Philosophy Books

Whatever it Takes is an inspirational book that leads educators through the work needed to develop a true Professional Learning Community (PLC). When you have a staff ready to do whatever it takes, you are well on your way to helping ALL students achieve academic success.

I haven't finished this book yet. I found the beginning useful and read it on recommendation of a former principal. There is a lot of talk about secondary schools.

The book has some good points (maybe one and a half stars), but it was difficult to read it due to my eyes rolling at every other sentence.

To James O'Keefe: Right on! I totally agree 100%. You need to write a book! (It might be difficult to get it published though, considering the PLCC has probably got a stronghold on all educational publishing.) Teamwork is great and definitely has its place. But this book is talking about much more than teamwork. It's talking about placing 100% of the blame on teachers and principals. What about the parents? What about the student who won't even try to learn?

Regarding what another reviewer wrote: Well, two comments: First of all, it's funny you mentioned Koolade in your review. Speaking of Koolade: Don't drink it! Too many people already have! (If you don't know what I'm talking about, I suggest you read up on the modern history of cults.) Secondly, speaking of water fountains, I have this to say: You can lead a horse to water, but you can't make him drink it.

One more thing about this book: The authors compare certain teachers (ones who believe in the "horse" metaphor above), to Pontius Pilate. You know, the guy who literally ordered Jesus to be crucified. All I can say is this: I'm a teacher at a low socio-economic school, I work 50-60 hours a week, I get along with my colleagues and students, and yet I do believe in the horse metaphor. The Pontius Pilate metaphor is just a bunch of, well, to put it in educated words, insulting, ridiculous, abusive slander to the teachers and principals who work so hard every single day.

I find it troubling that so much of this author's claim lies at the fountainhead of what he calls learning, but where does he explain what "learning" actually is? He appears to skirt around this issue in every chapter. After reading the book, I am left with the feeling that learning, for DuFour, is something that I do as a teacher when I fill students' heads up with information. I take my pitcher of what-is-to-be-learned and carefully pour it in each student's head. According to DuFour, some heads are not equipped with funnels, so a cadre of teachers assemble to cascade what-is-to-be-learned, pouring waterfall-like liquids of learning over various student heads in the hopes that some of the precious liquid will stay. By the end of twelfth grade, because a deluge of learning has been cast at the students, enough of the learning-liquid should be present for adult proficency. There is one major part about this metaphor that bothers me, though: What role do students play in learning? Again, according to DuFour, students are only vessels to contain learning. To be honest, I've never thought of my students as cups or glasses.

Basic ideas are sound, but I think nothing ground-breaking. I felt that each chapter could have been shortened into a paragraph or two. At most, this should have been an essay. Based on the way the book was written, I got the feeling that the authors were trying to influence the reader much the same way as a cult would try to brainwash a prospective member. While I agree that teachers should teach children to learn, I feel that the student will be in trouble upon graduation as the system of support will be gone. They will have to perform or fail... period. I felt the book to be too wordy, too preachy, too liberal... did I say too wordy?

I thank my teacher friends, who gave me this phenomenal recording as a retirement gift. From the first sound of the music and sound effects, through the incredible narration, to the comprehensibility (thanks to the NIV version), I am mesmerized. I have read the Bible a number of times, but I have never experienced it until now. I thought the readers were going to be identified, but I'm glad they were not because as I listened they became the people from the Bible, not actors. I greatly appreciate the attempts at pronouncing some of those names that I don't think anybody really knows how to pronounce, particularly given the way we spell and pronounce some of our children's names these days. A stellar project.

This is a wonderful way to hear the Bible in a manner that allows it to come alive. I have heard some other audio versions of the Bible and they always sounded boring. This one makes the Bible sound like what it really is EXCITING!

My shipment came right on time and was in perfect condition. All the CD's were present in the case with no scrates or marks. Listening to the audio Bible has been awsome for me, it's helped me read along some of the books I find difficult and long. Am a single mom of two and it's the audio Bible has been a perfect away for me to spend time in the word.

