History Books

Napoleon has invaded England. Using tactics recommended by his dragon-advisor, and providing dragons with far more rights than those enjoyed by English dragons, Napoleon demoralizes the English army, outmarches and outfights them, and forces them to flee to Scotland. Meanwhile, one of England's top officers has been condemned to death for treason for his part in bringing a cure to the disease that threatened to wipe out Europe's dragon population (and at the same time eliminate the threat of Napoleon's invasion). Without Captain Laurence, and his dragon Temeraire, England seems to have no hope.

Inspired by the example of Chinese dragons, Temeraire intends to have dragons recognized as people, with rights to pay, freedom, votes, and to make their own decisions. Napoleon's invasion gives Temeraire far more bargaining power than he'd held before--his corps of wild dragons and dragons retired to stud just might be strong enough to hold Napoleon's invading hordes off. Still, England dare never admit it made a mistake in condemning Laurence--indeed, by their own standards, they acted properly, although Laurence couldn't have made any other decision.

Author Naomi Novik continues her look at the Napoleonic Wars from viewpoint of a world with dragons. With Temeraire's help, the English do their best to turn England into a smaller, but still deadly version of Napoleon's long march back from Moscow, in the face of growing resistance and bitter cold. English control of the seas means that Napoleon cannot bring in food for his growing armies, and Temeraire's irregulars manage to make life miserable (and short) for Napoleon's foraging parties.

Novik manages to make Napoleon look pretty good. He's quick to adapt new tactics, even if these are suggested by others, he's open to granting dragons the kind of rights Temeraire has no hope of achieving through the English government, and he's honorable to his opponents. In contrast, the English attempt to introduce a plague that would largely destroy a continent's worth of sapient creatures, including those owned by her own allies, demand that Laurence save their cause with no thought that his doing so might commute his sentence, and continue to think of dragons as a kind of beast rather than as intelligent beings--ignoring all evidence to the contrary. Temeraire and Laurence are the protagonists, but I find myself pulling for Napoleon.

I thought the book continued the excellent pace, and turned some ideas on its head, making England more like Russia for Napoleon. As for the rest of the spoilers, you'll have to read it yourself.

The first few books in the series were great, and volume four seemed to be a peak. This fifth installment is perhaps not as good, but still enjoyable and interesting. The war finally hits England, and Lawrence and Temeraire struggle through their own difficulties during the melee. We see a lot of the dragons here as Temeraire makes some headway with fighting for dragon rights, and the over-all story of the series moves on as the Napoleonic war swings right across Britain and back again.

Some of the reviews on Amazon are very negative, and I wish I could disagree with most of what they are saying. The story is not as strong as some of the other volumes, leaving it feeling a bit like an "inbetweener" novel. Fans of books 1-4 will still enjoy it, and it's a worthwhile read.

VERY ENJOYABLE BOOK AS ALL THE ONES BEFORE IT HAS PROVEN. ARRIVED PROMPTLY
AND IN EXCELLENT CONDITION. WOULD RECOMMEND THIS BOOK HIGHLY TO EVERYONE THAT ENJOYS SCIENCE FICTION. D.SHERRILL

I've enjoyed all of Novik's Temeraire novels, but I think she's fallen int a trap of her own making. By creating a period piece set in a fantasy universe version of the Penninsular War, she's inviting comparison to books like Cornwell's Sharpe series, Forester's Hornblower, and O'Brian's Aubrey, among others.

These books take real, historical situations and inject fictional characters and events. They also tell fairly action-oriented stories that, while self-contained, lead us through the history of the time.

Novik's trap is that she isn't willing to tell a self-contained story. Oh, each book, including War of Eagles, does tell a story, but she appears to be posing more questions for future books than answering them within this one. I found Victory of Eagles enjoyable, but ultimately unsatisfying. I want to find out more about the characters of Novik's world, and what's going on there, and I want to anticipate enjoying the next book in the series BECAUSE of these characters and situations, not because the author has left me hanging.

Yes, I would recommend this book, and the entire series, to anyone who asks, but I would like to see Novik more confidently tell stories knowing she doesn't have to hold back to keep her audience for the next novel.

This is a great book. My kids and I are learning a lot. It's fast paced and interesting.

I love this book! It is easy to understand and my two homeschooled children love it!

I love this whole series of books-- and so do my children!
This year, my almost 7-year old ASKED for this book for his BIRTHDAY!!!

This is very well written. A great help to helping children understand History. It makes reading about the past fun and enjoyable.

I began with Story of the World Vol. 1 by recommendation of a friend. I think I've enjoyed this volume even more. The chapters are short and are written in a way that holds my son's attention well (he just turned eight). I highly recommend getting the activity book to accompany this. It contains maps, coloring pages, games, review cards, and many suggestions for crafts to illustrate each chapter. There are also comprehension questions, narration, and suggestions for further reading.

My daughter is almost six, and she is not as excited about this series. I think if we didn't have the activity book she would not enjoy history at all. That may simply be because it's not her interest, while my son likes anything non-fiction, but it is also written a bit above her comprehension level. I would wait to use this until at least age seven. My son at this point begs me to read just one more chapter every day.

As for those who've said this is historical inaccurate, I would say that I haven't found a huge margin of error. When I have come across something that contradicts what I've learned elsewhere, I consider it an opportunity to dialog with my kids about it. Or I skip it. I also believe that at this age my focus is to expose them to the idea of history and culture rather than to drill them on historical facts.

Dietrich Bonhoeffer is the Lutheran version of Francis Schaeffer, particularly when in comes to honesty, blatancy, and compassion in teaching personal relationships without compromising the gospel truth, but instead, teaching them within the framework of the gospel. "Life Together" is a rare gem on the beauty and sweetness of God-ordained Christian fellowship, that Bonhoeffer describes as an "extraordinary grace"; the "roses and lilies" of the Christian life. It is useful for pastors and lay-Christians; specifically for the emergent churches. Here is a pastor and theologian who understands and loves people, not by embracing post-modern relativism, however, or distorting the Christian gospel for the sake of making it more appealing and relevant. People are loved the most when they are loved in truth, and only in this context can a true Christian community exist and be sustained.

