.g. "Compassionate Abiding & Positive Insecurity"), but the Table of Contents is numbered incorrectly (the small Roman numerals in the T of C are Arabic numbered in the book so each chapter is low by 14 pages in the T of C). As in other books, Pema provides valuable Jarvis Masters' stories from San Quentin, lojong mind training principles (see "Start Where You Are"), & Shenpa or emotional attachment (see "Getting Unstuck" CD set). Her main premises here are that individuals create culture & karma: to change them, change yourself (not unique to Pema), & that mindfulness helps us catch habitual patterns of emotional reaction (often centered on a personal history of attachment & pain avoidance) before they manifest--allowing one to act differently in the present & future. But to succeed one needs patience & fearlessness--p. 44: "learning to sit still with the edginess of the discomforting energy." This is consistent with Frank Herbert's "Dune"--"Bene Gesserit Litany Against Fear:
I must not fear. Fear is the mind killer. Fear is the little death that brings total obliteration. I will face my fear. I will permit it to pass over me & through me. And when it has gone past I will turn the inner eye to see its path. Where the fear has gone there will be nothing. Only I will remain."
Per "Awakening Compassion," Pema invokes Tonglen whereby p. 81: "Your own discomfort can connect you with the aversion & pain of other people & awaken your compassion." Furthermore, with mindfulness p. 80: "We can see our interpretations & our opinions as just that," you can p. 50: "`Lower your standards & relax as it is.' That's a slogan for patience," & p. 50: "I've come to find that patience also has humor & playfulness." This reminds me of Theodore Tilton's poem:
"Once in Persia reigned a king, Who upon his signet ring
Graved a maxim true and wise, Which, if held before his eyes
Gave him counsel at a glance Fit for any change or chance;
Solemn words, and these are they: "Even this shall pass away."
It seems to me that Pema's "patient abiding" parallels Shamatha (calm abiding) like two facets of the same gem. Thus, with patience we can let the thoughts (Shamatha) or issues (patient abiding) dissolve of their own accord--observing the process vs. the content--p. 71: "Becoming intimate with pain is the key to changing at the core of our being--staying open to everything we experience." The courage to just be.
Very Brave and Important Message!.......2006-11-11
There's a bumper stiker around "If you're not outraged, you're not paying attention." I have been one who has seen myself as ineffectual in the circumstances of these times. Pema Chodron's work is a truly radical teaching of how we contribute to war and peace and the importance of our individual contributions to the state of the "world" we live in and the world the next generation will inherit. Even if you don't agree with the positions she offers (some of the aspects of the teaching aren't "easy"), this work is thought provoking. Even a little practice of these ideas leads to revelation about our individual importance in garnering peace or creating war. We do make a difference.
Book Description
The first warning shots of WW III have already been fired
The escalating terrorist attacks in the Middle East and in major cities in the West are not isolated acts of extremism. They are the first warning shots fired in a coming world war.
For decades, prophecy expert Grant R. Jeffrey has been analyzing geopolitical developments through the lenses of history, religion, and prophecy. As current events unfold according to the prophecies of the Bible, Jeffrey says Islamic extremists are preparing to attack Israel and conquer western civilization–destroying our freedom.
Drawing from firsthand interviews, intelligence reports, and ancient prophecy, Jeffrey reveals:
·Saddam Hussein’s role in the 9/11 attack on America
·Where Iraq hid its Weapons of Mass Destruction
·How Russia and extreme Islam will launch World War III
·The Bible’s prophecy of the destruction of extremist Islam
·How Israel will rebuild the Temple in Jerusalem
With Grant Jeffrey’s incisive and sometimes surprising analysis, you can understand the hidden agenda and powerful players behind today’s news headlines.
Customer Reviews:
Grant Jeffrey opens mouth, nonsense comes out.......2007-05-19
This is the same author who wrote an ENTIRE book predicting the Y2K computer bug would wipe out the economy and usher in the anti-christ. I would have assumed after that fiasco the Christians would have laughed him off the stage, but I assumed wrong. He is still on television and still selling ridiculous books.
I admit I only read the intro to this book at the store. I sure as heck wasn't going to buy it. I also watch him once in a blue moon for a few minutes when I need a laugh.
