History: Fiction or Science? (Chronology, No. 1)

Book Description

Recorded history is a finely-woven magic fabric of intricate lies about events predating the sixteenth century. There is not a single piece of evidence that can be reliably and independently traced back earlier than the eleventh century. This book details events that are substantiated by hard facts and logic, and validated by new astronomical research and statistical analysis of ancient sources.

Customer Reviews:

Calculations are only as good as your numbers.......2007-08-03

Yes, we can all agree that mainstream history is nearly 100% BS due to politics, economics, ego, problems with dating techniques, and various conspiracies. Agreed. But, I've been researching the distinct possibility that human history (in terms of civilizations) are much more ancient than we've been told, so coming across this book was very interesting to me. I wondered how Fomenko could be wrong (if at all) because he is very persuasive in his presentations. Then it dawned on me. If at previous times in prehistory, due to the various catastrophies that are well documented (comets, asteroids, planetary disruptions, plasma discharge, pole reversals, etc) the Earth was in a different position in relation to the sun, different tilt on its axis, different orbit, different rotation (in terms of velocity and DIRECTION), and the continents were in different positions, then would this not cause the ancients to see the sky (constellations) differently? In other words, is Fomenko making erronious assumptions about the physics of the Earth in pre-history, which then corrupt his data with regards to dating the relevant astrology? The last event to seriously disrupt our planet occured roughly 3500 years ago, according to other good researchers, so is it possible Fomenko has been confused by this? The vastly different physics of our planet in the not so distant past may explain this confusion, which is not to say the "mainstream" version of history is correct; on the contrary. I am not an expert in these fields, but wanted to see if this idea could spark discussion.

Pants on fire?.......2007-07-19

Will people ever read before spamming? Yes, Jesuits could not rewrite world history alone, they had help. Anyway, Dr Prof Acad A.Fomenko does not point to jesuits as the driving force of world wide history manipulation in published volumes 1,2,3;, actually he barely mentions the poor devils. Check it with 'Search inside' feature, please. China is rarely mentioned either, in fact, Dr Fomenko is completely eurocentric. Right, his theory contradicts all mainstream schools of history, because in their actual state they are all built on blatantly erroneus chronology. You don't need a mysterious cabal (conspiracy) to falsify history, the falsification is its modus operandi. It is inherent to history(ians) to falsify (distort) events, as it is inherent to humans to boast as it is inherent to power (authority) to legimize itself by referrring to glorious past made to its own order. Dr Prof Fomenko and team have identified scores of instances of such manipulation in Russian, European, etc.. history, and delivered valid statistical proof thereof. His own 'reconstruction' is completely another story. Forget c14 as a valid method of dating. W.Libby has initially discovered a brilliant method of INDEPENDENT dating. Too bad, c14 method has become a joke after a forced marrige with dendrochronology with consensual chronological scale inbuilt. Radiocarbon method can't stand blind tests, but is so very productive as a rubberstamp.

Accepted History & Chronology Must Be Changed. .......2007-04-09

There is no doubt that history as most know it is a sham, & institution's version of History both University & Church is fradulent & inaccurate. Everything was established with an agenda, The real "Dark Ages" are now when we have access to incredible amounts of information past authorities & more important 'common folk' didn't have but our institutions & educators are slow to evolve because of what has ignorantly & arrogantly been taught for too long. This is on many subjects not just Chronology.

For anyone to question "Why would a Mathematician have anything credible to say of History?" The answer is from Dr. Fomenko's preface in the book: "It would be worthwhile to remind the reader that in the XVI-XVII century Chronology was considered to be a subdivision of Mathematics." These volumes could possibly be some of the most important works to date & should be read by everyone with an interest in History, especially professors & educators who have a duty to the public. I have read both books & must say that 'Chronology 1' has some very eye opening & revolutionary information. Even if these volumes are part true the implications are profound & opens the doors to further investigations & questions which must be done. I speak several different lanquages & must say the logic Dr. Fomenko uses with "inflection" of words & words being read from left to right in one region & right to left in another then written backwards, the removal of vowels & get down to basics of words, or different cities & locations having the same name etc. is correct. Vowel usage has always been optional & varied, actually complicating linquistics & study. The first thing one has to understand is that words never had a fixed spelling in history like we do now, the spelling of words was mutable & regional, as well as names & titles of people were vast, varied & changed, NOTHING WAS FIXED or understood linear. Matters of Life & Death as well as financial profiteering yesterday & today were & are made with ignorant, illogical & conspiratorial views of history & reality, it's time people get closer to the Truth & society collectively grow up.

Very Interesting.......2007-03-07

It is a good proposal and I believe it will mature into something even better in the future. I think it deserves to be read.

History as Science Fiction.......2007-01-10

Anatoly Fomenko has written a very intriguing book, full of pictures, charts, and computer 'proof' of his thesis: backwards of AD900 we don't really know what happened or when. Between AD900 and AD1600 there is more certainty, but there is still a lot of fuzzy ground, and things don't get reliable until we get past the 1600's where the printing press made it very difficult for the perpetrators of this timeline manipulation to change anything that had been committed to print. The Dark Ages did not happen. Books were burned for a reason. One organization has doubled the actual length of its existence by expanding the real chronology. Read why.

