Book Description
In the early 1960s, computers haunted the American popular imagination. Bleak tools of the cold war, they embodied the rigid organization and mechanical conformity that made the military-industrial complex possible. But by the 1990s—and the dawn of the Internet—computers started to represent a very different kind of world: a collaborative and digital utopia modeled on the communal ideals of the hippies who so vehemently rebelled against the cold war establishment in the first place.
From Counterculture to Cyberculture is the first book to explore this extraordinary and ironic transformation. Fred Turner here traces the previously untold story of a highly influential group of San Francisco Bay–area entrepreneurs: Stewart Brand and the Whole Earth network. Between 1968 and 1998, via such familiar venues as the National Book Award–winning Whole Earth Catalog, the computer conferencing system known as WELL, and, ultimately, the launch of the wildly successful Wired magazine, Brand and his colleagues brokered a long-running collaboration between San Francisco flower power and the emerging technological hub of Silicon Valley. Thanks to their vision, counterculturalists and technologists alike joined together to reimagine computers as tools for personal liberation, the building of virtual and decidedly alternative communities, and the exploration of bold new social frontiers.
Shedding new light on how our networked culture came to be, this fascinating book reminds us that the distance between the Grateful Dead and Google, between Ken Kesey and the computer itself, is not as great as we might think.
Customer Reviews:
Outstanding.......2007-09-03
In lucid, incisive and engaging prose, Fred Turner tells the fascinating story of how innovative modes of working and thinking (born from the World War II military industrial complex) cross-pollinated with hippie counterculture (through the imagination and particular cultural anxieties of Stewart Brand) to produce the current ubiquitous mode of conceiving a world-wide networked reality.
The book isn't a hatchet job of Stewart Brand; but neither is it a celebration of him and his mythology.
It is a sharply-observed, consistently critical look at the ways in which Stewart Brand and his (almost overwhelmingly white, male and privileged) cohort built a particularly powerful ideology, narrative and network around themselves, with very real physical, political, environmental, industrial and ideological consequences.
Damn interesting, and a pleasurable read--Turner's sense of humor and irony are employed subtly but to very enjoyable effect.
An Important book about a major influence of the 60's through the 90's.......2007-05-22
As someone who was deeply and profoundly influenced by the WEC, WER, and the WELL, I found this to both reinvigorate the excitement of the different eras it discusses and, also, to tie them together and provide fresh insights. After I finished it I looked around my office and realized how much of my thinking was influenced by Steward Brand and his experiments. Easily 30% of the books in my library were originally recommended in either the Catalog or the Review. I was also an early WELL subscriber and a `Maniacal' Whole Earth Review subscriber so almost everything mentioned here I could relate to.
It may devolve into `professor-speak' at times but it is well worth it. If you want to know about one of the critical components of both the `counter culture' of the 60's and the internet revolution of the 90's this is a must read.
Interesting but too academic.......2007-05-21
Interesting people and times are covered in this book. The hippie counterculture, Whole Earth Catalog, computer bulletin boards morphing into The Internet, Wired magazine, etc. A good deal of information you probably didn't know, so it may give you a slightly different perspective of this time. Why did these early computer geeks think computers would change society and give power to all the people?
The down side is that it sometimes reads as if it was written by a college professor; but it was! To much theoretical framework for my taste. Still, if you are interested in this time, read the book. You can easily skip the tedious stuff.
An excellent record of an amazing life.......2006-11-26
Stewart Brand is a high-IQ Zelig, who has been a catalyst of so many important developments throughout the last 4 decades of the 20th century. This volume is more scholarly, and more revealing of the social forces at work, than Markoff's What the Dormouse Said. It focuses with great intensity on Brand, due to Turner's unique access to Brand's diaries in the Stanford Library. SB is shown to have been central to far more moments of incipient Renaissance than anyone since Lou Salome, friend of Nietzsche, Rilke and Freud: He joined Ken Kesey as an original Prankster, was the videographer for Engelbart's 'mother of all demos,' then linked up all kinds of communes (including Ant Farm) while founding and editing the Whole Earth Catalog. Besides all the events already mentioned, Turner dives deeply into the WELL, which was the primordial "virtual community", co-founded by Brand. With his vision of power as drawn from network affiliations, Brand then built a consulting company called the Global Business Network, which used scenario planning as a form of "corporate performance art", by fusing countercultural norms with the needs of corporate board rooms. Turner does a fairly good job posing critical questions about how the privileged white male perspective defined the unfolding story. He flags the problem of this privilege, but isn't able to concretely identify how it could have been solved. Read this book to learn how SB helped create the world we live in, and deployed his unique social entrepreneurial skills to stay in the center of the game.
What one person can turn on within these vast systems within which we vibrate .......2006-10-26
Like one of his teachers and friends Buckminster Fuller, Stesart Brand is an archetypal example of the American individualist- inventor the man who Thoreau said ' hears the sound of his own drummer'. Paradoxically the super- individualist Brand is also perhaps the single person most responsible for making ordinary Americans connect with, show concern with the various systems cyber-systems, eco-systems, communications - systems we are moving within.
