Book Description
There are redwoods in California that were ancient by the time Columbus first landed, and pines still alive that germinated around the time humans invented writing. There are Douglas firs as tall as skyscrapers, and a banyan tree in Calcutta as big as a football field.
From the tallest to the smallest, trees inspire wonder in all of us, and in The Tree, Colin Tudge travels around the world—throughout the United States, the Costa Rican rain forest, Panama and Brazil, India, New Zealand, China, and most of Europe—bringing to life stories and facts about the trees around us: how they grow old, how they eat and reproduce, how they talk to one another (and they do), and why they came to exist in the first place. He considers the pitfalls of being tall; the things that trees produce, from nuts and rubber to wood; and even the complicated debt that we as humans owe them.
Tudge takes us to the Amazon in flood, when the water is deep enough to submerge the forest entirely and fish feed on fruit while river dolphins race through the canopy. He explains the “memory” of a tree: how those that have been shaken by wind grow thicker and sturdier, while those attacked by pests grow smaller leaves the following year; and reveals how it is that the same trees found in the United States are also native to China (but not Europe).
From tiny saplings to centuries-old redwoods and desert palms, from the backyards of the American heartland to the rain forests of the Amazon and the bamboo forests, Colin Tudge takes the reader on a journey through history and illuminates our ever-present but often ignored companions. A blend of history, science, philosophy, and environmentalism, The Tree is an engaging and elegant look at the life of the tree and what modern research tells us about their future.
Customer Reviews:
Difficult to Read.......2007-08-09
As a layperson, interested in learning about the biology of the life forms around me, I bought this book with high hopes only to find it essentialy useless and unreadable.I didn't expect a tree ID guide, but this book doesn't tell the story of trees well. It's not a smooth narrative. It's 400 pages full of technical sounding Latin names and totally lacking pictures.In short, it's just not a good basic intro to trees or a good read.
Fascinating read.......2007-05-31
I've been sort of collecting books on trees the last few months. Though still an amateur on the subject, this book is a winner from where I sit. An I-can't-put-it-down book that makes me happy I'm only half way through right now.
If you are interested in understanding the flora around you and you aren't already degreed in botany but kinda would like to be, this book is for you!
Disappointed.......2007-05-13
Mr. Tudge is obviously very well educated on trees, but he gets a bit dry and lost in the details from time to time.
Everything you wanted to know about Trees .......2006-10-15
One of the most beloved and memorable of all popular poems is Joyce Kilmer's 'Trees' " I think that I shall never see/ a poem as lovely as a tree'/ A tree whose hungry mouth is prest/ against the earth's sweet flowing breast/.
The sheer wonder, delight, and inspiration 'Trees' give to our poetic nature is only one side of what they are.
In this learned and detailed study of Trees,Colin Tudge tells us more about them than we might ever have wanted to know. He describes the different species, provides a survival guide to the way Trees manage in often challenging environments, considers the special qualities of different kinds of trees, helps us understand how Trees are a benefit not only to the 'natural world' but to human civilization and society.
He does this as he also points out the new dangers facing various species from global- warming. And he has specific recommendations on how we can better create an environment more beneficial to the natural world as a whole.
The book is disappointingly poor in one element most of its readers will certainly want to have, good illustrations of Trees. But it nonetheless is an overall encyclopediac treasure for those for whom one of the natural world's great stars are an ongoing source of interest and attraction.
Arboreal trilogy.......2006-05-11
"I never met a Tudge I didn't like" is a fitting adage for this wide-ranging author. Having written an "unauthorised biography" of life, the impact of agriculture on human development and other works, Tudge has created a masterpiece of science writing. No longer can we claim that we can't "see the woods for the trees" since he has detailed the mechanics of both in exquisite detail. At) least so far as we know now. If nothing else is clear from this book, what we don't know about the mechanisms of trees far exceeds what we've learned. Trees, so ubiquitous in their presence and so meaningful in our lives, remain a great mystery to be solved. In three almost independent segments, he spells out what is known and what needs to be revealed.
He opens with one of the most understated definitions in science writing: "a tree is a big plant with a stick up the middle". From this simplistic opening, he then develops an image of how complex that "stick" and "plant" combination is in the final product. This complexity didn't appear from nowhere - the author explains how evolution built it from simple beginnings. Most readers will be familiar with the fact that 46 chromosome are needed to make a human. Trees, through various mechanisms, may develop hundreds of chromosomes depending on conditions. The structure of a single tree almost pales against the variety of trees growing around our planet. Tall trees, spreading ones, trees that we often call "shrubs" - which are merely superbly adapted to their local environment - all reflect the immense diversity trees have developed over the ages. Although generally divided into but two forms, conifers and "flowering" trees, they comprise thousands of species, many probably still unknown.
Tudge dedicates the second part of his book to descriptions of those variations. It is a catalogue of wonders as he depicts the oaks, beeches and other "common" types along with palms, celery pines and fruit trees. He begins with the ancient conifers, trees with a lineage stretching back nearly three hundred million years. That heritage shows in the varieties the conifers incorporate. From stately pines to humble ground-huggers, the conifers even include a parasitic member among their ranks. Angiosperms, the "flowering" trees, have surpassed the conifers in species number. The author lists each Order, with a list of the families and species. He explains why the numbers of species are in flux as new information about relationships comes to light. Tree habitats are also described with indications of where to find typical specimens.
In last third of the book: "How Trees Live", Tudge demonstrates why he's one of today's leading science writers. He has accumlated a vast repetoire of information, and presents it with almost passionate style. Seemingly static from our viewpoint, trees have much to do in the course of their lives. They must keep the sun in view, and many forests are competitive arenas to lift leaves into the light. There are seasons to keep track of, predators to discourage and to entice and employ helpers in the process of reproduction. Lacking brains, or other "intelligent" means, trees cannot manufacture devices for these needs. All must be accomplished with chemistry. Much of "the secret life of trees" is hidden here. With but five hormones and a handful of pigments to achieve their tasks, they have built up forms and methods to accomplish it all with an astounding degree of success.
Tudge's adulation of trees goes beyond being simply informative. In his conclusion, he both endorses our need to increase our knowledge of trees and warns of the effects of our failure to do so. We may view trees as aesthetically pleasing or as a source of lumber or paper. Either way, we must deal with them properly. Hewing down vast forests does far more than leave a barren landscape. Trees are the source of the oxygen we breathe. They take up the carbon dioxide our society produces in such imposing quantities. Their capacity for that role has likely been exceeded at this point. Trees matter, he argues, and we need to know why and how. This book is an excellent starting point to find the answers to that learning quest. [stephen a. haines - Ottawa, Canada]
Book Description
To many, Thomas Carlyle's put-down of economics as "the dismal science" is as fitting now as it was 150 years ago. But Diane Coyle argues that economics today is more soulful than dismal, a more practical and human science than ever before. Building on the popularity of books such as Freakonomics that have applied economic thinking to the paradoxes of everyday life, The Soulful Science describes the remarkable creative renaissance in how economics is addressing the most fundamental questions--and how it is starting to help solve problems such as poverty and global warming. A lively and entertaining tour of the most exciting new economic thinking about big-picture problems, The Soulful Science uncovers the hidden humanization of economics over the past two decades.
