Way of the Peaceful Warrior: A Book That Changes Lives

Amazon.com

During his junior year at the University of California, Dan Millman first stumbled upon his mentor (nicknamed Socrates) at an all-night gas station. At the time, Millman hoped to become a world-champion gymnast. "To survive the lessons ahead, you're going to need far more energy than ever before," Socrates warned him that night. "You must cleanse your body of tension, free your mind of stagnant knowledge, and open your heart to the energy of true emotion." From there, the unpredictable Socrates proceeded to teach Millman the "way of the peaceful warrior." At first Socrates shattered every preconceived notion that Millman had about academics, athletics, and achievement. But eventually Millman stopped resisting the lessons, and began to try on a whole new ideology--one that valued being conscious over being smart, and strength in spirit over strength in body. Although the character of the cigarette-smoking Socrates seems like a fictional, modern-day Merlin, Millman asserts that he is based on an actual person. Certain male readers especially appreciate the coming-of-age theme, the haunting love story with the elusive woman Joy, and the challenging of Western beliefs about masculine power and success. --Gail Hudson

Book Description

Way of the Peaceful Warrior is based on the story of Dan Millman, a world champion athlete, who journeys into realms of romance and magic, light and darkness, body, mind, and spirit. Guided by a powerful old warrior named Socrates and tempted by an elusive, playful woman named Joy, Dan is led toward a final confrontation that will deliver or destroy him. Readers join Dan as he learns to live as a peaceful warrior. This international bestseller conveys piercing truths and humorous wisdom, speaking directly to the universal quest for happiness.

Customer Reviews:

Excellent Book!!!!.......2007-09-16

This book is great. Must read for all human being to understand bigger picture of life and to get succeed in daily life.

A Book That Changes Lives.......2007-09-05

Way of the Peaceful Warrior by Dan Millman is a first-person narrative of the author's search for happiness. A student at the University of California at Berkley, Dan's life revolved around school and gymnastics. Stressed with his life Dan left his apartment and took a stroll around town. What he did not know is that this walk would change his life forever. His experiences and outlook on life changed once he entered the doors of the infamous gas station. Dan walked in the gas station and saw an old man sitting in a chair. When he walked out of the gas station, the same man was on the roof. Wanting to know how the man got on the roof, Dan returned nightly to obtain his answer. Over numerous years, Dan learned lessons that aided in his quest to become a Warrior.

Dan Millman is a University of California at Berkley graduate, a world trampoline champion, and member of the Gymnastics Hall of Fame. He was the director of gymnastics at Stanford University, and later became a professor at Oberlin College. He has written 13 self-help books and gives talks and seminars all over the United States and abroad. He currently lives in Northern California with his family.

This book is incredibly powerful and leaves the reader with a new perspective on life. The vividness of word choice creates a surreal vision. An explanation of The Warrior is offered by Socrates, Dan's guide on his new quest. Socrates, 94, incorporates Eastern philosophy and Western fitness to embark on a spiritual odyssey to discover the meaning of life and becoming a warrior. Socrates uses humor, kindness, and love in his teachings to convey that happiness, creativity, and fulfillment can be achieved by developing one's human potential. By the end of the book, it is difficult to have dry eyes. The reader really connects with Dan and has a desire for him to be successful in his journey.

This book was very hard to locate and is found in the New Age section of bookstores, an unusual area to search for a personal growth/fiction book. It is a story based on true aspects of Millman's life.

This book is recommended for teenagers and older. It is important to have a good grasp of vocabulary and some life experience to understand the concept of this book. Other books by Dan Millman are: The Life You Were Born to Live: A Guide to Finding Your Life Purpose, and Wisdom of the Peaceful Warrior: A Companion to the Book that Changes Lives. The reader must be open to new ideas, and new ways of looking at oneself and the world to appreciate this story.

Way of the Peaceful Warrior has been made into a movie starring Nick Nolte, Scott Mechlowicz and Amy Smart. The movie version recently came out on DVD.

Something for Everyone.......2007-08-31

This is a great book. I have read it four times and still find something new or benefitical each time. This book has something for everyone.

Lots of wisdom...if open to it.......2007-08-29

For me, the book is full of wisdom, of challenge, & insight for living in the here and now in a mindfull way. I was challenged to empty my cup (partially succeeded) of my preconceptions, ideas and belief systems to be able to take in what I saw as stretches for me and ah-ha points that help me along.

Is the book for everyone? Maybe. Maybe not. That depends on the readers want, need and openess.

It will open your eyes.......2007-08-27

I first saw a trailer for Peaceful Warrior when I attended a film festival in Washington DC back in April of 2006, to see Hard Candy. I didn't quite grasp it, and forgotten it - then somewhere along the line, Peaceful Warrior has resurfaced (the June 30 release) I haven't seen it in theatres, but my interested had once again peaked. I then watched the trailer countless times on youtube. I finally saw the film, and was amazed. It had struck me, and I've decided to purchase the book right after my viewing.

Last Wednesday, it had arrived, and I started reading - I have only a few pages to go before I am finished..and I can safely say, this is one of the best books I have read in my life. I do not judge it on entertainment, or on escapism or writing, or anything else (although yes! this book IS entertaining) i judge this book on the LIFE LESSON it teaches, and I can't recommend it enough. This book will be passed on to my friends and to everyone I know, who is willing to OPEN THEIR EYES and to REALIZE what has been missing in their lives. Constant thoughts were running through my mind when reading the book - and as I read it, I highlit every lesson Socrates taught. Some of them hit home so much, some of them made me realize and open my eyes a little bit (Yes, I can't say I have yet opened my eyes, I'm only a fool in kindergarten by Socrates standards!). Since reading the book, I've been practicing the lessons taught, and I've been trying to be more self-aware. I have been searching for something like this, searching for something I did not know myself - I was searching for THIS LESSON that THIS BOOK TEACHES, In movies, and in film but could never find it - and THIS is the one literary work that SATISFIES my search. We can choose to start living NOW, PRESENTLY. I will continue my journey through reading more of Millman's works, and my journey in general.

Campaigning for Hearts and Minds: How Emotional Appeals in Political Ads Work (Studies in Communication, Media, and Public Opinion)

Average customer rating:

Telling exploration of emotion and political campaigns
Interesting book
Academic insights meet practical application

Campaigning for Hearts and Minds: How Emotional Appeals in Political Ads Work (Studies in Communication, Media, and Public Opinion)
Ted Brader
Manufacturer: University Of Chicago Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0226069893

Book Description

It is common knowledge that televised political ads are meant to appeal to voters' emotions, yet little is known about how or if these tactics actually work. Ted Brader's innovative book is the first scientific study to examine the effects that these emotional appeals in political advertising have on voter decision-making.

At the heart of this book are ingenious experiments, conducted by Brader during an election, with truly eye-opening results that upset conventional wisdom. They show, for example, that simply changing the music or imagery of ads while retaining the same text provokes completely different responses. He reveals that politically informed citizens are more easily manipulated by emotional appeals than less-involved citizens and that positive "enthusiasm ads" are in fact more polarizing than negative "fear ads." Black-and-white video images are ten times more likely to signal an appeal to fear or anger than one of enthusiasm or pride, and the emotional appeal triumphs over the logical appeal in nearly three-quarters of all political ads.

Brader backs up these surprising findings with an unprecedented survey of emotional appeals in contemporary political campaigns. Politicians do set out to campaign for the hearts and minds of voters, and, for better or for worse, it is primarily through hearts that minds are won. Campaigning for Hearts and Minds will be indispensable for anyone wishing to understand how American politics is influenced by advertising today.

Customer Reviews:

Telling exploration of emotion and political campaigns.......2007-08-18

This is an excellent book. The general audience may find the statistical discussion somewhat slow going, but this is not a turgidly written academic tome. At the same time, it is a solid academic work. His takeoff point (page 2): ". . .the motivational and persuasive power of campaign advertising depends considerably on whether an ad appeals to fear or enthusiasm." He contends that emotional appeals built into campaign ads makes them more effective--the mixture of a political message plus emotion can be powerful if crafted well.

His experiments make it clear that mixing emotions (whether enthusiasm or fear) with a political message has impacts--whether those effects be simple reactions to ads or stimulating interest in the campaign or motivating viewers to want to get out and vote on election day.

This is all, according to the author, counter to much standard political science research that, in the near past, argued that media had only "minimal effects." Brader's work, and that of others, surely suggests that this judgment is much overstated. Media can, indeed, have measurable political effects. This book is one addition to that important correction of the old standard wisdom in the study of politics.

The book is also worth looking at because of its notice of the relevance of psychology and the neurosciences for understanding why emotional elements in political ads can have such an effect. This demonstrates powerfully the importance of cross-disciplinary research.

Final judgment? For those interested in the effects of emotion on politics, this is yet another nice addition to the library.

Interesting book.......2007-08-06

Although it has to do mainly with the US political reality, there are interesting views useful for those from other countries.
It could be a little thinner if the author didn't reiterate some points more than twice, but it's an interesting and fun read.

Academic insights meet practical application.......2006-02-27

Ted Brader's "Campaigning for Hearts and Minds: How Emotional Appeals in Political Ads Work" drives yet another nail into the coffin of academic wisdom that voters are either rational decision-makers or complacent habit-following creatures by providing compelling evidence for the role of emotions in political campaigns. Building off of George Marcus, Russell Neuman and Michael MacKuens' model of "Affective Intelligence", Ted Brader applies the rarely employed experimental method to "everyday people" during a Massachusetts gubernatorial campaign to explicate the process and outcome of their viewing televised political advertisements of differing emotional content and tone. Brader then carries out a content analysis of 1,565 political advertisements from the 2004 election to provide insights as to how the emotions of enthusiasm and fear are used to influence potential voters. His often counter-intuitive experimental findings on how subtle visual and audio cues affect voters' emotions, especially those of informed and interested voters, makes this book required reading for those interested in the "real world" of politics and campaigning. His content analysis findings reinforce his experimental findings by illustrating how political advertisements are used in political campaigns across the United States. In sum, this book is a must-read for anyone interested in learning how emotions influence politics by substantially advancing our understanding of how emotions drive our political thoughts, decisions, and actions.

Infotopia: How Many Minds Produce Knowledge

Average customer rating:

Read the 1/5 about deliberation, leave the rest.
I added it to my syllabus immediately
A thoughtful consideration
Complements Wikinomics, Solid but Incomplete
Infotopia -

Infotopia: How Many Minds Produce Knowledge
Cass R. Sunstein
Manufacturer: Oxford University Press, USA
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0195189280

Book Description

The rise of the "information society" offers not only considerable peril but also great promise. Beset from all sides by a never-ending barrage of media, how can we ensure that the most accurate information emerges and is heeded? In this book, Cass R. Sunstein develops a deeply optimistic understanding of the human potential to pool information, and to use that knowledge to improve our lives. In an age of information overload, it is easy to fall back on our own prejudices and insulate ourselves with comforting opinions that reaffirm our core beliefs. Crowds quickly become mobs. The justification for the Iraq war, the collapse of Enron, the explosion of the space shuttle Columbia--all of these resulted from decisions made by leaders and groups trapped in "information cocoons," shielded from information at odds with their preconceptions. How can leaders and ordinary people challenge insular decision making and gain access to the sum of human knowledge? Stunning new ways to share and aggregate information, many Internet-based, are helping companies, schools, governments, and individuals not only to acquire, but also to create, ever-growing bodies of accurate knowledge. Through a ceaseless flurry of self-correcting exchanges, wikis, covering everything from politics and business plans to sports and science fiction subcultures, amass--and refine--information. Open-source software enables large numbers of people to participate in technological development. Prediction markets aggregate information in a way that allows companies, ranging from computer manufacturers to Hollywood studios, to make better decisions about product launches and office openings. Sunstein shows how people can assimilate aggregated information without succumbing to the dangers of the herd mentality--and when and why the new aggregation techniques are so astoundingly accurate. In a world where opinion and anecdote increasingly compete on equal footing with hard evidence, the on-line effort of many minds coming together might well provide the best path to infotopia.

Customer Reviews:

Read the 1/5 about deliberation, leave the rest........2007-06-14

In the 1960's, legal scholars discovered what the rest of us always knew: that pure legal scholarship is really, really boring. Law and economics demonstrated that a multidisciplinary approach could breath fresh life into the corpse of law. Then, suddenly, all the rock star law professors were interdisciplinarians. And along with this devaluation of pure legal thought came a general loss of intellectual rigor. By the 1990's, celebrity law professors were becoming like journalists with really good grades, each writing outside of his or her area of competence with an astonishing self-confidence. Richard Posner, who was on relatively solid ground in economics, crowned himself an expert on military intelligence. Lawrence Lessig wrote a whole series of books without any thesis or logical argument. And this new breed of scholar seemed to be in a race to publish as much as possible as quickly as possible, without regard for quality.

