Amazon.com
Jared Diamond's Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed is the glass-half-empty follow-up to his Pulitzer Prize-winning Guns, Germs, and Steel. While Guns, Germs, and Steel explained the geographic and environmental reasons why some human populations have flourished, Collapse uses the same factors to examine why ancient societies, including the Anasazi of the American Southwest and the Viking colonies of Greenland, as well as modern ones such as Rwanda, have fallen apart. Not every collapse has an environmental origin, but an eco-meltdown is often the main catalyst, he argues, particularly when combined with society's response to (or disregard for) the coming disaster. Still, right from the outset of Collapse, the author makes clear that this is not a mere environmentalist's diatribe. He begins by setting the book's main question in the small communities of present-day Montana as they face a decline in living standards and a depletion of natural resources. Once-vital mines now leak toxins into the soil, while prion diseases infect some deer and elk and older hydroelectric dams have become decrepit. On all these issues, and particularly with the hot-button topic of logging and wildfires, Diamond writes with equanimity.
Because he's addressing such significant issues within a vast span of time, Diamond can occasionally speak too briefly and assume too much, and at times his shorthand remarks may cause careful readers to raise an eyebrow. But in general, Diamond provides fine and well-reasoned historical examples, making the case that many times, economic and environmental concerns are one and the same. With Collapse, Diamond hopes to jog our collective memory to keep us from falling for false analogies or forgetting prior experiences, and thereby save us from potential devastations to come. While it might seem a stretch to use medieval Greenland and the Maya to convince a skeptic about the seriousness of global warming, it's exactly this type of cross-referencing that makes Collapse so compelling. --Jennifer Buckendorff
Book Description
In his runaway bestseller Guns, Germs, and Steel, Jared Diamond brilliantly examined the circumstances that allowed Western civilizations to dominate much of the world. Now he probes the other side of the equation: What caused some of the great civilizations of the past to fall into ruin, and what can we learn from their fates? Using a vast historical and geographical perspective ranging from Easter Island and the Maya to Viking Greenland and modern Montana, Diamond traces a fundamental pattern of environmental catastrophe—one whose warning signs can be seen in our modern world and that we ignore at our peril. Blending the most recent scientific advances into a narrative that is impossible to put down, Collapse exposes the deepest mysteries of the past even as it offers hope for the future.
“Diamond's most influential gift may be his ability to write about geopolitical and environmental systems in ways that don't just educate and provoke, but entertain.” —The Seattle Times
“Extremely persuasive . . . replete with fascinating stories, a treasure trove of historical anecdotes [and] haunting statistics.” —The Boston Globe
“Extraordinary in erudition and originality, compelling in [its] ability to relate the digitized pandemonium of the present to the hushed agrarian sunrises of the far past.” —The New York Times Book Review
Customer Reviews:
Brilliant. Engaging. Informative.........2007-10-01
Amazing book. He manages to hold my interest while providing a wealth of facts.
Mostly on the mark.......2007-09-28
Diamond hits pretty much on the mark all the way across the board. Weakness: for the most part ignores or minimizes the effect of marketing/advertising/propaganda on human consumption patterns. Strengths: one of the few books on this broad subject that actually deals with over-population; indeed, had he concentrated more on this one most important issue, I would have given "Collapse" 5 stars.
I would strongly recommend this book for anyone concerned with the future of the human race.
Collapse review.......2007-09-24
Another excellent book. I realized when I bought this book that I own and have enjoyed all of Jared Diamond's books. His topics and hypostheses are fascinating and compelling.
Collapse by Jared Diamond.......2007-09-19
Jared Diamond, renowned author of the Pulitzer-winning Gun, Germs, and Steel, returns with another piece of mind-blowing work that will simply astonish any reader. In his last book, Diamond took us on a journey into the history of humanity, with cogent and logical answers for why our ancestors did the things they did, tying it in with geological and biological processes; how location matters very much for why certain of our ancestors did much better than others. Guns, Germs, and Steel serves as an excellent introduction to Collapse, though it is not required.
In his new book, Diamond tackles the overarching reason for why certain cities and civilizations decline and collapse, while others get through the hard times enough to get by and sometimes even thrive. What are amazing are the many case studies Diamond uses, ranging from early history with the Anasazi, Vikings, and civilization of Eastern Island; to the modern day cultures of Rwanda, Australia and the area of Montana where Diamond now lives for part of the year. In his introduction, Diamond clearly lays out his plan with the book - much like a scientist about to run a number of experiments - with a specific list of factors that determine a society's success or downfall, including: geographical location, amount of natural resources, amount of possible food, amount of trees. Some societies suffer from a lacking in just one of these factors and are still unable to survive, while others suffer from a lacking in a number of them. What's fascinating with these thoroughly researched and explained case studies is how two societies in close proximity to each other will have different outcomes: one may collapse, or barely survive, while the other thrives for many hundreds of years.
Diamond's reason for writing this book, he explains in the beginning and elaborates at the end, is to help the people of the present day realize the predicament we are in. With global warming, astronomically high carbon dioxide levels, overpopulation, and dwindling supply of nonrenewable energy resources; Diamond seeks to enlighten us in first world countries (those most likely to be reading this book) of collapses and failures of past civilizations - some in the distant past, some in the not too distant, some still ongoing today - as an educational lesson so that we may learn where others failed and why, perhaps then we can ensure our continued survival. With the factors mentioned above, like overpopulation and dwindling energy supplies, we are right on course with some other past civilizations that collapsed. The question is whether the governments of the world will realize this and react soon enough to halt us on this doomed path, and start us on a new and healthier one. Like many things in our lives: only time will tell.
For more book reviews, and other writings, go to www.alexctelander.com
Life on Our (Planetary) Island: Easter Island or Japan?.......2007-09-18
"Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed" examined the environmental reasons for the collapses of various societies including the Mayan civilization in Mexico, the Vikings in Greenland, and the Polynesian societies on Easter Island, Pitcairn and Henderson Island, among other various societies. Not limited to examining failure, Diamond also provided explanations of the ways that societies recognized and avoided environmental collapse. Examples of these successes include Japan at the time of Tokugawa and the New Guinea highlands.
Diamond arranged his examination of collapsing societies around the five stress points that cause societies to fail: Environmental damage, climate change, hostile neighbors, loss of friendly trade partners, and a society's responses to its environmental problems. Any one, though usually two or more can cause a society to collapse. Obviously, the more problems a society has the more difficult it is to avoid collapse. (The presence of hostile neighbors, climate change, environmental damage and a poor response to environmental problems is usually a more dire situation than just the loss of a trading partner - though not always.)
For all the time spent citing examples from history, "Collapse" isn't just a collections of facts about the past. Diamond also provides up-to-date evidence of the problems we face now. He exposes our own society as no more permanent than that of the Maya.
Diamond finds evidence of the coming collapse of our society in Montana, which he examines extensively. Lack of water to grow food is one of the great causes of societal collapse and Diamond shows the problems the western U.S. is having supporting its population. He also points to the many other small 'first signs' of coming problems such as the rich insulating themselves in gated communities.
