Book Description
Praise for The Macho Paradox
"An honest, intellectually rigorous and insightful work that challenges readers to truly engage in a political discourse that can change lives, communities and nations."
--Rosalind Wiseman, author of Queen Bees and Wannabes
"Jackson Katz is an American hero! With integrity and courage, he has taken his message--that the epidemic of violence against women is a men's issue--into athletic terms, the military and frat houses across the country. His book explains carefully and convincingly why--and how--men can become part of the solution, and work with women to build a world in which everyone is safer."
--Michael Kimmel, author of Manhood in America, spokesperson, National Organization for Men Against Sexism (NOMAS)
"If only men would read Katz's book, it could serve as a potent form of male consciousness-raising."
--Publishers Weekly
"This book leaves no man behind when it comes to taking violence against women personally....After reading this book you can see how important it is to be a stand-up guy and not a standy-by guy, no matter what race or culture you come from."
--Alfred L. McMichael, 14th Sergeant Major of the Marine Corps and now serving as the Sergeant Major of NATO
"A candid look at the cultural factors that lend themselves to tolerance of abuse and violence against women."
--Booklist
"These pages will empower both men and women to end the scourge of male violence and abuse. Katz knows how to cut to the core of the issues, demonstrating undeniably that stopping the degradation of women should be every man's priority."
--Lundy Bancroft, author of Why Does He Do That?: Inside the Minds of Angry and Controlling Men
Customer Reviews:
Powerfully Realizing What Happens All around Us.......2007-10-11
Jackson Katz's book could be one of the most important I have ever read, hands-down. Two years ago, after my wife came home from a graduate-level class, she told me we needed to watch Katz's documentary, Tough Guise (MEF). The documentary revolutionized the way I veiwed masculinity both in myself and in our culture. I then found Katz's book. The Macho Paradox does the exact same thing: Katz includes an amazing array of statistics as well as references to a variety of studies and cultural icons in order to prove his case--that masculinity needs a serious overhaul in our contemporary culture. No longer can we allow women to be abused in such rampant fashion. Katz explodes the myth that men are simply "born" with a bent towards aggression and violence; rather, he questions and explores what in our culture teaches men to behave the way we do. I highly recommend this book to both men and women, as its message is one we severely need today.
great book on many levels.......2007-01-05
This book is both accessible and sophisticated in its approach. It covers political and social issues and popular culture in great depth. However, Katz pitches his argument to the broadest possible audience; he almost never uses jargon. I used the introductory chapter in a classroom with both high school and college students, and they all responded to the piece with enthusiasm. Another aspect of the book that elevates it above many similar works is Katz's use of personal anecdotes from his career as an anti-sexist activist to illustrate his points. These stories not only help to ground the book in reality, but they make it clear that the author has tested his ideas in the field of deeds. He has constantly sought out new audiences and been challenged to refine his approach. He advocates for a very inclusive model of gender violence prevention. He wants us to be honest with ourselves and call "domestic violence" what it is--men's violence against women. However, he also makes it clear that viewing all men as potential perpetrators is not the answer. Rather, encouraging men to take the issue personally and own up to their social responsibility, while encouraging others to do the same, can make a huge difference. For anyone who would like to learn more about men's violence against women, or gender and society in general, this book is a great place to start.
Katz is right on--this is the next step in ending violence........2006-07-03
Jackson Katz believes that an end to violence (of all kinds, but particularly violence against women) must come from a new definition of masculinity that does not support violent behavior. His book explains clearly why this is and how to begin to make it happen and is some of the most positive and forward-thinking work in this field. This book is very accessible--it is not accusatory or preach-y and is very honest. I have bought a second copy of the book because so many people have been interested in borrowing it. Jackson Katz is a real innovator and his book is insightful and inspiring.
Buy this for the men in your life...........2006-06-02
I wish I had 200 copies of this book. There are so many men I know that can find themselves depicted in Katz's clear and insightful reflections on male culture today. Why has the violence women suffer at the hands of some men been called a "woman's issue"? Where's the curiosity and creativity of more men when it comes to looking at why violence and sexual violence in particular are so epidemic? Or even, more dangerously, glamorized in aspects of the pornography industry? Forget "Pretty Woman" or "The Girl Next Door" and dive into real life. Katz has done his research and articulates a vision that should make every man stand up and collectively work to make this a world they are proud their daughters and sons will inherit. I really wish I had 200 copies....
