Book Description
In this powerful and provocative manifesto, Bill McKibben offers the biggest challenge in a generation to the prevailing view of our economy. For the first time in human history, he observes, more is no longer synonymous with better -- indeed, for many of us, they have become almost opposites. McKibben puts forward a new way to think about the things we buy, the food we eat, the energy we use, and the money that pays for it all. Our purchases, he says, need not be at odds with the things we truly value. McKibbens animating idea is that we need to move beyond growth as the paramount economic ideal and pursue prosperity in a more local direction, with cities, suburbs, and regions producing more of their own food, generating more of their own energy, and even creating more of their own culture and entertainment. He shows this concept blossoming around the world with striking results, from the burgeoning economies of India and China to the more mature societies of Europe and New England. For those who worry about environmental threats, he offers a route out of the worst of those problems; for those who wonder if there isnt something more to life than buying, he provides the insight to think about ones life as an individual and as a member of a larger community. McKibben offers a realistic, if challenging, scenario for a hopeful future. As he so eloquently shows, the more we nurture the essential humanity of our economy, the more we will recapture our own.
Customer Reviews:
If You Care for the Earth.......2007-09-29
This book is a must for anyone who wants to make a change to save the earth. The author has insight and experience about how our present course of living will lead to the destruction of the world as we know it. It's real, but there is hope and Mr McKibben shares that hope with the reader.
Useful Inefficiencies.......2007-08-29
McKibben is one of our best modern thinkers on environmentalism and conservation, ever since debuting with his classic "The End of Nature" in 1989. In this new book he has largely tackled mainstream economic theory and how it has inflicted worldwide damage on the environment and on human communities. Standard development economics suffers from an unyielding focus on efficiencies and consumption, but this more often than not leads to widespread damage and unhappiness. Planners and politicians focus obsessively on per capita utility and efficiency, and vehemently disdain anything that may reduce efficiency for some individuals but may very well improve communities and the planet. McKibben's great contribution here is his coverage of new studies of human happiness. Especially in America, we have passed the point of gaining any more happiness from increased consumption of things, and we have become largely unhappy over the ensuing loss of community and nature. A new worldwide understanding of how economics really works has become imperative - more is no longer better.
McKibben has located many useful examples around the world of communities practicing new sustainable development strategies with demonstrated benefits for all involved. Unfortunately, the areas in which such great things are happening have particular political and economic conditions that make such experiments beneficial (including the American location McKibben covers most often - politically distinctive rural Vermont). The underlying flaw in this book is that McKibben must resort to pretty wishful idealism when applying these local success stories to the world economic system. A related problem is that the second half of the book, where the rubber should be meeting the road in realistically applying the local to the global, largely degenerates into repetitive descriptions of benefits in lieu of real prescriptions for change. However, McKibben definitely deserves credit for explaining in an accessible way all the tragic flaws of mainstream economic theory (see the books and articles he cites for the real lowdown), and it's about time us regular folks resisted the power players - for the benefit of ourselves and our larger community. [~doomsdayer520~]
Turbines and Prayer Wheels.......2007-08-06
This is a wonderful book that swings your emotions from despair to joy and back. I marveled over the story of the village of Gorasin in Bangladesh where the people said no to pesticides after living with their devastating effects and the village has become an organic oases. That is the theme of the book, communities with members from near or far working together to make lives better.
McKibben mentions Heifer International, one of my favorite organizations, and their impact on one man in China with the donation of 48 rabbits and lots of technical advice and the wave of change in his community because of his successful rabbit enterprise.
A group called Future Generations trained some villagers in Tibet and the villagers devised and installed a system that carried water "through a series of split-bamboo pipes, and then through a turbine that used the dynamo from a junked car. A hydrology expert could have helped them build a more efficient system, but all the locals knew how to repair this setup."".....(Also, the hydrology expert might not have thought to use the water pouring out of the turbine to spin a prayer wheel.)"
World community - helping local people meld the old and the new.
But, McKibben asserts, it is time for the haves of the world to share more than knowledge, it is time to cut back on what we use. "Most obviously, if the rich world began making less extreme demands on the planet, poor countries would have more physical margin to work with - a little slack. ...If we Americans can use less coal and gas and oil, we'll in effect free some of the atmosphere to absorb the carbon that the poor world must emit to meet basic needs."
There is so much more in this book to ponder and act on, put it high on your reading list.
