The Taming Of Chance (Ideas in Context)

Book Description

In this important new study Ian Hacking continues the enquiry into the origins and development of certain characteristic modes of contemporary thought undertaken in such previous works as his best selling Emergence of Probability. Professor Hacking shows how by the late nineteenth century it became possible to think of statistical patterns as explanatory in themselves, and to regard the world as not necessarily deterministic in character. Combining detailed scientific historical research with characteristic philosophic breath and verve, The Taming of Chance brings out the relations among philosophy, the physical sciences, mathematics and the development of social institutions, and provides a unique and authoritative analysis of the "probabilization" of the Western world.

Customer Reviews:

A fascinating chapter in the 'history of the present'........2007-09-30

This is a fascinating book, which charts the gradual development of statistical ideas in the nineteenth century, along with associated concepts, such as normalcy, chance, and determinism.

However, a few criticisms are in order. Hacking reports that there was a certain conceptual incoherence surrounding ideas relating to statistics in the 19th century, especially concerning ideas relating to determinism and chance. But I'm not quite sure that Hacking has been able to find the thread out of this confusion, as some confusions appear to remain rather resistant in spite of the narrative, which in general is admiringly clear. Three points will serve as examples:

Eastern and Western: Hacking describes two broad classes of reaction to the development of statistical reasoning; 'Western' (U.K. and France) and 'Eastern' (centred on what was then Prussia) approaches. Western thought, which was largely open to statistical reasoning, is described by Hacking as 'atomistic, individualistic, and liberal'. Eastern thought on the other hand was 'holistic, collectivist, and conservative', and critical of the developing trends of statistics.

Geographical and political issues aside, this characterization almost at once falls apart. For instance, slightly later in the book we are told that statistical methods were resisted in (French) medicine, as medicine was concerned with the individual case, not the average or normal, and hence statistical data was of no use. Immediately after reporting this, Hacking queries, without irony, 'how then could there be a use of statistics in human affairs? In the very institution designed to strip away the individuality of man, namely the court of law'. To add to the confusion, we later find out that Engel, the Prussian apparatchik, and hence 'Eastern' thinker, considered statistical reasoning to be part of a certain mentality he wished to avoid, that of determinism, which denies individual freedom. Likewise, the economist Wagner, Hacking reports, also adhered to this view. In fact there appears to have been a general resistance to statistical methods in the 'East' precisely because the so-called individualistic methods of the statisticians were seen as a threat to the concept of human freedom and individuality.

Durkheim, the French sociologist, whom we are at one point told was 'immersed' in the Western mentality, nevertheless ascribed the functioning of statistical laws to 'collective tendencies', in fact to 'social forces', rather than to the 'underlying little independent causes' of Quetelet, the French pioneer of statistical methodology.

No doubt there was some sort of difference at play here between East and West, but it strikes me that trying to distinguish these two cultures by calling one individualistic and the other collectivist does little to help.

The Title of the book: 'The Taming of Chance', especially if one recalls the title of Hacking's earlier book, 'The Emergence of Probability' which dealt with the preceding era, leads one to think that there are two parts to the development of the ideas mentioned in the book - initially, the emergence of ideas relating to chance and probability, and later their gradual 'taming'. But that would be a mistake. Hacking makes it quite clear that probabilistic and statistical laws were not initially seen to be in conflict with necessity or determinism. Hume, and other enlightenment thinkers, regarded chance as unreal, as merely an illusion caused by lack of knowledge. There was simply no chance around to be tamed, before the nineteenth century. It would appear instead that chance and its 'taming' emerged at the same time - the book then might have been more aptly titled 'The Emergence of Chance'. The idea of 'taming' seems to have slipped in from one of the book's sub-themes, the idea that statistical methods led to greater institutional control of human affairs, or from a certain conception of causality that I shall mention below.

Multiple causality, or causal sets: Quetelet, the French astronomer turned statistician, proposed a theory of 'little independent causes' to explain statistical regularity. The causes of individual cases of, say, suicide, or coin tosses, work independently of each other, but taken as a group, over all cases, they total up in a way predictable by probabilities. As far as Hacking is concerned this explanation 'does not hang together'. Be that as it may, it strikes me that there is an important aspect of Quetelet's purported explanation that deserves attention, and that is the idea that causes are best understood as existing in sets or groups. This idea is reinforced by similar attempts to explain the workings of statistical regularity later mentioned in the book - the holism of Boutroux and Durkheim, as well as the ideas of Peirce and Nietzsche. The latter two, for instance, tried to accommodate probability within causality by claiming that while causality itself may act in a determinate manner, the existence of specific causal laws themselves are a matter of chance. This explanation is not meaningful, it seems to me, unless one brings a prior notion of possibility to play in the existence of particular causal laws - not simply their actuality - as is done with the contemporary notion of possible worlds. To say that laws p, q, and r are possible in certain situations, but only p is actual in this case, is to use the idea of sets or classes of laws which are compossible with certain situations.

