Book Description
Virtually unknown in the English-speaking world, the Battle of Cherkassy (also known as the Korsun Pocket) still stirs controversy in both the former Soviet Union and in Germany. It was at Cherkassy where the last German offensive strength in the Ukraine was drained away. Hell's Gate is a riveting hour by hour and day by day account of this desperate struggle analyzed on a tactical level through maps and military transcripts, as well as on a personal level, through the words of the enlisted men and officers were there.
Customer Reviews:
Hell's Gate.......2007-02-12
Expert writing on a relatively little-known albeit vital battle on the Eastern Front in 1944. Military History does not get any better than Mr. Nash's account of the battle of the Cherkassy pocket!
Outstanding History.......2007-01-30
Excellent book, with loads of anecdotes and personal accounts, at least for the German side. The book would have been even better if the author could have managed to obtain more Soviet first hand accounts as well, but even without them he does a good job of describing and assessing the Soviet side of the battle as well.
The Telling of a Desperate Struggle .......2007-01-27
"Hell's Gate" is a meticulously researched volume of a little known brutal winter battle on the Eastern Front during World War II. The writing is clear and unambiguous; the text is supplemented with many photographs, including previously unpublished photos made available to the author by participants of this battle.
There are some irritating production shortcomings, such as the occasional line dropping off at the bottom of a page and the seemingly inevitable misspellings throughout.
In all, I readily recommend this book.
Fascinating Account Of A Little Known Battle.......2007-01-27
If you want to know what war on the Eastern Front was like, there is not a better book available. The Battle of the Cherkassy Pocket takes place in early 1944 as the tide of war is turning against the German Army.
The author vividly details the progress of the battle. We get insight into the personalities of the military leaders on both sides. Liberal use of first hand experiences literally put the reader on the battlefield itself. The book also includes many striking photos taken during the battle.
The key story line is that of a surrounded German Army force. Having learned the hard lessons of Stalingrad, the Luftwaffe puts forth an incredible effort to try to keep the entrapped force resupplied until a breakout can be attempted. During the course of the battle, the author details the typical mistakes and miscommunications that so often take place during war. The Germans are suprised by the entrapment of their forces in the Cherkassy area having underestimated Soviet forces opposite them. Likewise, the Soviets find that even at this late point in the war, the German Army can still strike back effectively.
This book is highly recommended for anyone who wants to get a feel for the intensity of the war on the Eastern Front.
Great history .......2006-12-06
The book is well researched backed by the author's visit to the battlefield site. He interviews numeorus survivors(mostly German) of the battle. It is a pity that the Russians are not more forthcoming in allowing researchers access to their archives.
The only negative and I may be the only that thinks in this respect, is that I hate coffee table sized books.
Book Description
This is the remarkable story of a German soldier who fought throughout World War II, rising from conscript private to captain of a heavy weapons company on the Eastern Front.
William Lubbeck, age 19, was drafted into the Wehrmacht in August 1939. As a member of the 58th Infantry Division, he received his baptism of fire during the 1940 invasion of France. The following spring his division served on the left flank of Army Group North in Operation Barbarossa. After grueling marches admidst countless Russian bodies, burnt-out vehicles, and a great number of cheering Baltic civilians, Lubbeck's unit entered the outskirts of Leningrad, making the deepest penetration of any German formation.
The Germans suffered brutal hardships the following winter as they fought both Russian counterattacks and the brutal cold. The 58th Division was thrown back and forth across the front of Army Group North, from Novgorod to Demyansk, at one point fighting back Russian attacks on the ice of Lake Ilmen. Returning to the outskirts of Leningrad, the 58th was placed in support of the Spanish "Blue" Division. Relations between the allied formations soured at one point when the Spaniards used a Russian bath house for target practice, not realizing that Germans were relaxing inside.
A soldier who preferred to be close to the action, Lubbeck served as forward observer for his company, dueling with Russian snipers, partisans and full-scale assaults alike. His worries were not confined to his own safety, however, as news arrived of disasters in Germany, including the destruction of Hamburg where his girlfriend served as an Army nurse.
In September 1943, Lubbeck earned the Iron Cross First Class and was assigned to officers' training school in Dresden. By the time he returned to Russia, Army Group North was in full-scale retreat. Now commanding his former heavy weapons company, Lubbeck alternated sharp counterattacks with inexorable withdrawal, from Riga to Memel on the Baltic. In April 1945 Lubbeck's company became stalled in a traffic jam and was nearly obliterated by a Russian barrage followed by air attacks.
In the last chaotic scramble from East Prussia, Lubbeck was able to evacuate on a newly minted German destroyer. He recounts how the ship arrived in the British zone off Denmark with all guns blazing against pursuing Russians. The following morning, May 8, 1945, he learned that the war was over.
After his release from British captivity, Lubbeck married his sweetheart, Anneliese, and in 1949 immigrated to the United States where he raised a successful family. With the assistance of David B. Hurt, he has drawn on his wartime notes and letters, Soldatbuch, regimental history and personal memories to recount his four years of frontline experience. Containing rare firsthand accounts of both triumph and disaster, At Leningrad's Gates provides a fascinating glimpse into the reality of combat on the Eastern Front.
Customer Reviews:
A very personal story.......2007-07-04
Lubbeck tells his personal story of war and survival throughout his stint in Army Group North. Many personal anecdotes are set forth in this story, together with more general recollections of combat and military operations. His story of post-war survival and eventual emigration to the US is moderately interesting and fits into the overall theme of this book. The reader comes to know Lubbeck and his family and friends in a way that is somewhat unique in books of this genre. An easy and good read.
About much more then the war........2007-07-01
This book is not just about William Lubbecks experiences in the German army but about his family life before and after the war. He goes in depth about the hardships his family endured before during and after the Nazi's took power. After the read you really do feel like you know the man and his family. His experiences in the German army take you from the invasion of France on into the out skirts of Leningrad. His battle field descriptions are well written but do not expect them to be action packed like a lot of other books. I really enjoyed how he made it more then just a book about the war but about hardships before and after the it. He speaks a lot about Germany after the war and the horrible life many of the people were forced into behind iron curtain. A great book written by a great man.
Mother of all reviews........2007-06-26
The prevailing sentimentality here may be expected from the "specialty" reader. You won't drive 50 miles to meet a Treblinka survivor or a Russian who was almost starved to death in Leningrad. They are not cool. Congratulations on finding your hero.
Excellent read on the Eastern Front Experience.......2007-06-22
I'm only a little over half way through this book but have found it to be one of the best I have read so far on the subject matter. The very frank and personal viewpoint is a nice departure from other books that focus primarily on unit movements, high level strategies, and the viscera of combat.
Occasionally i do wish for more details. the book feels like it could have been longer without suffering loss of readability, but that is no real distraction. The text is very well written and flows easily, you really get the sense you're getting to know the author.
I too was very surprised to find out i live in the same area as Mr Lubbeck. Actually had the chance to speak with him the other day. He was very cordial and forgiving of my somewhat broken attempts at German.
This book is a good reminder that there are two sides to every conflict, and to fully understand historical events, we need to examine and consider both of them.
The Best Eastern Front Memoir Thus Far..........2007-03-28
Of the many accounts of German soldiers' experiences of combat on the Eastern Front published in recent years, "At Leningrad's Gates" is by far the best to date. Not only is this an extremely interesting and well written memoir of combat experience with Army Group North in the campaigns around Leningrad and the retreat back into Germany, "At Leningrad's Gates" also details the difficulties Lubbecke's family faced living in Nazi Germany and after the war under Soviet domination in East Germany. Wilhelm Lubbecke emigrated with his wife and young son first to Canada and then to the United States after the war. Because of this his memoir is unique in that it not only views World War II from the perspective of a German citizen and soldier, but also from the point of view of an American who spent half of his life living, working and raising his children here in America.
