Devices and Desires

Devices and Desires
Average customer rating:

About P.D. James's books

Not P D James's best

Absorbing but ultimately unsatisfying

Sensational

Not One of Her Better Novels

Devices and Desires
P.D. James
Manufacturer: Vintage
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

British Detectives | Mystery | Mystery & Thrillers | Subjects | Books
James, P.D. | ( J ) | Authors, A-Z | Mystery & Thrillers | Subjects | Books
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ASIN: 1400076242
Release Date: 2004-05-11

Book Description

Featuring the famous Commander Adam Dalgliesh, Devices and Desires is a thrilling and insightfully crafted novel of fallible people caught in a net of secrets, ambitions, and schemes on a lonely stretch of Norfolk coastline.

Commander Dalgliesh of Scotland Yard has just published a new book of poems and has taken a brief respite from publicity on the remote Larksoken headland on the Norfolk coast in a converted windmill left to him by his aunt. But he cannot so easily escape murder. A psychotic strangler of young women is at large in Norfolk, and getting nearer to Larksoken with every killing. And when Dalgliesh discovers the murdered body of the Acting Administrative Officer on the beach, he finds himself caught up in the passions and dangerous secrets of the headland community and in one of the most baffling murder cases of his career.

Customer Reviews:

About P.D. James's books.......2007-08-19

Apart from the intricate plots, which arrest readers' attention, James's novels offer shrewd philosophical observations about life and penetrating insights into human emotions and behavior. These elements of her writing turn murder mysteries, a form of literature designed to mainly provide people with entertainment, into high quality reading. The author breathes life into her stories through the vividness of descriptions and enables readers to become invisible observers of people and events. She successfully captures the multiple facets of her characters' personalities. "Villains" in James's novels are never decernably bad people but, like all the others, complex individuals capable of the acts of good and evil. In most murder mysteries, the fascinating process of discovering the criminal takes precedence over the emotional aspect of the crime itself. Murder becomes a mere word deprived of its horrible meaning. However, at no point during my reading of James's novels, do I feel indifferent to the victims and perpertraitors. As the investigations unfold, the author involves readers into the inner circles of the characters' lives, personalities, and feelings. This is a unique approach which sets James apart from many other writers of the genre.
It is a treat to read the author's descriptions of nature. Readers can see the landscapes unfold in their mental vision, smell the air, and feel its movements. Through these descriptions, James gives presentiments of the upcoming events and explores individuals' moods and personalities.
This book(as I have read six of her others)is one of my favorite novels. It evokes introspection and broadens the understanding of aspects of reality beyond just "who dun it".

Not P D James's best.......2007-08-14

The book was initially slow but I kept reading because I know how very good P D James is. Soon enough I was sucked into the story, and kept wondering who'd done it. But as I discovered the story underneath, I was a bit disappointed. Some of it was hard to believe, and too concocted to accept; new material that I as a reader could never have begun to think.

A good mystery should give a few clues here and there during the beginning when the characters and story are set up so that when all is revealed she feels the Aha! Wow! moment. While I was not able to guess the murderer, the back story made this book fall from 5 stars to 3.

Absorbing but ultimately unsatisfying.......2007-07-03

This is the first P.D. James novel I've read and initially I shared the positive reaction of most reviewers here-- the writing was absorbing, the characters well drawn, and the overall atmosphere compelling. Putting her usual detective in a different position than lead investigator was an interesting and unusual touch. Ultimately, however, James didn't appear to know where to go with the story and threw too many extraneous and unconvincing twists into the plot. So all in all an enjoyable read, but not a memorable one.

Sensational.......2006-03-11

A great story..I am never disappointd by any book written by PD James..alas, I was sure I knew the killer, surprised to find I was wrong..Unlike many writers of mystery,PD James knows how to bring her books to a great conclusion.

Not One of Her Better Novels.......2006-01-22

Normally I love James books but this one let me down.
Dalgliesh plays a very small part in it amounting to almost
nothing. Instead the investigation was headed by an Insp.
Rickards and I didnt gel with him at all. There were too many different people to deal with that it became confusing.
I agree, if you want to know a little bit about nuclear power, then this is a great reference on it.