If you want a good audio Bible for either your home or your Church for Bible studies this is the complete audio Bible for you "Inspired by the Bible Experience" is the one that you should have cause it has great audio effects as well as a wonderful script and great actors playing the parts the best way they know how. also if you use this for a Bible study this will be a good way to tell the story so they can really get the feel of what the bible is really about. So I highly recommend "Inspired by the Bible experience"

This was a wonderful collection!! I travel a lot and have listened to the Bible on CD before but this is a classic...it is so well acted out that I have cried, laughed but mostly pondered the messages. Talk about making "it real"! Nothing takes the place of reading the Word for yourself but this is excellent...I strongly recommend it.

I wish I was aware of this insightful study on women when I was in high school or even junior high--it might have saved me some adolescent grief!

Anyone who wishes to better understand women would benefit from reading this. Simone de Beauvoir's thinking and writing is lucid--she explains things exceptionally well. There are a few literary and philosophical references that are over my head because I'm not familiar with a certain author, nor do I have a philosophy background, but that is a minor distraction.

Some have complained that this work is dated. To my mind, it is only dated from the time she wrote it. Sure, some things have improved for women in the last 60 years in varying degrees, but it's not enough. If it were, why are there still such grave problems related to gender inequality around the world today, in the 21st century: domestic violence, violence against women with impunity, spread of AIDS, poverty, pay inequality, sexual harrassment on the job, etc.? The issues she raised are as relevant today as when she wrote them.

She clearly describes and explains contradictions that women feel in love, marriage, and work. She writes of the ways in which women's frustrations with men--and vice versa, manifests in destructive ways in relationships, and how women's anxiety about work due to parental and societal expectation hinder progress, etc. Much of what she wrote I could certainly relate to!

Her historical, biological, mythical, and literary chapters in the beginning of the book provid much food for thought and helps me to understand how many ideas about women came about. Every chapter in the book seems to flow seamlessly into the next. Whatever thoughts or doubts I had growing up and have now--she has helped to clarify, from the standpoint of societal views and expectations.

I am deeply passionate about women's issues and I LOVE this work. I intend to read it again more than a few times...there is so much to learn and digest!

I found this book enlightening in a number of ways, but especially to understand our contradictory feelings towards marriage and children. This book should be obligatory reading, at least for Argentinian women!

Pleased with the book. We got what we paid for and what we expected. Arrived in a timely fashion.

In "the second sex", de Beauvoir is conducting research to determine how females came to occupy a subordinate social role to males; she turns to biology, historical materialism, and literature where she finds undeniable differences between men and women and countless examples, but no clear reason or justification for woman's implied inferiority.

By walking us through the stages of female's life, de Beauvoir tries to prove that women are not born feminine but shaped by external forces into dependent inferior creatures, or as she put it in her own words:" One is not born, but rather becomes, a woman". Maternity caused society to label women and rob their individuality during youth. Labeling women and forcing them into certain roles inevitably results in women living lives of incompleteness and immanence. Age and the subsequent loss of reproductive ability ends woman's purpose and in turn her identity and usefulness.

Great work, great research but the only reason I'm giving this work three stars is because of the mixed feelings I have about it: I agree with some of de Beauvoir's conclusions: the importance of financial independence for every woman, female character is a result of her situation not the opposite, the difficulty of breaking free from the myth of "femininity", and most importantly, women's own role in reinforcing their dependency and otherness. I strongly disagree though with the claim that being a mother or a wife are unfulfilling roles that exacerbate a woman's inferiority. For me, asking for absolute "equality" and taking away woman's motherhood is as cruel and dehumanizing as depriving females of subjectivity and turning them into objects.

Not to criticize de Beauvoir's personal life, but her fixation with resisting the myth of feminine inferiority drove her to the extreme position, rejecting marriage and having kids. Even though de Beauvoir was committed to her relationship with Sartre, she didn't want to marry him and allowed him and herself marginal romantic encounters with males and females.

The paradox of de Beauvoir loving some body and allowing herself to be with somebody else, to me, is as damaging as what she criticized in her work. It is exactly acting like the men she criticized for treating "the other sex" as objects.