For all the dire examples, Diamond doesn't damn western society. He doesn't declare that we've already driven off the cliff of un-sustainability but he does show us that we're quickly racing towards it. His examinations of what worked in the past, what didn't work in the past, and what is going on right now, show that the most important 'point' out of the five is the response a society has to the new environmental pressures. If we can formulate the right response, there's no reason why our society shouldn't be among the list of civilizations that side-stepped collapse.
Book Description
The struggle for the soul of Europe today is every bit as dire and consequential as it was in the 1930s. Then, in Weimar, Germany, the center did not hold, and the light of civilization nearly went out. Today, the continent has entered yet another “Weimar moment.” Will Europeans rise to the challenge posed by radical Islam, or will they cave in once again to the extremists?
As an American living in Europe since 1998, Bruce Bawer has seen this problem up close. Across the continent—in Amsterdam, Oslo, Copenhagen, Paris, Berlin, Madrid, and Stockholm—he encountered large, rapidly expanding Muslim enclaves in which women were oppressed and abused, homosexuals persecuted and killed, “infidels” threatened and vilified, Jews demonized and attacked, barbaric traditions (such as honor killing and forced marriage) widely practiced, and freedom of speech and religion firmly repudiated.
The European political and media establishment turned a blind eye to all this, selling out women, Jews, gays, and democratic principles generally—even criminalizing free speech—in order to pacify the radical Islamists and preserve the illusion of multicultural harmony. The few heroic figures who dared to criticize Muslim extremists and speak up for true liberal values were systematically slandered as fascist bigots. Witnessing the disgraceful reaction of Europe’s elites to 9/11, to the terrorist attacks on Madrid, Beslan, and London, and to the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, Bawer concluded that Europe was heading inexorably down a path to cultural suicide.
Europe's Muslim communities are powder kegs, brimming with an alienation born of the immigrants’ deep antagonism toward an infidel society that rejects them and compounded by misguided immigration policies that enforce their segregation and empower the extremists in their midst. The mounting crisis produced by these deeply perverse and irresponsible policies finally burst onto our television screens in October 2005, as Paris and other European cities erupted in flames.
WHILE EUROPE SLEPT is the story of one American’s experience in Europe before and after 9/11, and of his many arguments with Europeans about the dangers of militant Islam and America’s role in combating it. This brave and invaluable book—with its riveting combination of eye-opening reportage and blunt, incisive analysis—is essential reading for anyone concerned about the fate of Europe and what it portends for the United States.
Customer Reviews:
a little honesty.......2007-10-08
Given that Zionism has hijecked US policy, how ironic, but expected, it is that a book on 'Islam' would come out to suggest that it is Islam that is destroying the West from within? Rather, Zionism is a theory that would steal land from a group of people on a moribund 2000 year old claim and say that group's rights don't matter - Please explain why should the Palestinians be Zionists?
Serious Eye Opener.......2007-09-26
Having read a number of books about Islam and its role in the world, I didn't expect to find much I didn't know in this book. I was astonished at how much I learned!
The author takes a variety of social aspects - education, immigration, media, legislation and law enforcement to name a few - and pulls them all together to give a clear picture of what life on the streets of Europe is like for the burgeoning Muslim population and the rest of us.
Although I wasn't expecting or appreciative of the author's homosexual-rights bias, there was no denying the truth of his words or the accuracy of his information.
Every American should have to read this book, and our legislators need to take it's warnings to heart if we want to avoid the disaster that Europe now faces.
IN REALITY, AN OLD PROBLEM IN A NEW FORM.......2007-09-21
I'll break my review into several parts:
1). In the Fall of 1989, I served as a Fulbright Senior Research Fellow at the Vrije Unviersity of AMsterdam. Everything Bawer describes about European values, attitudes,society, their elites, etc., is absolutely correct. I saw it first hand. Because of the demise of patriotism and a value system, Dutch (and much of European) society has become one where social standards have evaporated. Thus, lacking a moral and ethical compass, an understanding of what is right and wrong, and a devotion to a coddling welfare state, they have created a vacuum that the Jihadists are only too willing and eager to fill. They created their own mess.
However, what he describes is ingrained in the Euroopean system throughout their history. I know. I immigrated from there as a child. Just the players have changed.
2). What Bawer did not disclose. WHile In the Netherlands, I discovered that Dutch corporations preferentially recruit workers from the military to staff the assembly line to the Board room. Many of these former military types "yearn to be of public service" and run for their parliament. Close to 55% of elected Dutch officials have a military background.
In 1989, I asked someone in the US Embassy what would happen if an economic turn down occurred. Would these ex-miltiary elected officials say "Ya, right, let's take over and run ze country like za military to fix ze problems" and would this lead to the re-emergence of militaristic fascism? I was made to understand this was a major concern. Bawer is correct in raising the issue of re-emerging fascism in response to the rising tide of Islamistc fascism in Europe, but he understated it. Likely, that will be the outcome to counter the Jihadists when crunch-time comes.
As my father once told me "beware of the man on a white horse." European hsitory is a continuiong saga of leaders on white horses, and becsue history repeats, it is likely to happen again.
Bawer also did not mention the following. European countries with former empires have only themselves to blame. When they gave up their empire, they still considered former residents (including native/ethnic people) of their "colonies" to be be citizens of the "Empire" and gave them British and French and Dtuch passports for openers. Many used these passports to immigrate to the UK, the Netherlands, and France. In 1960 when visiting London, I was astounded at the number of Pakistanis working as bus ticket collectors, street sweepers, and garbage men because British workers didn't want to do those job and instead collect welfare. Those Pakistanis saved their money, opened businesses, imported their wives and proceeded to multiply at a high rate, while establishing mosques and then importing immans.
3). What are the solutions?: Bawer really didn't have many. So here are some. First, if it is true that immigrants are tearing up their ID's and flushing them down the toilet on airplanes on the way to Europe and then claiming asylum, European governments COULD require that all ID's be turned over at check in, taken on board in a sealed container, and returned to the incoming passengers on landing at the immigration counter in the presence of a European immigration officer. That might slow things down with regard to fake asylum.
Second, European government should start shipping out ALL radical Muslim immans and radical Islmaic sympathizers (including those born in Europe) back to the country of their heritage.
Third, European governments should require that all children born in their country of foreign parents must attend school in Europe, and not be shipped at age 3 back to the Islamic world for an education, only to reappear later as adults. All subsidies for such children should be stopped if they leave the country. The only exception would be if the parents leave the country permanently too.
Fourth, Eruopean governments MUST stop subsidizing all religious schools, denominations, and institutions if they truly want to separate Church and State. Clearly, the failure to do so has been misunderstood, abused and corrupted.
Fifth, require all incoming "fetch brides" to be screened by embassies around the world before giving them visas. Use a system like the US uses in such circumstances.
Sixth, place a limit on the number of children the government will subsidize to three children. If a family has more than three children, no subsidies for the new ones. (Works in China to a point?)
If Bawer has sized up European attitudes correctly, and I believe he has, don't expect this to happen. But these proposals would help contain the problem in part.
Last, I have a question for Bawer? Why does he still chose to live in Europe? When I left the Netherlands in 1989 after living there six months, I vowed never to return and I haven't. It was bad then, and has become worse now.