Quite a scary future.......2007-07-23
Wow, makes me want to move to Vermont and become an organic farmer. I found this book to bring up some very good points about our current unsustainable economic situation. Over the past 300 years we have created an economic "machine" based on efficiency and production that will be very hard to change intentionally. McKibben offers some ideas on what the new New Deal will need to be if we want to continue a sustainable economy, which includes taking everything back to a local scale. Food, work, consumer goods need to develop inside the community where one lives. Less efficiency, more community and "neighborliness". It's a great idea. I just wonder if people will choose this before the collapse of our current system or try to figure something out after it's too late. I pesimistically think the latter.
Growing Smaller.......2007-07-11
The main premise of this book is that the local economy is the deeper economy. Thus the healthier and wealthier community. Bill McKibben hardly ever deals in the abstract, rather he is constantly giving examples and providing illustrations of how this type of economy gets practiced locally. He describes the little experiments of living locally . . . such as one winter how he canned all of his food ahead of time and only ate things within a local radius. His goal is to make a connection between the local community and the economy. He spends a good portion of his time sharing about the relationships he has formed in his quest to shop and consume on a local scale. Consequently, the value of relationships in driving and sustaining a healthy economy are focused on a lot. It's not some over-romanticized look back into the past and the way things used to be. Rather it's an imaginative redreaming of how one can exist both in urban and suburban settings at a local level, valuing relationships and health over fast and easy. The book is extremely insightful and a moderately easy read. And well worth it.
Average customer rating:
- 6 Stars
- Not Free SF Reader
- Some people just don't get it
- Not For Me
- An annoying amalgam of random ideas and plots
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A Fire Upon The Deep (Zones of Thought)
Vernor Vinge
Manufacturer: Tor Science Fiction
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Binding: Mass Market Paperback
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A Deepness in the Sky (Zones of Thought)
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Marooned in Realtime
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Old Man's War
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Rainbows End
ASIN: 0812515285 |
Amazon.com
In this Hugo-winning 1991 SF novel, Vernor Vinge gives us a wild new cosmology, a galaxy-spanning "Net of a Million Lies," some finely imagined aliens, and much nail-biting suspense.
Faster-than-light travel remains impossible near Earth, deep in the galaxy's Slow Zone--but physical laws relax in the surrounding Beyond. Outside that again is the Transcend, full of unguessable, godlike "Powers." When human meddling wakes an old Power, the Blight, this spreads like a wildfire mind virus that turns whole civilizations into its unthinking tools. And the half-mythical Countermeasure, if it exists, is lost with two human children on primitive Tines World.
Serious complications follow. One paranoid alien alliance blames humanity for the Blight and launches a genocidal strike. Pham Nuwen, the man who knows about Countermeasure, escapes this ruin in the spacecraft Out of Band--heading for more violence and treachery, with 500 warships soon in hot pursuit. On his destination world, the fascinating Tines are intelligent only in combination: named "individuals" are small packs of the doglike aliens. Primitive doesn't mean stupid, and opposed Tine leaders wheedle the young castaways for information about guns and radios. Low-tech war looms, with elaborately nested betrayals and schemes to seize Out of Band if it ever arrives. The tension becomes extreme... while half the Beyond debates the issues on galactic Usenet.
Vinge's climax is suitably mindboggling. This epic combines the flash and dazzle of old-style space opera with modern, polished thoughtfulness. Pham Nuwen also appears in the nifty prequel set 30,000 years earlier, A Deepness in the Sky. Both recommended. --David Langford, Amazon.co.uk
Book Description
A Fire Upon the Deep is the big, breakout book that fulfills the promise of Vinge's career to date: a gripping tale of galactic war told on a cosmic scale.Thousands of years hence, many races inhabit a universe where a mind's potential is determined by its location in space, from superintelligent entities in the Transcend, to the limited minds of the Unthinking Depths, where only simple creatures and technology can function. Nobody knows what strange force partitioned space into these "regions of thought," but when the warring Straumli realm use an ancient Transcendent artifact as a weapon, they unwittingly unleash an awesome power that destroys thousands of worlds and enslaves all natural and artificial intelligence.Fleeing the threat, a family of scientists, including two children, are taken captive by the Tines, an alien race with a harsh medieval culture, and used as pawns in a ruthless power struggle. A rescue mission, not entirely composed of humans, must rescue the children-and a secret that may save the rest of interstellar civilization.