Jeffrey would have people believe the temple is about to be built any day now. People, listen to me, the temple is in our hearts, it is not the literal temple in Israel. The temple in Israel would be at the Dome of the Rock, one of Islam's most sacred sites. The second Israel went to build there, every nation in the Middle East would IMMEDIATELY declare war on Israel. If you are waiting for the temple to be rebuilt so the end times could begin soon, you better wait thousands of years or more.
Jeffrey says the weapons of mass destruction from Iraq were trucked to Syria where they will be used in the end times war. I voted for George W. Bush twice. I only say that to establish I am not an anti-war leftist. The truth is Iraq NEVER did have weapons of mass destruction. After Sadaam was overthrown, American weapons inspectors offered any Iraqi huge cash rewards and asylum for information on the weapons. Someone in the production, storage, or transport of these weapons would have seized that offer, but they didn't exist. 2)To FURTHER debunk Jeffrey's myth, the weapons have a very limited shelf life once they are produced. They do not stay weapons grade very long, but quickly break down in a matter of months. They would no longer be a military threat even if they were sent to Syria(which they weren't).
My fellow Christians, quit embarrassing the Kingdom by buying this drivel and hopefully these end times idiots will disappear. Revelation is what happens in our hearts. Consider this: In Revelation 8, one-third of the earth is set on fire, one-third of the sea becomes blood, one-third of water is made bitter, one-third of the sun, moon, and stars become dark, insects are tormenting people, billions of people die, a 200 million man army is on the march.....and what do people do??? They line up to take the mark of the beast so they could go on buying and selling!!! Buying and selling what??? Get some common sense people. Revelation is a metaphor for our own individual hearts.
Very informative & well detailed!.......2007-03-20
Mr. Jeffrey dispenses supportive information to his opinion of the second coming of Jesus Christ!
Not only did he displayed supportive information on the second coming, but he thoroughly expelled the most forgotten details which occured in 2002 and beyond (for example, The Spetznaz truck (convoys) leaving Iraq, heading towards Syria and Iran; the disclosure of photos of the Spetznaz convoys (Russian-owned Spetznaz, that is) from the satellite imagery; reports supporting the cover up of nondisclosure removal of the missing WMD in these Spetznaz trucks by Bush and his CIA; contacts between Saddam Hussein and Osama Bin Laden in AFRICA in the 90's, etc.).
This book discloses missing facts and is an eye opener.
I truly believe, we are living those last days of age and the second coming is near.
Title does not match content.......2007-02-13
Found it to be filled with more history and statistics than what the title states is in the content of this book. The author threw a curve when he went on a rant about those who believe in the Trinity. I fail to understand how belief, or non-belief, in a triune God is relevant to the topic of end times or biblical prophesy.
Nifty Compact Treatment.......2007-01-29
With mainline churches in America (and elsewhere) unraveling, and conservative religion (of all faiths) on the increase, it is no wonder there would be a corner for a nifty little book like this. Make no mistake, it is a powerhouse of sorts..lots of current information that is not found elsewhere, well-documented, rare facts gleaned (presumably) from Grant's visits to the Middle East, written in a fast, tight style. That is, until 2/3 of the way through the book when he shifts to evangelical theology of end time events, and this continues through the remainder of the book. Evangelical theology in America has many favorite doctrines, several of them in this book (the 144,000 being witnesses in Revelation for example). He preaches a literal end time Temple in Jerusalem (some theologians see the use of "temple" in the New Testament restricted to the church as God's temple, but Grant has Scripture support for his thesis as well). The advantage of this book is it's little known and well-documented facts, current information, and well-written first 2/3 of the book detailing what he sees is coming as a result of the Mid East unrest. It is hard to put down, and due to it's size (176 pps plus supplements) can be read in two days carefully, and should be considered an update of The American Prophecies by Mike Evans. Well worth reading.
Boring.......2007-01-26
I found this book quite boring with a lot of detailed info concerning islam, al qaida, bin Laden and other such things that have very little relevance to an average christian. If you have seen Mr. Jeffrey on Benny Hinn's TV programmes, you have heard all you need to know about this book. I was very disappointed.