In this informed, detailed, and extremely well- written survey of the career of Brand, Fred Turner also provides a insightful and exciting look at America 's cultural, and especially 'alternative culture ' development from the sixties through the nineties. Brand meets up on his travels with 'Edge's' John Brockman, with Ken Kesey with whom he is a Merry Prankster, with Bucky Fuller who tries to help his projects,with Kevin Kelly of the 'Wired' world, with many of those seeking new ways of making the Technology connect with communal frameworks that will enable ( at least this is one of Brand's goals) the individual to truly be an individual .
Brand's most famous contribution 'The Whole Earth Catalogue' which was certainly one of the major cultural influences upon the Environmental Movement, and incidentally the Hippy Culture of the Sixties , told us the way we could get anything we needed to make our way into the rapidly changing future. Brand's work as editor and thinker also contributed to the World Wide Web to come, and the name and concept 'personal computer' is also one of his contributions.
This is an important work to read not only to learn about decisive moments in the life of a remarkable individual, but to better understand the world- in- the -making we are a part of.
Book Description
Over the next half century, the human population, divided by culture and economics and armed with weapons of mass destruction, will expand to nearly 9 billion people. Abrupt climate change may throw the global system into chaos; China will emerge as a superpower; and Islamic terrorism and insurgency will threaten vital American interests. How can we understand these and other global challenges? Harm de Blij has a simple answer: by improving our understanding of the world's geography. In Why Geography Matters, de Blij demonstrates how geography's perspectives yield unique and penetrating insights into the interconnections that mark our shrinking world. Preparing for climate change, averting a cold war with China, defeating terrorism: all of this requires geographic knowledge. De Blij also makes an urgent call to restore geography to America's educational curriculum. He shows how and why the U.S. has become the world's most geographically illiterate society of consequence, and demonstrates the great risk this poses to America's national security. Peppering his writing with anecdotes from his own professional travels, de Blij provides an original treatise that is as engaging as it is eye opening. Casual or professional readers in areas such as education, politics, or national security will find themselves with a stimulating new perspective on geography as it continues to affect our world.
Customer Reviews:
Occasionally insightful, but generally uninspired.......2007-08-29
I would describe this book as the rambling--but occasionally insightful--musings of a thoughtful scholar. Unfortunately, many, if not most, of Blij's arguments are not made from a geographic perspective. For instance, his chapter on the European Union rambles on for page after page about the history of the EU from the European Coal and Steel Community, to the European Economic Community, to the European Community, and, finally, to the European Union. That's not to say that's not and interesting and important history lesson for people who are unfamiliar with EU history, but its not geographic! I was hoping for a book of theories explaining human events using reasoning built on spatial orientations or location. Why Geography Matters had some of that, but Blij could have, in my view, omitted much of the voluminous background information. Doing some would have made his book more concise and allowing his genuine insights to be featured more prominently.
And for what its worth, the book could have used a better editor. For instance, on p.160 it refers to "South Ossetia" as a Russian Republic instead of North Ossetia. I noticed a couple errors like this.
Perhaps, I would be more positive about this book if its last chapter hadn't been the low point. The chapter on Africa had absolutely nothing original to say (AIDS is bad, we need to do more to stop it; colonization and slavery were bad too; Africa has been plagued by bad leadership; etc.).
Important book.......2007-08-28
This is an exceptional and needed introduction to Geography and how it relates to world problems.
What we should have learned in school about the world..........2007-05-27
This is essential reading for anyone who should have a sound foundation of knowledge to back up one's social commentary, but doesn't. Geography can be understood and used to understand our world with great clarity. Everyone who watched Al Gore's movie should read this book if only to know that Harm de Blij has been explaining geographic issues for decades better than nearly anyone.
The US Department of Education needs to buy and issue a copy of this book to every teacher in America.
Very informative reading.......2007-05-13
This is definitely a quality work in the field of Geography with an emphasis on Politics i.e. GeoPolitics. However, it is important to point out a couple of incorrect facts I found while reading this work.
1. On page 190 we have the statement, "On an aircraft carrier off the coast of California, President Bush declared "mission accomplished.", regarding the war in Iraq. If you read the speech that President Bush gave, you will find that he never uttered the words "mission accomplished." The author just regurgitated this line from the biased print media i.e. The NYTimes, Time, Newsweek, etc... Intuitively, if you think about it, George Bush, assigns the mission to the military and after assigning the mission to the military he is not going to turn around and say good "mission accomplished. That is what the military's response, will be, to the President, after they have completed the mission. This is reflected by the fact that the military hung a banner up on the aircraft carrier that said "Mission Accomplished."
2. On pages 193-194 The author states. "The American invasion severly damaged the city, which was for months afterward, and remains as of this writing, without a reliable water supply, power, medical facilities, or schools." It is very true that much of the infrastructure in Iraq is severly damaged, but the author has tried to blame this on American firepower and it is simply not true. The precision guided weapons our U.S. forces utilized were excellent at avoiding collateral damage. The truth is more damning for the Saddam regime. THE INFRASTUCTURE DAMAGE WAS CAUSED BY 30 PLUS YEARS OF NEGLECT ON THE PART OF THE BAATH PARTY AND NOT AMERICAN MILITARY MIGHT. Also, the military planners who provided for getting the infrastructure back online, after the war, grossly underestimated the level of the existing infrastructure of Iraq, before the U.S. military even set foot inside the country.
Overall I recommend this work, but it cannot be given five stars due to these errors.
Debunking the global warming myth!.......2007-03-08
This is an excellent book based on scientific fact debunking the "global warming" myth.
I highly recommend this book.
Book Description
The evolution of New York's built environment is chronicled in this breathtaking history organized chronologically by site-from architectural masterpieces to engineering marvels. Witness New York as it was being built in the years following the Civil War. It was during this era when the city spread uptown, landscaped Central Park, engineered the bridges and subways, and scaled ever higher in the form of innovative skyscrapers.The New York story unfolds in these pages with an immediacy only photography can capture. It allows us to relive the moment when the theaters moved uptown followed by the city's "newspaper of record," and muddy, horse-trodden Longacre Square sprouted its iconic neon signs and was reborn as Times Square. Trace the growth by accretion of the Metropolitan Museum of Art as it nibbled away at the park or the transformation of Fifth Avenue into "millionaires row." Along the way, the majestic history of the city unfolds along with the story of the visionaries whose stamp it bears today. New York's coming of age coincided with the rise of photography, and this incredible trove of photographs culled from the archives of Time Life and the New-York Historical Society are the very images that created the larger-than-life reputation of New York that continues to dazzle the world today.
Customer Reviews:
Dramatic Photographs of How the City Came to Be.......2005-12-03
Beginning with the 1811 grid plan of 100 foot wide north-south avenues and 155 cross streets set at 200 foot intervals this book shows the story of how Manhattan came to be in a brilliant collection of photographs. Actually the pictures begin with engravings dating from before photographs existed, but the book is mostly photographs from the late 1800's to the drawings of the proposed Fredom Tower at the World Trade Center site.
The photographs cover Manhattan. How central park came to be is discussed as are the bridges and tunnels that provide access to the city. Sailing ships from an 1883 picture are near those of the New York Naval Shipyard (which alone built more ships during World War II than did all of Japan). Air liners from a TWA DC-3 to Pan Am's new Boing 707 at their dramatic terminal at Idlewild is only a page away from a Pan-Am clipper flying boat at La Guardia's Marine Air Terminal.
This is a very dramatic collection of pictures that truly reflects the Rise and Rise of the Greatest City on Earth.
Book Description
A fascinating, anecdote-filled behind-the-scenes look at more than forty years of the highlights, successes, and day-to-day inner workings—all about productions, the divas, and backstage dramas—of New York’s Metropolitan Opera House, by Joseph Volpe, the only general manager to have risen through the ranks.
This book is the story of Volpe’s years leading up to those at the Met, from his first job as a stagehand at the Morosco Theater to the odd jobs he picked up moonlighting: setting up a searchlight or laying down a red carpet for a movie premiere, changing titles on the marquees at the Astor, Victor, and Paramount theaters. It is his Met years—from apprentice carpenter to general manager—that give us a story about New York and the business of culture. Volpe looks at the Met today, an institution full of vast egos and complicated politics, as well as its glittering past—the old Met at Thirty-ninth and Broadway, and the political and artistic intrigues that exploded around its move to Lincoln Center. With stunning candor, he writes about the general managers he worked under, including Rudolf Bing and Anthony Bliss; his own embattled rise to the top; the maneuverings of the blue-chip board; his bad-cop, good-cop collaboration with the conductor James Levine; and his masterful approach to making a family of such highly charged artist-stars as Luciano Pavarotti, Placido Domingo, Teresa Stratas, and Renée Fleming, and such visionary directors as Franco Zeffirelli, Robert Wilson, and Julie Taymor.
Customer Reviews:
Kenneth.......2007-01-20
The book disclose many backstages tales of opera. I enjoyed it pretty much.
Part autobiography, part history of the Met, and part stories about the performers.......2006-07-26
Opera is dramatic and bigger than life on stage and back stage. Now we learn about all the drama that also goes on in managing the Metropolitan Opera, the largest opera company in the world and an arts organization that puts on more opera performances each year than any other company on earth. Its budget is more than $200 million for something like 240 performances per year. I was quite surprised to read how the monies to fund this huge budget are raised. No, it isn't the government, corporate, or even the richest donors that provide the bulk of the money as I had suspected.
The 2005-2006 budget was $221 million. The Box Office receipts were $101 million, the endowment of $300 million provided another $18 million, parking and commons revenues provided $10 million, and the support from the Federal, State, and City governments was only $375,000! Where does the other $92 million come from each year? 125,000 private donors, 2/3 of whom live outside New York City, provide donations ranging from $60 to more than $500,000 and total $80 million. The 300 members of the Metropolitan Opera Club provide another half-million, and the board members each provide substantial contributions to the met each year. I found this fascinating and quite a different mix than I had expected.
The author, Joseph Volpe, has run the Met for the past 16 seasons, but has worked at the met for more than four decades. He joined as a carpenter and worked his way up from the back of the house to operations. While he showed great skill in getting the shows on stage, he was passed over more than once for the job of Managing Director because of his blue collar background. But after floundering through some poor appointments, Volpe got the job. He admits that his personal style is more, well, frank than most other arts managers and the scowl on his face on the cover photograph (and in some of those included in the book) let us know that he is all about getting the shows on stage and at the highest level rather than getting us to love him as a person.
Volpe came to love opera while working at the Met. True, his grandmother had him listen to "Cavalleria Rusticana" with her when he was a child, but it was getting the magnificent sets to work and to hear the great singers, choruses, and see the dancers, costumes, and even the guests, that got him to see what grand opera is truly about and fall in love with the greatest of all art forms.
The book is part his own biography, part the history of the Met, and part about the great singers he has worked with while at the Met in his various capacities. The book has dozens of interesting photos from all the eras of the Met and the stories of the singers are well chosen and very entertaining. Pavarotti, as you might expect, provides some wonderful anecdotes when he is trying to help Volpe lose weight and includes Volpe in his "yoga" lessons.
The book is quite a pleasant read and I enjoyed it a great deal. It is interesting to hear about the whole of the opera company including everyone it takes to make the shows rather than just the great soloists. Coming from a blue collar background myself, I enjoyed hearing about the working guys and gals that make the show work for those fabulous artists who create the great music with their voices and hearts. The magic wouldn't be nearly as powerful without all those sets, costumes, lights, and the performers on the chorus or the dancers.
Recommended!
The House of Diva.......2006-07-25
Joseph Volpe's "The Toughest Show on Earth" is a remarkably comprehensive look at the recent history of the Metropolitan Opera as told through the eyes of the retiring general manager, himself. Volpe has the best "view" in the house and no wonder...he's been there for over forty years.
From the start it's clear that Joe Volpe is not a man to be crossed lightly. Tough as nails (and nails were part of his business) he rises from an entry level position to the top job...and reveals much along the way. There's just enough "dirt" in this book to tickle the senses of the reader and anyone who has ever been in opera knows exactly what Volpe describes...in order to be associated with opera personalities it is sometimes required to act like one.
The longest chapter in "The Toughest Show" is devoted to Volpe's firing of Kathleen Battle and one can just see the steam building in the author's ears as he amasses stories of misbehavior on the part of the "embattled" diva over a period of years. Finally, he acts, much to the delight of the cast and crew. It's a juicy chapter and one of the best in the book. While Volpe offers reflections on just about anyone with whom he has come in contact, he reserves the nicest comments for conductor James Levine and (whom he calls the "Siamese Twins") tenors Luciano Pavarotti and Placido Domingo. Without these three would there be a present-day Metropolitan Opera?
There are occasional bouts of self-serving given over to by the author and often he feels a need to defend himself based on some past controversial decisions, (which I found rather astounding given the fact that he is departing the scene) but what makes "The Toughest Show" such a wonderful book is the comprehensiveness of the Met story. It's not only onstage and backstage but everywhere else, too. "The Toughest Show on Earth" is the greatest guided tour around. It's a terrific read and Volpe deserves much credit not only for this book but for a lifetime of service dedicated to one of the nation's treasures...the Metropolitan Opera.
Tough Love.......2006-07-13
Joseph Volpe was a tough as the job he took on when he grabbed the reins of the Metropolitan Opera House, having to deal with the likes of James Levine and Luciano Pavarotti.
But as in the phrase beloved of behavorial psychologists, his was a "tough love." He started as a carpenter at the Old Met with but a passing interest in opera, but by the time he left, music infused his very blood with a passion for his work and the people who populated the space he called home.
The autobiography details the years, the failed marriage, the battles with superstars, the triumphs and disappointments with a candor perhaps unique in this type of memoir, where the authors tend to be either diplomatic or, as with Sir Rudolph Bing, unrelentingly acerbic.
Volpe tells his story in lean, plain-spoken language that reveals the inner workings of the gargantuan Met and makes that place of mazes and convolutions an environment the reader can understand.
Joe Volpe (after reading the book, it's hard to think of him as Joseph) dragged The Met kicking and screaming into the 21st century without violating the traditions that surround opera, and his book is refreshing, entertaining and revelatory.
It should be read by anyone interested in opera, politics or the big business of show.
Behind the scene with refreshnig honesty.......2006-06-30
I found this book absolutely fabulous. Mr. Volpe is to the point and shall we say, extremely honest, in his account of his years at the opera, including via himself. One finishes this book with a greater understanding of what goes on behind the scenes. It reads well, with enough details to keep the average reader riveted and without the unnecessary clutter found in some of those books that insist on giving us an hour by hour acount of events. I especially liked the way the book was subdivided. If it does follow a certain chronological order, each chapter focuses on a specific subject matter, for example signers... that serves as the guide thru the different events. Hence, this book is delightful and I strongly recommend it to all and especially, if not exclusively, to opera lovers. Even ones who do not know a lot about opera will love this book.
Marie Kirouack
Average customer rating:
- Good overview of orbital mechanics and space history
- A simple, no equations introduction to Space Flight
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To Rise from Earth: An Easy to Understand Guide to Spaceflight
Wayne Lee
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Fundamentals of Astrodynamics
ASIN: 0816033536 |
Book Description
Without using a single mathematical formula or complicated scientific jargon, To Rise from Earth explains the history and technology of spaceflight. It explores the functions and roles of satellites, the forces and masses fueling rocket science, the logistics of launching a shuttle into space, the stars and planets that comprise the Milky Way, and much more. Combining accessible and engaging text with more than 125 spectacular full-color photographs and 70 color illustrations throughout, the book brings to life great moments in the timeline of space exploration.
Customer Reviews:
Good overview of orbital mechanics and space history.......2001-02-15
This book is about half what it says in the title, covering the details of orbital mechanics: getting into orbit, changing orbits, and rendezvous. In the second part, it turns more historical, providing brief overviews of both the manned and unmanned space programs, focusing particularly on the space shuttle and on interplanetary expeditions. It's about as clearly and as simply written as a book on such a topic could be and is sumptuously illustrated with appropriate diagrams, photographs, and tables.
I quibbled with the occasional inaccuracy on non-central subjects: Michael Collins may now be "pursuing a career in international diplomacy," but after he left the astronaut corps he first became the director of the Smithsonian's National Air and Space Museum. And Apollo 13 was never in danger of running out of air, since the lunar module needed plenty of extra oxygen to vent out the cabin at the beginning of each moonwalk. But those are peripheral to the core and only of interest to a nitpicker like me, who starts looking for other inaccuracies rather than continuing to pay full attention to the text.
It would also have been nice to see more about the technology of space flight than just the orbital mechanics. For example, it might have been worthwhile to discuss the sort of instruments that get put on board a spacecraft and the technology that a satellite uses to determine its position.
But anyhow, the book is very good at what it covers. I would recommend it highly to someone who is just learning about space flight, though only mildly to someone who already knows the basic concepts.
A simple, no equations introduction to Space Flight.......1996-11-13
To Rise From Earth is a good introduction to the science of space flight. A combination of history and science, this well illustrated book explains the basic science of space flight, orbital mechanics and flying to other planets at a level that should be understandable by a high school student.
The book is profusely illustrated, and full of marginal comments - Historical facts, Scientific facts, Rules of thumb - which make it very dippable. True to its intent, it explains the pricipals of space flight clearly, without using a single equation.
As well as the theory, the book also gives a history of space flight, from the first experiments with rockects by Goddard and von Braun, through the American manned space programs (Mercury, Gemini, Apollo), with a large chapter devoted to the Space Shuttle. A review of unmanned planetary probes is also given, along with a final chapter on future exploration of Mars.
Throughout the book focuses on the American space program. One of its shortcomings is that the Russian space program is almost completely ignored. Also some of the Scientific and Historical facts given are wrong.
Overall, a very simple, readable and useful reference
Book Description
What is a leap year? Why are bees busy in summer? Who eats the moon? Why does it get dark at night? In this fascinating book children will find out the answers to these and many more questions about time and seasons.
Book Description
Joshua Muravchik traces the fiery trajectory of socialism with sketches of dreamers and doers who developed the theory, led it to power and presided over its collapse.
Download Description
Joshua Muravchik traces the fiery trajectory of socialism with sketches of dreamers and doers who developed the theory, led it to power, and presided over its collapse. Among them are the French revolutionary Gracchus Babeuf, whose "Conspiracy of Equals" wanted to outlaw private property; Robert Owen, who tried to plant a model socialist utopia in the United States; Friedrich Engels, who created the cult of Karl Marx and "scientific" socialism; Benito Mussolini, self-proclaimed socialist heretic and inventor of fascism; Clement Attlee, who set out to build socialism democratically in Britain; Julius Nyerere, who hoped to make Tanzania a model for the developing world; and Mikhail Gorbachev, Deng Xiaoping and Tony Blair, who became socialism's inadvertent undertakers. "Heaven on Earth" is an epic chronicle of a movement that tried to turn the world upside down-and for a time succeeded.
Customer Reviews:
PROPERTY IS GOOD, BUT PROPER COFFEE'S BETTER.......2007-08-29
Opposing socialism as I do, and advocating the property rights of the person, free market small state government, and individual liberty, I found this well-written and sympathetic book most enlightening. I have tried it on double-dyed socialists, who find it sobering. Stanford economist Professor Thomas Sowell remarks: `It is hard to find a book on the history of socialism that is either readable or accurate...[this] is both...It is a great read'. And as I find it hard to find a readable book on socialism itself, let alone its history, this book will do for both. (For the hardier soul I have added a few titles of further reading along these lines below. The one by Professor Sowell is quite easy going and more a backgrounder than a stance on socialism.)
The religious title of the book is indicative, the author states on page one line one: `Socialism was the faith in which I was raised.' It quotes Moses Hess, `A Communist Confession of Faith', 1846 - a prophet of little profit - fortelling `this heaven on earth'. Socialism is a faith, with its bibles, practised religiously, intended as a road from superstition to inevitable rational scientific enlightenment, final freedom from the chains of church dogma.
