Social Sciences Books

I never recieved this book and the seller never responded to my email inquiry. I was never charged for it. But I really wanted the book.

This book is a quick, easy read and should be a requirement for all! You will gain an appreciation for all economic/social classes and learn more about yourself. As a teacher, this book brought clarity to situations in the past and will guide my behavior in the future. I believe that every lawmaker and politician should read this book before making decisions about helping the poor. An amazing book and a must read!

Very enlightning book, gives a deeper understanding of povery and why it is hard to break the cycle.

This seller never shipped the book and never returned my emails as to why. I ordered it for a course I had to teach on poverty and did not receive my book on time for the class. This seller should not be allowed to sell on the site.

As an individual who works with children in a variety of settings (club settings, classrooms, Youth Groups, etc), I picked up this book thinking it would provide me with some useful insights.

Two pages into it I was annoyed by a "hidden rule" she listed as applying to families who live in generational poverty. Half-way through I put it down in search of better resources.

I'm sure Dr. Payne's intentions are good and I suspect many of her offerings are useful. But close examination of the specific "hidden rules" as they apply to the supposed societal group who live in poverty (as though there was only one kind) reveals an author who needs to spend more time with people and less time writing books about them. It's so riddled with stereotypes it's difficult to take it seriously.

One for instance: Payne's first reference to one of the "hidden rules" of poverty is that households of this group are noisy--with televisions always on and everyone talking at once. I read it twice as I was sure I'd missed something. Surely someone with a Ph.D who'd done the proper research, would know better than to make a generalization of such ridiculous proportions, I thought.

'Guess not.

Personally, I come from a large middle-class loud German-Irish family with a television always on, music always playing (often live), and people talking all at once. The ability to tell a good joke or story was extremely important in our family, as was a sharp wit and the ability to defend one's point of view. This family produced three educators of which I am one. We're readers, thinkers, amatuer actors, singers, writers, and communicators. So for the life of me I can't quite grasp how on earth a noisy household is equated with class.

The idea that there are educators out there who are using this book as a basis to understand children who come from poor families concerns me. Apart from sparking discussion, I don't see this book as offering much of real value to educators and I would recommend those considering it to look past the hype and the slick marketing techniques and give this one a miss.

I've never read a Robin McKinley book where the universe was not one I wished I could inhabit, and Chalice was no exception. The world is well fleshed-out with little heavy-handed explanation, and the reader grows to care about Mirasol's demesne and Master as much as she does by the end of the novel. I found the end somewhat disappointing, however-- the quick, neat resolution did not seem to support the weight of dread and foreboding throughout the rest of the story. It read to me almost as if the ending was written for the short story Chalice once started out as, rather than the novel it became. Nevertheless, I am very glad to own Chalice, and I feel the richer for having encountered Mirasol's world.

McKinley is brilliant at weaving a tale. This one is no exception, although I wasn't as captivated every second as I have been reading some of her others--I found myself skimming parts. Nevertheless, scenes where she held long conversations with the Master or the Seneschal were as fascinating as the best of her work. McKinley has the ability to make her male-female relationships sizzle with only the most subtle implication. This book centers more around political intrigue and would probably not be considered a romance; and yet there was plenty of passion. The plot and characters were predictable, but not in a rolling eyes sort of way. This story has that spark of fairy-tale other-world that McKinley is such a master at creating. Readers who love her work will be satisfied with this new addition to her collection.

I have to preface my comments by saying Robin McKinley has been a favorite of mine since I was in the 4th grade which was more than 20 years ago (EEK) and her books continue to be my gold standard when I look for books for myself or plan a bookshelf for my own young daughters. I enjoyed her recent novels but I was thrilled to see her return to a mythic/fantasy past and a young female protagonist in this novel. I was hoping for the transportive experience I remember from my reading (and multiple re-readings) of "The Blue Sword" and "Beauty" and "The Hero and the Crown." While her writing is beautiful, it is much less immediate now, and almost seems too self-conscious at times. Her characters also feel less fleshed out. They aren't as funny or human as I remember Harry, or Aerin, or Luthe being. I wanted to get wrapped up in the central relationship in this book they way I got wrapped up in Corlath and Harry, or even Aerin and Tor, but I didn't. Also, the ending was a bit too neat and derivative for my taste, which I wouldn't have cared about if there was more of an emotional punch to it, but it kind of fizzled. Perhaps her earlier works were not as refined and introspective as her more recent novels have been, but they were GREAT stories. This is a lovely book and I very much enjoyed it, and I will certainly reserve a place for it on my daughters' bookshelves, but it won't be on the top shelf, with some of McKinley's other works.

When I finished reading this book the first thought that came to mind was "How truly satisfying" it was. The premise is intriguing. I don't remember anything quite like it before. The rich weaving of honey and bees into the thread of the story works beautifully and left me wanting a honey tasting experience where I can compare the different types mentioned. All in all, another fine Robin McKinley book.

In preparation for Chalice I re-read The Blue Sword and The Hero and the Crown, brilliant novels in which every sentence is lyrical. Possibly this exacerbated my disappointment. What do we have in Chalice?

First, The Really Complex Magical World that is Never Fully Explained. Second, the Really Awful Event that Everyone Knows About but the Reader, which is not revealed for 100 pages. Third, the Obsession with a Substance.

You learn more about Aerin in 2 paragraphs than about Mirasol in 2 chapters. Even though there are almost no other active characters in the book, Mirasol still does not develop a complete personality. The Grand Seneschal is predictably a Grumpy Good Guy. The nameless male lead doesn't do much except work on acting human; even his moment of self-sacrifice is artificial because you already know it just won't end that way, a marriage is in the offing.

The Great Magical Fix at the Desperate End is also unbelievable. It literally buzzes in out of nowhere and there is no preshadowing that, in fact, it was even possible.

I did not read the previous McKinley book with the dragons because the reviews suggested that it was really "juvie fiction" rather than juvenile or young adult (ie adults wouldn't like it much). I'm sorry I bought Chalice in hardback and I'm not going to keep it.

I bought this book to read to my four year old. He is very much into politics and can spot John McCain, Sarah Palin and Obama when they're on TV. He loves being read to and really enjoys this book. He's memorized most of it, occasionally tells people that John McCain was shot down when he was flying and airplane, went to prison camp and wants to be president. I am so proud along with knowing some American history, he also knows what a true American hero is. Thanks Meghan for writing this book!

Sweet, simple to understand book, even if he doesn't become President, the book is relevant historically because he is such a hero.

I really enjoyed this book. I bought it for my sons who are 9 & 7. It 's nice to be able to explain to them why he is such an American Hero.

This book was written by his Daughter, Meghan (now in her early 20s). The editorial reports that she is his oldest daughter. His eldest daughter is actually Sidney McCain, 41, of his first marriage.

I know the whole McCain family is involved and supportive of their Dad, but I would be surprised if Sidney's story of her father is quite as touching. He left his first wife Carol when she was 3 and married Cindy a month after the divorce.

I fear that the error was meant to be misleading and to cover up John McCain's philandering. I hope the editorial will be changed.

If you fall for this piece of political hackery, then you are definitely too stupid to vote. Possession of this book invalidates your voting rights. Better yet, all you Rethuglican morons better hang on to this "book"; when we build a giant wall around the Red states, you are going to need paper products with which to wipe your bottoms.

This is another great book in the Percy Jackson series. My daughter and I have loved every one of them. She's 11 and I'm 43

I ordered all four books of Rick Riordan' collectiion books and was very impressed with the packaging, the condition was excellant also. I would certainly order from this company in the future. B. Long

The book is a good one for kids of all ages.
It is aimed at younger ones but I enjoyed it.
I really like Harry Potter, Narnia, and such so this was a good read. I am on the third book and they all keep you interested.

Riordan loses no time reintroducing us to Percy and Annabeth in an action-packed ride that rocks with adventure. This delicious sequel includes all of the twists and thrills we have come to expect from The Lightning Thief, but it goes a bit deeper, getting into themes of faith, loyalty, and appearance versus reality.

Riordan masterfully plays with old cliches as he turns them on their heads (e.g., one chapter is entitled, "I Go Down with the Ship"). I never thought I would find an author that encounters age-old problems as well as Lloyd Alexander, but Riordan seems to be another modern author that feels like classical values are, well, classical for a reason. They work.

Anyway (please forgive the enthusiastic digressions!) Percy gets a new relative in this book, and it is beautifully handled. Percy's new friendship gives the reader much to mull over long after the book is put down. Additionally, a new development is added at the end that chills the blood of the reader. Riordan knows how to plot. It's phenomenal.

The idea crops up over and over, starting with Tantalus and ending with Kronos, with everyone including the Sirens mixed up in between, that things are not always what they seem. Now, this refrain is as old as the hills, but Riordan somehow makes it new.

The characterization is pretty great too, with Annabeth really growing into her role. She's a lead worthy of being Percy's foil, and it makes for a great read. I also enjoyed the development of Clarisse's character, and the portrayal of Chiron's family had me in tears I was laughing so hard. (Another digression: I had to stop and read one passage of the end of the book to my class during silent reading time, because they saw me laughing and had to know. I had them in stitches too, and unfortunately, we never quite recovered the class that period!) There are very few authors I give carte blanche reverence to: CS Lewis (Narnia), Robin Hardy, Lloyd Alexander, Gene Yang; however, Riordan is now on that list.

This series is a must-read. Start out with Book 1, and prepare to be swept away!

My 10 year old has so enjoyed these books. They are his favorites. He has flown through the published ones and is now having to wait for the next. This is the first time he has ever been excited about reading and I have found him reading late when he should be in bed and reading first thing in the morning. He finally caught the reading bug!

I am a Pinker fan and I enjoyed this book but it is closely written with much detailed linguistic background to support Pinker's ideas on the relation between cognition and language. Entertaining sections include the one on dirty words and his critique of Fodor's "Extreme Nativism":

"Fodor is a brilliant, witty, and pugnacious scholar who, among other things, helped to lay the conceptual foundations for cognitive science and to develop the scientific study of sentence comprehension.5 His notorious theory that we are born with some fifty thousand innate concepts (a conventional estimate of the number of words in a typical English speaker's vocabulary) makes an appearance here not as a player in the nature-nurture debate but as a player in the debate over how the meanings of words are represented in people's minds. In the preceding chapter, I proposed that the human mind contains representations of the meanings of words which are composed of more basic concepts like "cause," "means," "event," and "place." Fodor begs to differ. He believes that the meanings of words are atoms, in the original sense of things that cannot be split. ......"

Steven Pinker is an experimental psychologist involved in research into the human mind, but he is also an unabashed popularizer whose books are full of pop culture references (especially comic strips). Apart from a few tedious sections, "The Stuff of Thought" is one of his best books. It applies a scientific perspective to a favorite subject of mine, the relationship between language and thought. But it does it with style, exploring a range of Americana from the semantics of Bill Clinton's lies (a topic that has already received far more attention than it deserves) to the grammar of profanity (a section I find hard to read without smiling).

The overarching theme is how the human mind influences the structure of language. Like most linguists, Pinker largely dismisses the notion that the influence goes the other way. That notion is the basis of the controversial Sapir-Whorf hypothesis, which predicts, for example, that if you grew up speaking a language like Hopi, which lacks verb tenses, you would end up with a different perception of time than if you grew up speaking a language like English.

Pinker discusses some of the alleged evidence for this hypothesis before disposing of it. For example, one Mayan language has no words for left and right. The speakers orient themselves using the mountain slope where they live, with the words "upslope" and "downslope" corresponding roughly with south and north, respectively. Researchers found that the speakers have trouble distinguishing left from right but can locate north and south after having been spun around blindfolded while indoors!

Pinker spoils the picture by revealing that another Mayan people with the same aptitudes does have words for left and right. Apparently, since both groups spend most of their lives outdoors, they have a stronger sense of north and south than we do but little use for the concept of left and right. The absence of those words from the language of one group is an effect, not a cause, of the group's traits.

Distinguishing cause and effect is the subject of the book's most fascinating chapter, where Pinker explains how the whole concept of causality, so central to our common experience, is tantalizingly hard to define. We perceive the flow of time as consisting of nothing but causes and effects, and this intuition is deeply entrenched in language. But "the world is not a line of dominoes in which each event causes exactly one event.... The world is a tissue of causes and effects that criss and cross in tangled patterns" (p. 215). The challenge of identifying which causes are most relevant and guessing what would have happened if not for certain events--effectively imagining an alternate universe--underlies everything from scientific knowledge to moral responsibility.

One of his examples is President Garfield's assassin, who argued that "The doctors killed him; I just shot him." The wound was potentially nonfatal, but the doctors were wildly incompetent even by the standards of their day. Did this get the assassin off the hook? The jury didn't think so, and they sent him to the gallows.

A more recent example came in the aftermath of 9/11. Insurance companies were pledged to reimburse for each destructive event. But was the destruction of the Twin Towers one event or two? This question held billions of dollars at stake.

Questions like these are almost unanswerable because the world, contrary to our perceptions, is a continuum without clear boundaries between things. This dichotomy can be seen in the two categories of nouns, count and mass. Count nouns are words like "book," which you can count: you can talk about one book, two books, etc. Mass nouns are words like "jello" which lack that property. You can't talk about one jello or two jellos; there's just jello.

Curiously, some mass nouns, like furniture, refer to material that should be countable. (We get around this problem by talking about "pieces of furniture.") And many nouns can perform both roles: "rock" is a mass noun in the sentence "The ground is made of rock" and a count noun in the sentence "I'm holding two rocks."

Speakers will occasionally transform a count noun into a mass noun by imagining that something discrete is made up of an amorphous substance. Pinker's example is the distasteful statement "After he backed up, there was cat all over the driveway." His point is that the count/mass distinction doesn't force us into any particular way of thinking, because we can escape that thinking by manipulating the language. But the distinction does reveal how we choose whether to view matter as a collection of objects or as a lump of "stuff."

I've only mentioned a fraction of what the book covers. With each topic, Pinker builds on the thesis that language reflects more than affects our minds, which can see past the constraints it imposes on us. Identifying these constraints helps us understand how we perceive the world and thus provides a way for us to transcend those perceptions.

Pinker is a walking repository and critic of the ideas and written expressions of others, and he's the man to explain, say, Chomsky to you (if you can stomach it), but he's stuck in academdom. Everything I have experienced Steve saying somehow disappoints me--it's fluffed up, and can be condensed into smaller packs of information. He seems, perhaps innately, to be constructing an impenetrable wall of unnecessary denseness in an effort, woont u kno it, to simplify and clarify "language". The result is gunk in the engine of communication.

Steven Pinker's Language Instinct was a pleasure. But The Stuff of Thought is a disappointment. I couldn't get through it. The writing is dull and lacked the lively quality of Language Instinct. The points that Pinker is trying to make are less compelling than in previous books, and I wound up unconvinced as well as uninterested. Even Pinker seems to realize that he is boring us: at one point in Chapter 3, he says "My point - and I do have one - is...." I thought to myself, I sure hope you will get to it soon, but he did not.

The one exception is marvelous chapter 7 "The Seven Words You Can't Say on Television". The writing in this chapter is more classic Pinker, lively, funny and instructive. Don't buy the book. Rather, read chapter 7 in the bookstore or library.

The Stuff of Thought is a book that covers the interaction between language and reality. I've read some other books on linguistics, but I found this to be the most interesting. Part of it is the fact that Pinker is a good author that bridges the gap between popular science and real research. The other part is that I think that semantics is the most important, and interesting part of linguistics.

Steven does a great job of presenting his views on how language shows us the inner workings of the brain, and I think he makes a very strong, and interesting, case.

This book is truly interesting in that it explains a process that many consumers thought that they were already familiar with.

This book will explain why:

1) it always seems the person at the register is being "trained".

2) kids flock to most fast food joints.

3) the fast food industry exploded with growth in the last 30 years.

4) This country needs an alternative to our current and growing feeding trends!

Outstanding You: Discover, Design and Achieve Ultimate Fitness

This book should be required reading at all American schools. The purpose behind this book is not to convert people to vegetarian/vegan diets, but instead to educate them about the disastrous state our food supply is in. Though I use this book for information to support my vegan/vegetarian diet, I found it incredibly detailed and thought provoking. Highly recommended for anyone seeking more information on where their food comes from.

Ron Betta
Author - Outstanding You

received the book quicker than expected. the book was in excellent condition. I highly recommend this seller

The author offers reader a book behind the fast food industry which mushrooms around the county with their joints which the majority of working class rely on for their quick meals.

His research on the growers, suppliers, processors, laborers, politics and health issue behind the smiling teenager order takers leads reader to the composition of the hamburger in blood, tears and sweat from thousands of cattle, handled by the chain of workers before going to your mouth. It also makes you wonder who is eating the steaks and leaving the "residue of fats, noses, ears, trims" grounded into a mixture enhanced with artificial favor - a virtue"100% beef".

Does fast food industry cost you an arm and a leg? By eating the cheap fast food, we may pay a dear price for healthcare later!

This book illustrates the Tao of food: good and bad, healthy and junk, natural and artificial, slow and fast, traditional and modern, real and illusion.

Who program the population in acting "the allegiance to the flag of fast food industry, one fast food nation under God with franchises around 50 states in offering cheap hamburgers and freedom fries for all"?

I'm a vegetarian who doesn't eat at fast-food restaurants. I thought this book was going to be an interesting expose of the fast-food industry. Instead, it was a series of meandering stories that weren't all that compelling. I got about halfway through the book and realized there was really no point in finishing it.

I noticed that whenever someone was portayed negatively, the word "Republican" invariably cropped up. When one meatpacking company owner became less sympathetic to workers, Schlosser goes out of his way to let the reader know that he went from being a liberal Democrat to a conservative Republican.

It's this kind of political posturing (Schlosser is obviously a liberal Democrat who can't keep his disdain for Republicans out of his writing), along with the fact that Schlosser just isn't that good of a writer, that helps to sink this book.

I kept wondering when I was going to learn something interesting that wasn't obvious. All I learned was what I already knew. Fast-food is a giant industry that pays teenagers low wages and uses a lot of potatoes from giant agribusiness companies and beef from giant cattle companies. Oh yeah, and they use flavorings from companies in New Jersey.

Stop the presses.

The story in this book will keep your attention and the pages turning. It has the perfect balance of adventure, excitement and romance. I would recommend this book to anyone. I can't wait to read the prequel.

I'll start with the good:
1. Katsa, the main character was well developed and well thought out. She is obsessive and fiercely independent, but also lonely and self-loathing. The actions she took and the choices she made were believable and wholly her own.
2. The concept of "graces" is original and interesting.

Unfortunately, that's where the good ends in my opinion.
Katsa was the only well developed, consistent character in the book. The others were very one sided and stereotypical and their interactions with the main character were strained. I'm referring mostly to Giddon, Oll, and Raffin, but there were moments between Katsa and Po that were odd and awkward (such as when she starts crying because she suddenly realizes she loves him) as well.

The big realization came too soon and the fact that Katsa and Po were completely right about everything made for a boring climax. Speaking of the climax, it was much too quick and I ended up feeling very unfulfilled.
The romance was boring, the mountain trek was boring, and the plot to figure out who kidnapped the grandfather was especially boring (particularly since he was already safe and sound). The twist at the end was surprising and would have been a good one if she had given it some true significance or foreshadowing or SOMETHING to make me care more.

All in all, I liked the concept and the main character, but the rest was not good at all. However, this is the authors first book, and first books tend to be not as good as their future counterparts. I see some potential in Kristen Cashore and hope to see her improve in future novels because she has a great imagination.

My pre-teen daughter snatched this book from the mailbox when it came and wouldn't let me have it until she had finished it and then begged me nonstop until I read it. I now know why.

Kristen Cashore's debut novel is a delightful fantasy adventure filled with engaging heroes and thoroughly nasty villains. In the land of the seven kingdoms some children develop supernatural skills or Graces, not unlike the mutants seen in X-Men. What these Graces are are not always evident even to those who have them. As with all powerful beings, some cannot resist the temptation to abuse their powers.

Katso and Po are two such Gracelings who have martial abilities far beyond those of normal humans. They are drawn to each other because no others can challenge them in fighting practice. When Po sets off to a neighboring kingdom to seek an explanation for the kidnapping of his grandfather Katso accompanies him and things quickly get very hairy for both of them.

My only complaint is that the book goes on for about 30 pages longer than it should. Like Lord of the Rings, she spent too much time describing in detail what can often be summed up with `and they lived happily ever after.' Even so, I still recommend Graceling.

This book went way past all my expectations. An amazing story of an individual's struggle to grow and find her place in the world.