I had always wondered why Christ died about AD33 and yet men waited until the 11th century to form the Knights Templar, the Cathars, etc and go after the Holy Land by force. Why the 1000 year gap? Turns out there wasn't more than a 10-12 year gap and he proves it using astronomy. This also implies that the planet is not as old as we have been told, and current Christian and other creationist scientists are already championing that idea without being aware of Fomenko's book. The two groups, creationist scientists and the Russian mathematical analysts corroborate each other. Fascinating.

Of course, all this flies in the face of what we have been told traditionally is the 'proper' chronology of western civilization, and most readers will experience 'cognitive dissonance' in reading this book. It means that our history going backwards from AD1600 becomes progressively more incorrect and unreliable until it cannot be trusted at all... in the space of 700-800 years.

Naturally, the curious, open-minded reader will want to know WHO did this, WHY, and did any of the events we think of as really ancient ever happen?
Dr. Fomenko is a respected scientist/mathematician at Moscow State University who has already answered these questions to the satisfaction of his initially skeptical colleagues. Most of them are now believers, a few still refuse to believe (the usual diehards), and of course the western press has ignored Fomenko's work -- for obvious reasons when you read the book. The ones who perpetrated this chronology ruse have a lot to answer for. They are still with us. That's why this book is a well-kept secret.

I gave the book a 4-star rating because I was unable to check out some of his claims; those I checked were as he said. But if even 1/3 of his claims are true, this punches a big hole in what we think is our history, the meaning of western civilization, our educational process (for repeating the ruse as gospel), and the trustworthiness of the organization that perpetrated this ruse, well-intentioned or not.

This book relates to current research into a Young Earth paradigm, to John Keel's discoveries about our planet, and Fr Malachi Martin's insights (in his now out-of-print books). We are indeed sheep who are manipulated and kept ignorant -- for a reason. While knowing what these men have to say may be the "booby prize" (as in: 'what can you do with this knowledge?'), it will provide interesting reading. Didn't someone say: "...and the Truth will set you free."?? For you to judge if this book contains the truth.

Ethnography: Step-by-Step (Applied Social Research Methods)

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A "How To" Guide
A lifetime resource as well as a great introduction

Ethnography: Step-by-Step (Applied Social Research Methods)
David M. Fetterman
Manufacturer: Sage Publications, Inc
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0761913858

Book Description

Sifting through notepads filled with illegible scrawl, listening to hours of tape recordings, labeling and organizing piles of photographs and slides, and cross-referencing disks of data are all too-familiar pictures to the ethnographic researcher. How does one manage a mountain of data and make meaningful statements? By using the new, updated Ethnography that has proved so reliable to thousand of researchers. This edition takes a step into a new frontier – the Internet – one of the most powerful resources available to ethnographers. The book now provides insights into the uses of the Internet, including conducting searches about topics or sites, collecting census data, conducting interviews by "chatting" and video-conferencing, sharing notes and pictures about research sites, debating issues with colleagues on listservers and in online journals, and downloading useful data and analysis software. Maintained from the First Edition is coverage of the nature of fieldwork, the equipment needed to conduct research, the analysis of data, the differences and similarities between qualitative and quantitative approaches, and writing the report. Throughout the book, author David M. Fetterman provides insights into putting people at ease, research ethics, and sensitivity to other cultures. Popular with readers for the friendly and accessible style of writing, this new edition will be an indispensable resource for doing ethnographic research.

Customer Reviews:

A "How To" Guide.......2003-06-28

Fetterman explains in sequential fashion how to do an ethnographic study. He describes ethnography as "the art and science of describing a group or culture" (p. 11) The first step in the process is for the researcher to enter the field of study with an open mind. In attempting to describe a setting, there is no one acceptable standard. Multiple interpretations of reality exist. A study is one person's view of a given group, at a particular time. Although this limitation is a given, an ethnographer should seek to be holistic in presenting a study's findings (p. 21). An ethnographic study would include both structure and function. Structure is the social structure or configuration of the group. Function is the social relations among group members. Like systems theory, relationships are significant components of an ethnographic study. Symobolic communication is significant in revealing what is important to the people being studied. As an observer, a researcher using this approach is a human instrument. There are some biases, but the more experience one develops, the better one can develop his or her skills of observation. Fetterman goes on to talk about the difference between writing good field notes and writing the final report. In all the book clearly shows how to go about the process of doing an ethnographic study.

A lifetime resource as well as a great introduction.......2001-10-02

I'm surprised I've studied Anthropology this long without this book. It is simple, linear and effective. David Fetterman takes the beginner through all the necessary thought processes and equipment required to do research. More importantly, he includes a whole section of resource material in one book. Everything from Web sites with research data to List Serves that have anthropological material to associations, their phone numbers, email addresses and Web sites. He includes a detailed listing of software and freeware that can help a reseacher, complete with a brief explanation of the use and value.
Moreover, he noted that when the first edition came out in 1989, there was no World Wide Web, so that by the time this book was published in 1998, it was undoubtedly already out of date. Subsequently, he has set up a Web page to accompany the text with a more up-to-date listing of software, freeware, List Serves, technological advances and WebSites.
This book is a great tool!
Fetterman gives user friendly definitions of many of the most daunting terms in the field of anthropology.
Emic = insider's or native's perspective. Etic = external or social science perspective. Proxemitics = study of how the socially defined physical distance between people varies in differing social circumstances. Kinesics = body language study. Operationalism = defining one's terms and methods of measurement. Terms like micro and macro level studies, open and closed probes, structural and attribute questions are not only defined, but are put into practice with short examples.
Fetterman briefly describes research methods such as projection techniques and triangulation -- gives examples of their use, advantages and drawbacks.
He details specific uses for specific programs, like MicNotePad that turns the researchers portable computer into a tape recorder and aids in transcribing the material.
This book is an essential tool for any student, undergrad, graduate or post graduate in anthropology or social sciences in general.

