History Books

Many things come to light in this book. It's scary to realize what our government is capable of and what precious things they've taken from us. This nation and world would have been MUCH different if JFK, RFK, and Martin Luther King Jr. were allowed to live. A MUST read for any Kennedy fan. You'll appreciate JFK and what he has done even more.

James W. Douglass has done a remarkable job of making it clear why and by whom John Kennedy was murdered. Mr. Douglass uses 96 pages of reference to document his account of events. Recent documents released by the U.S. Archives as well as documents released from the archives of the former Soviet Union are disclosed to us in a well written and easy to follow narrative which is gripping. It is important for every American to know how our secret government operates that not even a popular president was able to overcome.

Once begun, I could not put this book down.

I recommend this book be read by every American and be on the reading lists in all of this nation's high schools.

This is an outstanding work by James Douglass, and as one who has a library filled with books on this subject this is perhaps the best. It is well researched, extremely well written and a page turner. I will not delve too much into the contents for other reviewers have done so in very thorough manner.

I will close by saying the following....when I finnished this book I had a chill. We all know what was and is, what we don't know and never will is what might have been. I long for the day when the truth is fully divulged, those responsible for the "Unspeakable" are unmasked (it will suprise some)and Lee Harvey Oswald is fully exonerated for a crime he did not commit.

Ever since establishment of the CIA, that entity has carried on a foreign policy of it's own creation and, as Douglass meticulously documents, one that promotes conflict around the world in the interest of the military-industral-media establishment. Circumstanial as the evidence of conspiracy in the murder of Kennedy may be, its shere volume shatters the attempts made to cover-up the crime. Scholarship evidencing the reasons why "the powers that be" wanted Kenndy taken out is most convincing. This extreme act of betrayal and treason - and secrecy in government in general - is a cancer that will continue to haunt the nation and undermine its future, until such time it is properly addressed. This book is a critically important contribution to the history of our watch.

This reviewer raptly read Mark Lane's Rush To Judgement, Jim Garrison's On the Trail of the Assassins: My Investigation and Prosecution of the Murder of President Kennedy, and Jim Mars' Crossfire: The Plot That Killed Kennedy when they were first published. This reviewer became jaded at the fictions published by the Warren Commission and the House Select Commission on Assassinations, and like America sings in Sister GoldenHair "I got so damn depressed" that I quit reading this stuff.

Since then, even more proof has piled up against the lies our "leaders" told us. JFK was 'turning towards Peace" and the "unspeakable" evil forces aligned against him and peace didn't like it. James W. Douglas has done an excellent, Must-Read compilation of that truth, especially important now that a similair scenario could be, like Carly crooned, "Comin Around Again" with a new president ("Yes we Can!" "Change we can believe in!") bucking an evermore entrenched Military-Industrial Complex - HalliBurton et. al. - that would prefer that we stay in Iraq for the next 100 years or so.

"Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it"
George Santayana 1863-1952

Buy this book for you and all your intelligent friends and relatives and read it, so that we all can be on the same proverbial "Group W' bench with Arlo Alice's Restaurant: The Massacree Revisited (30th Anniversary Edition).

/TundraVision, "Hope springs eternal," Amazon Reviewer

This book is simple, clear and accurate. I've turned to it over and over again and can't recommend it too highly. Smiley is especially good when he gets to the second half of the 1930s. I have one copy at the office, one copy at home and carry one around in my backpack when there's room. Also great: Jim Powell's "FDR's Folly," "The Great Depression" by Thomas E Hall and J David Ferguson, Allan Meltzer, and of course Friedman and Schwartz. Superb but hard to get: Lester V Chandler.

Based on new theories, Smiley has re-examined and re-assessed the forces that led to and prolonged the Great Depression. In clear non-technical prose, he shows what happened and why.

This short book (163 pages plus sources and index) is divided into five chapters. Chapter 1 gives a brief overview of how the worldwide depression began and how it created a domino effect throughout Europe and the U.S. Nothing new here-- in fact, this is basic stuff any high schooler should know.

Chapter 2 is a more detailed examination of the economic crisis and the forces which led to it. Smiley explains the situation in basic terms that anyone can understand, allowing us to see the tragedy unfolding step by step.