Coyle shows how better data, increased computing power, and techniques such as game theory have transformed economic theory and practice in recent years, enabling economists to make huge strides in understanding real human behavior. Using insights from psychology, evolution, and complexity, economists are revolutionizing efforts to solve the world's most serious problems by giving policymakers a new and vastly more accurate picture of human society than ever before. They are also building our capacity to understand how what we do today shapes what the world will look like tomorrow. And the consequences of these developments for human life, for governments, and for businesses are only now starting to be realized--in areas such as resource auctions, pollution-credit trading, and monetary policy.
The Soulful Science tells us how economics got its soul back--and how it just might help save the planet's.
Customer Reviews:
We need more solid books like this.......2007-08-02
Want to find out about quantum mechanics without sweating out all the partial differential equations? There are a dozen excellent books. Want to find out about what's happening in economics without slaving over arcane journal articles? You are out of luck. Once in a while an interesting economics book will come along, but invariably by someone proselytizing for his own particular take on the policy issues of the day, or eager to teach you the bizarre behavior of the neoclassical rational actor. I have longed for a solid description of what's been happening in the field recently by a competent economist without a policy bone to pick. At last I would have something to offer my friends and family so they could actually answer the oft-repeated question "What do economists actually have to say about the issues of the day when they're not simply expressing their personal political views, or those of their employers?" Coyle's book the rare example of such a book.
People are generally ignorant of modern science and they know it. They are even more ignorant of the basic principles of economics, but they think they know more than they do. Therefore, they despise and fear economists, who are easily pilloried as other-worldly academics who throw around big equations but couldn't meet a payroll or punch a time clock if their professional future depended on it. Conservatives and liberals alike cherish basic principles of economics that are as stupid and inane as intelligent design and flat-earth-ism. We need a dozen more books like this excellent contribution by Diane Coyle.
Coyle covers the history and theory of economic growth, the sources and potential cures for world poverty, the nature and source of happiness and its relationship with income and wealth, the economics of adverse selection and moral hazard, rent-seeking and the politics of state intervention, evolutionary economics, behavioral economics, and the new, analytical institutional economics. Since she has a Ph.D. in economics from Harvard, Coyle for the most part acts as a participant in dealing with the issues, not simply a journalist reporting the news. Generally, her take on the various issues is insightful, balanced, and engaging. However, I would be remiss if I failed to find something in the book to grumble about, so I will discuss her treatment of behavioral economics, which I consider more of a journalistic than a professional account.
The common take on behavioral economics is that traditional economics assumes people are rational optimizers whereas the experimental evidence is that they are boundedly rational, or even irrational, non-maximizers. This is incorrect and indeed dangerous. I say this is incorrect because the evidence shows that people are not purely self-interested and they are prone to committing decision-making errors based on both weaknesses of human nature and on having incorrect theories of stochastic events. But there is no evidence that people are not fully rational. This is very important, because the economist's "rational actor model" is probably the most important tool in their tool box, and one which other social science disciplines (e.g., sociology and social psychology) ignore and thereby render systematic social theorizing impossible. It is even incorrect to say that people are boundedly rational, because basic information theory tells us that bounds on information processing are ensured by the laws of physics and not due to human frailty. Moreover, confusing incomplete or asymmetric information for bounded rationality is a highly serious error that leads us to study human psychology as opposed to the social conditions that determine the distribution of information among agents.
Of course, behavioral psychologists love to criticize the rational actor model, but in fact, there would be no modern behavioral psychology (a la Tversky and Kahneman) if it were not for the rational actor model, which they use in each and every one of their experiments. Prospect theory, for which Kahneman was awarded the Nobel prize in economics, is totally predicated upon the rational actor model, adding to the standard choice model only the notion that choice is always with respect to a status quo position. Since I have gone into this issue in detail in a recent target article in Behavioral and Brain Sciences ("A Framework for the Integration of the Behavioral Sciences"), I will forgo the pleasure of expanding on the subject here.
Good Overview of recent economic thought.......2007-07-07
Coyle's thesis is that general equilibrium/neoclassical economics peaked in economics departments around 1985. At that point, economists realized that they had reached the end of the line with neoclassical theory and began to develop more interesting and useful approaches to their field. Thus, thinkers who criticize economic theory as unrealistic really are criticizing a "caricature" of economics that economists themselves already have abandoned.
I am not convinced by her argument, but she does provide an excellent overview of much of the recent work in economics. She talks about endogenous growth theory, game theory, "information" economics, behavioral economics, new institutional economics, and efforts to develop more realistic psychological models of economic behavior. Although she has a Ph.D. in economics, her prose is clear and accessible. She usually gets to the heart of the matter and tries to be fair to both sides of an argument.
She does convince me that economists have done some interesting things in the last twenty years. But she doesn't convince me that economists have abandoned neoclassical orthodoxy. She admits that almost all introductory classes in economics still teach neoclassical equilibrium theory and that students are not exposed to the new stuff until they get into advanced graduate studies. This suggests that the new ideas that Coyle discusses haven't given economists themselves much reason to doubt the value of neoclassical theory. They still see it as a solid foundation for learning economics and understanding economic behavior. To most economists, the new ideas that Coyle discusses seem to be additional stories to add to the existing foundation rather than a fundamental challenge to existing theories.
That is the basic question that Coyle fails to address directly. Should the various challenges to neoclassical equilibrium theory radically alter the way that economists think about the economy? I would assert that the neoclassical emphasis on rigor and mathematics lends a false sense of precision and universality to their theories. Really, the economy is a complex phenomenon and those who study it are confronted by the same ambiguities and limitations faced by other human sciences such as sociology and history.
An enthusiastic overview of economics' sexiest fields.......2007-05-21
It is always pleasant when somebody says nice things about your profession. Especially when you are, like me, a graduate student of economics, and you are used to criticism and misunderstanding from non-economists.
In fact the book explicitly aims to counter the standard criticisms of modern economics (autistic, removed from the real world, obsessed with macho mathematics, centered around irrealistic concepts as rationality and equilibrium etc.) by showing, as the subtitle announces, "what economists really do and why it matters".
Although admitting and defending the fact that rational economic man still forms the core and benchmark of economic analysis, this means that Coyle spends a lot of time on relatively new and sexy subjects in economics. Behavioral economics, evolutionary economics, happiness economics, economics of social capital and social norms, and the economics of asymmetric information all have their own chapters. If you like the questions of social science, it all makes fascinating reading. Coyle has clearly read herself to the frontier of many research fields and does a very good job at making them come alive. Even while being an economists myself, I found plenty of new insights. Although she does not write quite as well as for example her natural science counterpart Bill Bryson, she is clearly passionate about the subject and manages to convey this very well.