Doing Visual Ethnography: Images, Media and Representation in Research

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Doing Visual Ethnography: Images, Media and Representation in Research
Sarah Pink
Manufacturer: Sage Publications Ltd
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ASIN: 0761960546

Book Description

Doing Visual Ethnography explores the use and potential of photography, video and hypermedia in ethnographic and social research. It offers a reflexive approach to theoretical, methodological, practical and ethical issues of using these media `in the field' and `in the academy'. The book follows the research process from project design planning and implementing and practising fieldwork to analysis and representation suggesting how visual images and technologies can be combined to form an integrated process throughout the different stages of research.

Writing Up Qualitative Research (Qualitative Research Methods)

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Got me through my dissertation...
Writing Up Qualitative Research

Writing Up Qualitative Research (Qualitative Research Methods)
Harry F. Wolcott
Manufacturer: Sage Publications, Inc
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ASIN: 0803937938

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"I believe Wolcott has achieved his purpose admirably. . . Writing Up Qualitative Research contains many useful suggestions to help both the novice and the experienced writer. . . . If you follow the suggestions in the book, you will get your own work written and it will be well written."

--Madelaine Ramey in Evaluation Practice

"I have just finished a qualitative case study based almost entirely on interviews with engineering students. The two sources on which I depended most heavily were Robert Stake’s The Art of Case Study Research and Harry F. Wolcott’s Writing Up Qualitative Research. I have heard others sing the praises of different works and I have referred to them, but favor the two mentioned."

--Terry C. Hall, Ed.D. Independent Scholar

"This book is timely in attempting to offer a path for beginning and perhaps more important, controlling and finishing written work for sharing with a wide but critical audience. The chapter headings provide a flavor of the book--reading about writing; getting going; keeping going; tightening up; finishing up; getting published. . . . This is a stimulating and worthwhile book for everyone attempting to cope with writing up their findings from this exciting form of research." --Journal of Osteopathic Education "Written in an easy-to-read, conversational-tone, Writing Up Qualitative Research is useful and interesting and will be an important aid to graduate students working on their dissertations. It will also enable recent doctorates who accept university positions to advance in their profession through writing and publishing."

--Harvard Educational Review

"His consistent use of the first person and a conversational style . . . makes the book a pleasure to read. . . . It is not that Wolcott’s ideas are new. Indeed, much of what he has written is also covered by other writers. The difference is that his presentation is written in such an engaging style that it is more likely to be read."

--Contemporary Sociology

"Excellent advice on getting started, keeping going and crafting your writing towards appropriate audiences, and much of the advice offered is as applicable to quantitative as to qualitative work. Wolcott’s booklet provides the ideal complement to Richardson’s more reflexive discussion by offering us a down-to-earth guide as to ''how to do it.''. . . Clear, practical tips given with the obvious weight of experience behind them. . . . Recommended reading for anyone out there despairing of ever starting to turn that pile of transcripts into written form (and indeed for all those lucky enough to have already started)."

--Social Research Association

News Researchers across the social sciences all face the same inherent problem--how to write up their findings once the research stage is completed. Now, in Writing Up Qualitative Research, Harry Wolcott draws on years of personal experience to take researchers step by step through the final stage of the research process. He examines key problems in writing qualitative research and explores alternative ways of coping with these problems. Written in a lively, informal style, this practical volume shows researchers how to begin the writing process, how to edit, and how to get published. Wolcott also addresses the problem of ensuring that whatever the researcher has recorded--from observations, interviews, or archival research--is included in the final write-up.

Writing Up Qualitative Research is an essential resource for anyone engaged in social research for whom the link between conducting research and writing it up seems more like an obstacle than an opportunity.

Customer Reviews:

Got me through my dissertation..........2007-01-22

I found this book more helpful than any dissertation-writing manual, and will rely on it for future projects beyond the PhD. Wolcott's honest and funny writing style makes you feel like a friend, and his advice is truly useful. The book is a great motivator as well, particularly during those frustrating stages of writing/revising. I highly recommend this book to anyone sitting on a mound of qualitative data who needs a bit of companionship along the way.

Writing Up Qualitative Research.......2005-09-13

This book has been very helpful in determining where to start and steps to make for completing a qualitative research project. It offers suggestions of "how to" and provides application tips that make a sometimes seemingly overwhelming project manageable.