Chapters 3 and 4 show how President Roosevelt (who had little knowledge or experience of economics) attempted to pull the country out of this deep economic slump. Though some programs were successful, some were not, and only serve to create a depression within a depression in the mid-30s.

Chapter 5 examines the legacy of the governmental response, and how economic policies initiated during this period has affected this country for decades afterward, and how certain government programs still exist long after their usefulness has passed. An examination of post-war analysis shows how Keynesian economic theory and government studies have misinterpreted the factors which brought this country back to recovery. He also examines the question of whether such an event can happen again, concluding that-- based on subsequent economic downturns-- it probably won't, though it can happen again should future leaders ignore the warning signs and lessons of the past.

A fascinating and rewarding book, even for those who have little or no knowledge of economics.

This is a brief and relatively easy to read monetarist review of 'the great depression'. It is unclear to what the title calls 'rethinking' might refer. My guess is that the author is rethinking Keynes, but it might be FDR. Since the difference between Keynes and monetarists is subtle to all but Keynesians and monetarists, I wouldn't recommend this as a introduction to the subject, nor as a survey.

The text presents a matter of fact narrative, starting in 1929 and ending with the war efforts of 1940. The author find the source of economic contractions (recessions and depressions) in monetary policy established on a country by country basis. These contractions were caused by a shrinking money supply which could be correlated to effort to maintain a fixed relationship between gold and the national currency. Unaware of the relationship between money supply and economic goals (full employment, growth, etc), both Hoover and FDR made the necessary economic correction prolonged and painful. According to the author, the misguided new deal programs started by FDR have taken on a life of their own. The problems posed by 'New Deal' government programs consumes most of the concluding remarks. To end the book, Smiley writes "What failed in the 1930s were governments, in their eagerness to direct activity to achieve political ends... Attempts to stop international financial markets from working through the gold standard brough on the depression. Government efforts to combat the depression ... made the depression much longer and more severe in the United States. Governemnt attempts to reshape American society ... helped create a depression with the depression.'

Though one might think this come across as a polemic against FDR and what the author calls 'socialism', the author takes pains to show that everyone, including all the economists, misunderstood the 'depression'. Despite his confident narrative, the author doesn't exclude himself in this assessment. In a telling comment near the end of the book, Smiley states 'Still, our continued inability to develop econometric models that can accurately predict contractions means that we will not be free of them.' In other words, argues that no one knows what caused the depression. All he can do is point out the errors of various theories.

Smiley has done a fantastic job with this book. It is well organized and very easy to read. He makes a statement and then follows up with the data and information necessary to support that statement. The second chapter on the cause of the great depression is my favorite and after finishing the book I went through that chapter again to really drill the information in. This book should be required reading for all college students. I normally give books away after reading them but I won't be giving this one away.

Smiley discusses the cause the the Great Depression, and the effects of the New Deal in prolonging it. He summarizes the findings of the latest academeic research, over the past few decades. He does this well and quite clearly, in a non-polemical way.

No math is involved.

The Complete Persepolis: Now a Major Motion Picture

This is an excellent movie. I was moved and amused. I laughed and I cried. I actually bought copies for all my friends. I was so impressed I bought the graphic novel by Marjane Satrapi which was also excellent. Thank you Marjane.

Persepolis as a whole is part of a not-so-new wave of comics that bring true, accessible life stories into the format of comics/sequential art. It seems that now, when I talk to "serious literature" people about comics, they immediately mention Persepolis (just had a movie out) and Art Spiegleman's Maus (done in the 80's with no movie likely to ever come out. I'm still waiting for mention of Optic Nerve and it looks like following this summer's Dark Knight movie, a lot more people will be watching the Watchmen.

Persepolis is more definitely Maus than Watchmen. Satrapi's sometimes magical-looking visual choices provide a device similar to Spiegelman's choice to cast Jews as mice and Nazis as cats in his major work. Persepolois also does an excellent job of humanizing another socio-political event. It is perhaps an excellent piece to read currently with the various tensions with Iran/Persia and the nations surrounding it. Satrapi's story has brilliant intersections of the personal and political and does an excellent job of giving appropriate attention to both.