I liked this book- I agree hard to put down once you start. I will not go over the plot, since this has been done by other reviewers. BY the way, I am a Mom who pre-read it before giving it to my child to read.
Pros:
1.Strong message of girl power. Katsa is brave but not fearless, which I liked. I also enjoyed the format in which we see the story exclusively from her angle and hear her thoughts and emotions.
2. Nice beta male hero. Po (hate that name) is cute, supportive and not intimated by a woman/girl who can beat the pulp out of him.
3.Good cast of supporting characters.
4.The romance was well done. Much more realistic than most straight romance novels.
Cons:
1. I agree with the comments regarding Katsa's anti-marriage stance which seemed odd to me beacuse there was no background data to support her stance on this.
2. Katsa has her first sexual encounter with Po. This is described in vague terms but she makes a clear decision to take him as a lover not husband. I am OK with this but some may more conservative Mom's may disagree. Not really a con.
3.During her first sexual encounter, there is a description that she experienced pain with penetration. Again, some Mom's might feel uncomfortable about their younger daughters reading this. Po and Katsa have sex a couple of times. However it is clear their love for each other is deep.Again not really a con.
4.Ending is so vague. They seperate and go their own ways, clearly indicating a sequel in the works. I would have preferred it as a stand alone, with sequels set in the same world. Perhaps Skye's story or Raffin's or Bitterblues'.

I would recommend this book highly to young adults/older teens and of course adults. My personal opinion is that the above issues would make it less appropriate for Middle Schoolers. Again, this is my humble opinion. Others will probably feel differently.

This book is great for those who really want to work hard and sculpt their body. It's great for beginners as well as those more advanced. His descriptions of the exercises are good, but it was lacking on the diet end of weight training. I would have liked to have seen more nutrition information.

Good book and workouts. My friends and workout partners like some of the workout ideas but we have had greater results (added firm muscles and lost weight)from the book: Weight Training Workouts and Diet Plan that Work by James Orvis

The workouts are quicker and planned out, you just follow them.

But would recommend New Rules for variety.

This book is awesome. Whole new perspective on weight training for women. You will not be bored with your work-outs any longer!

I bought this book when it first came out after reading about it in my local fitness club magazine. I recently finished the entire program and really enjoyed it. There's nothing to fear lifting weights, and by doing real weightlifting with heavy loads you will build muscle. Of course it's important to remember that diet is key and that's one reason that this book exists. The exercise routines themselves aren't tailored to women, because they are normal free weight exercise that any man or woman can do. However, women have to learn to eat more. So a significant part of the book is devoted to debunking myths about diet and explaining why women need to lift weights. This isn't a fat loss program, so if you're looking to lose a lot of weight it might not be the place where you want to start for that. When I started the program I didn't need to lose weight, but was interested in building muscle and strength. The result - I have the same body fat as in college but weigh 10 pounds more.

If you know anything about lifting weights, then this book is not for you. I've been lifting weights consistently and seriously for about 6 years now and the exercises in this book are not meant for an experienced weight lifter. There is nothing "new" or innovative about this book or the exercises in it. Are they good exercises? Yes. But they are traditional, basic, well known weight lifting exercises that are tried & true and have been around for a long long time. This book would be great for beginnings but experienced weight lifters looking for something truly new & innovative should not expect anything new & different in this book. You can find the same exact information by reading magazines like Oxygen, Fitness Rx, & Muscle & Fitness for Her.

Everyone should read this book.Find who is getting a free lunch and most are only getting table scraps!

This book is probably best read in small portions, as the average person will become incensed at the greed that takes from the less and gives to the more. Fortunately, each chapter covers a specific rip off of the taxpayer, and is not too long. It might raise the blood pressure of the average person to read too many chapters at one time.

Yes, the wealthy and connected have rigged the system to flow the riches to themselves.

If there is one theme to the book, it is the Adam Smith's advice that government should not favor one endeavor over another is deaf to the people that continually use Adam Smith as the reason for government getting out of the way. It is not free enterprise when government takes one side, which is what the wealthy and well connected have the government do.

A good companion is Hostile Takeover by David Sirota (available on Amazon Kindle).Hostile Takeover: How Big Money and Corruption Conquered Our Government--And How We Take It Back

His prior book, Perfectly Legal, is a good primer, although a bit dated as to how the wealthy avoid taxes. In Free Lunch, it is how the wealthy get subsidies. Perfectly Legal: The Covert Campaign to Rig Our Tax System to Benefit the Super Rich--and Cheat Everybody Else

An excellent, well-documented and readable investigation and analysis of how the whole system of American government, at Federal, State and Local levels, has been used for the past 30 years or so to tax the poor and the middle class in order to enrich the already wealthy. If you think this sounds like the system in France in 1788, you are absolutely right. If you are not angry already, you need to read this book. If you are angry already, you still need to read this book in order to confirm all your worst suspicions. There is something rotten in the States of America, and if the infection of our body politic is not dealt with soon, it will turn to gangrene and kill democracy completely.