Research Methods in Anthropology: Qualitative and Quantitative Approaches, Fourth Edition

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A newly updated and expanded fourth edition
Long, Repetitive and Bland
The Bible for anthropology research

Research Methods in Anthropology: Qualitative and Quantitative Approaches, Fourth Edition
H. Russell Bernard
Manufacturer: AltaMira Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0759108692

Book Description

Research Methods in Anthropology is the standard textbook for methods classes in anthropology. Written in Russ Bernards unmistakable conversational style, his guide has launched tens of thousands of students into the fieldwork enterprise with a combination of rigorous methodology, wry humor, and commonsense advice. The author has thoroughly updated this new fourth edition. Whether you are coming from a scientific, interpretive, or applied anthropological tradition, you will learn field methods from the best guide in both qualitative and quantitative methods. Visit our website for sample chapters!

Customer Reviews:

A newly updated and expanded fourth edition.......2007-08-07

Now in a newly updated and expanded fourth edition, "Research Methods In Anthropology: Qualitative And Quantitative Approaches" by H. Russell Bernard (Professor of Anthropology, University of Florida) is a basic, comprehensive, 803-page introductory textbook on the research methods used in anthropology today. Written in a thoroughly 'reader friendly' conversational style that combines rigorous scientific methodology with Professor Bernard's wry sense of humor and experienced-based common sense, this new edition of "Research Methods In Anthropology" has an extensive bibliography and copious real-world examples, as well as sections on computer-based interviewing methods, management of electronic field notes, recording equipment and voice recognition software, text analysis, and the collection/analysis of visual materials. Ideal for college level courses in anthropology, "Research Methods In Anthropology" is also to be strongly recommended as accessibly informative for non-specialist general readers with an interest in anthropological research.

Long, Repetitive and Bland.......2007-02-21

I find this book, though filled with decent (not excellent) content to be very long and bland. The author continually repeats himself within chapters, extending the length and making it almost confusing to follow, not reinforcing. This is not exciting, neither in writing style nor content.

The Bible for anthropology research.......2007-01-24

This book is a must read for every anthropologist and every student of anthropology. Well written and thorough. Balanced and intelligent.

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Qualitative quality
All the advantages and disadvantages of statistical reasoning applied to qualitative political science
This not a stats book
Absolute Dross
KKV

Designing Social Inquiry
Gary King , Robert O. Keohane , and Sidney Verba
Manufacturer: Princeton University Press
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Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0691034710

Book Description

Providing precepts intended to stimulate and discipline thought, the authors explore issues related to framing research questions, measuring the accuracy of data and uncertainty of empirical inferences, discovering causal effects, and generally improving qualitative research. Among the specific topics they address are interpretation and inference, comparative case studies, constructing causal theories, dependent and explanatory variables, the limits of random selection, selection bias, and errors in measurement. Mathematical notation is occasionally used to clarify concepts, but no prior knowledge of mathematics or statistics is assumed. The unified logic of inference that this book explicates will be enormously useful to qualitative researchers of all traditions and substantive fields.

Download Description

While heated arguments between practitioners of qualitative and quantitative research have begun to test the very integrity of the social sciences, Gary King, Robert Keohane, and Sidney Verba have produced a farsighted and timely book that promises to sharpen and strengthen a wide range of research performed in this field. These leading scholars, each representing diverse academic traditions, have developed a unified approach to valid descriptive and causal inference in qualitative research, where numerical measurement is either impossible or undesirable. Their book demonstrates that the same logic of inference underlies both good quantitative and good qualitative research designs, and their approach applies equally to each. Providing precepts intended to stimulate and discipline thought, the authors explore issues related to framing research questions, measuring the accuracy of data and uncertainty of empirical inferences, discovering causal effects, and generally improving qualitative research. Among the specific topics they address are interpretation and inference, comparative case studies, constructing causal theories, dependent and explanatory variables, the limits of random selection, selection bias, and errors in measurement. Mathematical notation is occasionally used to clarify concepts, but no prior knowledge of mathematics or statistics is assumed. The unified logic of inference that this book explicates will be enormously useful to qualitative researchers of all traditions and substantive fields.

Customer Reviews:

Qualitative quality.......2007-09-03

A lot of the other reviews give great insight into what this book is and isn't.
I simply want to say that this book is excellent as a guide to what an optimal qualitative reasearch design should be, if it is to be as valid and reliable as possible. Qualitative research seems like a "haven" for researchers that want to follow their "heart" or "feelings", and this book contends unscientific research in a way that surely offends many of these researchers. Not that feelings should be excluded, it's just that the design must be more than a subjective view presented as research, and this book will help, even if you don't agree with everything they say.

All the advantages and disadvantages of statistical reasoning applied to qualitative political science.......2006-01-29

This book takes the basic logic of statistical inference and applies it to qualitative research design in political science. As several reviewers note, it is not a book on statistics, nor indeed does it pretend to be. However, it extends the logic of statistical research design into nonquantitative research.

That much it does very well. By thinking about how to test hypotheses and how to increase variation in a qualitative research design, it has been very influential. Most important, it has sparked extensive criticism, modifying and delineating its claims.

The book has some amusing flaws. Most of the examples come from the authors' colleagues and graduate students at Harvard, which suggests either that good research is not done by people without that connection or that the authors don't read anything written by people who don't have an office down the hall. The two non-quantitative coauthors have both done extensive qualitative research that demonstrably violates the advice given here--both before and after this book. This is evidence that the advice is hard to follow, that they have not read the book, or that good scholars take other factors into consideration when designing research.