The author is of Russian Jewish background, not hostile in tone, baptised into his socialist birth-faith, but converted in his thirties. He is a kind critic, and all the more effective for that. The first chapter `Prologue: Changing Faiths', pages 3-6, forms a useful abstract of the book in three pages, but belies the detail and coherence of the whole. The skill of this author is in pulling together highly detailed and disparate insider accounts of real existent socialist entities and relating the truth to the propagandist picture we have been shown. He is no iconoclast, more a sort of political undertaker with printer's ink as embalming fluid. The epilogue on the Socialism of the Israeli kibbutz is an eye-opener, and all the more touching for the intimate details of the young mothers and children who suffered it. The tale of Tanzania is a sad chapter of hope poured down a gutter.
Let's face it. Reality is right-wing, property is progress. Entrepreneurism is good. Buying and selling benefits both parties, or they would not trade. Profit is proper, losses are Nature's way of saying, `Do something else'. People are not equal, you can't make them equal, and it is wrong to try. The Barking Bolshevik Club cannot see it because they do not want to - it's against their religion.
CONTENTS
Prologue: Changing Faiths
Section: BEGINNINGS
1. Conspiracy of Equals: Babeuf, blood and revolution, France
2. New Harmony: Owen, UK exports damp-squib socialism to USA, sorry guys
3. Scientific Socialism: Engels & co., all scientists they!
4. Theoretical wrangles: Bernstein doubts Marx, Lenin ahoy
Section: TRIUMPHS
5. Lenin seizes power and people die, Russia
6. Fascism: Mussolini - socialista fascisti, und Socialisten Realpolitik
7. Social Democracy: Atlee, UK
8. Ujamaa: Nyerere, Tanzania
Section: COLLAPSE
9. Unions: Gompers and Meany, USA - an eye-opener this chapter
10. Perestroika and Modernisation: Deng and Gorbachev, China/USSR
11. The Party of Business: Blair redefines social democracy, sends out the troops
Epilogue
Kibbutzim kebab, Israel
These chapters and headings sell the book short. There is far more drawing of connections between the topics than would be understood at a glance. The apparent lack of comment on China is only apparent. The index reveals dozens of references to grimness that was and is Chinese communism and its influence on the world events. The China-Tanzania link is particularly revealing, and explains why Tanzania, the great African `benign' socialist experiment shambled on for so long. I was shocked by so many of these chapters, but the chapter on the well-intentioned obtuseness of Tanzanian socialism left me open-mouthed: being colonised by the UK was ten times better than being colonised by interfering socialists from the world over. Skip the theoreticals in chapter 4 if you are in any type of hurry. The recipe for socialist crumble with propaganda custard seems to have been shared by so many amateur cooks the world round. After having poisoned so many the wonder is that it is still not universally regarded as toadstool pie and gravy today.
If this book is light anywhere it is in the economics, which it does not claim to cover. Further reading may be found in 1) `The Turning Point - Revitalizing the Soviet Economy', (1989) by Shmelev and Popov, two senior Soviet economists. The professionally detailed insider account of the slow death-in-life demise of Russia after the 1917 Revolution. Reckless industrialisation and - the clue is in the title - formation of the `Union of Soviet Socialist Republics', an entity of no less world-dominating intentions than Adolf Hitler, which took just one human lifetime (1917-1989) to buckle at the knees and collapse in the Soviet slums. 2) `Basic Economics', by Thomas Sowell. A sanity-enhancer. 3) `The Gulag Archipelago' by Alexander Solzhenitsyn. A grim aperient. 4) `The Counter-Revolution of Science' by F.A. Hayek (especially part two). First part, a tough read. Genesis of positivism and scientism. Second part, historical analysis of the genesis of socialism and sociology. Comte, etc, easier reading.
The appendices of `Heaven on Earth' give the countries of the `high tide' of Socialism in 1985. (Forget not that even in 1989 socialists of all denominations were in denial about the global crises of their faith.) Just glancing down that 1985 list of 18 officially communist countries, the largest number the world had ever suffered, is faith-building today. In 2007 I make the communists to be just two little fish. Let us hope and pray that Cuba and North Korea are free soon. And Joshua Muravchik must have the last word - `socialism's epitaph turned out to be: If you build it, they will leave.', (p.6).
Try something that is less biased.......2007-07-28
This book was written by Joshua Muravchik, who works for the American Enterprise Institute. The same AEI that is one of the major architects of Bush IIs policies. It is also the same AEI thats mission statement says that it's aim is "to defend the principles and improve the institutions of American freedom and democratic capitalism -- limited government, private enterprise, individual liberty and responsibility, vigilant and effective defense and foreign policies, political accountability, and open debate." In other words the author here is an employee of a conservative, neo-liberal think tank. Prima facie, he would not seem to be unbiased on Socialism... upon reading the book, it becomes obvious.
Also, don't let the fact that Mr. Muravchik was the former chairman of the Young People's Socialist League give you any false pretense of a balanced historical view. He seems as enthralled with Socialism as an ex-smoker is with cigarettes, i.e. he looks back longingly at the ideology, albeit with much self-loathing and then preaches the failures of socialism with all the vigor of a born-again (non-smoker, etc.)
History you don't get in school.......2006-09-22
This is a fantastic work, well documented and thorough. The author takes you on a whirlwind tour of the history of Socialism and its affects on our world. I was astonished to learn about the failed socialist experiements in both Great Britain and the US. I NEVER came accross this in my public education in America!