Very well written book. It's very sad, especially since you read it and don't have any power to do anything about it, but it's very well written.

A very informative and straight-ahead book revealing, anecdote by real-life anecdote, how, during the Bush/Clinton/Bush administrations, our public commons -- in other words, our tax dollars -- increasingly have been routinely commandeered by a tiny and superrich elite for their own exhorbitant profit. In the form of public subsidies for private developers and retailers, such as Cabelas and Wal-Mart, and through privatization of our utility companies starting with Enron's massive rip-off of our public commons, Johnston shows how the wolves (greedy privateers) have not only gained entrance into the henhouse of our national treasury but, through intensive lobbying efforts, are exercising too much control over our elected officials today, basically funding the rewriting of our national laws to ensure their own dominant position and ongoing aggregation of riches.

The book makes sense of a lot of things that were not adding up to me when looking around our current landscape -- like why my electric bill has skyrocketed in the last couple of years (thank you, Kenny Lay), or what kind of business "sense" was behind that monstrous box store of Cabelas on Rte. 78 in Hamburg, PA. Or even why oil and gas prices are going through the roof right now. It's not supply and demand at all, it's sleight of hand and basic greed and power-grabbing. Johnston shows how the scales of supply and demand no longer balance the markets, as the PR mavens would like us to believe. When private companies are subsidized with public funds, Adam Smith-type free market competition proves but a chimera, a smokescreen behind which privateers hide, avidly sucking our economy dry and bankrupting our society. Read the book.

I always hated reading translated books, but this one doesn't lose an ounce because of William Weaver and Calvino! I highly recommend reading this book. It is mind-blowing, funny, and it look me so long to read because after every sentence I would think for a while about the meaning, our meaning, and what was going on in Calvino's mind! This is a life-changing book.

I don't quite know what I was expecting with this book, but this just wasn't it. I was looking forward to reading this for a while but it just didn't keep me interested. This book definitely has an interesting concept, but apparently that just isn't enough for me. Other people might like it, but it may just take a little work to stay interested. Don't let this review discourage you though; take a chance.

Ever since our ancestors started looking into the night sky, the saw patterns and connections between the stars, moons and planets, and used stories and myths to imbue those patterns with meaning and structure. With the big hindsight of the scientific worldview, all those ancient stories may seem quaint and naïve. And indeed, the advent of modern astronomy and astrophysics has greatly enriched and deepened our understanding of the Cosmos. But these wonderful new insights should not be taken in opposition to our imagination when we stare in the sky. And this is the starting point of Italo Calvino's wonderful book "Cosmicomics." It is in a sense a variation on the theme of Cosmos. Each one of the chapters in the book takes a certain scientific fact about the Cosmos, its evolution and the present state, and turns it into an imaginative story with a deeply personal theme. The main protagonist, whimsically named Qfwfq, is present in many forms throughout history of the Cosmos and he narrates its main events through very personal eyes. Many of the stories are love stories of the most imaginative kind, which is not surprising since Calvino is known and excels at that genre. Overall this is a wonderful book that tries to reestablish a very human face of the Cosmos. I highly recommend it.

The idea of entities as old as the universe telling their stories from their perspective - some at the galaxies macro scale and some at the atoms micro scale - seems like an interesting idea.
Italo Calvino has portrayed some stories with a style and prose that actually makes it a pleasurable reading experience. Unfortunately some of the stories are tedious and tiresome.
Overall - it deserves 3 stars for the idea, for being short- overall and for some of the stories which are truly fascinating.

This is a collection of short stories ``based on'' scientific theories. However, this attempt to give pseudo-scientific explanations/settings to all the stories, spoils the general fable-like literary beauty and charm of these stories. I don't claim that science-fiction should be held to the same standards of rigour and correctness as science itself, but stories that require suspension of disbelief (Douglas Adams' Hitchhiker's Guide or Lem's Cyberiad) should not try to explain things within the realm of ``actual'' science. Such stories can develop their own internal self-consistent logical systems, but if they try to connect to actual science then they merely become inconsistent. It is sad to see good literature being wrecked by bad science.