Book Description
In 1945, a mysterious Nazi secret weapons project code-named The Bell left its underground bunker in lower Silesia, with its project documentation, and the 4-star SS general Hans Kammler. Taken aboard a massive six engine Junkers 390 ultra-long range aircraft, The Bell, Kammler, and all project records disappeared completely, along with the gigantic Junkers 390 carrying them. It has been speculated that it flew to Argentina. As a prelude to this disappearing act, the SS murdered most of the scientists and technicians involved with the project, a secret weapon that, according to one German Nobel prize-winning physicist, was given a classification of decisive for the war -- the highest security classification. Offered here is a range of exotic technologies the Nazis researched, and challenges to the conventional views of the end of World War Two, the Roswell incident, and the beginning of MAJIC-12, the government's alleged secret team of UFO investigators.
Customer Reviews:
The Nazis are still here??!!.......2007-09-02
It starts with a rambling history of the Nazi experiments with levitation, atomic power, and zero point energy. I say rambling, because in contrast to the book that got me started on this subject was "The Hunt for Zero Point" by Nick Cook, which is a very grounded (no pun intended) and less fringy take on the subject. Very well written, too.
Now, back to the book by Farrell:
Okay, the Nazi scientists emigrated to the US to work on our space program. Okay, I buy that. He goes into a lot of speculation about stealth technology (again, see Cooks book for a better take) and the physics of levitation generated by Mercury spinning really really fast, which was mentioned in some ancient Sanskrit text... THEN, Farrell drops some hokey documents on our lap and says that the Nazis helped orchestrate the JFK assassination and, by the way, we may already have a base on the Moon and Mars.
Huh? You have to read it to follow the chain of information. It IS compelling, but it just makes the author sound like a maniac, who, in his acknowledgements, thanks his parents for letting him set up camp in their basement to write this book. Obviously a book meant for the subculture of people who are convinced the Chupacabra is the pet dog of the Grey aliens, and he got lost on his way to Bigfoot's house.
Yeah. He also acknowledges David Hatcher Childress, who... well, just do a search for the books he is attached to to see where HE is coming from. Fringe-o-philes...
Interesting pile of ideas in here to fuel some comic book writer somewhere. If taken for what it is, it reads like a weird espionage alternate history sci-fi. For that point along, I give it three stars.
good book.......2007-08-23
If you are interested in weird ideas about world war II, this book is definitely worth the read.
Very little in this book seems to be supported by hard evidence, and yet the information is useful.
This book is NOT just a list of usupported claims like many books about the weird side of the Nazis are.
Full course dinner plus dessert.......2007-07-13
This book is one big meal of a read. I read it a few years back and it remains one of my favorite in the field of alternative technologies and history. Not only is it well written (I enjoy Farrell's writing...see Giza Deathstar series) but it keeps the mind buzzing. If you have a feeling there is more to history than what you got in high school this is a great place to start an investigation. I would feel confident in offering an expanded review once I reread the title to refresh my memory so for now, trust me, this is a great book. Not for summer reading unless this is what you usually read. Not for the light hearted.
Amazing Connections.......2007-02-26
Where the author of this book has had to take some venturous assumptions on, he uses a lot of very well documented 'finds' to substantiate them - amazing finds that will astound those unfamiliar with how far really the Reich was able to go before the war's end in 1945.
The logical conclusions Joseph Farrell comes to, and the amazing substantiated technology that a secret few in the brotherhood were privy to gives you a wide open door for any UFO researcher, armchair or otherwise to be better equiped in debunking possible alien myths, and/or truths we are living in these very days.
Be spellbound, entertained and gripped by this amazing book. Where it has a ton on what was going on 'back then'(and therefore fills in a lot of blanks our history books left us), you will find it relates to everything going on today, right now, right before your very eyes!
Joseph Farrell shares his expertise in the science world giving the reader a huge leg up on how these events relate to modern science/phenomena; the findings in this work clearly interleaves well with other researchers who have written about the 'spiritual side' of our political world and their unique attachments to the 'other side'.
An excellent read and I heartily recommend it - some of it is 'open minded', and after you see what he is writing about, you can understand how it all fits! The rest is pure 'connect the fact-dots!' and you definately get the same picture...