There is certainly an ambiguity in the concept of chance; there are at least two ideas involved: chance as opposed to causality, as pure chaos; and chance in consort with causality, 'tamed' chance, so-to-speak, chance that can '[bring] order out of chaos', chance that can support 'laws of chance' (quoted from the book's chapter summaries). Perhaps the idea of causal sets can bring some clarity to a familiar but nevertheless obscure concept, and to help to distinguish between different kinds of indeterminism that are often conflated.

Probable cause to read.......2007-06-17

Some works of non-fiction manage to be engaging throughout. Others, like the Taming of Chance, are important but can be tough to read through much of the text. Hacking takes on the history of probability; which he describes as "the philosophical success story of the first half of the 20th century." The taming of chance refers to the way apparently irregular events have been brought under the control of natural or social law.

Hacking takes us through the 19th century intellectual battle between adherents of determinism and probability's champions. The book devolves at times into more of a history of thought than a discussion of the implications of these changes in thinking. In fact, the author admits late in the book, "My chapters have become successively more removed from daily affairs."

He describes chance first as a concept that had no place in reasonable discourse during the Enlightenment. With the development of measures of probability around 1830, chance is condemned by "statistical fatalism" to irrelevance. Finally, with the development of quantum mechanics in 1930, chance becomes the critical element of life with which we are all too familiar.

Along the way, we learn that some proponents of probability helped create the idea that free will existed only in theory (from 1830 until 1930). Thus, criminals are behaving predictably and the degree of their personal responsibility is at issue. Hacking concludes, "we have not made our peace with statistical laws about people. They jostle far too roughly with our ideas about personal responsibility."

While I would not consider this book as light summer reading, it will reveal to the determined reader changes in historical thought with which he is not likely to be previously familiar.

not for everyone, maybe.......2005-12-26

but a mind-opener for those who are ready, an awesomely rewarding book for those who are willing to make the extra effort

Why bother?.......2005-07-24

If, somewhere, deep within the tortured bowels of this book, there is a central thesis that could be stated in a few short sentences and comprehended by most educated English-speaking peoples, I have yet to find it. Endless restatement, obfuscated in painfully cultivated strings of verbiage, of trivial fact is used to document an hypothesis that if stated clearly could be supported or refuted in about a page-and-a-half and then likely consigned to the graveyard of such endeavor. The prose is a true caricature of Derrida's; the logic is a laTour de force. Typical of such works, the author begins with a premise and then selectivley seeks textual support. Of course, such an approach can be conveniently utilized to support any premise and if written with sufficient opacity will pass for scholarship and great insight.

The book is an unreadable bloody bore; its value is restricted to its caloric content relative to the market price of a barrel of Texas sweet.

Between Necessity and Probability: Searching for the Definition of Life (Advances in Astrobiology and Biogeophysics)

Average customer rating:

An interesting book about a fundamental question

Between Necessity and Probability: Searching for the Definition of Life (Advances in Astrobiology and Biogeophysics)
Radu Popa
Manufacturer: Springer-Verlag
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 3540204903

Book Description

This study investigates the major theories of the origins of life in the light of modern research with the aim of distinguishing between the necessary and the optional and between deterministic and random influences in the emergence of what we call â€~life.â€™ Life is treated as a cosmic phenomenon whose emergence and driving force should be viewed independently from its Earth-bound natural history. The author synthesizes all the fundamental life-related developments in a comprehensive scenario, and makes the argument that understanding life in its broadest context requires a material-independent perspective that identifies its essential fingerprints.

Customer Reviews:

An interesting book about a fundamental question.......2004-11-08

How did life originate? Well, it's a wide open question. As Popa tells us, an explanation that is missing a critical step won't do. There are plenty of clues. But Popa shows us that there are still many approaches to putting the clues together.

There are plenty of approaches that are being pursued today. Popa tells us about many of them. Still, let's remind ourselves of some of them. One is to look for fossil evidence and DNA evidence of our earliest ancestors. Say that these turn out to be hyperthermophiles. Use that information, as well as the stability properties of RNA and DNA, to deduce the environment life originated in. A second idea is to look at the way we synthesize RNA (or DNA) today. Use that information to speculate about how the first RNA and DNA evolved. A third idea is to look at the self-assembly properties of entities for clues. A fourth idea is to note the similarity of ATP and the nucleic acid adenine. Assume this is no coincidence! A fifth idea is to do all sorts of experiments with collections of monomers and see if they arrange themselves into replicating strings. A sixth idea is to concentrate on computer simulations of all this. Computer simulations of the origin of replication show that there are some dangers, such as the "selfish RNA catastrophe," the "short-circuit catastrophe," the "population collapse catastrophe," and simply the risk of too many replication errors. Draw conclusions from the fact that these hazards were successfully avoided. A seventh idea is to at least answer the question of what came first, replication, metabolism, or cellularization. And so on. It seems that there is a great deal we aren't at all sure of.