Great job, Jackson.......2006-04-02
I've always been a big fan of Jackson Katz' work and his latest book is no exception. This is a really accessible, well written, and thorough piece that takes a critical look at the hegemony in our society that makes violence against women by men, men's destructive and violent behavior become a culturally normal thing. Katz does an incredible job in piecing together his argument in a clear manner that doesn't alienate the audience..and in any sort of anti-violence work, that's a really difficult thing to do because the subject matter is such a serious and taboo one. I would highly recommend this book for any parent, any educator, anybody that wants to take proactive steps against men's violence in america and think critically about those issues. I would also suggest Jackson's video, the bible of any men's anti-violence work "Tough Guise" (www.mediaed.org). As a student in the women studies department at the University of Washington, I can say that Jackson's work is always highly respected and popular among the students and faculty.
Luke,
www.realmenarenot.com
Book Description
Both an accessible and fascinating title, this book reveals how our past experiences and psychological developments inform the choices we make today when selecting a place that we truly feel is our "home"
It considers our "environmental autobiographies" and our psychological development in respect to urban experiences, focusing on the personal stories of Charles Jencks, Michael Graves and Andres Duany, three of the most prominent figures of our time from the world of design
Both theoretical and practical exercises involve the reader in understanding and improving the quality of their own environment. An entirely new approach to architectural design which combines aesthetics and psychology
Customer Reviews:
A Solid Book-inspiring and well written.......2007-07-24
"Some Place Like Home" is a groundbreaking book for the field of Design Psychology. As an Interior Design student I realize that my study is constantly subordinate to the field of Environmental Psychology and the two are interrelated. Dr. Israel is a pioneer of this field and I would recommend her work to anyone wanting to further their understanding of this discipline. She is dead on when she states, " The idea of environmental autobiography has been around for a long time, so has environmental psychology. Unfortunately these ideas have not been effectively communicated to the public at large, or to architects. Perhaps this book will help convince people that there is a powerful connection between past, present and future sense of home and place and that this connection can be explored through...Design Psychology."
"must read" for any interior designer and/or architect.......2007-07-19
A great book, very easy reading but also very inspirational in the sense that you are handed very usable tools for communication with (potential) clients. A logical thaught-process which needed to be put to paper: how to create a design which is not only great, but also gives te person who has to live there a sense of home!
Questionable concept but read the book anyway........2005-12-14
I'm rarely uncertain about my reviews but I am with this one. I've gone through Toby's recommended process of discovery and I think it is partially valid but either incomplete or on the wrong track. Her questionnaires and analysis of past experiences with "home" are the basis of her theory and book.
From Martin Seligman's Authentic Happiness "It is difficult to find even small effects of childhood events on adult personality, and there is no evidence at all of large effects." (I happen to be reading this article with this quote, I haven't read the book yet: http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2099-1793873_1,00.html.)
I just don't see a childhood environment influence in my design preferences. I suspect that we are influenced much more by what we are exposed to that we remember. If a child sees a dome in a house and happens to remember 30 years later that a dome can be used in a house design then that designer is more likely to use a dome. My understanding of Toby's theory is that the designer would use a dome feature if they had a happy environment with a dome in the home in their previous experience. I see this as more coincidental than part of the psychological make-up of the designer.
I grew up in an old California mining town and my parent's house had bats in the attic. The bats were amusing but I don't recall the urge to design my homes with accomodations for bats.
An Amazon review is no place to get into a full academic discussion but I believe I've seen enough decent research that works against her theory and that my personal experience combined with her approach does not work at all. It would take a book to refute her theory properly but at least don't accept it without question.
What value has this book, theory, and process to architectural and interior design? I found that the insight into the thinking and histories of the three superb architects she interviews was worth my time and money. Also, her process should work at least some of the time, and possibly more often than not. It can't hurt to know the client better and her technique is not burdensome.
I recommend reading the book if you are doing design and want another theoretical reference point.
- jim
One of the best design tools out there........2003-12-03
This book is wonderfully written and easily understood by those directly and indirectly involved with interior design and architecture. The author, Toby Israel, leads you through her pioneering ideas behind design psychology with an interesting format that includes narration, interviews and exercises. You'll discover how your own past history of place - where you grew up, the type of home you lived in and even where you went to school - can affect choices you make regarding dwellings and workplaces now and in your future.
The exercises throughout the book help readers uncover influences from their past and can help them create successful environments for themselves or for clients. This book is a must have for anyone seeking to create satisfying designs with tools we inherently possess but too often ignore.
Book Description
The ultimate guide to predicting winners and losers in high technology
Pip Coburn became famous for writing some of the liveliest reports on Wall Street. He quoted everyone from Machiavelli to HAL, Anaïs Nin to Yoda, Einstein to Gandhi. But along with the quirky writing, he consistently delivered sharp insights into technology trends and helped investors pick stocks with long-term potential.