Anyone who is interested in women's issues needs to read this book!
To me it appears to be the best discourse on feminism ever written. Well researched it gives a bilogical, historical ,psychological and philosophical persective of so called feminie condition across the centuries and outlines it with great accuracy and professionalism. It deals with various aspects of woman's life , her roles in the family and the society , her psychology and sexuality. Sure, women's condition changed since the book was written, but it's message still seems shockingly revolutionary. No wonder that its publication almost 60 years ago caused so much fear and hatred.

This book serves as a constant inspiration to me in my own meditation practice; I have read it countless times. As a psychotherapist whose modality involves working with my clients in a state of mindfulness (www.wisemenopause.com), I also recommend this book as a clear, concise introduction to meditation.

I have an edition of this book that I picked up about 15 years ago. I keep returning to this book year after year and have never tired of it. It has survived many purges of my spiritual library over the years. This book is sweet, easy to understand, and helpful. It defines a meditation practice that is easy to apply to one's daily activities. It is helping me relate more gently to the world and my life and is helpful in learning to awaken to the spaciousness and freedom that are ever present.

Fabulous book. Chapters are different talks given during a retreat. Insightful, down-to-earth as usual for her writing.

This is one of my favorite books by Pema Chodron. It not only does a very good job of describing the essence of Buddhism, but it goes beyond that in making Tibetan Buddhism more understandable and relevant to a Western audience without deveating from the tradition. In short, it contains the heart of the teachings of the Vajrayana. A nice complimentary book if you are interested in going deeper into Tibetan Buddhism is Fundamentals of Tibetan Buddhism. These books compliment each other and the latter puts all of the Buddhist traditions in historical context. Huston Smith's essay in The World's Religions: Our Great Wisdom Traditions or Buddhism: A Concise Introduction. You get more bang for your buck with the former Huston Smith book, however.

The fundamental teaching of the Buddha involves the following realizations: 1) Life is suffering; 2) The cause of suffering is selfish desire; 3) To get rid of selfish desire, follow the eightfold path. The essence of the eightfold path is a moral life grounded in a strong loving-kindness practice (A Mahayana emphasis, but true of all schools). This book provides precisely that -- a path of loving-kindness that any person could follow and apply to their life. When asked what religion the Dalai was, he once said... "my religion is loving-kindess." While the Dalai Lama didn't officially endorse the book that I know of, certainly it is written in keeping with this spirit.

This book covers a LOT of ground in short volume of about 108 pages. It looks at the existential situation of not being able to escape our life and the human condition which is characterized by suffering. The Buddha said as his last words, "be a lamp unto yourselves." I believe the intent here was that no super mommy or daddy in the sky is going to come down and save you from the human condition. You must look deeply to see the truth and this will liberate you from samsara or the cycle of suffering. In this book, Pema Chodron describes the Buddha's teachings and more importantly practices to help you to arrive at a place of loving-kindness and equanimity.

What I most like about this book is that she keeps things simple. She also describes Tonglen practice and other forms of meditation and habits of thought that cultivate a mind that is not locked in conditioned thinking. Krishnamurti once said, "seeing the truth deeply is what liberates, not your efforts to be free." A corallary to this might be... yes... but what limits how deeply you can see is your depth of compassion for others, but primarily for yourself. This book is a manual about how to cultivate a loving-kindness that allows you to penetrate the insufficiency of living for things like money, sex, power and status. It is a good read for anyone.

If you are interested in a somewhat different Western perspective or something to contrast these writings with then try A Path with Heart: A Guide Through the Perils and Promises of Spiritual Life. This book by Jack Kornfield emphasizes an earlier Buddhist tradition namely the Theravada (Way of the Elders). Mahayana Buddhism was an outgrowth of these teachings and Tibetan Buddism (Vajrayana) a further extension and elaboration. Jack Kornfield is a Western psychologist who spent a number of years in Thailand as a Buddhist monk and his perspective is accessible, entertaining, practical and complimentary to this book. If you are looking for a more integrative read that relates to Western Psychology directly try Toward a Psychology of Awakening: Buddhism, Psychotherapy, and the Path of Personal and Spiritual Transformation. This is a more difficult read, but extremely worthwhile. There are other recommendations on my listmania lists of this is your area of interest.