The last hypothesis is in fact the right one. There are many factors that go into good research design, and positivistic hypothesis testing provides only a few. Even many of the examples they give are less appropriate than appears at first glance, addressing evidence that goes well beyond what this book's advice would be.

In short, don't rely on this as a bible. Don't believe its claims that all good research must meet these standards. Still, it's a good handbook for what it seeks to accomplish.

This not a stats book.......2005-10-17

This is a response to reviewers who think this is a stat book. This book is not meant to serve as a stats textbook (if you want one there are plenty of good ones written by statisticians and econometricians). This book is designed to serve as a guide to research design in social science in terms of developing a question, following systematic research procedures and measurement while using qualitative research methods. In that regard it does not do a great job as they are stuck up with applying simplistic statistical techniques (predominantly regression analysis)to qualitative methodology. As a result the work ends up appearing weak to both the statistically inclined (including myself) and those who use predominantly qualitative methods. Arguably the biggest problems with this work is in their treatment of constant dependent variable designs. This arises from their notion of a "causal effect" that is quite different from what qualitative researchers might see as causality. In statistical terms their notion is correct but when we move towards a qualitative interpretation of the same the concept becomes problematic primarily because it is difficult to discern the appropriate differentation between values of the dependent variable in qualitative work.

Nonetheless, this book should be treated on its own terms for attempting to synthesize quantiative and qualitative research methods. This book started a controversy that continues till this day and did a great job in forcing people to actually think more deeply about their research design and methods.

If you want to study statistics or econometrics forget this book (choose what you want to know about....regression analysis, time-series models, bayesian models....your choice). If you want to study qualitative research well read this book but then read Brady and Collier 2002 and George and Bennett 2004. George and Bennett's work is arguably the best book on research design I have ever read.

Absolute Dross.......2005-09-29

Please spare yourself the pointless meanderings through what should be simple statistical techniques and buy a real statistics book.

KKV.......2005-09-25

KKV is the book behind the excellent paper by Gerardo L. Munck entitled Canons of Research Design in Qualitative Analysis [Studies in Comparative Literature, Vol. 33, No. 3 (Fall 1998), p. 18-45].

The book has the details although it is harder to read than Munck's excellent paper. This is a must read for all doing Qualitative Research.

Infections and Inequalities: The Modern Plagues

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careless errors, mediocre conclusion
Medical-anthropological approach to HIV & TB illuminates roles of inequality and poverty in spread of disease
Wonderful etiological analysis, but unfounded conclusions.
Shining a Light
Complex causality: why people are really at risk for disease

Infections and Inequalities: The Modern Plagues
Paul Farmer
Manufacturer: University of California Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0520229134

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Paul Farmer has battled AIDS in rural Haiti and deadly strains of drug-resistant tuberculosis in the slums of Peru. A physician-anthropologist with more than fifteen years in the field, Farmer writes from the front lines of the war against these modern plagues and shows why, even more than those of history, they target the poor. This "peculiarly modern inequality" that permeates AIDS, TB, malaria, and typhoid in the modern world, and that feeds emerging (or re-emerging) infectious diseases such as Ebola and cholera, is laid bare in Farmer's harrowing stories of sickness and suffering.
Challenging the accepted methodologies of epidemiology and international health, he points out that most current explanatory strategies, from "cost-effectiveness" to patient "noncompliance," inevitably lead to blaming the victims. In reality, larger forces, global as well as local, determine why some people are sick and others are shielded from risk. Yet this moving account is far from a hopeless inventory of insoluble problems. Farmer writes of what can be done in the face of seemingly overwhelming odds, by physicians determined to treat those in need. Infections and Inequalities weds meticulous scholarship with a passion for solutions--remedies for the plagues of the poor and the social maladies that have sustained them.

Customer Reviews:

careless errors, mediocre conclusion.......2006-06-15

By claiming "social reform," Farmer contradicts his stance as an American citizen: Haiti has no money to support its own citizens, that's why the US and others are doing Haiti's job. But, the US has to care for its own citizens as well therefore has to first work on its own AIDS patients within its boundary. If the US does that as its social reform, Haiti instantly dries up.

Irritating mistakes somehow got through inspection: PAligre Dam? PEligre? (P. 174) PuertO Plata? PueltA? (P. 119)

Medical-anthropological approach to HIV & TB illuminates roles of inequality and poverty in spread of disease.......2005-07-11

Farmer, a physician-anthropologist and activist, examines both the way that poverty and inequality result in the spread of HIV and TB today and the flawed justifications for inequitable access to treatment. His ethnographic analysis provides a powerful complement to standard epidemiological work, and this treatise on the danger as well as the immorality of inequity in medical care is largely convincing.

Farmer illustrates several broad themes effectively with case studies from Haiti and Peru. One is the idea that most studies overemphasize individual agency, failing to recognize serious "structural" factors, such as the pressure that extreme poverty exerts on people to engage in unhealthy behaviors and the problems introduced by economic inequality. (One example of the latter is that in unequal countries like Peru, second-line TB drugs are available because of demand by the rich, so doctors also prescribe them to the poor who can only afford them intermittently, which generates drug-resistant strains of the disease.) Another theme is that people in rich nations tend to place heavy weight on "strange" cultural beliefs and customs in explaining high disease prevalence, whereas actual epidemiological research tends to show that these factors carry little weight relative to poverty-related factors. While he uses AIDS in Haiti to illustrate this tendency, it applies perfectly to popular Western conceptions of AIDS in Africa: the popular media tend to emphasize cultural practices such as wife inheritance and a strong sex drive, whereas epidemiological research fails to support a major role for these.