Popa starts with the issue of the issue of the development of cellularization, metabolism, and replication. He asserts that since all are needed for life, they must have evolved together, not serially. He states that the ATP coincidence probably is unimportant, with ATP's use as an energy carrier being a late development. And he takes on the mathematical modelers by stating that they generally omit first order effects by not tracing the energy flow and the degradation of the evolving entities.

The issues Popa dwells on most are the energy sources, bioinformation, chirality, and the origin of specificity (as opposed to "metabolism" or "homeostasis"). Of these, the part on chirality was the most interesting to me. Popa discusses the implication that life's chirality implies the existence of some large-scale chiral driver, such as rotating vortices or asymmetries in right and left circularly polarized light.

There's also quite a bit of useful material about the definition of life. Popa is right to make the point that "life" and "living entities" are not at all synonymous.

Anyway, it is an interesting book about a tough problem: I'm glad I can just read about it and don't have to solve it!

Average customer rating:

Amusing reversal of fantasy cliches
Great Book
Same story with a twist.
Root for the bad guys!
Wonderful book

Villains by Necessity
Eve Forward
Manufacturer: Tor Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

Contemporary | General | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books

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ASIN: 0312857896

Customer Reviews:

Amusing reversal of fantasy cliches.......2007-06-29

This book is a refreshing reversal of the tropes of "extruded fantasy product"---IOW, the stuff that's been ground out by the yard for decades. It also asks an interesting question: Can "Good," if taken too far, become an evil in itself, if only by unbalancing things?

Great Book.......2006-10-13

I absolutely love this book. I read it at least once a year for a good chuckle. I don't know about you, but all your typical, goody two shoes, self righteous heros and heroines bore me to death, and reading about them gets very old. If you're like me, and like your characters with a few flaws, and a sense of humor; or just someone you can relate to..you'll be very amused and entertained with this book. I wish Eve Forward would write a series on this.

Same story with a twist........2006-09-19

In quite a few of the sci-fi/fantasy books, the storyline is the same. A group of heroes with different skills get together to combat evil to save the world. This story is the same concept, however the "heroes" are actually villains, getting together to save the world from being set off balance and destroyed by light. It is a very good story, with full interpretation of each character.

Root for the bad guys!.......2006-06-18

After an all-out war, Good has at last truimphed over Evil. Peace, milk and cookies now reign over all the kingdoms. But something is wrong. The total victory of the forces of Good has created an internal imbalance in the universe and now, unless Evil is raised up to a measure of its former glory, the world will end. It falls upon an assorted group of leftover minor villains and misfits to save the day. Included in this contentious band are: Sam, a bored assassin always clothed in black; Arcie, his vertically-challenged sneakthief sidekick; Valeriana, an embittered sorceress; Kaylana, a Druid priestess; Blackmail, a mute black knight; and Robin, a naive minstrel-centaur who chronicles the villains' deeds. Pursued and harried at every turn by the minions of Good, with a spy lurking (but more likely, cantering) in their midst, this bunch of lowlifes must learn to co-exist and then somehow reopen the magically sealed Darkgate and release darkness back into the world. Only the Good die young? Not in this book.

Eve Forward may be the daughter of sci-fi writer Robert L. Forward but this debut novel is more reminiscent of Roger Zelazny's work, in its wit, tone and predisposition to upending themes. She writes with zest and imparts a sense of satiric fun to the epic proceedings. Her oily-haired assassin Sam is an endearing character, never mind that he's technically a bad guy. I fervently hope she puts out more books in the feature. I wouldn't mind a bit if she revisits this fantasy universe.

Lastly, this book needs to be re-released and soon. I've looked everywhere for a copy and the lowest price I've found is $38.25 for a paperback from the original printing.

Wonderful book.......2005-10-14

I was introduced to this book my freshman year of college. Since then I have read this book close to a thousand times (ok maybe not that many but close). I can open the book anywhere and start reading.

One of the things I like about "Villians by Necessity" is that the "heros" are not the typical knight in shinning armor type.

I was dissapointed by the end of the book, but overall I truley enjoyed it.

Beautiful Necessity: The Art and Meaning of Women's Altars

Average customer rating:

Beautiful and Meaningful
Highly Recommended
Absolute Necessity

Beautiful Necessity: The Art and Meaning of Women's Altars
Kay Turner
Manufacturer: Thames & Hudson
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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Altars: Bringing Sacred Shrines into Your Everyday Life
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ASIN: 0500281505