Customer Reviews:
6 Stars.......2007-09-12
Vinge has written a phenomenal book. He grabs you from the first moment and doesn't let go. Throughout you never expect the next event- especially the ending. You remain completely interested in the very deeply developed characters, who never seem to fit stereotypes in the slightest. And yet this is totally science fiction. For Vinge has created a fully alternate reality- actually, three alternate realities. He doesn't just touch on them, but fully immerses the reader in the realities of god-like entities; the concept that intelligence and physics become greater and easier to access the further you go out from the Galatic Core; and the hive-pack mind of dog creatures on a planet in the Slow Zone. My mind was wrapped around Vinge's worlds, each of them, as he flitted back and forth between them. It's a great writer who can create a world and make it seem real; it takes a genius to do so with three different realities and hold them all simultaneously. Even deus ex machinas are no longer so, so convincingly has Vinge bent reality for the reader.
There was one unfortunate bit that Vinge suffered from- a common SciFi writer ailment of describing a foreign world without giving the reader anything to understand the new reality with. For a long section of the book I was confused as to what was going on, for there was no traveling observor to help me through it. Once I grasped what was going on I had to go back and read the earlier pages to understand better.
However, this book was so well written, I'd originally give it six stars. I'll deduct a star for the confusion above, and leave it at five.
Not Free SF Reader.......2007-09-03
Multi-bodied wolf people and nasty alien intelligences. Strange mix,
but it seems to work well, when you throw a ship full of human
scientists in trouble from perhaps meddling where they should not have.
Not as good as a Deepness in the Sky, but interesting enough in its own
right. Hard to go wrong with Vinge, really.
Some people just don't get it.......2007-08-06
I am stunned by the negative and so-so reviews of A Fire Upon the Deep. It is quite simply the best SF in a generation, and I should know since I read them all. I have recommended this book to every single person that I know and they can't thank me enough for it. Dozens of my friends have Deep on their short list of best SF books ever. Best BOOKS ever.
Buy it. Read it. It is simply the best out there.
Not For Me.......2007-07-02
I didn't really like this book, but let me start with the good:
The ideas are intrguing, including the Zones, the Tines, the Powers, Transcendence, and others. At times, I was totally sucked into this book by a plot that, despite some reviews here, does not drag. I think some people see a 600-page book and label it 'slow' out of hand. Vinge is definitely an above-average prose technician, especially for this genre.
The bad:
I didn't like the characters, and I didn't feel they were very complex, with the possible exceptions of Woodcarver and Flenser. Some characters were downright annoying, especially Ravna. I couldn't get past the discrepancy between her obvious idiocy and the fact that all other characters defer to her as a pillar of humanity. And, though the plot moved right along, it felt very forced. There is a series of wacky little circumstances that pits the crew together in precisely the potent mix that will wrap the conclusion up in an annoyingly neat little package. And speaking of the ending, it really was just a series of 4 or 5 'happily ever afters' in a row.
I guess this book would qualify more as 'space opera,' despite the inclusion of a lot of interesting science. It's just very fairy-tale, and I don't think that makes it bad, just, as I say in the title, Not For Me. And, to be fair, I read this immediately after Robinson's Mars Trilogy, which is very gritty and realistic. Therefore, this one may have seemed even cuter than it actually is, but still, too sugary for me.
He writes well, there's lots of suspense and excitement, and there are interesting scientific concepts. Just, for me, personally, shallow characters and contrived plot. YMMV. See my listmania to get a feel for the kind of Sci-Fi I really like, before I scare you off of a book you may actually love, lots of people do.
An annoying amalgam of random ideas and plots.......2007-06-17
Joel Fritz (see below if sorted by date) must have read a different book than I did. Despite critical and reader acclaim, I found this book unreadable. After two separate reading attempts, I finished only one-fourth of the book. Vinge tossed in a random assortment of sci-fi ideas, spread the action and characters across a huge and strange universe, and attempted to tie multiple story lines together. By the one-quarter point, I was more annoyed than enthralled, especially since the characters were not appealing.
Vinge should have pared the novel down to the story of the pack-intelligence dogs and the two human children. (Where are good editors when you need them?)
Customer Reviews:
A handy book to have around.......2007-08-26
If I were a rich gal, I would buy everyone in the world a copy of this book, because inside are some of the funniest thoughts ever produced! Each page holds a different "deep thought"; some immediately bring out the laughter, while others take a sec or two to sink in. Then you grin and want to immediately share it with someone. I think this would make a wonderful coffee table book. Put it out there at your next get-together and watch people chuckle, roar, giggle, snort, whoop, guffaw, howl, snicker, crack up, or whatever they do when they've just read something hilarious.