Customer Reviews:
The Book's Title fits.......2006-11-10
Ken's book contains many helpfull hints for the day to day FPGA design. It explains very well the pitfalls you will be trapped by and answers e.g. questions like what is actually is the difference between blocking and non-blocking assignment.
Sloppy and incoherent, some useful information.......2004-08-16
This book addresses how to use Verilog to create working FPGA designs. It touches on topics such as clocking, implementation of specific types of logic blocks, and design flow. The examples are written using Verilog.
The writing is sloppy, the organization is incoherent, and the explanations are incomplete. A reader may find the book worthwhile if: he or she already knows most of the material presented, has a few problems that are addressed by the book, can find the discussion of that problem in the book, and the discussion is one of those that is complete and accurate. Otherwise, the book is a waste of time and money.
The author assumes that the reader is familiar with digital logic design, the basics of Verilog, and the basics of FPGA and ASIC design. The book discusses strategies for dealing with practical problems. Unfortunately, the strategies are presented in a disorganized manner, with explanations that are poorly thought out and too incomplete to use.
The first chapter introduces Verilog design for FPGA synthesis. The contents of the chapter are a mish-mash. It is hard to tell what you are supposed to know after reading the chapter that you didn't have to know before reading it. The chapter isn't a quick description of Verilog, because it leaves out most Verilog syntax that you have to know (for example, vectors). The chapter isn't limited to describing what subset of Verilog is synthesizable, because it has detailed but incomplete descriptions of random Verilog topics such as number formats (eg. 1'b0). There are even pages of tables showing boolean logic truth tables for basic logic primitives such as and, or, and xor.
The second chapter is a discussion of how FPGAs are implemented, and the effect that this has on synthesis. For example, clocking strategies are discussed, with some references to differences between FPGAs and ASICs. There is also a discussion of how a logic synthesizer might operate. A few other topics are thrown in, such as a discussion of DeMorgan's theorems. The chapter is too incomplete and poorly-written to be of much practical use. For example, although there is a description of how logic elements can be built out of transistors (including simplified schematics of one possible approach), there is no serious discussion of what implications this has. The book is about FPGA design, but the section on how logic functions are implemented in most FPGAs (as lookup tables) does not describe this in any detail.
The third and fourth chapters, regarding implementing specific digital circuits in FPGAs using Verilog, are potentially the most useful. The concept of the chapters is that they show how to write Verilog for useful functions in a way that can be synthesized well into FPGAs. If the chapters had been well organized and complete, the book would have been worth buying just for them. However, the chapters are as poorly-written as the rest of the book. Large sections are taken up with a discussion of writing adders and subtractors - showing that there is little point in doing so yourself instead of letting the synthesizer do it. However, the discussion of finite state machines - an important topic - covers state machines implemented using binary or Gray codes to represent states. The discussion of 'one-hot' state machines (frequently used in practice in FPGAs) is incomplete, describing only the problems, but failing to present an example that works (or any example at all). Similarly, the discussion of FIFOs (important to synchronize portions of large designs) is limited to a few notes about problems, without a single example. This is surprising, because the book emphasizes that the designer must solve clocking and synchronization problems across large designs, yet solutions to this problem (such as FIFOs) are not described.
The second half of the book, mainly chapters 5 through 8, describe how to use specific Verilog tools. The chapters are useless reiterations of documentation for obsolete versions of specific tools.
Chapter 9, the last chapter, is about designing for ASIC conversion. This could have been a useful chapter, because it covers an important topic.
All in all, I think this is a book to avoid.
On the positive side, this book seems to have fewer obvious editing errors than most other 'instant books'. Also, the typesetting is fairly normal, with reasonable sized text and reasonable margins. The organization and contents of the section headings is hard to understand, but that is a reflection of the disorganization of the book, rather than a problem with the design. The only significant problem I had with the graphic design of the book relates to the graphics, primarily schematics with some screen captures. The scaling is not uniform, so in a single explanation, the size of a schematic symbol and associated label might vary from graphic to graphic. However, this is a minor problem.
It scratched my itch...........2003-09-08
This book fit nicely in the gap I noticed between books on digital design with Verilog that were written from a structured academic standpoint and product specific user manuals and application notes. To learn effective FPGA design from books one would desire to have this book along with the other two; lacking "Real World FPGA Design" one would have to ask colleagues lots of questions and learn the rest the hard way.
I am using this book as I 'retool' as a FPGA Digital Design Engineer since full-custom design jobs here are drying up since few companies can afford the investment of time and money to bring custom devices to market. I wish there was a book like this for the classic chip design world that I could wave at the newbie system and digital designers that wanted me to add an 8 input NOR gate to the library that could drive a fanout of 50 loads 10 mm away.
Verilog is a many-faceted gem; I have been using it since the early 90's, albeit at the switch and structural level. This book is useful to me as I learn to design in Verilog at greater level of abstraction and it differs from other texts I have found in that it does not lose sight of the lower-level 'gotchas'.
The only thing that keeps me from giving this book my highest rating is that there are some errors that do need correcting; the URL listed in another review here remedies that problem.
Good writing style.......2002-11-06
I'm an analog design engineer with over 20 years of experience in industry. I want to add FPGA's to my bag of tricks, and I ran across Mr. Coffman's book via a search with Google. My book arrived a week ago and I am finding it to be just the kind of book I have been looking for. He has a good writing style, very easy to follow. I plan to invest many hours working through his examples with the included software. I have read other reviews of this book at this Amazon site. Some people are looking for an academic book on Verilog. Others are looking for a book that will teach them Verilog without spending the time programming and simulating (ie learning without doing homework). If you fall into either of these groups, this book is not for you. However, if you are an experienced engineer looking to learn about Verilog and VHDL through honest study and experimenting, then Mr. Coffman's book is an excellent choice to guide you through this process with a focus on the "real world". You also may find yourself chuckling at some of his commentary on the way
Excellent jump-start book for engineers!.......2002-10-28
Anyone who understands C/pascal is going to love Ken's book. It's the perfect reference to sit next to your keyboard for a quick hands-on reference!
Ken taught me in 1 minute how to create an array of cells in an FPGA simply via the TOC! In another minute I was implementing static-keys into a ROM'd lookup table.
It could not have been easier.
*Anyone trying to implement algorithms in Verilog should by this book*
Amazon.com
Gates, director of the Central Intelligence Agency from 1991 to 1993, began in an entry level position and rose to the top. His insider's account of the Cold War, CIA operations and the unraveling of the Soviet Union is sprinkled with revelations including the fact that 1983 was the most dangerous year in U.S.-U.S.S.R. relations and that both the CIA and KGB sponsored countless "black operations" designed to embarrass and discredit the other side. Gates also reveals that he secretly met with KGB foreign operations chief Vladimir Kryuchkov on two separate occasions and how the CIA often acted in contempt of Congress. While none of this may come as a huge surprise, it never fails to shock when it's laid out in black and white by someone who was on the inside.
Customer Reviews:
"From the Shadows" by Robert M. Gates.......2007-10-01
Absolutely fascinating! Mr. Gates is an excellent writer and is able to make complicated information easy to follow. And what an insight he gave to the Presidents he worked for; he didn't have an axe to grind with any of them, even though they represented both political parties.
This is a book I enjoyed so completely that I hated to reach the end of it. It will be on my personal "re-read" list. No wonder Mr. Gates was selected to become Secretary of Defense in our nation's hour of need.
Engages the eyes and mind.......2006-11-17
Rarely do you run across a historical book that is so chocked full of names, dates and acronyms that engages your mind as you push to reader faster. Gates delivers great insight wrapped in words that are illustrative of the push and pull of power players - within and between government bodies - domestic and global. If you are curious about the claims of one party or the other concerning the end of the Cold War, then this book will prove to be enlightening. All contributed to the demise, but perhaps none more than the Soviets themselves. Great read. Engaging. Insightful. Illuminating. Perhaps now more than ever before this a read that helps look at the challenges we, as a global community, face today. Buy it. Read it. Gain perspective.