Revelations of a global conspiracy - truth or untruth?.......2007-01-09
Joseph P. Farrell's The SS Brotherhood of the Bell continues the author's work - brought out in the so-called Giza trilogy and the "Reich of the Black Sun" - advocating that the general public has been deceived by its leaders for the better part of the 20th Century, and that the deception has been exacerbated in the new century. Mr. Farrell's contention is that there is an alternative doctrine of physics that - if studied and understood by experts and laymen - provides a general set of explanations for a variety of "mysteries" in our world such as UFOs. At the risk of grossly mis-stating the author's explanation, it seems to me that this "ether physics" is based broadly on the notion that our very environment is alive with energy rather than objects within the environment being the source of energy. The most notable result of this theory is that an object would be able to move through the environment by creating shifts in the ether. Call it whatever you wish, but this caused me to simplify the theory down to magnetic power...
Central to his premise is also the need to accept that - if ether physics are valid - then there has been a systematic and prolonged effort by those in power to hide this information from us. And, further accepting the credo that "knowledge is power" as the justification for such actions, one is directed by the author towards the conclusion that a worldwide entity larger than any single government is manipulating our lives.
Farrell contends that while ether physics is not a new theory. In fact, in his earlier books on the pyramids at Giza being sources of ether-physics-related power, this science is virtually antediluvian. It was, however, Nazi Germany and its links to the occult that caused resurgence in experimentation into ether physics in terms of its military potential. While discussing various technologies - as he did in his earlier book Reich of the Black Sun - the center-piece of this book is an alleged experiment that is more-or-less eponymous with the title of this book.
The bare details are this: the Germans were experimenting with high speed magnetic rotation of various elements. The results of these experiments are mysterious, deadly and, in some cases, contradictory, depending upon references. Core to this part of the story is published material from a Polish research named Igor Witkowski. He claims to have accessed documents that were held in the former German Democratic Republic but are now being accessed with the collapse of Communism. It is Witkowski's work - also cited heavily in Nick Cook's The Hunt for Zero Point - that is the basis for the bell-related information in Farrell's book.
All concerned conclude their stories with the scientific equipment and records being taken by SS Obergruppenfuehrer Hans Kammler, a real person who had virtual total control of the German secret programs in the 1944/1945 timeframe. But, with Witkowski and Cook are somewhat vague about what happened with the end of World War two, Farrell is adamant in his belief that Kammler and other former regime members were able to cut deals with all the allied powers and, in doing so, were able to establish themselves as an extra-national entity that operates to this day. This entity has been able to maintain itself by nefarious actions that, Farrell implies, may have included the assassination of John F. Kennedy!
As part of this startling allegation, Farrell continues on to presents his view that the entity that is controlling and manipulating the post-modern world is dominated by a "next-generation" Nazis who have taken over the older more established behind the scenes New World order groups such as the Illuminati, the Council and Foreign Relations and Skull and Bones. Thus, the author states that Bush, pere and fils, along with John Kerry are either willing accomplices or subjugated dupes.
What is true and what is not true in this book is a matter of personal choice. While one can say, "You cannot make this stuff up!" it is also clear that one could. In light of this, The SS Brotherhood of the Bell falls into the same literary/historical niche as such events as The Philadelphia Experiment and Roswell, where it is certain something happened but the details and the actual accuracy of those details is extremely unclear.
As I implied, it is up to each and every reader of this book to make his/her rational decision about whether or not to believe all or some of what is contained in this book.
Book Description
More than half a million copies of Chickenhawk have been sold since it was first published in 1983. Now with a new afterword by the author and photographs taken by him during the conflict, this straight-from-the-shoulder account tells the electrifying truth about the helicopter war in Vietnam. This is Robert MasonÂ's astounding personal story of men at war. A veteran of more than one thousand combat missions, Mason gives staggering descriptions that cut to the heart of the combat experience: the fear and belligerence, the quiet insights and raging madness, the lasting friendships and sudden death—the extreme emotions of a “chickenhawk” in constant danger.
Customer Reviews:
A compelling, gut-wreching book that makes you cheer and makes you cry, leaving an unforgetable impression.......2007-02-26
The author has a easy to read come-a-long with me style of writing that works exceptionally well given that he by-in-large avoids the politics except as they intersect in the daily life of an army pilot making these rare scenes very compelling such as Bob in is Saigon hotel on R&R contemplating the question, "Why don't the Vietnamese fight the VC like the VC fight the Vietnamese?" We share these thought with Bob as if for the first time in spite of the many years that have passed. The understanding that the war was not "winable" the way it was being fought dawns on both the author and the reader and we share the author's dispair.