After years of studying countless winners and losers, Coburn has come up with a simple idea that explains why some technologies become huge hits (iPods, DVD players, Netflix), but others never reach more than a tiny audience (Segways, video phones, tablet PCs). He says that people are only willing to change when the pain of their current situation outweighs the perceived pain of trying something new.
In other words, technology demands a change in habits, and thatÂ's the leading cause of failure for countless cool inventions. Too many tech companies believe in “build it and they will come”— build something better and people will beat a path to your door. But, as Coburn shows, most potential users are afraid of new technologies, and they need a really great reason to change.
The Change Function is an irreverent look at how this pattern plays out in countless sectors, from computers to cell phones to digital TV recorders. It will be an invaluable book for people who create and invest in new technologies.
Customer Reviews:
Interesting but do not show the details.......2007-10-04
The Change Function: Why Some Technologies Take Off and Others Crash and Burn
Interesting theory and well written book. Besides that it's hard to me figure out how to apply it to my business. Evaluations are qualitative and highly dependent of the assessor's knowledge. It requires a detailed guideline to be applicable on a company operation.
Essential requirements for high-tech product success.......2007-03-13
Intel icons Gordon Moore and Andy Grove are each credited with a high-tech development axiom. "Moore's Law" says the cost of putting the maximum number of transistors on an integrated circuit (like a computer chip) doubles every 24 months. This leads to the "price elasticity argument" that infers the ideal price at which consumers will find new high-tech products attractive. "Grove's Law" posits that people adopt new technology when it is "disruptive," that is, when it becomes 10 times better than anything else available. But author Pip Coburn, who writes with a lively pen, believes that high-tech leaders must put these revered principles aside, and focus instead on the people who use their technological marvels. Those who appeal to consumers will thrive. Those who do not will lose money as their products go down in flames. Is Coburn correct? As the founder of a firm that advises investors on high-tech stocks, he makes a compelling argument. We suggest that technology executives, portfolio managers, and anyone else concerned with the success of high-tech companies and their products will want to read this thoughtful book before placing their own bets.
Do I have a "crisis" that gives me greater pain than the TOTAL cost of your solution?.......2007-02-07
On one hand, this book seems to belabor the point that products are only adopted by the market if the user's have a "crisis" that outweighs the costs of acquiring and using the product. On the other hand, anyone in business selling a product should read this book.
The key concept is USER CRISIS. The whole point of the book is this -- if we don't want or need something, it doesn't matter how little it costs and how well it works.
Numerous examples are provided which illustrate that the tech industry's infatuation with Moore's law (cost will decrease and performance will increase steadily until consumers *eventually* will make the purchase) and Grove's law (success can be achieved by creating 10x improvements to technical capabilities) continues to misdirect billions of dollars.
The book illustrates how the tech community continues to believe that any cool technology will be adopted by the masses if it's costs come down enough. In other words, the majority of consumers will purchase ANYTHING if it costs little and does neat things.
Cautionary Tales for High Tech Execs.......2007-01-15
You have passion for your product, your team is energized and your investors are doubling down. Your potential customers are interested -- but they're not buying. Why?
Change is painful. You may see your business in The Change Function's cautionary tales -- if you do, the change may have to come from your side of the equation.
A simple and USEFUL framework.......2006-12-28
The Change Function provides readers with a simple and useful framework to evaluate technologies against user adoption. The historical context, cases and texture provided in the book is great and really adds another dimension to the framework (personal crisis vs. TPPA).
The book is well written, very entertaining and an easy read. As an industry analyst covering emerging enterprise technologies, I found this book to be very useful for my own research and thought processes. I highly recommend it.
Book Description
Twenty-three years in the making,
Rising Up and Rising Down (the original, published by
McSweeney's in October 2003, spans seven volumes) is a rich amalgam of historical analysis, contemporary case studies, anecdotes, essays, theory, charts, graphs, photographs and drawings. Convinced that there is "a finite number of excuses" for violence and that some excuses "are more valid than others," Vollmann spent two decades consulting hundreds of sources, scrutinizing the thinking of philosophers, theologians, tyrants, warlords, military strategists, activists and pacifists. He also visited more than a dozen countries and war zones to witness violence firsthand -- sometimes barely escaping with his life.
Vollmann makes deft use of these tools and experiences to create his Moral Calculus, a structured decision-making system designed to help the reader decide when violence is justifiable and when it is not.