View from the inside.......2006-10-01
The CIA is probably the one institution that the US President controls the most; or so this book argues. Robert M. Gates spent over two decades working at the CIA, and is one of the few career officials who came in near the bottom and rose all the way to the top. This book is his memoir, and recollection of how the CIA served 5 consecutive presidents in the Cold War. Starting with Richard Nixon, and ending with the first George Bush, Gates shows how each president used, and sometimes abused, the CIA to further their policies with regard to the USSR and communist parties around the world.
The major points one gets from this book are as follows. First, Carter was no wimp with regard to the USSR. Second, the most dangerous years of the Cold War did not end with Vietnam; they included some years in the 1980's. Third, the CIA consistently disregards the laws of the US. Fourth, the CIA often gets suckered into doing thing at the whim of the president that it later regrets. Last, the first George Bush was probably one of the best diplomats the US has seen in recent times. Over all, this was a very good book and I am glad I read it.
Intense Reading - great enjoyment.......2002-09-18
Excellent account of what really goes on from the inside of the govt. They say that truth is better than fiction. This is true in a big way in this book. You will recall many of the events in not too distant history. They come alive in this book and history makes more sense. Intense reading - be sure to underline the names to keep track of the huge cast of characters. A big Aggie thumb's up for this one!
Informative but dry.......2002-07-23
Gates had access to some of the most fascinating characters in the history of the Cold War. His observations are incisive and revealing about many of these personalities; however, his book often reads like one might imagine a CIA memo reads, rather dry. The book provides feedback on several important historical instances but it does not go into much depth on any. I do not recommend it as a book used to learn the history of that era. Instead I would read it to gain a further understanding of what went on behind the scenes.
In general, I find Gates to be an interesting character himself. He has some hilarious anecdotes about life in the CIA. Such as when he is walking up the steps of Air Force One and turns to flip off several of the top officials (I think it was) in Romania after they botch his passport. In addition to a often dry sense of humor he also seems to have a great deal of character and integrity.
Book Description
Gates to Buddhist Practice: Essential Teachings of a Tibetan Master grounds the reader in Buddhist principles, interweaving stories from the author's native Tibet. Since its original publication, Chagdud Tulku has continued to teach widely and has met thousands of sincere, enthusiastic, and sometimes skeptical students. The frank questions inspired by these teachings form the basis of the material added to this revised edition.
Customer Reviews:
This book, as always with Chagdud Tulku Rinpoche, inspires and moves me.......2007-09-08
When I realize that I missed the opportunity to meet this man by a just a smidge, it instantly makes me want to cry. I had been into Buddhism at the time he was still alive, but not too seriously. I collected books, you know, and half-read some, finished some and all the while wasn't sure exactly what I thought of it. If I could blame someone other than myself, I suppose I would blame the New Age market out there which seems to expand exponentially every year and seems to be giving the same generic advice to an ever-broadening audience of desperate hopefuls that any path can lead to enlightenment while all the while never sticking to one path. Rather, it's mixed into a bubbling pot of flavor-of-the-week to sip now and again, as desired. By contrast, any form of Buddhism, including the watered-down westernized "psychology-only" flavor seems too tough and too complicated or too boring, too austere.
But this book is different! This author is different!
Chagdud Tulku Rinpoche's many available books, practice text, cassettes and cds are unfailing evidence that this man was a great teacher. This book is no exception. He has an extraordinary ability to make the notoriously complex Tibetan Buddhism very simple and easy for westerners to practice. This book might be the pinnacle of those powers. So clear, so precise, so simple. All you have to do is follow his advice.
But, this is where most people have difficulty. Many other books make the practice seem simple enough on the outset, but the actual practice of doing this stuff hangs over your head because, while it might be simple enough, and make enough sense, there is no real desire to actually do the practice as others teach it. This is not true with "Gates To Buddhist Practice" (or ANY of Chagdud Tulku Rinpoche's books). This book immediately inspires you to practice. Just reading a few paragraphs makes you want to put it down and do a few prostrations, some visualization, some mantra, some generosity... SOMETHING! ANYTHING! This is because Chagdud doesn't just make it easy to understand, he teaches with compassion and lots of it. Compassion is the understanding of our suffering condition from the perspective of one who knows better. That compassion comes through loud and clear, so not only are you emotionally moved by his generosity and effort in these brilliantly crafted lessons, you get a sense of the understanding from an enlightened perspective. For example, if you see someone suffering and you don't know what to do about it, you will feel sad for sure; but, if you see someone suffering and you know exactly WHY they are suffering and WHAT to do about it, this awakens a different emotion in you similar to a maternal instinct. This is the compassion that Chagdud communicates. Once it is communicated, it changes your outlook completely and inspires you to action.
In fact, this quality has been carried on in Chagdud's students, which again shows what a great teacher he really was to produce so many more fine teachers. Go to any Chagdud Gonpa center and you will be moved. Go check out some of Lama Tsering Everest's podcasts available online and you will be moved in that same way.
This man knew the essence of the dharma and he knew how to teach it.
If you don't know where to begin with Tibetan Buddhism, this is the book for you. As Chagdud says on page 53, people are in a hurry to move beyond "kindergarten dharma" but the essence of the dharma is very simple! Because it is simple, it is often overlooked. People mistakenly think, "oh yeah, I get that, but there must be more..." while never "getting it" at all. You can't just read about the Four Thoughts, the Four Immeasurables, Bodhicitta, et cetera without actually transforming yourself by practice and think "oh yeah, I get that." It's not an intellectual abstraction to "get" in a relatively superficial sense. The essence is completely transformative to the mind and must be cultivated thoroughly within oneself in order for the essence to be "got."
Ignoring the simple essence in favor of superior teachings of the Highest Yoga Tantra, for example, will get you nowhere fast because you must realize when advancing to the superior teachings that the superior teachings are only superior if you realize they contain all the inferior teachings as well. One does not go beyond the essence of the dharma no matter how superior the teachings become. The danger of the more advanced teachings for westerners is that we are already highly intellectual and this is tied into our cynical nature. We love to dissect and evaluate things almost as a form of entertainment which, like all entertainment, achieves nothing but distraction. The higher teachings are incredibly abstract and difficult. They can entertain the intellect for years without accomplishing a thing. This is the reason they are traditionally saved for LAST in Tibetan culture. With the chinese occupation of Tibet, however, the dharma has been spread out around the rest of the world maybe a bit unevenly. Even a lowly practioner such as myself was able to receive transmission for the Great Perfection practices. I'm not complaining because it has been very helpful to me. In fact, it clarified what the Lesser Vehicles were trying to teach me.
And, for this reason, reading Chagdud Tulku again with a fresh eye makes me realize what an astounding teacher he really was. He combined the highest teachings right in with the simplest essence of the dharma. He had the View of Dzogchen and he integrated it with Vajrayana practice. If only one reads his advice and practices, that person will go far with Chagdud's instruction!
If this book inspires you as I know it will, my advice for the "next step" would be to seek out the practice texts and explanatory books and lectures on Red Tara Practice and Dudjom Tersar Ngondro from Chagdud Gonpa's online website, TibetanTreasures-dot-com. These tantric practices have been concisely perfected and translated into English by Chagdud Tulku himself for western students and are perfect for these fast-paced times.
A sobering, thoughtful, inspiring presentation.......2001-11-13
Now available in a newly revised edition, Chagdud Tulku's Gates To Buddhist Practice: Essential Teachings Of A Tibetan Master offers the reader a firm grounding in Buddhist principles, illustrated with many anecdotes from the Tulku's native home of Tibet. Tulku is a meditation master, artist, and healer who has continued to travel and teach in both the East and the West; the questions he encountered while teaching form the basis to the revisions of this new edition. Gates to Buddhist Practice is a sobering, thoughtful, inspiring presentation that covers numerous aspects of Buddhism in depth, from karma and Bodhicitta to preparing oneself for death. Strongly recommended for Buddhist Studies reading lists and reference collections.
A great read for both newcomers to Buddhism and scholars.......2001-11-13
Those who love reading books by the Dalai Lama and Sogyal Rinpoche will enjoy the clear, insightful writing of Chagdud Tulku Rinpoche. Newcomers will love the simple prose and delightful stories from old Tibet and modern America. Those who have read much of the American literature, will appreciate the simple, subtle references to the many dimensions of Tibetan Buddhism. This book is a favorite which I read and re-read, always finding more sustenance.
Those who are interested in bringing a non-violent and humanistic approach to world problems, will love Chagdud Tulku's willingness to bring the benefits of the Tibetan Buddhist approach to daily life at home and in the world. I work with law students and lawyers who are trying to bring a non-violent approach to a profession weary of aggression and the old ways. And, I assign "Gates of Buddhist Practice" to law students of all faiths. It is fascinating to watch how Chagdud Tulku talks about Tibetan Buddhist tools for cultivating compassion, skillfulness and wisdom. While he uses some Buddhist terminology, his tone is open and inclusive. It serves as a "gateway", itself, into ecumenical dialogue. In these times in which so many conflicts find their roots in misunderstandings among religious perspectives, this skillful and wise approach is sorely needed.
I can't imagine a better book to give to a friend or to buy for yourself. (Put this book under the tree for yourself!) I hope that you will find much joy, solace and understanding in this book, as I have..........And, I hope that you, too, will hear the greatest gift of this book, which is between the words on each page..the love of a great spiritual master.
In this so-called introduction into Tibetan Buddhism, we learn from a great wisdom tradition about the contours of human consciousness and we come away lighter and refreshed.
Clear, Helpful, User-Friendly Guide to Tibetan Buddhism.......2001-11-08
I love this book. In it Chagdud Tulku Rinpoche offers the most clear, complete and concise overview of Tibetan Buddhism that I have read. The teachings can be appreciated, and clearly understood on many levels, from a person who is completely new to Buddhism to an experienced practitioner. I have often recommended the first edition of this book to friends who are curious and looking for an introduction to Tibetan Buddhism, and they have found it very helpful. This new edition has been expanded to include more questions from students, many of which are very in-depth and result in detailed answers that make the reader feel as if they were sitting in front of Rinpoche while he teaches.
The book also includes many of Chagdud Tulku Rinpoche's wonderful stories and Tibetan folk tales that serve to illuminate the teachings in a very down to earth manner. This book is like a polestar, such a comfort to come back to again and again for inspiration and guidance, showing us the way to tame and train our minds. I would recommend this book very highly.
Book offers clarity, insight into coping with difficult time.......2001-11-07
As this book makes clear, at its heart Buddhist teaching offers an approach to living that emphasizes compassion, simplicity, and peace. Understanding this core is essential to spiritual progress, but it's rare to find a text that so elegantly addresses the cultural issues that may impede this process. "Gates to Buddhist Practice" is such a book. I found the frank discussions of all kinds of issues refreshingly straightforward and clear. Chagdud Rinpoche is obviously a teacher of profound insight and consummate skill, and I'd recommend "Gates" to anyone interested in gaining fuller understanding of a Buddhist approach to critical issues of life, death, and spirituality. At a time when a lot of us are feeling unmoored and stressed out, it's a blessing to have difficult questions answered in a way that is insightful and provocative without being pat or simplistic. I highly recommend this book.
Book Description
A moral manifesto that forces us to reconsider a world divided between the West and the Rest, Us and Them.
We have grown accustomed in this anxious, post-9/11 era to constructing a world fissured by warring creeds and cultures. Much of humanity now seems separated by chasms of incomprehension. Kwame Anthony Appiah's landmark new work challenges the separatist doctrines espoused in books such as Samuel P. Huntington's The Clash of Civilizations. Reviving the ancient philosophy of "Cosmopolitanism," a school of thought that dates to the Cynics of the fourth century bce, Appiah traces its influence on the ethical legacies of the Enlightenment, the French Revolution, Kant's dream of a "league of nations," and the UN's Universal Declaration of Human Rights. In doing so, Appiah shows how Western intellectuals and leaders, on both the left and the right, have wildly exaggerated the power of difference—and neglected the power of one. One world. One species. Challenging years of received wisdom, Cosmopolitanism is a resounding work of philosophy and global culture.
About the series: Issues of Our Time: "Aware of the competition for the attention of readers, W. W. Norton & Company and I have created the "Issues of Our Time" as a lucid series of highly readable books through which some of today's most thoughtful intellectuals seek to challenge the general reader to reexamine received truths and grapple with powerful trends that are shaping the world in which we live. The series launches with Anthony Appiah, Alan Dershowitz, and Nobel Laureate Amartya Sen as the first of an illustrious group who will tackle some of the most plangent and central issues defining our society today through books that deal with such issues as sexual and racial identities, the economics of the developing world, and the concept of citizenship in a truly globalized twenty-first-century world culture. Above all else, these books are designed to be read and enjoyed."—Henry Louis Gates Jr., W. E. B. DuBois Professor of the Humanities, Harvard University
Customer Reviews:
Essays by Appiah.......2007-06-27
This book is a collection of essays around a common theme; each is extremely well written, reflective and accessible to the non-specialist.
Anthony Appiah is surely one of our most important thinkers about ethical issues that arise in common life. He brings unusual color and verve to
his subjects, reflecting a childhood in Ghana and an adult life spent as a true citizen of the world in one of the world's great universities.
An importance exploration of what it means to be a responsible part of today's world.......2007-02-10
There are few individuals more qualified to write a book on the idea of cosmopolitanism than Kwame Anthony Appiah. Biracial, raised in both Ghana and England, multicultural, multilingual, educated at Cambridge but teaching at Princeton, Appiah has an inside familiarity with larger world that few can rival. It is tremendously encouraging to me, a WASP who has been unable to engage in any real travel, that we both seem to share precisely the same ideals. My experience of the world counts for little; his a great deal. Yet it shows that people with extremely different backgrounds can embrace the same ideals.
Appiah is a philosopher, but though he has clearly been raised in the Anglo-American linguistic philosophical tradition, he has not found himself restricted by it. From the various philosophers he quotes, I'm sure that he and had had similar philosophical training. I envy the way that he can make what I learned as logical positivism (Appiah lops off the "logical") and make it relevant in a discussion of wider cultural issues. Though he obviously was trained in the tradition honed by Russell, Carnap, Frege, Ryle, Austin, Anscombe, Dummett, and the large contingent of American and British logicians and philosophers of language, none of them have informed his literary style. In fact, the two writers Appiah reminds me of most are Herodotus and Montaigne. Like them, he feels a license to bring into his discussion almost anything. If he is cosmopolitan on a moral and social level, he is also as a multidisciplinarian. Nor does he hesitate at mixing cultures. Many of the most compelling passages in the book detail incidents from his experience in Ghana.
The point of the book is to discuss many of the problems that arise if one attempts to embrace--as Appiah clearly feels we all should--cosmopolitan ideals. He deals interestingly with a host of issues, from the idea of who owns the products of a culture to the incommensurability of values from one culture to another (or their possible commensurability) to whether it is problematic when there are conflicts on fundamental issues. As a person he seems to have been deeply molded by all of the cultural influences in which he grew up, but as a philosopher he is exceptionally British. Over the decades there have been a number of British thinkers who have been able to cut through a thick wad of nonsense and discuss issues in a balanced, commonsensical manner. Gilbert Ryle had this capacity, as did (sometimes) G. E. Moore, and so also Mary Midgley. While his views are unquestionably progressive, Appiah always seems to avoid extremes to arrive at conclusions that are, above all else, balanced and reasonable. He is a master at making sense. So when philosopher Peter Unger argues that we all have a moral obligation to give every penny that we do not need for our own sustenance to organizations like UNICEF and OXFAM so that food and medicine can be purchased for the desperately poor in the Third World. Appiah, on the other hand, believes that a world in which no one bought a ticket to the opera would be flat and uninteresting. Besides, what really matters is reforming local governments in order to provide long-term transformation of the socioeconomic structures in the areas most afflicted by poverty, something that giving exclusively to UNICEF and OXFAM will not accomplish (though for the record, Appiah thinks both organizations are very important and he does not discourage contributing to them). Though he does not state it as a principle, he constantly employs something akin to Aristotle's golden mean.
I especially enjoyed his chapter on The Counter-Cosmopolitans. He places many of today's Islamic extremists in this category, though he also very correctly places many Christian fundamentalists here as well. I have long fantasized about writing a book about contemporary proponents of Counter-Enlightenment ideas (a book I will never write because I haven't mastered the range of disciplines such a project would require). Isaiah Berlin wrote frequently about various Counter-Enlightenment thinkers such as Hamaan, but I believe it can be extended into the present for such mass movements as various religious fundamentalisms (Christian, Islamic, as well as Jewish), the New Age movement, contemporary astrology, right wing political movements, and free market capitalism. Obviously I can't make my claim here, but I found Appiah's discussion of the counter-cosmopolitans to overlap entirely with counter-enlightenment ideals.
I value this book not only for its ideals and the intelligent discussion of a host of thorny issues, but for Appiah's warm humanity and wonderful literary style. It is not merely an intelligent book but a well-written one as well.
Becoming Cosmopolitan.......2007-02-05
One of the most pernicious ideas has spung from the myth that we are necessarily separated and segregated into groups that are defined by criteria like gender, language, race, religion or some other kind of boundary. And it is easy to see that these boundaries are a major cause of conflict.
The author of this enthralling book - Kwame Anthony Appiah - challenges this kind of separative thinking by resurrecting the ancient philosophy of "cosmopolitanism." This school of thought that dates back almost 2500 years to the Cynics of Ancient Greece. They first articulated the cosmopolitan ideal that all human beings were citizens of the world. Later on, these ideas were elaborated by another group of philosophers: the Stoics.
According to Appiah, the influence of cosmopolitanism has stretched down the ages and through to the Enlightenment. He takes Immanuel Kant's notion of a League of Nations and the Declaration of the Rights of Man to be two manifestations of this ancient idea.
Appiah sees cosmopolitanism as a dynamic concept based on two fundamental ideas. First is the idea that we have responsibilities to others that are beyond those based on kinship or citizenship. Second is something often forgotten: just because other people have different customs and beliefs from ours, they will likely still have meaning and value. We may not agree with someone else, but mutual understanding should be a first goal.
The book is full of personal experiences. I doubt that anyone else could have written it: His mother was an English author and daughter of the statesman Sir Stafford Cripps, and his father a Ghanaian barrister and politician, who reminded his children to remember that they were "citizens of the world."
Appiah was educated in Ghana and England and has taught in both countries. He now holds a chair of Philosophy at Princeton. He is no starry eyed idealist, and he knows that differences between groups and nations cannot be wished away or ignored. But he contends, rightly, I think, that differences can be accepted without being allowed to become barriers.
As he says, "Cosmopolitans suppose that all cultures have enough overlap in their vocabulary of values to begin a conversation. But they don't suppose, like some Universalists, that we could all come to agreement if only we had the same vocabulary." The reason is simply this: most of us arrive at our values not on the basis of careful reasoning, but by lifelong conditioning and subjective beliefs and attitudes.
In parts of Europe, there have recently been misgivings about the growing diversity and multiculturalism of countries like the United Kingdom, with people asking whether it is doing no more than fracturing society. Appiah tackles this question head on. He has this to say, "If we want to preserve a wide range of human conditions because it allows free people the best chance to make their own lives, there is no place for the enforcement of diversity by trapping people within a kind of difference that they long to escape. There simply is no decent way to sustain those communities of difference that will not survive without the free allegiance of their members."
Cosmopolitanism, balances our "obligations to others" with the "value not just of human life but of particular human lives," what Appiah calls "universality plus difference." He remains skeptical about simple maxims for ethical behavior such as the Golden Rule. He swiftly demonstrates its failings as a moral precept. He argues that cosmopolitanism is the name not "of the solution but of the challenge."
This is an important book that will inevitably be controversial. In a world that is becoming more interconnected and shrinking by the day, and where the "clash of cultures" threatens our existence, Appiah has many new perspectives as he articulates a precise yet flexible ethical manifesto. He does not claim to have all the answers, but this book should be of interest to all of us as we try to make sense of the turmoil, challenges and opportunities of our globalizing world.
Current and relevant.......2007-01-05
Very insightful. Draws on past scholarship to apply to our world today.
Brilliant.......2006-08-31
Excellent, Brilliant and full of wisdom. This is from a philosopher who has the ability to see things from more perspectives than black and white. His book is concise and not too academic. He makes philosophy trendy. He is a new generation of thinkers that will reshape our thoughts. He tackles sensitive issues with respect for all parties. One cannot tell his sentiments due to his fairness and objectivity. The first book I will read a second time.
Book Description
The political influence of temples in premodern Japan, most clearly manifested in divine demonstrations--where rowdy monks and shrine servants brought holy symbols to the capital to exert pressure on courtiers--has traditionally been condemned and is poorly understood. In an impressive examination of this intriguing aspect of medieval Japan, the author employs a wide range of previously neglected sources to argue that religious protest was a symptom of political factionalism in the capital rather than its cause. It is his contention that religious violence can be traced primarily to attempts by secular leaders to rearrange religious and political hierarchies to their own advantage, thereby leaving disfavored religious institutions to fend for their accustomed rights and status. In this context, divine demonstrations became the preferred negotiating tool for monastic complexes. For almost three centuries, such strategies allowed a handful of elite temples to maintain enough of an equilibrium to sustain and defend the old style of rulership even against the efforts of the Ashikaga Shogunate in the mid-fourteenth century. By acknowledging temples and monks as legitimate co-rulers, The Gates of Power provides a new synthesis of Japanese rulership from the late Heian (794-1185) to the early Muromachi (1336-1573) eras, offering a unique and comprehensive analysis that brings together the spheres of art, religion, ideas, and politics in medieval Japan.
Customer Reviews:
A serious book for a serious scholar.......2002-04-02
If you are a serious scholar in Japanese history or a student on Oriental studies, I would probably recommend to put this book on your "must" list. Far from being a leisurely evening read, this book sheds light into depths of Japanese medieval concept of state governance and interplay between the Emperor's court, powerful courtiers, prime religious institutions and warrior governments of Minamoto (and Hojo regents) and Ashikaga.
Starting with Prince Shotoku's introduction of Buddhism as the state religion in Japan and blending of Buddhist practices with native Japanese beliefs, religious institutions, temples and shrines started competing among themselves for patronage and, obviously coming with it, donations. The author considers three main sects of Shingon, Tendai and Hosso and their relationships with the court, involvement into court politics and tracks down their development through the times of eighths to early fourteenth century. In light of the politics and main economic concerns of the era, it becomes much clearer, for example, why the capital was moved from Nara to Kioto, or why the warrior government of Ashikaga lobbied the development of the Zen sect of Buddhism and it is much easier to understand a lot of other questions.
Kofukuji, the centre of Hosso sect and the family temple of a powerful Heian family of Fujiwara grew into the shugo (the governor) of Yamato province and accumulated so much influence that it employed excommunication of Fujiwara clan chieftains (its hereditary patrons!) in its arsenal of measures exercising the pressure on the court to defend its economic interests. Enryakuji, the Tendai centre and the main provider of ceremonies for the imperial court, expelled head abbots appointed by the Emperor and marched into the capital with sacred symbols showing thereby the anger of gods caused by incursion of warriors into the Temple's estates. Lovers of samurai history such as myself can see what overwhelming reasons Oda Nobunaga had to destroy this immense complex in his swift operation viewed as an example of cruelty of the Sengoku era.
The work is full of names, facts and dates and occasionally I personally found myself swamped by the wealth of information. However, the author does a good job at overthrowing some well established myths in official history relating to the role of Buddhism by putting under a microscope the practice of "divine demonstration" (or "forceful protests", or "goso" in the original language) and describing the economic and social environment and bases for the all-powerful temple-shrine complexes serving as gates of power, or kenmon.
Book Description
In The Gateless Gate, one of modern Zen Buddhism's uniquely influential masters offers classic commentaries on the Mumonkan, one of Zen's greatest collections of teaching stories. This translation was compiled with the Western reader in mind, and includes Koan Yamada's clear and penetrating comments on each case. Yamada played a seminal role in bringing Zen Buddhism to the West from Japan, going on to be the head of the Sanbo Kyodan Zen Community. The Gateless Gate would be invaluable if only for the translation and commentary alone, yet it's loaded with extra material and is a fantastic resource to keep close by:
This book includes an in-depth introduction to the History of Zen Practice, lineage charts, Japanese-to-Chinese and Chinese-to-Japanese conversion charts for personal names, place names, and names of writings, plus, front- and back-matter from ancient and modern figures: Mumon, Shuan, Kubota Ji'un, Taizan Maezumi, Hugo Enomiya-Lasalle, and Yamada Roshi's son, Masamichi Yamada. The Gateless Gate is a wonderful inspiration for the Zen practitioner, and for those with a general interest in Zen Buddhism.
Book Description
The story of Simon Tregarth, who fled the Earth through an inter-dimensional gate and ended up in a world where magic worked and the forces of evil threatened the benevolent witches who lived there, was the start of what was to become Andre Norton's most popular, and longest-running series. The first three novels, Witch World, Web of the Witch World, and Year of the Unicorn, are offered for the first time, in a handsome trade paperback edition, with an introduction by C. J. Cherryh.
Customer Reviews:
Your entry into one of Fantasy's greatest worlds.......2005-07-17
"The Gates to Witch World" combines the first three published Witch World novels of Andre Norton. The first two concern the adventures of Simon Tregarth, and the third, "Year of the Unicorn" is a stand-alone fantasy set in the Dales of High Hallack.
As the first fantasy, "Witch World" (1963) begins, Simon Tregarth, who worked his way up to Lieutenant-Colonel on the battlefields of World War II, is a hunted man, unjustly cashiered from the U.S. Army for dealing in the post-war blackmarket. Since Simon had been labeled as a crook, he figured he might as well play the game.
After seven years in the underworld, surrounded by his enemies and a gunshot away from death, Simon treats himself to a decent last meal (Andre Norton heroes and heroines NEVER whine. They assess the odds, then keep on slogging). Enter the mysterious Doctor Petronius who persuades Simon that he has nothing to lose by vanishing from his enemies' gunsights through the Siege Perilous, a Cornish megalith that is rumored to be a gate to other worlds. Simon leaves the restaurant with Petronius, almost positive that he is walking into a trap. Instead of the bullet he is expecting, our hero is transported to the foggy moors of a new world.
The action doesn't let up. The first thing Simon does is rescue a witch from a nasty bunch of snake-headed dogs and hunters (we don't learn the witch's name until the very end of the book). The next thing he knows, he's embroiled in a war where the good guys appear to be losing.
Simon allies himself with "a tall, proud-walking race with...the carriage of rulers and an odd weight of years upon them." His new home, medieval Estcarp is a matriarchate, ruled by witches, whose powers depend on their continuing virginity.
Nevertheless, Simon falls in love with the witch he rescued.
The enemies that he and Estcarp must confront have invaded Witch World via a gate similar to the Siege Perilous. The alien Kolder are technically advanced, with submarines and mind-control devices that they use to command their zombie soldiers.
Estcarp's only allies are the Sulcarmen, seafaring warriors and traders who lose their main port of Gorm to the Kolder. Simon, his friend Koris of Gorm, the witch he rescued from the Hounds of Alizon, and a youthful soldier called 'Briant' tread the mysterious byways of Estcarp and its warring neighbors, in an attempt to track down and destroy the technically superior aliens.
"Web of the Witch World" (WWW - 1964) is the sequel to "Witch World" (WW- 1963) and continues the story of Simon Tregarth and the witch, Jaelithe. Thematically, both WW and WWW will seem very familiar to fans of the late, great Andre Norton: a conflict between technically advanced, but soulless aliens, and courageous, sword-wielding men and women, who are attempting to make one last stand against the Powers of Evil.
Simon Tregarth and his witch-wife, Jaelithe once again find themselves in combat with the alien Kolder, who invaded Witch World through a gateway from their own dying planet. The Kolder were temporarily stymied in WW, but Simon and his fellow warriors know that they must somehow close the gate between worlds before there will truly be an end to the alien evil.
Witch-ruled Estcarp must do battle with her own neighbors as well as the aliens. Yvian of Karsten declares open war against the witches, and they in turn believe that he has somehow been tainted by the Kolder. The Hounds of Alizon, seething with hatred against all things magical must also be tamed.
The third fantasy, "Year of the Unicorn" (1965) is a grand adventure, a love story, a coming-of-age novel set like a jewel amidst the fantastical Dark and Light of Norton's Witch World. `Unicorn' veers away from the `mainstream' Witch World adventures of the Tregarth family, but it is perfect in its own setting: the Wastes and Dales of High Hallack.
Each setting, each character is illuminated with clear description and color, like scenes from a medieval Book of Hours. Even though I first read this book in 1965, I can still close my eyes and see Gillan and the ancient Dame Alousan gathering herbs in the high-walled garden of Norstead Abbey. I can see the twelve and one high-born maids riding forth from the Abbey - the twelve and one maids who were promised as brides to the Were-riders of the Waste.
The heroine, Gillan realizes that she is not meant for the quiet life of her vowed companions. She possesses a magic that is forbidden to the goodly Dames, and a restless curiosity that is stifled behind the stone walls of the Abbey. And so she rides forth, disguised as the bride who had threatened to kill herself rather than marry a Were-rider. In order to survive, Gillan must rely on her unschooled magic to separate illusion from reality, and true love from the snarling masks of the Were Pack.
Lifetime Grand Master of Fantasy, Andre Norton built well. There are 35 Witch World (WW) fantasies, and the count is probably still rising even though this author passed away on March 17, 2005. Many of the later WW novels were collaborations, and it wouldn't surprise me if her co-authors attempt to live on in the world that the Grand Master created. I wish them well, but so far they have not managed to penetrate the brilliantly weird landscapes of Andre Norton's imagination.
A Great Read.......2003-10-19
If you like fantasy and are not acquainted with the works of Andre Norton, then this is an excellent starting point. Believable, heroic characters and a well thought-out "Witch World" combine to make for an enjoyable read. Simon Tregarth is transported through a mysterious gate into a world populated by people and other things not people. A struggle goes on between good and evil, and it's not clear who is winning. (But, we know who wins in the end - "good", of course.) The style of writing - more of a story that unfolds as it is read - is one strength that characterizes her writings. That, and the fascinating settings, imaginative perils faced, and strong likable characters make this a "must read". This is a refreshing hard-to-put-down story. It does not suffer from the typical overinflated, overwordy, overcomplicated, and overcharacterized (and lifeless) features of the usual fantasy megathon offered today.
