Book Description
In just the last few years, traditional collaboration—in a meeting room, a conference call, even a convention center—has been superseded by collaborations on an astronomical scale.
Today, encyclopedias, jetliners, operating systems, mutual funds, and many other items are being created by teams numbering in the thousands or even millions. While some leaders fear the heaving growth of these massive online communities, Wikinomics proves this fear is folly. Smart firms can harness collective capability and genius to spur innovation, growth, and success.
A brilliant guide to one of the most profound changes of our time, Wikinomics challenges our most deeply-rooted assumptions about business and will prove indispensable to anyone who wants to understand competitiveness in the twenty-first century.
Based on a $9 million research project led by bestselling author Don Tapscott, Wikinomics shows how masses of people can participate in the economy like never before. They are creating TV news stories, sequencing the human genome, remixing their favorite music, designing software, finding a cure for disease, editing school texts, inventing new cosmetics, or even building motorcycles. You'll read about:
• Rob McEwen, the Goldcorp, Inc. CEO who used open source tactics and an online competition to save his company and breathe new life into an old-fashioned industry.
• Flickr, Second Life, YouTube, and other thriving online communities that transcend social networking to pioneer a new form of collaborative production.
• Mature companies like Procter & Gamble that cultivate nimble, trust-based relationships with external collaborators to form vibrant business ecosystems.
An important look into the future, Wikinomics will be your road map for doing business in the twenty-first century.
Customer Reviews:
Great Book to Read.......2007-10-02
Wikinomics: How Mass Collaboration Changes Everything
As I refresh my professional career for the second decade of the 21st Century, I decided ro read this book, and I was not wrong. This is a most read book for everyone that's looking to stay relevant in the digital economy and the disrupting collaboration paradign. I highly recommeded.
Good, but not critical enough and scores high on the buzzword-meter.......2007-09-12
The book gives a quick tour of the new collaborative ways in which people aggregate and process information. It points out that collaboration can also be applied to produce new 'stuff', outside of software and even applying to manufacturing. It makes for interesting reading for people who a) know something about open source and want to know about its business implications and b) managers who don't know about open source/collaboration but would like to.
It is, imho, less interesting for those who want in-depth answers to the real thorny _business_ problems around open-source. I.e. How to make money at it, if you want to. It hints at important questions such as rewarding the community at large, not losing the family jewels as you open up, etc. Unfortunately, it never quite gets down to specific recommendations beyond "you have to find the right mix of proprietary vs. open source IP".
Not to criticize it overmuch. Wikinomics often jars your thinking with insightful nuggets. For example, it cites Goldcorp as the example of a mining company which opened up its secret prospection data to outsiders. Wikinomics, probably rightly, uses that as a counter-intuitive example of enlisting external help for a type of company that never shares that kind of data. Hmmm, why not share? If the prospection data applies to land on which only your company can operate, isn't that a pretty safe gamble? I don't know, really, but the point is that the anecdote makes you think of things differently. Same with IBM's success at getting a new OS (Linux)almost for free, while gathering goodwill from the community and genuinely collaborating. How far Big Blue's embarrassing anti-trust proceedings seem now...
Less helpful is Wikinomics' recurring use of cherry-picked anecdotes by sector, rather than a broad analysis of various businesses. First of all, it rarely compares its chosen 'smart companies' to their competitors. Yes, BMW is opening up. Does that make their cars any better? How is their stock doing? vs. Toyota? How is their reliability? How innovative are their cars?
Red Hat is a huge success story in Linux, but its dominance also highlights the relative failure of other Linux vendors. No explanation is given for that - network effects? first mover?
I would have welcomed some case studies of failures for big corporations in opening up. What caused those failures? What can be learned from them?
Google is also cited as a big example of openness. That is only partially true and could have served to highlight the necessary(?) split between proprietary information and public openness. Google opens up its APIs and the search is certainly free. I am a big fan myself. However, they have not chosen to release much code back to the community (cf. MapReduce) , mostly by sidestepping the GPL because they don't distribute their software. Their choice, and probably motivated by good business logic. Apple also walks a fine line between leveraging open source and keeping its business very much a secret.
This is just the kind of case studies Wikinomics could sink its teeth into, but it spends way too much time gushing over all the boundless possibilities of collaboration.
Conclusion: a good eye-opener but take it with a grain of salt. Note that my perspective is that of a developer interested in open source _and_ business profits.
An interesting read........2007-09-04
I liked this book, and it opened my eyes to many other "community-driven" technologies/companies. While I thought a lot of the ideas were very "common sense", it was well written, and had some great anecdotes. I recommend this book for anyone interested in social networking, building communities, etc.
The community is the company.......2007-09-02
Wikinomics is about opening your company to the world where communities come together, individuals share ideas, intelligence, peer produce, innovate; the communities are driven primarily by self-motivation or respect from peers. The idea is awesome; the authors are right that this is a new era; some of the most successful companies in the world use wikinomics; the most successful Internet companies are based upon it. The companies cost is dramatically cut, they become trustworthy, and individuals create what they want.
But the book is almost irritating to read. They paint a world where wikinomics is practically perfect, where the communities created by the company are utopian, and the companies who refuse the wikinomic ideology as evil. According to the authors, the companies that don't jump on the bandwagon will ultimately fail because they can't compete with speed and innovation that wikinomic companies can produce (compare wikipedia with any encyclopedia).
The reality is the communities created are often not egalitarian. Digg is a good example -- the community is driven by a faction of a top 100 users who control the front page content, any article or comment outside the digg mindset is quickly buried, and websites have been created where you can pay to get dugg.
In addition, the book ignores wikinomic companies who have failed completely or to a large extent (amapedia, a million penguins, la times wiki editorial, the thousands of 2.0 clones) and they give the reader no idea how to start a successful web 2.0 company. The book is also too long and each chapter adds little to the last. The entire book is read in the first chapter.
While I feel companies opening up to the world is an awesome concept and many of the ideas in the book are right, I would have preferred a more balanced book which makes this book unsatisfying. In the end, I still question whether wikinomics is just a bubble going to burst.
Required reading for Strategic Thinkers.......2007-08-29
In this interesting and example filled book, Authors Tapscott & Williams explore how convergence of the New Web (technology) and the Net Generation (demographics) have reduced transaction costs within the knowledge economy (or the knowledge element of the industrial economy) to create or allow for mass collaboration. Citing four (4) principles underlying this mass collaboration - openness, peering, sharing, and acting globally - they identify seven (7) trends that are transforming existing business models and challenging leaders to create entirely new business models.
1. Peer Production - building intellectual property bit by bit thru open source
2. Ideagoras - buying and selling solutions to problems / research
3. Prosumers - new product design by consumers/users (think hackers)
4. New Alexandrians - sharing science / thinking on a massive scale
5. Platforms for participation - global stage for partnering to create value and build new businesses
6. Global plant floors - transport technology across borders/organizations for local fab labs
7. Wiki workplaces - really workspaces, where playgrounds replace more traditional business processes
While one may argue with the distinctions between these seven, somewhat overlapping trends, the authors provide ample examples to stimulate thinking and help the reader see how this new world might be integrated into current business models or force us to create new ones. This book is recommended as required reading for anyone responsible for strategic thinking - for themselves or for their business.
