Customer Reviews:
Flat out amazing.......2007-09-26
Rob Bell really connects with his readers in this book and I would recommend it for people of any age
Fabulous perspective with an easy approach.......2007-09-09
With it's provocative title, this book can seem like something to be afraid of. on the contrary, Rob Bell does an excellent job at not only sharing a fair perspective of sex and spirituality both with and without Christian orientation, but he also walks the reader through it quite easily. With an almost Socratic approach, the reader can realize meanings and derive personal conclusions through the authors suggestive questioning (much more pleasant than if the auther were to share an epiphany and use the rest of the book as means of persuasion, especially with such a bold subject)
Sex Is Not The Answer.......2007-09-07
This was an excellent book if you are looking to understand why sex is so prevalent in this day and age when we all seem to be ever more so disconnected from reality.
Let's Talk About Sex.......2007-08-29
I can't say enough good things about this book. It is completely unique. It compares sex to spirituality. Specifically, it compares sex to having an intimate relationship with God. Bell says you can't talk about one without talking about the other. He makes a strong case, although it is not written in a linear style. He meanders from stories to conversations to scenes from the Bible to secular quotes. His writing style is very Eastern. By that, I mean it does not go in a straight line. Instead the writing goes in circles and comes back on itself, allowing your mind to digest Bell's thoughts.
This is what I got out of this book: Our extreme desire for sex is really a desire for a relationship with God. Now, I can just hear people saying right now: "No, uh, I really want sex." Bell is not saying we should do without sex, but rather, sex is a physical expression of our truest desire: to be completely naked in front of someone and be unashamed; to be unconditionally loved and swallowed whole; to be connected with someone in the deepest way possible. In his chapter, Make Whoopee Forever, Bell says he thinks of heaven as one big orgy, where we are all the swallowed into Christ's complete and utter love. The joy and agony of sex, according to Bell, is that you come together but are then torn apart. In heaven, the tearing apart won't happen. It will be connection with all beings around you.
Bell covers all sorts of topics: pornography, male/female relationships, why marriages fail. And he does it in his signature writing style. Short paragraphs, some of them only lasting a sentence. The result is a book that flows and reads quickly.
It is also just a beautiful book to look at and hold. The cover is very smooth and soothing, with stripes in different colors. It kind of reminded me of a desert. The pages have a crisp feel. It is one of those books when you open it and you smell that really good book smell. Lastly, there is a small cracking noise when you open the cover. The pages are a soft pink color. I read a chapter a night and finished it in about a week.
Whether you are Christian or not, I think this book is a winner. It brings a unique perspective to the topic of spirituality. And you may never look at sex the same way again. I think you could give these to age 17 through adult. There is nothing inappropriate in it, but the concepts would be difficult to understand without some mental maturity.
People You Have To Get A Clue.......2007-08-27
It is amazing to read the reviews posted by most people on the topic of this book. "Rob Bell is a genious. I love this book. It is good to know that we were all made in the image of God, and that we all have a higher purpose." A. Nuebert,
"I admire thinkers who are able to distill ideas and express them simply and clearly--a skill that is far more impressive (to me) than pontificating, page after page, about concepts only ten percent of readers will ultimately grasp. Rob Bell is among the most gifted communicators I have read. In EVERY chapter of this book I found a concept that I had not thought of or considered. Downright profound."
"Not what you would expect from a book about sex and God. It will revolutionize the way you view the two."-Julie Bennett
"This is such a spiritual book w/o being preachy. I believe it should be required reading for anyone embarking on a relationship. I plan on giving it to my kids, all grown up, for Christmas." R. Torgensen
"Rob Bell is an excellent communicator. This is his second published book and it is just as good as Velvet Elvis, his first book. I wish I had heard someone talk about spirituality and sexuality like this when I was younger. Instead all I hear about was abstinence stance and no real reason why. This book goes beyond abstinence and looks at our relationship with God and with each other and challenges us to respond." -Ryan T. Samples
Okay, so I know that Rob Bell is an excellent communicator, I have known him since his college days. So was James Jones, Joe Smith, David Karesh, Hitler...But they all lead to the demise of truth. I believe Rob had some good things to say in both Sex God and Velvet Elvis, it is too bad that he didn't mean to say those things. As far as the rest of the ramblings of self-doubt that he displays, it is a tragedy. It amazes me how people (see quotes) can't pick up a BIBLE and see the same things. It amazes me how people are substituting books such as SEX GOD, for the Truth of the Bible. It is the emergent way though. Test everything---whatever you believe as long as God fits in somewhere your Golden. The thing that amazes me is when Rob says that he is not part of the "Emergent Movement" but that is all he is, and all he has ever been. Please don't make the mistake of walking on the very breath of Rob Bell. He is human---he has made and will continue to make mistakes (this book is one of them). 2 Peter 2- But there were also false prophets among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you. they will secretly introduce destructive heresies, even denying th sovereign Lord who bought them- bringing swift destruction on themselves. 2Peter 2:18 they mouth empty boastful words and, by appealing to the lustful deisres of sinful human nature, they entice people who are just escaping form those who live in error. They promise freedom, while they themselves are slaves of depravity-for man is a slave to whatever has mastered him. In this case it is Rob Bell himself. When asked where he was living, he said "downtown among the sinners, in a not so nice neighborhood", and that is why he lives in a half-million dollar condo. Alright book, but doesn't replace the Bible, and Rob doesn't replace God.