RECOMMENDATION: Buy this book. It could happen in the USA and there are signs that in some parts of the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic states some of this is developing.
Bawer's Jeremiad against Europe.......2007-09-15
I saw Bruce Bawer on Bill Moyers and thought the idea of his book was fascinating. I had been watching news stories about the Muslim underclass in Europe and figured that there was a powder keg in the making, and I thought this book would enlighten me. In the first part of this book he states his central thesis, which is that the liberalism of European states will be the very thing that does them in, vis-a-vis their Muslim populations. He makes good points about Europeans not really understanding the meaning of true integration, about their romantic notions of other "exotic" cultures, and political correctness continuing to allow - if not condone - the worst practices of Muslim religious fanaticism.
Up until the middle of the book I was with him. Then, with the second part of the three-part book, he lets loose about every niggling little thing that any random European might have done or said to him that got under his skin. He clearly has lived in Europe too long. He proceeds to whine about how anti-American all Europeans are, how wonderful American-style capitalism is and just about deifies Ronald Reagan, who, he implies, singlehandedly brought down the Berlin Wall. He accuses liberals such as Michael Moore of lying about how bad the health system is in the US, questions how really "poor" Hurricane Katrina victims were and spends an inordinate amount of time dissecting the Cuban Revolution, Fidel Castro and Che Guevara. Huh? This is NOT why I bought the book.
I realized that this book was less about how European nations were dealing with their immigration problems and more about how homesick he was for the US - and, how Europe's social economy was just way, way too "liberal" for him.
He's a facile writer, and when he wasn't blowing his stack about Europe and praising the US I rather enjoyed the read. But I just felt that the book used the European immigration situation as a thin ruse for the real topic of the book...bashing Europe. Had I known that, I wouldn't have bought it.
Europe's nightmare; America's bad dream.......2007-09-11
Bruce Bawer provides a vivid depiction of Europe's culture, something that is lacking in other works of this genre. He has spent a number of years living in a number of European countries, and he has a gimlet eye for meaningful details and events. He contrasts European and American culture as a person deeply familiar with both variants.
Politically, Social-democracy (or, socialism with a soupçon of capitalism) is the only ideology that is deemed acceptable in Europe. European media degrade America and Israel, idealize the UN and EU, and sanitize fundamentalist Islam. A fuzzy-minded multi-culturalism, egalitarianism and political correctness make up the Zeitgeist of modern Europe.
But "Europe's social harmony is increasingly being eroded and its affluence endangered by shrinking native populations and a growing immigrant population that's draining billions out in benefits." Bawer provides the exponential demographics, which show the eventual and certain occupation of all Europe by Islam. France will disappear first, within a few generations. As for the rest of Europe, it's not a question of if, but when.
The book has three principal sections, which occasionally overlap and interlock. Bawer eschews scholarly trappings and incorporates his sources into his text as part of the exposition.
The first part of the book describes the European ethos of multi-culturalism, it's history and present influence. The middle section lists a litany of horrors practiced by Muslims in Europe - rape, honor killings, beatings - all documented by media accounts. Those who commit these crimes claim they were driven to it by Western oppression. If they had been permitted to solve their problems within their own Islamic culture and Sharia law (on Western soil no less!) they would not have been driven to such measures. (Bawer does a good job of explaining the twisted logic of the Muslim "victim.")
In contradiction to Bawer's findings, geopolitical thinker Ralph Peters believes that Muslims will not take over Europe, but that the Europeans will either expel or kill them. The only reason Peters' provides for this is that Europeans have been the most vicious peoples of the modern era. He cites WWI and WWII as proof of his theory.
But this flies in the face of Bawer's carefully constructed case that the present generation in Europe is not made of the same stuff as the war I and II generations. In fact the multi-culturalism, socialism, and timidity that are the hall-marks of European culture, grew out of, and in contrast to, the war era that Peters describes.
The last section explores the question: what can be done to hold back the rising tide of this anti-Western and anti-Modern culture and peoples? Bawer's final arguments are persuasive. His straightforward analysis provides convincing evidence to support his final conclusion: the awful truth is that "Europe is steadily committing suicide, and perhaps all we can do is look on in horror."
Book Description
Tired of the Hollywood Left-and the vast network of liberals in elite positions-who always bad mouth America? Well, so is feisty radio sensation Laura Ingraham-and she has the answers in this pugnacious, funny, and devastating critique of the liberals who hate America.
Customer Reviews:
The Truth Hurts, The 'elites' are not elite!.......2007-08-20
Political commentator and radio talk-show host Laura Ingraham decries self-styled "elite" groups who believe themselves superior to those with traditional American values. She singles out mainstream media, academic intellectuals, and showbiz celebrities as well as the United Nations and antireligious and pro-immigration supporters. This is an interesting book and an easy read.
Don't waste your money!!!.......2007-08-13
This book is a waste of time. It has no real substance. She constantly contradicts herself, and drones on and on about nothing.
Feels like a high school term paper.......2007-08-10
I knew nothing of Laura Ingraham before picking up this book. Never heard her radio show, never read anything (that I'm aware of, at least.) Though I agree with much of what she says, she says it in a boring, repetitive, know-it-all, condescendingly-laughing-at-the-condescending, smarmy and whiny manner. The personal asides, where she describes those she disagrees with as failed actors or once-funny comedians may work on radio, but in print just come off as mean spirited and irrelevant. We care about the views, not the source.
Besides being smug and pompous, she is a mediocre writer. (And the typos--come on, guys....) Her prose reads like someone who talks extemporaneously for a living. And I don't think I learned anything new at all. The same ideas are expressed far more eloquently by many others. Mona Charen, Daniel Flynn, Peter Wood. Go to those authors to read excellent prose and thoughtful reasoning. This is stream of consciousness blather, a product that feels rushed to market. Books written in a hurry die equally fast. Save your time. Go elsewhere.
This is entertaining as all get out................2007-07-15
Once again, the reviewers are almost as good as the actual book. The Left are convinced that the author is the devil incarnate, while the Right can't quite think of her, as one of their own. Why the left even bothers to read this, knowing her slant of things, is almost beyond comprehension. She's kind of like Coulter---they just can't get enough of this stuff. As far as the right--the mind reels.For those of us not on the extreme, one way or the other,well, let me put it this way. Unless all of you checked this book out at your local library, or stole it---she got your money, didn't she???
A culling of news stories misses the mark, which is regrettable.......2007-04-24
Laura Ingraham had a good idea: show how self-anointed elites are destroying the Constitution-based American way of life. The problem is not with her writing style, which is commendibly clear. Rather, she has collected hundreds of snippets from the news and spun them out, one after another, with often too little analysis and, worse, virtually no footnotes.
For example, Ingraham describes former Secretary of State Madeline Albright's supremely clueless performance in North Korea without a single reference to third-party sources. Yes, her accounting is accurate, but you'd only know that if you follow the news closely. The people who need to be persuaded do not, so it is important to provide sources for the few who may want to pursue the subject.