Average customer rating:
- Dull saws, old and new
- GOD IS NOT GREAT
- Well researched & excellently written!
- No God is Great!
- A Flawed Starting Premise Leads To Bad /Sad Conclusion
|
God Is Not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything
Christopher Hitchens
Manufacturer: Twelve Books, Hachette Book Group
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Similar Items:
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The God Delusion
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God: The Failed Hypothesis. How Science Shows That God Does Not Exist
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Letter to a Christian Nation
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Breaking the Spell: Religion as a Natural Phenomenon
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The Assault on Reason
ASIN: 0446579807 |
Book Description
In the tradition of Bertrand Russell's Why I Am Not a Christian and Sam Harris's recent bestseller, The End of Faith, Christopher Hitchens makes the ultimate case
against religion. With a close and erudite reading of the major religious texts, he documents the ways in which religion is a man-made wish, a cause of dangerous sexual repression, and a distortion of our origins in the cosmos. With eloquent clarity, Hitchens frames the argument for a more secular life based on science and
reason, in which hell is replaced by the Hubble Telescope's awesome view of the universe, and Moses and the burning bush give way to the beauty and symmetry
of the double helix.
Customer Reviews:
Dull saws, old and new.......2007-10-03
If you can get past the fact that Hitchins really just wants the faithful to "leave me alone" (p. 13) and that what he especially wants them to leave him alone about is his sex life (stated throughout the book), then you can perhaps swallow this as the unbiased, scientific "reason" he wants us to believe it is. The trouble is, if the faithful have proven nothing about what they believe, neither has he. This work makes hordes of references while providing little in the way of searchable reference. It keeps falling back on old saws: the reason of those who do reach my same conclusion is not reason at all, God not man is the source of all our problems, evolution erases God.
So as a "believer," here are three things I believe:
(1) Hitchins writes with at least as many preconceptions as those he targets. He would have done well to be as scientific as his many scientist heroes.
(2) Hitchins is likely the kind of man who would permit his own children to "learn from their mistakes" rather than always intervening. Yet in Hitchins' mind, it is the supposed non-intervention of God into man's worst moments that "disproves" Him.
(3) Hitchins is right about much of religion. But he also overlooks James 2:27: "Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world." In other words, ethics includes compassion; it does not despise it. The proper subtitle for Hitchins' book is not "How Religion Poisons Everything," but "How Religion Gone Bad Poisons Everything." In that regard, he would find many colleagues in the church, including men of great reasoning past and present, such as Jonathan Edwards and John Piper.
GOD IS NOT GREAT.......2007-10-02
THIS IS MUST READ FOR ANY THINKING PERSON. REGARDLESS OF A READER'S RELIGIOUS CONVICTIONS ONE SHOULD READ THIS. THIS READER DID NOT FIND THE WORK SO MUCH AN ATTACK ON GOD AS ON THOSE WHO BLINDLY FOLLOW A FAITH AND/OR ENGAGE IN AN ORGANIZED RELIGION. IT SAYS TO ME " GOD PROTECT US FROM YOUR FOLLOWERS". HITCHENS' WORK SHOULD HELP US ALL BE MORE INTELLIGENT, QUESTIONONG BEINGS.
Well researched & excellently written!.......2007-10-02
Wish I'd read such a marvelous book decades ago. Might have saved me tons of grief and pain while I struggled with my many years of addiction to a controlling Mormon religion instilled by my well-intending parents. Then I taught it to my own children & they later used it as the basis to separate themselves from me. Regardless of your personal beliefs, open your mind enough to give this book a good read. Otherwise, you'll be confirming Hitchs' sub-title about continuing the poisoning in your own life and those around you. That's not what unconditional love does!
No God is Great!.......2007-10-01
This is a well-balanced study of religion's hundreds of years' role, and slowly decreasing influence in modern society with the author's personal experiences, and observations in the subject matter. He makes it clear that "The pursuit of unfettered scientific inquiry, and the availability of new findings to masses of people by easy electronic means, will revolutionize our concepts of research and development." I would add that instead of trying to "...banish all religions...", let literature and the arts take a better approach than religion to explore and reveal the mysteries, unexplainable secrets of life and the human experience.
A Flawed Starting Premise Leads To Bad /Sad Conclusion.......2007-10-01
Christopher Hitchens is an intelligent man . . . he can think . .. he can follow a logical train of thought . . . however when "logic" flows from a false premise it leads to error. the rejection of "God" is the grandest error one can be led to.
While throughout history examples can be found of people in positions of power/authority/influence USING religion or religious language for nefarious and wicked ends (note the Inquisition for one), the truth is that "religious faith" has more often than not put the brakes on atrocities and human abuses. From the Old Testament times through the advent of the Christian dispensation, faith has served to keep man on a more humane and considerate path in dealing with his fellowman. The episodes where social rejections of religion occurred lead to Nazi atrocities . . . to Communist Gulags . . . and eqaully evil genocides . . .
Christopher doesn't seem to recognize that in a "Godless" philosophy, there is no real difference or "ultimate end" between Adolph Hitler, Joseph Stalin or Mother Teresa or Martin Luther King Jr -- they lived, did what they did, and died and returned to the amorphous realm of molecules and atom dust -- so what and where can be found the "moral standard" by which one can direct and dedicate his/her personal life? if a bank robber or a police officer arrive ultimately at the very same non-existant end, then everything becomes totally relative AND totally meaningless. no one will face a judgement for anything . . . so why not do whatever you can "get away with" here and now?
Christopher Hitchens has it in him to write a book a real value and meaning . . . he just needs to begin that book at the "correct starting point" and the "true premise" . . . God IS great!
Amazon.com
The simplest thing would be to describe Everything Is Illuminated, Jonathan Safran Foer's accomplished debut, as a novel about the Holocaust. It is, but that really fails to do justice to the sheer ambition of this book. The main story is a grimly familiar one. A young Jewish American--who just happens to be called Jonathan Safran Foer--travels to the Ukraine in the hope of finding the woman who saved his grandfather from the Nazis. He is aided in his search by Alex Perchov, a naïve Ukrainian translator, Alex's grandfather (also called Alex), and a flatulent mongrel dog named Sammy Davis Jr. Jr. On their journey through Eastern Europe's obliterated landscape they unearth facts about the Nazi atrocities and the extent of Ukrainian complicity that have implications for Perchov as well as Safran Foer. This narrative is not, however, recounted from (the character) Jonathan Safran Foer's perspective. It is relayed through a series of letters that Alex sends to Foer. These are written in the kind of broken Russo-English normally reserved for Bond villains or Latka from Taxi. Interspersed between these letters are fragments of a novel by Safran Foer--a wonderfully imagined, almost magical realist, account of life in the shtetl before the Nazis destroyed it. These are in turn commented on by Alex, creating an additional metafictional angle to the tale.
