Book Description
Chuck Klosterman IV Consists of Three Parts:
THINGS THAT ARE TRUE
Profiles And Trend Stories: Britney Spears, Radiohead, Billy Joel, Metallica, Val Kilmer, Bono, Wilco, The White Stripes, Steve Nash, Morrissey, Robert Plant -- All With New Introductions And
Footnotes.
THINGS THAT MIGHT BE TRUE
Opinions And Theories On Everything From Monogamy To Pirates To Robots To Super People To Guilt And (Of Course) Advancement -- All With New Hypothetical Questions And Footnotes.
SOMETHING THAT ISN'T TRUE AT ALL
This Is New Fiction. There's An Introduction, But No Footnotes. Well, There's A Footnote In The Introduction, But None In The Story.
Customer Reviews:
Good for the NEWBIES.......2007-08-21
If you are just getting into Chuck Klosterman's writing, this is the book for you. I was given his previous book, SEX, DRUGS and COCOA PUFFS by a friend and found it to be one of the most entertaining and interesting books I had read in a long time. His insight into pop culture and his take on what is all means is fun and sometimes thought-provoking. I hadn't read any of his previous work, so this anthology of his previous work was a great way for me to catch up. I have since read KILLING YOURSELF, and am about to start FARGO. Enjoy!!!
Great Summer Read.......2007-08-09
The latest Chuck Klosterman, Chuck Klosterman IV:A Decade of Curious People and Dangerous Ideas, has come out in paperback, so I picked it up. As I mentioned in an earlier post, I've been reading this mammoth book on the Algerian war and have been reading some lighter stuff in between for a break and this totally fits the bill. That being said I had read a lot of the essays before, since I use dot regularly buy Esquire magazine, but it was nice to re-visit many of the articles. Love or hate Klosterman, he has a unique perspective on life and pop culture. However, I have to admit that I am a little bit more skeptical about some of his opinions like his defense of McDonalds in "McDiculous"-in which he comes across as a libertarian apologist for capitalism. "The Amazing McNugget Diet" was a mere week and has nothing on the film Super Size Me-a week isn't long enough to do anything to the body. I also found his hypothetical questions, that preceded several of the pieces, tedious.
That being said there are some real gems in the collection. Some of my favorites include:
a profile of Birtney Spears ("Bending Spoons with Britney Spears"-possibly the least self-aware celebrity alive), a profile of Val Kilmer ("Crazy Things Seem Normal, Normal Things Seem Crazy" -possibly the most self-aware celebrity around), a Johnny Carson obituary ("Here's `Johnny'"-the collapse of the common pop culture), a mediation on your nemesis and archenemy ("Nemesis"), the pop culture concept of Advancement, which I still don't quite grasp ("Advancement"), the problems of rooting for your country in the Olympics ("I Do Not Hate the Olympics"), fashion ("Three Stories Involving Pants," pop opinion vs. your opinion ("Cultural Betrayal"), the problem of monogamy ("Monogamy"), the significance of reality TV ("4, 8, 15, 16, 23, 42).
All in all, it is extremely entertaining, thought provoking, but not too taxing. I guess that's the definition of a perfect summer read.
Make it past the opening chapter and you're in for a long, strange trip.......2007-07-30
Chuck Klosterman's fourth essay collection, consisting of things that are true, things that might be true, and something that isn't true at all, is a snarky, intelligent collection with an absolutely terrible opening essay. I listened to the audiobook version, and during the opening piece, a dreadfully long, directionless anecdote about a junior high school basketball game, I nearly turned the audiobook off for good. There mere fact that Klosterman thought this was not just good enough to publish, but worth of opening his self-titled fourth book, cast doubt about the quality of the work as a whole.
Was he testing us? Would only his true fans make it past that opening chapter?
Fortunately, the next chapter, a 2003 article in which Klosterman deconstructs Britney Spears, was so riveting that I promptly forgot the painful moments of my life I lost to junior high basketball. Klosterman interviews Spears and observes her lack of self-awareness, eerily predicted her early 2007 meltdown under the media glare. He also takes us inside Val Kilmer's New Mexico buffalo ranch, to Dublin with Bono, and to certain celebrity interviews that were never published. Learning the story behind the unpublished pieces is almost as much fun as reading the essays themselves.
Klosterman also treats us to philosophical logic puzzles and his authoritative personal philosophies--the nemesis vs. arch-rival iconography, frustrated at people who are "betrayed" by the cultural mainstream, and his take on artists who are overrated, underrated, and perfectly accurately rated.
The concluding chapter is a long, ambling pseudo-autobiographical tale (with bonus angel dust use and a badass slacker narrator who happens to be a pop culture journalist at a Midwest paper) that succeeds in all the ways the first chapter fails. It's a long strange trip, indeed, with an ending open to interpretation.
Klosterman wins on most all counts..........2007-07-27
If you are familiar with Klosterman's work in such fine publications as Esquire or Spin, you know that his one article alone can sometimes make the longest lasting impression of that month's read. His fourth book, which is partially compiled from those essays, shows why many believe Klosterman is perhaps America's greatest critical/cynical observer of the modern life since guys like HST and Lester Bangs roamed the earth. (without the drugs of the former.) CK's stand-back-and-see what's-really happening take on everything from a Britney Spears photo shoot (is she just not self-aware or really extra savvy?), to a Dublin spin in Bono's Maserati, to senseless Olympic 'faux-patriotism' fandom, reality TV and the myth of monogamy, seriously questions one's own thinking with it's detached analysis and an overwhelming sense of "Oh, really?". (Plus, He's the only guy I know who bothers to make a list of bands that are 'accurately rated.') Of course, whether trying to be or not, this self acclaimed Gen-Exer is often dropkick hysterical. The book is divided into three sections - "Things That Are True," "Things That Might Be True" and "Something That Isn't True at All" the latter of which is the author's attempt at short fiction. What is true is that Klosterman wins on most all counts. Whether you agree with him or not, he puts his views front-and-center (or not) and let's you know that he doesn't necessarily look at life through the same filters as everyone else. In short, Klosterman rocks. - BlogOnBooks
Hilarious.......2007-06-02
I'm a big fan of Chuck Klosterman's writing, and he did not disappoint with this book! It wasn't quite "Sex, Drugs and Cocoa Puffs" but I like it better than "Fargo Rock City". The last section of the book was my favorite.
Book Description
Churches that bombard people with too many "little ideas" can miss the Big Idea.
Community Christian Church embraced the Big Idea and everything changed. They decided to avoid the common mistake of bombarding people with so many "little ideas" that they suffered overload. They also recognized that leaders often don't insist that the truth be lived out to accomplish Jesus' mission. Why? Because people's heads are swimming with too many little ideas, far more than they can ever apply.