His argument is that Christians can exist neither in community only nor as individuals only, but in both realities. Though the structure of a corporate worship that he proposes is somewhat rigid, where not everybody would agree, his analysis on human nature created by God to be social beings, is impressively sharp. The basis of a community is a common gospel faith; the foundation of which is the Lord Jesus Christ, who has called them into one body. On the other hand, he also exposes the dangers of those who can not be alone and those who refuse to be in a community. Concerning the dangers of both cases, he wrote,

"Let him who can not be alone beware of community. Let him who is not in community beware of being alone. Each by itself has... pitfalls and perils. One who wants fellowship without solitude plunges into the void of words and feelings (by which I take it to mean the case where a community may degenerate into undesirable malicious effects like gossips and quarrels), and the one who seeks solitude without fellowship perishes in the abyss of vanity, self-infatuation, and despair" (pp.77-78).

The treatments on the disciplines of prayer and Bible reading within the community and personal communion with God are tremendously beneficial and indispensable, as are the deeply personal directives in the last two chapters on how to minister and treat one another, where, when it comes to the discussion on confession, it is closely related to the case of those who avoid being in the community. Despite the seemingly outward pompous togetherness in the name of tolerance, I still see gaping evidences of pockets of loneliness in the post-modern world. I sense the abundance of the availability of social networking sites, chat rooms, instant messengers, blogs and online dating services, for examples, may testify to this hidden loneliness behind our narcissistic spirit. This aloofness poses a greater threat to ruin one's soul that Bonhoeffer describes as follows in the context of transparency to one another through confession in a Christian community,

" `Confess your faults to one another' (James 5:16). He who is alone with his sin is utterly alone. It may be that Christians, notwithstanding corporate worship, common prayer, and all their fellowship in service, may still be left to their loneliness. Many Christians are unthinkably horrified when a real sinner is suddenly discovered among the righteous. So we remain alone with our sin, living in lies and hypocrisy. The fact is that we are sinners... Sin demands to have a man by himself. It withdraws him from the community. The more isolated a person is, the more destructive will be the power of sin over him, and the more deeply he becomes involved in it, the more disastrous is his isolation. Sin wants to remain unknown. It shuns the light. In the darkness of the unexpressed it poisons the whole being of a person. In confession the light of the Gospel breaks into darkness and seclusion of the heart. Confession in the presence of a brother is the profoundest kind of humiliation. It hurts, it cuts a man down, it is a dreadful blow to pride... In the confession of concrete sins, the old man dies a painful, shameful death before the eyes of a brother. Because this humiliation is so hard, we continually scheme to evade confessing to a brother. Our eyes are so blinded that they no longer see the promise and the glory in such abasement" (pp. 110, 112, 114).

There are many other valuable lessons that Bonhoeffer shares that would make this book a must read. He is not an ivory-tower theologian but one who understands human beings, though not perfectly, and cherishes and teaches them as both individuals and community with the right balance thereof, to the glory of God in Christ.

Biblical applications of Christ-centered faith in the Trinity, and the fellowship of Christians in home and common prayer accedes the test of time in Dietrich Bonhoeffer's "Life Together: The Classic Exploration of Faith in Community".
As the Nazi regime began to take shape in Germany in 1935, the author wrote the book in Stettin, where he shared a common life in emergency-built houses with twenty-five vicars. For Christians today, "Life Together", transcends an age-old message to every group of people in fellowship: Christianity is community through and in Jesus Christ, alone.
Bonhoeffer attests to the first community as that of the Trinity in the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Scriptural submissions follow as the author stresses that it is God's will that Christendom is "like scattered seed into all the kingdoms of the earth (Deut 28:25) as both a curse and a promise. "God's people live among unbelievers but are also the seed of the Kingdom of God in the world." The author submits that this has happened in Christ who died, "that he should gather together in one the scattered children of God." (John 11:52). Therefore, Christians need other Christians to speak God's Word to one another in both daily, and seasons of their fellowship.
In his central statement that we need one another because of Christ, the theologian further explains that God's Word must be spoken among the fellowship of believers where there is uncertainty and discouragement, so that brothers and sisters in Christ can bear and proclaim the "divine word of salvation" to one another. Bonhoeffer further attests that the more sincere and authentic, and the deeper each community of fellowship becomes, the more visible and purely Christ is present among them. In this, says the author, Christian brotherhood is not an ideal, but a divine reality. A framework of a first, and foremost, Christ-centered focus, would be pivotal to contemporary small group ministries which may constrain this application to favor a blend of both the human and the spiritual.
As the author puts it, it is the "undiscerning" who believe in this mix, with varied levels of community structure, such as marriage, family and friendship, "Where the human element assumes a central importance for coming into being, and where spiritual is only added to the physical and intellectual, the author attests that there's a danger of confusing the two spheres, when there is no such danger in a purely spiritual fellowship
Bonhoeffer perceived "Life Together" as Christian family fellowship, groups in prayer, and in common worship as the body of Christ. He extolled passing on the Christian faith at home, as parents and children share in reading the scriptures and psalms, and in daily table fellowship, saying grace in "Come Lord Jesus, be our guest", which binds Christians to Jesus and to one another. The theologian also asserts that Christians should remember daily prayer, particularly in the morning. "At the break of light, the church remembers the morning on which death and sin is defeated and new life and salvation was given to mankind". He further states that those who gather together in groups at this time of day should bond in "common praise of God, common prayer, and common hearing of the Word".
This book is "must read" for small groups, pastors, staff and the laity in general. As Bonhoffer submits, it is Christ who must be the focus of the group or church's mission and ministry . The first questions small groups and the church as a whole must ask is: What is Christ's will for this ministry? This humble submission frames our love in service to the neighbor.

It's strange to say I both like this book and don't like it, but that's true. It's convicting me, which I know I need, but which doesn't always "feel" good. However, I like his central premise about Christ being at the center. What he writes about not knowing my brothers and sisters directly, but through Christ, changes the way I look at relationships. Regarding his writing about singing, I didn't really agree with it. But I reminded myself that Bonhoeffer wrote in a different place and time. I'm beginning to think that the best books are not those that make me "feel" good but that make me think differently.

This is a great little book, a classic that all Christians should read. At roughly 128 pages, this is a short treatise on Christian community that is very accessible. In the first chapter of this book Bonhoeffer presents his understanding of the reality of Christian community. Bonhoeffer's basic claim is that Christian community is a reality, both in the mundane realm and in the spiritual realm, and that this reality should inform the way we live with fellow Christians. The remaining four chapters deal with exactly how this reality should inform our lives, both as we live together and as we spend time alone.