If all this sounds a little daunting, don't be put off; Safran Foer is an extremely funny as well as intelligent writer who combines some of the best Jewish folk yarns since Isaac Bashevis Singer with a quite heartbreaking meditation on love, friendship, and loss. --Travis Elborough, Amazon.co.uk
Book Description
With only a yellowing photograph in hand, a young man -- also named Jonathan Safran Foer -- sets out to find the woman who may or may not have saved his grandfather from the Nazis. Accompanied by an old man haunted by memories of the war; an amorous dog named Sammy Davis, Junior, Junior; and the unforgettable Alex, a young Ukrainian translator who speaks in a sublimely butchered English, Jonathan is led on a quixotic journey over a devastated landscape and into an unexpected past.
Customer Reviews:
hate it at page 40.......2007-07-21
I was immediately put off by Alex the narrator. Yes he has a unique voice, but the author is trying too hard to be clever with him. It might be funny for 5 pages, but not 45.
And Foer, the character, writes his "novel within the novel" about a Ukranian Jewish community that is a caricature of a community. Perhaps this is intended, but I didn't care for it. Maybe if I was intimately familiar with the culture's foibles, I would find it immediately funny. But since I'm not, I had no sympathy built up to enjoy the caricature -- to laugh with it, and not at it. And again, since it tries too hard, I couldn't even do that. And possibly I missed the author's intentions entirely -- was this part to be taken seriously but lightly, with the magical realism going on?
Maybe I haven't given it a chance, or didn't "get it", but I don't like suffering through things I don't care for these days.
Nothing is illuminated on the CD Version.......2007-07-04
I read the Recorded Books Unabridged Audio CD version of this book, and I'm convinced now that was a major mistake. Not every book translates well to the CD form. My favorites are nonfiction books such as histories and biographies. This rendition is an example of why it's frequently better to read novels in their original form, on paper. The CD form (like the movies) allows for too much interpretation.
On this CD, Alex sounded like a clown with an accent one would find in a comedy club; the history of Trachinbrod came across as pure foolishness and a waste of time, sound and space; grandfather as a bellowing maniac. I'm aware that the novel has been called brilliant and that it is highly praised by many. Perhaps on paper that is true, but I found it nearly impossible to listen to the CD.
As far as the plot is concerned I found it tortured and confusing. The holocaust story that emerges at the end is a tale of great sadness and pain but it's not enough to save the nonsensical plot and overly clever writing. I was reminded of Styron's Sophies Choice, which was a much, much better book.
If you plan to read this book, skip the CD and read the novel.
Lovely, But Slightly Overrated.......2007-07-02
I honestly loved the unconventional technique, and I wasn't that bothered by the lack of historical accuracy. I choose to think of it as a mixture of Jewish magic realism and artistic license.
Read the Book First.......2007-06-03
This is a fine book which, to enjoy to its fullest, must be read without having seen the film first. It should be said that a couple of off-hand remarks near the beginning of the book give away a major plot point of whose importance we are not yet aware. Having already seen the film, it made the book much harder (and, sadly, less enjoyable) to read. [The film itself is marvelously bittersweet, gets under your skin, and, like the book, doesn't let go. Choices must always be made in what to bring to the screen and what to leave out; good choices were made here. The film works incredibly well on its own.] I'm writing this review partially in response to the frustration expressed in an earlier review titled "Skip the book, see the movie" and to say that if you enjoy reading, please buy the book and read it before experiencing the film, as when one sees everything with the eyes first, it takes away so much of the beauty and surprise of the printed word.
Absolutely the best.......2007-05-31
This is one of the best books I have read. I loved every minute of it. The movie is excellent as well.
Book Description
Science has never been so easy - or so much fun! With The Everything Kids' Science Experiments Book, all you need to do is gather a few household items and you can recreate dozens of mind-blowing, kid-tested science experiments. High school science teach Tom Robinson shows you how to expand your scientific horizons - from biology to chemistry to physics to outer space.
You'll discover answers to questions like:
Is it possible to blow up a balloon without actually blowing into it?
What is inside coins?
Can a magnet ever be "turned off"?
Do toilets always flush in the same direction?
Can a swimming pool be cleaned with just the breath of one person?
Get ready to enter the laboratory and learn how to conduct cool experiments, understand scientific terms like "photosynthesis," and know fun facts like how many latex balloons per day can be made from a rubber tree. Each section has a great science fair project, complete with all the details you need to wow your teachers and friends.
You won't want to wait for a rainy day or your school's science fair to test these cool experiments for yourself!
Customer Reviews:
GREAT!!!!!.......2007-08-16
2 things - 1) you have to do the dissolving egg experiment... it's fabulous!! 2) pay attention to the age range - my nephew (the intended recipient) loves science (okay, exploding things...) just turned seven and he is definitely too young for the detailed explanations. He didn't like the delayed gratification but he did get a kick out of the results the following week... for the younger kids you might want to do the experiments yourself and then once you have results let them get excited about it... the bouncing egg... after accepting that it didn't happen just then!! ... was a huge hit the next week. This really is just an AWESOME book...
Great intro to Science for kids.......2007-05-14
My 7 year old daughter and I have been going through some of the experiments in the book. The experiments are easy to follow and the explanations are basic enough for a 7 year old to understand.
Fantastic!.......2007-05-08
The experiments are simple enough to implement yet the results are very REACTIVE! Which is GOOD!
Also the kits are not difficult to find. Just stuff you'll have in your kitchen,really.
good choice to start some new things with a youngster.......2007-01-12
I am happy with the choice and so was the family who received it as a gift for their young daughter who is ready to start something new to do with her father in the cold winter months of Maine.
Fun, fun, fun!!!.......2006-08-28
I have a just turned 5 year old that LOVES science and experiments. Although this book I believe was recommended for older children, there are plenty of experiments that I can do with him at his age and get immediate results. Since there are experiments that are targeted for older children, this is one of the rare books that we'll be able to use for several years down the road. I love it so much it's going to be one of my staples in gift giving - it's easy & fun enough for those even not interested in 'science'.
Amazon.com
"I am a Scotsman," Sir Walter Scott famously wrote, "therefore I had to fight my way into the world." So did any number of his compatriots over a period of just a few centuries, leaving their native country and traveling to every continent, carving out livelihoods and bringing ideas of freedom, self-reliance, moral discipline, and technological mastery with them, among other key assumptions of what historian Arthur Herman calls the "Scottish mentality."
It is only natural, Herman suggests, that a country that once ranked among Europe's poorest, if most literate, would prize the ideal of progress, measured "by how far we have come from where we once were." Forged in the Scottish Enlightenment, that ideal would inform the political theories of Francis Hutcheson, Adam Smith, and David Hume, and other Scottish thinkers who viewed "man as a product of history," and whose collective enterprise involved "nothing less than a massive reordering of human knowledge" (yielding, among other things, the Encyclopaedia Britannica, first published in Edinburgh in 1768, and the Declaration of Independence, published in Philadelphia just a few years later). On a more immediately practical front, but no less bound to that notion of progress, Scotland also fielded inventors, warriors, administrators, and diplomats such as Alexander Graham Bell, Andrew Carnegie, Simon MacTavish, and Charles James Napier, who created empires and great fortunes, extending Scotland's reach into every corner of the world.
Herman examines the lives and work of these and many more eminent Scots, capably defending his thesis and arguing, with both skill and good cheer, that the Scots "have by and large made the world a better place rather than a worse place." --Gregory McNamee
Book Description
Who formed the first modern nation?
Who created the first literate society?