Customer Reviews:
High Impact.......2007-09-25
The Big Idea is helping our pastoral staff focus. The longer you're in ministry the more you need to focus. This book is really helping our dialog about what we are doing as a church. WE have the why nailed down it is the what and how that gets diluted. Ferguson makes an interesting case for little tuths and big biblical truths that must translate into action - helpful. Dan Boyd
Overcome Information Glut & Decision Paralysis at Church.......2007-08-17
I am an information junkie. I read newspapers, magazines, books, and blogs. I watch TV and listen to talk radio. I consider myself a well-informed guy. But being well-informed is not the same thing as being wise or effective. Indeed, too much information can paralyze our ability to make decisions.
Our churches often contribute to this glut of information. The pastor preaches on one topic, Sunday school teachers teach on another, the worship leader sings new songs with multiple verses, and the announcement guy rambles on with the church's upcoming events. No wonder parishioners get stuck in their spiritual lives. They have too much information to act on. They know more than they can do.
In their new book, The Big Idea, Dave Ferguson, Jon Ferguson, and Eric Bramlett tackle the topic of information-glutted, decision-paralyzed churches. They argue that churches should teach one big idea per week, and that this big idea should be reinforced in all the church's venues (worship services, Sunday school classes, and small groups). They demonstrate the multiple benefits of the big-idea approach. And they offer practical guidelines for how to implement this model of ministry in your church based on their own experience.
Do you want to make more and better followers of Jesus Christ? Do you want to see a greater connection between people's faith and works? Then, as The Big Idea's subtitle puts it, "focus the message" so that you can "multiply the impact." Teach your parishioners one thing a week. They can do more with less.
Great book, truly, I just want the moon.......2007-05-08
This highly practical book on not just preaching, but church-wide discipleship, is written by one of the leading, Biblically conservative churches today in the areas of creative communication, team-based ministry, evangelism and leadership development. Community Christian Church in Chicago is also recognized as one of the top five leading multi-site churches.
The authors make a clear case that most of our churches send anywhere from 30 to 100 messages a week as to what we want our people to respond to in their growth. Our Sunday services, alone, often send 20-50 messages. In The Big Idea, the authors make a case for focusing the message to one Big Idea throughout the entire worship experience for the week and asking for clear response to that one idea in all areas of our church. They convincingly make the case that, in the long term, better discipleship occurs if we can yield a greater application response to the messages being sent--so people are living what they know rather than knowing far more than they live.
Don't be intimidated by the author's success and size of church--they communicate very simply. Along the way they give suggestions for how smaller churches can begin to use some or all of what they share. This is not a book about a program, rather it is a book with lots of practical leadership process steps that can be gleaned from and subsequently contextualize to your own style, leadership and setting. You will quickly note this approach to communicating for discipleship is used by their multi-site mega church as well as church plants.
After reading the first two chapters, I thought this book would make it on my top 10 list of must read leadership skills books for pastors. By the end of the book it was still in my top 25 and probably top 20. While the book is well illustrated throughout, I was left longing for just a few more varied examples. I especially was hoping that the authors would deal more with expositional preaching from the perspective of using that style of preaching to demonstrate good personal spiritual disciplines as a way of modeling. They did a very short, excellent bullet point treatment of ways to approach topical preaching--though this was the primary area I wished for more detailed illustrations of each approach (even if the examples were simply web links to sermons that could be listened to so as to learn more about how to effectively construct each kind of approach). If the authors had more extensively illustrated some of these ideas I would be telling you this is the best book on discipleship and preaching I have ever read. As it stands, it is still a great book that is sure to provide you with helpful ideas you can begin to implement quickly.
Two Thumbs Up for The Big Idea.......2007-04-11
Dave Ferguson shares some great ideas and strategies in this book. I like it because it wasn't just a "here's how we did it" church growth text...there are some philosophical principles and transferable ideas. The way that they have outlined a planning process for ministry is really helpful.
Spectacular Book.......2007-04-11
If you are searching for a way to simplify what your families are learning in church and get everyone on the same page this book is for you.
Average customer rating:
- Calculations are only as good as your numbers
- Pants on fire?
- Accepted History & Chronology Must Be Changed.
- Very Interesting
- History as Science Fiction
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History: Fiction or Science? (Chronology, No. 1)
Anatoly Fomenko
Manufacturer: Mithec
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Similar Items:
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History: Fiction or Science? Chronology 2 (Chronology)
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History: Fiction or Science? Astronomical methods as applied to chronology. Ptolemy's Almagest. Chronology III
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They Cast No Shadows: A Collection of Essays on the Illuminati, Revisionist History, and Suppressed Technologies
ASIN: 2913621058 |
Book Description
Recorded history is a finely-woven magic fabric of intricate lies about events predating the sixteenth century. There is not a single piece of evidence that can be reliably and independently traced back earlier than the eleventh century. This book details events that are substantiated by hard facts and logic, and validated by new astronomical research and statistical analysis of ancient sources.
Customer Reviews:
Calculations are only as good as your numbers.......2007-08-03
Yes, we can all agree that mainstream history is nearly 100% BS due to politics, economics, ego, problems with dating techniques, and various conspiracies. Agreed. But, I've been researching the distinct possibility that human history (in terms of civilizations) are much more ancient than we've been told, so coming across this book was very interesting to me. I wondered how Fomenko could be wrong (if at all) because he is very persuasive in his presentations. Then it dawned on me. If at previous times in prehistory, due to the various catastrophies that are well documented (comets, asteroids, planetary disruptions, plasma discharge, pole reversals, etc) the Earth was in a different position in relation to the sun, different tilt on its axis, different orbit, different rotation (in terms of velocity and DIRECTION), and the continents were in different positions, then would this not cause the ancients to see the sky (constellations) differently? In other words, is Fomenko making erronious assumptions about the physics of the Earth in pre-history, which then corrupt his data with regards to dating the relevant astrology? The last event to seriously disrupt our planet occured roughly 3500 years ago, according to other good researchers, so is it possible Fomenko has been confused by this? The vastly different physics of our planet in the not so distant past may explain this confusion, which is not to say the "mainstream" version of history is correct; on the contrary. I am not an expert in these fields, but wanted to see if this idea could spark discussion.
Pants on fire?.......2007-07-19
Will people ever read before spamming? Yes, Jesuits could not rewrite world history alone, they had help. Anyway, Dr Prof Acad A.Fomenko does not point to jesuits as the driving force of world wide history manipulation in published volumes 1,2,3;, actually he barely mentions the poor devils. Check it with 'Search inside' feature, please. China is rarely mentioned either, in fact, Dr Fomenko is completely eurocentric. Right, his theory contradicts all mainstream schools of history, because in their actual state they are all built on blatantly erroneus chronology. You don't need a mysterious cabal (conspiracy) to falsify history, the falsification is its modus operandi. It is inherent to history(ians) to falsify (distort) events, as it is inherent to humans to boast as it is inherent to power (authority) to legimize itself by referrring to glorious past made to its own order. Dr Prof Fomenko and team have identified scores of instances of such manipulation in Russian, European, etc.. history, and delivered valid statistical proof thereof. His own 'reconstruction' is completely another story. Forget c14 as a valid method of dating. W.Libby has initially discovered a brilliant method of INDEPENDENT dating. Too bad, c14 method has become a joke after a forced marrige with dendrochronology with consensual chronological scale inbuilt. Radiocarbon method can't stand blind tests, but is so very productive as a rubberstamp.