Ingraham's point is not news to many of us: the people who constitute the various elites of show business, academia, the UN and other areas are strictly of the "do as I say, not as I do" variety. Al Gore wants you to ride a bicycle, while he uses a private jet to go from point to point. College professors want their young, often gullible, students to ignore - in fact, never learn about - the more than 100 million murdered by Communists while they preach their Marxist dogma. The same academics are also in the forefront of stifling independent thinking and freedom of speech on campus. The UN, of course, is painted as the corrupt organization it is, a world body dedicated to the enrichment of its bureaucrats while it ignores human rights abuses throughout the world.
Ingraham makes her points, but not as tellingly as they could be made. A good overview of how the self-appointed doyens are trying to rip down the United Stats and destroy the Consitution, but not as effective as it could be.
Jerry
Book Description
Complete preparation for the Advanced Placement Examination in U.S. Government and Politics includes a detailed subject review and two full-length model exams with all questions answered and explained. Topics covered in the subject review include Constitutional development from its foundations to the present day, federal government structure and institutions, the political process, and public policy issues from the economy and federal budget to foreign policy and national defense. The author also offers helpful advice on organizing study time when preparing to take the exam.
Customer Reviews:
Is this an AP Government textbook or a review for the AP test?.......2007-06-25
Reader evaluations on all other AP Government reviews books were very consistent. Any differences were minor - just one star away. On the other hand, reading previous reviews on this Barron's publication was mystifying. People either loved or hated it. There were good reasons for this extreme polarization of views.
If this volume were marketed as a textbook alternative to GOVERNMENT IN AMERICA by Edwards, Wattenberg, and Lineberry - the standard text for a high school AP Government class, I would have rated it "five stars." The contents covered all the important facts and details in 508 pages instead of 779 pages in the Edwards-Wattenberg-Lineberry volume. However if you factored into consideration the differences in font size, the empty white spaces, charts, drawings, tables, and pictures, the differences in page number narrowed. The amount of contents for both books was almost the same.
In addition, the vocabulary and writing style was very "high level." The author also assumed that the reader already had the necessary background knowledge on various things. A passage from page 287 on election campaigns illustrated this: "They use selective leaks, known as trial balloons, to test the political waters. They become 'talking heads,' with the media focusing on the face of politicians during speeches and talk shows often ending up as sound bites. . . ." Unless a student knew what were "talking heads" and "sound bites," understanding this passage was a definite problem.
As a review for the AP Government test, I rated the Barron's book with "two stars." Although many of the sample multiple-choice questions were basic, some were extremely specific and impossible to answer. One good example involved knowing the published source of a short one-sentence quotation. This came from page 139.
9. "The history of mankind is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations [in the past] of man toward woman." Which of the following documents contained this passage?
A. Declaration of Sentiments and Resolutions
B. Equal Rights Amendment
C. Seventeenth Amendment
D. THE FEMININE MYSTIQUE
E. Title VII of the Civil Rights Act
A few sample Free-Response essay questions were just as impossible to answer. One example came from page 99:
Define what is meant by the term NEW FEDERALISM. Explain how one of the following provisions of the Contract with America supports your definition.
1. Unfunded Mandates Law
2. Welfare Reform Act
It was unrealistic to require any high school student to know and understand the specific provisions in the Contract with America. At the same time, the question required the student to relate one of the two provisions to a constitutional concept - NEW FEDERALISM. In my personal opinion, this question went beyond textbook knowledge.
All in all, the Barron's book was a good alternative to reading the AP course textbook. As a review for the AP Government test, it failed. Many of the multiple-choice questions and essay questions were extremely specific. It was doubtful that they accurately represented the actual questions in the AP test. If they did, students who received scores of "5" should be awarded with M.A.s or Ph.D.s instead of just college credit for an American Government course.
Great.......2007-06-08
I used this one week before the ap exam.
While reading, I highlighted important facts to remember and when it was time to take the test, I felt really prepared.
:)
Barron knows what hes talking about when it comes down to things on the exam.
A decent review.......2007-05-14
Im pretty good at government and always made high grades in the class so thats a disclaimer----
This book is ok in that it goes over the material that you need to know. However most of its free response questions are a bit too detailed and you probably wont encounter stuff like that (you might especially b/c 07 AP exam had pretty specific FR question. However while reading the review chapters it goes a bit too depth and in my opinion adds useless information in the form of examples etc. I didnt find all the examples useful on the test since they ask you pretty cut and dry questions as in general principles and facts. SO overall I think this book goes into too much useless detail---find something inbetween the depth of Barrons and excessive outline form of princeton review. Gluck on the exam
Yeah, it's good.......2006-03-18
I have no other book to compare it to, but it helps me review for my AP Government class tests. I sometimes wish it had more multiple test questions to offer, but overall the information is well classified and it goes into decent detail on every topic. The sample essays are very helpful.
Barron's Is God.......2005-07-31
Barron's has its shortcomings, sure. I'd still give it five stars, because I earned a 4 on the exam after speed-reading the majority of its contents in a single sitting having not taken a class. I will say this much: the answers to the questions on the exam are in this book; the trick is remembering them! Had I studied more rigorously (i.e., for a week), I am sure I would have earned a five.
Let's first talk about some of the books shortcomings. First and foremost, it's unrealistically difficult - the actual test is child's play compared to the sample problems and questions in this book, which may or may not be a good thing! Still, it is worthwhile to do the practice questions. I recommend getting a second book with some more practice multiple choice.
What is a complete waste of space in this book is the sample essay questions. The 'student' answers will scare you to bloody-you-know-where and back. Why? Maybe Barron's essay questions have appeared on an AP test before. If they have, I'd imagine they are the most difficult questions in the history of the exam, because no where on the test will you need to know such information as an in-depth analysis of Bill Clinton's administration (one sample essay in the text).
Why did I give it five stars then? Where the book really shines is its information. I don't think the actual text was too in-depth at all. It covered the necessary information, and sometimes more. But the point is, it covered the necessary information, and it covered it well - every answer to every question is in this book. Know this book, and you know the exam, inside and out, and are prepared for a five.
I can't recommend anything better for the serious student.
Book Description
With the radical changes in information production that the Internet has introduced, we stand at an important moment of transition, says Yochai Benkler in this thought-provoking book. The phenomenon he describes as social production is reshaping markets, while at the same time offering new opportunities to enhance individual freedom, cultural diversity, political discourse, and justice. But these results are by no means inevitable: a systematic campaign to protect the entrenched industrial information economy of the last century threatens the promise of today’s emerging networked information environment.
In this comprehensive social theory of the Internet and the networked information economy, Benkler describes how patterns of information, knowledge, and cultural production are changing—and shows that the way information and knowledge are made available can either limit or enlarge the ways people can create and express themselves. He describes the range of legal and policy choices that confront us and maintains that there is much to be gained—or lost—by the decisions we make today.
Customer Reviews:
This Book Proves the Adage that You See What You Look For.......2007-07-08
I have been hearing about Yochai Benkler's book, "The Wealth of Networks: How Social Production Transforms Markets and Freedoms," for some time and his exposition around what he (and many others) have called the "networked information economy." Benkler, a Yale law professor, also offers his 527 page (473 in text) book as a free PDF from his web site under a Creative Commons share alike license.