Customer Reviews:
Certainly Posessed of Genius.......2007-07-04
I have the revised edition (which is availble remaindered at the Barnes and Nobles in my areas for ten bucks), and I can see from the progress I have made in it that it is an extremely important work and might unlock some of Vollman's other work. However, I have some reservations; the abridgement does not seem like it was what Vollman wanted, and some of the cuts leave a disjointed feeling. I have found that I can skip around in the book without losing the meaning, and the arguments do not seem to develop from the first page to the last, but gradually throughout the book. I am reluctant to invest in the seven volume set, but I would like to see an abridgement that is more considered and smooth. Vollman states that he abridged "for money"...when he does it for love of or respect for his readers I think this will be his masterpiece. As is, it is very very good but somehow lack cohesion.
The 7 Volume Set.......2007-04-10
Vollmann's work is expensive, sprawling, beautiful, and sterilizingly heavy. It's historical analysis, personal anecdote, philosophical inquiry, ethical manifesto, war journalism (his), photography and drawings (mostly his), and thumbnail illustrations. And it's worth the price to get one of the few remaining sets. You'll become intimately acquainted with Trotsky, Cortes, Lincoln, Plato, John Brown, Stalin, Leonidas, Gandhi, the Unabomber, de Sade, Hitler, Montezuma, the Ik, Napoleon, and Mikhail Bakunin, among others. Will you run across an occasional typo or forced metaphor? Sure. But considering the product, who cares? It's brilliant and very, very readable. Two things particularly please me about this work. First, Vollmann never pretends to objectivity. RURD is an "essay" in the original sense of the word, and provokes plenty of discussion. Second, McSweeney's typography and binding are breathtaking, so that each volume is a pleasure to see and hold, much less read. If you enjoy the abridgment, the set is worth all 50,000+ pennies, or whatever the last sets are going for.
His Life's work, abridged, a worthwhile pursuit for him.......2006-10-26
Vollmann has called this his life's work, and it shows, the book distills his original heart and soul, tearing through readable passages of objective reasoning, making circuitous and interesting routes towards his moral abstract for violence. The reading is passionate and well-reasoned, even if flawed at times. For me, it has exposed me to more historical figures and recent phiolospophical thinking that has escaped modern culture (or at least my Western one). I highly recommend this book for anyone who likes to observe history (like fans of Robert Conquest) through the lens of modern philospy.
The abyss gazeth also into thee..........2006-10-01
The philosophy of war has always been unsatisfying. Abstract "moral calculus" -the term deployed by Vollman to refer to the ethical analysis of violence - is clearly necessary, but the biological realities of violence always seem to render the sterile rationality of philosophers irrelevant. Determining when violence is and is not morally justified is such a difficult task that it is tempting to just dispose of the question, taking refuge in absolutist positions like pacifism or Kissingerian realism. As a result, worthwhile contributions to the practical ethics of war are few and far between.
This is the best attempt to reason through the moral problems of violence since Michael Walzer's "Just and Unjust Wars" and it improves on that flawed work in every way. Vollman's analysis is not limited to nation-states, he distinguishes between just and unjust regimes, he does not assume that there must be a binary moral value to every act of violence, and he knows when to conclude that a moral problem is insoluable.
Vollman passes judgment confidently when it is called for, but he has a healthy respect the lesser of two evils, the exigencies of war, and the pressures of decisionmaking in violent situations. He makes objective moral judgments, but they are clearly informed by his own subjective encounters with violence and death.
That said, this book has a lot of problems. First off, Vollman is clearly a thrill-seeker. When he talks about packing a handgun in Golden Gate Park or smoking crack cocaine, he reveals a very unusual attitude toward death. We should be suspicious of the moral handwringing of anyone who has deliberately seeks out violence. When he recounts the deaths of his colleagues while he was a reporter in the Balkans, I find myself wondering if this was not another "limit experience" that he actively chased. The experience of an aspiring novelist-DETERMINED to find abysses to gaze into-is just not comparable to that of the Somali and Sarajevan civilians who had no choice but to passively endure extreme violence.
The other big problem with this book is the lack of structure and logical rigor. If you have read any of his fiction, you know that this is just how Vollman's (brilliant) mind works, but this book suffers for it. It's a sustained meditation on violence, not a work to which the reader can refer for moral guidance in a specific situation. But it's still the best contemporary work in an otherwise empty field and very much worth reading.
Vanquishing Personal Demons.......2005-10-03
In writing Rising Up and Rising Down, William T. Vollmann has forgotten that the primary purpose of writing a book is communication. To this end, one would expect the author to use a consistent style to aid the reader's progress, rather than arguing:
Should I have standardized these inconsistencies? I recall Lawrence of Arabia's comments to the proofreader who warned him that he had spelled the name of this favorite camel every which way in Seven Pillars of Wisdom. Lawrence replied simply, "She was a splendid beast." (p. 534.)