Who invented our modern ideas of democracy and free market capitalism?
The Scots.
Mention of Scotland and the Scots usually conjures up images of kilts, bagpipes, Scotch whisky, and golf. But as historian and author Arthur Herman demonstrates, in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries Scotland earned the respect of the rest of the world for its crucial contributions to science, philosophy, literature, education, medicine, commerce, and politics—contributions that have formed and nurtured the modern West ever since.
Arthur Herman has charted a fascinating journey across the centuries of Scottish history. He lucidly summarizes the ideas, discoveries, and achievements that made this small country facing on the North Atlantic an inspiration and driving force in world history. Here is the untold story of how John Knox and the Church of Scotland laid the foundation for our modern idea of democracy; how the Scottish Enlightenment helped to inspire both the American Revolution and the U.S. Constitution; and how thousands of Scottish immigrants left their homes to create the American frontier, the Australian outback, and the British Empire in India and Hong Kong.
How the Scots Invented the Modern World reveals how Scottish genius for creating the basic ideas and institutions of modern life stamped the lives of a series of remarkable historical figures, from James Watt and Adam Smith to Andrew Carnegie and Arthur Conan Doyle, and how Scottish heroes continue to inspire our contemporary culture, from William “Braveheart” Wallace to James Bond.
Victorian historian John Anthony Froude once proclaimed, “No people so few in number have scored so deep a mark in the world’s history as the Scots have done.” And no one who has taken this incredible historical trek, from the Highland glens and the factories and slums of Glasgow to the California Gold Rush and the search for the source of the Nile, will ever view Scotland and the Scots—or the modern West—in the same way again. For this is a story not just about Scotland: it is an exciting account of the origins of the modern world and its consequences.
“The point of this book is that being Scottish turns out to be more than just a matter of nationality or place of origin or clan or even culture. It is also a state of mind, a way of viewing the world and our place in it. . . . This is the story of how the Scots created the basic idea of modernity. It will show how that idea transformed their own culture and society in the eighteenth century, and how they carried it with them wherever they went. Obviously, the Scots did not do everything by themselves: other nations—Germans, French, English, Italians, Russians, and many others—have their place in the making of the modern world. But it is the Scots more than anyone else who have created the lens through which we see the final product. When we gaze out on a contemporary world shaped by technology, capitalism, and modern democracy, and struggle to find our place as individuals in it, we are in effect viewing the world as the Scots did. . . . The story of Scotland in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries is one of hard-earned triumph and heart-rending tragedy, spilled blood and ruined lives, as well as of great achievement.”
—FROM THE PREFACE
Customer Reviews:
A must-read!.......2007-09-26
An absolute must-read for anyone interested in how the principles and values that America was founded on came to be...I couldn't help but wonder after reading this inspiring book, why there isn't some type of national recognition for the Scots like those that exist for other cultures (St. Patrick's Day for the Irish, Columbus Day for the Italians, etc.).
Excellent Book.......2007-08-23
I was lent a copy of this book and liked it so much that I bought one for myself. It gives a very good background on the Scottish culture and the development of the philosophy that underlies it. It covers a very broad area and the way it is written, makes for very good reading.
Excellent.......2007-08-15
This book was a Christmas gift and I recently finished reading it. I had fairly low expectations going in, but my interest was held all the way through. Mr. Herman does indeed make a strong case for Scots leading the way in many aspects of modern society, although I would say that declaring that Scots invented the modern world is rather speculative. Nonetheless, I really enjoyed this book and was especially interested in how Scots helped shape the United States and Canada with highlanders generally siding with the monarchy and migrating to Canada as Loyalists after the War of Independence and lowlanders siding with the revolutionaries. An excellent read if you are interested in Scottish or New World history.
The Miracle of the Scottish Enlightenment.......2007-04-20
How did it come about that between 1700 and 1800 a small undeveloped European country transformed itself into a modern capitalist democracy? The title is obviously pretentious and used as a marketing gimmick. It worked on me because it convinced me to buy this book. Historian Arthur Herman is not Scottish or of Scottish descent, but he has written a very compelling chronicle of the miracle of the Scottish Enlightenment.
In 1707, the Union Act united the kingdoms of Scotland and England. Prior to this, the two antagonists living on opposite sides of Hadrian's Wall wanted nothing to do with each other. Scotland consisted mainly of primitive clans living in the highlands and slightly more advanced lowlanders living mainly in the cities of Glascow and Edinburgh. The parliament in Edinburgh was controlled by groups of noblemen who in turn were dominated by the rigid and inquisitorial Presbyterian Kirk (church) of Scotland.
After 1707, there were two developments that were crucial to Scotland's rise to modernity. The first was the opening up to the economic free trade zone of the British Empire. At first the Scottish fretted about either being swallowed-up by their world-class English competitors or becoming pauperized like the Irish. Their fears were misplaced, neither happened. Instead, the Scottish became, Herman argues, the most significant player in the the empire's economic and intellectual sphere.
The second big reason for Scottish success was their public education system - the first in Europe. This was the work of the Presbyterian Kirk. They maintained that political power, ordained by God, was vested in the people, not the monarchy or the church. The Kirk believed that all people should be able to read the Bible, and as a consequence they achieved a 75% literacy rate - unprecedented in 1750.
Near-universal education produced in this tiny country a disproportionate number of world-class thinkers - David Hume, Francis Hutchison, and Adam Smith, to name a few. They transformed the fields of philosophy, history, economics, education, commerce, architecture, and many more. Due to their mutual animosity toward the English, the Scots found inspiration from the great thinkers of the French Enlightenment, and vice versa. It was Voltaire who said that, "We look to Scotland for all of our ideas of civilization."
As for Herman's claim that the Scots invented the modern world, it should be taken with a grain of salt. In the free trade zone of the British Empire, commerce and ideas flowed both ways. It can be said that the Scots did much to improve or make new existing ideas, and in some cases invent; but they did not singlehandedly invent the modern world.
The Scottish Enlightenment was not without its dark side. The modernizing of the Scottish Highlands was anything but civilized. Before the Scots exported the ideas of goverment and commerce abroad, it had to brutally convert some of its own population. Herman also sidesteps the ugly fact that the Scots were deeply involved in the slave trade and the Klu Klux Klan in the US, and in the opium trade in China - recall the trading companies of Jardine Matheson and Hutchison Whampoa originally spoke with a Scottish burr. Not to say that they invented either of these unseemly businesses, but they certainly flourished in them.
Nevertheless, Professor Herman is a gifted writer and he is exceptionally good at explaining the many geniuses that populated this tiny country during the 18th century.
The richt wey o't .......2007-04-16
This is the true tale! At least the facts presented all pretty convincing.
Book Description
Internet Book, The: Everything You Need to Know About Computer Networking and How the Internet Works, 4/e utilizes a non-technical perspective to explain the technology of how computers communicate, what the Internet is, how the Internet works, and what the Internet can do for people. This book works to fully connect readers to the âbig pictureâ by presenting a solid overview of networking and the Internet, rather than burying them with details. Comer assumes no prior background in computer networking or the Internet.
Introduces computer communication system concepts and technology, reviews the history of the Internet and its growth, describes basic Internet technology and capabilities, and describes services currently available on the Internet and how to use them.