In thinking about what audiences might best benefit from this, I'd say that most adults could find both volumes accessible and perhaps enjoyable. The second volume might be a bit more GP-13 or R, so if anyone's looking to get this onto a high school curriculum, that might be a bit difficult with mentions of sex, drugs, & rock n' roll. I'd think that most high school audiences could deal with it well, as Satrapi's presentation of those issues, as with all others in both volumes, is well-contextualized as a real human experience rather than given a shallow glamour treatment.

What a fantastic graphic novel! If you normally don't read graphic novels (or comic books), don't be afraid, the pictures won't hurt you and the stories are only enhanced by this format. Buy the box set because the first book will only leave you wanting more.

The books are composed of short stories of events in the author's life. Some of them seem really simple, but they all have an underlying message. It may be simply pointing out the joy of moment's of rebellion (getting an Iron Maiden poster was a huge deal to this girl!), or much more serious commentary on the imprisonment and execution of family or friends. Each story is short but each provides a picture into life in Iran in the late 1970s and 1980s.

I confess to know nothing about Iran or its history. These books have introduced me to a culture that is both old and new. A lot of the extreme conservative movement is really quite young as you learn in this book and the stories show you that the people of Iran are like any other. Marjane wants what any young girl wants these days - freedom to pursue her dreams and self-expression. It is surprising to find that many Iranians felt this way in the 1970s. You also start to understand the patriotism that people in Iran have - not necessarily for the tyrants in charge but for the culture that has existed for so long. It is similar to how many feel today in the U.S. - you can be a patriot despite disagreeing with the policy of the country's leaders.

The illustrations are very simple in form but have a great impact. For example, you feel the oppression that beards have when drawn as almost a wall of black bearded chins. The emotion is conveyed very well in these simple drawings.

I recommend this book to anybody, even if new to the idea of graphic novels. By the way, some of the best literature comes out in this format.

I loved every minute reading this book. Being a comic or graphic novel, whichever one prefers, I was both invested in the life of Marjane Satrapi as well as the illustrations. The drawings really brought the whole story to life with her incredible enthusiasm of how the expressions on the faces really matched what was being said. The story of her life is so compellingly told that one is caught up in her passions and pains.

I just loved it! I laughed with her. I cried with her. I cheered her on! She is a woman with a unique voice, both in her experiences of standing up for herself by being straightforward and blunt (and quite rational in her reasoning), but also in her own narrative. It is swiftly told, but not leaving it too general or to overlook any of the details. Being a Westerner and having little knowledge of Persian history, it was actually a very welcome introduction to what has happened in the Middle East. She is roughly my age so I identified with her and the time period she grew up in (despite the social climates being so different).

Satrapi tells the story of things from her point of view. What I did enjoy about it was that she was fond of her own country, but also recognized its own shortcomings. Her fears were real and she stood up to them when she felt it most necessary. She challenged authority at every corner. And, if you ask me, she won!

But I think what also moved me was that is was told in a graphic narrative. The illustrations, as I said, were spot on. I think her style of art supports her story and helps relate the happenings much better than if were just a book. To me it made the book more enjoyable and humorous.

It has just been released as a movie and I am excited to see the film as it matches the style of book perfectly. I don't see anyone who reads even the first 20 pages would be able to stop. I am glad someone suggested the books for me to read as I now want to buy a copy for myself.

In Persepolis, Marjane Satrapi tells a story in words and pictures of her life in Iran. The first book covers Satrapi's life from early childhood, until 14, when she leaves to study in Austria, and the second book covers her time in Europe, and her return to life in Iran up to her late 20s. This period covers the last years of the Shah, the revolution that overthrew him, the consolidation of the Islamic Republic, the war with Iraq, and through to the present. A tumultuous time indeed.

You would expect any account of growing up in Iran in the last generation to be heartbreaking and terrifying, and Satrapi's story is, but it is also funny in a grim sort of way that can only be told from inside a nightmare. Most impressive is that the author does not spare herself. She writes as unflinchingly about her own flaws, petty cruelties and bad decisions as she does about those of all those around her. The lessons learned are not idealized, and sometimes they are only partially learned, so her travel through life feels very real and very human.