Book Description

In the most basic sense, an altar is a home for sacred images, a place for venerating and inviting the comfort, help, and companionship of the gods. But the amazing, dazzling, decorative, poignant, picturesque, inspiring, glowing, passionate altars in this book are not those of churches and temples, designed for the official worship of an omniscient god ceremoniously tended by a priest, rabbi, or minister. Instead, these places are the expression of the most intimate beliefs and fears, memories and dreams of women who are making new spiritual traditions from ancient ones--pagan, goddess, Celtic, Hindu, Buddhist, Catholic, Greek Orthodox. No one knows more about this remarkable efflorescence than Kay Turner, who has been exploring the subject for over twenty years since accidentally encountering the extraordinary altar of a Quiche Maya woman--described by its maker as a "beautiful necessity"--in Quetzaltenango, Guatemala. Since then she has gathered abundant evidence of how this phenomenon grips women in the most diverse locations, from the studios of artists in New York, Detroit, and San Francisco to the kitchens of Mexican-American homes in Texas, from Mama Lola celebrating Afro-Caribbean gods in Brooklyn to a Wiccan priestess in California worshiping the goddess Aphrodite. The statues, flowers, pictures, photographs, drawings, amulets, pieces of shell, and bits of earth that are collaged together and reproduced here in color represent their makers' histories, beliefs, and desires. Turner draws out the personal stories that lie behind the altars and explains their appeal and significance for everyone.

Customer Reviews:

Beautiful and Meaningful.......2003-11-27

Beautiful work that shows the souls of women, and how they arrange their personal space to display what is important to them.

Many of the illustrations and texts focus on Mexican and Mexican-American women and their Catholic shrines/altars (this is what the author has studied the most), but there are also illustrations of Goddess, Celtic, African, Hindu, Buddhist, and Orthodox altars pictured in the book. The text is well written, but the pictures are definitely the highlight of the book.

Highly Recommended.......2003-01-09

This book provides a thorough and well written discussion of various aspects of women's altars. If you maintain a home altar, you may experience a deep revelation of how women across cultures and religions have similar practices and understandings of the sacred altar space. Turner's book does a wonderful job with photographic images of altars created by women practicing different traditions, including Goddess worship, Catholicism, and Buddhism. I was unaware of how altar traditions are often passed down through women in the family or that women are the primary caretakers of altars in certain cultures. Turner's discussion of techniques that are shared by women, such as collage, was wonderful to read. I thought some of the practices I had been doing were unique to me, since I was not taught them. How great to discover women share these creative practices and approaches to the spiritual realm collectively. This book is a true gift.

Absolute Necessity.......2000-08-26

Kay Turner's Beautiful Necessity graces its readers with balance and bounty. In its image-filled pages, one finds scholarship and story, history and anecdote, ritual and spontaneity, tradition and innovation, honor and humor: in all, the elements of a living altar. For those versed in altar tradition and practice, Beautiful Necessity affirms the sacred act of connection to that larger than the self; for those new to the tradition, welcome after welcome is given. Anyone who has ever -- who hasn't? -- found or made a meaningful connection to the sacred through objects or images will see themselves reflected here. One surprise after another greets readers throughout the book: perhaps one of the biggest surprises is the enduring and unquestionable connection between the altars themselves, made by women separated by time, place and history. Turner focuses on the ritual gestures of offering -- physical, spiritual, incantatory, conversational-- and manages, through carefully distinct chapters, to bring together the whole of altar practice via attention to distinct aspects and traditions; detail after detail stands out, and still the different altars come together into a practice, a way of being. This is remarkable, since even the contemporary altars vary from ephemeral performance art installations in New York City to long-enduring, cherished domestic altars in homes on several continents. Buy the book. Read the book. Make an altar, or return to the altar you have, or to your appreciation of another, refreshed and restored by this wide-ranging illumination of spiritual and artistic practice and belief. You need this book.

Partners In Necessity (Liaden Universe Novel)

Average customer rating:

memorable characters
this is wonderful writing
Absolutely Wonderful - DO NOT MISS THIS ONE!!
Marvelous! Exciting, emotional, well-drawn, ... Read it!
Lived up to Expectations

Partners In Necessity (Liaden Universe Novel)
Sharon Lee , and Steve Miller
Manufacturer: Meisha Merlin Publishing, Inc.
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 1592221181

Amazon.com

Whether you love Bujold's A Civil Campaign, McCaffrey's Dragonriders of Pern series, or classics like The Prisoner of Zenda, you owe it to yourself to grab Partners in Necessity. You'll see why Sharon Lee and Steve Miller have gained devoted fans since the first three Liaden novels (collected here) first appeared; they helped bring the series back with the publication of Plan B 11 years after its debut. This is swashbuckling space opera at its finest, a blend of adventure, romance, humor, and terrific world building.

Meet Priscilla Delacroix y Mendoza, betrayed and stranded on a backward world by the Liaden trader she served as cargo master. Fortunately, another Liaden ship, Dutiful Passage, makes orbit and she applies for work. The captain, Shan yos'Galen, also has accounts to settle with Priscilla's former employers, and "among Liadens, revenge is something of an art form." Conflict of Honors is their story. In Agent of Change, Val Con yos'Phelium, Shan's cousin and foster brother, comes to the aid of Miri Robertson, former mercenary and bodyguard, who's being hunted by an interstellar crime cartel. Once a First-in Scout, he's become a spy for Liad, programmed to play the odds ruthlessly. He's just committed a murder. They flee together, aided by Edger, an alien shaped like a turtle. His "four-hundred pound bottle-green frame" is impressive to the Clans of Men, as are the beautiful, deadly knives of his people. He's considered a bit hasty by colleagues, but his appreciation of music is keen and he regards Val Con as a brother. In Carpe Diem, the stories of Val Con and Miri, and Shan and Priscilla come together and the story of Clan Korval, to which Shan and Val Con belong, unfolds further.