First, let me say, there are a couple of worthwhile insights in the book, which I'll get to in a moment. But mostly, I found the book overly long, often off-subject, and too political for my tastes. In fairness, some of this might be due to the fact it was written in 2005 (published in 2006) and the social and participatory aspects of the Web are now widely appreciated. Yet I fear the broader problem with this polemic is that it proves the adage that you see what you look for.
Benkler's argument is that cheap processors and the Internet have removed the physical constraints on effective information production. This is in keeping with the non-proprietary nature of information as a "nonrival" good, and is also leading to the democratization of information production and the emergence of large-scale peer-produced content. Benkler generally allies himself with the camp of technology optimists. His observations about trends and new developments from Ebay to Wikipedia to SETI@home and open source software are now commonly appreciated.
With the costs of information duplication and dissemination trending to zero, the limiting factor of production becomes human creativity and effort itself. But here, too, with hundreds of millions of Internet users, just a few hours of contributed content from each can easily swamp the ability of even the largest firms to compete. These trends to Benkler presage a "radical decentralization" of information production, and many other changes to the political economy and culture.
That radical changes in the nature of information production and authorship and even the role of traditional publishers or the media are underway is without question. Purposeful collaborations like Wikipedia are now clearly successful and were not forecasted by many.
The lens, however, in which Benkler looks at all of these trends is through the "modern" history of the mass media. Citing Paul Starr's "Creation of the Media," he notes how in 15 years from 1835 to 1850 the cost of setting up a mass-circulation paper increased from $10,000 to over $2 million (in 2005 dollars). In Benkler's view, these cost increases shifted the ability to publish away from the common citizen into the "problem" hands of the mass media. Fortunately, now with the Internet and cheap processors, this evil can be reversed. Though Benkler specifically disclaims that he is not describing "an exercise in pastoral utopianism," the fact is that is exactly what he is describing.
There can be no doubt that the role of mass media and traditional publishers is under severe challenge from the emergence of the Internet. It is also the case that we are witnessing citizen publishers and authors emerge by the millions. These changes are momentous, but they do not involve everyone -- only comparatively small percentages of Internet users blog and still smaller percentages contribute to Wikipedia (about 80,000 at present based on a user base of hundreds of millions). And, as the traditional gatekeepers of printers, publishers and editors lose prominence, new institutions and mechanisms for establishing the authoritativeness and trustworthiness of content will surely need to evolve.
These real trends deserve thoughtful exploration.
However, there is a reason that publishing costs increased so rapidly in that era of the 1800s. Mass publishing and pulp paper were emerging that acted to bring an increasing storehouse of content and information to the public at levels never before seen.
The explosion of information content that occurred at this very same time correlates well with the fundamental historical changes in human wealth and economic growth. Though mass media may prove to be an historical artifact, I would argue that its role in bringing literacy and information to the "masses" was generally an unalloyed good and the basis for an improvement in economic well being the likes of which had never been seen.
By taking a narrow historical horizon and then viewing it through the lens of the vilified "mass media," Benkler is both looking in the wrong direction and missing the point.
The information by which the means to produce and disseminate information itself is changing and growing. These changes in information infrastructure support an inexorable trend to more adaptability, more wealth and more participation. What we are seeing now with the Internet is but a natural continuation of that trend. The "mass media" and the costs of information production of the 1800s was a natural phase within this longer, historical trend. The multiplier effect of information itself will continue to empower and strengthen the individual, not in spite of mass media or any other ideologically based viewpoint but due to the freeing and adaptive benefits of information itself. Information is the natural antidote to entropy and, longer term, to the concentrations of wealth and power.
By trying to push the trends of the Internet through the false needle's eye of political economics, an effort that Benkler also erroneously makes with his earlier analysis of the growth of radio, what are in essence historical forces of almost informational or technological determinism are falsely presented as matters of political choice. Hogwash.
Benkler, however, does observe two useful dimensions for measuring social collaboration efforts: modularity and granularity. By modularity, Benkler means "a property of a project that describes the extent to which it can be broken down into smaller components, or modules, that can be independently produced before they are assembled into a whole." By granularity, Benkler means "the size of the modules, in terms of the time and effort that an individual must invest in producing them."
Benkler's insight is that "the number of people who can, in principle, participate in a project is therefore inversely related to the size of the smallest scale contribution necessary to produce a usable module. The granularity of the modules therefore sets the smallest possible individual investment necessary to participate in a project. If this investment is sufficiently low, then incentives" for producing that component of a modular project can be of trivial magnitude. Most importantly for our purposes of understanding the rising role of nonmarket production, the time can be drawn from the excess time we normally dedicate to having fun and participating in social interactions."
To illustrate this effect of granularity, he contrasts Wikipedia with its simple entries and editing and bounded topics with the far-less successful Wikibooks, which has much larger granularity.
Creators of social collaboration sites are advised to keep granularity small to encourage broader contributions, and if the nature of the site is complex, to increase the number of its modules. Of course, none of this guarantees the magic or timing that also lie behind the most successful sites!
I think that Benkler's arguments could have been more effectively distilled into a 30-page article, with much of the political economy claptrap thrown out. The book is definitely worth a skim.
Phenomenal Book on Information Science and Peer Production.......2007-05-12
I first became familiar with Benkler after reading his paper, "Coase's Penguin" in undergraduate study. I was delighted to hear of the publication of this book. Benkler continues beautifully where he left off in his previous papers and synthesizes an excellent theory of social production in his book.
Benkler begins by describing the economic shape of information - it's non-rival and builds upon itself. He explains the challenges that face information, particularly the Babel Objection. Benkler also covers some legal background on aspects of a "liberal society", such as the role of commons versus private property.
From there, he makes his way into peer production. He touches different aspects of this type of production, from open source to distributed content production & filtering (click workers) to the results of the FCC's shift towards commons-based wireless policy. I found chapter 4, where he connects social production to the economic concepts discussed earlier, to be the most interesting chapter of the book.
He moves on to a lengthy discussion of the political effects of network distribution and social production, including a summary of the history of mass media and predictions about the future. From there, he lays down his argument that we ought to continue to encourage open networks and information sharing. He presents a discussion on current legislation and legal challenges to information and provides some examples of solutions.
I read this book coming out of an undergraduate program in Information Science and wished I had read this book perhaps my sophomore or junior year. Benkler essentially lays out, in linear form, the precise message that my professors were teaching. Because of networks, information science in the 21st century will not follow the traditional industrial-style of distribution but rather a distributed and non-proprietary model. Its impact is phenomenal, not only in the realm of economics and science but politics, culture, and interpersonal communication.
This book ought to be required reading for every undergraduate student studying Telecommunications, Media, or Information Science.
Good argumentation.......2007-04-28
I agree when some people say the book is not well edited (even not being english my first language I found some errors within it) but I think the greatest think about it is the attempt to explain something that it is easy to see that is happening today but nobody know why is happening. You know people write in Wikipedia and that most of them do that at their free time, you know that some people participate in great collaborative efforts to develop free software in the Internet, you know people keep blogs to express their point of view. But can you explain why that happens, why do they do that expecting no financial return or acknowledgment? What do they want? Perhaps you may know what you want when you do or don't some of that things but what about the rest of the world, if you care about it? What has changed or is changing or still must be changed in the societies so that happens?