In the end, the subtitle a bit misleading, since the reader will not find chapters on things that economists clearly also "really do" such as industrial organization, macroeconomics, finance, international economics or monetary economics. The only older and more established field that is extensively covered is growth theory cum development economics, with the aim of tackling big questions about poverty and global income inequalities.
But given the aim of the book we can forgive her for that, as we can forgive her for the sometimes over-ubiquitous-ness of superlatives such as "incredibly insightful" and "extremely fascinating" with which insights are presented. However, it is also this enthusiasm plus the displayed knowledge of discipline that make this an interesting and entertaining book for both economists and non-economists, and a must read for everyone who criticizes economics without knowing what's been going on in the last 20 years.
Book Description
The ultimate inside story: how bureaucracy, politics, and a disregard of science combined to cripple—perhaps forever—a great American city
As deputy director of the Louisiana State University Hurricane Center, Ivor van Heerden had for years been warning state and local officials about New OrleansÂ's vulnerability to flooding. But like CassandraÂ's, his predictions were ignored—until Hurricane Katrina hit on August 29, 2005. Suddenly, van Heerden found himself at the center of a media maelstrom. Stepping forward to challenge the official version of events, he revealed the truth about the cityÂ's shoddy levee construction.
Now, in The Storm, van Heerden shares up-to-the-minute reporting from his investigations and connects the dots among the Army Corps of Engineers, the bureaucrats, the politicians, and the chain of events—both natural and human—that culminated in catastrophe. An epic of cutting- edge science and systemic bureaucratic failure, The Storm is the first book from a major player in the Katrina disaster and a riveting narrative that brings expertise, passion, and a human viewpoint to AmericaÂ's greatest natural disaster.
Customer Reviews:
The Storm.......2007-05-14
Good description of what happened during Katrina and the causes of it. However, it is a first person narrative with a bit of self-congratulation embedded throughout (which is kind of annoying).
Read This, and worry about your town..........2007-01-09
I am a New Orleanian. I was there, I know the details, and I know this writer has a lot to teach about disasters and personal responsibility to the community. He's a good guy who a lot of politicians tried to gag.
The book does a lot of CYA- people who knew what they were doing during Katrina have taken a lot of bludgeoning from fools. Mostly fools in politics and the Corps of Engineers- who caused the whole damn New Orleans disaster through sheer idiocy.
Rad this book and weep, for us, for yourselves. Where ever you live, there's the same incompetance waiting to fail you.
Worth The Time.......2006-11-15
Let me first start by explaining that Ivor Van Heerden is my step father, and Mike Bryan is my good friend. During the months in which this book was written, my family was not only dealing with the aftermath of Katrina, but the effects of someone with such huge ideas and opinions trying to fit them into a few hundred pages. The amount of time and dedication that went into this book alone was enough to encourage me to read it, but once i did i realized that it's positively genius. The detailes he goes into just to make sure the readers can understand what he is about to discuss definitly sets him apart from other katrina authors. And Mike Bryan's years of writing experience really bring eveything together in this book. All in all I have to say that this book is definitly worth your time, if you want to understand the big picture behind katrina, as well as the things not many people knew at the time.
Eye-Opening .......2006-08-04
Get your dictionary out for acronyms... very confusing at times. Great storytelling in the first half of the book, but much finger pointing at the end. Van Heerden is very passionate about his work and point of view. Story matches reality I guess in relation to this catastrophic, horrible event. Very eye-opening, as our government continues down the same road, levee's ...FEMA... wars..... cover-up after cover-up.... Etc...
The Sad Truth.......2006-07-14
As a former emergency management planner, I found this book to be an excellent analysis of what really went wrong in New Orleans. It is a treatise for government officials to learn what not to do and an outline of what we as citizens should demand from our government leaders. It presents very technical information and scientific analysis in a manner that even an elected official can understand. But, beyond presenting the scientific basis of why New Orleans flooded, it presents an outline of solutions that should and must be considered. It is an great testament to the fact that some issues should be above everyday politics and that some important decisions that a government may be asked to make should be based upon science and not political considerations. This is a must read for every citizen and should be a mandatory read for every elected official.
Dr. Barksdale
Book Description
Strange theories about Jesus seem to ooze from our culture with increasing regularity. Ben Witherington, one of the top Jesus scholars, will have none of it. There were no secret Gnostic teachings in the first century. With leading scholars and popular purveyors of bad history in his crosshairs, Witherington reveals what we can—and cannot—claim to know about the real Jesus. The Bible, not outside sources, is still the most trustworthy historical record we have today.
Utilizing a fresh "personality profile" approach, Witherington highlights core Christian claims by investigating the major figures in Jesus's inner circle of followers: Mary the mother of Jesus, Mary Magdalene, Thomas, Peter, James the brother of Jesus, Paul, and the mysterious "beloved disciple." In each chapter Witherington satisfies our curiosities and answers the full range of questions about these key figures and what each of them can teach us about the historical Jesus. What Have They Done with Jesus? is a vigorous defense of traditional Christianity that offers a compelling portrait of Jesus's core message according to those who knew him best.
Customer Reviews:
Tackling the revisionist theories on Christ.......2007-08-02
Regardless of where you stand, Ben Witherington III is considered by biblical scholars to be a heavyweight contender. The title to this book sounded interesting to me, so I decided to check it out. In this book Witherington overviews the people in Jesus' live, including the disciples, the women, and Paul. I found the overview refreshing, as most of the information is not new, but it helped remind me of keeping things in historical perspective. Witherington believes that we ought to consider the earliest documents first and foremost while taking the gnostic gospels and later additions with a grain of salt. So many scholars who we see on the Easter television shows don't have that same perspective, and so we end up getting some fascinating theories that just don't have any basis in fact. Yet how many viewers walk away from the DaVinci Code-type information and doubt the historicity of the Christian church? It has to be confusing for the typical lay audience.
I found several things most fascinating. First, I had never heard Lazarus as a possibility for the disciple whom Jesus loved. This theory hit me for a loop. I'm not sure he fully convinced me, but I'm going to have to consider it more than I did before I knew it was even a valid theory. I also had never thought much about Joanna being Junia. That was interesting to me as well. In addition, I appreciate the fact that Witherington changed his mind about phileo/agape Peter/Jesus dialogue in John 21. Sometimes we get so hung up on our beliefs that it's hard to change, so I guess it was refreshing to hear that this scholar was willing to say, "Hey, I changed my mind." May I be as open-minded.
The book is profitable and so I recommend it for those searching for the historical Jesus.
Taking on the revisionists.......2007-07-17
Common to the Christological revisionists are claims that there are lost or suppressed Christianities, and that there is a radical discontinuity between who Jesus really was and how he was represented by his early - and later - followers. What much of this amounts to is an attempt to rewrite history, to undermine the reliability of the New Testament, and to recreate Jesus in the image of liberal scholarship.