Average customer rating:

Deadly Desires
Good but the pace seems slow
My all-time favorite mystery book!!
P.D. James always comes through: Fascinating Mystery!
Overwrought and tiring novel

Devices and Desires
P.D. James
Manufacturer: Warner Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Contemporary | General | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books

General | Mystery | Mystery & Thrillers | Subjects | Books

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ASIN: 0446679194

Book Description

After publication of his book of poetry, Adam Dalgliesh escapes from the hubbub of London for a remote Norfolk headland and the converted windmill his aunt left him. But Dalgliesh cannot so easily escape from murder.

In Norfolk, a deranged killer prowls the countryside, holding tranquility hostage. Murders proliferate. Is there a connection with the nuclear power station? Not far from it, the killer has left his victims, all women, strangled. Dalgliesh suspects his own neck is very exposed.

"DEVICES AND DESIRES is P.D. James at better than her best." (The New York Times)

Customer Reviews:

Deadly Desires.......2004-08-18

This is only the second P.D. James book that I have read. In my first read, I completely fell for Commander Adam Dalgliesh of the New Scotland Yard, a sensitive detective with a poetic soul and a tragic past. 'Devices and Desires', however, does not focus on Dalgliesh. While he is settling his late aunt's estate in Norfolk, he must sit on the sidelines as Inspector Rickards tries to solve the murders that keep occuring in the small, closeknit community of Larksoken.

The story begins with a brilliant introduction of a killing in the making. We get to see the serial killer, The Whistler, at work as he tracks his latest victim and kills her. Upon arriving at Larksoken, which has as its backyard the controversial atomic power station, Dalgliesh finds himself a sounding board for Inspector Rickards and is slowly drawn into the mystery surrounding the inhabitants of the town. Throughout the course of the novel numerous characters are introduced. They are well-rounded and vividly drawn, and when a copy-cat murder strikes too close to home, they are even further developed through their alibis and lies.

Since this is not Dalgliesh's case, he does not play a large role in the novel. We are told the story through every characters' eyes and must try to piece together a mystery so tightly woven with tasteful clues spread throughout; the reader will almost feel like one of the inspectors trying to crack the case. In the end, however, Dalgliesh cannot remain on the sidelines and involves himself with solving the case. P.D. James has a brilliant knack for creating characters who seem to come alive and her skills at spinning webs of suspense are to be admired. She keeps her readers guessing until the end; and even if the end may seem a little contrived at times, Ms. James recognizes this and has a little laugh at our/her expense.

Good but the pace seems slow.......2002-10-19

I read "Devices and Desires" based on the recommendation of a friend. My friend said that the writing of P.D. James reminded her of my book ("The Other Part Of Me"). At first, I thought my friend was nuts - I didn't see any similarity at all. However, after getting further into the book I did begin to notice at times a certain rhythm to the narrative and dialog that did in fact remind me of my book.

While I did enjoy "Devices and Desires" and it did hold my interest throughout, the pace of the plot was much too slow for my tastes.

My all-time favorite mystery book!!.......2002-10-12

This is THE book to choose if you are looking for well written literature, a good mystery, and an intellectual challenge.

P.D. James always comes through: Fascinating Mystery!.......2002-09-30

* * * * * P.D James does it again! Elaborate plot, subtle clues, rich fascinating characters make this a great mystery.
You don't have to be a P.D. James fan; all mystery lovers will enjoy this book!
~ -~
The book starts out with a nicely chilling episode: - a murder about to happen. James manages to sustain the mysterious and tense atmosphere throughout the book. Investigator Superintendent Adam Dalgliesh (a poet with a tragic past) is wonderful as always.
~ -~
James' strength is creating complex and believable characters that fill the book. We are given glimpses into the life of the suspects and their motives throughout the book. As always James manages to surprise us all with the solution. I've never been able to outguess Dalgliesh- her plots are too imaginative and subtly hidden in the story. This book is a little longer than most, but it is worth the time to read and delve deeper into the characters minds and motives. . This book is definitely addictive.
* * * * *
~ This isn't my favorite PD James- I prefer "A Taste for Death"
But even second best for P D James is far above the usual mystery. I definitely recommend this book with 5 stars * * * * * for an absorbing read

Overwrought and tiring novel.......2001-10-19

Let me preface this review by saying that I have never read any of P.D. James' work, other than this novel. The novel starts off well with the introduction of the Whistler, as he kills another victim. However, as the novel progresses on, the emphasis shifts away from the Whistler himself and onto the other characters of the novel--that is one of the main weaknesses of the novel. There are too many characters in this novel! James takes time introducing these characters, slowing down the pace of the novel and, ultimately, draining it of any energy at all. It is hard to figure out where the novel is actually headed. She would have been better served cutting out a few of the characters and streamlining the plot. I had a hard time figuring out who the protagonist in this novel was--Adam or Inspector Ricketts? I suppose that Adam was supposed to be it, but at times in the novel, he disappears for long periods of time. The ending is confusing and disappointing; one major scene in the novel seems to come out of left field and without provocation (it was mentioned in one of the previous reviews).
Too bad, I found the premise of the novel interesting.