I have always thought that Cass Sunstein epitomizes the worst of this trend. He seems to rush a book into print every couple of years, and with each new work drifts further and further away from "law." But after hearing him on Russ Roberts' fantastic EconTalk podcast, I was genuinely dying to read this book. The topics chosen are all fascinating, and no one has really treated them all under one roof before.

The problem is that, once again, Sunstein has given short shrift to these topics. All of them, with the exception of group deliberation, has been covered better elsewhere. Where Sunstein is not stealing the limelight from people like Robin Hanson (prediction markets) he is rehashing the pop science books of people like James Surowieki (statistical group judgments).

The reason this book gets three stars instead of zero is that the material on bias in group deliberation is genuinely insightful and original. In brief: deliberative bodies make very poor decisions, due to a whole slew of biases and feedback loops. When Sunstein suggests that we reform deliberative bodies, generally, to incorporate anonymous voting and minority voices, he is offering something genuinely useful. (Interestingly, at one point in the podcast mentioned above, Sunstein all but admits that this was initiated as a book about deliberation and that the project was changed to incorporate the other topics in media res. This explains a lot.) Read it for the bits on deliberation, but be prepared to be bored and underwhelmed by large portions.

I added it to my syllabus immediately.......2007-06-07

I originally bought this book as a birthday present for my brother, a philosopher, and then immediately stole it from him. (I gave it back after I bought my own copy.) The book paints a frightening picture of how group processes can lead us very, very astray. In many ways, it reads as a sequel to his book on Punitive Damages, which documents frightening trends for experimental jury pools to assign harsher damages than the individual jurors planned to assign in pre-deliberation surveys.

I quickly added the chapters on group deliberation failures to the syllabus for my class on psychology and economics. My only trepidation was that I am also assigning sections of Punitive Damages and Laws of Fear, so there's now an entire unit on Cass Sunstein's work. But he does an excellent job of exploring in readable prose the societal consequences of psychological influences on choice. As such, his books offer a very accessible mirror into aspects of bounded rationality or heuristics & biases that we study in economics. I figure the marginal contribution of this book, in terms of class discussion and actual post-exam take-aways, exceed the contribution of a few more technical empirical papers.... At least, I hope that turns out to be the case!

A thoughtful consideration.......2007-05-25

Of when and why these techniques (polling, prediction markets, blogs, wiki, FOSS) work -- and when they don't.

Despite the title this isn't a collection of breathless prose, but a thinking through of the underlying principles e.g., prediction markets don't work for supreme court justice picks because real information about the choice is highly concentrated.

Which is exactly the type of thought process that is necessary if you want to put one of these techniques to use.

Complements Wikinomics, Solid but Incomplete.......2007-01-17

I was initially disappointed, but adjusted my expectations when I reminded myself that the author is at root a lawyer. The bottom line on this book is that it provided a very educated and well-footnoted discourse the nature and prospects for group deliberation, but there are three *huge* missing pieces:

1) Education as the necessary continuous foundation for deliberation

2) Collective Intelligence as an emerging discipline (see the Innovators spread sheet at Earth Intelligence Network); and

3) No reference to Serious Games/Games for Change or budgets as a foundation for planning the future rather than predicting it.

In the general overview the author discusses information cocoons (self-segregation and myopia) and information influences/social pressures that can repress free thinking and sharing.

The four big problems that he finds in the history of deliberation are amplifying errors; hidden profiles & favoring common or "familiar" knowledge; cascades & polarization; and negative reinforements from being within a narrow group.

Today I am missing a meeting on Predictive Markets in DC (AEI-Brookings) and while I regret that, I have thoroughly enjoyed the author's deep look at Prediction Markets, with special reference to Google and Microsoft use of these internally. This book, at a minimum, provides the very best overview of prediction markets that I have come across. At the end of the book is an appendix listing 18 specific predictions markets with their URLs.

The author goes on to provide an overview of the Wiki world, and is generally very kind to Jimbo Wales and Wikipedia, and less focused on the many altneratives and enhancements of the open Wiki. It would have been helpful here to have some insights for the general reader on Doug Englebart's Open Hypertextdocument System (OHS) and Pierre Levy's Information Economy Meta Language (IEML), both of which may well leave the mob-like open wiki's in the dust.

Worthy of note: Soar Technology is quoted as saying that Wikis cut project development time in half.

The book draws to a close with further discussion of the challenges of self-segregation, the options for aggregating views and knowledge and for encouraging feedback, and the urgency of finding incentives to induce full disclosure and full participation from all who have something to contribute.

This book excels in its own narrowly-chosen domain, but it is isolated from the larger scheme of things including needed educational changes, the importance of belief systems as the objective of Intelligence and Information Operations (I2O), the role of Serious Games/Games for Change, and the considerable work that has been done by Collective Intelligence pioneers, who just held their first convergence conference call on 15 January 2007.

Final note: the author uses NASA and the Columbia disaster, and CIA and the Iraq disaster, as examples, but does not adequately discuss the pathologies of bureaucracy and the politicization of intelligence and space. As a former CIA employee who also reads a great deal, I can assert with confidence that CIA has no trouble aggregating all that it knew, including the reports of the 30 line crossers who went in and then came back to report there were no Weapons of Mass Destruction. CIA has two problems: 1) Dick Cheney refused to listen; and 2) George Tenet lacked the integrity to go public and go to Congress to challenge Dick Cheney's malicious and impeachable offenses against America (see my reviews of "VICE" and of "One Percent Doctrine" on Cheney, and my many reviews on the mistakes leading up to and within the Iraq war). See also my reviews of "Fog Facts" and "Lost History" and Gaddis' "The Landscape of History."

To end on an upbeat note, what I see in this book, and "Wikinomics" and "Collective Intelligence" and "Tao of Democracy" and my own "The New Craft of Intelligence: Personal, Public, & Political," is a desperate need for Amazon to take on the task of aggregating books and building out from books to create social communities where all these books can be "seen" and "read" and "understood" as a whole. We remain fragmented in the production and dissemination of information, and consequently, in our own mind-sets and world-views. Time to change that, perhaps with Wiki-books that lock-down the original and then give free license to apply OHS linkages at the paragraph level, and unlimited wike build-outs. That's what I am in Seattle to discuss this week.

Infotopia - .......2007-01-10

I have an interest in development of creative ideas and themes by small groups. I read this book to expand my knowledge.

On the high side, I was fascinated with the Jury Theorem and outcomes of statistical groups. I derived the formula on page 234 and played with different probabilties and group sizes to understand sensitivities. Lots of fun. I can see why political strategists would want to identify and slant a campaign to a (probably) small percentage of people to sway an election.