A third theme, which Farmer often trumpets but not as convincingly, is that many of the trade-offs voiced by policymakers are ultimately false. One example is the question of whether to treat tuberculosis with drugs or prevent it (e.g., by investing in economic development). He then uses the success of his clinic in Haiti as an example of both treating and preventing TB. The ultimate argument is that the wealthy have no right to withhold their wealth from the poor. However, he gives us no clear sense of how the resources to generalize this to the world at large should be marshaled. While the trade-off may be philosophically false, the practical application is unclear.

But even without a plan of action, Farmer illuminates key problems in the analysis of infectious disease spread and makes a convincing plea to share the wealth (and the technology).

Wonderful etiological analysis, but unfounded conclusions. .......2004-07-24

Anyone in the public health arena has heard (or even read) of Paul Farmer. The Harvard MD/PhD (Anthropolgy) is indeed a passionate and competant professional who has fresh drive and leads a commendable life in service to humanity. This book seems to be his most popular work (at least on campus of major public health colleges) and it deserves attention and analysis.

Farmer gives systematic treatment of HIV and TB etiology and prevalence in the US and Haiti. More importantly, how those diseases affect the poor in inequitable ways. Peppered with intimate anecdotes and cutting analysis, the book brings hard ideas with the immediacy of the individual plight. He debunks myth of AIDS early history and establishes perspetive for the disease to be viewed/studied in light of the poor and the strucutral violence that (he deems) causes the propensity of the disease in the lower levels of society. He offers solutions and pleas for attention to these 'new plagues' so that the effects can be mitigated for the sake of all humanity.

There are some issues with that perspective. Of course every author brings inherent bias to the writing (either intentional or not), but Farmer makes no apology for his worldview and dismisses opinions of others who are even within the sientific community as he. John Stuart Mill (in "On Liberty") would say that such an attitude is likened to assuming infallibility (which Farmer more or less accuses the attitude of the 'rich' toward the modern plagues). His neo-Marxist tendency completely undermines the state of the world and he therefore addresses his problems from a "the way it should be" approach. That is his prerogative, but taking such an attitude means that his ideas will remain just that: ideas. His lack of pragmatism borders a silent taint of militarism and that approach rarely attracts policy makers, even those on the left.

Farmer assumes that a preponderence of evidence precludes a serious analysis of personal aganecy. No one would argue the conflict of structural violence and the inherent effects on personal agency. Yet, the fact remains that it does exist and it at least needs to be addressed in a thorough matter in order to be a fair treatment of the subject matter.

Furthermore, he needed to address the distal factors (i.e etiology and biology of the diseases) with the proximate (i.e. socio-econimics, etc...) for the book to be of more interest to the lay person. Despite my reservations, it is still a great book to get the reader "out of the box" and see AIDS and TB with the urgency it deserves. Yet, this type of book needs to be in the hands of the lay, and this recommendation would help.

Lastly, Farmer claims on several occasions a foundation of political economy in the analysis of his subject. He is a physician and anthropologist, and without the concurrent opinions of a political-economist to back up his claims, the ideas therein are weak at best. His political-economic opinions may be in line with greats like Marx and Henry George, but he cannot assume the validity of his assumptions just by telling the readership he his resting on such evidence. Several other leading political-economic ideas stand in direct opposition to his conclusions of goverment fixing all health problems to his liking.

All in all, it is hard not to be moved by Farmer's compelling treatment of such horrendous plagues on humanikind. Yet, passion does not always equal pragmatic and working solutions. Therefore, his work will hopefully inspire those who can take his passion to offer clear and viable solutions in the war on these plagues.

Michael Jewell, MPH

Shining a Light.......2004-01-02

Dr. Farmer sums up what you can hear in his lectures (he is an amazing speaker), read in journals, and hear in his interviews: The "modern day plagues" result directly from Structural Violence. I read this book for my culture and health class and could not put it down. He writes with an eloquence unheard of in most anthropologists while at the same time with the passion of a deeply concerned physician. Although in some points the book can get repetitive (as case studies overlap) it is a spectacular, enlightening read that I would recommend to anyone, particularly potential (and current) medical anthropologists.

Complex causality: why people are really at risk for disease.......2000-06-08

Finally Dr. Farmer couples his lucid historical, political and economic analyses of the conditions that put the poor at risk for bad health outcomes, with a plainly indignant calling out of healthcare professionals and healthcare organizations to make honest efforts to understand and remedy conditions which would never be tolerated among the well off in Western nations. In his goundbreaking, earlier books, "AIDS and Accusations," and "The Uses of Haiti," Dr. Farmer matter of factly discusses the global and local structural conditions and misrepresentations which led to the spread of disease and persistent, dismal health conditions in Haiti. In "Infections and Inequality," Dr. Farmer adds moral overtones to incisive, sociopolitical analysis and his characteristic accounts of individuals suffering from disease. The book consequently provides a powerful reflection from a man who has worked in some of the world's poorest regions on what the benefits of medical technology mean for people who have not traditionally had access to them. A powerful, informative read that clearly reflects the years of experience of a physician who has wrestled with the global responsibility of caring for the those who are worst off. An obligatory read for anyone even thinking of working for the impoverished of the world.