Now let's get down to some serious thinking!!.......2006-02-26
Don't let the small size of this book let you think it a light weight in the world of books on deep thoughts.What I'm really trying to say is that when something is really thought out ,it doesn' take a volumous manuscript to get the message across. Take Moses,for example,he could have filled 50 volumes explaining God's instructions.He took two stones,and in 10 Commandments,got the message across clear and simple.
When Handley set out to explain deep thinking,he managed to do it in so few pages ,he didn't even have to number them.Not only that,most of the page is a simple picture.
Most of the reviewers talk about how funny this book is.What he really makes us laugh so hard ; is how complicated we make the thoughts on living for ourselves.The great Philosophers have tried over the ages to give us great thoughts to live by.You know what? It ain't that difficult.
For instant,much has been written on the meaning of life.Handey tells us to think deep.
"Life is a constant battle between the heart and the brain.
But guess who wins. The skeleton."
Or how about this;
"You might think that the favorite plant of the porcupine is
the cactus,but it's thinking like that that almost ruined
this country."
Then his thoughts on afterlife;
"In my next life,I hope I come back as a parrot,because I
already know quite a few words."
And finally a deep thought in case we are invaded by Aliens;
"Warning to all outer-spage guys: You can capture me and put me
in your "space zoo" if you like,but I will sit way in the
back of my cage,where it's hard to see me.And when I do come
out,I won't be wearing any pants."
Now,how about that; Deep thoughts or what? Yeah,and it'll
make you laugh,too.
A must have.......2006-02-03
If you have any sort of a sense of humor whatsoever, you must get this book. Jack Handey is one of the most hilarious people alive! You may already be familiar with Handey's work, his work was featured on Saturday Night Live some years back. These are great to memorize and randomly quote throughout the day. I love this book, I've read it a bunch of times, and it's always funny.
Heavenly.......2004-11-11
A great break from school-related/work-related readings. Jack Handey is a genius and he will take you away from your problems--whatever they may be. I always read this book when I am upset about anything...I post the quotes around my house too. Funnier than comics.
This book is a driving hazard!.......2004-01-04
Funny story. I was about 27 and my mom and I went to our favorite book store in the mall. She was in one section, I was in the humor section. I love Jack Handey and so I saw this book and began leafing through it. I was in hysterics in the middle of the store. I embarrassed my mom, who told me she'd buy me the book to read later, if I would just stop reading it now. I muffled a giggle and said "fine". We get in the car and we are driving back to my mom's house and as we are traveling down the road, I find my Deep Thoughts and start reading them to myself. I was laughing so very hard that I was crying real tears. So hard that I ended up with my head in my mom's lap and my mom trying to control the car and make it to the side of the highway. Funniest things I've ever read were authored by Jack Handey. Love him!
Customer Reviews:
What could be funnier?.......2005-12-02
This is the funniest book I have ever read. There were times where I had to stop because it was so funny. Here is a funny quote: "When you read a good book it is like a author is right there. Sitting and Talking to you right there. That is why I don't like to read books." Ha! Ha! It gets better. So go out and buy the series (don't forget this one), today!
ONLY IF YOU DARE!
I laughed, I cried, I was inspired.......2002-12-18
Okay, I didn't cry except when I was laughing hard -and I wasn't particularly inspired, but it's still a good read. Some of the stuff is so off the wall - yet it's vaguely reminescent of folks I know. Jack Handey is up to his old tricks, inspiring the masses with his strange twists and if you liked his other books, you'll like this one.
Very Good.......2001-10-03
If you like the others, or just want a good laugh, I would recommend this book.
Just Hilarious.......1999-11-20
The funniest book that I've read in a long time.
Oh, yeah. It was insightful,too.
Fantastic! Hilariously enjoyable!.......1997-11-05
Like his works in past years, Handey creates delightfully moronic statements that make you laugh till your side hurts. While his great style remains the same, all sorts of new subjects are tackled in this third book in the Deep Thoughts series.
Average customer rating:
- a masterpiece
- Get lost in "The Lost Deep Thoughts"
- As the title suggests, this is the "leftovers"...
- Jack Attack!
- Give us more, Jack!