Yeah, The Cover May Intrigue You..........2003-07-04
Now when I spotted this book, I thought it would actually be worth reading. Yeah, right. I hate Simon. I hate him with a passion. He was a lackluster character made by a ghetto character designer trying to sell the character for a rock. I did like 'Albino Chick' as I affectionately dubbed her who was a really good character unlike some people. Mainly because she acted like a real person. This author doesn't write in an interesting fashion and it's really really sad when you skip through all the parts just to find parts with 'Albino Chick.' The plot idea was okay but you'll probably fall asleep before you finish reading it.
Andre Norton Does Indeed Write "The Good Stuff".......2003-02-18
The first Witch World novel was published in 1963 so this book almost marks the 40th anniversary.
In her Introduction, C. J. Cherryh refers to Norton's Witch World novels as "the good stuff". She is right. I am so pleased to have this omnibus collection of the three seminal Witch World novels although it can never replace my tattered old Ace paperbacks with the Jack Gaughin covers. It even felt a little odd to be reading clear text (minus some of the typos that Ace was notorious for) on a white page instead of the yellowing pages of the acidic paper of these old books.
However, I found myself just as caught up in the story of Simon Tregarth, the tarnished war hero who stepped through a gate ahead of an assassin into the world of Jaelithe, the Witch of Escarp, as I have ever been. The story of these two who fight, along with Koris of Gorm and Loyse of Verlaine, to try to preserve the ancient world of Escarp from the advance of the Kolder, is played out against a vivid background of cultures such as the Falconers, who value their hawks far more than their women; the Sulcar, valient seagoers; and last but not least the matriachal Witches who rule the land of Escarp through the power of the jewels and their minds.
The third book is Year of the Unicorn. It is set in High Hallack, a land of dales and small holdings. High Hallack has been torn by war with Alizon from overseas. This story is set after the war has been won when the Dalesmen are faced with meeting a bargain they made during their most desperate hours with a people they feared, the Were riders.
The premise is the barter of 13 brides for the services of the Were Riders against the hounds of Alizon. The heoine is Gillian, who also came from overseas on an Alizon ship as a child, but not of Alizon. The hero is Herrel who does not fit into the mould of his kinsmen and thus has suffered all his life as an outsider in a very close knit group.
Published in the 60's these books have not aged a bit and are as fresh as the first time I picked them up.
three of the best science fiction novels of the 20th century.......2001-12-06
"Witch World". Of Cornish descent, court-martialed former US Army Colonel Simon Tregarth seems on a path to certain death due to his recent activities when he meets Dr. Petronius. The odd doctor introduces the desperate American to the world of his Cornish ancestors, which enable Simon to escape his earthly fate through the gate to Witch World. However, Simon quickly lands in a war against the powerful Kolder, who makes the Nazis look like pre-school children.
"Web of the Witch World". The Kolder continues to menace Simon and the witches he has vowed to keep safe, but the coven he wants to protect seems reluctant to accept him. To save his brave new world, Simon and a witch must journey to their enemy's stronghold and accomplish the impossible by defeating the Kolder in their home turf.
"Year of the Unicorn". In far removed from the war Norsdale, a bored Gillan obtains what she always desired, but soon learns that wishes that come true might not be what one really wants in life. Now she is embroiled in an adventure of a lifetime that probably means certain death for her unless she can enable the power within her to come alive.
THE GATES TO WITCH WORLD is a compilation of three of the best science fiction novels of the twentieth century. These books deservedly made Andre Norton a household name in the early sixties and yet the tales retain the freshness that enthralled readers then and will fascinate a new audience with its exciting plots and engaging characters.
Harriet Klausner
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- Scratch a free-marketeer and you’ll find a socialist
- Another Piece of Pro-Microsoft Propaganda
- Make sense of Microsoft's Internet offerings
- Overall good, changed my perception of Microsoft
- Inside the Greatest Company of the New Economy
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How the Web Was Won: The Inside Story of How Bill Gates and His Band of Internet Idealists Trans- Formed a Software Empire
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Hard Drive: Bill Gates and the Making of the Microsoft Empire
ASIN: 0767900480
Release Date: 1999-06-15 |
Amazon.com
In a brilliant--and, at times, overwhelming--display of research and perspicacity, Paul Andrews chronicles Microsoft's internal and public battles to adapt to Internet technology and fight the browser wars. He starts in 1991: the Internet is barely a blip on the company radar. Meanwhile, 22-year-old new hire J Allard is asked by Microsoft's No. 2 man, Steve Ballmer, to "make the pain go away" with TCP/IP, the standard Internet protocol. It's just Allard's second day on the job, and he realizes that the software giant doesn't get it: interoperability between networks and the Internet is key to Microsoft's future. He begins a grassroots effort to raise Internet consciousness, eventually distributing a widely read 17-page memo titled "Windows: The Next Killer Application on the Internet." Higher up, Bill Gates's technical assistant, Steven Sinofsky, gets snowed in at technically progressive Cornell University. He's stunned to witness a student body that's already devoted to a fledgling Internet, and writes home: "Cornell is WIRED." After intense internal debate (and more than a few late nights), Gates stops the engines and changes course to pursue integration of Windows and an Internet browser called Explorer.
Andrews--a personal-technology columnist for the neighboring Seattle Times--has actually layered several books into one. In the first, he writes scores of fascinating profiles on the Internet idealists, architects, and managers who devoted "Microsoft Hours" to redirect the company's focus. In the second, he reports on external battles against foes such as Netscape and Sun Microsystems. In addition, he explores the hundreds of technological developments (occasionally to the point of distraction) that flourished during this high-tech revolution. And, finally, he comments throughout on what led the Department of Justice to file the largest antitrust action since the breakup of AT&T. Andrews's coverage of this last issue is slanted heavily in Microsoft's favor, but is thorough enough to deflect most accusations of bias. Although the Web is far from won, Microsoft's ability to turn its ship around is certainly a victory. --Rob McDonald
Book Description
The inside story of how a small band of agitators at Microsoft staged the stunning turnaround that transformed the company from an Internet laggard into such a dominant force that it was accused of monopolizing the industry.
1993. Microsoft's Windows software ruled the desktops of America. Nine out of ten personal computers ran the operating system, and most applications--from word processors to spreadsheets--couldn't function without it. When Bill Gates peered into Microsoft's crystal ball, he saw a world of Windows.
Then the Internet burst on the scene, and suddenly Gates's Windows-oriented future didn't look so bright. The Internet ran on UNIX, not Windows. The World Wide Web, not Windows, linked information in a global electronic library. A new software program called Mosaic, not Windows, made finding and reading Web documents as easy as skimming a magazine. Moreover, companies with little stake in Windows--Netscape, America Online, Sun Microsystems--were laying first claim to the Internet frontier.
The Internet was the future of computing--and the world's largest software company wasn't ready for it. Yet four years later, Microsoft's Internet metamorphosis was so complete that the Department of Justice slapped the company with the broadest antitrust action since the breakup of AT&T. In
How the Web Was Won, veteran Seattle Times journalist Paul Andrews chronicles, for the first time, the most remarkable business turnaround of the 1990s: the story of Microsoft's turbulent journey from Windows to the Web--and of the handful of Internet believers who led the charge.
Taking the reader into the mind of Microsoft, Andrews reveals how the company struggled first to comprehend and then capitalize on the Net. How twenty-two-year-old Internet hound J Allard was shocked to learn that nobody at Microsoft seemed to know anything about networking computers when he arrived in late 1991. How Steve Ballmer, Gates's Harvard buddy and second in command at Microsoft, lit the Internet fuse with a head-scratching e-mail in December 1993. How Gates's technical assistant, Steven Sinofsky, discovered in early 1994 that Cornell University, his alma mater, was more "wired" than the world's most successful software company. And how by mid-1995, awash in the rising tide of Netscape, America Online, Java, and the Web, Bill Gates assigned the Internet the highest level of importance, launching an effort that, in a matter of months, would provoke the Justice Department, competitors, and industry analysts to warn that Microsoft could someday rule the Internet.