Anyone who is a serious student of history and wants to unearth religious worldviews that are harming the welfare of nations and generations of people MUST read this book.
Move Heaven and Earth and Read This!.......2006-03-23
Highly readable. Very informative. Must read!!
Since when is the U.S. a laissez-faire economy?.......2005-11-18
"One does not need to read a book to see merits of socialism; one merely needs to look at the chaos that exists today in the U.S. - corporate greed, outsourcing of educated middle-class labor to line the pockets of a few ultra-rich as the country hemorrhages entire professions and salaried positions that are unlikely to return in any form, globalization and the race to the bottom (just to name a few) - to realize that the majority of this country's population (which has the courage to admit to itself that it isn't part of the top 1% and almost inevitably never will be) stands to gain more from some level of socialism than it chances to lose. Having the requisite resources/intellect/social standing that the vast majority of the population is unlikely to partake in/be part of (and it would well behoove itself to admit this fact), the ones who truly profit from laissez-faire capitalism are indeed modern day aristocrats; and they're laughing all the way to the bank while reading a book like this."
Since when is the U.S. a laissez-faire economy. Our country has hundreds of thousands of government regulations, zoning laws, licensure requirements, restrictions on international trade, price controls, a centralized bank, a wasteful public school system, increasingly complex tax laws and loopholes, billions of dollars in subsidies to all kinds of groups, corporate welfare scams, public works projects, and many other examples too numerous to mention almost. If anything, our country is hundreds of miles from a laissez-faire economy. The closest that we ever had to a laissez-faire economy was with
The Industrial Revolution where we had enormous technological gains, improved living standards, and plentiful job opportunities where it if one got fired or quit, it was easy to get another job by the end of the day. And even that still wasn't a laissez-faire economy, as we still had subsidizing of railroads, public schools, public post office, and other things. The last fifteen years could hardly be considered laissez-faire, as government spending has increased. And for your information, wealth is infinite. The economy isn't a pie where you only get something by taking it from others. If I own .00005% of the total wealth in this country, that's still buys a lot more than it did a century ago. You can't measure wealth by income, only by material conditions mostly.
"Mr. Sowell's soundbite "redistribution of wealth leads to redistribution of poverty" is just plain wrong. Some counter examples might include Social Security, Medicare, and Urban Housing assistance--all products of socialism that have immensely benefited our society"
Have you at all been paying attention to what these programs are? Social Security spending is increasing and has often been dipped into to provide funding for other things. Medicare spending is increasing and was one of the first things to eventually lead to a healthcare crisis in this country. And have you ever even been to an urban housing project. All of these things are constantly having more money put into them with more taxes, which are making more of us poorer and poorer.
Average customer rating:
- Skip This Earth Invasion
- Consistently Annoying
- Total Flop
- Pathetic Invasion Hack
- Ho-hum evil aliens destroy civilization and then get zapped
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Earth Rise
William C. Dietz
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Death Day
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The Final Battle
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For Those Who Fell
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Legion of the Damned
ASIN: 0441011047
Release Date: 2003-09-30 |
Book Description
In DeathDay the aliens took over our planet.
Now the invasion continues...
Customer Reviews:
Skip This Earth Invasion.......2004-04-29
'Aliens Invade Earth' is probably one of the most prevalent story ideas in the history of science fiction. At this point in time, an author had better have some new twist to the subject and write it well in order to justify going down this well worn path. Unfortunately, Mr. Dietz's twist isn't good enough for me to recommend it to others.
'Earthrise' is the sequel to 'Deathday.' I'd received 'Earthrise' as a gift, discovered it was a sequel, and decided that I should see if I should buy the first book. Almost all of the reviews I read of both books rated them both at fair or poor. After reading a summary of 'Deathday' I realized that I didn't need to read it before 'Earthrise.' I picked up enough from the summary to know what the scene was: Earth had been invaded by insectoid aliens and was now enslaved.
Dietz's twist was that the insectoid aliens were racist. In their hierarchal society, black bugs ruled, brown bugs were warriors, and white bugs were slaves. As such, when the bugs enslaved humans, they categorized them that way as well. For example, the black governor of Washington state is picked by the bugs to be the US president.
So why did the bugs (who call themselves 'Saurons' - not too obvious that they're bad guys) invade Earth? They needed to reproduce. Apparently the entire species reproduces asexually at death, giving rise to a nymph that carries the genetic memory of its parent. It's an intriguing concept but every single bug all at the same time? That sounds far-fetched to me.
In 'Earthrise', the President leads a resistance movement to take back Earth at the point when the bugs are spawning their nymphs. The humans are aided by another slave race that the bugs have brought with them through space. They're called the Ra 'Na. Their physical description makes them sound like otters, but they're a technically adept race who know more about the functioning of the bugs' starships than they do.
So why the need for slaves? Well, the bugs have this millenial tradition of building great pyramids where the spawning is to take place. And tradition dictates that slaves have to haul large blocks of limestone into place, no superior technology allowed. Once the pyramids are built, the bugs plan on killing all but a handful of slaves, just to make sure that no one attempts to kill the nymphs while they're still vulnerable.