Accepted History & Chronology Must Be Changed. .......2007-04-09
There is no doubt that history as most know it is a sham, & institution's version of History both University & Church is fradulent & inaccurate. Everything was established with an agenda, The real "Dark Ages" are now when we have access to incredible amounts of information past authorities & more important 'common folk' didn't have but our institutions & educators are slow to evolve because of what has ignorantly & arrogantly been taught for too long. This is on many subjects not just Chronology.
For anyone to question "Why would a Mathematician have anything credible to say of History?" The answer is from Dr. Fomenko's preface in the book: "It would be worthwhile to remind the reader that in the XVI-XVII century Chronology was considered to be a subdivision of Mathematics." These volumes could possibly be some of the most important works to date & should be read by everyone with an interest in History, especially professors & educators who have a duty to the public. I have read both books & must say that 'Chronology 1' has some very eye opening & revolutionary information. Even if these volumes are part true the implications are profound & opens the doors to further investigations & questions which must be done. I speak several different lanquages & must say the logic Dr. Fomenko uses with "inflection" of words & words being read from left to right in one region & right to left in another then written backwards, the removal of vowels & get down to basics of words, or different cities & locations having the same name etc. is correct. Vowel usage has always been optional & varied, actually complicating linquistics & study. The first thing one has to understand is that words never had a fixed spelling in history like we do now, the spelling of words was mutable & regional, as well as names & titles of people were vast, varied & changed, NOTHING WAS FIXED or understood linear. Matters of Life & Death as well as financial profiteering yesterday & today were & are made with ignorant, illogical & conspiratorial views of history & reality, it's time people get closer to the Truth & society collectively grow up.
Very Interesting.......2007-03-07
It is a good proposal and I believe it will mature into something even better in the future. I think it deserves to be read.
History as Science Fiction.......2007-01-10
Anatoly Fomenko has written a very intriguing book, full of pictures, charts, and computer 'proof' of his thesis: backwards of AD900 we don't really know what happened or when. Between AD900 and AD1600 there is more certainty, but there is still a lot of fuzzy ground, and things don't get reliable until we get past the 1600's where the printing press made it very difficult for the perpetrators of this timeline manipulation to change anything that had been committed to print. The Dark Ages did not happen. Books were burned for a reason. One organization has doubled the actual length of its existence by expanding the real chronology. Read why.
I had always wondered why Christ died about AD33 and yet men waited until the 11th century to form the Knights Templar, the Cathars, etc and go after the Holy Land by force. Why the 1000 year gap? Turns out there wasn't more than a 10-12 year gap and he proves it using astronomy. This also implies that the planet is not as old as we have been told, and current Christian and other creationist scientists are already championing that idea without being aware of Fomenko's book. The two groups, creationist scientists and the Russian mathematical analysts corroborate each other. Fascinating.
Of course, all this flies in the face of what we have been told traditionally is the 'proper' chronology of western civilization, and most readers will experience 'cognitive dissonance' in reading this book. It means that our history going backwards from AD1600 becomes progressively more incorrect and unreliable until it cannot be trusted at all... in the space of 700-800 years.
Naturally, the curious, open-minded reader will want to know WHO did this, WHY, and did any of the events we think of as really ancient ever happen?
Dr. Fomenko is a respected scientist/mathematician at Moscow State University who has already answered these questions to the satisfaction of his initially skeptical colleagues. Most of them are now believers, a few still refuse to believe (the usual diehards), and of course the western press has ignored Fomenko's work -- for obvious reasons when you read the book. The ones who perpetrated this chronology ruse have a lot to answer for. They are still with us. That's why this book is a well-kept secret.
I gave the book a 4-star rating because I was unable to check out some of his claims; those I checked were as he said. But if even 1/3 of his claims are true, this punches a big hole in what we think is our history, the meaning of western civilization, our educational process (for repeating the ruse as gospel), and the trustworthiness of the organization that perpetrated this ruse, well-intentioned or not.
This book relates to current research into a Young Earth paradigm, to John Keel's discoveries about our planet, and Fr Malachi Martin's insights (in his now out-of-print books). We are indeed sheep who are manipulated and kept ignorant -- for a reason. While knowing what these men have to say may be the "booby prize" (as in: 'what can you do with this knowledge?'), it will provide interesting reading. Didn't someone say: "...and the Truth will set you free."?? For you to judge if this book contains the truth.
Book Description
Esalen has always been on the edge. Famous for its natural hot springs and stunning locale on the face of the Pacific coastline, the institute has long been a world leader in alternative and experiential education. Such luminaries as Henry Miller, Joseph Campbell, Aldous Huxley, Jack Kerouac, Allen Ginsberg, Hunter S. Thompson, and others have gathered there to develop their revolutionary ideas, transformative spiritual practices, and innovative art forms.
Jeffrey Kripal here recounts the spectacular history of Esalen and its birth in the American counterculture. Forged in the literary and mythical leanings of the Beat Generation, inspired in the lecture halls of Stanford by radical scholars of comparative religion, the institute was the remarkable brainchild of Michael Murphy and Richard Price. Set against the heady backdrop of California during the revolutionary 1960s, Esalen recounts in fascinating detail how these two maverick thinkers sought to fuse the spiritual revelations of the East with the scientific revolutions of the West, or to combine the very best elements of Zen Buddhism, Western alchemy, and Indian yoga—particularly in its Tantric forms—into a decidedly utopian vision that rejected the dogmas of conventional religion. In their religion of no religion, the natural world was just as crucial as the spiritual one, science and faith not only commingled but became staunch allies, and the enlightenment of the body—through self-enhancement and, yes, free love—could lead to the full realization of our development as human beings.
Darwin, Tantric sex, cold war physics, psychedelic drugs, golf, and, of course, religion all come into play in a book that can only be described as monumental. Esalen is a prehistory of our nation’s current fascination with Eastern religions, our steadily growing acceptance of the supernatural in everyday life—and a surprising page-turner.
Customer Reviews:
Primal Primates Screaming.......2007-07-05
I always thought you could really have a good time at Esalen if you didn't have to wake up Monday morning and teach a group of kids that were living in poverty and who needed a half way coherent, not so self-involved person to figure out what we are going to be doing this week. Hot tub or not I always have to be good to go on a Monday morning. And despite the proximity no one ever rolled over from finding themselves on the coast to lend a hand. But the people involved really influenced me, I'm a Maslow influenced Gestaltist for sure.
But certainly over my years in Monterey County and over the 25 some years in California I've had as interesting a look at this place and what it symbolizes as I also lived my life about 6 inches left of the poverty line. I took a couple hours reading this at Nepenthe, a bookstore and restaurant on Big Sur I like to visit, and noted to self I have to get the book again out of the library sometime, or breakdown and order it. Hefty. Sometime. From what I read and enjoyed it's "got it all". With a lot to get. Remarkable history.