Statistics for Archaeologists: A Common Sense Approach (Interdisciplinary Contributions to Archaeology)

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math in plain english

Statistics for Archaeologists: A Common Sense Approach (Interdisciplinary Contributions to Archaeology)
Robert D. Drennan
Manufacturer: Springer
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Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0306453266

Book Description

Taking a jargon-free approach, this guidebook introduces the basic principles of statistics to archaeologists. The author covers the necessary techniques for analyzing data collected in the field and laboratory as well as for evaluating the significance of the relationships between variables. In addition, chapters discuss the special concerns of working with samples. This well-illustrated guide features several practice problems making it an ideal text for students in archaeology and anthropology.

Customer Reviews:

math in plain english.......2001-04-07

Very easy to understand, written in plain english, this little book is a must for archaeologists and archaeology students. It sets up basic statistical principles of common use in archaeology in a way that anybody can understand. Its even got practice exercises at the end of every chapter. Worth the money!

Decolonizing Methodologies: Research and Indigenous Peoples

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A must-read!
Important Contribution
Must-read
Constructing Critical Indigenous Research Methodologies
Compelling, must-read

Decolonizing Methodologies: Research and Indigenous Peoples
Linda Tuhiwai Smith
Manufacturer: Zed Books
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ASIN: 1856496244

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From the vantage point of the colonized, the term 'research' is inextricably linked with European colonialism; the ways in which scientific research has been implicated in the worst excesses of imperialism remains a powerful remembered history for many of the world's colonized peoples. Here, an indigenous researcher issues a clarion call for the decolonization of research methods.

The book is divided into two parts. In the first, the author critically examines the historical and philosophical base of Western research. Extending the work of Foucault, she explores the intersections of imperialism, knowledge and research, and the different ways in which imperialism is embedded in disciplines of knowledge and methodologies as 'regimes of truth'. Providing a history of knowledge from the Enlightenment to Postcoloniality, she also discusses the fate of concepts such as 'discovery, 'claiming' and 'naming' through which the west has incorporated and continues to incorporate the indigenous world within its own web.

The second part of the book meets the urgent need for people who are carrying out their own research projects, for literature which validates their frustrations in dealing with various western paradigms, academic traditions and methodologies, which continue to position the indigenous as 'Other'. In setting an agenda for planning and implementing indigenous research, the author shows how such programmes are part of the wider project of reclaiming control over indigenous ways of knowing and being.

Exploring the broad range of issues which have confronted, and continue to confront, indigenous peoples, in their encounters with western knowledge, this book also sets a standard for truly emancipatory research. It brilliantly demonstrates that ‘when indigenous peoples become the researchers and not merely the researched, the activity of research is transformed.’

Customer Reviews:

A must-read!.......2007-01-21

I first read this book for a course in Sociocultural Theory in Anthropology. It has stayed on my shelf ever since. Linda Tuhiwai Smith provides insight and deeply meaningful commentary on the field of social research and its place in the indigenous community. This work should be required reading of all students in the social sciences.

Important Contribution.......2006-08-25

Smith provides a coherent and detailed alternative perspective for those researching in fields related to indigenous populations. She presents both a theoretical framework and offers very practical suggestions. I have found great value not only in what Smith presents but also in following up readings through those she references. I believe this is a necessary book on any shelf of those involved in such study.

Must-read.......2005-09-22

This book outlines important and useful methodologies for decolonization, and should be required reading for anyone who makes public policy.

Constructing Critical Indigenous Research Methodologies.......2003-04-16

Looking at Western research practices from the ýundersideý of a positivist paradigm deeply entrenched and diffused throughout public and private educational, governmental, and corporate tentacles, Linda Tuhiwai Smith is a Maori (New Zealand) intellectual presenting a counter-methodological narrative stemming from a collective indigenous historical cynicism and whose voice bespeaks the refusal to be objectified by an inherently racist and imperialist mode of constructing knowledge and re-presentations of non-Western peoples. Deconstructing Western research paradigms is simply an act of defiance and resistance for Smith, particularly since she constructs a radical alternative methodology rooted in self-determination, social justice, intellectual property rights, and active participation in all knowledge-making, contributions to the research processes, and dissemination of ýfindingsý. The exigency of articulating a research methodology aimed at critical praxis for Western and non-Western peoples interested in indigenous issues emerges at a point where globalization and neo-liberal imperial practices and investments are opening new spaces for the unilateral and/or predominant benefit of Western research regimes that continue capitalizing and objectifying indigenous peoples through racist and incorrigible projects that erase human dignity, i.e. Human Genome Diversity Project.