For anyone interested in learning how to navigate the Internet to its full potential.
Customer Reviews:
MBA Text.......2005-10-09
This book was required reading for an MBA class. The simplicity of the technical explanations, as well as the simple diagrams make it an easy book to understand. There are a few places where I wish the author would delve a bit deeper, on the topic of security as one example. Overall though, a good book for those who need a basic understanding of internet technology.
a good book to start if you are scared........2005-05-26
The author is one of the "founding fathers" of the internet, he does explain basic concepts clearly. Unfortunately, he doesn't have any sense of humor. The book reminded me a conversation between an old-fashioned professor and his grandkids. Also, some material is outdated in 2005, (e.g. there is a lot of pages devoted to the bulletin board system, and no mention of instant messaging.)
You're no "dummy" but new? This one's for you........2001-06-28
He's the leader in his field. I've used his books for teaching and as referrals. He's so readable but does not talk down to you like the silly "dummy" stuff. You'll be so glad you gave this a try.
A basic guide for novice users........2001-04-30
Although initially frightened by all the acronyms surrounding the Internet and its language, I was put as ease while reading Comer's book. I found that it was written for a person like myself. I have some amount of knowledge of how the Internet and other systems work, but I am a typical user of computer applications and am happy when my machine gives me the information I ask of it. Required reading in a college class is often the only reading I've done for the past seven years. I used to be a reader who read for many reasons. Some days I wanted to be transported away into a science fiction novel. Other days I wanted to live the life of another while reading a fascinating piece of fiction. Sometimes, due to necessity, I read a non-fiction work in order to educate myself just in case I need to know something. Upon picking up Comer's book, I felt that I didn't really need to know much about the Internet. However, after reading, I find that my curiosity was aroused. In fact, Comer dedicates the book to "Everyone Who Is Curious." I became one of these people. Comer's writing was a highlight of the book. The complex became simple in regards to understanding the inner-workings of different systems. I found this book to be a perfect companion for the class as it helped me understand a number of concepts in theories that I simply could not understand no matter how many people explained it in the weekly postings. While reading reviews about the book from an Internet book supply company, many critics are not bashful in their feeling that Comer spent too much time relating the history of the Internet to the reader. I wholeheartedly disagree with these critics and found that the history of the Internet had to be explained in order to fully understand why certain features of the Internet and its accompanying systems are in existence today. The book seemed to be quite simply a recap of all that has led up to today's modern systems. LANs, WANs, and other acronyms had to be explained for the Internet novice. Comer did an excellent job of introducing these areas and their relation to where we are today in regards to technology. Others may have wanted him to be somewhat controversial in his interpretations of where the Internet will lead us. For those people, I would suggest another text. For a person like myself, this text was near perfection. There is only major problem that I did have with Comer's book. With my limited knowledge does come some understanding of today's Internet markets. I believe that if Comer would have mentioned a few prominent companies while explaining certain aspects of the Internet, the book may have been easier to read. I found myself writing questions on the margins such as, "Is this what Netscape is?" His only mentioning of some real world company was of Purdue University. It is only as I write my response to this question that I read that he is a professor at that University. I'm not sure why companies would refuse to give permission for Comer to name them while explaining certain areas. One would think that free publicity is always welcome. I'm not sure if Comer is well known throughout the Internet world. Perhaps he is some type of radical that companies fear. Either way, it would have been easier to understand some concepts if the reader could relate them to aspects in the real world.
Amazing Book.......2000-08-10
Douglas Comer has an amazing ability to cut through the heavy fog that surrounds Internet technology. Many well trained and accomplished academics are terrible writers. I have wasted much money buying from these authors. I have read Douglas Comer's many books from detailed implentation of TCP/IP to overview of computer networks and internet. I am not surprised by the excellent quality of this book. I will buy any book anytime that Dr. Comer writes. I think this all the result of his pioneering reseach and great desire to teach.
Amazon.com
Finally, someone who tells history like it was, without the old textbook gloss that's put so many students into premature naptime and misinformed the few who stayed awake. Davis corrects the myths and misconceptions from Columbus up through the Clinton administration, and shows that truth is more entertaining than propaganda.
Amazon.com Audiobook Review
Kenneth Davis's aim in this program, as it is in all the titles of this popular series, is to make learning relevant and fun. He succeeds marvelously. Davis has an easygoing style and a good sense of humor. And most importantly, he knows how to present the "big picture." His history of the United States is not a series of isolated incidents that happened long ago with no bearing on contemporary American life. Listening to this presentation, we recognize patterns, notice how problems of the past resurface in our own present, and realize that history is what makes us today. We are also presented with a look at American history that is far more honest than anything gleaned from traditional textbooks. Heroes and villains alike are presented, warts and all, and the "less savory moments" in America's past are discussed frankly. For, as Davis explains, "the real picture is much more interesting than the historical tummy tuck." The theme running through the program, from pre-European settlement to the Reagan years, is the struggle for power--the never-ending battle between the haves and have-nots that is the "essence of history." Six hundred years of history are broken up into manageable segments though a series of questions (spoken in a number of different voices to help distinguish them from the main narration), each of which is given a specific answer and then discussed in the context of its contemporary setting and perhaps past and future events. This is a crash course that focuses on the basics but will inspire listeners to want to know more--which is really what learning's all about. (Running time: six hours, four cassettes) --Uma Kukathas
Book Description
Who really discovered America? What was "the shot heard 'round the world"? Thomas Jefferson and Sally Hemings: Did he or didn't he?
From the arrival of Columbus through the bizarre election of 2000 and beyond, Davis carries readers on a rollicking ride through more than 500 years of American history. In this updated edition of the classic anti-textbook, he debunks, recounts, and serves up the real story behind the myths and fallacies of American history.
Download Description
"Don¿t Know Much About Kenneth C. Davis: An Interview with the Author
In this new and completely revised, expanded and updated edition of the million-selling book that launched the Don't Know Much About® series, Kenneth C. Davis uses humor, wit, great stories and his trademark question-and-answer style to bring Americans a fresh new take on history. Perfect for history buffs and history-phobes alike.
A new, completely revised, expanded and updated edition of the million-selling New York Times bestseller that launched the entire Don't Know Much About® series
When Don't Know Much About® History first appeared thirteen years ago, it created a sensation. With humor, wit, great stories, and a trademark conversational style, the book brought Americans a fresh new take on history. Shattering myths and vividly bringing the past to life, it spent thirty-five consecutive weeks on the New York Times bestseller list. Davis proved that Americans don't hate history -- they just hate the dull textbook version they were force-fed in school. The book became an instant classic, an ""anti -textbook"" that has sold more than 1.3 million copies.
In his irreverent and popular question-and- answer style, Davis now returns with a completely revised edition that brings history right up to the moment -- covering such topics as the end of the Cold War, Clinton's impeachment, the bizarre election of 2000, and the events that led to September 11.
Incorporating new research and discoveries, Davis also updates and expands on such long-standing American controversies as the Jefferson-Hemings affair, the Alger Hiss trial, and the Rosenberg spy case. And he includes an expanded ""civics lesson"" that examines some of America's hottest social and political issues, such as the death penalty, gun control, and school prayer.