"Esalen Institute exists to promote the harmonious development of the whole person. It is a learning organization dedicated to restricted exploration of the human potential, and resists religious, scientific and other dogmas except for gestalt psychotherapy, which permeates all levels of the community based staff and business model. It fosters theory, practice, research, and institution-building to facilitate personal and social transformation and, to that end, sponsors seminars for the general public; invitational conferences; research programs; residencies for artists, scholars, scientists, and religious teachers; work-study programs; and semi-autonomous projects.
- Michael Murphy, Chairman, Esalen Board of Trustees, Esalen Institute Statement of Purpose" from Wiki of course
I just returned from a trip up to Monterey and back down the Big Sur coast. Last Thursday my husband came home and said he rented a couple nights in a cabin in Pacific Grove so everyone get a bag, get your stuff and get in the car for a fast track through your life.(I mentioned a few months ago I wanted a cabin week in Big Sur but it was hard to get on a whim-going hopefully in August for that) Because when I go back to this place actually I'm revisiting/processing/reordering my mind around 25 years of my life during which time I had three babies, heart attack, had one child have a serious operation, lost another, visiting where I got very ill with undiagnosed syringomyelia and cancer, had my Mom be placed in my care, taught in Greenfield in another world of Migrant farm laborer children learning of their poverty and the very real hard life for some in our world where I felt alien and alone everyday,learned to teach, went into debt with medical bills that covered mistakes made and the illness, husband gone every night in Master's and PHD, my two Masters, enjoyed mothering and feared, and finally escaped every weekend to Big Sur, Monterey, Pacific Grove where I got married in 86, to festivals, woods, Aquariums,concerts, shops, scenes, walks, drives, hikes, beaches, ocean life, pumpkin farms, tree planting, activism, love and angers, growing up, to find musician friends, artists, and to find ultimately home there. Until the day a week out of a hospital my husband went suddenly and without any real notice to a new job that popped up in Southern CA and I moved us away 8 months pregnant with my son.. So it was a trip to remember from now to then. The whole of it all.
And this really has everything to do with Esalen and this book actually and this trip. On the way back home I asked we drive Big Sur.I can't drive a bit too ill, in too much pain to do much at all at the moment.It's amazing I do what I do actually. It's long and it is tiring but the views are just incredible. And I wanted to see it.Wanted the kids to see it with me. But three kids in a car, lots of life, memories, fears, feelings, joys, hurts were all inside the spaces too. Crammed in having grown up and either gotten bigger or more covert and requiring separation/space or maybe, therapies. But still jammed into this car ride playing this is your life freestyle. As I've lived. An interesting journey. That's my life. And the search for meaning in a car ride on the face of a cliff on a birthday winding through the edge of America perched up on a cliff face defying gravity went on. But getting jarred around in awareness of how we weren't fitting this car anymore, I think triggered something. Actually I think the place is mystical and will always hand you your karma. It does me anyway. My kids are almost all adults.
So we were driving and I got seriously disproportionally irritated. Might only be fatigue with age. i find I can't crawl over the rocks anymore which bums me out. My request to stop and shoot some pictures was rebuffed hard, it was my birthday too with all the things that triggers. I got mocked for that observation with the 'drama queen' comment I find hard to overlook, it's truth secondary. And when I insisted we stop the car it was lunged over by a now furious and also exhausted spouse. We both stepped out of the car and screamed a world of thoughts. Mostly related to accommodating the other. I rarely do that, if ever. And more interesting it gets just eaten up on the mountain. And seems to be as insignificant as anything ever could be. Literally dampened into dust. That struck me as very interesting. Just Primal Scream 101. Quite the rage into the sea. My daughter stepped out and said, "I need to scream too." And she did. Looking over at me with her sage look. Oh.
Grow up parent. Lots going on here with this cancer.
So we got in the car. And drove a minute and there around the bend was the entrance to Esalen.
But I'd already re-invented the therapy so we felt way better, had lifted our spirits in self-indulgence and spent a little time planning out rock painting and fish window glass stained glasslike banners our lessons for the upcoming week. And a million other projects on the fire. But my daughter asked for this book at this moment to learn more about Esalen/Feynman , our home and this seems the one to get. She's going down to Cal Tech soon and I might as well arm her with this as a going away present.........
comment.......2007-06-27
Please do not ask me to review books. I don't believe in reviews anyway and am an atheist so my comments about a book would not be relevant to the average reader. As an illustration of my comments, I refer to the book:"Esalen." I think it misses the mark on Esalen as went there for thinking subjects and not religious ones. The book emphasizes the religious aspect of Esalen, which I was not interested in. I know that it uses the phrase: " The Religion of no Religion" but anti-religion is also a religion. John
You had to be there!.......2007-06-27
Mr. Kripal is a fastidious researcher and those of us who spent time at Esalen in the early 70's appreciate the details and background that, looking back, fill in the blank spaces. I first arrived at Esalen with the rising sun and my first vision of paradise was a girl in the vegetable garden wearing only her long blonde hair and her California tan. We had come to teach yoga and one of us had just landed the night before at San Fransisco International for his first visit to the US from a life spent in a traditional Indian Ashram. It took all of our persuasive powers to convince him that this was the Garden of Eden and not Dante's Inferno. By that afternoon he was with us sharing a hot tub and succumbing to the magic that was Esalen. We stayed originally with Richard Price in the Big House and got to do Tai Chi each morning with Al Huang. Life was glorious and I'm grateful to have the memories of those days, still fresh and exciting, to revisit.
Unacknowledged Cultural Incubator -- Esalen Institute.......2007-06-14
Kripal, Jeffrey J. (2007). Esalen: America and the Religion of No Religion. University of Chicago Press. xiv + 573 pages. Includes bibliography and index. Cloth and paper.
I always like to see a topic that interests me embedded in a larger context. A wider context describes how the topic of my interest (psychedelics in this case) fits into historical events and into a more global collection of ideas (the human potential movement, in Esalen). By following the movement of ideas and people through Esalen Institute, Kripal constructs an intellectual and personal history of the Esalen as one spring whose waters both nourished and reflected the 60's, but more than that, of the 70s, 80s, 90's and 21st Century too.
He readily alerts readers that his story must omit some items that others would deem important, and that his organizing ideas track his attention to selected Esalen events. His four organizing idea-themes are: the religion of no religion (alternately, the religion of all religions), altered states of history, the tantric transmission, and the enlightenment of the body. "Esalen," as he describes it, "has dedicated itself to the fusing or synthesizing of the spiritual and scientific, of wonder and reason, of what an academic might call the humanities and the sciences." (page 13). He recognizes these significant aspects of Esalen, rather than the misleading garden of delights for hippies and upper middle class hangers-on that the popular press dwells on.