Thus we need once again to determine just who Jesus really was, and what in fact was his message. And the best way to do that, argues New Testament scholar Ben Witherington, it to get back to the inner circle of Jesus. Those who were closest to him or knew him best are our most reliable guides to what he believed and what the early faith was all about. This book provides a close look at this so-called inner circle. It carefully examines those from Jesus' own physical family: Mary, James and Jude; as well as Peter, the Beloved Disciple, Mary Magdalene, Joanna, and Paul.
Taken together, their testimonies help us understand who Jesus was, and what his core message was. A close examination of these individuals reveals that they all agree to a common understanding of the man and his mission.
Witherington argues that no wide wedge can be driven between these close associates and their take on Jesus, and that of Jesus himself. Consider James, the brother of Jesus, and the first leader of the post-Easter Jesus movement. The contents of the epistle that bears his name are remarkably similar to that of the most basic teachings of Jesus.
For example, one can find over two dozen close similarities between what is found in his epistle and what is recorded in the Sermon on the Mount. This demonstrates, in part, that James is quite familiar with the sayings of Jesus in some form. Says Witheringtom, "the letter of James is deeply indebted to the Jesus tradition".
And the oft-heard contentions that James and Paul are fundamentally at odds, or that Paul has radically reinterpreted Jesus, are far from the truth. There are admittedly differences of emphasis between Paul - the missionary to the Gentiles - and James - who ministered to Jewish believers - but their basic message is the same, centred on a high view of Christ and his saving work.
And Paul's theology flows out of the life and teaching of Jesus. He is no inventor of new theologies, but a faithful witness to the Jesus story. His message is fully in accord with the others of the Jesus circle. Any differences among them, suggests Witherington, are primarily ecclesiological in nature, not Christological.
The inner circle stands in complete continuity with Jesus and his message. And the message they spread was quite congruous. Says Witherington, "the earliest Christian leaders were remarkably similar in their beliefs about the divinity of Jesus, the way of salvation, and basic ethics".
The idea that they, or others, have somehow misrepresented Jesus or departed from his words and teachings is simply without any firm evidence, argues Witherington. Indeed, the idea that there were competing Christianities during the first century is simply incorrect. The kind of Gnostic gospels and alternative Christianities that many modern liberal theologians seek to argue for simply were not in existence during the time of the very early church, but instead begin to appear in the second to the fourth centuries.
"It is pointless to talk about `lost Christianities' if we are talking about the apostolic age," says Witherington, "because there were no forms of Christianity like later Gnosticism already extant in the first century." Indeed, "as far as we know there were no forms of earliest Christianity that did not worship Jesus as crucified and risen Lord".
The earliest leaders of the Jesus movement shared a very high Christology, and a common understanding of the basic Christian message. Indeed, all the New Testament documents "can be traced back directly or indirectly to the inner circle of Jesus," and all 27 New Testament documents present a messianic picture of Jesus.
Asks Witherington, who should we most heavily rely upon: The inner circle of Jesus or later Gnostic writings? The inner circle had "more than enough living contact with the historical Jesus to remember who Jesus was, what his teaching was like, and what claims (implicit or explicit) he made of a messianic nature".
Concludes Witherington, "There is no nonmessianic Jesus to be found at the bottom of the well of history".
It is imperative that the new Christological revisionism is challenged historically and biblically. That Witherington does here to great effect.
Good - wonderfully takes you through the lives of those closest to Jesus and His Life through their eyes........2007-05-31
Ben makes an excellent case for the historicity of the NT and for the person, life and work of Jesus of Nazareth! In most cases his research is superb, and he arrives at his deductions and conclusions carefully and brilliantly. After reading this book, there can be no question in anyone's mind about the historicity of the life, death and Resurrection of Jesus. And books like the Da Vinci code and Gnostic philosophies simply do not stand.
In his attempt to show how impossible it was for these first eye-witnesses to concoct the Resurrection and spread the Christian faith however, I think Ben takes certain leaps which may not entirely be warranted. For instance, he does not satisfactorily address the issues of Mary the mother of Jesus perpetual virginity and the rival claims that Jesus' brothers were really Joseph's former sons or his cousins. I also do not think it is possible to conclude that Mary the mother of Jesus was assertive or did not believe He was the Messiah from the one passage we have in Mark Ch. 3 . Lastly, while Ben makes an excellent case for the authorship of the 4th Gospel, that may be exactly what it is, a hypothesis.
That said, the book itself is wonderful reading and anyone who is confused about the nature of the early church or what the first Christians believed would greatly benefit from reading it. When it comes to NT times, culture, history and the person of Christ, the book is first-class. For those interested in even better reading, I would recommend "Simply Christian" and "Challenge of Jesus" by N.T. Wright.
very readable for the layperson and for the seminarian.......2007-05-16
Witherington's book is an excellent scholarly work which he obviously has researched and put a lot of thought into. He clearly explains his views, and provides very rational arguments for why he holds the views he does. I had a hard time putting it down.
I think this book would be an excellent read for skeptics and non-Christians simply because of Witherington's convincing style and expertise on the subject with which he writes.
A fine addition .......2007-02-04
There are many strange theories about Jesus, but they don't come from Ben Witherington II, a professor of New Testament at Asbury Theological Seminary and the author of over thirty books on the subject. His title probes what is known and what cannot be known about the Jesus presented in the Bible, dispelling myths, using a 'personality profile' to illustrate basic Christian claims, and drawing important connections between key historical figures and the Jesus image. It's a fine addition to both general-interest Christian libraries and the holdings of more advanced, college-level seminary readers alike.
Book Description
ItÂ's an all too common scenario: A great company breaks from the pack; the analysts are in love, the smiling CEO appears on the cover of BusinessWeek and Fortune, the stock soars. Two years later, the company is in flames, the CEO is under attack, and the stock has tanked.
Why does this sort of thing keep happening at respectable companies like Motorola, Quaker, and Sony, all of which have very smart, hard-working senior executives? And how can you tell if itÂ's about to happen at your own company?
Why Smart Executives Fail answers these and many more crucial questions. Sydney Finkelstein, a distinguished professor at DartmouthÂ's Tuck School of Business, carried out a six-year study of leadership failure, the largest of its kind. After hundreds of interviews with insiders at top companies that got into major trouble—such as GM, Mattel, and RiteAid—Finkelstein figured out the common causes behind failures in wildly different types of companies. He explains “the seven habits of spectacularly unsuccessful people” that drive smart managers to make catastrophic mistakes.
As much about psychology as it is about business, Why Smart Executives Fail tells the stories of more than fifty great business disasters and includes exclusive interviews with many of their leaders, in which they explain what really led to their disastrous decisions.
