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What If?: The World's Foremost Military Historians Imagine What Might Have Been 109 reviews
Berkley Trade, 2000
Very, very entertaining and interesting reading.
Although less than half way through the book I will heartedly recommend it. It focuses on how some very small changes could drastically effect the entire civilization as we know it.
Just a small example had to do with, of all things, Anne Oakley! While giving a performance in Berlin with Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show in 1889 she offered to shoot the ash off a cigar. She asked for a volunteer ...
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Pronoia Is the Antidote for Paranoia: How the Whole World Is Conspiring to Shower You with Blessings 76 reviews
Rob Brezsny
Frog Books, 2005
Learn to Love Life Again
Think these are the end times? Think we are in a dark age & headed for definite annihilation?
It's not surprising, since the media hypes up our paranoia by bombarding us with the bad, the horrific, & the shocking. Bad news sells and titillates - good news is considered boring & effete. It's hip to be cynical & dry; uncool to be overjoyed & affirmative.
Rob Brezsny is here to tell you ...
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Hell to Pay: Operation DOWNFALL and the Invasion of Japan, 1945-1947 12 reviews
D. M. Giangreco
Naval Institute Press, 2009
Very Interesting
The thesis of this book goes against the current dogma in media and academic circles that Japan was about to fold and America was evil for nuking them.
Very well written and interesting. Goes into detail as to Japan's (correct) guesses as to the invasion beaches and their plans to bleed America dry. Great citations.
In fact, this book was so well written I wanted to stay up at night and ...
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The Enlightenment: The Science of Freedom3 reviews
Peter Gay
W. W. Norton & Company, 1996
One of the most brilliant account of the Enlightenment
The Enlightenment by Peter Gay (2 volumes: The Rise of Modern Paganism and The Science of Freedom) surely ranks among the most brilliant accounts of eighteenth-century philosophy ever written. It is a sweeping account of the intellectual history of the 18th century, form its origins right into the French and American Revolutions. It traces the struggle of the small clique of 'philosophes' -a ...
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The Study of Human Nature: A Reader2 reviews
Oxford University Press, USA, 2000
Must Have
This fascinating book consist on a compilation of the best writing on the subject of what is to be human. Since the books included here are the bible , other sacred books, Decarte, etc, it is absurd to rate the writer's talents. They have been established a long time ago. Therefore all merit goes to the editor who has done a briliant job selecting what was worth showing.
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The Secret Destiny of America16 reviews
Manly P. Hall
Tarcher, 2008
The History of the U.S. You're Not Going to Read in History Books
In this book, Manly P. Hall gives a glimpse into how the U.S. and its democratic system of government were planned long before America was even colonized. It also tells of the obscure people behind the scenes who secretly helped form our governing laws and documents.
The enlightened members of the secret societies, which have existed for thousands of years, understood the secret destiny of ...
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Distressed Debt Analysis: Strategies for Speculative Investors16 reviews
Stephen G. Moyer
J. Ross Publishing, 2004
DISTRESSED DEBT INVESTING
This is the absolute best book on the subject ever written, I am a bankruptcy specialist and i had read tons of books on the subject
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The Poetics of Space17 reviews
Gaston Bachelard
Beacon Press, 1994
very pleased
Book itself was in great condition, and was waiting at home for me sooner than expected.
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Godel, Escher, Bach: An Eternal Golden Braid258 reviews
Douglas R. Hofstadter
Basic Books, 1999
reconciling the software of the mind with the hardware of brain
This book has a preface by the author. After twenty (20) or so pages, I was thinking, "Can I understand what he wrote about in the rest of this book?" but I persevered and read the whole book. This book is intense, like any philosophical book. His motive is to "suggest ways of reconciling the software of the mind with the hardware of brain" and that is quite an endeavor he succeeds at, sort ...
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The Ethics of Authenticity6 reviews
Charles Taylor
Harvard University Press, 1992
A Great Little Overview of Integral Ethics
Lately I'd been reading various critiques of modernity- Leo Strauss and Alan Bloom, the "neoconservatives", and conservatives in general, who see nothing but a great moral and intellectual decay in modern society, beset by postmodern relativism and an intellectual trap that can't be escaped short of "noble" (read: blatant) lies. While I found many of their arguments quite convincing, something ...