Bonhoeffer provides in this book a plethora of practical considerations for us to consider in light of the reality of our Christian brotherhood. For some reason, various reviewers have criticized Bonhoeffer's views found in the second chapter, "The Day With Others". In particular it seems that people are uncomfortable with Bonhoeffer's views concerning worship.

Basically Bonhoeffer stands for the proposition that Christian worship should be limited to unison-singing. Although I am not sure that I agree with Bonhoeffer's particular thoughts on this subject, I think he is essentially correct that overall we should consider how these practical parts of our life together effect the fellowship. Bonhoeffer's concern is that modern forms of worship can lead to sin (or at least a less fruitful expression of worship) in the body; that we should be wary of allowing one group within the body to impose their personal preferences on the whole.

This thinking is in-line with Bonhoeffer's overall point in this book: we should always be thinking of the body when considering the various aspects of our lives, both as we live together and as we spend time alone. Music is just one example. And I think that the people who have somehow reconciled themselves to criticize Bonhoeffer in this one area while at the same time praising the rest of the book are clearly not understanding the point of this book. They say, "If we resort only to unison-singing in worship my rights of self-expression will be violated... I find self-expression in other forms of worship." My response, and I think Bonhoeffer's response would be: the essence of Christian fellowship, and thus the essence of Christianity, is that we look to the interests of our brother before we tend to our own interests. Christianity isn't about my rights... it's about loving others with grace. This means, among other things, thinking practically about how our choice of worship style effects the body. And if we choose to worship with a more contemporary style, while offending other portions of the body (elderly people are a group that come to mind), causing those portions of the body to withdraw, how are we serving and loving the body? Bonhoeffer's point is that we aren't, and I think he's essentially right.

The types of practical considerations Bonhoeffer applies to music are the same type of considerations we need to apply to our entire lives, both our lives together and our lives alone. This is the point of this book, and it is a profound message for a time when people tend to focus more on their own rights, interests, and claims. While individual autonomy is the order of the day, Bonhoeffer calls us to love one another. This includes the hard work of dealing with practical problems, such as worship style. I think this is a great book because it challenges us to walk the walk, not just talk the talk. We all say we love the brotherhood, but are we actually doing it? What does it mean to really love? In this book Bonhoeffer presents a challenging picture of what loving looks like, and even though we don't need to agree with everything he says, his overall message is a necessary one. I hope you enjoy the read!

A precious little book, with wonderful advice for Christians on how to live a fully-fledged Christian life, in community, as it corresponds to the Body of Christ, His church.

Advice on prayer, specially when we are not in the spiritual mood to do so; on the importance of fellowship and solitude, each one at their right time, complementing each other. Even the smallest details are here, and very welcome ones: "when our thoughts wander (...) quite calmly to incorporate into our prayer the people and events to which our thoughts keep straying and thus in all patience return to the starting point of the meditation." Here you realize the enormous importance for Christians of living, praying, singing, encouraging, helping, praising, confessing in comunity. Iron sharpens iron.

The book was written for the underground church during the nazi years in Germany. A most timely book for the times we are starting to live in. And by the way: the way it started is the way it will all end.

I will be brief about this. Neil Postman's book AMUSING OURSELVES TO DEATH is simply outstanding. As a detailed intellectual analysis, it shows just one reason for the non-book reading, Fox news-watching, anti-intellectual climate that currently pervades the United States in 2008.

The causes are many, but have a common thread--television--a medium which has insinuated itself into the mindlessness of popular culture--so much so that any ignorant, but photo-friendly fool or front-man (one old, or younger) along with his right-wing, neo-con, neo-liberal cohorts and advisors can TWICE ascend to the highest levels of political power in the U.S.

Can anyone read this book and not partially understand the devolution of critical reasoning that has produced such a total debacle of political and governmental competence--all of which were based on carefully crafted lies and smooth media presentations??? From lies about Saddam Hussein's WMD's or his link to Al-Quieda, to the illegal invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq, even to the outrageous stupidity of Kansas creationists. (If ANY of these people are the products of "intelligent design", God help us all!)

The culpability is readily seen in glib campaign promises about political "change"--which is ALWAYS trotted out at EVERY election cycle by EVERY slick politican in their sixty-second ads or 60 Minute interviews (which only proves just how stupidly gullible and mindless American voters have become.)

But Postman was right about Huxley--and wrong about Orwell. While the corporate masters feed the multitudes the utter mindlessness of reality television shows, info-tainment, and religious programming as predicted by Huxley, the thinkers and readers and the intellectuals in this society have been and are presently being subjected to an Orwellian nightmare of total information networking and surveillance. The thought-police are alive, busy, and growing like cancer on the body politic--monitoring computers, chat-rooms, e-mails, credit card purchases, library check-outs, medical, dental, and insurance records, even casino visits; using RFID's, GPS tracking, and even satellite and digital tv's for surveillance--all as authorized by the USA Patriot Acts. Books may not YET be banned (or burned ala Farenheit 451), but those who read them will be watched and monitored.

Both U.S. history and the FBI's COINTELPRO shows that many of these people will be set-up, run-down, arrested, and imprisoned--while the masses happily monitor their trials and phone-in their votes via some reality television show--perhaps called American Idolator, or better yet, American Heretics. ("Cops" and "Big Brother." are already taken.)

One million U.S. citizens are currently on the Department of Homeland Security's watch list. ONE MILLION!!! Can you feel the heat??? If not, don't worry...be happy. It's all coming soon to more people like you. Be sure to look for it. It's gonna be Hot, and one hell of a witch-hunt!!!

This is exactly what I wanted and in perfect condidtion as well, which is an added bonus. Thanks!

Essentially a redux of Marshall McLuhan's The Media is the Message, it's an argument that the dominant communications media powerfully affect reasoning (Postman's preferred term is epistemology, which is probably more accurate and to the point), and that we were a lot better off as individuals and as a body politic when that effect came primarily from print rather than TV and other visual media. He makes a pretty strong case. Although he's not happy about things, he's not a ranting old crank like some Yale literary critics. He maintains a sense of humor, he's a good writer, and he's down to earth, straightforward and concise (while McLuhan can be otherwise). Well worth the read.