The air action scenes are the best ever put to pen and the best ever likely to emerge from the SE Asian conflict. The author exhibits a rare and powerful ability to paint vivid scenes with a great economy of words that makes the text both crisp and very fast paced.
Honesty and rye humor coexist with raw human emotions of grief, injustice, fear and anger providing an authentic feel as the author spares no one especially himself a good hard look in the mirror and in spite of his defects the author becomes an unlikely hero who you can't help but like and this makes the closing lines so very painful.
Chickhawk is the best book produced for laymen on airmoble warfare and is certainly in the running for the best book ever about the Vietnam war.
Two faces in South-Vietnam.......2007-01-10
Chickenhawk? Yes, these men in their 20s both feared their missions and fought for them to the limits of what their harware allowed them to do, displaying incredible bravery. This story takes you in South-Vietnam and into the world of the Air Cavalry that distinguished brilliantly itself in this theater of operations. Reading this book tells even tricks to better fly the very much famed "Huey Chopper" under extreme conditions. This book is one of the very finest choice for the UH-1D engagement in SEA. Thank you so much Mr. R. Mason!
Outstanding!.......2007-01-05
One of the most interesting books I've read in a long time! Mr. Mason puts the reader in the pilot's seat of his helicopter, and you won't be able to look away!
Woes of a wobbly-one........2006-08-14
I recently gave away my copy of this marvelous book to my son. It wasn't too long before I went into withdrawal and bought myself another copy. Bob Mason is a truly honest man, which is not to say that he never lied, cheated, or stole, but that he is one of those rare individuals who can look at himself in the mirror and see himself as he really is, warts and all. That takes an admirable form of courage that most of us don't have. I couldn't do a memoir the way he did. I had to resort to an alter-ego in my own book. I won't claim more warts than Bob, but the ones I have I don't like.
Like Bob, I got into the Army Warrant Officer Helicopter Flight Program after high school in 1967. I was a typical wobbly-one, long on enthusiasm for flying, short on brains, experience, maturity, character, morals, and wisdom. Hey, I was only nineteen! But I sure liked to fly, especially choppers, especially Bell Helicopter's masterpiece, the UH-1 `Huey.' Bob was just coming home from Vietnam the year before I enlisted. He was one of the pioneers of the airmobile concept, assigned to the 1st Cav and traveling to Vietnam by boat with the unit's choppers lashed to the deck. I was appalled at the initial treatment he and the other warrant officers received once they arrived in country. They had to dig their own bunkers. Warrant officers are `supposed' to be officers, rating the respect and privileges of commissioned officers. Actually the commissioned officers used to joke that a warrant officer was just a spec-four with a club card. Still I had to admit that when a unit is freshly arrived in a combat zone, getting shelter up quickly is essential, and I would hate to have been killed in a mortar attack that night because I was too proud to fill sand bags that day.
The real appeal of the book is the white-knuckle flying action scenes. They were often times hair-raising nightmares, and the crews were scared to death, but some how they got the job done anyway--hence, the name of the book, `Chickenhawk.' Warrant officers were funny that way--no mission was impossible. Commissioned pilots tended to fall back on the regulations when things got rough. They had college degrees and were smarter than we were. They tended to live longer too. There were exceptions in both cases, but what I said was generally true in Army aviation.
I was saddened by the fall from grace that Bob experienced when he returned stateside. He had spent a year comporting himself bravely, and now he was haunted by that same bravery. I bought and read his second book, curious I guess, at just how far his downward spiral would take him. And he sank pretty far before he finally autorotated his life to a safe landing. I finally concluded that he was one of those guys who should have stayed in combat, extending his tour 12 months at a time, taking a month off in between to visit his wife in Honolulu. That was where he was at his best--impossible missions, tracers flying everywhere, too dark to see, too dangerous to turn on the lights, breaking every flight safety regulation imaginable, and then getting chewed out by the old man while he was pinning another air medal on his chest. Of course if Bob had done that, we probably wouldn't be reading his fine books today.
--Ejner Fulsang, author of "A Knavish Piece of Work," www.AarhusPublishing.com
Garbage.......2006-06-11
What a waste of time, and money. I tossed it the trashcan where it belongs.