By tracking Esalen people as a history, Kripal gives not only a history of the place, but also a history of the human potential movement. Esalen combines both an adventurous think tank and a location for experiments in human interactions, where mind and body were not separated, but used to enhance each other. The leading character of the book is Michael Murphy, one of Esalen's founders and the only person appearing consistently throughout the book. While I expected Kripal's chapter-long discussions of Murphy's books to be dully laudatory, if not outright boring, I found his discussion of them an intriguing way to see Murphy's thinking and Esalen's activities as harmonious.
Readers on this list will be especially interested in two chapters on psychedelics' early days at Esalen and the chapter on Stan and Christina Grof, both for the psychedelic points and for displaying how psychedelics form part of the tantric transmission and enlightenment of the body. In the earlier chapter, Huxley, Watts, Leary, and Native American use of psychedelics appear as parts of a larger textile that wove together threads from Eastern religions, physical development routines, discoveries about the human body and brain, unusual abilities, and innovative forms of psychotherapy and growth techniques.
In the chapter that focuses on the Grofs, we see how their interests grew beyond psychedelics to include Eastern religions and developing ways to help people through spiritual crises. Kripal makes the surprising insight that Freud's idea of the unconscious as a cesspool of fear, lust, and destruction was, in fact, useful to the human potential movement because its main assumption is that we are not aware of much of our minds. But there is more to our unconscious than what Freud saw, so his work is primarily important not for what he specifically found about our minds, but because he set Western psychology looking for more, and some of what we've discovered forms part of the neglected human potential.
Besides psychedelics, other mindbody threads woven into the Esalen tapestry include aspects of Hinduism, Buddhism, and Western religions; meditation, dreamwork, hypnosis, and additional altered-states psychotechnologies; aikido, breathing routines, Rolfing, massage, the martial arts, and other body-based growth; mythology, Jungian, humanistic psychology, transpersonal psychology, psychic phenomena, and additional intellectual approaches; Gestalt, encounter, family therapy, and group processes; influences on education, medicine, and even international relations -- the list goes on. Like a venture capital group that discovers, researches, and develops ideas for companies, Esalen explores and tries out ideas and practices for human growth. All of these --like Murphy's books Jacob Atabet and The Future of the Body--are examined as clues for the possible next stages of human evolution.
While most books to me would be twice as good if they were half as long, I was relieved to find Esalen's 468 pages of primary text a good read. I kept on reading "just one more section". Part of this goes to Kripal's ability to express ideas -- often flavored with his own perspective on his ideas -- entertaining and insightful. The chapter notes and list of resources confirm the depth of his research and are rich leads for others to follow.
After distracting, inaccurate, and exaggerated reports in the popular media during the 60s and subsequently, Kripal's Esalen counteracts press sensationalism. I guess it shouldn't be a surprise: shallow news reporters found shallowness at Esalen; deeper thinkers find deeper ideas and ideals. As a professor of religious studies at Rice University, Kripal sees Esalen as "one of America's most sophisticated mystical expressions." (page 24). That is, Esalen documents the spiritual quest for the fullest human fulfillment, and Kripal points out it is a combined mind-plus-body task.
Psychedelicists, who share a sense of unity and oneness, will see Esalen as fostering these directions, as mentioned above "dedicated itself to the fusing or synthesizing of the spiritual and scientific, of wonder and reason, of what an academic might call the humanities and the sciences." (page 13). Esalen, the book, does good service of setting the record straight about Esalen, the Institute.
No One Captures the Flag!.......2007-04-21
I was fortunate enough to have spent this past weekend at Esalen picked up a copy of Jeffrey Kripal's book and I could not put it down! This book is a must read for those wanting to know more about this amazing place and it's impact on American culture and the future of the planet. Esalen: America and The Religion of No Religion chronicles the history of an unique experiment conceived by two visionary men, Michael Murphy and Richard Price. Esalen is one of a kind place that sits at the edge of the American frontier both geographically and intellectually. The land and it's hot springs have a long history as a place of ceremony and healing for the Esselen Indians and other indigenous people who lived there for thousands of years. In 1910, Dr. Henry Murphy, Michael's grandfather, purchased the property to make the curative waters of the hotspring available for his patients. It is on this magical land that the Esalen Institute now resides. The list of people who have visited and taught there over the years is a veritable who's who of some of the greatest minds of the 20th Century. It is a place that has a history of encouraging intellectual and spiritual diversity and different approaches to exploring the full range of human potential. Esalen has been and continues to be one of the most important cultural and spiritual centers of the world that is dedicated to the exploration of human possibilities. We live in world that is in desperate need of a vision of a positive future. Esalen is a place where this vision is likely to emerge.
Book Description
Innovation is an evergreen topic because it is such an essential ingredient for successful growth—and this book provides a new and fascinating perspective on how new innovations can best be found and developed
Managers from all kinds of companies will find this book of interest. This book is so well written and is filled with such engaging examples that we expect it to break out beyond a business audience to general readers.
It is similar to The Tipping Point in terms of tone, readability, and rich, interesting stories, which show how innovative ideas were born in intersections that combined arenas as diverse as card games and sky rises, Palm Pilots and carrots, airplanes and cookies, ants and truck drivers.
Offers practical strategies anyone can use to develop novel new ideas big and small, in all areas of life and work.
Note: The book’s title refers to an explosion of creativity that occurred in Florence during the Renaissance, when the Medici banking family funded creators from many different disciplines to come together to debate, discuss, and discover new ideas. The book is about how any of us can create our own “Medici effects” using the concept of “the intersection”
Customer Reviews:
Better than it would appear.......2007-10-01
This book is about developing ideas. It starts out very slowly and it seems like just another rehash of the tales told a hundred times before. It goes through the normal diversity is better arguement, which is a plus and a minus (he never gives us the minus). But as the book develops he provides a family of keen insights. He reviews much of the literature in an interesting way. Even old news is presented nicely. For example, at this point most people know that brainstorming does not really get you anywhere. Indeed, individuals will come up with more ideas than a team all working together, one after the other. He goes through this and then suggests alternatives. By the time I was done with the book I was impressed and I would recommend it to others.
Nice Book.......2007-08-01
You actually feel inspired when reading it. Just get done and you'l feel real effect.
Good for getting in an innovative and integrative mindset.......2007-06-04
This book was really easy to get through and I came away thinking more about how to keep my mind open to ideas from lots of different disciplines. It provides good examples of cross-discipline collaboration and why you should care. The book provides a few little tricks to get you thinking in a different way, but I found the subject matter itself to be more inspiring than directly applicable.
Interesting, thought provoking and you really can learn "creativity" from it .......2007-03-13
Copied from pg 2, "The idea behind this book is simple: When you step into an intersection of fields, disciplines, or cultures, you can combine existing concepts into a large number of extraordinary new ideas." Somehow you may vaguely have a similar concept as the author's in mind. What he did much more than the rest is that he had studied and consolidated on it, given it a an exotic name "The Medici Effect", and furnished it with plenty of vivid, interesting and memorable examples for others, presumably less bright people like me, to read and follow. In short, quite outstanding in the sea of books on creativity and innovation. Really helpful! Highly recommended!