Once you've sampled Lee and Miller's Liaden Universe, you'll be delighted that Plan B and Pilot's Choice are available now, with I Dare still to come. Join SF and fantasy writers from Anne McCaffrey to Barry Longyear in badgering them for more. --Nona Vero

Book Description

Here they are again, the three novels that introduced us all to the Liaden Universe over a decade ago. It is time to get reacquainted with our old friends: Edger & Sheather, Liz, Susiki, Jason & Anthora, Val Con & Miri and Priscilla & Shan. Remember how Miri and Val Con first met? How about the trouble Priscilla was in before she met Shan? Who can forget the way that Edger and Sheather have of coming to a friend's rescue or contemplating the weave of a carpet? Partners in Necessity also contains a new introduction by Anne McCaffery and a new afterword by Sharon Lee and Steve Miller. The exceptional cover art is by Michael Herring.

Customer Reviews:

memorable characters.......2007-02-20

The plot keeps things moving along, but what makes these novels great is the characters. Real conflict, real choices to make, and real growth over time as well. Quite a world, and quite a story. I particularly liked the first of the three novels collected here.

this is wonderful writing.......2005-12-29

This is a story for people like me who love a good story.whatever the label. These are people like you and me, who laugh, love, care, hurt, You rejoice with their triumphs and cry with their sorrows. It will stay on my bookshelf forever

Absolutely Wonderful - DO NOT MISS THIS ONE!!.......2004-01-30

Partners in Necessity is an omnibus edition of three novels: Conflict of Honors, Agent of Change & Carpe Diem.

Conflict of Honors: Priscilla Delacroix y Mendoza left her homeplanet when she was only sixteen, convicted of blasphemy and exiled to be homeless and clanless, but she survived. Ten years later, after working her share of grunt jobs, she was the cargo master on the Daxflan, a Liaden ship captained by Sav Rid Olanek. It wasn't an easy job as Terrans were treated like second-class citizens and the second mate, Dagmar, kept trying to "charm" her into a relationship, but Priscilla could not afford to leave the ship and damage her reputation so she stayed. Then Priscilla discovered that the Captain had taken on a cargo of illegal drugs and passed them off as innocent pharmaceuticals. Priscilla tried to hide her knowledge, but she found herself knocked out and locked up on a second-class planet with no money, no job and a resume that now claimed she was a thief.

Priscilla knew that she had to get off the planet and hunt down the Daxflan, if for nothing else than to reclaim her possessions, so she turned to the only ship in orbit at the time - the Dutiful Passage captained by Shan yos'Galan. Unbelievably, the Captain hired her as a pet librarian and then proceeded to help her with pilot and leadership training. Priscilla did not know quite how to react to the friendship of those aboard the Dutiful Passage, but she slowly started to think of the ship as her home. But Dagmar and Captain Olanek were not going to let Priscilla escape and they had a score to settle against Shan yos'Galan, her beloved Captain and source of protection...

Agent of Change: Val Con yos'Phelium, Clan Korval, future Delm and Second Speaker, was just doing a routine mission on some backwater planet in the middle of the universe when his life changed. After completing his mission, he encountered a small spitfire of a woman and saved her life, for which she promptly repaid him by bashing his head in. When Val Con woke up, the spitfire dumped him, but Val Con was intrigued, so he followed her and saved her life again. Now Miri Robertson, whose life he had saved twice, was forced to deal with Val Con, honor demanded it. She was intrigued by Val Con, whom she nicknamed "Tough Guy", but definitely didn't want a partner. As a former mercenary and bodyguard, she could handle herself and, as a target for the powerful Juntavas crime ring, she couldn't trust anyone...

However, both Val Con and Miri, both of whom were used to working alone, soon found that they worked well as partners, at least they would if Miri would stop trying to ditch Val Con at every opportunity. Val Con knew that Miri was something special, she made him feel things that he hadn't felt in years, she made him feel alive again. Miri didn't know what was wrong with Val Con, but she knew it had something to do with what he called The Loop, some kind of brain implant that gave him the odds of success on every mission/action he made. As they grew closer together, both Val Con and Miri realized that the Department of the Interior, who had trained Val Con as an agent, must have some ulterior motive in plan. But in order to find out what it was, they had to stay alive...

Carpe Diem: Val Con his lifemate, Miri Robertson were ordered not to be harmed by the Juntavas syndicate. However, personal interpretation of 'not be harmed' left Val Con and Miri on a broken-down spaceship in the middle of nowhere with the enemy Yxtrang ready to kill them for the hunk of junk they were sitting in. However, Val Con and Miri managed to rig something together and 'jumped' to one of the nearest planets - a backwater world named Vandar.