Devices and Desires: A History of Contraceptives in America

Average customer rating:

solid history, well written, surprisingly entertaining
Very interesting aspect of social history
compelling, engaging and convincing history of brith control
An Entertaining and Important History
The Secret History of Sex and Birth Control

Devices and Desires: A History of Contraceptives in America
Andrea Tone
Manufacturer: Hill and Wang
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0809038161

Book Description

From thriving black market to big business, the commercialization of birth control in the United States

In Devices and Desires, Andrea Tone breaks new ground by showing what it was really like to buy, produce, and use contraceptives during a century of profound social and technological change. A down-and-out sausage-casing worker by day who turned surplus animal intestines into a million-dollar condom enterprise at night; inventors who fashioned cervical caps out of watch springs; and a mother of six who kissed photographs of the inventor of the Pill -- these are just a few of the individuals who make up this riveting story.

Customer Reviews:

solid history, well written, surprisingly entertaining.......2004-09-17

Andrea Tone weaves the disparate history of birth control technology in American and its dissemination and use into a clean and straightforward narrative.

The chapters up to the advent of the Pill (why is it always capitalized?) are especially rich and informative. Of particular interest to the social historian or student of American history are the sections on the illegal trade in contraceptives during the years of the Comstock ban, as well as the impact of Margaret Sanger and the "medicalization" of birth control, which put contraception under the control and regulation of doctors.

Tone's excellent writing style makes this book enjoyable to read and easy to skim. It brings a light-hearted attitude to a potentially heavy subject, making it useful and accessible.

Very interesting aspect of social history.......2004-02-22

If you're looking for an interesting book about social history in the United States, take a look at this book. A lot of the book asks very personal question like, "what is obscenity? can a society define morality?

The book also can easily be connected with things that are happening today, birth control availability in high schools, for example.

It's a very interesting read.

compelling, engaging and convincing history of brith control.......2002-10-26

For nearly a century, from the advent of repressive Comstockery in the 1870s to the development of The Pill in the 1950s and 1960s, the history of contraception in our national history suggests several irrefutable truths. National and state governments, ignoring the realities of consumer demand for safe and effective contraception, have unsuccessfully attempted to repress not only the creation of birth control devices but have actively engaged in suppression of information about them.

Despite official opposition, a semi-covert, but vibrant underground market economy developed to satisfy the insatiable demand for methods to control sexual reproduction. Professor Andrea Tone's meticulously researched and felicitously written "Devices and Desires" is at once a survey of the technology of contraception, a political analysis of the struggle for women to obtain control over the reproductive lives and an engaging social history of the advocates, producers and consumers of contraceptive devices over the past century and a half.

Recounted through a series of analytical and chronological narratives, Professor Tone provides an interesting perspective on Anthony Comstock, whose name now symbolizes sexual prudery and repression. Tone comments that Comstock's fierce advocacy of governmental intervention and suppression of birth control contains its own class and ethnic bias. Comstock purposely ignored the fact that his most loyal supporters not only abetted, but profited from, the production of birth control devices. (Tone's exposure of Samuel Colgate's hypocrisy exemplifies this blatant double standard.)

Ironically, Comstock's purported success in nationalizing repression and supposed eradication the manufacture and dissemination of birth control products and information generated a robust, underground market-driven economy centered around contraceptive devices. With large-scale industrial giants eschewing production, a fiercely competivite, unregulated industry blossomed and produced its own Horatio Alter success stories, such as that of condom-king Julius Schmid, once arrested and later lionized for the same activity.

"Devices" also praises the extraordinary contributions of Margaret Sanger but notes the costs of her focus. Eventually losing her egalitarian radicalism, Sanger becomes responsible for the conversion of birth control from a market-generated phenomenon to a medically-controlled activity. Though she succeeds in legitimzing contraception, Sanger inadvertently works to narrow the range of women who could obtain access to the very services and products she so deperately wanted to make acceessible to all women.