The author doesn't explain it too but he tries to do it, it is an initial attempt to get some answers. His argumentation through the book covers many aspects of our lives, economic, political, social, antropological, legal and I think that at least at the end you will have some new insights on what is all that about.
Connectivization.......2007-04-20
Be forewarned that this brilliantly conceived book is not so brilliantly written, and the reading can be a real slog at times. Yochai Benkler is a perceptive social theorist but his thoughts are bogged down in academic writing that could really use some editing. Expect excessive introducing, foreshadowing, recapping, and summarizing, giving you the often tiresome impression that you will read Benkler's prose again or have read it before. This book also suffers from what business strategists and military tacticians would call "scope creep," as Benkler's broad theories on society and knowledge become so all-inclusive as to border on diffuseness and ineffectiveness - a problem that really slows down the middle section of the book. This is a common difficulty for vast unified theories about information and humanity, so prepare for some difficulty in following the main points that Benkler is trying to make.
But now that those warnings are out of the way, beneath Benkler's ponderous prose are insightful theories about the rise of networked culture, inspired by the digital revolution, in the face of lockdowns from entrenched power players. The initial uses of open networks inspired a megalomaniacal reaction from the industrial and political sectors, which have partially succeeded in forcing technological design changes, and persecution of new cultural behaviors, that threatened their economic and political dominance. For instance, intellectual property laws (patents, trademarks, and copyrights), which were originally meant to encourage cultural production, have been transformed by power players into tools to enforce corporate profitability. And if you think concerns over those trends are merely alarmism, Benkler provides profound evidence that damage really is being done to culture, freedom, and democracy - in ways that are far deeper and more troubling than the (corporate-inspired) popular rhetoric around piracy, rolyalties, and hackers.
Benkler informatively differentiates the types of freedom that are at stake - personal, cultural, social, and political - and ably demonstrates how each are affected by trends in infrastructure development, media behavior, corporate profiteering, and political gamesmanship. One especially winning chapter deals with how the rising network society can promote justice and development in third world areas that are not currently connected and may never be. The corporate and political insistence on regulating the information infrastructure and criminalizing user behaviors may represent a losing battle against the basic human drive to network and create, as can be seen in trends like open source software and community wi-fi. Benkler's main point here (when you're finally able to uncover it) is that humanity may be on the brink of a major change in the way we process culture and information, thanks to the growth in open worldwide networks. The old school power players won't go without a fight, adding unnecessary strife to the process, but Benkler has faith in humanity's ability to transform and rise above [~doomsdayer520~]
Excellent and Insightful Articulation.......2007-01-11
I highly recommend reading Yochai Benkler's book.
It is a balanced articulation of what the Internet and Web 2.0 are enabling in the development of new forms of social collaboration that are not adequately recognized as such by both private/regulated market advocates and welfare advocates. One of the things that struck me most is Benkler's capacity to create a perspective in which he can show that these new forms of collectives are rooted in old practices that have existed forever.
He also shows that these practices can gain major significance if:
1. The neutrality of the web, access to the web, Open Source initiatives, and the General Public Licensing type of legislation are improved,
2. The aggressive move toward Intellectual Property laws and regulations, and control by corporations, is counter-balanced.
Excellent read!
Book Description
India is everywhere: on magazine covers and cinema marquees, at the gym and in the kitchen, in corporate boardrooms and on Capitol Hill. Through incisive reportage and illuminating analysis, Mira Kamdar explores India's astonishing transformation from a developing country into a global powerhouse. She takes us inside India, reporting on the people, companies, and policies defining the new India and revealing how it will profoundly affect our future -- financially, culturally, politically.
The world's fastest-growing democracy, India has the youngest population on the planet, and a middle class as big as the population of the entire United States. Its market has the potential to become the world's largest. As one film producer told Kamdar when they met in New York, "Who needs the American audience? There are only 300 million people here." Not only is India the ideal market for the next new thing, but with a highly skilled English-speaking workforce, elite educational institutions, and growing foreign investment, India is emerging as an innovator of the technology that is driving the next phase of the global economy.
While India is celebrating its meteoric rise, it is also racing against time to bring the benefits of the twenty-first century to the 800 million Indians who live on less than two dollars per day, to find the sustainable energy to fuel its explosive economic growth, and to navigate international and domestic politics to ensure India's security and its status as a global power. India is the world in microcosm: the challenges it faces are universal -- from combating terrorism, poverty, and disease to protecting the environment and creating jobs. The urgency of these challenges for India is spurring innovative solutions, which will catapult it to the top of the new world order. If India succeeds, it will not only save itself, it will save us all. If it fails, we will all suffer. As goes India, so goes the world.
Mira Kamdar tells the dramatic story of a nation in the midst of redefining itself and our world. Provocative, timely, and essential, Planet India is the groundbreaking book that will convince Americans just how high the stakes are -- what there is to lose, and what there is to gain from India's meteoric rise.
DID YOU KNOW?
•
India is the world's fourth-largest economy.
•
By 2034, India will be the most populous country on Earth, with 1.6 billion people.
•
India's middle class is already larger than the entire population of the United States.
•
One out of three of the world's malnourished children live in India.
•
India is home to the biggest youth population on earth:
600 million people are under the age of 25.
•
72,000,000 cell phones will be sold in India in 2007.
•
India just edged past the United States to become the second-most-preferred destination for foreign direct investment after China.
•
In 1991, Indians purchased 150,000 automobiles; in 2007, they are expected to purchase 10 million.
•
By 2008, India's total pool of qualified graduates will be more than twice as large as China's.
•
By 2015, an estimated 3.5 million white-collar U.S. jobs will be offshored.
•
India is the largest arms importer in the developing world.
•
American corporations expect to earn $20 to $40 billion from the civilian nuclear agreement with India.
•
In 2007, there are 2.2 million Indian Americans, a number expected to double every decade.
•
Twenty-nine percent of India's population speaks English -- that's 350 million people.
Customer Reviews:
Pro-India, Anti-America Cheerleading.......2007-07-31
This book lacks objectivity or analysis -- as one other reviewer stated, it is a breathless gush of cheerleading and sympathetic attitudes towards India, devoid of any analytic content.
The book is doubles as an equally gullible critique of American capitalism and world leadership. These passages lack all analytical depth and seriousness -- you can hear better critiques of America by spending twenty minutes at a protest.
The author believes that India is the solution to The Problem That Is The Hated America, which feels forced. Your time is much better spent on other things. I'm actually asking for my money back from the company that sold this to me.
I nearly gave up on this book about 1/3 through...........2007-07-31
...but then it really got good. The first 1/3 of the book is full of gee-whiz statistics on growth. It is also full of what I call "Reader's Digest" subchapters that gush excessively, in the genre of: ("Mr. X ushered me into his elegant office, high above the immaculate tech campus. Sales grew at 83% last year, mainly due to American outsourcing...") or ("the girls upon graduation could produce PowerPoint presentations;") just what the world needs more of.