The book can strategically be divided into two main sections: the first section explores the contemporary and historical legacy of an imperial tryst between Western scientific, economic, and ideological formations shaping relations with alterity (Chapters 1-5); the second section outlines a radical alternative methodology for conducting research on indigenous peoples and issues (Chapters 6-9). The first chapter reveals the ýEnlightenmentý and positivist threads that weave imperialism, history, writing, and theoretical practices that continue to shape current research and socio-political policies on an international level. Smith states: ýresearch within late-modern and late-colonial conditions continues relentlessly and brings with it a new wave of exploration, discovery, exploitation, and appropriationý (24). Deconstructing the historical legacy of imperial practices is also a call for rewriting and rerighting history with indigenous perspectives. The second chapter outlines the Baconian processes by which Westerners come to view the world as a standing reserve of objects for empirical inquiry, discursive appropriation, and mimetic comportment processes aimed at subjugating and ýcontrollingý nature and indigenous peoples with an intellectual will to power stemming from racist ideologues who trace some form of theoretical lineage back to Bacon, Kant, Hegel, Hume and others. Borrowing from Stuart Hall, this process moves from classification of the world and others, to collapsing images for a convenient system of representation, to presenting a reified model for comparative analysis, and, finally, establishing criteria for hierarchical positionality. Chapter three delves further into deconstructing research, as viewed through imperial eyes, and how this methodology produced a self-perpetuating apparatus comprised of multifarious disciplines for the construction and future survival of colonial ýknowledgeý and all those who invest in these truth regimes that purport to be ýuniversalý, ýneutralý, objectively sound, and constructed on a foundation of ýabsolute certaintyý.

Chapter four and five highlight many instances of how imperial research regimes continue to invest in the discursive and ýscientificý construction, re-presentation, and exploitation of indigenous peoples for profit and social control. The globe has become one large information colony where research is the means to inscribe social and ideological control and Westernized fabrications of history on the backs of indigenous peoples around the world. The most infamous example of how the imperial research regime continues to exist is through scientific projects stemming from private corporate entities mainly subsidized by governments. The Human Genome Diversity Project attempts to subjugate indigenous peoples by mapping and reifying DNA and possessing it as ýintellectual propertyý for future use. The attempt to patent the genetic make-up of the Hagahai people (New Guinea) by the U.S. government is indisputable proof of how these scientific projects threaten the future, autonomy, and human rights of indigenous peoples.

The second part of the book focuses on constructing an indigenous alternative to decolonize indigenous peoples from Western regimes of research based on emergent tribal social issues, practices, and beliefs. The center of this decolonizing project is constructed through Polynesian metaphors of ýspace-timeý. The center of social activity and identity is an archipelago comprised of self-determination in terms of tribal autonomy on a social, economic, and research level, as well as the full participation in inter-tribal and inter-national relations. Healing, decolonization, transformation, and mobilization are the four main ýdirectionsý that frame the spaces of this project. Survival, recovery, and development are the main ýtidesý that connect and transform all directionality of the project. This methodology is intended to transform indigenous peoples from passive objects in Western research to active-participants in an indigenous process of reconfiguring themselves and the world around them. Respect becomes the main affective principle for the survival of indigenous peoples and the project: ýthrough respect, the place of everyone, and everything in the universe is kept in balance and harmonyýthe denial by the West of humanity to indigenous peoples, the denial of citizenship and human rights, the denial of the right to self-determinationýall these demonstrate palpably the enormous lack of respect which has marked the relations of indigenous and non-indigenous peoplesý (120). Without respect, there is no dignity.

Chapter seven outlines a means of articulating such a project to indigenous and non-indigenous peoples and the challenges associated with it. Chapter eight provides a list of current indigenous research projects. Chapter nine provides a case study of the Maori peoples in which the method outlined in chapter six was put into practice. Chapter ten details with the methodological transformation of passive objects to active agents and lists tactics for strengthening and sustaining critical research for decolonizing processes.
Generally, when the researched become researchers, self-determination and healing can take place, communities can create and control research processes and the subsequent naming of the world, and they can define their relationship with others and the environment.

If a critical theroetical/methodological ýflawý or problematic of this decolonial methodology exists, it might come to presence from a post-structural disdain for outlining a process by which people can ýliberateý themselves from Western imperialist research regimes. But then again, post-structural thought is mainly a Western construction and/or response to
'modernity' and its discontents.

Compelling, must-read.......2003-04-14

Tuhiwai Smith's masterpiece is a must-read for any discipline. Her work questions the most basic assumptions upon which academic research lies; her influence is widely felt in fields as diverse as anthropology, social work, women studies, film studies, indigenous studies, psychology, history, sociology, and ethnic studies. Smith is the Fanon of the indigenous world, and the contemporary academic cannot afford to miss her work.

The chapters are absorbing and surprisingly straight-forward for theory, and can be read separately or in sequence. The work is accessible enough for undergraduate students, but rich enough to serve as a valuable addition to the graduate student's bookshelf.

Book Description

Since late 2001 more than fifty percent of the babies born in California have been Latino. When these babies reach adulthood, they will, by sheer force of numbers, influence the course of the Golden State. This essential study, based on decades of data, paints a vivid and energetic portrait of Latino society in California by providing a wealth of details about work ethic, family strengths, business establishments, and the surprisingly robust health profile that yields an average life expectancy for Latinos five years longer than that of the general population. Spanning one hundred years, this complex, fascinating analysis suggests that the future of Latinos in California will be neither complete assimilation nor unyielding separatism. Instead, the development of a distinctive regional identity will be based on Latino definitions of what it means to be American.

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