Customer Reviews:
Excellent white paper hidden in a 250-page book.......2007-07-09
There is much to praise in Finkelstein's book. Particularly effective are the stories he tells about executive or organizational hubris, the detailed case studies of slow-motion disasters that in hindsight seem unthinkable, but at the time convinced thousands (or hundreds of thousands, if you count investors and analysts) as steadiness of vision and strategy.
Less useful is the book's attempts to apply a version of scientific inquiry to those case studies in order to generate a series of rules (or at least probabilities and their corollaries). The bottom lines are, or should have been: don't assume that a history of success grants you the right to dictate the future, don't ignore front-line or market feedback, and don't assume that your IQ automatically translates into business success. Rather than stating these points, Finkelstein works a little too hard to turn each of his observations into actionable essays. That starts a cycle of repetitions and rather bland generalizations that doesn't help his reader become more effective.
Sticking to the basic stories is what works best in this book, and Finkelstein's writing, interviews and on-the-spot analysis is a strength.
Finally, having just been through a stretch in my own company where a group of highly educated and intelligent executives parachuted in from their former senior-level roles at a major global consultancy, and then proceeded to fumble and bumble and nearly destroy the organization with a 24-month string of almost laughably bad bright ideas, I kept thinking of Finkelstein's title. While those now ex-colleagues are enoying their severance checks, I hope they'll consent to being interviewed for Finkelstein's next edition.
Timely and accurate.......2007-07-04
Finkelstein really came through with a winner in this book. This book was recommended by a guest speaker in a B school class I was taking (she herself an executive) and I really enjoyed reading it. You hear about stories like this anecdotally from time to time but to have the whole story, background behind it and then clear and concise analysis makes it well worth the read. I would recommend this to anyone working in business.
Learning From the Failure of Others.......2007-03-10
I found this book to be right on the mark for answering the hard questions that form that title of this book. There is a conventional thought process that smart people in business should not fail especially when they have a remarkable track record. Smart companies should not fail for the the same reason. But we all know they do. This book give important insight in to the psychology of corporate/organizational failure due in a large part to the failure of top level management. It is definitely a must read for MBA students and should be a requirement for managers at all levels.
Kudos.......2006-10-27
Thank you Prof. Finkelstein foresearching and writing this book. Many of us will be saved from the classic mistakes yo udentify in this work. Your years educating students at Dartmouth are evident in the clear manner in which you present your information.
The Best Kind of Management Book: Practical and Research-Based.......2006-10-15
Finkelstein is known for being a consummate academic, producing first-rate research on the topic of CEOs, Top Management Teams, M&A, Boards, and Succession issues. However, this book demonstrates that he is also someone who can write a compelling management book with many practical take-aways.
What separates this book from others I have seen is the serious, original, 6 years worth of research that preceded it. The findings of "Why Smart Executives Fail" are presented in a very easy-to-understand way, with compelling stories and anecdotes.
There are many management books laden with opinions, but what are they worth if there has been no research done to find out if their suggestions actually lead to success? There are also many books heavy on theory, preventing any of their wisdom from being accessible enough to act upon. In my opinion, this is the best type of management book that strikes a balance in the middle.
"Why Smart Executives Fail" will show you how to better learn from failures and insulate yourself from steering your company in the wrong direction, as well as the right behaviors to exhibit that will help you be more successful.
Book Description
THE DEFINITIVE DOSSIER ON HISTORY’S MOST HEINOUS!
Hollywood’s make-believe maniacs like Jason, Freddy, and Hannibal Lecter can’t hold a candle to real life monsters like John Wayne Gacy, Ted Bundy, Jeffrey Dahmer, and scores of others who have terrorized, tortured, and terminated their way across civilization throughout the ages. Now, from the much-acclaimed author of Deviant, Deranged, and Depraved, comes the ultimate resource on the serial killer phenomenon.
Rigorously researched and packed with the most terrifying, up-to-date information, this innovative and highly compelling compendium covers every aspect of multiple murderers—from psychology to cinema, fetishism to fan clubs, “trophies” to trading cards. Discover:
WHO THEY ARE: Those featured include
Ed Gein, the homicidal mama’s boy who inspired fiction’s most famous Psycho, Norman Bates;
Angelo Buono and Kenneth Bianchi, sex-crazed killer cousins better known as the Hillside Stranglers; and
the Beanes, a fifteenth-century cave-dwelling clan with an insatiable appetite for human flesh
HOW THEY KILL: They shoot, stab, and strangle. Butcher, bludgeon, and burn. Drown, dismember, and devour . . . and other methods of massacre too many and monstrous to mention here.
WHY THEY DO IT: For pleasure and for profit. For celebrity and for “companionship.” For the devil and for dinner. For the thrill of it, for the hell of it, and because “such men are monsters, who live . . .
beyond the frontiers of madness.”
PLUS: in-depth case studies, classic killers’ nicknames, definitions of every kind of deviance and derangement, and much, much more.
For more than one hundred profiles of lethal loners and killer couples, Bluebeards and black widows, cannibals and copycats— this is an indispensable, spine-tingling, eye-popping investigation into the dark hearts and mad minds of that twisted breed of human whose crimes are the most frightening . . . and fascinating.
Customer Reviews:
Killers.......2007-05-28
Great book. I work in law enforcement so a lot of this I could tell if real or immaginary. I thought this was an interesting read.
Scary Stuff.......2007-05-18
I have not read any books about serial killers before. This one seems pretty good. Easy to read right before bed (and then easy to have nightmares).
good .......2007-03-31
one of the best serial killer books i've read, only problem i had was the repetitive information that happened occasionally, and he uses the word "unspeakable" every other page or so and that was a bit annoying haha. but otherwise it's very informative and detailed. i would reccommend this!
The Ultimate Book on Serial Killers.......2007-03-16
When I ordered this book, I wasn't sure what I would be getting. I started reading and it didn't take long to realize that this book was incredible. Details, details, details! Updates, graphic descriptions, and plenty of information! It scared the hell out of me, too. If you're looking for some easy, but priceless reading, this book is the book for you!
Awesome True Crime book!.......2007-01-05
Harold Schechter is by far one of the best True Crime writers. He presents thorough research and makes every sentence interesting. All of his true crime books are worth reading!
Book Description
A nutritional whodunit that takes readers from Greenland to Africa to Israel, The Queen of Fats gives a fascinating account of how we have become deficient in a nutrient that is essential for good health: the fatty acids known as omega-3s. Writing with intelligence and passion, Susan Allport tells the story of these vital fats, which are abundant in greens and fish, among other foods. She describes how scientists came to understand the role of omega-3s in our diet, why commercial processing has removed them from the food we eat, and what the tremendous consequences have been for our health. In many Western countries, epidemics of inflammatory diseases and metabolic disorders have been traced to omega-3 deficiencies. The Queen of Fats provides information for every consumer who wants to reduce the risk of heart disease, cancer, arthritis, and obesity and to improve brain function and overall health. This important and compelling investigation into the discovery, science, and politics of omega-3s will transform our thinking about what we should be eating.