Then we get into the really great parts of the book. All of India's shortcomings are examined realistically, from pollution of the groundwater and air, caste differences, religious hatred, a dozen or two languages, the bomb, the lack of any real education or medical care or opportunity for most of the vast population, corruption, the suppression of women, lack of electricity and airports, global warming, ethnic uprisings, Pakistan, China, etc, and no punches are pulled.
In short there is a real question as to whether success in India will be like success in Mexico: a widening gap between rich and poor that grows worse each decade. Several reviewers have inferred from the book that global success for India is inevitable. Perhaps, but not necessarily.
The book is really superb. I liken it to "Guns, Germs, and Steel" which explained how physical and cultural geography determined why certain areas of the globe prospered in centuries past. Planet India gives us the physical and cultural elements to try and deduce India's future. Frankly, it's not looking good, except for a small oligarchic class. But good luck to them, and good luck to America.
Just because I am not as positive on the outcome does not make this book any less fascinating. Enjoy!
Excellent, but incomplete..........2007-07-28
Mira Kamdar presents an excellent overview on modern India and its increasing influence on America and the world. She makes clear arguments for India's influence on economic, cultural, and social developments but leaves out an important one; spirituality. The impact of Hindu and Buddhist spirutuality on America and the world is ever increasing but for some reason, she decided not to discuss it (or lost a fight with the editors/publishers). I would be glad to see a second edition of this book which included the increasing spiritual impact of India on the rest of the world, and what it means for all of us.
A great introduction to India.......2007-07-26
This is really a great book not to miss. India might very well be the political balance to China when the United States declines and eventually falls.
I did go to Bombay some years back for a friend¡¦s wedding, but I honestly never viewed India as a major economic or military power. Poverty was rampant, and I heard of stories of families killing female babies because they are a financial drain to them (infanticide).
Corruption is also rampant in India, and the author tells the stories of famous Indians who were harassed when they spoke out against corruption. Corruption is rampant in my country as well and I learnt to keep my mouth shut.
The author points out the many tragic challenges facing Indians. HIV is a major problem in India now, with probably 20 million Indians already infected with AIDS. Poverty, infanticide, corruption, and crime are problems that can be solved through education, caring, and policing. India can easily surmount those challenges if the government puts its mind to it.
India is now a nuclear nation, and this worries some that this could lead to an arms race, especially with Pakistan and China. The US is counting on India as a military balance in the region. There has been many instances where the possibility of nuclear war between India and Pakistan was at a critical point.
India is the world's fastest-growing democracy. It also has the youngest population on the planet, and a middle class as big as the population of the entire United States. Its market has the potential to become the world's largest. As one film producer said, "Who needs the American audience? There are only 300 million people here."
Although most Indians highly respected the US in the 90s, most don¡¦t anymore after Bush junior took office. Many are against the offensive strategies of the US, especially the war in Iraq.
The number of American Indians is increasing, which is giving India a powerful voice in its lobbying attempts in Washington. Some say India¡¦s lobbyist in D.C. will attain the power of the Jewish lobbyists in the near future.
The author does warn that India must not follow the American system, but rather invent its own. That concept is very interesting.
I was fascinated by the chapter on how polluted the water is in some regions of India, and of the thousands who die as a result of poisoning and of cancer. According to the author, this water pollution has entered packaged food.
There are also stories of suicides due to the inability to pay back loan sharks who charge 10% a month!
The author also describes how in cities the rich live next to poor neighborhoods and manage to completely ignore them or pretend like they did not exist. The nature of man is the same everywhere.
Here are some facts about India taken from the book¡¦s back cover:
Þ India is the world's fourth-largest economy.
Þ By 2034, India will be the most populous country on Earth, with 1.6 billion people.
Þ One out of three of the world's malnourished children live in India.
Þ 600 million people are under the age of 25.
Þ 72,000,000 cell phones will be sold in India in 2007.
Þ India just edged past the United States to become the second-most-preferred destination for foreign direct investment after China.
Þ In 1991, Indians purchased 150,000 automobiles; in 2007, they are expected to purchase 10 million.
Þ By 2008, India's total pool of qualified graduates will be more than twice as large as China's.
Þ By 2015, an estimated 3.5 million white-collar U.S. jobs will be offshored.
Þ India is the largest arms importer in the developing world.
Þ American corporations expect to earn $20 to $40 billion from the civilian nuclear agreement with India.
Þ In 2007, there are 2.2 million Indian Americans, a number expected to double every decade.
Þ Twenty-nine percent of India's population speaks English -- that's 350 million people.
One reviewer on amazon.com had the following to say:
"This book reads more like a dream of what India could be rather than an objective assessment of what it is. It is proof that Indians continue to suffer from a serious inferiority complex with the constant need to assert their "greatness" without down-to-earth critical assessment of reality facing the country."
I personally enjoyed this book and highly recommend it.
Planet India: Well-written Book about the good, the bad and the ugly sides of India.......2007-07-20
Title: Planet India; How the Fastest Growing Democracy Is Transforming America and the World
By Mira Kamdar
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
Category: Politics/ Current Events
Pages: 336
ISBN: 0743296850
Review By: Diana Rohini LaVigne, Indian Life & Style Magazine
Award-winning writer Mira Kamdar has done it again and used her writing skill to engage the world in opening up discussions on the impact India is having globally.
At a time when India is so much a part of our daily vocabulary, Kamdar compiles the facts, figures and statistics on how India is and will impact us in the United States as well as globally. Her analysis is not only compelling but is delivered in a way for any layman to understand.
Understanding the companies, the people, the culture and the society is vital if the rest of the world wants to learn more about how this third world place has so quickly taken center stage among the giants.
But this dramatic story doesn't just show India's journey of redefining itself but also of the real life challenges it faces on the road ahead. It is India's time to shine or sink and this book will enlighten you about the complexities surrounding the different destinies.
Although it's filled with facts and figures, Planet India was easy to comprehend and presented complex topics in simple terms. It's a great modern resource book for India. I passed along my copy to a college and I've missed having it on my book shelf so many times when a heated debate arises over a dinner party and I am looking to reference it. My advice: Don't give your copy off, keep it close and keep it near! It's a book worth keeping and a great conversation piece for friends and family.
Book Description
Four full-length practice exams reflect the latest AP Computer Science exams in subject matter, length, and degree of difficulty. All come with answers explained. Two are level A exams and the remaining two are level AB exams. This manual also presents a subject review with more than 500 multiple-choice questions. It covers all AP computer science topics, including the new Java 5.0 language features; classes and objects; inheritance and polymorphism; program design and analysis; one- and two-dimensional arrays; recursion; linked lists; stacks, queues, and priority queues; trees; collections; and sorting and searching. A separate chapter reviews the Marine Biology Simulation Case Study.
Customer Reviews:
Awesome Review Guide.......2007-05-23
This review book is a great way to study for the AP Computer Science test. There are good practice test and material review sections. It really helped me achieve a better grade on the AP Computer Science test.
Best AP CP review book.......2007-05-13
It's really good! There are tons of sample questions and the explanations are easy to understand.
Don't buy -- wait until it's the real deal.......2007-05-12
This product is mislabeled. The 2007-08 edition would contain both material from Java 1.5, and also the GridWorld Case Study. What I recieved contains the former, but not the latter. You are better off waiting until mid to late summer when the real deal will be available.