Based on three years of reporting and more than 100 interviews with the prime movers driving Microsoft's Internet strategy and deployment,
How the Web Was Won captures the explosive drama and high-stakes gamesmanship of Microsoft's epic struggle for Internet supremacy. The result is an illuminating portrait of a software empire under siege and an intimate look at the fiery competitiveness that kindled its dramatic reversal of fortune.
Customer Reviews:
Scratch a free-marketeer and you’ll find a socialist.......2001-07-07
I am writing this after the appeals court has done the smart thing and voided the breakup remedy and exposed Judge Jackson for the little punk he is (His bias was obvious during the trial, despite MS's missteps. Congress should impeach him pronto). So I have perspective many of the other reviewers don't.
All I can say is: Ah-hah. Ah-hah. The appeals court may have found that MS maintained its monopoly illegally, largely because it didn't provide sufficient evidence that it needed those contracts with PC makers to protect the proprietary elements of Windows. And they may be right (although I think the general rapacity of the software industry is enough). But it agreed with nothing else, and I think the author of this book has been more than vindicated against his critics.
Yes, he had access to top MS officials, and probably shares their views of things. But you don't need that to agree that Netscape did everything all wrong ... they walked out of the HTML 3 standards conference, made their browser as incompatible with IE as they could just because they were so afraid. Their entire business plan could be summed up as "Bill Gates must be incredibly dumb and tone-deaf, so we'll make all the noise we want about how we can make them irrelevant and they won't notice until it's too late. Oh, and if this somehow doesn't work, let's get the Justice Department to sue them."
Well, it tells you a lot about this strategy (as if you couldn't guess) that Netscape today is just another cog in the AOL Time Warner media machine. The author is particularly good at noting what has not been much noticed elsewhere ... how Netscape, especially in the infamous 1995 meeting, seemed to be working hand-in-glove with Justice to create the appearance of improper competition on Microsoft's part (Funny how, when Larry Ellison (and Bill Gates' biggest service to America is keeping that guy from taking his place, believe me) pays people to sniff through DC trash to find connections between MS and DC lobbying groups, the news is more about the latter aspect of the story than the former).
But the larger issue that this book doesn't get into is how the New Economy guys, all devout members of the Church of the Invisible Hand, were done in by their own economic beliefs working too well.
That basically went that MS would become, and remain, hidebound and lazy like all companies with little real competition (of course, many companies have said they competed against Microsoft, which comes as a real surprise to anyone who has used many of their products ... Linux especially). After all, hadn't IBM and Apple before MS? Our laissez-faire theory tells us so, that economics will trump all human ability ... right?
Well, no one ever thought to imagine that maybe a company that has achieved the kind of market dominance that MS has might just retain the competitive instincts that got it there (as plainly logical as that might be). You're going to have to wait a while for MS to get soft. The story is not that it was easy to win the web war or that MS shouldn't have been at risk of losing it in the force place. It was that they got into it at all. The market is supposed to reward supertankers that turn on a dime, isn't it? (In fact, I believe MS's problems may have come from it being too eager to compete sometimes, owing to Gates' oft-cited paranoia that somewhere out there are two guys in a garage building the future that he won't see coming until too late. But should he be penalized for not forgetting his own company's history?....
Along the way, it was hilarious at first but scary later on to see how standard business practices, and things that would be recognized as smart moves in any other business, were invariably transformed into flaws whenever MS did them. Add lots of features to your OS so a broad segment can find it useful? "Bloatware." Keep in mind your customers who are just casual end users? "Dumbing down the operating system?" (Reminds me of Dilbert: "Hey, you're one of those condescending Unix users!" "Here's a nickel, kid. Go buy yourself a better computer") The looniest was, and still is, Linux, dedicated to the principle that people who don't make money from what they do do a better job than people who do. (And this system is often pushed heavily by some of the most libertarian, pro-free enterprise types around! I still do not get it)
So, seven years after the Web became the Internet's killer app, Microsoft has won, and IMO deservedly so. Deal with it. If you weren't in their tent, you should just cash out, shake Bill Gates' hand like a good sport, recognize that they won because they just played a better game, go enjoy a nice retirement and stop wasting the public's time.
Another Piece of Pro-Microsoft Propaganda.......2000-08-08
This book is obviously very slanted and biased in Microsoft's favor. It seems as if this book came straight out of the Microsoft book of propaganda! All of Microsoft's actions in the past are shown to be harmless and not anticompetitive. In total contrast, the actions of Microsoft's competitors are shown in a very negative light. Even the most incidental actions of Microsoft's competitors are shown in a bad light. It is odd then that Microsoft escapes this accounting. The author is obviously very pro-Microsoft and I would not be surprised to see that he may have close contacts at the company. The author does not really show how Microsoft's actions regarding "leveraging their OS into other software areas" could lead to destruction of competition in the computer industry. In fact, he either outright ignores this argument or downplays it! Even if you are interested in how the web was won, this book does not really give much insight to outside developments. There is no real context given. Other books fully account for the complex events surrounding the battle for supremacy on the internet. This book does not. It skims over much of the "outside action" and instead focuses only on Microsoft and it's quest to dominate the new emerging industry. Of course, given that this book should revolve around Microsoft but it should NOT exclude other angles to the story. The author takes Microsoft's side without justifying it for the readers. And ultimately this EXTREMELY BIASED account makes the author lose much of his credibility. Also without going in depth with the emerging industry as a whole the narrative loses much of what would have been very interesting and engrossing story. By and large this is one of the worst books regarding this interesting period in the computer industry. NOT RECOMMENDED. FIND ANOTHER BOOK IF YOU WANT TO KNOW ABOUT THE INTERNET AND THE "BROWSER WARS'.
Make sense of Microsoft's Internet offerings.......1999-11-03
Microsoft has released such a confusing stream of products into the Internet arena, it's hard to keep up with it all. This book provides excellent perspective and historical context for those decisions. I also really enjoyed the compelling writing style of this book, especially on the fascinating charaterizations of the colorful players at Microsoft. A good read for anyone interested in the history of the Internet!
Overall good, changed my perception of Microsoft.......1999-09-19
Overall I liked the book because it shows a side of Microsoft, but advocates them in the side of the antitrust trial, and they don't explain how a free web browser earns money.
Inside the Greatest Company of the New Economy.......1999-09-03
There's been a lot of blather from competitors about Microsoft's so-called predatory ways -- some of it, I understand, directed at this book. But the real reason Microsoft is so feared and often loathed is that they compete so well. How many companies of Microsoft's size in any industry would be fleet-footed enough to completely reinvent their overall strategy to address a sea change in their market? This book tells you how this remarkable company did it. Get to know the real players who helped turn this battleship around -- and kept Bill Gates very very wealthy.
Books:
- High Rise Low Down
- History: Fiction or Science? (Chronology, No. 1)
- History: Fiction or Science? (Chronology, No. 1)
- History: Fiction or Science? (Chronology, No. 1)
- History: Fiction or Science? (Chronology, No. 1)
- History: Fiction or Science? (Chronology, No. 1)
- History: Fiction or Science? (Chronology, No. 1)
- History: Fiction or Science? (Chronology, No. 1)
- History: Fiction or Science? (Chronology, No. 1)
- History: Fiction or Science? (Chronology, No. 1)
Books Index
Books Home
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- THE COURT OF PHILIP IV SPAIN IN DECADENCE
- The Frugal Woman's Guide to a Rich Life: Simplify Your Life, Save Money and Be Happier
Bridgehead Kurland: The Six Epic Battles of Heeresgruppe Kurland
The Tragedy of the Faithful: 3rd SS Panzer Corps
Sniper on the Eastern Front: The Memoirs of Sepp Allerberger, Knight's Cross
Red Storm over the Balkans: The Failed Soviet Invasion of Romania, Spring 1944 (Modern War Studies)
To the Bitter End: The Final Battles of Army Groups North Ukraine, A, Centre, Eastern Front, 1944-45