"In watching American television, one is reminded of George Bernard Shaw's remark on his first seeing the glittering neon signs of Broadway and 42nd Street at night. It must be beautiful, he said, if you cannot read." John Ackermann

Neil Postman in his book,'Amusing Ourselves To Death', looks at the impact of television culture on the way we live our lives, understand our present and future and how we gather our information. We need to understand the effects of living in a television society. As he says "We are in danger of creating a trivial culture that will spawn a race of people who adore the technologies that undo their capacities to think." Once we are a television society, we have lost control. We can attempt to control television's influence when we understand the dangers. Neil Postman suggests that Americans ask 'what we are laughing about and why we have stopped thinking.' We have all heard the phrase, The Dumbing of America.

Roger Waters, of 'Pink Floyd' read Postman's book, and he was so taken with the message that one of the best CD's of this era was written. The song 'Amused To Death" tells us the story.

The little ones sit by their TV screens
No thoughts to think
No tears to cry
All sucked dry
Down to the very last breath
Bartender what is wrong with me
Why I am so out of breath
The captain said excuse me ma'am
This species has amused itself to death
Amused itself to death
Amused itself to death"

Ackerman tells us that "Television has altered the meaning of "being informed' by giving us disinformation. Disinformation means misleading information;misplaced, irrelevant, fragmented or superficial information. Information that creates the illusion of knowing something but which in fact leads us away from knowing. The television industry did not deliberately set out to misinform us, but when news is packaged as entertainment, that is the result."

Over the past fifty years since the advent of television, we have allowed conversation and communication to become trivial, and to lead into entertainment. TV is a medium of entertainment. TV is a series of programmed images and pictures. Unlike a book we do not have to concentrate to obtain the meaning of a picture. This is the mechanism by which TV can make any subject meaningless and trivial. It is possible to "amuse one's self to death", considering that the first thing to go will be our vision of reality and to comment intelligently. And this is why Roger Waters CD "Amused to Death" had the power to unleash our subconscious. We are living the album. We are all slowly amusing ourselves to death. We are entertaining ourselves into a stupor. The best things on television is junk, and no one is threatened by it. We do not measure a culture by its output of junk, but by what we claim as significant.

I would think that several minutes of murder and violence would be enough for many sleepless nights. We watch the news because we know that the 'news' is not to be taken seriously, that it is all in fun, so to speak. Everything about a news show tells us this; the good looking newscasters, their pleasant banter, the music that opens and closes the show, the film footage, the humorous commercials. These suggest that what we have just seen is no cause for crying. A news show, is a format for entertainment, not for education or reflection. No one goes to a movie to find out about government policy or the latest scientific advances. No one buys a record to find out the baseball scores or the weather or the latest murder. But everyone goes to television for all these things, which is why television plays so powerfully throughout our land. Television is our culture's principal mode of knowing about itself. Neil Postman says, "For the message of television as metaphor is not only that all the world is a stage, but that the stage is located in Las Vegas, Nevada."

We know that no matter how grave news may appear, we soon shall see commercials that will devalue the importance of the news. This is a key element of news and that allows us to believe that television news is not designed as a serious form of public communication. Our teenagers in particular are taught to believe that television is entertainment, so that the nightly newscast should not be taken as a serious responsibility.

This past political season is a prime example of the myriad of issues that have not been examined, but the entertainment value of the candidates has been examined ad nauseam. One reason why the political contest starts as soon as the President is sworn into office. What have we become, why are we laughing, the Dumbing of America is here.


Highly, Highly Recommended. prisrob 06-14-08

Just today I logged on to one of the biggest news channels' website (CNN) and on the front page under "Popular News" was the following headline: "Is that Miley Cyrus flashing her bra on the Web?" I had just finished my second reading of this book and it seemed like a stark reminder of what Neil Postman was talking about over 20 years ago, how television has drastically changed our culture and redefined everything in our society from news to politics, education and even religion. I don't know of any book written during my lifetime that is more socially relevant and whose message is more important to be read and understood by the general public.

In Chapter 6, "The Age of Show Business", Postman writes, "To say television is entertaining is merely banal. Such a fact is hardly threatening to a culture, not even worth writing a book about. It may even be a reason for rejoicing. Life, as we like to say, is not a highway strewn with flowers. The sight of a few blossoms here and there may make our journey more endurable." He goes on to point out that the problem is not that there are entertaining shows on television, but that in order to accommodate itself to the demands of television, *everything* must be presented as entertainment. In order to generate ratings, advertisers and ultimately revenue, no subject is too serious to be presented in any way other than the one that attracts the most viewers. When the local news reports about a murder, it has no relevant meaning to our lives and it's not told so much to inform us of the tragedy of a murder but because it is the most exciting and what people want to see. News producers have a motto for this, "If it bleeds it leads."

Probably the most alarming example Postman cites is how television has changed politics and political discourse. This is where the transformation from a word-based media to an image-based media is felt the most strongly. Politicians have realized that the content of what they say is now largely irrelevant compared to how they appear, how they present themselves. Postman uses the example that when Ted Kennedy made a run for the presidency, Richard Nixon offered him the following advice: "Lose twenty pounds." Nixon had been in politics most of his adult life and knew the name of the game well, that one's ideas, beliefs, actions and words are now almost completely irrelevant in a world where nearly everyone has started getting their information from television only. Before Mike Huckabee entered this political race, he lost over a hundred pounds. If you look at photographs of presidents throughout our history, you notice that most of them certainly never got anywhere in life because of their looks and some of them are downright ugly men. Political races are now completely decided in the arena of television and their coverage of it has become absurd and embarassing. This is the change that Postman has tried to point out, that a literate culture that depends on the printed word for information and communication creates a vastly different culture from one that depends on images, ten second soundbites and information that has no context or relevance to anyone's life, like what Miley Cyrus or Paris Hilton is up to.

It has been over twenty years since Neil Postman wrote this but his ideas are even more relevant today. This book should be read and understood by everyone but it mostly falls on deaf ears. I think it was Mark Twain who said that the man who doesn't read has no advantage over the man who can't read. Television is now an integral part of life not only in America but in Europe, China and pretty much any other developed nation. This would not be a problem but, as Postman points out, one of the nasty side effects of television is that it has degraded literacy rates, so that every year we hear that people are reading less and less. People and specifically children spend an alarming amount of their free time watching television and to get them to read you practically have to force it upon them. Once in a while a book like Harry Potter will become a hit but for many children and even adults that was the only book they purchased or even attempted to read in an entire year. We hear that children in this country are performing worse every year in school but the finger is never pointed at the obvious culprit because we hear about this on TV.