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Lost Deep Thoughts: DON'T FIGHT THE DEEPNESS
Jack Handey
Manufacturer: Hyperion
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ASIN: 0786883057 |
Customer Reviews:
a masterpiece.......2003-08-08
it doesn't matter how many times i have read this book, every time i open it up i laugh out loud. any person who comes to my house and opens it laughs out loud. it's probably one of my top 5 books of all time and i'm an english major.
Get lost in "The Lost Deep Thoughts".......2002-12-24
I happen to like the "Deep Thoughts" seiries, so of course I like this one. Jack's way of turning a situation into a psychobabble feel good statement is hilarious and the pairing of the nature photographs reminds me of those dumb motivational posters at work - you know, the one where it's a photograph of an eagle flying over a canyon and it says something such as "Strive with all your being to fly as the eagle does fly and makes more widgets for our company to make huge profits from" or some nonsense like that. (Okay, the signs _don't_ say the widget thing.)
It's vaguely comforting to read this book, to know that Jack's still out there (in more ways than one!) pondering his "deep thoughts" and sharing them with us. If you enjoyed the other books, you'll want this book.
As the title suggests, this is the "leftovers"..........2002-05-31
Jack Handey got a lot of mileage out of his "Deep Thoughts" series, but I think the word "rejected" would be more fitting than "lost" for this fourth volume. I don't want to suggest that it's bad by any means, but it's definitely the most hit-and-miss of the series. Some of the passages are classic Jack Handey ("Toward the end of the Stone Age, I bet there was already a feeling that metal was just around the corner."), but many of them are downright lame ("Life is a constant battle between the heart and the brain. But guess who wins. The skeleton."). If you've got the other three volumes, this one is absolutely essential, but if you're a newbie, don't start here. Pick up "Deep Thoughts", "Deeper Thoughts", and "Deepest Thoughts".
Jack Attack!.......2001-07-17
This was a great book and a must have for all 'deep thoughts' fans. His insight can be considered literary genius. I can say my favorite is talking about his childhood friend Chris and the adventure with the ice cream in Chicago - classic! (you will have to read the book yourself to find out the ending)
Give us more, Jack!.......2000-06-05
Jack Handey's at it again with his characteristic blend of pseudo-feel-good musings. "The Lost Deep Thoughts" features enormously funny observations, remembrances, hypotheses, and situations in Handey's finest style.
Handey returns to his more traditional style of humorous deep thoughts in this volume, featuring briefer musings than in his magnum opus, "Fuzzy Memories." From the dangers of King Kong (kids seeing that huge genitalia), to the king and queen who loved laughing (until they remembered they had the plague), to the problems of owning a robot (having to whip it to get it to fetch the paper in cold winters), this book's loaded with wonderful, side-splitting thoughts.
Jack! Please write more!
Book Description
The Earth Liberation Front (ELF) has been active in the United States officially since 1997, causing more than $45 million in damages to various entities. As the organization continues to grow and expand its range of targets, ELF has taken an extreme position against individuals, corporations, and governments that, in the organization's view, places monetary gain ahead of the natural environment. Rejecting state sanctioned means of legal protest, ELF uses economic sabotage to inflict financial suffering on those deemed objectionable.
In February 2002, the FBI listed the ELF as the largest and most active US-based terrorist group. Although no one has died in any of these operations, ELF's campaign against loggers, SUV dealerships, and others it considers threats to the planet have galvanized and polarized the environmental movement.
Former ELF spokesperson Rosebraugh charts the history and ideology of ELF and explores their tactics, successes, and limitations. He shows how ELFers offer an uncompromising vision of an earth under assault from the forces of greed and corporate violence, and how they employ direct action against those they deem a threat to the planet.
Rosebraugh also examines the issues of whether violence is or is not justifiable, and the short- and long-term political benefits and drawbacks of using violence. Finally, he offers a trenchant vision of the future of the environmental movement, radical politics, and US democracy under the so-called Patriot Act.
Whatever your view of direct action or violence, Burning Rage of a Dying Planet is essential reading for those trying to understand the mindset and motivations of contemporary radical environmentalists.
Customer Reviews:
What you won't learn on Fox TV News!.......2006-08-16
Author Craig Rosebraugh was spokesperson for the ELF from 1997 until a few days before 9/11 and recounts his experiences reporting on their activities while being continually harassed by the authorities. Branded as a terrorist organization, the ELF was the focus on several grand jury investigations and the author recounts his many adventures avoiding subpoenas and taking the fifth while under constant threat of prosecution. The extent of ELF activities during this time and since 9/11 surprised me, as we read little about them in the national press and we hear even less of their motives and aims. In addition to being a great read for anyone interested in learning more about the radical environmental movement, it raises some important social questions.