* Includes steps you can take to add omega-3s to your diet
* Shows why eating fish is not the only way, or even the best way, to increase omega-3s.
* Provides a new way to understand the complex advice about the role and importance of fats in the body
* Explains how and why the food industry has created a deadly imbalance of fats in our foods
* Shows how omega-3s can be reintroduced to our diet through food enrichment and changes in the feeding of livestock
Customer Reviews:
good description of science of omega fats.......2007-08-05
First-rate science writing. I had some very high-level understanding of omega fats when I started the book (I knew the main acronyms, and the importance of omega-3-to-omega-6 dietary balance) but by the end I had a much better feeling for the omega fat family trees, their function, impact on health, plus there is a truly fascinating speculative chapter on why omega-3 and omega-6 have different effects in the body. It's written from the historical point of view, which I think is a fine approach generally - one touches the main ideas again and again which is helpful for understanding, but it's in the context of the historical story so it doesn't seem like pointless repetition. One small criticism is that the author seems to have wanted to keep the presentation as an 'essay for the interested layman' and to avoid it looking like a biochemistry textbook. But the chapter on membranes was just one place that could have benefited from figures. And there are warnings about saturated fat which will surely be of interest to anyone who is a reader of this book, but the background info is way too terse to justify the statements made (so Finland reduced saturated fat and heart disease went down - that alone is no basis for the conclusion that 'saturated fat is bad').
In summary, a great book if you want the science of omega fatty acids. If you just want dietary advice, don't buy this - get Simopoulos's Omega Diet or Michael Schmidt's book instead.
Excellent.......2007-01-29
An excellent history on fats in the western diet and some simple helpful tips on how to eat healthier.
Balancing Omega 3 and Omega 6 fatty acids In Your Body.......2007-01-11
The book does an excellent job of pulling together the results of many years of research studies into the effect of diet on the health and physical well being of peoples from around the world. It points out the importance of balance for the various fatty acids and steps one may take to work toward this balance; i.e., dietary actions to take and avoid. It is heavy on the chemistry involved, but persons not interested in the chemical details can still learn a lot. My belief is the author has great credibility. I have changed my diet aimed at balancing the omega 3s and omega 6s.
Fish Oil will save you Life and Mind.......2006-11-26
Journal of American Medical Association Oct 18th, 2006
"Modest consumption of fish...reduces risk of coronary events by 36%...and total mortality by 17%." Do you know if fish oil was $80/month like many of our medications that EVERYONE would be on it, but because it is only $5/month, very few doctors recommend it.
American Journal Of Psychiatry June 2006
Fish oil is beneficial in reducing suicide risk, mood disorders and childhood depression.
A MUST READ.......2006-11-20
I heard her interviewed and immediately ordered the book and then I couldn't put it down. I'm a voracious reader, a biochemist and a mom (i.e. family food director). All I can say is OHMAHGAWD. I have ABSOLUTELY no idea how non-chemists perceive this book, but I have now seen the light and I will be eating lower on the food chain, but not so low as the seeds! LAurie
Book Description
"WEST POINT: Thomas Jefferson: Character Leadership Education" is author Norman Thomas Remick's successor to his pioneering book, "Mr. Jefferson's Academy: The Real Story Behind West Point", the one and only work that identifies and proves a heretofore secret Thomas Jefferson-West Point connection. This book is the penetrating account of a ten year search by Norman Thomas Remick, four years at West Point that tells you the way it is inside those fabled gray granite walls, and six years inside the research halls of libraries to uncover and decipher the code of archival facts that have brought to light a special historic relationship between Thomas Jefferson and West Point. Remick also details how this historic college produces leaders, why it does so the way it does, why America has a West Point to produce Officers when there are easier and cheaper ways to do so, and why Thomas Jefferson founded West Point in the first place. The secret behind why Jefferson founded West Point informs the contemporary controversy over whether America still needs a West Point at a cost of hundreds of millions per year in taxpayer dollars.
The book is not only unique in breaking new historical ground but it is also unique in its innovative presentation of true and accurate history. By employing creative nonfiction and the choice of a dramatic dialogue as narrative vehicle, the author gives us something here that is quite different and refreshing as he takes us on a journey through history and philosophy that winds its way from Ancient times to post American Revolution times to show us how the great moral stories of the world shaped Thomas Jefferson, and in turn, America and West Point.
The book is also an education, a special kind of education. Because the journey through history uses as its sources the same books Thomas Jefferson himself read that are in his famous library, when you read this book you are learning the same things that he learned. By cleverly converting the difficult history and philosophy contained in Jefferson's books into ordinary language and American vernacular, and weaving together hundreds of wonderful poems, anecdotes, and unusual scenarios, Remick has produced a timeless gem on West Point and Thomas Jefferson and leadership and character that will be an enjoyable and engaging and educational experience for years to come and for people of all ages and educational levels, not just scholars.
As an added bonus: Those who cannot visit West Point will enjoy the sixteen pages that the author has nicely blended into the storyline, including 24 full color pictures, that takes you on a virtual tour of West Point.
Customer Reviews:
My favorite.......2006-03-27
A few words to pass along how much I enjoyed this book. Not written for scholars, though there's a fantastic amount of research and overview kind of education, but an everyman type of book that 99% of the rest of us can enjoy and understand whatever your age or education, as long as you can read. The book does what author sets out to do (if you read the intro. and cover), and somewhat brilliantly. If you judge a book by the author's intent, this is five star and my favorite of all the West Point books.
Just Finished.......2006-03-12
I just finished with several West Point books and want to take a minute of my time to plug Mr. Remick's book as being far and away the one that has had the most time, effort, original thought, and educational information put into it over all of the others. And, he made it fun to read. If you can't afford to read them all, choose this one.
Someone up to no good .......2005-12-11
When someone takes the trouble to try to discredit the many honest and intelligent adults who have read Mr. Remick's book and written positive reviews, and what I, as a West Point Dad, know to be the thousands of people who have found this book to be everything the five star reviews say it is, you know that the someone is up to no good. I know of many people that this book has helped. I always recommend it to both youth and adults who are interested in West Point, or in Thomas Jefferson. It was recommended to me by Admissions and the Athletic Association. The recent negative review shocked me into writing this because the book accomplishes the very things the negative review says it doesn't, and I have verified that the book does not say what the review clearly intentionally misquotes it as saying. All I can say is that I fully subscribe to everything in the review dated Aug. 25, 2005, "Judge For Yourself". That is my suggestion to everyone. Just read the book and judge for yourself.
Judge For Yourself.......2005-08-26
I was so impressed with this book that I feel compelled to debunk the previous spiteful review. All the things it said are twisted. True, the author had the guts to present his wealth of research information in a very unique, creative, and easy-to-read way. That's what makes the book great. It seems all pioneers who do something new and wonderful are bashed by the opposition these days. I wonder why? If you buy the book and read it, you'll see what I mean. Judge for yourself.