Ultimately society decides whether an idea is both new and valuable...It is impossible to determine if a person's products are innovative if they have never been seen, used, or evaulated. pg 15
In essence, these people (Marcus Samuelsson, Charles Darwin) succeeded at breaking down their associative barriers because they did one or more of the following things: exposed themselves to a range of cultures; learned differently; reversed their assumptions;, took on multiple perspectives. pg 45
The most successful innovators produce and realize an incredible number of ideas....Pablo Picasso produced 20,000 pieces of art; Einstein wrote more than 240 papers; Bach wrote a cantata every week; Thomas Edison filed a record 1,039 patents. This holds true today. Prince is said to have over 1,000 songs stored in his secret vault, and Richard Branson has started 250 companies. pg 91
Research has shown, in fact, that the vast majority of successful new business ventures abandoned their original business strategies when they began implementing their initial plans and learned what would and would not work in the market. The dominant difference between successful and failed ones, generally, is not their original strategy. Guessing the right strategy at the outset is not nearly as important to success as conserving enough resources (or having relationships with trusted backers or investors) so that new business initiatives get a second or third stab at getting it right. Those that run out of resources or credibility before they can iterate towards a new strategy are the ones that will fail. - Clayton Christensen pg 130
Risk homoeostatis: people will compensate for taking higher risks in one area of life by taking lower risks in another. - Gerald Wilde pg 167
The most effective way to combat fear is to acknowledge it...For starters, you have to come to terms with what is at stake and admit that you might lose it. Often this means that you must be comfortable enough to know that if everything is lost, you can still move on. pg 180
interesting book but need to be better.......2007-03-04
1. the author have something to say, and he say it in a easy way that friendly to understand. it's good. But the author seems too hush to run into the conclusion, it seems if he spend more time in detail study, this book will be much better;
2. For the same topic, I suggest "A Technique for Producing Ideas" which is short but powerful; and it from a master's hand, if you compare that book with "Medici Effect", you will find how good it is, ;-);
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The Making of Fornication: Eros, Ethics, and Political Reform in Greek Philosophy and Early Christianity (Hellenistic Culture and Society, 40)
Kathy L. Gaca
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Adam, Eve, and the Serpent
ASIN: 0520235991 |
Book Description
This provocative work provides a radical reassessment of the emergence and nature of Christian sexual morality, the dominant moral paradigm in Western society since late antiquity. While many scholars, including Michel Foucault, have found the basis of early Christian sexual restrictions in Greek ethics and political philosophy, Kathy L. Gaca demonstrates on compelling new grounds that it is misguided to regard Greek ethics and political theory--with their proposed reforms of eroticism, the family, and civic order--as the foundation of Christian sexual austerity. Rather, in this thoroughly informed and wide-ranging study, Gaca shows that early Christian goals to eradicate fornication were derived from the sexual rules and poetic norms of the Septuagint, or Greek Bible, and that early Christian writers adapted these rules and norms in ways that reveal fascinating insights into the distinctive and largely non-philosophical character of Christian sexual morality.
Writing with an authoritative command of both Greek philosophy and early Christian writings, Gaca investigates Plato, the Stoics, the Pythagoreans, Philo of Alexandria, the apostle Paul, and the patristic Christians Clement of Alexandria, Tatian, and Epiphanes, freshly elucidating their ideas on sexual reform with precision, depth, and originality. Early Christian writers, she demonstrates, transformed all that they borrowed from Greek ethics and political philosophy to launch innovative programs against fornication that were inimical to Greek cultural mores, popular and philosophical alike. The Septuagint's mandate to worship the Lord alone among all gods led to a Christian program to revolutionize Gentile sexual practices, only for early Christians to find this virtually impossible to carry out without going to extremes of sexual renunciation.
Knowledgeable and wide-ranging, this work of intellectual history and ethics cogently demonstrates why early Christian sexual restrictions took such repressive ascetic forms, and casts sobering light on what Christian sexual morality has meant for religious pluralism in Western culture, especially among women as its bearers.
Customer Reviews:
Book Review Excerpts.......2005-01-23
"Gaca's book makes a valuable contribution to the history of sexual ethics in antiquity and will be indispensable reading for all scholars and students interested in that topic."--Virginia Burrus, Jrnl of Early Christian Stds
"Gaca's ability to navigate confidently across both the Greek philosophical tradition and the Septuagint is as rare as it is valuable. An eye-opener." --Kate Cooper, Times Literary Supplement (TLS), 5 November 2004, p. 14
"Rich. . . .Gaca's detailed analysis of the several traditions, and her incorporation of the Septuagint, NT, and Philo in the argument, mark a significant advance over Foucault's analysis in The History of Sexuality. Indispensable to future research on the subject and should be in every university library."--David Konstan, Religious Studies Review
"With lucidity and a sustained examination of a synthetic Christian ethical concept, Gaca's fine book supplements social histories..."--P.W. Wakefield, Choice: Current Reviews For Academic Libraries
Book Description
How do we use our mental images of the present to reconstruct
our past? Maurice Halbwachs (1877-1945) addressed this
question for the first time in his work on collective memory,
which established him as a major figure in the history of
sociology. This volume, the first comprehensive English-
language translation of Halbwach's writings on the social
construction of memory, fills a major gap in the literature
on the sociology of knowledge.
Halbwachs' primary thesis is that human memory can only
function within a collective context. Collective memory,
Halbwachs asserts, is always selective; various groups of
people have different collective memories, which in turn give
rise to different modes of behavior. Halbwachs shows, for
example, how pilgrims to the Holy Land over the centuries
evoked very different images of the events of Jesus' life;
how wealthy old families in France have a memory of the past
that diverges sharply from that of the nouveaux riches; and
how working class constructions of reality differ from those
of their middle-class counterparts.
With a detailed introduction by Lewis A. Coser, this
translation will be an indispensable source for new research
in historical sociology and cultural memory.
Lewis A. Coser is Distinguished Professor of Sociology
Emeritus at the State University of New York and Adjunct
Professor of Sociology at Boston College.
The Heritage of Sociology series
Customer Reviews:
Collective Memory.......2006-03-17
Halbwachs, Maurice. On Collective Memory. Translated and edited by Lewis A. Coser. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1992.
Memory reconstructs images from the past in the context of our social present. Maurice Halbwachs' important work on the formation of collective memory insists that any recalled events fundamentally exist as a function of group endeavour. These memories, and the different behaviours they sustain, rise from a selective process shaped by associations with classes, religions, and families. These social frameworks, he contends, provide the means to express memory through shared language and discourse. As such, all reconstructed pasts must draw on common conventions of beliefs and meanings. This stability accounts for the persistent strength of traditions, but also for changes to society that must first forge connections to past ways of understanding, in order to succeed.