Customer Reviews:
A Whistle-Stop Tour of American History.......2007-09-12
This audio book was probably the best overview I've heard in terms of telling the US story. Wonderfully narrated, the listener gets a crash course in the rich, sometimes depressing and sometimes hilarious history of the United States. I realized while listening that conventional schooling often teaches us to memorize names and mini-articles but we don't really know the whole story surrounding a particular historical happening. Davis does a wonderful job of keeping the narrative concise yet expounding on the more interesting points of celebrated events. I loved this audio book for what it is, a broad brush of a denser topic, seemingly designed for the academic type who wants to refresh a bit or the amatuer who just wants an entertaining and engaging listen of a great story. I finished this while commuting and found I couldn't help myself from running across these stories referenced in everyday life, and found it a worthwhile few hours spent checking it out.
A Pretty Good Summary of U.S. History With Racial Forays.......2007-08-26
This is a pretty good book. I enjoyed reading most of it, and it allowed me to relearn a lot of what I'd forgotten from my junior high and high school history classes, and it only took me few days to read it.
For those areas of history that you're not familiar with, this book is a good summary. For those areas you know about, you'll find the book is quite brief, and not always accurate. For example, in talking about the Battle of the Little Big Horn, the author says that Custer attacked the Indians with just over 200 soldiers. In fact, Custer's forces numbered over 400. He's criticized for dividing his forces and attacking the Indian village at several points, which may have been why he was wiped out. (After dividing his forces, Custer and his group numbered just over 200 men.)
As other readers have pointed out, the author goes off on forays into the plight of the negro/black/African American population. His points are accurate, but the amount of attention he gives to this topic makes it seem like a more significant part of our history than it deserves.
It's interesting also to read the difference in the author's writing tone and the attention he gives to events as he moves from historic research to the last 50 years, which he is writing about, in large part, from the memories of having lived through it rather than heard or read about it.
I like the book and recommend it.
Ken Davis writes a great one, here.......2007-08-15
This book is absolutely spectacular in showing the truth about a lot of historical myths that too many people take at face value. Davis doesn't seem to write from any particular political viewpoint, in my perspective, but lets the facts speak out. I suppose this is why some people think he has some sort of political agenda - but if the truth is considered "liberal" or "conservative", then perhaps the bias of the reader is showing!
Good book, very readable and fun makes reading history interesting.......2007-07-26
If you have a lay interest in US history this book is a must read. I like reading about history and I just love this book. Kenneth Davis uses what I like to call a fun encyclopedic style to cover the big topics in US history. None of the topics are covered at any significant depth but this is a fun, interesting and worthwhile review of what you should have learned in school.
Liberal view of history. NO NEED TO READ........2007-07-21
This is the liberal view of history. (They never see anything good.)
This is the whole book.
We hurt the Indians.
We hurt blacks.
We hurt the Viet Cong.
Conservatives are bad.
Book Description
The sport of running is ever changing, be it the shoes we wear or the goals we set, the training methods we use or the role models we emulate. But there is one constant: For more than 30 years, Runner's World magazine has been recognized worldwide as the most reliable and authoritative source of running knowledge. And for the past 7 years, Runner's World Complete Book of Running has been the classic book of choice for runners looking to run better, longer, and faster. Inside, all the secrets of running are laid bare. Need to know the best way to start a running program? You'll find it. Looking for tips on buying and preserving your running shoes? They're in there. From a complete look at running injuries to the benefits of sports drinks versus water to the best way to increase your endurance and train for a marathon, look no further than Runner's World Complete Book of Running. Contents include: l A surefire plan for beginners to get hooked on running l 15 surprising foods that boost your running performance l Tips for triathletes to maximize their training efficiency l 11 rules to running a great marathon l A women's encyclopedia of running l How to incorporate speedwork into your training l How to think like a champion l How to taper your eating and training before a race Whether you are a beginner or veteran runner, here is the advice-both timeless and cutting-edge-guaranteed to maximize your performance and your running pleasure.
Customer Reviews:
excellent book.......2007-08-15
I'm training for my first half marathon and I picked this book up at the library. It's simple, easy to read and has excellent advice. It's easy to criticize books that are reader friendly--too many pictures and graphics, not much text per page. I find, though, that books like that are easier to pick up and read and keep reading. I recommend this book to everyone serious about running.
Very comprehensive and useful.......2007-01-05
This is a very complete book that summarizes many aspects of running for beginners and intermediate runners. It is very well edited and is full of nice pictures which makes it a very pleasant reading experience. I only found it a little repetitive in the chapter about psychological aspects of running and a little bit shallow regarding the last chapter on marathon training. Overall, it is worth reading and buying. It should not be used as a reference book, but as a motivational tool to start, keep or improve your running experience.
Great for beginners.......2005-09-24
I just started running and this book has been a big help. I'm in my 5th week and you don't realize how much you running (20 minutes out of 30).
Before I started the program I was running one alp and out of breath. Now I can do two and 1/2 laps with no problem. I know enough of the infomercial. I really like this book and recommend it.
You're Better off Going to the Newsstand.......2005-02-11
This isn't a bad book, but it's essentially for the novice runner, with a heavy slant toward the female runner. Not a bad resource tool, but you could probably look up the same or more current/detailed information faster and easier online.
Essentially, this book is a collection of Runner's World magazine articles. You're better off in the long run (no pun intended) just picking up a copy of the latest issue at the newsstand.
This book is basically a hodgepodge of collected articles........2004-09-15
Despite what the title and subtitle suggests, this doesn't
provide everything you need to run for fun, fitness and
competition. While it probably a 3 1/2 *** to 4**** book,
in terms of content, there are more comprehensive books
on the subject of running. This is a good book for getting
a base understanding of running, and it only offers
training programs for one type of road race, namely the
marathon. If you want something that covers training for
shorter races, forget it. That doesn't mean the book is a
total loss for those who purchase it. If you are looking
for a tome on the sport, look no further than Dr. Timothy
Noakes' Lore of Running, which is nearly 1000 pages of
information from a physician who is also a runner. It
doesn't discuss specific training exercises with regards
to weights like other running books, or it doesn't even
mention which exercises to do in terms of stretching/flexibility, nor is there any mention of
pylometrics, which is used by some competitive runners.
The book is fairly narrow in scope, geared more for
road racers of the marathon persuasion mostly. If you
want to run some track race or cross country race, this
book is probably of somewhat limited value to you. Another
problem is the book is fairly expensive consider the amount
of information is provided in the pages, considering this
is basically a rehash of topics already discussed in
Runners' World, along with other running magazines and
books.