Part of the appeal of the story to Westerners, of course, is that Marjane is a very modern Iranian woman. Raised in a very modern family that is upper middle class by Iranian standards, she struggles with social mores and the education system and we root for her because Westerners (particularly Americans) love stories about individuals overcoming adversity to become their own person. But that doesn't explain all of the story's appeal. What makes it so satisfying is the insight into the issue of modernity, and how it manifests through the life of a interesting and all too human character. We come to understand that being modern and being Western aren't the same thing. The West is an undeliably strong influence on Marjane and other modern Iranians, but in the story, simply copying Western ways proves unsatisfying at a minimum, and sometimes disasterous.

Ultimately, the story is about finding -- actually creating -- a life that is both modern and Persian. It is a tortorous path, and one that Marjane often has to tread alone. Marjane's friends follow the regime's draconian moral code in public, but break out the party life in private. Yet Marjane eventually comes to see this as a kind of adolescent rebellion against a parental force that cannot, at present, be overcome. An incident that illustrates this is her revelation to her closest friends that she's having sex with her boyfriend. Their shock and disapproval jars her into the realization that modern is a relative concept even amoung modern Iranians.

Marjane weathers her trials and emerges with a sort of wisdom. We admire her for it because she earned it the hard way. But we also hope, fervently, that people like Marjane will thrive, for they are the ones who will lead Iran into the future.

Totally different from his wonderful River Town book, but just as interesting. Peter Hessler, not quite seamlessly, pulls together a bunch of subjects. We hear more about what happened to his students; we learn about his wheeling and dealing Uigher friend who eventually gets to America and remains an optimist despite his trials and tribulations. We learn about the oracle bones and their history. And then, there's the mystery of the scholar Chen Mengjia's death. Most interestingly, we learn more about Mr. Hessler's headline cutting/freelance life in China--after the teaching years. I hope there are more books coming from Peter Hessler.

We do not get very much in Chinese history as we grow up, and I think everyone needs to be more informed about the people of China, its history, and what is going on now. This book is well written, entertaining, and informative. Though not the only source to use, it provides a good beginning to get some insight into the Chinese point of view and become more current with Chinese thinking. I would also recommend watching China: A Century of Revolution. That is an excellent documentary.

This is an excellent book that should be read by anyone curious about present-day China and the economic juggernaut that they have become. The author looks at their situation not from the macro side (the big picture - China's economy is thus and thus, growing from this to that in X amount of time, etc.) but rather he looks at it from the micro side: through the stories of everyday folks who are working in this new economy, many of whom he knows very well. Some lived through the Cultural Revolution and have a lot of baggage left over from that experience, while others were born after all of that and have grown up in the post-Mao era when China finally woke up and embraced capitalism (in its own way). It is one of the best examples of narrative non-fiction that I have read, and was hard to put down.

I really loved Peter Hessler's Rivertown and found Oracle Bones just as enjoyable. The author's style of writing is original and surprising, at unexpected points of his books. I studied in Taiwan in the mid-70's and found Peter Hessler's descriptions of the Chinese to be very similar to my own experiences. I get the feeling that there are others who are finding his writing just as enjoyable - a few days ago I was in the Denver airport and saw a copy of The New Yorker with his article about the Olympics listed at the top. He is a wonderful writer and anyone picking up this book will finish it knowing quite a bit more than he did before starting it.

I've read it before going to sleep and more than a few times it made stay up later than I wanted. The book is well written, without artful gimmicks (it doesn't try hard to be literary), but also without the cliches and boring turns of phrases one sees in modern 'reporting'.
The book weaves the past and the present. The past appears in the form of the oracle bones that belonged to the Shang dynasty. Hessler talks to old scholars, people who dedicated their lives to the study of ancient Chinese history; he finds out how their lives were affected by the Communists and ruminates on the importance of writing for Chinese culture.
The 'present' part of the book looks at ordinary people and the way they lead their lives in this fast-changing society. Hessler is clearly aware that this is not a free society, but he doesn't hit you over the head with it: instead, what he cares about is these people - their stories, aspirations, dreams. Some of them are former students and friends, and he doesn't shy away from getting involved in their lives.
All in all a pleasure to read.

My stepson and my husband's childhood friend--both in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginny--love the Yankees and will be here in August to attend their first and last game at the stadium. They love this book for the photographs, the star player stories and the CD. I think it's a nice mememto--there will be many more to come and this one makes a lovely gift for yourself or your favorite Yankee fan.

I heartily second what Kristie said here. The DVD included with this book is worth the price of admission to a luxury box. Mel Allen's World Series recaps are remarkable -- the film editing is much better than I remember. These aren't just the clips we've seen for years. These show entire at-bats. I especially loved the shot of Dodger Eddie Miksis running all over the Yankee Stadium outfield trying to track down a fly ball. And the Pope, Billy Graham and Joe Louis are here, too. Wonderful.

This is the best of the handful of Yankee Stadium books that came out in 2008 -- the Yankees' swansong season in the Babe's house. It's a treasure chest of the 50 or so greatest moments in Yankee Stadium history, from Ruth's christening blast in 1923 to Joe Louis' kayo of Max Schmeling to the heroics of Reggie, Wells, Boone, and Jeter. Besides the stories, the book includes great photos and special commentary from many Yankee greats. The book's accompanying DVD, The Golden Age of Yankee Stadium, is a terrific bonus. Narrator Reggie Jackson is earnestly nostalgic as he relives the magical days of Yankee Stadium, from the 1920s to the '60s. Includes a lot of cool footage that probably very few people have ever seen before. A wonderful stroll into the past....

I viewed all the various books commemorating Yankee Stadium (there's four) and this one is the best by far. It's a coffee table book with extraordinary photos, some I've never seen elsewhere. Not only are the 200 or so photos outstanding, there are about 50 chapters with great historical facts, figures and wonderful baseball writing. The real highlight of this book, however is the DVD. It's an hour long and narrated by Reggie Jackson. Talk about learning and enjoying a new aspect of an old thing (the Stadium), that's the DVD's strength. There's rare moments with Casey Stengel, the Babe, Joe DiMaggio, Mickey Mantle. Every Yankee fan deserves to have this book.

Those who are faithful followers of our poetic prose know we know as much about baseball as we do the inner working of parasitic eco-systems. But we did grow up in New York, and we are keen enough to know Yankee Stadium is more than the place where Marilyn's hubby once played. We must admit that rifling through this tome did prove interesting . . . so that's what Babe Ruth looked it! (We only knew the Babe as an incredible crunchy log o' candy.) There are touching (Lou Gehrig's farewell speech) and campy (teammates Phil Ruzzoto and Yogi Berra smooching Hank Bauer) Kodak moments. For those who refuse to read, pop in the bonus DVD; the documentary, hosted by Reggie Jackson, offers front-row seats to the palace that will forever close its doors when its replacement opens next year.

This is a very well written and researched book. It gives just enough historical background to help you put the events of the book into context, but not so much that you are overwhelmed. There are many action packed sequences that were "page turners" for me. Anyone interested in US history or naval battles will really like this book. My 23 year old son and my 92 year old dad both enjoyed it as well.

Derivative and a revionist history in an area already well covered. Toll also has a distinctly "liberal" slant to much of his discussion of politics. Try Richard Zacks Pirate Coast and other non-fiction on the origins of the U.S. Navy.

The author did considerable research. Not only do we get a great history lesson but we get a story that keeps us involved. Wonderful reading.

I enjoy naval history and have read enough, including of this period, to recognize something delightfully different in Toll's approach to his subject. Actual naval engagements are well described and the creation of nautical forces is examined in most fascinating terms. It is amazing that we quite possibly may have never created any significant warships during this period. This state of affairs is well described both in terms of political differences and frugal allocation of resources to a shipbuilding industry creating major men of war for the first time

I thoroughly enjoyed Ian Toll's history of the ships that quickly established the Navy's tradition for excellence. Toll has the gift of a great story teller. Wonderfully researched, beautifully written and told in prose dotted with the nautical expressions that have become staples of our language,this work is highly recommended to anyone who loves history, adventure and great prose. Well done.

Three Kingdoms is a action packed novel that deserves to be calle a classic. Nevertheless all the Chinese names and the repetitive battle scenes could easly lose the novice reader after the first thousand pages or so. If you buy this be prepared to read the footnotes throughly and become a student of Chinese culture.

This is the unabridged version and truly a masterpiece. I was familiar with a very small portion of the history during this time period before I read it, so that encouraged me to try it out. If you love epic stories, this is a great one. Guanzhong based his novel on solid historical facts while adding some fictional elements in order to bring out the characters and events for the reader. I've heard it said, and I agree with it, that it is 70% history and 30% fiction. Addtionally, this is a must read for any fans of the Dynasty Warriors gaming series. My recommendation is that if you have any interest in this period of Chinese history or stories of heroics and loyalty-to-the-death, buy it, and I guarantee that you wont regret it.

I'll be perfectly honest: I've never been one to actually sit down and read a book unless it's been marked required reading. In fact, my only fantastic literary claim up to this point was conquering the Harry Potter series. Then, I picked up these volumes. I was absolutely enthralled.

I picked up this book because I'm a big of the Dynasty Warriors series. In fact, I just recently discovered that the games themselves were based entirely off of this collection. From then on, I had a blast both playing through the games and reading the books, trying to pick out scenarios and information the game had changed (or in some instances, just completely left out). In the process, I learned something new about ancient Chinese culture and managed to have a fantastic time doing so.

I highly recommend this book. And as many others have said, do NOT buy the abridged version. Spend a little extra and get the four volume set. You'll get a lot more out of the reading.

Whether you've been there or not, "Three Kingdoms" will provide you deep insite into Chinese History and Culture. Encapsulated in a Swashbuckler worthy of Hollywood, it is a roadmap to over 2000 years of a culture the West generally knows so little about. Much as the tales of King Arthur, portray Romanized Britain during the disintegration of Rome, Knightly Brothers strive to preserve the Han Empire or carve kingdoms amidst battles, plots, counter plots, seduction, and betrayal. These are stories that, even in English translation, show us as much about Chinese thought, in the way place, time, and events are portrayed, as can be gleaned from actual dialog. Annotated, Three Kingdoms can read on many levels from light entertainment to historic cultural education.

It fits its hype of being one of the four Chinese classics. It takes you back in time and shows the culture, drama, and situation of China around 190 to 220 AD. You will find yourself reading the first chapter and not wanting to stop. The epic book does well by hooking the reader in.
However, there are many characters in which to remember. Luckily the characters themselves, can at many times, be distinguish from each other.

Very good book indeed!

Roy has an erudite style and a level of detail that makes this book both a joy to read and a reference to use frequently. His references and bibliography alone are very extensive - the kind I would expect in a PhD - even though he claims they are not exhaustive. Clearly, Roy was setting a standard for his students, colleagues and followers. His illustrations show his debt to the Wellcome foundation.

This wonderful book by Roy Porter is simply the best available history of medicine. It is long and detailed, as befits a huge topic. It is Eurocentric, as is most of modern medicine. It stresses the scientific origins of the development of modern medicine.
While doing all of these things, it remains a very readable book. Porter's writing style is lucid and at times entertaining -- quite welcome attributes in a tome on the history of medicine.
Having waded through other histories of medicine, I believe this is the best. And the paperback version is a wonderful bargain!

Although very tedious, this book was chock full of information. Mind you, I would never have purchased this book for leisure reading. (This was a required text for a college class) I did, however, find this book both interesting, intellectually stimulating, and detailed.

This is a magnificent overview of the history of disease and medicine from antiquity to the modern age. Porter writes with humour and insight, selecting carefully from the abundance of evidence the significant moments and figures. Both fascinating and informative this book is also extremely good value with its 718 pages, plus bibliography and index. This is my best buy for the year.

Imagine trying to squeeze the entire history of medicine, from the birth of the craft with Hippocrates all the way to the modern age of AIDS and Dr. Kevorkian and all points in between into 800 pages. It's a goal that Roy Porter attempts to make, and he succeeds to some extent.

His primary theme is the development of Western Medicine in Europe and America, and as a historical work it is very well done. He only briefly mentions Eastern medicine and rarely covers "irregular" medical practioners except to say that many members of the public subscribe to their folk remedies.

What he does well is in his coverage of the breadth of the topic. There is hardly an historical point he fails to mention, a significant doctor left out, or a disease left undiscussed. His ability to breathe life into history is exceptional. In what seems like just the span of a few pages, he has covered a huge swath of history seamlessly.

However, the book suffers depth-wise. There isn't hardly enough space to give deep coverage to every topic and Porter skims past many historical items and persons without a second word. The book also has the problem of grouping photos and illustrations together far from the textual contexts that they arise from.

What is most saddening about the history of medicine is that while we have progressed very far in the understanding of disease, we haven't come very far at all in understanding how to Cure disease. Porter pushes this point home as the book draws to a close. What progress has been made has been made primarily in the 20th century with the greater level of technologic progress and antiseptic techniques. However, despite that, acute diseases that vexed humanity for ages still haunt us and chronic diseases that lay dormant in our genes are coming to the fore. The future may hold cures for the diseases we suffer from, but if history is any guide, then management of those diseases is a more likely outcome.

This book works well as a survey of the history of Western Medicine. It provides jumping off points to further research on any number of topics that the reader may not have been previously familiar with. His bibliography and Further Reading sections are chock full of additional texts that will serve anyone wanting more depth. I highly recommend this book.

I don't read very much since I read slow but I was glad I finished through this book. There is a very good background of the state of physics in the first 3/4ths of the book. The ending could be skipped if you aren't all that interested in the authors prescriptive suggestions for addressing the state of academia and research funding.

Excellent read. Smolin's critique of string-them-along string theory in What's Wrong with Physics is greatly superior to Greene's cheerleading treatment of the same topic in The Elegant Universe. It is interesting the way that physics is being corrupted in a similar way to the financial system in the current crises causing a meltdown on Wall Street: people spewing out equations that nobody really understands and that have little relation to reality. But Smolin, while enlightening in his insider insights into the achievements and failures of string theory, falls into many of the same faulty assumptions of contemporary physics. My own view is that special relativity was fairly brilliant, but general relativity is essentially flawed. Physicists pay too much homage to Einstein, without admitting that he could be wrong. Remember that nobody has ever found a gravity wave, but general relativity appears to be premised on their existence. It would be more profitable to seek to create a theory that explicitly makes gravity waves impossible than to continue to believe in any theory where they exist. And the entire program of unification is suspect. Why should the Universe require unification when everything we know points to simply finding, over time, that it contains more and more things and phenomena -- different laws at different scales of spatial dimension -- and becomes bigger and bigger than we ever thought before? The Universe seems to require diversity, not unification. And while physics flounders, there are legitimate advances in related fields: our understanding of the information sciences and the concept of entropy appear to be critical for any advances in physics.

about the sociology of science, and I agree completely with what it says about it, and on the need to parcel funds and scientists more equably among the several possible approaches (for example, to fundamental physical theories). The trouble is that men are not angels, and the proposals it makes are very difficult to implement in practice. Perhaps, as Churchill said of democracy, the present system in science "is the worst possible one, with the exception of all the the others". Or, paraphrasing Juvenal 2,000 years ago: "Who'll watch over the fairness of the funds' and careers' administrators?". It really looks like an infinite regress. So perhaps the only feasible solution is to muddle through, as the human race has done over its entire history.

Other reviewers have spoken at length about the book's contents, and I will not repeat them. Suffice it to say that I don't feel qualifided to judge the relative merits/defects of string theory versus loop quantum gravity and the other "theories" that are being worked upon, although I am sympathetic to those who start from relativity, I think the "background independence" argument has some merit, and string/M theory is, in my opinion, beginning to sprout epycicles. You don't need to have worked on it to realize it. Of course I could be wrong: in this (or these) Universe(s) almost anything is possible, which, although a very trite remark, is deeply true.

But this book, although eschewing math, is written for an adult public -unlike so many ones in the market today-, doesn't simplify the issues (i.e., doesn't pretend you can really "understand" anything much without math), depicts accurately why science isn't exactly what you thought it to be, but instead in the short run (say 1½ human lifespans?) much more based on personal vanity and lust for power than on rational considerations, and, more importantntly yet, is CIVILISED. It's really refreshing to read pages unpolluted by vicious ad hominem attacks à la Lubos Motl (a learned physicist who reviewed, among others, Peter Woigt's also excellet book "Not even wrong ... "), even if it's only for appearences' sake.

For those of us non-physicists looking into what has been going on in string theory for something close to three decades, things just look curiouser and curiouser. No doubt the problem is that only physicists can comprehend the science itself. Still it is enormously frustrating that not a single shred of experimental evidence has come to light supporting string theory. What this suggests is that string theory, as beautiful as it may be, is art not science, or perhaps it is pure mathematics.