Beginning with family, Halbwachs examines the social contexts that determine collective memory. Although the wider meaning of family structure comes from society in general, the individual experiences within a family play a crucial role in forming memories through association. Traditions, legends, and proverbs, as well as emotional connections to places, allow the family unit to penetrate into the meanings the individual constructs in all other areas of life. The narrative and logic of family life, derived and adapted from societal norms, thus influence the forms that memory can take. Looking at religion, Halbwachs contends that formal doctrine represents a collective memory composed of rites and beliefs. He finds in religions a historical narrative of major historical events, manifested in more or less symbolic forms. Focusing on the Catholic Church, he demonstrates how a collective memory can adapt to new interpretations while retaining great internal stability and persistence of vision. He then turns to social classes, which he sees as something akin to Weberian status groups. He examines the workings of class traditions and legitimacy in the transitions between old and nouveau riche elites, arguing that while function defines class groups, meanings and assigned qualities come from the wider social relationships in which they participate. As societal hierarchies experience change, he argues, presentist justifications draw from traditions to construct a new collective memory where the new structure seems stable and acceptable.
Evocative and thought provoking, Halbwachs' work offers an interesting approach to memory and its social construction. Similar to Hayden White's later argument of meta-narrative, he argues strongly, yet without much direct evidence, for the ubiquitous presence of societal pressures on individual creativity and personal spaces. Pierre Nora's work on memory in public history, and Eric Hobsbawm's on invention of traditions, further suggests the great influence of and legacy of Halbwachs. Nevertheless, several weak points stand out especially from the historian's perspective. In generalizing about religions, the annaliste-influenced author relies solely on evidence from a French author more conversant in Indo-Chinese Theravada traditions than in Chinese Mahayana Buddhism, and his argument then fails in wider application. Similarly, other historical cases lack specific evidence or detail and show a pronounced Eurocentric bias. For example, feudalism appears as the essential institution from which social classes emerge, yet this does not then explain how classes formed in the non-European world that did not experience the feudal structure. Yet criticizing a sociologist for writing bad history only goes so far, as on the whole he succeeds in presenting a useful model for understanding memories changing over time.
From a philosophical and psychological approach, Halbwachs offers scholars a persuasive argument on the collective nature of memory and the recollection of the past as shaped by the present. Weak on history, he nonetheless provides important social considerations for investigating cultural memory. Halbwachs emphasizes the familial, class, and religious roots of individual knowledge of the past, and successfully explains how we select the images associated with historical events.
Just a word of advice for researchers.......2005-04-21
I have just received the book and the text seems to be great. I only think it should be worth advising readers that the first four chapters of "The social frameworks of memory" are abridged versions of the original French book (THey are considered - and probably they are indeed - "largely preparatory for what is to come in the rest of the book. Only relatively brief central pages if these chapters have been translated here" (p. 37). Not that this poses a problem for the comprehension of Halbwachs - since I trust the publishers, the translator and the editor -, I only think it might be useful information.
The foundation of the sociology of memory.......2001-02-15
Maurice Halbwachs, french sociologist and student of Durkheim, died in Nazi camps in 1945. His work can be considered as the foundation of the sociology of memory, and is rediscovered today in Europe and in the US. An essential reading for any scholar interested in the relationship between history, memory, and the past.
Book Description
In this ground-breaking new book, acclaimed diversity expert Mark Williams offers ten "eye-opening" lenses to help you, your organization, and everyone in it, understand how cultural diversity affects the way we live and work. There's the Assimilationist who believes that everyone should act like a true blue American, and the Culturalcentrist who believes that a person's race or ethnicity is central to their personal and public identity; the Meritrocratist who is sure that if you have the abilities and work hard enough you can make your dreams come true regardless of race or culture, and the Victim/Caregiver who believes that because of bias they will never succeed. Learn more about these lenses, as well as six other lenses that Mark Williams has developed to respond to cultural diversity.
Customer Reviews:
The 10 Lenses: Your Guide to Living & Working in a Multicultural World.......2007-01-04
I first read the 10 Lenses several years ago after meeting author Mark Williams at a Summit on Leading Diversity Conference in Atlanta. I have been using The 10 Lenses in our diversity education programs ever sense. This book has proven to a great conversation starter, without the usual "blame and shame" sometimes associated with diversity training. In fact, we have even established a very successful four-week course around "The 10 Lenses" in our Hampton Diversity Leadership Academy. Mark has advanced the entire discussion of "diversity" with this book. I highly recommend it to any diversity/inclusion professional.
John L. Johnson
Certified Diversity Professional
Executive Director
Hampton Citizens' Unity Commission
22 Lincoln Street, 5th Floor
Hampton, VA 23669
Promising, but in the end Disappointing.......2003-12-04
This is a useful Guide to Living as & Working with Immigrants in a Multicultural USA, not a Multicultural World. It really has little or no street-credibility outside the USA.
I've worked for a US Fortune500 Company for 20 years, and in over 30 Countries.
The book confesses upfront to its limitations : although the information is US-centric, Williams, Clifton & Thomas believe their concepts are universal - but they haven't the experience to back that up. They admit they don't know whether current observations will hold up in different cultures, or whether different cultures have different profiles with respect to the lenses. The initial research has focussed on race, culture, nationality & ethnicity. In practice 90% of its focus is on race & ethnicity. Sexual orientation is ignored, and the word 'gay' doesn't appear until over 80% of the way through the book - and its only for one sentence.
Consider some of the Lenses :
For the Assimilationist they talk about "adapting US business norms appropriately, given global norms and standards" - well I've never met a "Global norm" - and as for being able to adapt US norms, there's the problem - you have to reject US norms in order to get on with the outside world. The Assimilationist must think about "Western cultural arrogance" - woah - what about "US Cultural arrogance" - ask a Canadian or a Mexican or the French how they feel about US hegemony.
The Culturalcentrist talks about the "Irish, Polish & Italian Communities", and in the same breath about the "Asian Community" - I'm sure the "Asians" would argue they had less in common between India, Vietnam, Korea etc than those Europeans, who at least had Catholicism in common.
For the Seclusionist : "Globalisation ... diminishes the authority of the USA" - hmm, I thought everyone was rioting recently complaining that Globalisation meant US hegemony? The Seclusionist "rewards the efforts of the majority group" - oh so Williams has never thought of a Society where the dominant group is itself a Minority, such as in Apartheid-era South Africa, and a number of other inequitable Societies today?
The Transcendant options were just not for me - according to Williams you are either 'Religious' or you are 'Spiritual' - nothing else applies. I am neither, and quite happy thank you. I'm always made to feel uncomfortable with this aspect of US Society, and it would be good if Williams had a section on how to work with 'agnostics'.
The Elitist offered no alternatives - what about Communism or Socialism - the inequalities of US Society would not be tolerated in Scandinavia. As I say to my friends in Minneapolis, it's a pity the wrong shipload of explorers colonised North America.