A Rare Touch Of Brilliance.......2005-07-29
A brilliantly conceived and researched book that is an education on traditional America, Thomas Jefferson, and West Point and how they are irreversibly connected. I can't imagine any fairminded person of any age group being disappointed.
Book Description
Balaker and Staley shine new light on the problem of traffic congestion in this easily accessible book. Though often dismissed as a minor if irritating nuisance, congestion constrains our personal and professional lives, making it harder to find a good job, spend time with our family, and maintain profitable businesses. The Road More Traveled both demonstrates these insidious effects and offers new policy solutions for bringing our roads up to speed.
Customer Reviews:
Common Sense comes to solving traffic congestion!.......2007-08-03
This book could save us a Billion dollars! (Or more)
First, I must give you some background on why I was frantically looking for a well written, fact packed book on the cost benefits of rail vs. highways and which one makes the most sense in terms of cost, convenience, efficiency, safety and actual usage.
In Madison, Wisconsin our "Mayor Dave" and our Dane County Executive recently "announced an agreement" at a press conference in June 07. The announcement was the two of them had decided for a county of 450,000 people to go ahead with plans for a commuter rail plan for Madison and two closeby towns AND a Trolley system for downtown Madison only.
The Commuter rail system is to use the surface rail tracks (not subway or elevated) laid down in the post Civil War era when there were no autos, trucks, and busses and few roads! Ignoring this fact and even admitting in the Transport 2020 report that a rail system would "likely increase traffic congestion" they decided they wanted a Train and a Trolley too!
The cost?
Estimates for the build-out are around a billion dollars. Who pays? You know...Taxpayers at all levels. Locally another 1/2 per cent added to our 5.5% sales taxes- already above the rest of the state - to raise $46 Million a year forever to subsidize the rail system.
Moreover, like the movie "Dumb and Dumber" my Mayor Dave made a second choice. How about another $250,000 (start up costs only) for his favorite toy - a couple of miles of Trolley system that he knew the County taxpayers would be happy to support. (Even though they would likely never use it)
Note: The Mayor and the County Executive are nice people and they are not dumb, but the rail and trolley plans being proposed certainly are!
Now you know why I bought this book! The authors are experts. Their writing is clear, concise and reads like Ben Franklin's Almanacs. Common sense rules as does straight shooting facts and concrete advice you can use to fight the Rail policy Wonks and elites who would like to give their kids a ride on a train.... once.
Examples: "Ten Congestion Busters", "Ten Myths of dealing with Traffic Congestion" and "Ten Steps to Congestion Relief". Granted they look like cold remedies, but are practical traffic congestion solutions.
Just these three provide you with talking points to take to the City council, the County Board (which I have already) and State and Federal transportation officials.
Locally, we are using "The Road More Traveled" as our Bible in talking to civic groups, on local radio and TV, Web sites and Blogs to wake people up to the boondoggle that this plan for a Regional Transportation Authority (RTA) actually will impose on everyone. "The Road" gives you practical solutions to offer to counter the "Rail Heads."
Two words of advice: "Buy it"
Clear-Headed Insight into a Crucial Issue.......2007-02-05
If this book were nearly unreadable and merely served to make its point in dense prose, it would be well worth its price and then some for making a common sense point that has been given short shrift in planning debates. Luckily for us, however, the authors have produced an emminiently accessible work that allows any reasonably literate person with or without a degree in urban planning to have a better understanding of how mobility profoundly affects all of our lives and how our mobility has become constrained over the past few decades by a combination of well-intentioned but poor urban planning and outright congestion-by-design.
The authors key point is a simple one: mobility matters. It matters economically and it matters socially. The ability of citizens of modest means to travel expeditiously and cheaply opens up to those citizens a wider range of job opportunities and social interactions than would otherwise be available. Mobility makes our economy richer and social lives more fulfilling. Part of the promise of a free society can only be obtained if we are free to navigate the physical landscape on which that society exists. Your ability to travel 10 miles or 25 miles or 50 miles to commute, to shop to visit friends and relatives, makes your life richer than it would be if your freedom of movement were limited to narrow corridors or tight spheres.
A couple of examples: the authors point to dating patterns in a large metropolitan area which have been limited to realtively tight geographic areas due to the hassle that navigating traffic congestion poses to the process of looking for mates further afield. Simply put: A person won't seek to date whom he or she cannot easily reach. This point is further brought home in the case of two income-earner households who have to balance career choices with the demands of conflicting commutes. Ideally, both spouses/partners would take the job that provides him/her with the greatest individual benefits, allowing both to achieve maximum income and job satisfaction. Where mobility constraints require a person to design a career around a commuting pattern it becomes very difficult for both spouses/partners to maximize career opportunities.
The authors make an important and common sense point that is nontheless viewed as controversial in our day and age. To wit: no device enhances personal mobility more than an automobile. For some reason I cannot understand, the automobile has come to be viewed as an evil to be tolerated and not as a tool that has enabled the widest possible share of the population to take full advantage of the range of economic and social opportunities open to those who can physically access them. Instead planners and activists have foisted on the general populace the notion that we are "addicted" to the automobile and must be incentivized or coerced into living in extreme density and travelling on fixed rail. The most powerful cudgel these elements have to force the general population to throw up its hands and give in is to freeze roadway expansion, force us to choke on our own desire for transportation and accept a prescription of fixed rail transit.
The authors persuasively take on the most pervasive arguments of this congestion lobby. I won't repeat all of their take downs here. My favorite is their evisceration of oft-repeated (and never examined) notion that (let's all say it together) "we cannot build our way out of congestion." Uh, yes we can, and the notion that it is somehow per se impractical or "wrong" to add capacity to a system functioning at or above capacity would never be applied if the system at issue were a school system, healthcare system or mass transit system.
Every public official who is charged with transportation planning, and every citizen who is interested in the subject of mobility should read this book.
Policy Makers Need to Read this book - the public wants roads.......2007-01-29
This is an important book for planners, planning commission members, staff and elected officials to read -- especially for anyone involved in the policy-making, planning or approval side of the road construction business. It offers a general apologetic for the value of mobility, independence and flexibility. It argues eloquently that congestion is an evil to be avoided.
Its two hardest-hitting chapters are an eloquent defense of suburbia (debunking ten myths) and an exposé on the "congestion coalition" which has perversely encouraged and acquiesced in congestion in the misguided belief that "it's good for us." The chapter on the "congestion coalition" has some interesting analysis on that ubiquitous planning agency known as an "MPO."
But by far the most valuable section of the book is its four chapters of real-world examples and practical suggestions. The authors draw our attention to the innovative ways in which massive public projects are being planned and financed overseas, with some suggestions on how those techniques might be used in the US. There is a fascinating chapter on how Houston "built its way out of congestion." -- and an equally fascinating chapter on the success of variable tolling on the 91 Express Lanes in Orange County, California. Chapter 10 offers a variety of practical suggestions on how to tame congestion. Suggestion one: "Build sufficient road capacity to handle the growth in travel demand."