I was a little disappointed in the chapters about deliberations and problems in groups which seemed to apply to larger group sizes. Much seemed to be common sense not worthy of a lot of theoretical research - my personal interest is different. In my own career, I found that understanding personalities and agendas was extremely important because my arguments could then be tailored so others could best hear.

I played a prediction market game (MIT Technology Futures) for a while, but drifted away because I had no vested interest. Winning a TV set didn't turn me on. It seems to me that the prediction market must have real significance to succeed and be useful. If the emotions aren't there or are negative (eg. DOD predicting wars), it may not draw a large and informed crowd.

I am a casual user of Wikis and find Wikipedia useful especially in math and science. The soft stuff takes me a lot of time to understand writers' viewpoints, true also for blogs that I occasionally run across. That certainly stretches my critical thinking, but sometimes I don't want to think - I just want the answer or an answer from someone I trust.

Regarding the author's bottom line, I certainly agree that markets and democracy rest on the belief that many minds can be trusted. I would like to see the author make the jump from his theoretical world to that of real people working in small groups.

Phantasmagoria: Spirit Visions, Metaphors, and Media

Average customer rating:

Not reliable
The Historical Mystery of the Soul

Phantasmagoria: Spirit Visions, Metaphors, and Media
Marina Warner
Manufacturer: Oxford University Press, USA
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

Metaphysics | Philosophy | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books

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ASIN: 0199299943

Book Description

Phantasmagoria explores ideas of spirit and soul since the Enlightenment; it traces metaphors that have traditionally conveyed the presence of immaterial forces, and reveals how such pagan and Christian imagery about ethereal beings are embedded in a logic of the imagination, clothing spirits in the languages of air, clouds, light and shadow, glass, and ether itself. Moving from Wax to Film, the book also discusses key questions of imagination and cognition, and probes the perceived distinctions between fantasy and deception; it uncovers a host of spirit forms -- angels, ghosts, fairies, revenants, and zombies -- that are still actively present in contemporary culture. It reveals how their transformations over time illuminate changing idea about the self. Phantasmagoria also tells the accompanying story about the means used to communicate such ideas, and relates how the new technologies of the Victorian era were applied to figuring the invisible and the impalpable, and how magic lanterns (the phantasmagoria shows themselves), radio, photography and then moving pictures spread ideas about spirit forces. As the story unfolds, the book features the many eminent men and women -- scientists and philosophers -- who in the Society of Psychical Research applied their considerable energies to the question of other worlds and other states of mind: they staged trance seances in which mediums produced spirit phenomena, including ectoplasm. The book shows how this often embarrassing story connects with some of the important scientific discoveries of a fertile age, in psychology and physics. Over a sequence of twenty-eight chapters, with over thirty illustrations in colour and black and white, Phantasmagoria thus tells an unexpected and often uncomfortable story about shifts in thought about consciousness and the individual person, from the first public waxworks portraits at the end of the eighteenth century to stories of hauntings, possession, and loss of self as in the case of the zombie, a popular figure of soulessness, in modern times.

Customer Reviews:

Not reliable.......2007-06-29

To be fair, I should state I haven't read this book, but checking it a little against my knowledge, I find it inaccurate. On p. 208 Warner says that George MacDonald wrote a "series" about a boy hero, Curdie. No: he wrote two books, and I wouldn't call two books a series. Warner says that one of the "most successful" Curdie stories is At the Back of the North Wind, but this is a book in which Curdie doesn't appear at all.Warner calls Stevenson's Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde "the most famous doppelganger story of all," but it is not a doppelganger story at all.

The Historical Mystery of the Soul.......2006-12-10

In a spoof of a college curriculum brochure, Woody Allen listed the following course description: "Metaphysics: What happens to the soul after death? How does it manage?" Nearly as funny, but unintentionally so, was the query on a questionnaire sent all over the British Empire by the Victorian anthropologist James Frazer, who was making an inquiry into "the Customs, Beliefs, and Languages of Savages". The question was, "Does [the soul] resemble a shadow, a reflection, a breath, or what?" Presumably the savages all had different ideas, but that doesn't mean that academics and divines all had a uniform and agreed-upon concept of what a soul is (or how it manages). How soul or spirit has been visualized or otherwise manifest in modern history is the theme of _Phantasmagoria: Spirit Visions, Metaphors, and Media into the Twenty-first Century_ (Oxford University Press) by Marina Warner. As a professor of literature, Warner has written an academic work, large and weighty and ballasted with plenty of footnotes. It is wide-ranging and often scattershot, taking in vampires, zombies, magic lanterns, Rorschach inkblots, Peter Pan, psychic photography, time travel, automata, ether, purgatory, transubstantiation, and much more. Warner is astonishingly well-read and knowledgeable, and consistently if the erudition gets too thick for the reader in one chapter, there will be agreeable surprises in the next.

Souls are important things, even if many of us don't have the same beliefs in God or gods that we used to. Warner writes, "Even when we profess agnosticism if not unbelief in a supernatural order, we are the inheritors of much classical cosmology and medieval philosophy about spirit and soul - in unconscious ways and in common parlance." If the soul cannot be completely described, that doesn't bother the author; she has given a broad examination of western attempts to do so. The book takes a more-or-less chronological tour of soul-stuffs, starting, surprisingly enough, with wax, and the lack of souls in waxworks. Souls have also long been connected with breath or with air. Aristotle believed that the "spirit which is contained in the foamy body of the semen" was conveyed by the father. The air in the sky was sometimes thought to be full of souls, and everyone in a cold climate could see that exhaled breath was a little cloud. From souls as material objects we pass into souls as manifestations of light or shadow. We have delighted for a couple of centuries in devices that project forms of light and shadow for us. The original phantasmagoria meant "an assembly of phantoms" and was applied to magic lantern shows, such as those of the notorious Etienne Gaspard Robertson, who found that projecting pictures in a darkened crypt got the best effect if the pictures were scary, like a Medusa's head or the ghost of Banquo. He thus set us up "... for the coming of the horror video, its ghouls, ghosts, and vampire-infested suburbs." Snapping pix of souls was all in a day's work for the spiritualists, with the new art of photography growing along with the new "science" of the séance. The scientists and objective observers never did find a good explanation of how immaterial souls or spirits interact with the material world to let us hear, see, or photograph them.