There are alot of questions that I have regarding the bugs. Do they have an endoskeleton capable of supporting their massive exoskeletons? If not, why don't they collapse under their own weight? How did this spawning technique arise? And why only one nymph? If a whole species is spawning at once how did they come to their present size? Why weren't they eaten by predators on their homeworld millenia ago? Maybe the answers to these questions are in the first book.
As for writing style, Dietz jumps all over the place. One page you're in Washington state, the next you're in Guatemala, and then you're in space on the bug ships. And so many characters are introduced that few stand out. Just as one character starts to be developed, he/she disappears for 40 pages. The end result is that the characters seem like cardboard props on a cluttered stage.
I was leaning towards a 2 star rating but the ending was a letdown. I kept waiting for the book to build up to a climax but it never really happened. When it ended I actually said, 'That's it?!' The whole book reads like a series of events just strung together. There's no ebb and flow of drama. I never got the impression as I read certain events that they were pivotal moments in the book. It's only now that I've finished it that I can realize them for what they were. It was like driving over speed bumps when I should've felt like I needed to swerve to avoid fallen boulders on a mountain pass.
In summary, if you're looking for a good alien invasion story, pass on this one.
Consistently Annoying.......2004-04-03
I was about half way through the first book when I read the reviews on this site. I wondered why most of them were negative. Sure, the action is confined to a small part of the world, the aliens are one dimensional and the good guys are stereotypical. But, for all that, I found myself enjoying it. That was until I hit the last third of the book. At about that point, I noticed that Dietz used the phrase "the fact that" and "given the fact that" every second paragraph. It really started to bug me and I found myself mentally rewording his sentences whenever I came across that particular piece of laziness.
I bought this book because I wanted to see if it was as bad as the reviews depicted. Once again I found that the story was acceptable but this time saw that Dietz continues in the same patterns he fell into at the end of his previous effort. OK, he branches out a bit and adds "that being the case" and "and so it was that" to his repetoire of stock phrases but it happens that often that I wonder if anyone bothered to read, let alone edit, his manuscript. Even the characters, human and alien alike, start saying "the fact that" and "given that" by about half way through the book. It happens that often that I began to wonder if it was some sort of joke.
Aside from the poorly written nature of this series, the one thing that annoyed me more than anything else was this: the Saurons live a long time. Every so often they die and a "nymph" takes their place, inheriting its ancestors' memories. One of the Sauron characters does some ground breaking research near the end of this book and discovers how to allow Saurons to have more than one nymph. From that I deduce that under normal circumstances, Saurons only have one nymph. How did the species propagate at all?
Ultimately I found this book extremely annoying. Don't buy it. Instead poke yourself every 5 minutes with a pencil or other sharp object. The end effect is the same and you'll have saved yourself a few bucks.
Total Flop.......2004-03-07
This has to be one of the worst science fiction books ever written. The plot and the characters are pathetic. Powerful aliens virtually wipe out the human race and destroy all semblence of infrastructure. Under the very noses of the technologically superior aliens a few survivors are able to organize a rebellion and overthrow the aliens.
The attempt at a social message in the book is so clumsy and heavy handed as to be almost comical. The dialog of the characters as they interact frequently borders on moronic. I didn't read the first book which reportedly was worseor I certainly wouldn't have purchased Earthrise. This is one author I won't consider for future reading.
Pathetic Invasion Hack.......2003-08-07
As the sequel to DEATHDAY, EARTHRISE does you a favor if you haven't read the previous book. The first chapter summarizes the entire first book quickly and (as much as possible) painlessly. Readers are encouraged to skip the first book and read the second only.
Earth's teeming millions--at least the ones in Washington and Guatemala--have been decimated by the alien invasion on Feb 28, 2020. The surviving humans are either crazy environmentalists, psycho racists, unwashed slaves, or leaders of the resistance.
Time is running out as the aliens' metamorphosis approaches, when they must die hatching the next generation. The rebel humans and aliens discovered the secret in the last book, now they have their chance to exploit it. Their approach is three-pronged: destroy the birth-fluid factories, destroy the temples housing the birth chambers, and kill any remaining Suaron guards.
William Dietz profiles cardboard versions of humanity and demonstrates how much luck and little basis in reality can lead to total victory. The aliens who were quite fierce in the beginning fall like wheat cut by the scythe of a tiny, untrained rebel force. Though an uncannily vague character and race study, the plot remains an confusing conglomerate of scene changes, action sequences, and impossible coincidences even as the characters feel as though they are part of your life--like the drunk uncle you wish would stop showing up at your birthday party.
Ho-hum evil aliens destroy civilization and then get zapped.......2003-05-25
I bought this book because I bought the first book (yeah, I know not a real good excuse). You have the evil Sauron, which are basically beetles on steroids, The Ra Na, which a furry little dwarfs and a collection of human refugees.
Humanity has been reduced to 3 billion souls. The only kind of religious fever that could survive in this apocalyptic world are white racists.
Most of the action is confined to a revolt on the rbiting fleet and what remains of Washington State. (I don't know what happened to the rest of the world, but the last time I checked there were people in Asia, Africa and Europe).
Of course, the bugs (as they are called) have a weakness, and the good guys manage to wipe them out.
There are good aliens-invade-the-earth-and mankind-wipes-them-out books, this just wasn't one of them.
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