The last chapter is a clarion call to action. It lays out Ten Steps to Congestion Relief beginning with "Admit that Mobility is good" and ending with a challenge to "Take the Long View."
The notion that we cannot build our way out of congestion is wrong. It's wrong historically, and it's wrong technically. Projects in the United States and around the world show us over and over again that we have the engineering capabilities to build new capacity and manage existing networks more effectively.
Congestion has risen to stifling levels because we have failed locally and nationally to make mobility a public-sector priority. It's time to reestablish mobility as a priority for transportation policy at the national, state, and local levels. Moreover, it's important to realize that zero gridlock is a viable goal for regional transportation planning. We have the tools. Public opinion supports it. The funding is there to put meaningful strategies in motion and implement real solutions. What we lack is the leadership to make it happen.
"America never has permanent shortages," frustrated Texas legislator Mike Krusee observes, "except in one thing: transportation. Many Americans think congestion is inevitable; it is not. It is a breadline, it is un-American, and we should not tolerate it."
It's time now to put the right strategies in place to improve mobility for everyone and eliminate congestion in America's cities. (page 177)
Without endorsing every suggestion made by the authors, I nonetheless encourage as many as possible to read and reflect on the important ideas in this book.
Robert G. Shearer
City Manager, City of Mt. Juliet
Christmas, 2006
Customer Reviews:
Misleading Title.......2006-10-14
This book is not about what the title implies. The part of the title, "Why Evangelicals Don't Think", implies that the book will address why evangelicals are so against science and Biblical criticism (both of which bring a fuller understanding of how God and Jesus work and think). It is not an attempt to reconcile science and Christianity. This book is actually a critique of evangelicals by an evangelical for being too caught up in popular culture to the point where they either don't practice their faith or become ignorant of their own faith and holy books.
The author follows the history of how evangelicals became absorbed in popular culture and pleads for evangelicals to return to the roots of evangelical Christianity and studying the Bible.
I am giving it 2 stars because of the misleading title. I didn't give it 1 star because studying the roots of Christianity and the Bible is one way to address "Why Evangelicals Don't Think."
Guinness pulls no punches with this one!.......2006-06-13
Os Guinness is probably my favorite contemporary author and cultural critic with such outstanding works as The Call, The American Hour, The Great Experiment, Prophetic Untimeliness and The Long Journey Home just to name a few. But Fit Bodies, Fat Minds is an excellent beginning for the simple fact that today's youth are the primary audience for this book.
Guinness argues that Christians have a responsibility to use and develop their minds as part of their walk with the Lord. As he examines our current cultural chaos, Guinness points out eight hurdles to developing a "Christian mind" - all eight begin with the letter "p" obviously indicating that Guinness is attempting to relate to Baptist readers! Guinness presents the claim that the wave of anti-intellectualism that swept across this country following the Civil War has had damaging effects on the relevancy of the gospel to our culture and that efforts to reclaim the Christian mind are critically important to reclaiming our culture for Christ.
Of course, Guinness points out, that reclaiming our culture for Christ won't be easy - we must first reclaim the importance of the word taken captive by our image-obsessed society. It will take study - reading in particular - for the development of the Christian mind. Guinness quotes Oswald Chambers who wrote, "God will not make me think like Jesus, I have to do it myself; I have to bring every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ."
If you are interested in bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ, or if you've ever wondered why reading and your studies as a student are important to your Christian walk, you need to read Fit Bodies, Fat Minds. Tipping the scales at only 152 pages, this book is perfect suited to begin exercising your brain and building your intellectual prowess to match your muscular physique.
The sin of thoughtlessness.......2005-08-13
This is an important book but we must realize that it is written for a popular audience. Thus, what we essentially have is 152 pages of Os Guinness' conclussions not 550 pages of his conclussions and a through discussion for the reasoning behind them. There are times when I was not fully convinced by some of his arguements and I believe a large part of that is due to the abbreviated format.
That said he in general makes excellent conclussions and gives and accessible outline for the current state of evangelical thought. I believe the greatest point of this book is the reminder that not thinking... not loving God with all of our mind is sin. This is hardly ever talked about by most Christians since most Christians are complacent in this sin. But, it is at the heart of our faith and an essential topic of discussion.
What keeps thisbook from receiving 5 stars is the last part of the title. "And What to Do About It". If the title had simply been "Fit Bodies Fat Minds: Why Evangelicals Don't Think" I would have given the book five stars. The proposed sollutions only took up 20 pages of this book and while what he wrote was true I finished it feeling convinced that the solutions were only part of the solution. That in and of themselves they would change nothing. But, that said I do not know the full solution or I would have written my own book.
Not just for people with religious beliefs.......2005-07-19
This book applies to all people, religious or not. It describes the historic causes of 250 years of declining intellectual capacity of members of the general public. One disappointing aspect of the book is that it does not give any cures to this process for the general public. His cures are for a subset of the people with certain religious beliefs who are presently more dumbed down than the general public.
Moss-backed fundamentalist.......2004-08-08
Good book that shows how temporal distractions can distract us from those eternal things that should be our focus. It is a quick read, broken down into short chapters. In perhaps one of the most convincing proofs for the necessity of the book, I actually found it in the "diet & exercise" section of my local Christian bookstore.
Books:
- The Worst Hard Time: The Untold Story of Those Who Survived the Great American Dust Bowl
- Warfare in the Classical World: An Illustrated Encyclopedia of Weapons, Warriors and Warfare in the Ancient Civilisations of Greece and Rome
- Wellington's Army: Uniforms of the British Soldier,1812-1815
- What Is the What
- Who Was King Tut? (Who Was...?)
- Wizard 6: A Combat Psychiatrist in Vietnam (Texas a & M University Military History Series)
- A Critique Of Post-colonial Reason: Toward A History of the Vanishing Present
- A History of Greece (Works in Ancient Philosophy)
- A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier
- A Student's Guide to the History And Philosophy of Yoga
Books Index
Books Home
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- Falls the Shadow
- The Power Broker: Robert Moses and the Fall of New York
- 2006 Essential Guide to the NSA Spying Controversy, Bush Administration Anti-Terrorism Wiretapping a
- Blue Ocean Strategy: How to Create Uncontested Market Space and Make Competition Irrelevant
- FLIP: How to Find, Fix, and Sell Houses for Profit
- Cat Breaking Free: A Joe Grey Mystery
- The Strategic Project Office: A Guide to Improving Organizational Performance
- 50 Fast Digital Photo Techniques with Photoshop Elements 3
- Lichen Physiology and Cell Biology
Environmental Science
| Earth Sciences
| Science
| Subjects
| Books
The Wild Trees: A Story of Passion and Daring
Wood: Craft, Culture, History
Skin: A Natural History
Tree: A Life Story
The Omnivore's Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals
