Social Sciences Books

This is an interesting little book and easy to read. If you get anything from this book, it will be to share positive thoughts and comments with your co-workers, family and friends. The author emphasizes how a positive comment can encourage and motivate a person to be the best they can be, while a negative one can bring them down. I was left wishing I had practiced "bucket filling" earlier in my life, but going forward will take what I have learned and hopefully be a positive influence on the people in my life.

We see so much on this idea of being, acting and feeling positive. The use of 'bucket' as a metaphor really works showing you how you put in and take out of your 'bucket'. Great book and similar to the Law of attraction. Read Living The Secret Everyday: My Secret Workbook that deals with positive thoughts that activate beliefs and then having the positive attitude attracting other positive experiences, people and things into your life.

This book gets you out of bed and into the world by telling you how to make a world you can want to live in now.

HOW FULL IS YOUR BUCKET by Tom Rath and Donald O. Clifton explores the benefits of positive reinforcement in business, scholastic, marital and other settings. This is an easy read with sound information presented in ways that are applicable immediately. The work focuses on the premise that we each have our own bucket. Positive reinforcement, given or received, fills the bucket. Negative interaction, given or received, dips out of our bucket.

Good examples are given such as John Gottman's marital study of 700 engaged couples. Gottman concluded after just a 15 minute video of each couple's interaction, which couples marriages would end in divorce. His predictions, 10 years later, were over 90% accurate, clearly illustrating the necessity to fill buckets with praise, rather than drain them with nagging and negative interactions. Perhaps a good indication of our current 50% divorce rate.

I actually purchased the book on CD and it came with some additional web-based free content, which I have not yet looked at. I can only assume the book carries the same additional access. My one knock on this CD set is, even though it is unabridged, it is only about 3 hours total. More information in the form of case studies and implementation would have added greater value.

I believe this book would be helpful in many different situations, but would particularly recommend it for business leaders, married couples and parents.

A quick read, this book provides a fairly straight-forward approach to improving our environments and interactions in work and in life. Using the metaphor of "the dipper and the bucket," the authors present their research-backed (and commonsense) theory that people do best in environments that fill---rather than drain---them. People who loved "Who Moved My Cheese?" and "The Secret" will likely eat up this book as well. Although the theory may at times be a bit too simplified and watered-down (sorry to rain on the positive parade), it provides a good reminder of what makes us tick---and what ticks us off.

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.

The book was in excellent condition--not even a page bent! Also, it was received sooner than expected. A great purchase all around.

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.

I found this book to be an interesting and informative read. While I am interested in linguistics (and thus was probably a bit more excited about the topic than the average person), I think this book would also be enjoyable for anyone. Pinker writes in an understandable manner, mostly avoiding linguistic jargon and always explaining complex topics in a generally understandable way.

Additionally, the latest edition includes a "P.S." addition at the end that incudes Q&A with Pinker as well as a summary for each chapter of new advances that have been made since the book was originally written--a nice addition to an already great book.

We all talk. (Some of us more than others). But all humans -- barring a problem such as deafness -- talk. Even our deaf friends talk by means of a complicated language of visual signs.

And Steven Pinker tells this story, the story of human language, and why it's so essential a part of our humanity, well. Following Chomsky, he posits a universal language structure, an innate part of our being who we are, and how small children grow quickly into complex grammatical and syntactical structures.

And for the most part, this is a good read. My only complaint is that on occasions, Dr. Pinker waxes a bit too eloquent, telling more information than is needed for the argument, giving pages and pages of examples when one or 2 would do. But this is a good introduction to the whole question of why and how we talk, and by inference how we think.

i liked this book better than pinker's "how the mind works." it was a little more focused, obviously, and i feel that pinker had better explanations for his ideas re language and linguistics than for the mind as a whole (tho he did use examples from the "mind" book here, and vice versa). it got a little thick thru the parts discussing grammar rules, but on the whole a good read that kept my interest. less dense than "how the mind works" and on the whole more intriguing.

I give this book five stars not because its reasoning is impeccable, or its writing everywhere beautiful, or its theme always engaging and irresistible. In none of these dimensions is it flawless. But I would nonetheless recommend it without reservation to all readers, so I feel I must give it five stars.

This book is great because of its fascinating subject, and the myriad of relevant ideas and examples it reveals. The book is more of in interesting discussion on a topic than an orderly defense of a thesis. But so many of the examples are utterly fascinating that, were there no attempt to patch them together into a single narrative, this book would still be intriguing and enjoyable. To give you a sense of why I love this book I must mention a few of these here.

Pinker discusses:

>how children, in a single generation, can transform a pidgin (an awkward combination of two languages created by the mingling of two populations with different native languages) into a creole (a composite language that is no longer awkward but instead melds the parent languages into a new one with all of the richness and complexity of any other natural language). He further describes how deaf children creolized artificially constructed sign languages into a natural language with all of the features and depth of expression that extant languages have.

>in depth, the concept that language defines the boundaries of thought and expression.

>how varieties of brain injuries and genetic mutations can alter very specific language abilities while leaving other general cognitive functioning unharmed.

>efforts to teach other animals language.

>how languages change over time and what rules the changes preserve and what aspects of language are up for grabs.

I will force myself to stop. As I flip through the pages of the book I find countless other examples and frequently get caught up in them all over again and have to tear myself away.

Now, I must warn you, that if you are not interested in theories of linguistics and cognition and computer science then there are, here and there, some more nuts and bolts discussions of how language works that you will find to be a bit dry. They're really not bad, and if you ARE interested in the above they're actually quite fascinating. But if you find your interest waning as you encounter these rougher patches, never fear, they are a relatively minor component of the book, and there are many more vigorous discussions yet to come.

If you are interested in language, how it works, how we learn it, and how it affects us, then you will love this book. I find Pinker's arguments in favor of the view that language is innate in humans to be compelling, and I think that most people would find the suggestion to be pretty intuitive. But don't let your feelings about the outcome of this argument obscure the many simpler pleasures available to the reader who innocently enjoys the many vistas afforded by this excellent tour of the world of linguistics.

I thought this was going to be a book about HOW to learn a language. I'm giving this four stars, b/c it's not really the author's fault that I picked the wrong book for my purpose. It's written well and explained well, but I really don't need someone to spend a whole lot of pages explaining to me that we instinctively learn. BUT I understand that there are people who do want to read a whole lot of pages explaining this theory, so...four stars it is. In case you didn't get that, it's NOT a book that teaches you how to learn a language.

Had some good ideas but pretty heavy reading. Not for the short attention span person.

This book provides a very good understanding of globilisation by integrating various issues and concepts with critical, illustrative and at times poignant examples. This helps appreciate what globilisation means currently and the historical summary helps explain how we got to where we are today. Consequently we are better able to forecast trends and determine meaningful business and social strategies that will enhance our lifestyles. It is an easy, informative and enjoyable read.

Mr. Friedman is very effective in defending the globalization. It did not paint the picture all peachy and cream about globalization. I remember hearing a term, "those who suffered from globalization always know who they are, those who benefited from Globalization does not always know who they are." A lot of the example in the books are quite relevant. The title of the book is a bit off I think, it is a bit puzzling to me. Globalization is inevitable according to Mr. Friedman, I think it is very hard to resist also. Especially when all the information is flowing freely on the net, it is going to get harder for any countries trying to hold on to the old non-competitive way of living.

This is the first book I've read on the hot topic of globalization and I think it's fair to say I was disappointed, especially considering how popular this book is. What is most odd about this book is that it does not feel like it was written by a journalist at all: it rarely relies on facts or scenarios that actually happened. Much of the book contains dialogues (mostly among world leaders) that Friedman invented for literary effect. He also goes overboard on inventing his own terminology for the subject. But what is most annoying while reading the book is that while you would expect a book on globalization to be nuanced and subtle, Friedman comes off as arrogant and heavy-handed in his treatment of the subject. It occurred to me many times while reading the book that being a globetrotting journalist did not qualify Friedman to be the quasi-theorist that he thinks he is. Revealing, this book has aged very poorly, very quickly. Most of the companies he praises (Enron and Compaq for instance) have either gone completely defunct or been bought out by other companies. As if to further underscore his shallow understanding of the subject, his Golden Arches Theory was disproven soon after the publication of his book. Friedman is not without his insights but I imagine there must be much better books out there on the subject.

If you have a short attention span, then this book is not for you. I thought being a newspaper person would have made Friedman concise and to the point, but Friedman spends so much time talking about things that are not directly related to the point that I gave up on this book. I may have cheated myself (I thought the same of Ayn Rand but did make it through Atlas Shrugged which is one of my favorites.) but I don't have the time for his wanderings.

I was very satisfied with this book. I was tremendously satisfied with the prompt delivery.

I bought this book as a required reading for school. It was very easy to read and covered many interesting topics. I would recommend this book to anyone that is interested in learning more about the urban environment.

In an age when architects and planners were spouting all kinds of brave-new-world nonsense (or mindlessly absorbing it, or even worse - building it), Jacobs burst onto the scene with an incredible dose of sanity mixed with common sense and wisdom, carefully observing the urban environment and drawing a host of remarkably sensible conclusions. For some reason we architects seem always at risk of believing our own nuttiest fantasies. Jacobs is a perennial corrective.

Still relevant, still useful....and still ignored by the common city engineer. Our city's planners need to re-read this sucker.

This is a book that relates to designers, and city planners as well as the "un-educated". Reading this book will certainly inform one on the purpose and importance of city planning.

This book will give you a reason to want to go visit the city, or to go out and get into the city you already live in. Her reference to the "ballet of the sidewalks" gives a whole new twist to what is going on in a busy downtown. City planners, take note!

This book is insightful, detailed, and interesting. I actually didn't fall asleep reading it- now if only that were true for my history textbooks! This was my textbook for an AP Human Geography class I took at my school. The teacher was barely adequate, and I basically taught myself everything from this book. H.J. de Blij knows how to write well. He doesn't just give you facts, either. You're taught how to spacially analyze worldwide phenomena, not just to memorize place names. He covers everything from political geography to urban landscapes to environmental science.

This textbook is also great if you simply want to know more about the world we live in, and wish to learn from a more international, rather than American-centric, point of view.

This book should not be used to teach. It's full of Liberal, Politically Correct, Multiculturialism, etc. garbage. Evan Sayet explains this mess in a video called "How Modern Liberals Think." You will see why Liberals invented PC and Multiculturalism.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eaE98w1KZ-c

Make sure you watch the Q&A at the end.

This book was listed by Dantes as a recommended book for their Human/Cultural Geography exam. This book was full of PC claptrap, and factual inaccuracies. 30% of the exam is on climate & topography, and those subjects barely covered in this book. Thankfully, I already knew a lot of the information on the exam so I passed with a high score. I'd suggest Geography for Dummies. Good luck.

I used this text in my Cultural Geography course last semester. I'm not usually one to read my textbooks, but this one was really interesting, reader friendly, and filled with lots of current examples (there's even photos of Lindsay Lohan and Tony Hawk). I'm not selling this one back (and for a starving college student--that's really saying something!)

As someone who holds Masters degrees in both History and Social Studies Education and actually TEACHES AP Human Geography to high school freshmen, I can safely say that DeBlij and co. have come up with a winner in the new edition. I'll admit the 7th edition was filled with misrepresentations, but the new version is such an improvement, that I have discarded the often inaccurate Rubinstein book for this one.

For those who suggest buying "Geography for Dummies" be my guest. I'll just let the title speak for itself. If you look at AP Central- the home of the College Board tests, the AP Human Geography test contains about 9-10% on the basic fundamentals of geography including physical geography. DeBlij covers more than its adequate share of the subject- outside of the instructor teaching the course.

Great for AP

Okay, this is a textbook for a lower-level course in psychology of human development. It is pretty simplistic, I think. I wouldn't buy it unless it was assigned to me in a class or I was writing TV screen play and need some names and vocabulary to stick in a character's mouth.

I was very happy with this book. It's nice and has a wealth of information. It's also a great buy for the price compared to buying it at the bookstore.

I bought this at Amazon.com from an Awesome Deal I found on DailyTool.com. I enjoyed reading the book and it helped me get through the summer class.

I enjoyed the readings for most chapters in this text. The information is generally well-presented and nicely segmented for quick reading. The author incorporates the little asides (mini research articles) to break things up and add some flavor and interest at different points in the book, which I also appreciated.

Unfortunately, the chapter on Intelligence is a train wreck. It's fine and expected to mention Gardner's theory of multiple intelligences, but the author couches that theory as the intelligence theory of choice for psychologists. His fawning over Gardner's theory is irresponsible given the total lack of empirical support. Then the author proceeds to rake Jensen over the coals, despite the fact that Jensen's research is extensive and well-supported. The author, at times without citations, directs the student to ridiculous conclusions about intelligence research. For example, he downplays the importance of heritability in intelligence and states a hyperbolic case for the effects of environment. Being very familiar with the intelligence research, I was surprised, but shouldn't have been, that someone could selectively choose to ignore what the vast body of data shows. I can only hope that most grad students will look beyond this treatment of the subject of intelligence for something more substantial and less partisan.

This is a witty, easy-to-read book full of insights into how shopper behave in stores. It'll get you thinking from the customer's point of view and give you a framework for innovating on the retail experience. A must read for retail and marketing professionals. I definitely recommend it.

This books gives an insight on how people decide to buy, mostly intuitively. The stories that are the basis for the book are very entertaining making it very easy to read.


Actually this is my second copy of the book, as I loaned the first one and never got it back., For me it is a must in my library.

Definitely not the author for me,(Sanguine temperment. If you enjoy science blended with retail knowledge then have at it.

For newcomers to selling, this is probably helpful. But it is only quaint, not fascinating, due to its outdated information. And the section on internet selling is just plain embarrassing.

If he were to ask me tomorrow, I would marry Paco Underhill. I have read both his books, this one and Call of the Mall, and quite frankly I have fallen in love.

Fun and informative Why We Buy will put everything about the retail enviroment into perspective. Like the "Butt Brush Effect". It seems so obvious, who likes to touch or be touched by strangers? but you'll have never thought of it, I assure you. Or what about the strategic placement of mirrors? How many times have I had to hunt down a mirror in a store? How many times did I simply give up when the hunt became too time consuming?

This book has become one of the driving motivators to my switch to a Merchandising minor, and one day I hope to use some of his ideas in my own store.