Great.......2007-03-17
This book is a great learning tool. It teaches the advanced data-structures for the ap test, and tests you to know all the things the test would ever require you to know. It is also great for studing very precise algorithms, which will save your [...] on the test, and will help you catch your simple mistakes. The way it is formated is in large chapter chunks. If your going to use this book prepare to sit down and study hard. If your lazy this book isn't for you, and perhaps the test isn't either.
The questions are much harder than the ap test's, espesialy the multiple choise, but so is almost any resource outside of college board. The biggest difference between the test and studying resources is ambiguity presenting the problems. This book has some but for the most part it's very precise.
If you are a programmer this book will continualy reinforce very usefull data structures, and the very simple very powerfull algorithms that are just so applicable. Kick [...] at the office.
Barron's finally got one right! .......2007-01-11
Roselyn hits the nail on the head with this book. Her extensive experience with the AP style of programming and the AP subset really comes to the surface as you progress through this book.
Well written for use as a standalone book for programming students with experience(what I do) or as a useful review/reinforcement tool alongside another APCS book as topics are taught.
Do not hesitate to rely on this book. It is a fantastic resource. I've been teaching the APCS since 1998 as one of my 5 classes. I couldn't spend 95% of my time prepping for 5% of my students. This book will help you out a lot.
Adam Ziccardi - Orchard Park High School
Book Description
The Baby Boom generation has always been known asa demographic anomaly and these 77 million Americanshave dominated our society for the past 60 years, settingtrends and revolutionizing entire industries. They didn'tjust date, they transformed sex roles and practices. Theydidn't just go to the doctor, they reinvented healthcare.And now retirement and aging will never be the sameas the oldest boomers move into their 60s with nothoughts of traditional retirement or old-age homes!Featuring insightful interviews and essays from BabyBoomers like Dr. Andrew Weill, Erica Jong, Eve Ensler,Rob Reiner, Oliver Stone, Lester Thurow, and TonySnow, THE BOOMER CENTURY is an entertaining,historical and cultural look at a truly amazing generation.
Customer Reviews:
How can a book be so silly and so scary at the same time?.......2007-07-10
I was looking for a book that approached the boomers' effect on the future, what sort of housing, leisure pursuits, educational opportunities, etc.
What I got in this work was seventy-five percent super fluff nostalgia for how great we boomers are/were and twenty-five percent on, "now what are you going to do for us clever and adorable creatures".
The style of writing follows the script for the show they did on the same subject (full disclosure: I wouldn't watch such drivel so I'm going by the writer's statements) but the loose conversational manner of a documentary interview does not translate well to a book format. Many of the views of their so-called panel of experts were so clumsily written that it was necessary to read them three or four times to understand any of it.
And the "experts" all seemed to have the same delusional view that we can all be spoiled narciccists, live like theirs no tomorrow, and enjoy intergenerational piece and harmony in our old age while the struggling Gen X and Y slave like animals to pay for it.
Willful ignorance is the most dangerous drug of all.
Highly recommended.......2007-05-27
This book offers a great overview of the boomer generation, past, present and future. It is the companion to a PBS documentary, but where the tv show gives us only a sentence, the book offers an entire paragraph (the entire thought) of a group of experts so diverse as to include Oliver Stone and Tony Snow. Now THAT'S diverse. It is informative, entertaining and often amusing. A great read not only for boomers, but for Gens X and Y as well.
Another Boomer Retrospective.......2007-05-10
For those of us born after the post-WWII baby boom, the media's constant regurgitation of the images and events that "defined" that generation, including the Beatles, JFK, Woodstock, the moon landing, the Vietnam War and Watergate, among others, always seemed narcissistically nostalgic, as if taunting later generations to call up their own seminal events with similar, society-shaking consequences. PBS's "The Boomer Century 1946-2046: How America's Most Influential Generation Changed Everything" and its accompanying book take that self-congratulatory attitude to the extreme.
No one doubts that America and the world underwent turbulent times in the latter half of the last century and that many individuals responded in memorable ways, but the idea that some mass consciousness succumbed to Beatlemania; expanded its awareness with drugs; lost its innocence with the assassinations of both Kennedys and Martin Luther King, Jr.; and then became rich during the "Me Decade" and "Decade of Greed", washes out the richness of voices during those years and marginalizes the real struggles of minorities, women and laborers.
Other than serving as a marketing demographic and a lazy shorthand for post-WWII events, the idea of "boomers" adds little to the national discussion and even detracts from it, as most of the topics covered in "The Boomer Century" would be better served by a sharper focus, e.g. looking specifically at consumerism, the Cold War, the history of rock-n-roll, civil rights, etc. By throwing everything under the blanket of "boomer", they become nothing more than another step in the boomer development, like graduating high school.
So why give "The Boomer Century 1946-2046" five stars despite trite, repetitive essays by famous boomers that fail to form a compelling narrative or offer any real insight? Because the book and the PBS documentary do exactly what they set out to do, celebrate a group of people who happened to be born within the same 18-year period and offer them a nostalgia-filled trip down memory and commercial lane without seriously questioning the societal trends that resulted in slower economic growth in the past twenty-five years compared to the previous twenty-five and saw the greater increase in the mean over the median income. For all their expanded consciousness and world awareness, the boomers have done a wonderful job of increasing economic disparities at home and aggressive U.S. policies abroad.
Book Description
275,000 students in noncalculus physics; Required pre-med course; Super-accessible, straightforward help; Student-grabbing graphics and style; Icons for important concepts; 1-2-3 help with problems.
Customer Reviews:
Buy this book as a supplement to your textbook.......2004-07-23
Other than a few typos, this book is awesome. I learn the basic concepts from this book, and then do the problems in my textbook. This book has helped me when my professor couldn't/wouldn't. You cannot learn physics from this book only, but it is an excellent addition to any textbook.
Decent book - many errors.......2000-07-06
This book is a decent book for those being taking a freshman physics course for non-majors. This is a good supplement to a calculus based physics textbook.
typographical errors.......2000-03-08
it's a good book, it helped a great deal. I wish time was taken to correct typographical errors. I lost valuable time that could have been used to study.
Very helpful, recommend.......2000-01-17
this is a very good book except there are some mistakes(but the mistakes are easily found and corrected by yourself). This book gives you how to attack problems in a very organized manner even though the problems are not so difficult. I came to be able to solve more challenging problems in a different book after solving the easy but organized ones in this book. I recommend this book!
This Is The Book If You Need Help with Physics.......2000-01-17
Beginning with the "How To Use This Book" and "How To Excel in Your Physics Course", (especially the latter) and throughout its pages, this is, without a doubt in this readers opinion, the very best book on the subject I have found to date (And I have many). It puts you through the paces. If you want to know this subject and excel in it, these authors have placed before you the practice you will need. I recommend this book highly for your first experiences in this subject. Starting with the mathematical background required; then on to Classical through Special Relativity. It covers each and every topic, in a clear, concise method that enhances learning and improves retention greatly in each and every area. It's a great reference to have on the shelf. EXCELLENT! My thanks to the authors. Your book has helped me much more than I ever expected.
Early Civilization
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