Amazon.com
As a spiritually inspirational book for teachers, The Courage to Teach is one of the best. The premise is concise and unarguable: good teaching comes from the identity and the integrity of the teacher. Teachers are encouraged to turn their inquiring minds inward--developing a deeper understanding of what it means to fulfill the spiritual calling of teaching. Good teachers share one trait, says author Parker Palmer, they are able to weave a complex web of connections among themselves, their subjects, and their students, so that students can learn to weave a world for themselves. The connections made by good teachers are held not in their methods but in their hearts--the place where intellect and emotion and spirit and will converge in the human self. --Gail Hudson
Book Description
"This book is for teachers who have good days and bad -- and whose bad days bring the suffering that comes only from something one loves. It is for teachers who refuse to harden their hearts, because they love learners, learning, and the teaching life."
- Parker J. Palmer [from the Introduction]
Teachers choose their vocation for reasons of the heart, because they care deeply about their students and about their subject. But the demands of teaching cause too many educators to lose heart. Is it possible to take heart in teaching once more so that we can continue to do what good teachers always do -- give heart to our students?
In The Courage to Teach, Parker Palmer takes teachers on an inner journey toward reconnecting with their vocation and their students -- and recovering their passion for one of the most difficult and important of human endeavors.
Customer Reviews:
A Book to Re-Read.......2007-09-09
Some books speak so deep to our soul that they help facilitate some type of life-change. We will always cherish these books for their ability to speak directly to us, no matter our life stage, for they carry in them principles that transcendent time. As if magical, each time we re-read these books they renew a fire within us or produce new truths that we missed in our first encounter. Some of have said Deitrich Bonhoeffer's The Cost of Discipleship and Augustine's Confessions are an example of these type of books. In my opinion, this book, The Courage to Teach, is one of them for me. Palmer's emphasis upon the inner life of the teacher is refreshing and enlightening. Palmer explicitly acknowledges that his book builds on the simple premise that states, "good teaching cannot be reduced to technique; good teaching comes from the identity and integrity of the teacher" (p. 10).
Without giving a full summary of the book I found chapters 4-5 the most meaningful. His discussion about "the community of truth" and "subject-centered teaching" greatly impacted my ongoing understanding of teaching and education psychology. His words are sure to continue their impact for many years to come, particularly in my development as a thinker, minister and teacher.
As an intellectual extra, I thoroughly enjoyed his analysis of "movements" in chapter 7.
Necessary.......2007-07-20
Palmer's writing evokes the inner being. He offers a lot of humility and personal experience which calls a person to respond from the inside. I was stirred in numerous ways by his writing and applaud this one like I applaud many of his books. Its a necessary additon to the library of anyone serious about their teaching or in the business of teacher training.
Great insights........2007-03-22
An excellent book on what it takes to really connect with students.
Deals with unusual topics like vulnerabilities, openness, and subject oriented teaching versus student or teacher oriented teaching. Celebrates the inherent wisdom within people, even those who are callous and cynical on the surface.
An important contribution to the field
Wasn't what I was looking for.......2007-02-14
I read this book with a group of teachers as part of our book club. I had high hopes that it would provide some great discussion. After the first few chapters nobody liked it. Out of the 8 of us that read it, not one of us actually enjoyed the book. There were some good points, but too philisophical for our taste.
The Courage to Teach-Text book.......2007-01-30
The book was new and was in very good condition. I am happy about the purchase.
Book Description
Hervé This (pronounced "Teess") is an internationally renowned chemist, a popular French television personality, a bestselling cookbook author, a longtime collaborator with the famed French chef Pierre Gagnaire, and the only person to hold a doctorate in molecular gastronomy, a cutting-edge field he pioneered. Bringing the instruments and experimental techniques of the laboratory into the kitchen, This uses recent research in the chemistry, physics, and biology of food to challenge traditional ideas about cooking and eating. What he discovers will entertain, instruct, and intrigue cooks, gourmets, and scientists alike.
Molecular Gastronomy, This's first work to appear in English, is filled with practical tips, provocative suggestions, and penetrating insights. This begins by reexamining and debunking a variety of time-honored rules and dictums about cooking and presents new and improved ways of preparing a variety of dishes from quiches and quenelles to steak and hard-boiled eggs. He goes on to discuss the physiology of flavor and explores how the brain perceives tastes, how chewing affects food, and how the tongue reacts to various stimuli. Examining the molecular properties of bread, ham, foie gras, and champagne, the book analyzes what happens as they are baked, cured, cooked, and chilled.
Looking to the future, This imagines new cooking methods and proposes novel dishes. A chocolate mousse without eggs? A flourless chocolate cake baked in the microwave? Molecular Gastronomy explains how to make them. This also shows us how to cook perfect French fries, why a soufflé rises and falls, how long to cool champagne, when to season a steak, the right way to cook pasta, how the shape of a wine glass affects the taste of wine, why chocolate turns white, and how salt modifies tastes.