The book is organized as follows:
CONTENTS
Introduction.................................................xi
Part 1. Beginning Running
_______________________________________________________________
1. The First of Many Miles ..............................3
2. On The Road With Oprah ..............................12
3. Step into Good Shoes ................................16
4. Unexpected Pleasures ................................23
Part 2. Nutrition
________________________________________________________________
5. Fueling Up For a Peak Performance.....................31
6. The Lowdown On Fats...................................36
7. For Men Only: 10 Truths...............................42
8. Tomorrow's Beverages Today............................47
9. Say Good-Bye To Meat..................................51
10. Buried Treasures......................................56
Part 3. Injury Prevention
________________________________________________________________
11. The Big Five..........................................63
12. The No-Injuries Running Program.......................75
13. 10 Laws of Healthy Running............................82
14. Self-Treat Your Ailments..............................88
Part 4. Women's Running
________________________________________________________________
15. Advice That Could Save Your Life.....................103
16. A Woman's Encyclopaedia of Running...................111
17. Ask Runner's World...................................120
18. To Care, to Create, to Dream.........................129
Part 5. Building Strength, Endurance and Speed
________________________________________________________________
19. Time-Tested Advice...................................135
20. Ideal Paces..........................................142
21. Stretch Your Limits..................................150
22. The Experts' Training Secrets........................156
23. The Need For Speed...................................163
Part 6. The Mental Side of Running
________________________________________________________________
24. Seven Strategies To Be Your Best.....................173
25. Digging Deep.........................................182
26. Smooth Sailing.......................................191
27. The Mysterious Breakthrough..........................198
Part 7. Cross-Training
________________________________________________________________
28. The Many Doors to Fitness............................209
29. The Great Indoors....................................216
30. Running in Place.....................................222
31. Masters of Efficiency................................229
32. Training the Whole Body..............................234
Part 8. The Marathon
________________________________________________________________
33. Guideposts for a Marathoner..........................245
34. Guaranteed Results...................................261
35. Ease on Down the Road................................264
36. Countdown to the Big Race............................271
37. A Tip for Every Mile.................................280
Credits..................................................289
Index....................................................291
Book Description
In the tradition of Jon Krakauer’s
Into Thin Air and Sebastian Junger’s
The Perfect Storm comes a true tale of riveting adventure in which two weekend scuba divers risk everything to solve a great historical mystery–and make history themselves.
For John Chatterton and Richie Kohler, deep wreck diving was more than a sport. Testing themselves against treacherous currents, braving depths that induced hallucinatory effects, navigating through wreckage as perilous as a minefield, they pushed themselves to their limits and beyond, brushing against death more than once in the rusting hulks of sunken ships.
But in the fall of 1991, not even these courageous divers were prepared for what they found 230 feet below the surface, in the frigid Atlantic waters sixty miles off the coast of New Jersey: a World War II German U-boat, its ruined interior a macabre wasteland of twisted metal, tangled wires, and human bones–all buried under decades of accumulated sediment.
No identifying marks were visible on the submarine or the few artifacts brought to the surface. No historian, expert, or government had a clue as to which U-boat the men had found. In fact, the official records all agreed that there simply could not be a sunken U-boat and crew at that location.
Over the next six years, an elite team of divers embarked on a quest to solve the mystery. Some of them would not live to see its end. Chatterton and Kohler, at first bitter rivals, would be drawn into a friendship that deepened to an almost mystical sense of brotherhood with each other and with the drowned U-boat sailors–former enemies of their country. As the men’s marriages frayed under the pressure of a shared obsession, their dives grew more daring, and each realized that he was hunting more than the identities of a lost U-boat and its nameless crew.
Author Robert Kurson’s account of this quest is at once thrilling and emotionally complex, and it is written with a vivid sense of what divers actually experience when they meet the dangers of the ocean’s underworld. The story of
Shadow Divers often seems too amazing to be true, but it all happened, two hundred thirty feet down, in the deep blue sea.
From the Hardcover edition.
Download Description
CHAPTER ONE
THE BOOK OF NUMBERS
Brielle, New Jersey, September 1991
Bill Nagle's life changed the day a fisherman sat beside him in a ramshackle bar and told him about a mystery he had found lying at the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean. Against his better judgment, that fisherman promised to tell Nagle how to find it. The men agreed to meet the next day on the rickety wooden pier that led to Nagle's boat, the Seeker, a vessel Nagle had built to chase possibility. But when the appointed time came, the fisherman was not there. Nagle paced back and forth, careful not to plunge through the pier where its wooden planks had rotted away. He had lived much of his life on the Atlantic, and he knew when worlds were about to shift. Usually, that happened before a storm or when a man's boat broke. Today, however, he knew it was going to happen when the fisherman handed him a scrap of paper, a hand-scrawled set of numbers that would lead to the sunken mystery. Nagle looked into the distance for the fisherman. He saw no one. The salt air blew against the small seashore town of Brielle, tilting the dockside boats and spraying the Atlantic into Nagle's eyes. When the mist died down he looked again. This time, he saw the fisherman approaching, a small square of paper crumpled in his hands. The fisherman looked worried. Like Nagle, he had lived on the ocean, and he also knew when a man's life was about to change.
In the whispers of approaching autumn, Brielle's rouge is blown away and what remains is the real Brielle, the locals' Brielle. This small seashore town on the central New Jersey coast is the place where the boat captains and fishermen live, where convenience store owners stay open to serve neighbors, where fifth graders can repair scallop dredges. This is where the hangers-on and wannabes and also-rans and once-greats keep believing in the sea. In Brielle, when the customers leave, the town's lines show, and they are the kind grooved by the thin dif
Customer Reviews:
J ohn Sutphen MD, ex navy diver /submarine medical officer .......2007-09-21
Tantallizing and heart pounding tale based on incredibly researched information about u boats and diving with an accurate, simple description of practical diving, diving medicine and physiology.
Compulsion to know the answer........2007-09-13
A fascinating saga about 2 deep sea divers and their 6 year odyssey to uncover the identity of a sunken German U boat. A captivating story, and you'll learn a lot about deep sea diving.
Deep Thrills.......2007-09-05
An absorbing account of the discovery and identification by veteran divers John Chatterton and Richie Kohler of a sunken Nazi U-boat 100 miles off the coast of New Jersey. Kurson skillfully weaves together several threads into a very readable narrative, including the evolution of Chatterton and Kohler's rivalry-turned-friendship, the technical hazards of exploring a mangled wreck in 230 feet of water, and the duo's maddening, seven-year long ordeal to obtain positive evidence -- both on the wreck and in official but flawed US and German naval records -- of the boat's identity. As the tale draws to a close, Kurson also draws a moving portrait of the U-boat's crew, who went to sea in the final days of the war and knew that they likely would not return alive.
I started diving when the final pieces of this mystery were falling into place, and can remember following the story of New Jersey's mystery U-boat in the papers. However, none of those articles was anywhere as involving as Kurson's account, which I devoured in four days. Sure, there's some overheated prose here and there ("in a shipwreck, where every danger is first cousin to every other, a diver's desparation makes an open house of his bad situation."), but that's a minor strike against this otherwise excellent and comprehensive work.
Rare Intimate Journey To The Shadows.......2007-08-28
Sometimes the flaws make a thing so much more than perfection could ever achieve. The imperfections in this literary account of the exploration of a WWII submarine discovered in 1991 off the Coast of New Jersey are well documented. Those imperfections didn't bother me.
I was facinated by the detailed account of the personalities of the divers in "Shadow." Its easy to identify a future SCUBA diver - someone who is comfortable putting their face under water. Even better, because it will sometimes trump the 'face' test, is whether a person's curiosity is so intense that they are able to project their consciousness entirely onto something outside of themselves to the virtual exclusion of other thoughts. Divers want to investigate, explore, see something extraordinary, find out whats under that rock, go someplace very few people have been, find something unique, etc. The experience is so strong, you may forget to be worried about all the risks.