Lee Smolin, who is a real physicist, has come to a similar conclusion in this insider's look at the sorry state of particle physics today. Once the undisputed master of the sciences, physics has become--it is downright dreadful to acknowledge this--the butt of jokes from--are you ready for this?--the social sciences! Even professors of literature are having their way with physics. The inability of the string theorists, who have dominated particle physics lo these many years, to accomplish anything substantial, has so damaged the prestige of physics that something called postmodernism has been able to declare that all of science and mathematics constitutes merely an arbitrary "social construction" with no more claim to objective truth than utterances from a creationist's convention.

Say it isn't so, Brian Greene. Well Professor Greene has said it isn't so, but entrenched scientists tend to have entrenched ideas, just like global warming deniers, and so what we need are some hard facts derived from experiments or at least some predictions that can be identified and confirmed. Alas, as Smolin is at pains to point out, we have more like the opposite.

Take the reincarnation of Einstein's cosmological constant. Not predicted by string theory. Take the discovery of dark energy. Not predicted by string theory. Take the seven additional dimensions required by M-theory (an offshoot of string theory), and the old phobia about infinities in the equations seems rather mild. No one has yet seen, tasted, smelled, felt or heard even a fifth dimension (putting aside the once popular band) let alone six others. We cannot even imagine such a thing.

Well, yes, the fact that we can't imagine them doesn't mean they don't exist. However, one of the leading reasons that physicists like string theory's extra dimensions is that they do away with the infinities. Talk about going from the frying pan into the fire, or from the deep blue sea to the devil!

Philosophy was once the most prestigious academic discipline. Could the same thing happen to physics? And if so, why?

Part of the problem is the great success and power that physics has enjoyed since the days when Newton stood on the shoulders of giants. Even more so, since the days of James Clerk Maxwell, vast has become our knowledge of the physical world. Indeed physics and physicists have constructed much of the modern world. Their ideas and discoveries and understanding have led to enormous advances in technologies that have increased the standard of living of people, at least in the developed nations. So much success has led to great expectations. The sad fact for physics may be this: the next great discovery may be centuries away, or worse yet, beyond the reach of humans.

Smolin certainly isn't so pessimistic. The tone of "The Trouble with Physics" is that of a father urging his children to great accomplishments while warning them that they have been wayward. He is blunt but bends over backwards to be fair. The trouble with the book for non-physicists is that it is really impossible to follow the various arguments for and against string theory in any concrete detail. The truth is in the equations, and Smolin doesn't give any, and rightly so since this is a book aimed at the educated general reader. We educated general readers are left skimming the bewildering details of the history and current state of string theory to focus on the broad implications while being guided by Smolin's expert opinion. But even in reading somebody like the aforementioned Brian Greene, who is a proponent of string theory, this reader at least was left with the sense of watching a wild goose chase from a distance.

It isn't just in particle physics that physicists have gone over the deep end, so to speak. Take cosmology where some physicists are postulating a large, possibly infinite number of universes in addition to the one in which we live. As Smolin points out "The existence of a population of other universes is a hypothesis that cannot be confirmed by direct observation..." He adds, "...the fact that we are in a biofriendly universe cannot be used as a confirmation of a theory that there is a vast population of universes." (p. 163)

Although there is nothing wrong with Smolin's writing style, and he does write with a minimum of jargon, some of this is impenetrable, at least for me. Those more versed in physics will do better I'm sure. However particle physics is per force about things we can't see and can't even visualize.

Near the end of the book Smolin presents some alternatives to string theory. As a non-physicist I have no ability to evaluate these approaches, which brings up an important point. How can any non-physicist pass any kind of judgment on the validity of string theory? We can't. We can only count noses--physicists' noses. When we do we find that most theoretical physicists believe in string theory despite the dearth of experimental support. Why? Perhaps because string theory is what they have been doing all their working lives, and string theory is what they have been taught and are teaching.

My question is, have string theorists become a sacred priesthood? Smolin doesn't use this term, but his book suggests as much.

I am still wondering why theoretical physics is behaving like it is doing...losing the essence that characterizes the scientific method. After reading this delightful and incisive book, my only concern is to know how long it will take to string theorists to accept we are following the wrong way...as physicists. I just wish this book captivates as many honest people as the honest author desires.