Fascinating memoir of the same illnes my relative is enduring. I intend to share this with everyone i know who has a loved one with lewy body dementia. We must all live life to the fullest now, while are brains are healthy. Dr. Graboys' story is one of how love and humanity are possible beyond that, long into this illness. Beautiful!

Any general-interest library or health collection needs LIFE IN THE BALANCE: A PHYSICIAN'S MEMOIR OF LIFE, LOVE, AND LOSS WITH PARKINSON'S DISEASE AND DEMENTIA. The author is both a doctor and patient, at the peak of his career at age forty-nine when he was diagnosed with an aggressive form of Parkinson's and dementia. His memoir is revealing and insightful - and considers Parkinson's from the rare vantage point of both patient and doctor.

Diane C. Donovan
California Bookwatch

Tom Graboys offers sensitive and poignant insight into a devastating disease that afflicts millions as patients, family and caregivers. Being married to a fellow academic physician, world renowned and respected, who suffers from Parkinsonism, I miss my spouse's wise counsel as the "go-to"- person described by Graboys, who continues to be a comforting, wise healer. This book fills that gap a bit by honestly describing the agony of the disease and how to cope with certain loss of self as previously known.

Tom Graboys tells about his life with Parkinsons. It's a "from the heart" book, an easy read, and gives hope to anyone with a disability.

An intriguing but somewhat eerie combination of confessional agony and deterioration as told by a 63 year old renowned cardiologist once well-regarded for his professional skill and compassion. This is a man who describes a childhood history of psychological desertion and is frank in recounting his subsequent vanity and narcissism as an adult. The physical and psychological aspects of his disorders are described in a deeply intimate way--for the squeamish, it may seem like "too much information." Yet,his modes of coping with Parkinson's and Lewey body dementia seem superhuman and make for painful and enlightening reading.

five stars because could't give more. Definitely interesting. It is a good source for the non oriental student of chinese medicine. Not abstract mysticism but instead a non passionate discourse of the phylosophical background of TCM

i'm still busy reading the book (final chapters).
dr. kaptchuk succeeds in presenting the chinese phylosophy to physicians reared on conventional ideas and practice.
the book is very efficient in pacifying any conflict between the two schools of thought.
great book, great purchase.

This book is great for the student and profesional alike. It explanes everything in a way that is easy to get a grasp on. Im a second year student of T.C.M and recomend this book to anyone desiring a better knowledge of the practice.

Very good introduction to Traditional Chinese Medicine. The autor explains very clearly the difference between Oriental and Western thinking.

For the last several years I ended the winter with coughing fits and lung congestion, for which I sought and received the usual western remedies, which proved somewhat useful. But the congestion usually remains, with my coughing and hacking provoking my wife to nag me into seeing her herbalist/acupuncture practitioner, who invariably succeeded where my western medicine had failed. I finally asked the herbalist/L.Ac. to recommend something which explained the workings of Oriental Medicine, and he recommended this book. Although I'm now familiar with concepts such as qi, yin and yang, I find that, even armed with this book, I'm still mystified, and find I still must uncomfortably rely on simple belief that my L.Ac. knows what he's doing, since the logic of these treatment protocols still eludes me.

Frantz Fanon's political commentary on colonization is the perfect example of revolutionary literature with a pulse.

It explores the entire ordeal of colonization: from the early pangs of colonized animosity, to armed rebellion, to the destruction of the colonial bourgeoisie, all the way up to the psychological effects of colonial warfare. Fanon asserts that for the colonized: "To live simply means not to die. To exist means staying alive." Thus, it can be inferred that Fanon's portrayal of the Algerian Revolution is one that deals with individuals stripped of the human faculties of identity and forced simply as human beings to exist in the sense of breathing: a morbid assertion at best.

The entire book thrives on the notion that, in order to harness a sense of social identity among the "wretched of the earth," or the colonized masses, it is imperative that violence, or any other possible means, be used to destroy the colonialist foreignors (specifically, in Fanon's case, the French colonists in Algeria). Jean Paul Sartre, who wrote the controversial preface to the Wretched of the Earth, asserts that the only thing keeping the predominantly dehumanized wretch humanized is his desire to kill the colonist, to take his place (an idea also asserted by Fanon himself). Fanon does an excellent job merging the different ideals espoused by the respective sections of the colonized movement, including the urban proletariat, the lumpenproletariat, the tribal leaders, and the colonized intellectual, who Fanon holds in contempt for submission to Western thought (though he later asserts that the intellectual can regain his bearing in the liberation movement if he/she integrates with his/her brethren in the mountains and villages).

The work extensively examines the economic portion of decolonization, and demonstrares Fanon's vehement support for a redistribution of wealth and a unification of resources in order to distribute among the people seeming trivialities, such as grapes and other commodities previously witheld by the colonizer. The memorable conclusion demonstrates Fanon's ideals in his call for the Third World to create a distinct delineation between itself and Europe in order "to create a new man."

Overall, the Wretched of the Earth is one man's cry for a Third World reawakening delivered in miltantly abrasive prose that still resonates to this day.

This book should be required reading in schools worldwide. It explains and reveals the true condition of colonialism, which is just a euphemism for conquering. All of the European conqueror nations used the same pattern of heinous and inhuman tactics on millions of people all over the world. This book is life-saving for those who inherited the "conquered/colonial condition".

I find that most reviewers have based their evaluation on their agreement or disagreement with the ideas of the author. Although I liked many of his ideas, this book was very poorly written and contained very little new thinking, so I give it the rating it deserves.

Fanon doesn't state his idea and then support it, he just rambles on and beats around the bush and it's up to the reader to figure out what he's trying to say exactly. The result is that he uses a great many words to say very little. This makes for a very frustrating read.

The ideas he presents are not original either. Most of them can be found in Gandhi's "Hind Swaraj" (it's easy to download free English translations of this work off the internet and I stronlgy recommend reading it; plus it's much shorter than Fanon's book). Considering that "Hind Swaraj" was written almost 50 years earlier than "The Wretched of the Earth", the ideas Fanon presents were already old by the time he wrote the book!