Book Description
In his fascinating new book, Jonathan D. Moreno investigates the deeply intertwined worlds of cutting-edge brain science, U.S. defense agencies, and a volatile geopolitical landscape where a nation's weaponry must go far beyond bombs and men. The first-ever exploration of the connections between national security and brain research, Mind Wars: Brain Research and National Defense reveals how many questions crowd this gray intersection of science and government and urges us to begin to answer them.
From neuropharmacology to neural imaging to brain-machine interface devices that relay images and sounds between human brains and machines, Moreno shows how national security entities seek to harness the human nervous system in a multitude of ways as a potent weapon against the enemy soldier. Moreno charts such projects as monkeys moving robotic arms with their minds, technology to read the brain’s thought patterns at a distance, the development of "anti-sleep" drugs to enhance soldiers’ battle performance and others to dampen their emotional reactions to the violence, and advances that could open the door to "neuroweapons"—virus-transported molecules to addle the brain.
"As new kinds of weapons are added to the arsenal already at the disposal of fallible human leaders," Moreno writes, "we need to find new ways to address the problem"--of the ethical military application of so powerful and intimate a science. This book is the first step in confronting the quandaries inherent in this partnership of government and neuroscience, serves as a compelling wake-up call for scientists and citizens, and suggests that, with imagination, we might meet the needs of both security and civil liberty.
Customer Reviews:
Interesting analysis of military uses of brain research.......2007-05-06
This is an intriguing but speculative volume exploring the possible national defense uses of human brain research. The author, Jonathan Moreno, states his fundamental hypothesis. The idea behind this book (page 3): ". . .if national security agencies had so much interest in how the relatively primitive brain science of the 1950s and 1960s [e.g., testing the effects of LSD] could help find ways to gain a national security edge, surely they must be at least as interested today, when neuroscience is perhaps the fastest growing scientific field, both in terms of numbers of scientists and knowledge being gained." The author wonders at the lack of "ethical discussion among neuroscientists on the national security applications of their work" (page 5).
Moreno speculates about a number of possible links between brain research and national security. Among possible applications: (a) How to better interrogate possible intelligence sources; (b) brainwashing/mind control; (c) improving the performance of our own troops (e.g., how to deal with fatigue); (d) nonlethal weapons.
He concludes the book with a chapter entitled "Toward an ethics of neurosecurity," in which he argues that we need to explore the ethics of possible applications of brain research for national security. He also notes that (page 183) "We should be able to learn and apply the lessons of the new brain science for peaceful purposes. . . . The fields of conflict resolution and peace studies could enrich and be enriched by information from the neurosciences."
The arguments in the book tend to be speculative. The grounding of the argument is not always secure. However, the book does stimulate thinking about a cutting edge issue in application of contemporary science to national security. In that context, this book is useful reading.
Lots of material for public discussion of neuroethics.......2007-03-09
This is a great book, as long as you think of it as a book for laypeople, to get up to speed on ethical issues revolving around neuroscience research, especially as they relate to US military efforts. It is well written in a fairly conversational tone that keeps the reader interested. I was disappointed that, although it appeared to me at first to be an objective, academic book, it isn't really. I was misled because Moreno is an endowed professor of biomedical ethics, and there are 9 pages of "Sources" and an index. The trouble is that Moreno failed to link many of his points, facts, quotes, and opinions to any of the written sources; there are no citation numbers or other ways (except when he mentions names, which he often doesn't or can't) to trace something he said to the source. Given the highly speculative and controversial nature of the subject matter and how important it is to know where it came from, this would be inexcusable for an academic book. He might get 4.5 stars for his 2nd edition if he fixes this oversight.
Disclaimer: I am a neuroscientist and a pacifist. I wish Moreno had been clear about _his_ position, but we had to guess until p. 136 (out of 184), where he finally admits he finds himself "squarely in the middle" between Fukuyama's ("Our Posthuman Future") dread of all things new and the Futurists' transhumanism. I prefer Ramez Naam's stance, admitting often in his excellent book "More than human" that we ought to embrace, not fear, our ability to change humanity. Moreno's fence-straddling in many ways is a good thing; it allowed him to discuss both sides of a number of arguments rationally and in some detail. As a neuroscience insider (who does not accept military funding), I agree with him that too many researchers deny or ignore the ethical implications of their research.
Moreno's book is an important follow-up to Naam's, since Naam said we need to begin debating and planning for our transhuman future, and Moreno does a fine job of seriously beginning or expanding the parts of that discussion involving the nervous system. His final recommendation is that national committees be formed to make these debates more public. I hope that happens.