Tone's history contains numerous wise and unexpected observations about the political and social impact of the battle to make birth control legal. Chapters detailing the controversial development of oral contraceptives and the re-emergence of the IUD help underscore the esential tensions of birth control in a nation where women consistently demand a safe-reliable product but their government sorely lags behaind clear public consensus.

This tension between technological ability and restricted social access to education and product results in our country's staggering rate of unwanted pregnancies. Professor Tone's spirited history suggests that the history of contraception in the United States has many chapters yet to be written.

An Entertaining and Important History.......2001-08-21

We have long been used to birth control as being legal, safe, and available. There was a long history of prudery on the subject, though, which continues to have repercussions on our society and our birth rates to this day. _Devices & Desires: A History of Contraceptives in America_ (Hill and Wang) by Andrea Tone, is a sophisticated examination of how Americans went from covertly using illegal contraception in the last century to medically approved versions during this one. It is a fascinating tale, full of passion, science, repression, American ingenuity, and Horatio Alger stories of making it big in the contraception business.

The dour presiding figure over all these proceedings is Anthony Comstock, who built himself up into a vice busting public servant, a special agent of the Post Office, and enforcer of the Comstock Act of 1873. He regarded contraceptives as obscenities, insisting for religious reasons that abstinence and the then poorly-understood rhythm method were the only moral means of birth control. Although many Americans agreed with him, Tone shows convincingly that they also were ready to use contraceptives and to tolerate their sale. The pictures of small time contraceptive entrepreneurs, filling a need that respectable manufacturers shunned, is fascinating. Frequently the owner of a contraceptive factory was a woman, or an immigrant, who made everything in a back room. It took a little know-how, some natural rubber, and some sulfur for the vulcanization process; a little capital could bring high profit. Julius Schmidt, having immigrated from Germany in 1882, went to work at a sausage casing firm, but realized that the casings could be made into something more profitable. Comstock busted him in 1890 for ýselling articles to prevent conception.ý Schmidt easily paid the fine, and eventually moved into the rubber trade, selling the still-available Sheik and Ramses brand condoms. Comstockery had its last gasp in 1965, when the Supreme Court struck down a Connecticut law forbidding contraceptives even from doctors to married women. These pages contain a fine description of the development of the birth control pill, and the debacle of the Dalkon Shield.

This is an amazing history of how we Americans have come to our current legal and safe birth control methods. Unfortunately, we do not use them very well. Toneýs book, full of vivid detail and very readable, demonstrates that we cling to the idea that abstinence is an effective medical and social policy. Pregnancy rates in America for those under twenty are higher than in any developed country except Hungary. In Sweden, by comparison, young people have sex more often, but also benefit from compulsory real sex education which includes instruction about contraceptives. They can get contraceptives at cost or free. Rates of pregnancy and rates of abortion are far lower than ours. Two thirds of our group insurance plans will not pay for contraceptive pills, and the bias against women in such plans is clear, since they will cover Viagra. This is an important history book that demonstrates that Comstockýs legacy persists.

The Secret History of Sex and Birth Control.......2001-07-18

When I reviewed this extraordinary book for THE NATION Magazine (issue of June 11, 2001) my piece was entitled "The Secret History of Sex." It's fun to scoop the N.Y. TIMES.! The lead review in the NY Times Book Review for July 22, 2001 is also of DEVICES AND DESIRES, and is entitled "The Secret History of Birth Control."