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Virtual History: Alternatives and Counterfactuals 14 reviews
Basic Books, 2000
Counter knee jerk negativity - or why I'm buying this book
Clearly the negative reviews of this book indicate that it's message is going to be difficult, mind ripping and beyond the capability of history addicts. Just as books by David Irving are extremely difficult to even consider, because they tend to go against the momentum of some seventy years of non-stop agiprop by the gereontocrat historians who like Gilbert and Schlesinger just spout the party ...
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Worlds Enough & Time: Five Tales of Speculative Fiction16 reviews
Dan Simmons
Eos, 2002
Not Free SF Reader
A collection of long stories by Simmons. They are also accompanied by very length introductions, where as well as talking about the story you get the odd anecdote. For example, Kelly Dahl campground is a place in Colorado, and of being accosted by high-fiving aliens in Italy while being interviewed, etc. Mentioning that Jaws is a better movie than book (absolutely agree), and other bits and ...
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The Bubble Economy: Japan's Extraordinary Speculative Boom of the '80s and the Dramatic Bust of the '90s3 reviews
Christopher Wood
Solstice Publishing, 2005
Highly recommended reading on Japan's economic plight.
Let's face it, many of the "Japan experts" have totally missed the boat. Mr. Wood's book, published in 1992, was "right on the money" and predicted Japan's current economic plight (although underestimating abit the time it would take to get there). This book provides readers with valuable insights into how the Japanese political economy functions (and doesn't function). By focusing on ...
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Dark Matter: A Century of Speculative Fiction from the African Diaspora14 reviews
Aspect - Warner Books, 2000
The Darkness Matters
This is a collection that the literary world needed badly. Typical 'speculative fiction' (encompassing sci-fi, fantasy, horror, and other literary persuasions) often features humanity uniting against common enemies or disasters. But for people of color, the alternative present or near-future utopia/dystopia in any speculative story probably won't be so rosy. Technological advancement, alien ...
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Thought As A System (Key Ideas)8 reviews
Routledge, 1994
from 5 stars to 2...
On my previous review here, I had read very little of the book. Now I've delved further into it.
Where I had initially seen reason to feel hopeful about the meanings discussed, I now see fundamental error.
Bohm should stick to physics. His basic error is in anthropomorhizing the elements under examination.
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The Essential Ken Wilber: An Introductory Reader.12 reviews
Ken Wilber
Shambhala, 1998
Brain Food and Heart Energy
Ken Wilber's writings are a new discovery for me and his passionate intellect has my neurons sparking and fizzing like electric Alka-Seltzer.
As a grad student in the Humanities at FSU I'm a doing a Directed Independent Study this summer on the works of Wilber, and I am so impressed with this passionate thinker that I'm shouting my endorsement from this electronic mountaintop. It is now ...
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All I Really Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten: Uncommon Thoughts on Common Things82 reviews
Robert Fulghum
Ballantine Books, 2003
Buy several, a great gift
This is a keep on your shelf book. I have read and reread this book several times. It is wonderful when you are sad or just feeling thoughtful. I've given out several copies to people in crisis; it is a good book to have while you spend those waiting hours at a hospital. This recent purchase was a gift for a friend at a challenging time in her life; I no longer give my copy out as they usually ...
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The View From Nowhere13 reviews
Thomas Nagel
Oxford University Press, USA, 1989
Stimulating and Synoptic Account of Philosophy's Concerns
This is a major work in metaphysics, epistemology, and value theory. It's essentially a summary of a career of thought concerning the central issues in philosophy, and it is built around Nagel's big idea: that the distinction between subjectivity and objectivity can help us to understand the nature and source of the central problems of philosophy. It's an interesting and fruitful idea--though ...
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Third Reich Victorious: Alternate Decisions of World War II10 reviews
Presidio Press, 2007
Good collection of alternate histories, but mostly too short
The main problem with this collection of stories/essays, as in the other volumes in this series edited by Mr. Tsouras, is that the format places too much a limitation on these stories; some of them really deserve to be expanded to book-length. I will say that my favorite chapter was the first entry, looking at what might have happened if Hitler had joined the High Seas Fleet instead of the Army ...
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On Fear10 reviews
Jiddu Krishnamurti
HarperOne, 1994
Truly Amazing Book!!!
This was recommended to me by a friend who had read it right after losing her brother from being killed by a guy running from the police who simply shot him because he was in his path of escape. She was deeply soothed by the book, so I picked it up.
I began reading it as part of a stay-at-home vacation and was completely captured by it. Yes, it can be repetitive, but it acts like a ...
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