My enjoyment of "Shadow" was absolutely enhanced by my experience as a diver who is both Nitrox and advanced open water certified. I have never gone deeper than 110 ft - The U-boat 85, off of Nags Head, North Carolina, which is 20ft shallower than the recreational diving limit of 130 ft. So far, I've never wanted to see anything deeper, but I suspect I'll pass. Surface light begins to diminish rapidly. It usually gets alot colder.
At the depths routinely visitied by the divers in this book, 230 ft., nitrogen narcosis is an inevitability, and helium mixes carry their own risks. Water pressure increases to seven times what it is at the surface. Just when you need all your mental faculties and judgement, you can be assured they will be impared to an extent that cannot be anticipated from dive to dive. Even more frightening is that getting to the surface to resolve any problems that may arise (my mask came off once at 80 ft), must now include a life-saving decompression stop. When you head for the surface with less than 30 minutes of air for your stop, you're in trouble.
Diving can put you face to face with three realities that I don't sense as readily on land: 1.) the incredible spiritual beauty of the natural world, 2.) how alone we really are (I've never felt more alone than those very few times I've dived without a buddy), 3.) Death is always hiding within convenient reach.
The insatiable curiosity of the two lead characters, Chatterton and Kohler, also drives them above the water, as they travel to Europe to learn as much as they can about the submarine and its crew. There was no 'gold' involved, just an incredible mystery to solve.
"Shadow" was one of those books I read in one sitting (I missed dinner). I would compare it to Krakauer's works in power and drama, if not as well written. But again, in a way the rough nature of the text enhanced the story, as if I was sitting across the table from the author.
NOTE TO FELLOW DIVERS: After reading this book I have found my goal for my diving trips next summer - get my "Rescue Diver" certification.
NOTE TO THOSE PEOPLE trying to get young men (ages 9-15) into reading - I know of two young men who hated to read until they picked up this book. Not that they love reading now, but the 'no trespassing' sign is now down in front of the library.
Enlightening and heartwrenching.......2007-08-27
This was a great character-driven book about the lives of two divers surrounding their six-year effort to identify a sunken U-boat off the coast of New Jersey. I started Shadow Divers right after finishing Keven McMurray's Deep Descent and appreciate both books even more now. While Deep Descent is more focused on the diving fatalities on the wreck itself, Shadow Divers goes into detail about the lives of John Chatterton and Richie Kohler, how their research and relentless pursuit of the U-boat's identity affected their lives, and how they grew as people from the experience. There are also good descriptions of the U-boat crewmen and how the submarine likely met its end. A great read.
Customer Reviews:
Good, but could have been great ..........2007-10-03
The first book assignment in my Strategic Leadership and Decision Making (SLDM) elective for Air War College was "American Generalship: Character Is Everything: The Art of Command" by Edgar F. Puryear Jr. The level of leadership this study aims at is very high indeed - the ranks of the general officers. The kind of strategy that leaders at this level create and conceptualize, during both peace and war, involves all of the nation's forces, and applies itself through large-scale, long-range planning and development, to ensure security or victory. This book deals exclusively with the sort of character, mentorship and values that a leader at this level must possess, and it does so with a tidal wave of good examples and meaningful quotes.
The subtitle of the book, "Character is Everything: The Art of Command", defines the focus of this study in leadership. Although the leaders studied in this book are chosen from fairly narrow sections of time and from only one country (USA), those times are the greatest perils. Ike, Patton, MacArthur, and Clark are drawn from World War 2. Grant, Sherman, Lee, and Jackson are cited from the American Civil War. Extensive passages on Billy Mitchell's experience as well as that of his ardent supporters Hap Arnold and Tooey Spaatz. George Washington's contribution is discussed in detail. There is a far too small, albeit tasty, portion for more recent leaders, like Colin Powell, Schwarzkopf, Meyer, and Creech, who have had to deal with the today's hyperpolitics, scandal-centric journalism, perpetual war and a evaporating budgets.
As good as "American Generalship: Character Is Everything: The Art of Command" is, some important details of the leadership experience are left in rather soft focus. The rationale behind Operation Market Garden (p288, listed in other references as "disastrous"), continued support for Wedemeyer (p318-9, a similar set of "circumstantial" charges against an officer today would certainly be career ending), and clearing the Hooverville shantytown built by "Bonus Army" marchers (p264-265, brutal tactics used and the unfortunate remarks made at the press conference that immediately followed). These details could have provided the all important context that framed these actions and decisions. Character is revealed through actions inside context.
More examples could have been provided about leaders who did not read books. The book only lists one leader, the confederate Longstreet (p152-153), who did not read extensively. On the other hand, the narrative bogs down with mountains of evidence that reading books, particularly biographies and historical works, helps leaders think more broadly and learn from the timeless lessons of the past.
All things considered, "American Generalship: Character Is Everything: The Art of Command" is certainly worth a read. It is a very good book that could have been great if only it had spent a little more time in the hands of an editor.
Enduring Truths.......2007-05-17
Outstanding book on leadership. It covers the dynamics of proven performers through the ages and gives the reader a strong foundation in personal assessment and grow. A must-have for anyone's professional library.
Best Leadership Book I've Ever Read.......2007-05-12
As a career Air Force officer I have read many books on leadership and command. American Generalship stands out as the best I've ever read. The author highlights shared leadership traits held by several of great generals that he gleaned from personal interviews. I give this book to all the officers under my command to mentor them as leaders.
A must have for your Leadership Development library.......2005-07-28
Mr. Puryear wastes no time with fluff. He gets right to the heart of leadership in this wonderfully written book. He has done a superb job in researching and interviewing each of the men he writes about. So, the information you'll receive from this book is both accurate and personal. You can read it casually or blaze through it. Either way, I believe you will be pleased with the nuggets of leadership wisdom revealed by some of the world's finest military leaders.
Great Book!.......2005-07-28
This book is well written and keeps me interested; it is not dry at all. It really gives me insight towards becoming a good manager and leader for any situation.
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- Break the One-Armed Bandits!
- Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season 8, Issue 2
- Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season 8, Issue 2
Books Index
Books Home
Recommended Books
- Blind Eye: The Terrifying Story Of A Doctor Who Got Away With Murder
- The Minor Prophets: An Exegetical and Expository Commentary : Obadiah, Jonah, Micah, Nahum, and Haba
- Sonechka: A Novella and Stories
- The Bear's Embrace: A True Story of Survival
- The Foxfire Book: Hog Dressing, Log Cabin Building, Mountain Crafts and Foods, Planting by the Signs
- The Feynman Lectures on Physics Volumes 1-2
- The Shadow of the Sun
- A Life of George Westinghouse
- State Taxation of Interest Income and Municipal Borrowing Costs/November, 1991
- Common Market Of East And Southern Africa Comesa Business Law Handbook
The Starfish and the Spider: The Unstoppable Power of Leaderless Organizations
The Long Tail: Why the Future of Business is Selling Less of More
Made to Stick: Why Some Ideas Survive and Others Die
Open Business Models: How to Thrive in the New Innovation Landscape
The Wisdom of Crowds