Don't get me wrong, this is a good book, but there are just a couple of things about it that make it not quite as good as I was hoping. First, her interpretation of the Four Noble Truths is problematic in my eyes. Basically she take Tibetan teachings on egolessness (which are great teachings in their own right) and superimposes them on the Four Noble Truths. Her interpretation does not ring true for me - she states that the 2nd Noble Truth is "resisting life causes suffering" and that the 3rd Noble Truth is learning to let go of our "selves"/ego. These are valuable teachings but do not represent the more usual (and probably academically correct, as well as more powerful, in my opinion) translations that I have read: that (very summarily put) the 2nd Noble Truth is that that craving/desire/grasping causes suffering and the 3rd Noble Truth is that ceasing to crave/desire/grasp results in the cessation of suffering. Her interpretation is not wrong, but it is a bit of a Chinese whispered version of the Four Noble Truths and I would have liked her book better had she not re-interpreted them like this. Secondly, she writes "from above" a little. I feel that she comes across like a lovely, cosy, caring and wise Aunty. For me this made her teachings have less impact. I preferred Tara Brach's "Radical Acceptance" (which deals with a similar subject - accepting life as it is) to "The Wisdom of No Escape": Brach's writing is a bit more raw and personal and she writes like one sister to another sister (or brother)).

I read this book because I was interested in literacy education. This is hands down, one of the best and most interesting books I have ever read on education in general. I strongly recommend this book for anyone who is interested in teaching literacy or remedial education or will be working with such students. Rose's achievements with students was acceptional and successful. Rose debunks a lot of stereotypes and educational fallacies on literacy and remedial students, as he was placed in such courses himself. This is truly an amazing book of one man's journey to become an educator as well as challenging and redefining educational problems. I will be reading this book again and more of Rose's work to learn more to be an outstanding teacher.

Mike Rose grew up under-educated and placed in a tracking system in his school that almost doomed him to a live of unfulfillment. Only because he was able to be de-tracked and helped by a caring teacher, did he escape the vocational dead-end he was headed for. This is a powerful book about moving beyond what educational bureaucracy has in store for many of our poor children, who, because of their poverty or life circumstances are pre-judged not to be worth educating. I suggest the reader also read Frank McCourt's biography of his life as a teacher, "Teacher man." McCourt taught in NYC vocational schools for 30 years and the two books compliment each other in perspective.

This book is a great help to all teachers who want to put themselves in the minds of their struggling students. Mike Rose brings his experience as an academic outsider to explain how poor students can feel daunted and threatened by academic requirements when they do not have a caring teacher to help bridge the academic gap. He takes the reader through his experience as an underachieving inner city student to his academic successes at the highest levels of the university. His journey through education takes up much of the book's pages. However, the main theme is that it takes special teachers to bring our kids out of academic poverty. Teachers need to form personal ties with their students, especially struggling kids to ensure that they get the necessary help.

Current and future English teachers will be interested in his descriptions of how current methods of teaching English can frustrate the academic success of students. Rose's years of experience lend credence to the idea that we need to begin rethinking our methodologies. This book is written from a social reconstructivist's point of view.

Mostly, I enjoyed his vignettes about the different personalities of his students and how he approached their learning difficulties with the belief that they could achieve success if they were given a chance. He shows us that if taken seriously, underprepared students respond positively to instruction. I would recommend this book to all future and current teachers who want to see how a personal touch from a teacher can make the difference in the life of a student. The book is a quick read that offers invaluable understanding.

Mike Rose writes about the trials and tribulations of growing up through the public school system. From his own experiences to the touching experiences of his students from elementary school to the war veterans at the VA Center. His stories are engaging and powerful. If you are a new teacher or even a veteran to the field there is something worthwhile in this book for everyone. It is an easy read and good for students too. Most of us who have been through the public school system with the same troubles and politics Mike Rose talks about can appreciate this book. For those that are oblivious to the shape of our school system this is a good start to understanding what an average kid has to do to make it. "I just want to be average."