Vandar had no contact with the outside universe and didn't even know that other cultures existed. With no spaceships and no radio comm that they could use, Val Con and Miri tried to resign themselves to a long stay and set about learning the culture and the language. Meanwhile, Shan yos'Galan, Val Con's brother and his lifemate, Priscilla, began searching the galaxy for him, as did Edger and Sheather, Val Con's Clutch brothers. Back on Liad, Nova yos'Galan, Val Con's sister, had translated a cryptic message from Val Con that, while ensuring the Clan of the heir's survival, told them precious little else. But she did discover that the Department of the Interior, a department that seemed shrouded in mystery and determined to conquer the planet of Liad and from there, the universe, was also looking for Val Con. The more she investigated, the more interested the Department became in Clan Korval...until Nova was forced to call Plan B - retreat strategically, trust no one, prepare for all out war....

These are books 3-5 in the Liaden series if you read them chronologically, which I recommend. As with the other books, I simply loved Lee & Miller's characters and world building. They spend time on the details and it shows that they have carefully thought out and executed another masterpiece. I really feel as if I know the Korval family and am taking a remedial course on Liaden etiquette, these books are that well written! If you enjoy any kind of science fiction or space opera then this book has something for you - great characters, lots of action, enemies on all sides, high tech battle sequences, romance, family relations, honor, and much, much more! You can read this book as a stand-alone novel, but I would recommend starting with the prequels (Local Custom & Scout's Progress, also found in omnibus Pilot's Choice), so that you are familiar with Liad and Clan Korval, but, these books were the originals for the Liaden universe and were written first. Also, you definitely should not miss out on any book in the wonderful Liaden universe - all of them are very highly recommended!

Marvelous! Exciting, emotional, well-drawn, ... Read it!.......2004-01-24

I bought this 3-in-1 (in hardcover), and after reading just one, Lee & Miller immediately moved to the top handful of my favorite authors, and every story I've read since has just seemed to get better than the last! Whether you like "space opera" adventure, contact/conflict-of-cultures plots, emotional (but not graphic) paranormal romance, or just plain excellent writing, the Liaden Universe stories are for you!

Liaden series notes:
This volume contains "Conflict of Honors", "Agent of Change", and "Carpe Diem", the first three tales of the "present" generation of Clan Korval, especially Val Con yos'Phelium and his foster-brother Shan yos'Galan, in plot-chronological order (the 2nd happened to be *published* first).
These are followed by the cliff-hanger "Plan B", and the [conclusion] "I Dare".
The first story ("Conflict of Honors") is all about Shan and his lifemate-to-be, Priscilla Mendoza, but then Val Con and HIS lady, Miri Robertson, take center stage for most of the subsequent volumes - though the rest of the family is far from left out.
"Pilots Choice" is a prequel 2-in-1 ("Local Custom" & "Scout's Progress") featuring Shan & Val Con's *parents* -- and by the way, read these at least before "I Dare"!
The authors' website, Korval.com, includes reference data (FAQs, pronunciation guide, etc.) and a complete bibliography for the series, including many shorter entries NOT available as standard HCs or PBs.

Trust me, if you clicked any link that landed you on this page, you can't help but enjoy these stories!

Lived up to Expectations.......2003-07-12

I am pretty strictly a sci-fi reader, and I am very picky about what I will buy. I "research" reviews of books before I buy them to (hopefully) weed out the crap. I was intrigued by the glowing reviews of this book, so I bought it, never having read these authors or this series before. Let me tell you how glad I was that I did...

I devoured this book and immediately got on-line to order all the other books in the series. While I was waiting for them to arrive, I re-read this book. When the others came, I devoured them, and then re-read the whole series!!! I have only re-read one other series because I couldn't bear to say goodbye to the characters, and I have never read a book three times in a row before. I even went to the author's website and bought all the companion short stories. I might seriously consider reading them again--but I ignored so many responsiblilies while reading it the last times that there are piles and piles of other things I ought to do first). There may not be any "profound" messages here, but the story comes together so beautifully, the characters are so vivid and likeable, and the universe is so consistant and interesting that I just don't want to let it go.

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Does not really prove anything.......2007-07-06

This book is a strange hybrid. Although Monod refers to it as an "essay", it lacks the continuity of ideas that characterize what we think of as "essay structure". This is partly due to its origin as a series of lectures, and partly due to his attempt to deliver more than he is capable of.

When he speaks as a biologist, Monod's thinking and power to communicate are very impressive. He summarizes many of the major findings of molecular biology (up to 1970) brilliantly and in a remarkably short space. Very humbly, he does not even mention his own eminent role in elucidating these principles.

However, Monod the philosopher is another matter. In these sections his explanations have a more bombastic sound, his language and his sentence structure are more pretentious, as if he is trying to convince the reader that he really knows what he is talking about.