Although Gandhi advocated non-violence while Fanon believes violence is inevitable in anti-colonial struggle, there isn't much that Fanon says that Gandhi hadn't already discussed. For instance, Fanon is often credited for predicting (or warning about) the fact that the intellectual and political elite of newly independent countries may simply replace the foreign oppressor. Gandhi had already warned his people about that, when he said that the leaders who overthrow colonialism by violence will also govern by violence. The example if India, which is one of the few colonies that gained independence by non-violence and which is one of the few that has been and remains democratic, proves that Gandhi's predictions were better than Fanon's since Gandhi also knew that violence was not inevitable in the fight for independence and that non-violence was the best way to avoid a simple substitution of the opressor.

In other words, if you want to read well-writen work and interesting ideas about anti-colonialism, don't waste your time with Fanon, read Gandhi instead...

This was required reading for a graduate course in the Humanities. Frantz Fanon (July 20, 1925 - December 6, 1961) was a Martinique-born French author and essayist. He was perhaps the preeminent thinker of the 20th century on the issue of decolonization and the psychopathology of colonization. His works have inspired anti-colonial liberation movements for more than four decades.

"The Wretched of the Earth" (French: Les Damnés de la Terre, first published 1961) is Frantz Fanon's best-known work, written during and regarding the Algerian struggle for independence from colonial rule. As a psychiatrist, Fanon explored the psychological effect of colonisation on the psyche of a nation as well as its broader implications for building a movement for decolonization. A controversial introduction to the text by Jean-Paul Sartre presents the thesis as an advocacy of violence. This focus derives from the book's opening chapter `Concerning Violence' which is a caustic indictment of colonialism and its legacy. It discusses violence as a means of liberation and a catharsis to subjugation. It also details the violence of the colonialism as a process itself.

Structural politics of race and making oneself is a continuous theme of Pan Africanism 1950', 60's. Colonialism is toppled , growing awareness of colonial conditions and kinds of people that emerge from it, no one comes out of it unchanged both colonizers and subjects recognize colonialism is product of Enlightenment reason a perversion of what it stood for and its ideals. Justify feelings of superiority people of science over people of mythology. All people are transformed by colonization. Justify economy of colonization. The colonizer has to invent a new human being, the colonized. Sigmund Freud and W. E. B. Du Bois are intellectual fathers of Fanon. Colonialism depersonalizes people in their own country. Theory of Manichean logic. Binary thinking, thinking in duality. A society structured around race is Manichean. Social and racial structure of colonialism is Manichean. Us or them, no in between. Black is bad, white is good, etc. Fanon argues to get over this, a new world must be created. A Utopian idea. He advocates revolution and violence. 20th century preoccupation with violence that which is formative of the subject. Theme of 20th century philosophy and psychology. We finally recognize we are violent. 1968 Algerian revolt shakes French society and history to its core. Algerians were promised full democracy for years, they finally get suspicious. Men were cheap labor and biggest import to France. Economic downturn in 1950's causes France to bar Algerians from working in country, so violence ensues. French intellectuals push out old guard and old thinking, student protests, etc. Jean-Paul Sartre led the movement, and wanted to find a genuine authentic voice of this revolt, he finds it in Fanon. Fanon questions who is crazy, tortured or torturer.
For Fanon, there is nothing more consistent than racist humanism since the European has been able to only become a man thru slavery. 2 groups are opposed they can't get along. Empire needs slaves. He critiques Enlightenment. 2 people live as perpetual protagonists. Colonizer and colonists are backed in a struggle. Colonization is good and colonized are amused by this. Both see each other as morally superior. Colonizer uses violence to keep colonized in check, so they learn to use more violence to overthrow colonizer. Colonizer has their history, and history books on their side. Colonized see them as delusional they see the propaganda as a form of violence. Colonized people will accept servitude because they fear death. Once they don't fear death you can't control them. Anger and rage starts to build and 1st violence against their own people and family, and finally they turn violent on colonizers. As soon as they see colonizers can be killed, they will revolt, it gives them self-respect. Oppression is practiced and institutionalized violence. Oppression must be done cruelly and violently. This is what will overthrow Manichean world. A different kind of person will now emerge. He is openly celebratory of violence. He is shaped by his history. Fanon's work in Algeria changes his way of thinking. He concludes counter violence will make a new man. Violence leaves scars on people. Subject consciousness in his book violence is dialectic of master slave process. Colonialism is another stage of slavery. Colonial racism in crudest form anthropologists say colonized have no culture, then they say there is a hierarchy of culture colonizer higher than colonized. He makes links to culture and economic relations and how change in one changes the other. Fanon argues that when the oppressed are lazy, it is one more way for them to sabotage. Laziness is passive resistance. This is a stage in process before colonized is ready to fight back. Colonized can use subtle ways to resist laws and mores. Colonized do this to revolt against oppression. Colonized must develop framework of collective struggle to fight against oppressor. Fanon believes that to have a new person violence is necessary to destroy category of blackness and whiteness Manichean racial duality. Decolonization is always a violent phenomena. Replacement of 1 kind of man with another kind of man. Must have a clean sweep of change in society. Fanon's insistence on violence grounded in his history and personal nature. Psychoanalytic theory of his is different than Freud's, they come from different society and culture. Freud never took race into account in his theories.

On his return to Tunis, after his exhausting trip across the Sahara to open a Third Front, Fanon was diagnosed with leukemia. He went to the Soviet Union for treatment and experienced some remission of his illness. On his return to Tunis, he dictated his testament "The Wretched of the Earth." When he was not confined to his bed, he delivered lectures to ALN (Armée de Libération Nationale) officers at Ghardimao on the Algero-Tunisian border. He made a final visit to Sartre in Rome and went for further leukemia treatment in the USA. Ironically, he was assisted by the CIA in traveling to the United States to receive treatment. He died in Bethesda [Maryland, US], on December 6, 1961 under the name of Ibrahim Fanon. He was buried in Algeria, after lying in state in Tunisia.

Recommended reading for anyone interested in history, psychology, or philosophy.

This was required reading for a graduate course in the Humanities. Frantz Fanon (July 20, 1925 - December 6, 1961) was a Martinique-born French author and essayist. He was perhaps the preeminent thinker of the 20th century on the issue of decolonization and the psychopathology of colonization. His works have inspired anti-colonial liberation movements for more than four decades.