I really did not enjoy this book. I also didn't learn anything from it I didn't already know. The author Mike Rose describes his experiences as a teacher and challenges in education with the diversity of students. I think it's quite clear to even the non-educator; the diversity in learners and other problems that are out there in education.
The first chapter in Lives on the Boundary is enough rough reading for some one to put down the book and not go any further. Even though the book does get a little easier to read after the first chapter the book still seems to drag on. There are endless pages of character after character and more characters. I think he could have gotten his point across in just a few pages.
What kind of grammar book starts out "Here name is Laura, and she was born in the poor section of Tijuana, the Mexican border city directly south of San Diego. Her father was a Mexican food vendor, and her memories of him and his chipped white cart come back to her in essay recollection: the odor of frying meat, the feel of tortillas damp with grease..." p1. I t sounds more like it should be a documentary instead. My suggestion to you is if you are looking for a good book to put you to sleep this is what you are looking for.

This is a required text for a class of mine. Easy to read and follow along even if you're not a mathematically inclined person. Enjoy.

This is a great book whether you are a fan of, or a practicing mathematician. Good reading and a great library reference addition.

First things first: You have to really like maths to appreciate this book. If you have ever wondered how to prove Pythagoras' theorem geometrically, or would like to find out how Archimedes estimated pi, this is the book for you. If not, buy another.

The book has a good mix of stories, explanations and mathematical proofs. It actually answered questions I have been wondering about for a long time (proving Pythagoras' theorem and finding the formula for solving second order equations), but even if you are not the nerd I am, there is a big chance you will find this book fascinating.

This is a very nice and elegantly written book. The proofs of the theorems selected as great are presented in simple terms. They require no more then high school mathematics(although some of these proofs are not rigorous, for example on the summation of infinite series). The only problem I can see is with the choice of the theorems (too many from geometry) but of course that is a matter of taste. I would have given the book five stars if there had been a chapter on Godel's theorem in it.

William Dunham is the author of several books on the history of mathematics.

In this brief history of mathematics and mathematicians, the author, rather than writing a little bit about a large number of mathematicians, has provided longer treatments of a few. The 'few', naturally, being the most talented/famous from the earliest days. To include:

Hippocrates
Euclid
Archimedes
Heron
Cardano
Newton
The Bernoullis
Leibniz
Euler
Cantor

This book spends some time building and describing mathematical problems and concepts in ways that the average reader will understand. He also relates biographical information about the people who worked on them. Some of the history is quite fascinating, such as the practice in the middle ages of public challanges between mathematicians to solve problems, much like a gun fight of the Wild West.

This would make a good volume in any library.

Math teachers should own (and read) this.

The writings of H.D. are excellent, however the published structure of the essays is deplorable. There are no paragraphs and typos abound on every page, I recommend avoiding this version of Thoreau's writings, as they are very difficult to read.

It's great to see this edition, a small, affordable and easily carried book for a day outing. One thing that is disappointing is that the title of the essay 'On the Duty of Civil Disobedience' has been shortened. A vital point is that it is a citizens DUTY to disobey when government diverges from what is right. And to leave this off of the title, in some sort of 'fast food, fast literature' shorthand, is to diminish it in the minds of Americans.
Great to read with Emerson's Divinity School Address (for which he was banned from returning to Harvard) and Self-Reliance.

There is one interesting fact about Thoreau that most of the reviewers here and elsewhere seem to always overlook. Everyone knows that Thoreau went to jail (overnight) for refusing to pay a poll tax. But no one ever seems to mention why Mr. Thoreau refused to pay his poll tax.
Thoreau refused to pay his poll tax in protest of this country's war against Mexico. Thoreau was a "war protester". The poll tax had been passed to raise money to support that war. Thoreau believed that the war with Mexico was an unjust war of greed and expansion on the part of the American government.
Mark Twain was another "war protester". He was the head of the Anti-Imperialist League and vigorously protested America's "rescue" of the Philippines.