Any concerned with democracy, warfare or connections between science and politics must read this........2006-12-13
MIND WARS: BRAIN RESEARCH AND NATIONAL DEFENSE draws some important connections between psychological study and military objective, making it a recommended pick for both military and psychology collections at the college level. Here is a unique presentation of connections between natural security objectives and brain research, documenting ways in which U.S. security forces seek to manipulate the human nervous system to favor warriors and disrupt enemies. From virus-transported molecules called 'neuroweapons' to drugs which repress violent tendencies, neuroscience projects offer deadly potentials influencing not just battlefield applications, but civilians and freedom as well. Any concerned with democracy, warfare or connections between science and politics must read this.
Diane C. Donovan
California Bookwatch
Historical, Ethical, and Prospective Views of Neuroscience & the Military.......2006-12-04
Basic science has always had military applications, but only relatively recently has the defense industry actively funded and solicited scientists to optimize war. In "Mind Wars," Jonathan Moreno analyzes the military's intense interest in modern neuroscience from historical, scientific, and ethical perspectives.
A famous historical example of military funding basic science is the British intelligence services' employment of thousands of mathematicians - including artificial intelligence pioneer Alan Turing - to decipher the Enigma encryption system during World War II. Both the simultaneous development of the ENIAC computer and the role of Vannevar Bush (another artificial intelligence pioneer) as Roosevelt's science advisor helped to solidified the defense industry's interest in advanced mathematics and computer science.
Far less famous is the long-standing interest of the military in the behavioral sciences, which Jonathan Moreno carefully traces back to its roots in the psychological analyses of American soldiers in the 1950s to improve training and recruiting techniques. Moreno estimates that the military - including KUBARK, the codename for what would come to be known as the CIA - was the real source of nearly all federal funding for 1950's behavioral sciences. More than a third of American research psychologists were funded through such channels (frequently without their knowledge). This startling conclusion is validated by the involvement of several 1950's psychologists in the development of interrogation techniques (involving psychological torture and humiliation) as well as even by contemporary psychology's involvement in the Abu Ghraib scandal (and refusal by the American Psychological Association to critcize such practices).
After this historical introduction, "Mind Wars" turns its focus to the potential military applications of neuroscience - a field that represents the convergence of medical, computer and behavioral science, into each of which the military has poured enormous sums for decades. Moreno covers several existing programs, including the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency's (DARPA) Augmented Cognition (AugCog) and Preventing Sleep Deprivation (PSD) programs, involving the use of "smart drugs" like modafinil and CX717, as well as the development of nonlethal weapons such as hypersonic "high intensity directed acoustics" or microwave-radiating "active denial systems." Moreno also cautiously discusses some of the military's future directions, such as "rapid onset brain-targeted bioweapons," with a careful eye towards what is technically feasible and what is merely hype.
In what is probably the best part of "Mind Wars" (and unexpectedly so, at least for me), Moreno discusses the ethical implications of neuroscience's involvement with the military. Moreno admits that he is no "loose cannon" - indeed, he has given invited testimony to Congress, has served on two presidential ethics commissions, and is an advisor to the Department of Homeland Security. Nonethelesss his analysis is incredibly even-handed, bringing up topics like the philosophy of "dual use" for military science, the history of the practice of informed consent (which actually began in the military decades before it was used in academia), and the privacy implications of new neurotechnology.
The book itself is written in a highly conversational tone, filled with interesting and relevant personal anecdotes (of which Moreno has many; his father was a psychiatrist involved in the military testing of LSD). Moreno's sources are well cited, where possible: many of his government contacts declined to be identified by name.
"Mind Wars" will likely be enjoyed by both neuroscientists, psychologists, and lay people alike, although experts are likely to be familiar with most of the existing technologies and programs that Moreno reviews. On the other hand, the historical and ethical treatment of military neuroscience are the most timeless contributions of "Mind Wars" to this debate, and will be interesting to anyone with an interest in science and its applications.
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- The Language of God: A Scientist Presents Evidence for Belief
- The Nature of Consciousness : The Structure of Reality: Theory of Everything Equation Revealed : Scientific Verification and Proof of Logic God Is
- The New Media Reader
- The New Media Reader
Books Index
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