Customer Reviews:
Entertaining but not the best cooking reference.......2007-10-08
I was looking for something to use as a reference for how to prepare different types of food. This definitely is not it. It is an entertaining read but it does not really have the level of detail I was looking for when I got this book. The best I have gotten so far is On Food and Cooking: The Science and Lore of the Kitchen (or something like that) by Harold McGee.
We're that much closer to Jetson style food pills.......2007-06-19
Herve This is a genius and should be respected simply for the fact that he approaches cuisine with something other than blind awe of traditions that regarded as fact but are little more than a step up from superstitions and old wives' tales. Already a bit on the dry academic side and then translated from French to English, it can occassionally be a difficult read, but the unique nature of the subject makes sure it says a fascinating read. The book is broken up into sections each a few pages long asking if and why a preconceived notion regarding food is true (Does the juices of meat really contract to the center when you cook it?, Does it matter if you slowly heat your stock or use hot water from the beginning?), the nature of flavor (how salt affects sweet and bitter flavors), just what goes on with the food before we eat it (What causes cheeses to taste the way they do tracing it all the way back to the diet of the cow), and theoretical ideas to make the culinary field better (Developing new cooking techniques involving technology such as artificial vacuums and electrical fields). While the book uses specific examples, it's easy to take This's basic technique and apply it to anything food related, which you could imagine is his goal, having founded the field sharing its name with the book.
good, but.......2007-05-20
good, but, not very complete, inaccurate and simplistic. if you have read harold mcgee, it is a bit simplistic, un-scientific, and extremely biased. good for the beginner or home cook. short stories (and lack of scientific guidelines) are good for those without the patience for "on food and cooking"...
Disappointing.......2007-05-11
I was hoping to find something along the lines of Harold McGee's "On Food and Cooking". If this is what you are looking for, look elsewhere.
Trick in the kitchen.......2007-03-20
This hardcover is divided in small paragraphs which are dealing with the different topics in kitchen science. The first section is dedicated to the tricks in cooking and is the one I like better. Then the author goes through the new discoveries about how do we perceive taste and flavour.
Good start to get in the argument of molecular gastronomy;)
Amazon.com
I can think of virtually no better book for introducing children or biology-impaired adults to the wonders of the machinery of life, from the molecular to the macroevolutionary. Wonderfully written, delightfully illustrated, and sure to engage and educate. A delightful and successful cross between Larry Gonick's classic Cartoon Guides and Cartoon Historys (but less flip) and David Macaulay's many masterful books on the way things work (but more comprehensive). Highly Recommended.
Book Description
The perfect answer for any instructor seeking a more concise, meaninful, and flexible alternative to the standard introductory biology text.
Customer Reviews:
Mandatory learning.......2005-02-03
I agree with the other reviews but take issue with the Amazon reviewer: This book is not for the biology illiterate. Those who love biology will be especially charmed by the way the material is presented here. It will allow those proficient in biology to see different perspectives on familiar concepts. From a pedagogy perspective, there is no better biology text-truth be told: visuals are presented using a number of models so students can understand conceptual nuances. The attractive pictures are inviting and interesting. Text and picutres are united and work together- you don't get blocks of words. It is engaging-not "easy". And often it is darn funny.
Illustrating what we can't see - in a way we won't forget.......2003-01-11
There is a saying: "When the student is ready, the teacher will appear." This student was ready, your book came at an opportune time. I very much appreciate the authors efforts: First, in their gaining knowledge of this material, then taking the time to write in such an understandable fashion and finally making simply and memorable illustrations of - what we can't see in a way that we won't forget. Great job, many thanks - keep books like this coming.
Buy the Book! It's well worth the investment!.......2002-02-02
This book is excellent! If you're a current or future student of biology (especially a beginner, like me), or even a teacher, you will have no trouble understanding the concepts of biology due to the illustrations and explanations. The book's examples reference everyday life so you can instantly apply what you're reading and seeing. The illustrations are colorful and well defined, and the text is light and even a bit humorous. As a future teacher this book will definitely be added to my permanent collection of reference books.
Every bio student and bio teacher NEEDS this book!.......1999-10-26
This is possibly the most incredible biology textbook for the average Joes of the world (and maybe the not-so-average Joes!). "The Way Life Works" clearly and cleverly explains some of the most abstract concepts of biology and brings them to life (no pun intended). I have recommended this book to all of my students, and wish that I could require them to own it! It should be our biology class' primary textbook. I only wish that I had had this textbook as an undergraduate student. Maybe those molecular biology classes wouldn't have been as difficult!
Kudos!
A must for anyone interested in science.......1998-08-28
IF you ever wondered what DNA is all about and do not have the time to read text books on this subject THEN The Way Life Works is for you.
Very highly recommended for all ages.
Book Description
At a time of unprecedented expansion in the life sciences, evolution is the one theory that transcends all of biology. Any observation of a living system must ultimately be interpreted in the context of its evolution. Evolutionary change is the consequence of mutation and natural selection, which are two concepts that can be described by mathematical equations.Evolutionary Dynamics is concerned with these equations of life. In this book, Martin Nowak draws on the languages of biology and mathematics to outline the mathematical principles according to which life evolves. His work introduces readers to the powerful yet simple laws that govern the evolution of living systems, no matter how complicated they might seem.