One would also expect the writer to express his ideas, not only completely, but also concisely. Even in the abridged version, arguments are stated one on top of the other, separated from the information that supports them. As the book progresses, earlier arguments are often referred to by number, forcing the reader to flip through the pages to recall the passages cited.
Near the beginning of the book, Vollmann writes:
I had a gun . . . and right then I did not feel comforted . . . The books that I read and the things that I saw while writing this book affected me more than I wanted them to . . . Near the end of the twenty years that I spent writing this book, I began to suffer from frequent nightmares of violence . . . They were not normal sights that I'd seen-or were they all too normal?-and these were not normal thoughts, and I knew this and sought to dampen the vibrations of my paranoia . . . (pp. 78-79)
I submit that Mr. Vollmann wrote this book, not to inform his readers, but to vanquish his own demons. In reading Rising Up and Rising Down, I was sometimes informed, sometimes confused and often numbed. Further revision and editing might make this book into a useful study in violence, or, perhaps it was never more than the author's self-therapy.
Book Description
A renowned, respected teacher and mentor to thousands, Sobonfu Somi is one of the first and foremost voices of African spirituality to come to the West. Somi was born in Dano, Burkina Faso, a remote West African village with a population of about two hundred people. Dano has preserved the old ways of African village life, with family structures, spiritual practices, and methods of living that have been in place for more than ten thousand years. In The Spirit of Intimacy, Somi distills the ancient teachings and wisdom of her native village to give insight into the nature of intimate relationships.
Somi generously applies the subtle knowledge from her West African culture to this one. Simply and beautifully, she reveals the role of spirit in every marriage, friendship, relationship, and community. She shares ancient ways to make our intimate lives more fulfilling and secure and offers powerful insights into the "illusion of romance," divorce, and loss. Her important and fascinating lessons from the heart include the sacred meaning of pleasure, preparing a ritual space for intimacy, and the connection between sex and spirituality. Her ideas are intuitively persuasive, provocative, and healing--and supported by sound practical advice, along with specific rituals and ceremonies based on those used for thousands of years. With this book, the spiritual insights of indigenous Africa take their place alongside those of native America, ancient Europe, and Asia as important influences on Western readers.A renowned, respected teacher and mentor to thousands, Sobonfu Somi is one of the first and foremost voices of African spirituality to come to the West. Somi was born in Dano, Burkina Faso, a remote West African village with a population of about two hundred people. Dano has preserved the old ways of African village life, with family structures, spiritual practices, and methods of living that have been in place for more than ten thousand years. In The Spirit of Intimacy, Somi distills the ancient teachings and wisdom of her native village to give insight into the nature of intimate relationships.
A renowned, respected teacher and mentor to thousands, Sobonfu Somi is one of the first and foremost voices of African spirituality to come to the West. Somi was born in Dano, Burkina Faso, a remote West African village with a population of about two hundred people. Dano has preserved the old ways of African village life, with family structures, spiritual practices, and methods of living that have been in place for more than ten thousand years. In The Spirit of Intimacy, Somi distills the ancient teachings and wisdom of her native village to give insight into the nature of intimate relationships.
Somi generously applies the subtle knowledge from her West African culture to this one. Simply and beautifully, she reveals the role of spirit in every marriage, friendship, relationship, and community. She shares ancient ways to make our intimate lives more fulfilling and secure and offers powerful insights into the "illusion of romance," divorce, and loss. Her important and fascinating lessons from the heart include the sacred meaning of pleasure, preparing a ritual space for intimacy, and the connection between sex and spirituality. Her ideas are intuitively persuasive, provocative, and healing--and supported by sound practical advice, along with specific rituals and ceremonies based on those used for thousands of years. With this book, the spiritual insights of indigenous Africa take their place alongside those of native America, ancient Europe, and Asia as important influences on Western readers.
Customer Reviews:
Wonderful.......2007-09-08
Such a well balanced sharing of spirit.
Also check out:
Living Deliberately: The Discovery and Development of Avatar
Resurfacing: Techniques for Exploring Consciousness
Love Precious Humanity: The Collected Wisdom Of Harry Palmer
Opens your mind and heart to intimacy on a deep level.......2007-04-19
This is a wonderful book that offers many little gems that encourage and facilitate the willingness to be open to intimacy in relationship. I think for many people who have struggled in relationship the author offers very useful, practical and enriching ways to let ones' relationship grow and develop. I love that the book is from an African perspective and though it's not geared only to Africans shows that African people have a workable approach to relationships that is spritually centered and life affirming.
I especially liked the authors' discussion on the use of rituals in African culture. The author made them come alive for me and helped me recognize that ritual is something we do anyway though we do not call it that and why. Her discussion on it's value and power in African culture was very empowering because she shows how we can open ourselves up on many levels to healing ourselves and our relationships by consciously utilizing rituals in our lives.
I also liked the author's emphasis on the importance of community, in helping build intimacy and supporting healthy relationships which is especially important for African people.
I would have liked more information on how some of the rituals or concepts used in ancient ways could better translated or modified for the present time.
I highly recommend this book to anyone who would like a spiritual, african centered approach to building healthy relationships.
A lovely book.......2007-02-16
This book reminds us what a real intimate relationship between a man and a woman should be, the pratical and spiritual dimensions of it. Thank you Sobonfu Some for writing this lovely and useful book.
A crucial read if you're sick of going shopping.......2005-01-19
Sometimes the words you're looking for come from the most unlikely places. Sobonfu Some's contribution is absolutely crucial if we are to find a counterbalance to our consumer culture. Singles, couples, adults and teenagers alike will find rewarding activities in this book which warm the heart more than going shopping can, and it's a gasp of fresh air. I hadn't realised the import of how we connect to other people until I read this book.
Best books to read.......2003-08-30
I recommend The Spirit of Intimacy by Sobonfu Somé as a must read for all but especially for couple in search of a healthy relationship. Enjoy
Book Description
"I am certain there is a definite relationship between positive thinking and achieving powerful results."
-- Norman Vincent Peale
Norman Vincent Peale, the man who taught America how to think positive thoughts, now takes you one step beyond the remarkable principles outlined in his previous books. He offers a straight-talking, step-by-step, scientifically sound system for turning self-doubt into self-esteem, obstacles into opportunities, and thought into action. You will learn
-- Ten rules for setting and achieving goals
-- Four creative factors that lead to successful outcomes
-- A four-part daily prescription for peace of mind
-- Ten "of course you can" principles
-- A three-point formula for getting rid of depression
-- Six positive thoughts to eliminate destructive habits
-- A three-part blueprint for spiritual and physical health
-- The single most important step toward becoming a positive person
Let Norman Vincent Peale show you how to meet bigger challenges, realize your fondest dreams, and achieve success in every aspect of your life!
Customer Reviews:
Everything we need for success.......2006-04-24
Again, Dr. Peale outdoes himself in this incredibly motivating and inspiring book. Everything you need to manifest success in your life is contained within this book along with real life examples of the miracles of positive thinking and belief in ones self and creator.
Another Winner!.......2003-10-30
On the last page there's a quote from Thomas A. Edison that sums up the whole message of this book, "If we were to do all we are capable of doing we would literally astonish ourselves." It is with that spirit that Dr. Peale presents more evidence that one's thoughts determine one's destiny. A master at teaching people to apply Christian faith in everyday life, Dr. Peale has made another strong case for faith-based living.
In the preface he writes, "think positively, act positively, image positively, pray positively, and believe positively, and powerful results will be yours."
The first chapter describes the excitement of the process of adventurous, positive achievement. The fact that it is an ongoing process means the excitement need never end. Success feeds success.
He lists four factors which make up the process of success: 1)goal setting 2) positive thinking 3) visualizing and 4)believing.
He continues to emphasize that God is the essence of one's success, that one cannot achieve without Him.
Dr. Peale has a gift for putting powerful truths in memorable phrases, such as, "Belief power gets powerful results."
In the third chapter he talks about problem solving and reminds us that "every problem contains the seeds of its own solution."
Guidance from God, like other gifts from Him, is received by faith. He says believe that and act accordingly.
Like attracts like. He advocates applying that principle to one's thoughts. Positive thoughts attract similar thoughts.
Read this powerful book to enhance the quality of your life. You can't go wrong by doing so.
Get a Positive Attitude and Positive Results in your life.......2002-08-27
Norman Vincent Peale is well known for his famous book, The Power of Positive Thinking which has sold in the millions. This is one of his lesser known but extremely useful, helpful books because it gives hundreds of examples of how people changed their thinking and attitudes to get positive results in their lives. Some of the suggestions seem simple or corny but guess what? THEY WORK! I can vouch for that because I have tried many of them, including writing out goals on a card and carrying the the cards in my purse to reinforce my goals. More importantly, these reminders keep me on track daily. He calls this suggestion by the corny title of "the shirt pocket technique" meaning he carried his goals around on cards in his shirt pocket.
The other very helpful part of this book is that it contains checklists in most chapters, which are like "to do" lists. They are really summaries of the points he has made in that chapter and a reminder of what you can actually do to further your goals.
I keep a copy of this book around and read a page or 2 or 3 now and again to remind me how to stay positive and get to where I want to go. I highly recommend this book. For cynics, please consider his general theme, which might be summed up as "you get what you think".
Book Description
John Nolen (1869-1937) was a pioneer in the development of professional town and city planning in the United States. Nolen's comprehensive approach merged the social, economic, and physical aspects of planning while emphasizing, in the author's words, "versatility, special knowledge, and cooperation." Between 1905 and 1937, Nolen's firm, based in Cambridge, Massachusetts, completed more than 350 commissions throughout the United States. Among the best known of these is Mariemont, Ohio, whose development Nolen directed from the ground up.
Rare and long out of print, "New Towns for Old" (1927) is still of great interest to planners and urban historians. The well-illustrated study contains an overview of the development of American urbanism and a concise discussion of Nolen's ideas for the improvement of towns and cities. Individual chapters examine a variety of towns planned by Nolen including Mariemont, Ohio; Kingsport, Tennessee; and Kistler, Pennsylvania, as well as the new suburbs of Union Park Gardens in Wilmington, Delaware, and Myers Park in Charlotte, North Carolina. The re-planned towns of Cohasset and Walpole, Massachusetts, are also featured. The forward-looking final chapter includes material on Venice, Florida, one of Nolen's most ambitious projects.
The new edition of "New Towns for Old" contains additional plans and illustrations, a new index, and a new introductory essay by Charles D. Warren, which presents biographical and historical context that illuminates the diverse, productive career of this nationally significant practitioner. Perhaps most significantly, it features Nolen's project list, which has never before been published.
"Nolen . . . sought to realize the dreams and eliminate the nightmares he saw woven into the fabric of American cities, towns, and villages," writes Warren in his introduction. "His idea of reform was pragmatic, accommodating plans to realities without losing sight of temporarily elusive ideals. His successes and failures are recorded in the landscapes and the cityscapes he left behind."
Customer Reviews:
Must Have.......2005-06-21
New Towns For Old is a must have for anyone that is interested in building great cities. Nolen's descriptions of the new towns of his time are filled with lessons that can be applied to current practice. Once you read this book, you will want to see these cities.
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On Some Aspects of the Theory of Anosov Systems: With a Survey by Richard Sharp: "Periodic Orbits of Hyperbolic Flows" (SPRINGER MONOGRAPHS IN MATHEMATICS)
G. A. Margulis
Manufacturer: Springer-Verlag
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ASIN: 3540401210 |
Book Description
In this book the seminal 1970 Moscow thesis of Grigoriy A. Margulis is published for the first time. Entitled "On Some Aspects of the Theory of Anosov Systems", it uses ergodic theoretic techniques to study the distribution of periodic orbits of Anosov flows. The thesis introduces the "Margulis measure" and uses it to obtain a precise asymptotic formula for counting periodic orbits. This has an immediate application to counting closed geodesics on negatively curved manifolds. The thesis also contains asymptotic formulas for the number of lattice points on universal coverings of compact manifolds of negative curvature.
The thesis is complemented by a survey by Richard Sharp, discussing more recent developments in the theory of periodic orbits for hyperbolic flows, including the results obtained in the light of Dolgopyat's breakthroughs on bounding transfer operators and rates of mixing.
Book Description
In Why Some Like It Hot, an award-winning natural historian takes us on a culinary odyssey to solve the puzzles posed by "the ghosts of evolution" hidden within every culture and its traditional cuisine. As we travel with Nabhan from Java and Bali to Crete and Sardinia, to Hawaii and Mexico, we learn how various ethnic cuisines formerly protected their traditional consumers from both infectious and nutrition-related diseases. We also bear witness to the tragic consequences of the loss of traditional foods, from adult-onset diabetes running rampant among 100 million indigenous peoples to the historic rise in heart disease among individuals of northern European descent.
In this, the most insightful and far-reaching book of his career, Nabhan offers us a view of genes, diets, ethnicity, and place that will forever change the way we understand human health and cultural diversity. This book marks the dawning of evolutionary gastronomy in a way that may save and enrich millions of lives
Customer Reviews:
Or not hot..........2007-06-25
This book lies at the intersection of several fields, including but not limited to nutrition, history, evolutionary biology, agriculture, biochemistry and genetics. The author's premise can be stated as follow: the members of any ethnic group have evolved to adapt to the edible materials present in their environment to maximize their survival chances. At first, this premise does not seem like much, as the author admits early in the book. But he proceeds to examine several vary different ethnic cuisines, and the environment and culture they arose in, and then shows us how different ethnic groups can require vastly different diets in order to lead healthy and long lives. The ramifications then become huge. For instance, the Atkins diet and Mediterranean-based diets are really not that appropriate for all types of people; but only for those of specific ethnic backgrounds.
Some of science cited in this book is quite important. First, the author explains how the use of spices is related to food preservation. Specifically, food like meat spoils quicker in tropical areas than temperate areas. Many spices kill microbes that spoil meats, hence early humans in tropical areas learned by trial and error to add spices to their foods to preserve them longer. Second, the author demonstrates the links between diet and environment. For example, diet of fava beans is useless vis-a-vis other types of beans in arid environments. But in a climate full of malaria-carrying mosquitoes, ingesting fava beans changes the blood chemistry to reduce the likelihood of a malarial infection.
The book is written as a combination of personal narrative and scientific text. The author provides examples from his own life of how diet and environment interact with a person's genetic makeup to affect health. The amount of science in the text probably requires a college education to understand, though not a medical degree. The text is smooth-flowing and easy to follow, and overall quite interesting.
Interesting topic, confusing book.......2007-06-16
I really feel torn about this book. I was drawn to it because I do NOT "like it hot" and wanted to see if I could find an explanation for it. I did - I'm a supertaster & I am forever grateful to this book for bringing this concept to my attention. Nabhan has also gotten me even more excited about ethnobotany, and it's always fun to get excited about something.
However, I had a hard time getting through this book. I found myself thinking, "it'll get better" and "he'll get to the point" more than I like to. I think Nabhan was really trying to be accessible but I generally found it annoying; I wish he'd given more general ideas of conversations instead of dialogs.
I agree this book could use some reorganization and a better editor. The middle was the worst - with repeated words, misspellings and parts just didn't make sense. I read the part about fava beans at least 3 times and I'm still not sure I fully understand everything that he was obviously very excited about.
I was also confused about the point of this book - at some points it seems he wrote it as a response to fad diets such as the "caveman diet." I agree with his stance on these diets, but I was never interested in them and don't care to read about them. Other times the book seems to be more about what he's seen and done and what he thought about it. Other parts are about what I was interested in - how your genetics, life experience, food availability and family/community traditions shape what and how you eat. I was expecting a book solely about this and felt these parts were much too short.
I would love to see a revised edition (I know it only came out a few years ago). I think Nabhan has a lot of interesting things to write about. I am very glad I read this book & will recommend it to others, but I would tell them to skim large parts of it. I think it could be broken into at least 3 focused books that would be much more interesting.
Interesting material but poorly written and edited.......2006-08-22
This book presents an interesting hypothesis, i.e. that our genetics have been affected by the food we and our ancestors ate, and vice-versa. What could have been a fascinating read turned into a boring series of anecdotes and random statistics. Seemingly random ethnic groups (apparently the ones the author is familiar with or chose for whatever reason to investigate) are discussed and shown to have unusual consequences from food consumption. This book needed to be edited and material reorganized.
Interesting but not well-presented material.......2005-12-29
I found myself reading and then skimming this book, as my interest in what could have been a fascinating theory waned in the face of the author's inability to do more than cob together personal anecdotes and impersonal statistics. The book's layout added to the problem: narrow margins, double-wide line spacing and few paragraph breaks (about one per page) conspired to make it feel like a semi-scholarly article drawn out to book length. Also, Nabhan's focus on Malaysia, Crete and the Pima tribe left me wondering: what about us Northern Europeans? There was exactly a page and a half on British cuisine, and it amounted to an anecdote about how the author once spent a week in England, the food was terrible (no leafy green veg), and how a "British friend" suggested that possibly his compatriots traveled so much to find better sources of food. (Incidentally, the sloppy editing shows up in a sentence where Nabhan talks about "the Irish, the Scotch, the British, the Norwegians, the Scandinavians," or something like that, which made me want to scream "The Scots ARE British! The Norwegians ARE Scandinavians!") It was interesting, at first, to read about the benefits of lactose tolerance among herding populations, or the disastrous consequences to desert Indians of dairy, sugar and alcohol, but I was left none the wiser about how I, as a person with exclusively North Sea ancestors, was supposed to come up with a diet suited to my genetic code. Or, for that matter, how anyone could be expected to work out their body's needs and live in a largely urban, multi-cultural world. In sum, the theory is interesting, and I'd love to know more, but from a more graceful writer.
Why Some Like it Hot: Food, Genes, and Cultrual Diversity.......2005-09-26
Excellent reading! I found the information intreguing and exciting but too short. Need more of this type of information. We have heard too much of the life style side of health living and not enough about the interaction of genes on what we eat and how this may affect our life and health.
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