Warner writes, "The brain balks at non-meaning; meaninglessness, like formlessness, becomes the dominant scandal against reason, and reason, seeking to abolish it, generates fantasies ..." Her book is full of strange wonders, like divine portents in the sky such as "rains of frogs or of fish (and sometimes saucepans)", or the persistent story of the Angels of Mons supporting the good guys in World War One (acclaimed as a true vision against the protests of the man who had written it as a fictional story). _Phantasmagoria_ is a report on centuries of figments of the imagination, and reflects the understanding that ghosts and demons were present in the olden days of any period in the past, and will be with us in newer forms revealed by newer technologies and story-telling powers.

Average customer rating:

Reads Like Keel's dropped his notes and never rearranged them
A Jumbled but Intriguing Mix of Natural and Supernatural
Take with the box of salt the ultra-dimensional beings request
Interesting
SCARY AS HELL!!!!

The Mothman Prophecies
John A. Keel
Manufacturer: Tor Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Movie Tie-Ins | Genre Fiction | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books

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Book Description

West Virginia, 1966. For thirteen months the town of Point Pleasant is gripped by a real-life nightmare that culminates in a strategy that makes headlines around the world. Strange occurrences and sightings, including a bizarre winged apparition that becomes known as the Mothman, trouble this ordinary American community. Mysterious lights are seen moving across the sky. Domestic animals are found slaughtered and mutilated. And journalist John Keel, arriving to investigate the freakish events, soon finds himself an integral part of an eerie and unfathomable mystery....

Customer Reviews:

Reads Like Keel's dropped his notes and never rearranged them.......2007-09-30

Excellent and suspenseful information. All over the place as far as the material. We travel back and forth from West Virgina to London to Ohio... and back again. Would have enjoyed it if the first part of the book was supporting information as to the phenomena itself and how it has indeed appeared elsewhere in history, how the phenomena ties to UFO sightings etc. but Keel's hypothesis that all paranormal activity comes from a parallel universe it difficult to believe, even for paranormal studies. I'm sure that is a first.

Although the book was suspenseful and written well, it was just organized poorly. Revise, John. You can do it.

A Jumbled but Intriguing Mix of Natural and Supernatural.......2007-09-12

When I was a kid, I collected all sorts of books on the supernatural and unexplained. UFOs, Bigfoot, ghosts, the Loch Ness Monster. There was no mystery that didn't interest me. One of the books I found was called THE MOTHMAN PROPHECIES.

Growing up in Southern Ohio on the Ohio River, I didn't take much interest in this book. Probably because it read like a jumbled mess of monsters, UFO sightings, Men in Black, etc., and that the idea of a moth-man monster flying through the skies just down the river from where I lived sounded preposterous (even to a wishful, wide-eyed kid).

I didn't read the book until after they'd made the recent film with Richard Gere and Laura Linney. The movie manages to pull the creepiest moments but it didn't quite work either. (My major complaint remains that you can't have a monster movie and never give us a good look at the monster).

But I read the book and found it alternately interesting and amusing. Keel does a good job of taking the most outlandish elements of his "investigation" and blending them into a logical procession of ideas (if not always a logical story).

It's fun if you don't take it too seriously. I still enjoy the creepy thrill of mystery at the edges of our shrinking world...no matter how far-fetched and outlandish they sound. The Mothman of West Virginia certainly falls into that category.

The creature has taken on a life of its own. There's a 12-foot statue of the Mothman (it looks more like reptile-like Sleestak from "Land of the Lost" than a real Mothman) standing in Point Pleasant, West Virginia and a museum I hope to visit someday. Documentaries play on the Travel Channel and on youtube.com about the legend. I just saw there's a festival for the Mothman in Point Pleasant this month (Sept) so I'll have to check that out sometime if I'm back that way during that time.

For more info, check out the 5-part "The Search for the Mothman" on youtube and definitely the 3-part "The Mothman Debunked" also on youtube.com.

Take with the box of salt the ultra-dimensional beings request.......2007-04-16

The Mothman Prophecies opens with a mysterious event--an unusual-looking stranger knocks on a door in rural West Virginia during a storm to ask to use a phone. The couple who live in the house can't help him--and three weeks later both are victims of the Silver Bridge collapse. A visit from the devil, one of his minions, or the angel of death? No. As it turns out, it was Keel himself, stranded and looking for assistance. This first anecdote shows how easy it is for superstitious people to misinterpret an ordinary event.

Most of The Mothman Prophecies consists of such anecdotes, some with explanations, many without. Many, not all, occur in the Ohio valley area centering on Point Pleasant, the focal point of the "Mothman" sightings, Point Pleasant was located on the West Virginia side of the Silver Bridge, which collapsed on December 15, 1967, due to a combination of factors, including heavy, backed-up traffic and a flawed piece of steel, the failure of which triggered the bridge's collapse.

Keel cleverly builds on anecdote after anecdote. Even if some are questionable or unbelievable, they all can't be, or that seems to be his rationale. Dozens of witnesses can't be mistaken, lying, or paranoid. For the susceptible, this accumulation of horror stories makes this a frightening book. Some of those people, including Keel himself, must have seen something--from the strangely moving lights in the sky to the aerodynamically impossible "Mothman," which doesn't flap its apparently unnecessary wings but flies straight up like a helicopter.

Keel decries "self-style investigators" and believes himself to be a thorough professional. Yet his reporting, whether first- or second-hand, is full of holes. He tells of an odd stranger with "thyroid eyes" (a common feature of these sightings) who comes into a fashionable New York City watering hole but can't read the menu and doesn't know how to cut or eat a steak. He tells the waitress he's from "another world." That is where Keel leaves the story, "a stranger in a strange land," with some seemingly trivial but critical questions unasked and unanswered, such as: Did he understand what the check was? How did he pay? Did he know to leave a tip? If so, did he leave an appropriate one? Where did he keep his money and what condition was it in? Without answers to those questions--things that a waitress would easily remember--her assessment that he's "another put-on artist" seems most likely.

He visits a farm where, coincidentally, the farmer has seen a UFO that frightened his cows off (in another anecdote, the exposed cows are found dead), burns out a piece of electrical equipment, and leaves behind a "fairy circle." All this is so familiar to Keel that he doesn't bring in someone to perform chemical analyses to see, for example, if there is any kind of residue in the circle that would help to explain its cause. The opportunity seems to be deliberately missed.

Conveniently, Keel's "ultra-dimensional beings" operate in a way that precludes independent verification of their existence. Cameras and film malfunction. Supporting witnesses are rendered unconscious or develop amnesia. While Keel believes these beings are interested in him, they contact him primarily through third parties whose reliability is questionable. When "Jane" reports that an envelope he sent was tampered with in the mail, he never considers the possibility that this woman, whose behavior is odd, is telling him what he wants to hear.

The beings also control the behavior of contactees. Dozens of "Orientals" with "sharp features" (since when do Asians have "sharp features"?) and "thyroid eyes" are invited into homes for hours at a time, and their questions about personal matters are answered freely. Personally, I don't know anyone who would do this.

"Jane" obligingly takes pills provided by her contacts,which make her ill and which prove to be an ordinary sulfa drug. Other people don't hesitate to climb aboard alien ships. Perhaps most telling, many of the descriptions are vague and refer to contemporary fixtures and technology. "Frosted glass" is one of the few details provided, and "Men in Black," who are smart enough to produced unissued license plate numbers but not smart enough to obtain late-model vehicles, use the same kind of camera and clunky flash available to 1960s reporters.

Keel cites a conversation with Gray Barker, who claimed not to have spoken with him on that occasion; Barker was later proven to be a hoaxer, and witnesses claimed that he did make the call while drunk. In fact, between "Jane's" assertions, Keel's stretched association of "A Pal" with "Apholes," and his phone troubles, he seems to have become a paranoiac by the end. He even determines that the phone company is tapping his phone, but doesn't explain why.

He assesses the reliability of each of his witnesses, but he is not reliable. For example, he discusses a map developed by anthropologists that shows that Indians avoided West Virginia. Keel doesn't provide a source, which makes it difficult to verify this assertion. Of course, there were Indians in West Virginia, despite his claim.

The Mothman Prophecies is entertaining, and Keel tries to make the cumulative evidence compelling. The "facts" are not always accurate, the witnesses are not reliable ("Jane," his favorite, least of all), and questions are not raised or answered.

In 2007, do "ultra-dimensional beings" tap into digital phones? VOIP? Mobiles? E-mail? Instant messages? Digital cable? Have they adapted to today's technology? The anxieties that underlie The Mothman Prophecies seem to reflect those of the times--the fears surrounding the Cold War, Eisenhower's "military-industrial complex," and big government. The Mothman Prophecies is a manifestation of the troubled times in which it was set. Today's "Mothman" or "Indrid Cold" might be very different creatures indeed.

Diane Schirf
15 April 2007.

Interesting.......2006-10-23

This was a very fascinating read. It does not focus only on Mothamn sightings, but all the other strange events that were supposed to have happened. If you are looking for a book that will prove Mothman exists, I don't think this is the proper book for you. It is mainly about what went on from the first sighting of Mothman to the felling of the bridge. There were a lot of strange happenings during that time. I read this as "I'm presenting you with the information as to what heppened as I saw it and was involved in it, and you make up your mind as to whether its true or not".

SCARY AS HELL!!!!.......2006-09-03

I LOVED THE MOVIE BASED ON THIS BOOK SO I DECIDED TO BUY & READ THE BOOK FOR MYSELF. I THOUGHT I WOULD READ IT WHEN I WAS UP ALONE LATE ONE NIGHT AFTER MY HUSBAND HAD GONE TO BED. THAT WAS NOT SUCH A GOOD IDEA! THE BOOK SCARED ME MORE THAN THE MOVIE DID! I AM NOT SAYING THAT I ACCEPT EVERYTHING IN THIS BOOK AS PURE FACT, BUT I DO BELIEVE IN THE SUPERNATURAL AND IT CAN BE VERY, VERY SCARY. AT ANY RATE, WHETHER THIS BOOK IS TRUE OR NOT IT IS VERY INTERESTING & A VERY GOOD & EASY READ. I JUST DON'T RECCOMEND THAT YOU READ IT WHEN YOURE UP ALONE LATE AT NIGHT. IT MIGHT JUST GIVE YOU THE CREEPS LIKE IT DID ME. I WAS SPOOKED FOR THE REST OF THE NIGHT AND PART OF THE NEXT DAY! THE EVENTS IN THIS BOOK ARE VERY BIZAREE & CREEPY!!!!!! (JUST A FAIR WARNING!!!!) BUT LIKE I SAID IT WAS A VERY GOOD READ. 5 STARS.

Bodies in Code: Interfaces with Digital Media

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Bodies in Code: Interfaces with Digital Media
Mark B.N. Hansen
Manufacturer: Routledge
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0415970164

Book Description

Bodies in Code explores how our bodies experience and adapt to digital environments. Cyberculture theorists have tended to overlook biological reality when talking about virtual reality, and Mark B. N. Hansen's book shows what they've been missing. Cyberspace is anchored in the body, he argues, and it's the body--not high-tech computer graphics--that allows a person to feel like they are really "moving" through virtual reality. Of course these virtual experiences are also profoundly affecting our very understanding of what it means to live as embodied beings.

Hansen draws upon recent work in visual culture, cognitive science, and new media studies, as well as examples of computer graphics, websites, and new media art, to show how our bodies are in some ways already becoming virtual.

Dangerous Minds: They Were Problem Kids With One Last Chance . . . Her

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My book review
Where Are The Good Teachers?
Couldn't Get Any Better
Erika
Dangerous Minds

Dangerous Minds: They Were Problem Kids With One Last Chance . . . Her
LouAnne Johnson
Manufacturer: St. Martin's Paperbacks
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Mass Market Paperback

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Queen of Education: Common Sense Rules for Making Schools Work (Jossey-Bass Education)

ASIN: 0312956207

Book Description

She bullied, bluffed, and bribed her students into caring about school.And if that didn't work, the pretty, petite ex-marine told them she'd been trained to kill with her bare hands.They were called the class from Hell-thirty-four inner city sophomores she inherited from a teacher who'd been "pushed over the edge." She was told "those kids have tasted blood. They're dangerous."But LouAnne Johnson had a different idea. Where the school system saw thirty-four unreachable kids, she saw young men and women with intelligence and dreams. When others gave up on them, she broke the rules to give them the best things a teacher can give-hope and belief in themselves. When statistics showed the chances were they'd never graduate, she fought to beat the odds.This is her remarkable story-and theirs. If you loved Stand and Deliver, you'll stand up and cheer for LouAnne Johnson and Dangerous Minds.

Customer Reviews:

My book review.......2006-04-18

Dangerous Minds by Louanne Johnson is a nonfictional book about troubled students trying to get by in high school and in everyday life. Teachers and other staff members gave up on these troubled students, but there is one teacher who refused to give up on her students,Miss.Johnson. Miss.Johnson did everything in her power to make sure her students stayed out of trouble and in school. I recommend this book to all students to read; it gives an inside look at how one teacher can truly make an impact on students' lives.

Where Are The Good Teachers?.......2006-04-18

Louanne Johnson was and excellent teacher,one whose attitude you don't see in teachers these days. I like how she showed her concern for her students she wrote about and how she helped them succeed. I didn't like how she jumped around in the story. I didn't know what grade she was teaching. I would recommend this book to teachers who have students like Johnson.

Couldn't Get Any Better.......2005-11-22

Dangerous Minds by Louanne Johnson is a real life story about a woman and her experiences teaching in an inner city program for unfortunate kids. I'm not much of a reader, but this story really got me interested. You can tell that this story is for real, by what happens. This story appeals to me because I can relate to it. Many other younger people could relate to this story and that is why I would actually recommend this to any young kid that has a rough time in school. To some extent it has some lessons to it. For example, she teaches her kids to be respectful of themselves. Without a doubt in my mind if any young kids read this they would fully enjoy this heart felt story.

Erika.......2005-11-22

Dangerous Minds by Louanne Johnson was an inspirational book about one teacher who changed the minds of several troubled teenage students. This book caught my attention for many different reasons. Each student had to deal with their own individual problems, and Ms. Johnson was always there to help them get by. She taught her students the true meaning of school, and they soon were appreciative of all the time she gave to them. This book went straight to my heart and I feel for all the characters. As I was reading the book I would be so involved with Ms. Johnson's school days that I wouldn't want to put the book down. I would recommend this book to both teachers and students. This book shows that there are teachers that are willing to stick through just about anything to help their students succeed and become better people in their lives ahead.

Dangerous Minds.......2005-11-22

Dangerous Minds was indeed a great book! It really attracts your interest. This book is about a teacher named Ms. Johnson, who is an ex-marine. She taught at a public high school in West Los Angeles, which was overcrowded with negativity, drugs, gangs, and everything that came with the territory. Through it all Ms. Johnson was able to overcome the negativity by helping the students. She taught the importance of education. Ms. Johnson helped her students with everything from family problems, to even loaning money if they needed it.
I recommend this book to students as well as to teachers. I think this shows that there are good teachers out there, and students should give them a chance to teach and not take advantage of that opportunity.

Everything Is Under Control: Conspiracies, Cults, and Cover-ups

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Superficial, uneven, and dated -- but still worth a look
Fun, but needs updating
The book THEY don't want you to read
Unreadable
VERY, very enjoyable...

Everything Is Under Control: Conspiracies, Cults, and Cover-ups
Robert A. Wilson
Manufacturer: Collins
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0062734172
Release Date: 1998-06-23

Amazon.com

Robert Anton Wilson is the grand pooh-bah of late-20th-century conspiracy theory, but regular Wilson fans may find Everything Is Under Control inchoate in comparison to such masterworks as the Illuminatus! trilogy. The format may be encyclopedic, but the information isn't; to note one glaring omission, the only entries on Ronald Reagan refer readers to three other entries in which Reagan is briefly mentioned--none of which has anything to do with Iran-Contra. (Actually, there is a listing for Iran-Contra, but again, it merely points to some of the pieces of the puzzle.)

The book's primary value, then, apart from the snippets of conspiracy "proof" it does provide, is in Wilson's playful yet insightful articulation of the psychology and linguistics of conspiratorial thinking. "Because we can say 'the Jews' or 'the New World Order' or 'the Patriarchy,'" he writes, "we can believe, or almost believe, that these grammatical abstractions have the same kind of reality as basketballs, barking dogs, and baked beans." There are also some fun private jokes, including a lot of data on the Discordians. It's not the best Wilson book--that, perhaps, is Masks of the Illuminati--but it's an adequate introduction to his imaginative philosophy. --Ron Hogan

Book Description

Before the X-Files, before alt.conspiracy, there was Robert Anton Wilson and his legendary Illuminatus! Trilogy. Now this avatar of conspiriology, renowned for his razor wit and progressive philosophy, takes you on a fascinating, eclectic ride through what Wilson has termed the "Cultic Twilight" where conspiracy theories flourish.

Everything Is Under Control covers the range of Wilson's kaleidoscopic knowledge, from John Adams to the Voronezh (former Soviet Union) UFO sighting, the Campus Crusade for Cthulhu to the Mothman prophecies, and everything in between. What do the Freemasons, the Kennedys, and Princess Diana have in common? All are at the center of gigantic conspiracy theories with incredibly complex and endlessly multiplying twists, turns, highways and byways. Arranged by alphabetical entries which include cross-references to other entries in the book and also provide addresses to related sites on the Web, this book is truly interactive--you can dip in, read through, or follow one of the URLs from an interesting entry onto the internet.

What some famous people say about Robert Anton Wilson:

"A dazzling barker hawking tickets to the most thrilling tilt-a-whirls and daring loop-o-planes on the midway to higher consciousness."
--Tom Robbins
"Wilson managed to reverse every mental polarity in me, as if I had been pulled through infinity."
--Philip K. Dick
"One of the most important scientific philosophers of his century--scholarly, witty, scientific, hip and hopeful."
--Dr. Timothy Leary

Customer Reviews:

Superficial, uneven, and dated -- but still worth a look.......2007-08-03

Much as I love Robert Anton Wilson, I have to be fairly critical of this offering, especially with 10 years passing since its publication.

"Everything is Under Control" is set up like an encyclopedia, but given the brevity of each entry works better as a bathroom reader. The material included is somewhat uneven: I'm not sure why there are all the references to Discordianism and the Church of Subgenius -- neither of which counts as a conspiracy. There is also considerable space devoted to Recovered Memory Sydrome, which again doesn't really count.

Most entries have web sites listed at the end if the reader is interested in more information, but alas many of them are no longer valid. Likewise, several of the conspiracies that have entries have been debunked since the book's publication, notably the Priory of Sion. Admittedly, RAW did give lip service to suggesting that the Priory may be "...nothing but an elaborate hoax by some witty French aristocrats" [p.348] but I got the impression he actually bought into it.

Despite these flaws, the book does offer up some interesting information on various topics, many of which I was not previously aware of. And, as always, Wilson's sardonic wit shines through.

If you're after a "serious" or "academic" compendium of conspiracies, cults, and cover-ups, this book will quite likely frustrate you, but if you're after something more generalized and light-hearted, give it a go.

Fun, but needs updating.......2006-03-27

This book is great for browsing through occasionally - would probably be good bathroom reading - as long as you don't take it too seriously. The "conspiracies" range from satirical to loopy to almost believable. My favorite is the unbelievably convoluted "plot" surrounding the death of Princess Diana. Since I've just finished another book about conspiracy theories, I was disappointed not to find anything on the "reptilian" aliens, which seem to be quite popular on the late-night fringe - or at least they were a few years ago when I worked the third shift across from an Art Bell fan.

I would love to see a new edition - a lot has happened since 1998.

The book THEY don't want you to read.......2005-09-26

`Everything is Under Control' is an A to Z listing of hundreds of conspiracy theories and cover-ups that pervade the minds of paranoids. The main issue I had with the book is how quickly the author cruises through topics. Some items are touched on so lightly that I'm not even sure what Mr. Wilson is talking about. It's disappointing not because the subject matter is boring but because it's so interesting that the short descriptions left me wanting more.

Although the author is clearly a skeptic concerning many of the classic conspiracy theories not all conspiracies are equal and his lack of commentary may leave some readers confused. The Church of the Sub-Genius is fairly self evident as parody while others like the Discordian Society may be less so and the author doesn't discern between parody and sincere conspiracy theories. The other problem is that he doesn't differentiate between the absurd and the likely, for instance when Noam Chomsky claims that the media is owned by a handful of billionaires it's not really a conspiracy theory since it's pretty much true. On the other hand the Illuminati's relationship with extra-terrestrials is clearly the product of some overactive imaginations. When Mr. Wilson talks about a seemingly legit conspiracy like the P2 in Italy (which I had never heard of) it's hard for me to know whether or not to take it seriously. I think the book would have been improved if the author had gone into more detail on less subjects. Do people really care about Howard Hughes's legal difficulties with TWA or whether John Hull ran guns through Costa Rica or that psychologists spent a million dollars to avoid government regulations?

In some ways the author is like a magician who doesn't want to reveal his tricks. There is a tiny bit of debunking and some subtle tweaks to the reader but the conspiracies are generally presented as is leaving it up to us to decide. Did our government really do extensive testing with chemical agents on unsuspecting American populaces during the 50's and 60's? There is enough known evidence that it is certainly plausible.

Despite any issues I had with the organization and focus of the book I found it absolutely fascinating and had a difficult time putting it down. I suppose it might fall under the category of a reference guide or introductory primer to the world of paranoia. I look forward to reading other books by the author that go into more detail.

Unreadable.......2005-09-10

This book is lousy. There is no depth to any theory portrayed and it is organized as an encyclopedia.

I suppose I should have looked more closely at the attributes of the book before purchasing, but this has been a major disappointment.

VERY, very enjoyable..........2004-01-01

I have a problem with this book, in that I practically wet myself reading it... or was it another one? Time I got it again, anyway. After a year or two I had to get another copy because it literally fell apart from too much reading (which is, honestly, very possible).

A long, long while ago, in easier days, I had a bunch of friends who were very educated and knew British political history betwen them from the beginning of the 20th century through to the seventies, but that was a long while ago, and I sure miss these guys. There was enough conspiracy material in there to fuel a bonfire! My point is, that beside British Political history, they also knew about philosophy pretty well, Heidigger, Kant, Popper, the works. Also Joni Mitchell, Ralph McTell, Wishbone Ash, etc, etc. Where are you now, brave lads?

I have a feeling that they may never have seen this book, and this brings me to my real problems - is it all really true? is the secular world so very confused in this way?

I know that RAW is uniquely gifted, and we all love him over here, but the one thing that makes me secretly unsure is the consistency between the writing style ...and the content of the fictional world of the Illuminatus books and this documentary book. Is this the ultimate joke, a complex work of partial fiction?

My problem is that RAW obviously knows a huge amount of real history and could run circles round nearly anyone I know at the moment, so who on earth do I ask this time? Or am I going to have to do another MSc in something or other to find out?

The Art of Public Relations: CEOs from Edelman, Ruder Finn, Burson Marsteller & More on the Secrets to Landing New Clients, Developing Breakthrough Campaigns ... (Inside the Minds) (Inside the Minds)
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The Art of Public Relations: CEOs from Edelman, Ruder Finn, Burson Marsteller & More on the Secrets to Landing New Clients, Developing Breakthrough Campaigns ... (Inside the Minds) (Inside the Minds)

Manufacturer: Aspatore Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 1587620634

Book Description

Inside the Minds: The Art of Public Relations is the most authoritative book ever written on public relations, written by an unprecedented collection of CEOs from the leading public relations firms of the world. These industry visionaries reveal the secrets for companies of all sizes to get noticed, make a name for themselves and build a global brand through proven methods of public relations. Topics also covered include the everlasting effects of the Internet and technology, crisis management, establishing media contacts, working in teams, compensation and more. An unprecedented look inside the minds of the world's best PR leaders makes for critical reading for every executive, entrepreneur and anyone in the public relations, marketing and advertising world.

Media and the American Mind: From Morse to McLuhan

Average customer rating:

Not just another history book...

Media and the American Mind: From Morse to McLuhan
Daniel J. Czitrom
Manufacturer: The University of North Carolina Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

History of Technology | Technology | Science | Subjects | Books

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ASIN: 0807841072

Book Description

In a fascinating and comprehensive intellectual history of modern communication in America, Daniel Czitrom examines the continuing contradictions between the progressive possibilities that new communications technologies offer and their use as instruments of domination and exploitation.

Customer Reviews:

Not just another history book..........2000-06-11

Although Czitron tackles an ambitious subject, mapping the history of the media, he succeeds where so many others have failed.

Czitron traces the media not as separate and discrete events, but as arenas wherein we as a society have sought to confront some of the more fundamental issues of our time. To me, the value of the book lies precisely in this uncovering of social themes. Unlike other media history books, which show how one medium influenced another's development (e.g., the telegraph sparked the radio) and then move on, Czitron shows us that most of the issues that arose early on are still very much with us (e.g., social regulation).

As a college professor, I frequently refer back to Czitron whenever I bring media discussions into my classes. My copy is dog-earred from several reads. And each time I read it, I capture some new nuance that I overlooked before. But, even though I say I am a professor, I can honestly admit that the book is easily accessible to students of mass communication at both the undergraduate and graduate levels.

For those outside academia, this may or may not be the book for you, depending largely on your interest in issues of power and/or social thought. If, for example, you have read any of the Chicago School theorists like John Dewey or Walter Lippmann or are into any of the contemporary cultural theorists, you will like this book. If you are looking, on the other hand, for quick and dirty armchair reading, try something else. Also, if you are looking for someone who provides "THE one-and-only history of the mass media," this book is not for you.

In sum, Czitrom manages to provide several new vistas into contemporary media, challenging some conventions and engaging actively all who are willing to engage him. This isn't to say that you will always agree with him. But he makes his case and yet manages to leave room for ongoing discussion...just what any good author is supposed to do.

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