DEVICES AND DESIRES is so original, so persuasive, so meticulously researched and documented that it overrides some of our most taken-for-granted assumptions and beliefs., It opens in 1873 when the Comstock law was passed in the U. S. Congress, banning both pornography and birth control devices. The new law must have made contraception known to some folks who had never heard of it before (or maybe the fact that it was banned made people think it might be fun) because birth control quickly grew into a huge bootleg industry, as popular as liquor was during prohibition, and offering many more products and options for both women and men than we have today. Some were dangerous, some were ineffective, but others were quite good and many couples doubled up on protection, with husband and wife each using one or more methods. The birth rate in the U.S. fell by more than half from 1880-1940, even though we were later led to believe by Margaret Sanger and others that until birth control was largely taken over by doctors,( in the 1930s) it was quite scarce. You will be astonished at the documented information in this book and mesmerized by the case histories of the colorful and inventive bootleg birthcontrol entrepreneurs. Tone's exhaustive research led her- like an ace detective or shoe-leather crime reporter (she is in fact a history professor at Georgia Tech) through an eight year coast to coast investigation of Post Office Department records, Federal Trade Commission transcripts (some with decaying diaphragms and condoms glued to the pages) American Medical Association Health Fraud Archives, credit reports from 19th century Dun and Co. collections, patents, love letters, arrest records, trial records, advertisements and trade catalogues, and "entrapment letters" from Anthony Comstock and others seeking to arrest the purveyors of contraception. To me- one of the most fascinating findings in DEVICES AND DESIRES is simply this: As every legislator knows, you can vote a measure into law but if you don't provide funds to enforce it the measure may remain a "paper tiger" Although Congress gave lip service to Comstock's prudish ideas, most members didn't support them with sufficient enthusiasm to vote money for enforcement. The" special agents" of the Postal Service who were, by law, required to chase down contraceptives and pornography (on top of their many other preexisting duties)were fifty-nine in number (nationally!) before Comstock was passed, and after passage the number was raised to sixty-three. You do the math. This book illustrates the great divide between "conventional wisdom"- and what an unconvinced and energetic historian can unearth. We all knew that the U.S. birthrate hit an all-time low in 1940. Why didn't we ALL question how this could have happened if it was true that there wasn't any contraception?

Devices and Desires: Gender, Technology, and American Nursing (Studies in Social Medicine)
Average customer rating:

Changed the way I think

Devices and Desires: Gender, Technology, and American Nursing (Studies in Social Medicine)
Margarete Sandelowski
Manufacturer: The University of North Carolina Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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History | Special Topics | Medicine | Subjects | Books
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General | Nursing | Medical | Professional & Technical | Subjects | Books
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ASIN: 0807825794
Release Date: 2000-11-08

Book Description

Nursing and technology have been inexorably linked since the beginnings of trained nursing in the United States in the late nineteenth century. Whether or not they thought of the devices they used as technology, nurses have necessarily used a variety of tools, instruments, and machines—from thermometers to cardiac monitors—to appraise, treat, and comfort patients. Tracing the relationship between nursing and technology from the 1870s to the present, Margarete Sandelowski argues that technology has helped shape and intensify persistent dilemmas in nursing and that it has both advanced and impeded the development of the profession.

Sandelowski examines key moments in the history of nursing that dramatize the ironies of the nursing-technology relationship. She demonstrates that nurses both embraced and rejected technology in their pursuit of cultural visibility and professional autonomy—with varying amounts of success.

As one of the domains of female work historically most subject to sex segregation, Sandelowski notes, nursing provides an ideal site in which to examine the interplay of technology and gender.

Customer Reviews:

Changed the way I think.......2006-05-04

This book changed the way I nurse, the way I think of myself as a nurse and the way I think about nursing, in fact, the way I think about myself as a person. It makes me realize that if nurses are to be more than technicians, that nursing is primarily an ethical exercise. Who you are, your character, directs what you do with the knowledge you have. Any skill, nursing or otherwise, can be used for good or ill. It is the one wielding the skill that aims at the mark. Sometimes you miss, but if you don't aim, hitting is just dumb luck and a poor bet. I apply the same logic to physicians, plumbers, priests, politicians, judges, and garage mechanics. Margaret Sandelowski, I hope you read this. Thanks.

Devices and Desires (The Engineer Trilogy)

Average customer rating:

fascinating look at power
A really strong beginning, looking forward to the rest of the trilogy.
Extraordinary
A good book for a long trip

Devices and Desires (The Engineer Trilogy)
K. J. Parker
Manufacturer: Orbit Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Mass Market Paperback

General | Fantasy | Science Fiction & Fantasy | Subjects | Books

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ASIN: 1841492760

Customer Reviews:

fascinating look at power.......2007-10-08

Due to its incredible industrial base with advanced technology, the Mezentine Republic is the superpower. Two neighboring people, the Vadani and the Eremians resent their superiority. Whereas the Vandai leadership uses guile in its dealing with the powerful Republic, the Eremians invade only to be slaughtered by their foes due to superior technological weaponry especially the mechanical Scorpions.