"Too much has been lost ...".......2005-09-24
After reading about the case of Jeff 'Free' Luers, sentenced to 22 years and 8 months in prison for torching 3 SUVs, I decided to research more about The Earth Liberation Front--also known as ELF--and found "Burning Rage of a Dying Planet: Speaking for the Earth Liberation Front" by Craig Rosebraugh. While Luers denies any connection with ELF, the severity of his sentence is a reflection of the increasingly stiff jail terms being handed out for sabotage events termed "eco-terrorism."
Author Craig Rosebraugh served as the media spokesperson for ELF from the first action in 1997 until his resignation in 2001. He charts his life as an activist, and during the first Iraqi war, Rosebraugh quickly found his social attitudes shifting and developing. He became a member of People for Animal Rights, but parted ways with this group when they refused to support the actions of ALF (Animal Liberation Front). Rosebraugh decided he "would philosophically support illegal activity such as civil disobedience and property destruction as long as it was nonviolent." Gradually, Rosebraugh shifted from his single focus on animal rights and embraced a broader based philosophy that addresses various social and political issues. As a founding member of the Liberation Collective, he was recognized as a prominent activist in the Portland area.
In 1997, Rosebraugh began to receive anonymous 'communiques' from individuals announcing various acts of sabotage conducted in the name of the Earth Liberation Front. ELF is an underground movement--composed of individual cells--with no hierarchy, no leadership, and no membership. The Earth Liberation Front basically embraces a radical philosophy that includes the idea that activists have tried 'normal' channels for social change in the environment (petitions, demonstrations, court, etc,) but since those legal channels have failed, and a state of emergency exists with the planet's entire future at risk, individuals take matters into their own hands with sabotage actions committed according to one's conscience. Targeting urban sprawl, animal experimentation, animal cruelty, genetically modified crops, and various instances of anti-environmental travesties (such as gas-guzzling behemoth vehicles, logging of old growth trees, and road building in previous unroaded areas) individual activists conduct acts of sabotage against the property of those they hold responsible for crimes against the environment.
Rosebraugh charts the acts committed in the name of ELF, brushes with law enforcement personnel, numerous encounters with the FBI, and a series of Grand Jury subpoenas. Copies of many of the anonymous ELF communiques are included in the book--along with the ELF guidelines for Direct Action. The book also details efforts of various politicians to crack down on ELF activity (particularly since 9/11), the introduction of the Juvenile Justice Bill, and the amendment of the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organization Act (RICO) to include "Animal Enterprise Terrorism and Ecoterrorists." Since the underground group's first acknowledged action in 1997, approximately $100 million dollars of damage has been wreaked against those targeted by ELF as enemies of the environment, and the group is considered to be the "number one domestic terrorist threat" in the U.S.
"Burning Rage of a Dying Planet" is primarily an account of Rosebraugh's involvement with the ELF as a spokesperson, but it's also a remarkably well-written account of Rosebraugh's development as an activist and as a human being. The book is not a political rant, and while Rosebraugh makes no apologies for his strong political opinions, his complex beliefs are laid out lucidly, sincerely, and with striking humility. "Burning Rage of a Dying Planet" is a gripping read, and anyone interested in environmental issues or in the radical actions of ELF should find it extremely interesting. Frankly--and surprisingly--this is one of the best non-fiction books I've read this year--displacedhuman
A sharply worded yet highly literate manifesto.......2004-12-13
Written by a spokesperson for the Earth Liberation Front from its inception in 1997 to September 2001, Burning Rage Of A Dying Planet: Speaking For The Earth Liberation Front presents the viewpoint of an organization that uses economic sabotage to inflict financial losses on individuals, corporations and governments that, in the ELF's view, place monetary wealth ahead of the natural environment. In February 2002, the FBI declared the ELF to be the largest and most active US-based terrorist group, even though ELF's operations have never claimed a single human life. Burning Rage Of A Dying Planet describes the ELF's history and ideology, scrutinizes the the short and long-term benefits and drawbacks of using violence, and presents a vision of the future of the environmental movement - as well as an American democracy increasingly threatened by the so-called Patriot Act. A sharply worded yet highly literate manifesto, and a must-read for anyone seeking to better understand the ELF's point of view - whether out of sympathy for its goals or antipathy toward its means.