Possibly the best exemplar of what America truly stands for is Henry David Thoreau. The above title quite effectively summarizes the premise of Thoreau's CIVIL DISOBEDIENCE. Unfortunately, this sentiment is no less true today than it was in Thoreau's time. The government he so despised supported slavery, the slaughter of Native Americans, and a war of conquest against Mexico. The majority of Americans today agree that the first two, at least, are quite disgraceful (though only in retrospect). Wars of conquest are just fine providing that you win. As Hitler said, "Nobody will ever ask the winner if he told the truth." Few Americans would have minded that Iraq had no weapons of mass destruction and nothing whatever to do with the destruction of the World Trade Center if Bush's war had been successful. They also do not mind that American corporations keep the majority of the world's population in unnecessary poverty and subjected to brutal "pro-American" dictatorships as long as the stolen wealth of these nations make them wealthier also. Now that these corporations are hoarding most of this stolen wealth for themselves, causing America's middle class to shrink and the number below the poverty to increase, it is likely that Americans will soon start minding corporate greed - at least at home.

CIVIL DISOBEDIENCE is one of the books that was mentioned with mild approval in high school literature classes in the late 60's; perhaps that is why so few people ever read it. Certainly, those very few who actually read it, and acted upon its advice, were despised. Now that I have finally read it, I am astonished to find how "radical" it is. "Radical" being the term used to describe attitudes that are supposed to be both Christian and American (though the most vocal of today's Christians - the CORPORATE-WHORE sect -- revile those people who actually understand Christ and America as Godless traitors). This was the book that inspired Gandhi, who understood both the teaching of Christ and what America is really supposed to represent. It is not surprising that the hypocritical Reagan administration - the administration during which the gap between the wealthy and the middle class first started to skyrocket, corporate criminality blossomed, and a war supporting a dictatorial regime was illegally financed - adopted Thoreau's motto, "That government is best which governs least." In fact, Thoreau asserts that legislators who put obstacles in the way of commerce "deserve to be classed and punished with those mischievous persons who put obstructions on the railroads." If one only read the first few paragraphs of Thoreau, one might almost suppose that he was the Jesus Christ of corporate capitalism. Of course, in today's America, the corporations ARE essentially the government. When they claim they want a government that governs least they are actually declaring that they do not want Americans to have any control over them. It is mind-boggling that so many Americans lap this up. But citizens are taught to respect law rather than justice, to such a degree that they cannot distinguish between the two. "The mass of men serve the state thus, not as men mainly, but as machines, with their bodies." The primary human trait that has made our history so ugly is that we permit ourselves to be manipulated by the voracious. Thinking clearly enough to look out for ourselves and our brethren is condemned as traitorous, and it is against the law.

Cheney's response to being told that 71% of Americans opposed the war was, "So?" Even though it is clear now to the majority what has always been clear to radicals, (i.e. people who are not easily manipulated), that the war was for the sake of oil companies, Bush unabashedly boasts that "it was worth it." Indeed, for his ilk, the war has turned out to be far more profitable than they had imagined. But in reality it has made America one of the most hated countries in the world, has turned Iraq into a breeding ground for terrorists, jacked up the price of oil (which is why it has been "worth it" for the oil magnates), and has made all thoughtful Americans profoundly ashamed of our country.

We are now engaged in the mesmerizing media extravaganza known as voting for a new leader. An intelligent human can only respond, "So?" Thoreau points out the obvious: "All voting is a sort of gaming . . . with a slight moral tinge to it." We can vote against evil rather than actually do anything to amend evil. America will stay in Iraq regardless of who is president. One cannot be accused of saying anything that is not already obvious by stating that the corporations decide for whom we are permitted to vote. The idea that we have a two party system is transparently false. What we really have are two factions of one party, namely the liberal and the conservative, of the corporate capitalist party. Though the difference between the two factions is not nearly as significant as it was thirty years ago since the corporations have nearly succeeded in destroying the labor unions, it does still make some difference which faction is in office. On the other hand, if our "masters" decide that they want a war with Iran, as it seems they do, then America will go to war with Iran regardless of for whom we elect as president. It is not as if our government's ethical code condemns concocting a disaster that they can blame on Iran to muster popular support for such a war.

Getting rid of the draft was a cunning strategy. If all young Americans had to face combat we would quickly see mass protests. Now the military is far easier to control and the corporations have their own private militias - Blackwater and other CORPORATE THUGS beyond the control of Congress, the Pentagon, the puppet government of the occupied Iraq, and the Geneva Convention - which are nonetheless still paid for by taxpayers. (Is it being too paranoid to fantasize that different corporate factions might start vying for power so that we will see these thugs engaging in street wars just as the illegal gangster do)?