For all the talk about race, there's no mention of working with people in mixed-race relationships or of mixed-race ethnicity - over 10% of marriages in the UK are mixed-race, even though the ethnic minorities constitute less than 8% of the population. I find mixed-race marriages in the USA to be a tragic rarity - and why aren't they promoted in TV programs?
There were no examples of other diversities which can be just as sensitive in Society, such as no case studies featuring Native Americans, Hindus, Moslems, Lesbians, Vegetarians or people with Physical/Mental disabilities.
The much-promoted mystical Chapter on the Eleventh Lens was a real disappointment - just some new world 'Nirvana' where everyone loved each other and did right by each other (I presume so long as you could still hire & fire at will).
When I looked through the Bibliography, I understood; of the 86 references, only 2 of them weren't published in the USA, and they were published in London (both looking back at the USA). You can't write a book about a Multicultural world if you don't read/travel widely.
Williams continually refers back to Title VII of the (US) Civil Rights Act (pity he didn't include it as an Appendix). It would have been nice to talk about the UN Universal Declaration of Human Rights - since so much of US Society doesn't comply with it. I recall when one of our Senior US Executives starting to spout about Affirmative Action etc at a staff meeting in Germany - he had to be told to leave or they'd call the Police - because his US-speak was illegal under anti-Nazi legislation.
I scored myself on the Lenses : I am Colorblind, an Integrationalist, Meritocratist and a Multiculturalist. Williams was (in 2001) inviting Contributors to help them develop the book for a wider audience - I'm going to volunteer to help them, because boy do they need it.
The Eleventh Lens.......2003-03-01
Mark Williams' research outlining 10 human mindset "lenses" addresses the problems of conflicting worldviews both in and out of the workplace. His work is extremely well organized for easy reference; you'll recognize in yourself and/or others the Assimilationist, Colorblind, Culturalcentrist, Elitist, Integrationist, Meritocratist, Multiculturalist, Seclusionist, New Age/Transcendent and/or Victim/Caretaker. With hope, you'll also recognize the real point of the book and the research: that you've been reaching for your inclusive ELEVENTH LENS where paradoxical thinking acknowledges and discerns the strengths and weaknesses each limited lens brings to the whole personally, professionally and socially -- and globally. See also the integrative developmental framework in A Brief History of Everything by Ken Wilber and Spiral Dynamics by Don Beck and Christopher Cowan.
"The Ten Lenses" -- A Breath of Fresh Air!.......2001-11-09
"The Ten Lenses" is a badly needed breath of fresh air -- a sophisticated, intellectually grounded, and constructive framework for thinking about diversity issues. It respects and values all people and all perspectives on diversity. It opens a path to understanding each different perspective, even those dramatically different from one's own. It helps take the emotional charge out of verbal interactions between people whose approaches and reactions to diversity issues are widely divergent. It provides a new framework and a new language through which we can talk about diversity and move towards greater understanding. "The Ten Lenses" was an enormous help to me and I highly recommend it.
"The Ten Lenses" Opens Your Eyes!.......2001-11-08
I live and work in Washington, D.C., one of the most diverse cities in America. My department at work was having a lot of problems due to such a diverse workforce. We could not communicate well and our projects were never completed on time and never completed correctly. My boss brought this book in one day after he stayed up all night reading it. He could not put "The 10 Lenses" down. In a very short time, my department has turned itself around using the premises in this book. If you want to have a successful business, buy "The 10 Lenses."
Book Description
Practical and inspiring for both beginning and experienced screenwriters, this guide shows how to structure a film story by focusing on character development. Featuring the "Eleven Step Story Structure," a template that takes the haphazardness out of the process of writing, the book reasons that a strict outline can be turned into a strong script with room for creative and original ideas. Many examples, exercises, and story breakdowns of major motion pictures are provided to spark creativity, as well as advice on necessary selling information to get the script into the right hands.
Customer Reviews:
Yet another book on screenwriting.......2007-06-28
This how-to manual is one of the more recent additions to the growing number of books marketed towards the wannabe screenwriter. Following the lead of Field, McKee and Truby, this author pitches the "11-Step Story Structure" as its magical formula; but there's nothing new here beyond a re-packaging of what you've already read. However, if you've never read a thing on screenwriting before, this one wont hurt you. It's easy to read because the 300+ pages contain 250 pages of examples, but only 50 pages of true content.
My suggestion: Use your library. Read Aristotle's Poetics. But dont spend a small fortune accumulating these titles like I once did. I wound up dumping all but a select few on eBay. I only know of this one because I was forced into buying it as the required text for a course.
Also, this book contains an incredible number of spelling errors and typos. It seems as though it was poorly proofread (or not at all) and rushed to market.
Example: Erin Brockovich turns into Erin "Brokavich" in the same sentence.
The index is carelessly devised as well.
Example: If you look up the movie "Network" in the index, you'll find some page numbers for the film -- but you'll also find some page numbers for networking mixed in -- with no way to distinguish between the two. Sloppy.
In considering that this is a book on writing, these problems will not instill confidence in the reader. It made me feel that the author was less than serious in writing a thorough and comprehensive text, and more interested in rushing some product to the wannabe-screenwriter market.
Making the Story Come to Life.......2007-06-20
There are a lot of screenwriting manuals out there but there are few that have the detail, the specfic strategies for success and the perspective of a long time pro as does this volume. I found this book most helpful in the way in which plot seamlessly turns into a living and breathing story. I highly recommend this book to students and professionals alike.
This is a "Must Have" for ScreenWriters.......2007-04-25
Very clear and easy reading, this book covers a lot more than just the basics of Screenwriting (3 Act structure, Characters...): you learn "The 11 Step Process", a more complete and polished method, a better foundation to develop the story. The book is direct and it feels like Jule Selbo, the author, is giving you a private consultation on how to develop or improve YOUR script. Also, because the author has an extensive experience in Hollywood, it gets you a bit of an "insider" feel of what the industry works with, better chances to sell your script.
It made my writing a lot easier- hope it does that to you too.
Character writers, this book is for you.......2007-03-15
I love a great character. This author apparently does too. Jule Selbo employs an 11 step structure that applies to character development. An interesting thing is that this same 11 step structure also instills plot in an intuitive way. Selbo uses a number of great movies like Tootsie, Kraemer Vs. Kraemer, Godfather and many others to analyze character development and growth.
This book clearly and simply tells the writer how to write their screenplay. In fact, any writer whether they write screenplays or novels can benefit from the 11 steps that Selbo takes to uncover character.
There are certainly other character books but this one is more comprehensive in that character is story.
One of the great things about this book is the question and answer dialogue boxes on some of the pages that ask very pertinent questions. Selbo covers everything, query letters, jobs in the business, exercises to try out your skills.
I've read many books on screenwriting and feel that this one is very complete and fun to read.
The Last Word in Screen Writing.......2007-03-12
Jule Selbo has fashioned a comprehensive toolbox for creating a screenplay; a blueprint for success if you will. Using an engaging writing style
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