Customer Reviews:
Disappointed.......2007-09-13
I had a friend who found these CD's useful, but they did not help me sleep at all...if anything, they kept me awake. Very disappointed, as I was psyched to try them.
Book Description
If Pigs Could Fly¿ and Other Deep Thoughts is a collection of Bruce Lansky's own hilarious poems about everything kids are concerned with, including: smelly diapers, chubby relatives, toothless grandmas, dirty socks, impolite dogs, burping babies, bad hair days and more. The poems in this book have been tested on over 1,000 schoolchildren and their teachers so that only the most giggle-packed poems are included.
Customer Reviews:
AWFUL.......2006-02-11
This book is not just bad poetry, and its not just potty humor. It is hateful and ugly. In various poems, the author ridicules obesity, makes a joke of death (sky diving), calls a teacher an old bat, etc.
Don't buy it!
Not sweet but very good.......2002-12-31
I'm prompted to write this review after reading the others. Yes folks, Lansky's topics are crude. Poop figures heavily, as does snot (in fact, that's the topic of my favorite poem in this collection). However, Lansky's poems are both funny and clever. They make my kids laugh out loud (and me too). If your sensibility is to fine to be crude or if you have moral objections to bodily fluids (and I suspect that is the case with the other reviewers) then this isn't for you. But, if you're looking for funny, readable verse that kids will like, this is a great one.
What the heck? No, really, what the heck?.......2001-02-02
What the heck was the author thinking writing a book this atrocious?
What the heck was the publisher thinking?
And what the heck was I thinking buying this book for my twin sons after scanning one poem about a dog?
At least I can say that I never read any of the "poop" poems before purchasing it. What excuse do the other two have?
A Poor Attempt at Poetry.......2000-11-03
I was not impressed by this attempt at children's poetry. This book made me think that an author might consider that writing children's poetry is easy. This book makes it obvious that it's not. Why you would publish a collection of such poorly executed poetry is beyond me. The material looks as if it were written by young children, as opposed to for young children. The illustrations were cute though.
An appropriate title for this book.......2000-10-12
If pigs could fly then I'd like this book. Unfortunately, this book doesn't take off any better than a pseudo-aerodynamic swine. I'm a grade school teacher who is always searching for material to fill my students with a love for reading. Poetry, in its bite-sized snippets, often turns children on to reading more than lengthier prose. However, this particular book of poetry did not generate any enthusiasm among my students. My students were not able to elequently relate why they didn't enjoy this title, but I think I can guess. These poems don't speak with the "voice" of delight that appeals to children. It's not that the poems aren't silly. The problem is that these poems are amateurish, lacking the polish that the masterpieces of the genre demonstrate. This title shows that writing children's poetry is not easy. If it was, then maybe pigs could fly.
Book Description
This Sacred Earth begins with spiritual reflections by naturalists. Surveying traditional religious myths, creation stories, and conceptions of nature--with extensive selections from Jewish, Christian, Native American, Indian, African, Chinese, and indigenous texts and commentators, the contributors focus on religion in the age of environmental crisis. We see how individuals and institutions are reinterpreting and transforming old traditions, and eco-feminists are challenging patriarchal perspectives.
Customer Reviews:
An excellent reader, worth reading and rereading........2000-06-22
The advantage of readers is twofold. First, they allow one to cover a lot of ground with relatively little reading, allowing a fairly quick overview of the subject. Second, they can act as an introduction to writers whose work can be discovered in depth elsewhere. 'This Sacred Earth' offers both advantages. Those interested in what has been written and thought concerning the links between religion, nature and the environment could do a lot worse than to start here. In addition, Roger Gottlieb's introductions to the seven sections of readings presented provide a commentary on the key issues and a guide through the diversity of the religious traditions represented. In fact, diversity is one of the strengths of this book. Gottlieb is able to make links among the major world religions and other worldviews, showing how environmental sensitivity and ecological spirituality transcend any one faith and are essential parts of what it is to be human. True, the book has an American bias (all the 'nature writers' in the first section are American, if you count John Muir as such), but the readings in other sections are international enough to compensate for any minor parochialism.
Average customer rating:
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Wisdom in the Open Air: The Norwegian Roots of Deep Ecology
Peter Reed
Manufacturer: University of Minnesota Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
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ASIN: 0816621829 |
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