It is noteworthy that while America - "the land of the free" - has just 6% of the world's population, it has 25% of the world's prison population. While I doubt that very many American are in prison for the crime of obeying their conscience rather than the law, is there any reason to think that Americans are so much more prone to criminality than other nationalities? Thoreau writes, "Under a government which imprisons any unjustly, the true place for a just man is also a prison." Thoreau was imprisoned for refusing to pay his tax-bill that supported the Mexican War and slavery. Since my income tax is taken from my paycheck before I ever see it, this mode of standing up for what I know to be right is barely an option. Even if it were, I should probably not take it. "If I deny the authority of the State when it presents its tax-bill, it will soon take and waste all my property, and so harass me and my children without end." Gandhi and Thoreau had the sufficient courage and confidence to believe that their acts of defiance would accomplish something worthwhile, but I do not. I think I would merely ruin my marriage and my child's chance to get a college education, and only a handful of largely unsympathetic people would ever be aware of it. Jesus advised us, "Render unto Caesar that which is Caesar's;" In other words, that might be interpreted to mean that we should pay our taxes. But how can one really do that in good conscience if those taxes support that which is clearly evil? If there is anyway in which I feel that I am a traitor to America, and a failure in doing what Jesus would do, it is that I obey unjust laws without doing anything more noteworthy to obey my conscience than writing essays such as this one.

"Because they could not seize my thoughts, they decided, to punish my body...": this sentence was the first,which remaind in my memory, consolidated in my soul, reason enough, to explore more about this Henry David Thoreau (12.7.1817-2.5.1862). He moved in the same circles of society-critical network as Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882), in the middle of the 19th century at the American east coast. Thoreau's "On the Duty of Civil Disobedience" has left behind world-wide effects: Gandhi carried it during his frequent prison stays in his pocket (later India attained home rule and racial integration), Hermann Hesse (Siddharta) was influenced, the resistance against Hitler-Germany used it for backbone-stabilization, Martin Luther King Jr. or Joan Baez were inspired by him, Bertrand Russell, Nelson Mandela or the philosopher Herbert Marcuse (19.7.1898-29.7.1979) took possession of Thoreau's patterns of thinking. Thoreau was ever convinced that he was not on earth to please anybody, but rather to be authentically. Of course Thoreau's rugged individualism is not the very first in the history of philosophy. Forerunner structures can be found in the "Antigone" of Sophokles (translated in earlier years by Thoreau himself) or in the thoughts of Confucius (well known to Thoreau) or in the essay of Boetie, a friend of the french philosopher Montaigne: Boetie wrote about "discours sur la servitude volontaire". As a guidance to nowadays political actions Thoreau's spectrum of opinions probably is no longer suitable. One should reflect on the more and more complicated administrative systems, the clever governments and political leaders, their artfulness of subterfuge, their underhand stratagems, the many snares layed out by laws and remissions, injunctions and decrees; don't forget the sometimes dull executive. They made themselves fitter than ever to overcome all sorts of social resistance. Instead of paying a poll tax Thoreau once upon a time spent a night in jail. Inspired from this classic treatise on passive, nonviolent resistance you may decide to make a sit-down-strike against crusaders and reverse-crusaders or an action, refusing to pay money for the electricity, because you like to restrain the atomic age: be sure: you will not change the direction of the politicians passing by. They will think you are a little bit farcical. To retreat obstinately into the wood living in a block hut alike Thoreau: I don't advise this method to the broad of the population in the present days, at least take a look at the medical supply situation thus worsened. Linguistically however could start a new era of Thoreau's effectiveness, if there were increasingly sensitive readers. A futile hope? Think about the sentence "I do not lend myself to the wrong which I condemn." What sort of consequences and changing the rules of behaviour are TODAY necessary to realize such a direction of sef-reliance? Let's finish with another quotation of a sentence, which this extraordinary American philosopher wrote - and I never can forget these words like the one in the beginning of my review. He noted in his laconic style: "The lawyer's truth is consequence." Means: Without action following a decision, supporting something is useless. It inspired me to write a book concerning "The Persistance of the Philosophers" - and to take a daily walk down by the riverside ...