Evolution has become a mathematical theory, Nowak suggests, and any idea of an evolutionary process or mechanism should be studied in the context of the mathematical equations of evolutionary dynamics. His book presents a range of analytical tools that can be used to this end: fitness landscapes, mutation matrices, genomic sequence space, random drift, quasispecies, replicators, the Prisoner's Dilemma, games in finite and infinite populations, evolutionary graph theory, games on grids, evolutionary kaleidoscopes, fractals, and spatial chaos. Nowak then shows how evolutionary dynamics applies to critical real-world problems, including the progression of viral diseases such as AIDS, the virulence of infectious agents, the unpredictable mutations that lead to cancer, the evolution of altruism, and even the evolution of human language. His book makes a clear and compelling case for understanding every living system--and everything that arises as a consequence of living systems--in terms of evolutionary dynamics.
Customer Reviews:
An engrossing read - highly recommended.......2007-09-05
This is a wonderful book by a master of the field. Prof. Nowak, who teaches at Harvard, has managed a minor miracle: writing a book on mathematical biology that is mathematically rigorous and extremely readable at the same time.
The book is divided into two broad sections. The first nine chapters explore various abstract models of evolution. Simple models of evolution do not demonstrate cooperation between individuals, while examples of it abound in the real world. This fact quite rightly fascinates the author and informs his presentation. The last four chapters of the book use some of the modeling techniques developed in previous chapters to study real-world systems, such as HIV infection and cancer.
This book is highly recommended for anyone interested in the mathematical aspects of biology. More broadly, it will be of interest to anyone who's interested in mathematical models of complex systems.
Excellent and Approachable Survey.......2007-05-23
This book is an accessible introduction to the mathematics of evolution and results in the field of evolutionary dynamics with a heavy emphasis on applications including the immune system, virulence, AIDS, and even the evolution of language. Many of the ideas are from fairly recent papers and results in mathematical biology, particularly the sections regarding the evolution of universal grammar and in the emerging field of evolutionary graph theory, which adds population structure to the mathematical analysis. (This is a now necessary generalization of evolutionary game theory, which assumes uniform population structure.) As noted above, this is the first book to present many of these ideas outside of scientific and mathematical journals.
Although the mathematical content is significant, Nowak diligently explains the implications of the mathematics in the text of the book, widening the potential audience of the book dramatically. Simply put, this book is filled with delicious evolutionary content, backed up with mathematical rigor for the interested reader, but you need not have a degree in mathematics in order to understand much of the material.
Highly recommended for those truly interested in evolution.
The Marriage of Mathematics and Evolution.......2007-01-10
Excellent book for the mathematically and evolutionarily minded. However, not for general reading unless you are doing graduate work in either mathematics or evolutionary biology. Just excellent survey.
A dazzling book.......2006-11-22
This is, quite simply, a dazzling book. Nowak manages to take very deep mathematical ideas that are on the cutting edge of science and make them fun and pretty rigorous at the same time. The review in Nature said "It should be on the shelf of anyone who has, or thinks they might have, an interest in theoretical biology" and I completely agree. The section on HIV, explaining mathematically why there is a long delay between infection and the disease, and how this proposal in 1990 correctly predicted several biolgical facts which were subseqently discovered (but not mentioning execpt in the notes, that this was his work) is truly exceptional. We are moving beyond the "Just So stories" phase of evolution (such as wooly rhetoric about "Selfish Genes") to real, mathematically rigorous, science.
wonderful life.......2006-10-13
This is a remarkable book, absolutely original, containing a lot of material which has never before appeared in book form. It is written in a very accessible style, and leads almost effortlessly from first principles to state-of-the-art research.
The book takes an eagle's view on evolution, covering an vast range of topics from molecules to man. It emphasises analytical methods and presents a large canvas of superbly elegant mathematical models.
The author has chosen a very personal, highly idiosyncratic sample of subjects of amazing diversity, basically because he feels excited about them: and this excitement shows through, and makes the book very engaging, a positively bracing experience. On all of the topics, the author has contributed substantially, and the feel to get it `straight from the horse's mouth' is one of the great assets of the book. I believe that it will be a splendid hit with students, and regret that I did not have anything like that when I was young.
The style of the book is lucid and vigorous, with short, clear sentences, occasionally in staccato style. The mathematics is reduced to the bare minimum. It is incredible how much mileage the author can get out of it. The illustrations play an important role, and are well devised.
The chapters are short, and they address an amazing array of topics, ranging from molecular evolution to evolutionary games, from HIV to cancer, and from cooperation to language. In spite of their different subjects, they are homogenous: first comes a breezy introduction to the biological (or chemical, or linguistic) facts, then a simple model, then an analysis, without heavy machinery, usually leading up to some remarkable results which could not be obtained without mathematics, then a summary in a few short statements and finally an extensive list of references, including both the classics and the very newest results in the field. The fact that in each case, a few pages suffice to start from scratch and lead to the cutting edge of present-day research is quite remarkable.
The book will certainly have a big impact, and raise a lot of follow-up work. There is hardly a better recipe for young PhDs than to pick one of the chapters and start doing their own research. But in addition, `the whole is more than the sum of its parts'. I usually hate this slogan but here it holds in a spectacular way. By simply putting together the different applications of simple models in so spectacularly diverse fields, Nowak's book promotes a radical `hands-on'-approach to evolution which, I am sure, will have seminal repercussions.
Book Description
"Deftly written . . . Patterson's book must now be considered the definitive Tsavo lion study... one of the world's leading experts on lions as well as an important conservationist."--Publishers Weekly
Through field research and forensic evidence, a scientist reveals his theory on why two Kenyan lions killed humans and then ate their prey
In March 1898, the British began building a bridge over the Tsavo River in East Africa. In nine months, two male lions killed and ate nearly 135 workers, halting construction.
After a long hunt Colonel J. H. Patterson killed the lions, which are now on display at the Field Museum of Natural History in Chicago.
As codirector of the Tsavo Research Project, Bruce Patterson has conducted extensive fieldwork throughout the region on these lions. In The Lions of Tsavo, Patterson retells the harrowing story of those bloody nights in Kenya. He presents new forensic evidence on these maneless lions and argues that the man-eating behavior exhibited in 1898 came from the encroachment of human populations on wild habitats.
Patterson continues this theory by exploring man's interaction with the changing Kenyan environment, creating a complete, up-to-date, and scientific look behind this intriguing murder mystery.
Customer Reviews:
Well Done.......2006-08-19
The author does an excellent job of making the subject matter readable for the layman. This is based on a series of scientific studies which are often laborius reading for most but it is presented in an easily understood form.
No definite conclusions are drawn but anyone with an interest in the big cats will find this a valuable source of information.
Very Interesting.......2005-09-21
It is not the complete history of the how Col. Patterson killed the Tsavo Lions, but a very good and more recent report of a sciencific investigation trying to explain those animal's behavior and the causes that lead them to kill so many people.
I found it very interesting.
Informative and a shade biased.......2004-12-24
The book is filled with informative scientific hypothesis' about the man eaters. I found it to be very good reading until the the chapter when the author started bashing the hunters he had quoted through out the book. Throughout the world hunters are usually amoung the first to call for conservation of a species, not the enemy of conservation. Over all I would say the book is educational and worth reading just skip chapter 9 if you are a hunter.
A passion for the big African cats..........2004-04-14
For all of us with a passion for the big African cats, this book is a must read. The author, B.D.Patterson, combines his years of field research with an obvious love of the African continent to produce a scientific yet readable and ultimately fascinating review of lion behavior, biology, and evolution.
Starting with an historical review of `man-eater lion' stories Dr. Patterson clarifies facts and debunks myths. He provides a comprehensive review of related factors - from dentition to drought - from game scarcity to human burial practices. No stone is left unturned as he investigates aggressive behavior where the territories of human and lion overlap (and there is aggressive behavior on both sides of this equation!!). He continues his analysis with a succinct review of the latest biological and evolutionary information of the Panthera genus, covering the latest findings in DNA studies, historical range analysis, behavioral studies, and much more. Finally, he concludes the book with a review of conservation efforts in the Tsavo region and plea for continued assistance for this increasingly endangered species.
Readers who are tired of the dumbed-down approach many authors follow in order to cater to the broadest audience possible will be presently surprised by this book. It is thoughtful and intelligent throughout - readable and enjoyable - give it a try.
A Fascinating Study.......2004-02-11
Bruce Patterson's brilliant new book shines a much-needed scientific light on the lions of Tsavo. First made infamous by Colonel John Patterson (no relation to the author of this book), after he wrote "The Man-eaters of Tsavo" almost a century ago, and then re-introduced to modern audiences when the movie "The Ghost and the Darkness" came out in 1996, the lions of the barren East African region have been much speculated on. Their unusual physical characteristics and habits, including a reputed inclination to prey on men with greater frequency than other lions, have added to the interest about them.
Unfortunately, and somewhat surprisingly, little is known about the Tsavo lions. Are they a separate species from the lions found elsewhere in Africa or a subspecies? How does their social behavior differ from that of other lions? Why are the male lions of Tsavo typically maneless? Was the trait selected by evolution for some reason or determined by the tough physical environment of Tsavo?
Bruce Patterson, a naturalist with extensive experience studying these beasts, informs the debate on them to such a degree that even where he does not provide definitive answers to these questions about the lions - and he sometimes does -- he provides the definitive framework for understanding them. He approaches the creature from every angle. He has studied them in the field. He has worked on them in the laboratory. And he has extensively read both the scientific and popular literature on the lions.
Despite his impressive scholarship, Patterson is not afraid to tell the reader when he doesn't know something. He often writes that some area on the lions needs further study. I also appreciated how he took seriously what any source (white hunters, local tribesmen, etc.) had to say about the lions. Patterson does not snobbishly discount what a source says just because it was not written by a fellow scientist. He makes note of it in his ledger and considers it in the context of other information on the subject.
This is a delightful book. If you have any interest in lions in particular or big cats in general, you will find it fascinating and informative.
Book Description
Download a free Instructor's Manual.
My students have been searching for a leadership book that they don't have to translate to their experiences. At last, here is a book that integrates cutting edge ideas of leadership with examples and stories from college students.
Kathleen E. Allen, vice president for student development, College of Saint Benedict
Exploring Leadership fills a gap in the literature of leadership, providing a carefully-crafted student guide structured to the needs of leadership training courses for students. It helps students assess their own potential for leadership, gives them a concise grounding in major leadership concepts and theories, and takes them through a contemporary leadership approach that equips them for the challenges of providing leadership in groups, communities, and organizations.
Book Description
Excellence and Innovation for Teaching Introductory Sociology
"I am a sociology teacher first and foremost. So I set out to write a book that is as helpful to the craft of teaching sociology as possible. You will not find a gargantuan summary of every sociological concept, topic, and theory here. Instead, I chose to limit the focus, allowing for a deeper, more thorough, and hopefully more useful analysis of key ideas in the discipline. The book revolves around a sustained theme¾the reciprocal relationship between the individual and society¾ and continually shows the reader his or her active role as creator and shaper of society. I examine the crucial links between people’s common, everyday experiences and the broader structural features of their social worlds. Along the way I use a personal style of writing that I think will appeal to students and instructors alike."
David M. Newman
DePauw University
Features and Benefits of This Outstanding Fourth Edition
- Updated examples, statistical information, and graphics have been included, making this new edition current and accessible.
Many examples from current news headlines have been incorporated. New statistical data, much of which has been drawn from the most recent 2000 Census, have been added. All of the graphics have been updated, many changing from statistical tables to more readable charts, making trends and relationships more obvious.
- New and improved visual essays provide a larger, enhanced visual component.
The new visual images in this edition paint detailed, informative sociological portraits. Douglas Harper, one of the foremost visual sociologists in the world today, produced several unique, vivid, and provocative visual essays for this new edition. These essays provide students a wonderful opportunity to "see" many of the concepts and ideas included in the text and will help them to become much more visually astute observers of and participants in their social worlds.
- New micro-macro connections and research features help generate classroom discussion.
New features included in this edition focus on such diverse topics as the sociological importance of chairs, ex-mental patients, virtual communities, social class differences in Internet access, the politics of multicultural identity, and racial profiling. Features updated from the previous edition include: trends in teen suicide, media censorship, the toy industry’s role in gender socialization, the cultural impact of anti-depressant drugs, the U.S. health care system, racism in professional sports, sexual harassment in the military, the shifting politics of immigration, and environmental justice.
- Increased focus on globalization and technology.
This new edition contains many more cross-cultural examples and discussions of globalization, showing students how their lives are linked to, and affected by, our increasingly global society. The inclusion of more examples and analyses of new innovations in information and communication technology illustrate how these technologies have changed the way we live our everyday lives.
Also Available
- A companion anthology, Sociology: Exploring the Architecture of Everyday Life: Readings, Fourth Edition, has been designed and edited to accompany David Newman’s text. More information, including a table of contents, is included on the following pages.
- Teaching Resources and an Annotated Bibliography for Teaching Sociology, superbly researched and crafted, is available for use with the Fourth Edition of David Newman’s text and companion anthology. Test materials, synopses of articles, additional suggested exercises, literary and visual resources, and entries for this unique annotated bibliography were created with input and suggestions from a nationwide group of dedicated introductory teachers.
- Visit the Pine Forge Press web site at http://www.pineforge.com/newman4study/ to browse through the accompanying study site for David Newman’s book. Included on the site are do-it-yourself reviews and tests for students, web activities designed to enhance learning, a bulletin board where students and teachers can post messages, and a resource file containing web sites and additional helpful information.
Customer Reviews:
The only book in college that I have enjoyed reading..........2007-04-02
This book is very entertaining and of course extremely educational. I had no previous knowledge of sociology but I am absolutely fascinated with it thanks to this book and a great professor.
I do have one warning about this book though. It is extremely biased towards liberal views. I was raised in a predominantly conservative area of the midwest, and my conservative friends would label me a "bleeding heart liberal" or something like that, but I still found this book to be a little bit too liberally biased for me in some parts. Newman makes it extremely obvious through his writing that he is WAY liberal, which is OK for the most part because he backs his bush bashing up with facts... but you have to have one hell of an open mind to not notice some one-sidedness in the book.
The thing is, Newman is almost always right, and I have realized by studying this book that my society brought me up with some unwarranted prejudices. It has opened my mind a lot to ideas of sexual orientation and race, but I still am bothered by his presentation of society's treatment towards the obese in Chapter 6. I just don't buy that they are all victims... He forgets to mention perhaps the reasons WHY the top 1% of obese Americans are paid less or WHY morbidly obese children have sometimes been removed from their homes due to nutritional neglect. Newman wants us to believe that these workers and parents are victims of an unfairly prejudiced society, but if a worker is less productive, should they really be paid the same? If a parent is only feeding their child pizza and fried chicken, should they not be held responsible for the serious health problems that come from malnutrition? Newman points out that a shocking percentage of Americans are obese, but doesn't bother posing these questions.
Still, It is an extremely well written book and i have enjoyed it, and that is saying a lot. I have hated every other textbook I have ever owned. I would consider reading this even if I didn't have to.
Excellent Intro Sociology Text.......2004-10-31
This book is absolutely amazing! Coming from a symbolic interactionist perspective, Newman manages to educate and entertain at the same time. I highly recommend this book to teachers that use classroom interaction as a method of instruction.
Ideal for classroom curriculum development.......2004-10-11
Now in a substantial revised and expanded fifth edition, Sociology: Exploring The Architecture Of Everyday Life By David M. Newman (Professor of Sociology, DePauw University) is organized into three major sections: "The individual and Society"; "The Construction of Self and Society"; and Social Structure, Institutions, and Everyday Life. This newly updated edition features an expanded discussion of theory including a new table summarizing the theoretical sociological perspectives, as well as the role of theory and research methods in the field of sociological inquiry. Five new "Visual Essays" have now been developed, and students will have complete access to an online "Student Study Site" created especially for this edition with information of considerable value to instructors and students including interactive quizzes, vocabulary flash cards, and resources for further study and research. Sociology: Exploring The Architecture Of Everyday Life is a superbly organized introductory text and ideal for classroom curriculum development. Also very highly recommended is the supplemental companion volume, Sociology: Exploring The Architecture Of Everyday Life - Readings (0761988289, $44.95) which is a 408-page collection of professional articles collaboratively compiled and jointly edited by David M. Newman and Jodie O'Brien (Associate Professor of Sociology, Seattle University).
Believe it or not, an ENJOYABLE textbook!.......1998-06-05
Simply excellent. Although it's a college textbook, it's easy to read and enjoyable. I found myself nearly finished with the book before the semester was half over! As Newman intended, the book has a relaxed tone and all of the chapters are tied together with a consistent theme. I now understand sociological theories and ideas--phenomena that I never thought were relevant to everyday life.
Customer Reviews:
Blessings Received.......2007-08-07
I just finished the Living Beyond Yourself study. It was amazing and truly life changing in my daily walk. I knew the Holy Spirit was in me but I had never learned how to make it work : ) I did not know how to evoke the fruits of the Spirit before this study. Learning that God is in me changing me to create in me the fruits of his Spirit was such a blessing. I don't think I am expressing what is in my heart very well but I just know I have been truly blessed though this study. Praise the Lord for his teachings and guidance.
The homework seemed daunting before I signed up for the course but it has been the biggest blessing to my life. I look forward to it and am online now to buy my next study so I can stay in the word like this study has had me in the word. It lead me to such beautiful truths and really got me into the Bible like no bible study I have ever participated it. I recommend this study to everyone....even if you have studied the Fruits of the Spirit before...this is the most enlightening study I have been through on the subject. Don't miss this blessing!
Living Beyond yourself: Exploring the Fruit of the Spirit.......2007-05-14
This was my second Beth Moore study, and I was not disappointed. I recommend this study to all who want to learn about God and how to be like him. The DVDs give great, practical lessons on what it means to be filled with love, joy, peace, etc. Who wouldn't benefit from that? A great study for any level, from a questioning skeptic to a seasoned church-goer.
Living Beyond Yourself: Exploring the Fruit Of Spirit.......2007-05-13
Beth Moore has done it again! This is by far one of the most excellent Bible Studies I have ever done. It is a lot of homework and Bible page turning, but, it has taught me so much. I recommend this to everyone who would like to grow and experience the work of the Holy Spirit in their life.
Beth Moore Study.......2007-04-10
This is one of the best Beth Moore Studies - be sure to watch the newly updated DVD series that you can get to accompany it. Very in depth with lots of homework, but well worth the effort!
This Book really opened my eyes........2007-03-16
There were seven of us ladies reading and doing this study we all loved it. It was very eye opening and educational. Beth teaches in a way that a new believer or someone who has been in the Word for years can understand and that makes for a great group study.
Amazon.com
There was a time when author Marc Ian Barasch (The Healing Path) treated dreams as "nocturnal reshufflings of the mental deck; as fantasy and wish fulfillment; as psychic leftovers; those emotional coffee grounds and crumbled up impulses toward sex and violence ditched nightly down some inner Disposall." But then the vivid, ominous dreams began in which Barasch saw his neck being probed, tortured, speared, and even removed. Convinced something was terribly wrong, he went to a doctor who eventually confirmed what Barasch's dreams had been telling him: he had thyroid cancer.
That's when Barasch's fascination with the power of dreams began. The result is a breakthrough book that calls upon 15 years of research as well as hundreds of real-life dreams to expertly explore this mysterious frontier. Readers can expect excellent, poetic prose (Barasch is the former editor in chief of New Age Journal) that speaks to the transformative powers within the bizarre, shape-shifting landscape of the dream world. He helps readers see when a dream reveals a personal calling, a warning from a diseased body, or an insight that can help dreamers overcome the wounds or beliefs that hold them back. Barasch reaches far beyond the typical dream analysis into the more ambitious realms of spiritual turning points, personal relationships, and mystical opportunities. For many readers this will be a life-altering book, one that forever shifts the dreamer's approach to dreams as well as the conscious world. --Gail Hudson
Book Description
The Washington Post hails Healing Dreams as "a book as wise and healing as a dream...lucid, brave, and trailblazing." The winner of the Nautilus Award for best psychology book 2001, it invites the reader on an adventure of the soul. It offers a clear, compassionate understanding of what dreams mean, but also poses a daring question: What do our dreams ask of us, and how might we answer? Dr. Gayle Delaney urges, "Read this book if you want to live a bigger, more vivid life." Dr. Larry Dossey calls it "a new standard in the field of dreams...an uncommon joy," and Joan Borysenko calls it "a watershed in the appreciation of the psyche."