"The Wretched of the Earth" (French: Les Damnés de la Terre, first published 1961) is Frantz Fanon's best-known work, written during and regarding the Algerian struggle for independence from colonial rule. As a psychiatrist, Fanon explored the psychological effect of colonisation on the psyche of a nation as well as its broader implications for building a movement for decolonization. A controversial introduction to the text by Jean-Paul Sartre presents the thesis as an advocacy of violence. This focus derives from the book's opening chapter `Concerning Violence' which is a caustic indictment of colonialism and its legacy. It discusses violence as a means of liberation and a catharsis to subjugation. It also details the violence of the colonialism as a process itself.

Structural politics of race and making oneself is a continuous theme of Pan Africanism 1950', 60's. Colonialism is toppled , growing awareness of colonial conditions and kinds of people that emerge from it, no one comes out of it unchanged both colonizers and subjects recognize colonialism is product of Enlightenment reason a perversion of what it stood for and its ideals. Justify feelings of superiority people of science over people of mythology. All people are transformed by colonization. Justify economy of colonization. The colonizer has to invent a new human being, the colonized. Sigmund Freud and W. E. B. Du Bois are intellectual fathers of Fanon. Colonialism depersonalizes people in their own country. Theory of Manichean logic. Binary thinking, thinking in duality. A society structured around race is Manichean. Social and racial structure of colonialism is Manichean. Us or them, no in between. Black is bad, white is good, etc. Fanon argues to get over this, a new world must be created. A Utopian idea. He advocates revolution and violence. 20th century preoccupation with violence that which is formative of the subject. Theme of 20th century philosophy and psychology. We finally recognize we are violent. 1968 Algerian revolt shakes French society and history to its core. Algerians were promised full democracy for years, they finally get suspicious. Men were cheap labor and biggest import to France. Economic downturn in 1950's causes France to bar Algerians from working in country, so violence ensues. French intellectuals push out old guard and old thinking, student protests, etc. Jean-Paul Sartre led the movement, and wanted to find a genuine authentic voice of this revolt, he finds it in Fanon. Fanon questions who is crazy, tortured or torturer.
For Fanon, there is nothing more consistent than racist humanism since the European has been able to only become a man thru slavery. 2 groups are opposed they can't get along. Empire needs slaves. He critiques Enlightenment. 2 people live as perpetual protagonists. Colonizer and colonists are backed in a struggle. Colonization is good and colonized are amused by this. Both see each other as morally superior. Colonizer uses violence to keep colonized in check, so they learn to use more violence to overthrow colonizer. Colonizer has their history, and history books on their side. Colonized see them as delusional they see the propaganda as a form of violence. Colonized people will accept servitude because they fear death. Once they don't fear death you can't control them. Anger and rage starts to build and 1st violence against their own people and family, and finally they turn violent on colonizers. As soon as they see colonizers can be killed, they will revolt, it gives them self-respect. Oppression is practiced and institutionalized violence. Oppression must be done cruelly and violently. This is what will overthrow Manichean world. A different kind of person will now emerge. He is openly celebratory of violence. He is shaped by his history. Fanon's work in Algeria changes his way of thinking. He concludes counter violence will make a new man. Violence leaves scars on people. Subject consciousness in his book violence is dialectic of master slave process. Colonialism is another stage of slavery. Colonial racism in crudest form anthropologists say colonized have no culture, then they say there is a hierarchy of culture colonizer higher than colonized. He makes links to culture and economic relations and how change in one changes the other. Fanon argues that when the oppressed are lazy, it is one more way for them to sabotage. Laziness is passive resistance. This is a stage in process before colonized is ready to fight back. Colonized can use subtle ways to resist laws and mores. Colonized do this to revolt against oppression. Colonized must develop framework of collective struggle to fight against oppressor. Fanon believes that to have a new person violence is necessary to destroy category of blackness and whiteness Manichean racial duality. Decolonization is always a violent phenomena. Replacement of 1 kind of man with another kind of man. Must have a clean sweep of change in society. Fanon's insistence on violence grounded in his history and personal nature. Psychoanalytic theory of his is different than Freud's, they come from different society and culture. Freud never took race into account in his theories.

On his return to Tunis, after his exhausting trip across the Sahara to open a Third Front, Fanon was diagnosed with leukemia. He went to the Soviet Union for treatment and experienced some remission of his illness. On his return to Tunis, he dictated his testament "The Wretched of the Earth." When he was not confined to his bed, he delivered lectures to ALN (Armée de Libération Nationale) officers at Ghardimao on the Algero-Tunisian border. He made a final visit to Sartre in Rome and went for further leukemia treatment in the USA. Ironically, he was assisted by the CIA in traveling to the United States to receive treatment. He died in Bethesda [Maryland, US], on December 6, 1961 under the name of Ibrahim Fanon. He was buried in Algeria, after lying in state in Tunisia.

Recommended reading for anyone interested in history, psychology, or philosophy.

The Case Against the FedThis book is a good primer on the Federal Reserve and banking in general. It is not a hard read and is interesting to those who want to learn about this very important part of our economy. Anyone who has even a remote interest in this book should also check out "The Creature from Jekyll Island". THE CREATURE FROM JEKYLL ISLAND - A Second Look at the Federal Reserve - 2008 Edition This book really gets into the subject in a fascinating way. It is really an eye opener and presents the Fed, banking, savings and loans, etc. in a way that is not only instructive but extremely entertaining. This should be a required text in every school!

This book gives a simple case for changing the money under the federal reserve system to gold system of money. After reading the history of the creation of the FED, I see clearer the need for fiat money and a system to control it. We should continue the federal reserve system and teach people how it benefits a society when run properly.

As is typical of all books about banking and economics, this book requires a strong interest on the part of the reader or it would not be considered enjoyable reading. For anyone wanting to understand the U.S. banking sytem and the Federal Reserve System this book should be required reading. Murray Rothbard did not have the writing talent of G. Edward Griffin, but he gets his point across in a much shorter book and was no doubt one of the most enlightened economists of the twentieth century.

Recently I read a book by Ron Paul and in a review I questioned some of his criticisms of the Federal Reserve. It's not that I'm some kind of defender of the Federal Reserve it's just that his alternative (having Congress in charge of monetary policy) seemed horrifying. Some folks politely urged me to do some further research on the subject suggesting this book so I've done my due diligence and read it.