This is also obvious when he speaks of the crucial question of the origin of life. It is astonishing that so many reviewers claim Monod has succeeded in showing that life and intelligence have arisen by chance. It is true that he claims to be able to do this, but his failure is shown by the uncertainty that overshadows the whole work, and particularly this section, with an abundance of uncertainties such as:

* "Three presumptive stages..."
* "While uncertainty remains, and will doubtless continue, as to the paths actually followed by prebiotic chemical evolution..."
* "Remarkably enough, under certain altogether plausible sets of conditions..."
* "And so it may be considered as proved that at a certain moment in the earth's history certain bodies of water could have contained...
* "In the laboratory, under `plausible' conditions, some polypeptides and polynucleotides similar in general structure to `modern' macronucleotides might have actually been obtained."
* "But the decisive step from the first stage to the second has yet to be taken..."
* "...we have no idea what the structure of a primitive cell might have been."
* "This difficulty does not seem insurmountable."
* "Still, one would like at least to try to suggest a plausible hypothesis..."
* "But the major problem is the origin of the genetic code and of its translation mechanism. Indeed, it is not so much a `problem' as a veritable enigma."
* "It is exceedingly difficult to imagine..."
* "Here speculation must take over, and many very ingenious ideas have been put forward: the field is only too open."

While it is commendable that Monod has the honesty to admit when his claims are lacking in evidence, it is also clear that his "proofs" are, virtually from start to finish, mere speculations.

The other disturbing fact is his inconsistency. He repeatedly claims that the great virtue of science is its objectivity, but he refuses to be objective. He is so determined to push a materialistic philosophy that he will not even consider the alternatives. Instead of tyring to rebut opposing points of view, he takes refuge in his own arbitrary definitions, such as the word "animism", by which he combines everything from primitive nature worship to modern Christianity to Marxism! Of course it is easy to disparage such a broadly defined group.

Throughout most of the book, Monod gives the impression that it is leading to some sort of conclusive justification of his exaltation of the power of chance, but it never happens. Instead, in the last chapter, he changes topics and ends with a rousing call for trust in science as the arbiter of all truth and values. Apparently his stated aim was just too difficult.

Teleonomy.......2003-01-21

Life has purpose and direction. How a thing of such perfection as an eye could have arisen of its own in a directionless universe (or even one which favors the dispersion of order) will require an entirely new discipline to explain, a physics of biology. The results in this field are tremendously exciting, and Monod's is among the most exciting books to be read. Read his chapter on Maxwell's Demons before beginning the study of bacteria movement or ATP transfer. Incidentally, please don't adopt Monod's use of language without a firm grasp of the nature behind it.

The philosophy of biology.......2001-01-22

Jacques Monod, the Nobel Prize winning biochemist, allies himself, in the title of this admirable treatise, to the atomist Democritus, who held that the whole universe is but the fruit of two qualities, chance and necessity. Interpreting the laws of natural selection along purely naturalistic lines, he succeeds in presenting a powerful case that takes into account the ethical, political and philosophical undercurrents of the synthesis in modern biology. Above all, he stresses that science must commit itself to the postulate of objectivity by casting aside delusive ideological and moral props, even though he enjoins, at the same time, that the postulate of objectivity itself is a moral injunction. He launches a bitter polemic against metaphysical and scientific vitalisms, dismissing them as obscurantist, as well as the animist projection in history and evolution, as represented by Teilhard de Chardin and, especially, the Marxist doctrine of dialectical materialism. He refutes teleological explanations of nature as being contrary to the postulate of objectivity, drawing attention to self-constructing proteins as teleonomic agents, followed by an explanation of the role of nucleic acids, reproduction and invariance. This leads him to dismiss Judaeo-Christian religiosity, which accords man a significant role as being created in God's image, as a nauseating and false pietism and he even goes so far as to recommend eugenic reform. Writing with great clarity and flair, and often in a forceful and idiosyncratic idiom, he puts forward a compelling case, though some knowledge of modern biology is presumed on the part of the reader. He also offers, in a truly philosophical fashion, fascinating insights and speculations on broader issues such as language, perception, the origin and nature of existence, as they are framed within his system. Generally, however, some experts and readers will contest some of his claims, such as his regarding proteins as primary, contrary to the common assumption that proteins are merely secondary to the genome. Nevertheless, a challenging, sophisticated and pugnacious treatise, which excels the work of the better-known biological writers in the English-speaking world, such as Dawkins and Gould.

Amazing clarity and intelligence.......1999-08-30

A powerfully convincing demonstration of what we probably are and a probable key to why we behave the way we do. A seminal book, easy to read. Goes much farther than The Egostical Gene. Will definitely change the way you think about humankind.

It is time to accept the truth!.......1999-06-27

Denying reality never has helped mankind's progress. So instead on complaining about reality one ought to read this book, best combined with "The blind watchmaker" written by Richard Dawkins, and accept reality, even though it might be painful: No "god" ever has "created" man (btw: who would have "created" the "creator" then?) but man developped through billions of years of evolution. It may hurt, but face it!

African-Centered Education: Its Value, Importance, and Necessity in the Development of Black Children

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African-Centered Education: Its Value, Importance, and Necessity in the Development of Black Children
Haki R. Madhubuti , and Safisha L. Madhubuti
Manufacturer: Third World Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Education | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books

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African-Centered Pedagogy: Developing Schools of Achievement for African American Children (The Social Context of Education)
African Centered Rites of Passage and Education
Herstory: Black Female Rites of Passage
Black Children: Their Roots, Culture, and Learning Styles
The Afrocentric Idea

ASIN: 0883781514

Book Description

This book legitimizes the need for African-centered education at an early age in child development.

False Necessity: Anti-Necessitarian Social Theory in the Service of Radical Democracy, Revised Edition (Politics, Volume 1)

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False Necessity: Anti-Necessitarian Social Theory in the Service of Radical Democracy, Revised Edition (Politics, Volume 1)
Roberto Mangabeira Unger
Manufacturer: Verso
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Democracy | Government | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books

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Social Theory: Its Situation and Its Task (Politics, Volume 2)
Knowledge and Politics
Democracy Realized: The Progressive Alternative

ASIN: 185984331X

Book Description

Volume 1 of Politics, a work in constructive social theory.

Newly available, the complete work of Politics—a program for a comprehensive progressive alternative to the dominant ideologies of social democracy and neo-liberalism—from one of the world's leading social and political thinkers.

False necessity is the central theme in the three-volume series Politics. It presents both a way of explaining society and a program for changing it. The explanation develops a radical alternative to Marxism, showing how we can account for established social arrangements without denying their contingency or our freedom. The program offers a progressive alternative to the now-dominant ideological conceptions of neoliberalism and social democracy: a set of institutional innovations that would democratize markets, deepen democracy and empower individuals.

Book Description

Metaphysicians speak of laws of nature in terms of necessity and universality; scientists do so in terms of symmetry and invariance. This book argues that no metaphysical account of laws can succeed. The author analyses and rejects the arguments that there are laws of nature, or that we must believe that there are. He argues that we should discard the idea of law as an inadequate clue to science. After exploring what this means for general epistemology, the book develops the empiricist view of science as a construction of models to represent the phenomena. Concepts of symmetry, transformation, and invariance illuminate the structure of such models. A central role is played in science by symmetry arguments, and it is shown how these function also in the philosophical analysis of probability. The advocated approach presupposes no realism about laws or necessities in nature.

In the Name of Necessity: Military Tribunals and the Loss of American Civil Liberties (Albma Rhetoric Cult & Soc Crit)

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For students of law and communications to those interested in military topics.

In the Name of Necessity: Military Tribunals and the Loss of American Civil Liberties (Albma Rhetoric Cult & Soc Crit)
Marouf A. Hasian
Manufacturer: University Alabama Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

Civil Rights & Liberties | Current Events | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books

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ASIN: 081731475X

Book Description

Analyses the ways American leaders have justified the use of military tribunals, the suspension of due process, and the elimination of habeas corpus.
Though the war on terrorism is said to have generated unprecedented military situations, arguments for the Patriot Act and military tribunals following 9/11 resemble many historical claims for restricting civil liberties, more often than not in the name of necessity.

Marouf Hasian Jr. examines the major legal cases that show how various generations have represented the need for military tribunals, and how officials historically have applied the term “necessity.” George Washington cited the necessity of martial discipline in executing the British operative Major André. Tribunals tried and convicted more than 200 Sioux warriors during the Dakota Wars. President Lincoln suspended habeas corpus for many civilian and military prisoners during the Civil War. Twentieth Century military and civilian leaders selectively drafted their own codes, leading to the execution of German saboteurs during World War II. Further, General MacArthur’s tribunal to investigate the wartime activities of Japanese General Yamashita raised the specter of “victor’s justice,” anticipating the outcry that attended the Nuremberg trials.

In those cases as in current debates about the prosecution of terrorists, Hasian argues that the past is often cited selectively, neglecting historical contexts and the controversies these cases engendered.

Marouf Hasian Jr. is Professor of Communications at the University of Utah and author of Legal Memories and Amnesias in America’s Rhetorical Culture and Colonial Legacies in Postcolonial Contexts: A Critical Rhetorical Examination of Legal Histories.

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For students of law and communications to those interested in military topics........2006-04-28

It's customary in times of war for civil liberties to be overlooked; but what is more surprising is that the need and actions of military tribunals are not questioned more closely during either war OR peacetime. Here to ask these questions is IN THE NAME OF NECESSITY: MILITARY TRIBUNALS AND THE LOSS OF AMERICAN CIVIL LIBERTIES. Marouf Hasian Jr. is a professor of communications: his analysis demonstrates that 'necessity' has often been evoked as justification for injustices, and case studies support his contention as he considers military tribunals from the Revolutionary War to modern times. His will appeal to a wide college-level audience, from students of law and communications to those interested in military topics.

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