However, in the ruins of the slaughter, opportunity arises. Guild foreman and engineer Ziani Vaatzes has fled the Republic to avoid execution for breaking the rules. He offers the Eremians his knowledge of weaponry for safety and the opportunity to see his beloved wife and daughter one last time. However, Mezentines realizing that Ziani may sell them out and attack the Eremians to insure they remain the sole superpower.

The first book of the Engineer Trilogy is a fascinating look at power mostly through the machinations of the scheming lying Ziani, who manipulates people as he climbs the social pyramid to get the support to meet his obsessed goal. He does this with the backdrop of nations selling violence and control as the key to regional ownership of a global economy. Although the antihero Ziani's skills are incredible, luck and coincidence helps him stay alive while his plausibility index is somewhere over Everest and his ethics somewhere in hell as he sacrifices innocent people to further his cause. Still this is an entertaining tale of one man who to achieve his quest requires him to be Machiavelli and Rove.

Harriet Klausner

A really strong beginning, looking forward to the rest of the trilogy. .......2007-08-12

Like I said, I wasn't really sure what to expect from this book. I picked it up on a whim. Nor am I sure whether the title was some kind of sideways homage to P.D. James. Little mysteries.

Devices and Desires is a really clever alt-fantasy kind of book that avoids pretty much every typical pitfall of swords & sorcery genre. Ziani Vaazes is a fascinating anti-hero-- a kind of sociopath engineer who believes that his actions are an inevitable result of the situation in which he is placed. He may be even be right, given the assumptions behind Parker's world-building. It's a relief to have the much more likable Valens as counterpoint, even with his flaws.

There's no magic, just alternative science. You spend your time as a reader focusing on the idea of engineering and technology development rather than on rules for shooting fireballs. A welcome change of pace. There are well written discussion of fantasy, management and cultural differences.

If I could have wished for anything, I might have wished that the book was a trifle warmer. It is a cold cold place in The Engineer Trilogy. I guess that this is part of the point, but I will confess to liking my fantasy flavored with at least a hint of sentimentality.

Although I think that I'll buy the next in the series (Evil for Evil) first, it is worth mentioning that Parker has two other series under her belt-- The Fencer Trilogy and the Scavenger Trilogy. I'm sorry that it took me so long to be aware of her work.

Extraordinary.......2006-03-17

This was the first book by K.J.Parker that I've had the pleasure to read, and will certainly not be the last. I am new to the fantasy genre, though not quite a virgin (I'm well read in the Sci-Fi genre, if that counts for something). That said, "Devices And Desires" was clearly the best that I've read so far in the fantasy genre. Parker has clearly done her research with the sort of dilligence and attention to detail that rivals anything that could be expected of the central character of the book.

The story centers around Ziani Vaazes, the unlikely unconventional protagonist-victim-anti-hero. He's a single minded genius of an engineer, who, after some unfortunate events, is forced to work with the material flesh and bone, of human motivations, alliances and betrayals, to construct his grand and terrible machine, that is the only means to achieve a purpose ludicrously simple and mundane. A purpose he cannot avoid working towards, as he puts it, any more than a rock pushed of a ledge can help falling.

Devices And Desires is full of interesting personalities, depth in all fronts, intrigue of human relations with the often banal, almost trivial reasons that can lead to the slaughter of armies and the death of nations. And detail. Lots of detailed knowledge, yet never tedious.

Also a well balanced end, tying up many lose ends, giving a feeling of an end of an epoch; yet hinting at things to come, and whole new battles to fight, as Vaatzes' machine grinds it's gears.

As a SciFi fan with a naturalistic world view, I also appreciated the fact that the world is not infused with magic, ghosts and goblins, but rather is confined to the much more interesting wonders of the natural world. The only thing about the world of the book where I had to suspend my disbelief was the complete lack of religions (unless you count the mezentine's religious attitude towards precision of engineering, and the organization around it as religion). While being irreligious myself, I do believe that evidence shows that societies lacking religions or at least prominent superstitions completely (in reality, rather than just on paper) are as unlikely as any of the most fantastic absurdities fathomed by fantasy writers. This strange ommision can, howerver, be forgiven, as world created by Parker is so rich and satisfying in numerous other respects. Devices And Desires is an impressive piece of work, and a real page turner.

While anchiously waiting for the sequel, I'll certainly look into Parker's other works.

A good book for a long trip.......2006-02-22

I am really enjoying this book. Loads of good characters, which are, on the whole very well developed. The plot is very interesting, and hangs together nicely. I especially liked the names he created...unlike anything else I've seen or read recently, which is a nice change. I'm kind of tired of books with characters who's names seem slight variations of current day names, with unusual spellings. The author has taken pains to create unusual but believable characters, and created a world that works in similar, yet oddly different ways from our own.

Average customer rating:

Devices & Desires
P.D. James
Manufacturer: Random House Value Publishing
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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Democratic Devices and Desires (Theories of Institutional Design)

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"Implications of Norm-Following Behavior"

Democratic Devices and Desires (Theories of Institutional Design)
Geoffrey Brennan , and Alan Hamlin
Manufacturer: Cambridge University Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0521639778

Book Description

This book offers a novel approach to the analysis of democracy, and an application of that approach to a variety of democratic institutions, including elections, representation, political parties and the separation of powers. Standard economic approaches to politics concentrate on the design of institutions and the role of individuals motivated by self-interest. The authors incorporate a broader view of political motivation, assuming individuals are moral as well as rational, and provide a wide-ranging discussion of the design of democratic institutions.

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This book offers a novel account of key features of modern representative democracy. Working from the rational actor tradition, it builds a middle ground between orthodox political theory and the economic analysis of politics. Standard economic models of politics emphasise the design of the institutional devices of democracy as operated by essentially self-interested individuals. This book departs from that model by focusing on democratic desires alongside democratic devices, stressing that important aspects of democracy depend on the motivation of democrats and the interplay between devices and desires. Individuals are taken to be not only rational, but also somewhat moral. The authors argue that this approach provides access to aspects of the debate on democratic institutions that are beyond the narrowly economic model. They apply their analysis to voting, elections, representation, political departments and the separation and division of powers, providing a wide-ranging discussion of the design of democratic institutions.

Customer Reviews:

"Implications of Norm-Following Behavior".......2001-08-16

Excerpted from The Independent Review (Summer 2001) by Roger D. Congleton.

My main complaint about Geoffrey Brennan and Alan Hamlin's new book is its title, which supplies a nice alliteration but seems a bit misleading. The title might lead the reader to expect a book about democratic intrigue at the turn of the twentieth century, when the high tide of democratic ideology gave rise to widespread suffrage movements and electoral reforms. Instead, what the reader finds is a very interesting rational-choice analysis of how constitutions should be designed if individuals can and do choose to follow normative rules-none of which seem, strictly speaking, to be intrinsically democratic. A helpful subtitle might have been "Implications of Norm-Following Behavior for Constitutional Design," which would indicate an issue on which the book does make a good deal of progress.

I have only very minor quarrels with the authors' basic argument, which on the whole seems to be very reasonable-and indeed many of their points have been mentioned, as they point out, in classic works on constitutional design.

Overall, the evidence suggests that ethical behavior in politics occurs, but it may be of more limited significance to voters than the Brennan-Hamlin analysis seems to imply. However, to their credit, Brennan and Hamlin expressly claim only that norm-following behavior does occur and may be relied on in some circumstances. This much all but the most diehard skeptics would surely acknowledge.

Customer Reviews:

abridgement not satisfactory.......2006-11-10

This turned out to be a BBC theatre production which meant that much of the story was shortened, changed to fit a theatre mode, and so a great deal of P.D. James elegant prose was lost.

5 Titles in Inspector Adam Dalgiesh Series : A Mind to Murder - Shroud for a Nightingale - Death of an Expert Witness - Devices and Desires - Death in Holy Orders

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5 Titles in Inspector Adam Dalgiesh Series : A Mind to Murder - Shroud for a Nightingale - Death of an Expert Witness - Devices and Desires - Death in Holy Orders
P.D. James
Manufacturer: various
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Mass Market Paperback

General | Mystery | Mystery & Thrillers | Subjects | Books

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5 massmarket paperback Titles in Inspector Adam Dalgiesh Series : A Mind to Murder - Shroud for a Nightingale - Death of an Expert Witness - Devices and Desires - Death in Holy Orders

Devices & Desires An Adam Dalgliesh Mystery

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Devices & Desires An Adam Dalgliesh Mystery
P.D.James
Manufacturer: Alfred A Knopf
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Mystery | Mystery & Thrillers | Subjects | Books

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British Mystery NOvel

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