There is a reoccurring theme when I speak to or read material from self described Libertarians. Apparently the Federal Reserve is a very devious organization that illegally counterfeits money. Counterfeiting is one of the most repeated charges I've heard leveled against the Federal Reserve and it never really made sense to me so I looked up the words definition in the American Heritage Dictionary. Counterfeiting is defined as, "To make a copy of, usually with the intent to defraud; forge". Other definitions said basically the same thing. Is U.S. currency a fraud or forgery given the fact that it is printed with the permission of the Federal government? The accusation seems baseless and bizarre. Since this is one of the primary legs of Mr. Rothbard's argument it leads me to question his entire case.

The main crux of the author's argument, if I understand it correctly, is that the Federal Reserve was created by and for the protection of United States banks to allow them to reap profits above and beyond what would naturally be possible. By going off the gold standard and allowing the Federal Reserve to create money out of thin air, inflation is driven up. The author writes, "The gold standard no longer servers as any kind of check upon the Central Bank's expansion of its credit" but I'm not even sure how the gold standard operated as a speed bump. Is it because it's a finite resource?

Much of the rest of the book is nothing more than a history of how the central bank was initially pushed in the United States. The author lists all the players involved and I do mean ALL the players. Page after page lists name after name until I became dizzy. I guess it's all supposed to sound very conspiratorial but it grew tiresome. His point was that the central bank was created at the behest of wealthy bankers. Is this shocking? I'm not sure. Unless I'm mistaken it WAS created to protect the integrity of banks to ensure customer confidence. Considering the book is a mere 151 pages this lengthy section seemed to be completely superfluous filler. This was the section that dragged the book down to two stars for me.

So in the end the author suggests abolishing the Federal Reserve, liquidating its assets and going back on the gold standard. Somehow I feel as if I'm missing some salient point. Hard currency has become rather quaint in this day and age. Well over 90% of my purchases are done without physical cash ever changing hands. It seems that just about anyone can create money out of thin air by purchasing using credit. I will agree that many of the regulating agencies in our country are set up more to lock out competition than to regulate industry but there seems to be no lack of banks. If the authors point was that the FDIC causes banks to engage in risky behavior I'm not sure that that's true either. I really have to question whether the advocates of returning to the gold standard and abolishing the Federal Reserve actually understand the ramifications or if it just feels good to get rid of a powerful institution. Getting rid of institutions seems to be one of the great pleasures of Libertarians with the Federal Reserve joining the IRS and the public school systems as primary targets. Seems like a bad idea to me but what do I know.

While I have no doubt that the Fed and other central banks can and do create inflation, Rothbard's introduction to money is so simplistic and so misleading that it stopped me cold in my tracks. If his conclusions are based on the foundation laid in the introduction, the whole argument is worthless. Rothbard's argument in the introduction is that only the Fed is permitted to print Federal Reserve Notes (correct) and that these notes are the only money in existence. This last statement is a grave error, Rothbard is confusing money with legal tender. The notes are the only form of legal tender in circulation but there are many other forms of money in circulation as well: bank deposits, mortgage loans and any other form of credit increases the money in circulation -- not the legal tender but money as perceived by markets. If we are to believe "Irrational Exuberance," even stock certificates act as money because they create the "wealth effect." All this is ignored by Rothbard in his introduction to money.

The purpose of Rothbard's introduction is to show that the ordinary citizen cannot create money and therefore cannot create inflation and the logical conclusion he arrives at is that only the Fed can create inflation. This is nonsense. Any society can create money. In jail they use cigarettes as money. Before the Fed was created money existed in many forms including sea shells and animal pelts.

Inflation is the setting to right of the unbalance between the supply of money (too abundant) and the supply of goods and services (too scarce). But the market does not care if that money is a piece of paper printed by the Fed, gold, the wealth effect of stocks or the bubbly prices of real estate.

I must conclude that Rothbard twisted economics into the service of politics.

As a journalist who specializes in covering spirituality in daily life, I find myself drawn toward projects conceived by Candlewick Press. I still think their "A Visitor for Bear" is one of the best books I've ever read about the spiritual theme of hospitality.

Well, "Our White House" is a colossal project compared with "Bear" and I was pleased after reading all of its more than 200 pages to conclude that even in large-scale, long-form projects, the Candlewick team hasn't lost their impish sense of storytelling.

I say that because this is a weighty project. More than 100 top names in American history, arts and literature contributed to this coffee-table book for families. Pulitzer Prize winner David McCullough is here along with Jimmy Carter, Charles Dickens and Walt Whitman. These are heavy names. This is a big book. It could have turned out as dull as one of those bronze statues in D.C. that people barely notice anymore.

Here's what I like about the book and why I think it's timely with our American role in the world called into question in so many ways: This book dares to have fun with America's enduring capacity for creativity. And that is an important spiritual lesson right now.

Did you know that Thomas Jefferson defied naysayers in personally helping to popularize the tomato? He did. He cultivated them and ate them both fresh and cooked. Today, who could imagine American cuisine without tomatoes?

Did you know that the Lebanese-American journalist Helen Thomas opened doors at the White House to female journalists? She did. And she did it by first cultivating coverage of First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt, a major barrier breaker herself.

Did you know it was a White House Executive Order in 1903 that kick started the national preservation of our wilderness and wildlife? It was. Teddy Roosevelt was behind it and, more than likely, his family's love of wildlife -- including a crazy array of pets in the White House -- played a role in saving some of our most precious natural areas.

Families will have a lot of fun sharing individual two- and three-page stories from the book. And it's not only a collection of stories. There are poems here, too, and letters. Some of the lavish illustrations are worthy a good bedtime story by themselves.

This book is a contemplation of many stories about the White House. Some are old, most are written by famous children's authors of the day. Great book illustrators are included too! (I want a poster of Eric Carle's contribution.) Every single entry is superlative and of great interest. I was absorbed from beginning to end. I am a teacher and my only problem will be how to share this book with my students. I will look for openings in the curriculum to share many of the stories and hope some of them will be interested in reading it themselves. The book is wonderful.

Our White House: Looking In, Looking Out This book is the natural outcome of all those speeches and interviews David McCullough has given around the country claiming again and again, "our children don't know enough about history."
And this book couldn't come at a better time, on the heels of the spectacular John Adams HBO miniseries. This book was written for young people to help them fall in love with history, the way the 108 contributors to this marvelous book clearly already have.
This book has all the reliable gateways to keep a kid interested, great illustrations, funny stories and personal notes the people that lived in the White House.
Really well done. I'm so glad!!