Customer Reviews:
A great overview of dreamwork.......2005-02-16
Here's a guy who's really put in the research, not just by reading other people's books but by talking to people, many of them from other cultures (Tibetan, Australian Aboriginal, Native American) - and not just in a one-off interview but in a continuing friendship with several of them.
In addition he has a powerful personal story to tell about his experiences of various kinds of dreamwork, starting from the time when vivid and frightening dreams alerted him to early-stage cancer in his throat.
He is a bit dismissive of lucid dreaming but otherwise I don't have a complaint to make about the book.
Heal Yourself.......2005-02-08
I'm absolutely loving this book! I've had a few healing dreams myself (though not to the extent of Marc Ian Barasch). This book really has helped me with understanding signs, and giving more faith to the information my dreams are trying to get through to me. Very powerful book, I highly recommend it to anyone who is curious about the world of dreaming, or even simply someone who wants to better understand symbolism in their own dreams.
A transformative work!.......2001-07-25
"In his fascinating, well-organized and lucid book, Marc Ian Barasch carries us along with him on a brave night journey through the dream world. He challenges the doubting reader with impressive charts of this realm and logs centuries of prior research and discovery. It is a courageous task, as many of the charts he uses belong to times and value systems that do not conform to Western scientific experimental psychology. If you want your science to be businesslike and hard, or, as William James wrote in his textbook on psychology, the researcher to be "studying the elements of the mental life, dissecting them out from the gross results in which they are embedded, and as far as possible reducing them to quantitative scales," this is not the book for you. Healing Dreams is a book for readers who can let go of preconceptions, immerse themselves in the vast lore of dreams and, above all, can savor stories of other people's experience. That dreams can be precognitive and serve both as warnings and point to cures, comes as no surprise to depth psychologists, who continually heed both the outer and inner realms of their patients' psyches and pay serious attention to their dreams. Nor will it come as a surprise to anyone who writes down and ponders his or her own dreams. We learn just what Barasch wants to share with his reader: that we are much more evolved, interconnected and subtly knowing than our little egos would have us believe. We also come to apprehend that our dreams come in various sizes and levels of importance, and can have a wisdom far beyond the personal ego's. Barasch, the author of The Healing Path and Remarkable Recovery...eagerly enters the imaginal world of dreams in a way that required him to commit the "subversive" act of taking his "dreams seriously -- enough to act on them, to live by them" and thus to obey their teaching "to live truthfully. Right now. And always." ...Barasch, using his own big dreams as an example, separates the healing dream from the more mundane variety. He describes the big dream, or healing dream, as one with "a singular intensity of purpose: to lead us to embrace the contradictions between flesh and spirit, self and other, shadow and light, in the name of wholeness." From here he goes on to explore the vast realm of dreams, packed into 11 chapters that never fail to capture the reader's interest thanks to Barasch's own enthusiasm, his profound research and his poet's eye for the heart of the matter. The chapter "The Dream of the Body" is especially full of intriguing stories, particularly of cancer survivors and the way dreams figured into their healing. It is followed by a survey of "Dreams of Personal Calling," which illumine the struggle to find a vocation in life. A chapter on dreams and how they can help relationships comes next, followed by equally compelling chapters on healing past wounds and on compassionately attending to our own dark, or shadow, sides. The chapters on dreams and spirituality make trail-blazing contributions to dream research. Barasch also offers a remarkable interpretation of Tibetan Buddhism's ancient system of dream yoga as a spiritual practice....[It] differs from New Age-type lucid dreaming, which is characterized by typically Western ego-driven themes and controls and alters what the dream psyche presents rather than developing that material as a means for spiritual growth. The Tibetan dream yoga system subcategorizes dreams into those of events that occurred while still awake but that need more attention; "message" dreams of people alive or dead; dreams showing forgotten parts of one's psyche now emerging into consciousness; symbolic dreams and ones with archetypal content; dreams that contain precognitive elements, omens or warnings, or might otherwise be termed extrasensory; and, finally, radiant dreams of great spiritual teaching or blessing. The spiritual component of the book as well as its sometimes poetic intensity add a depth to a subject that is all too often treated as a sort of parlor game. Healing Dreams, based as it is on over 15 years of research and on a profound personal investigation, is saved from both the Scylla of New Age psychobabble and the Charybdis of a true-believer's pomposity by the quality of the author himself. In these days of journalistic sensationalism and excess, Barasch remains an honest reporter with a respectful tone of gentle inquiry into the mystery of his subject. It is clear that he has grown and deepened along with a book that is as wise and healing as a dream....
Learn to Appreciate the Healing in Dreams.......2001-01-04
In the epilogue to his latest book, Healing dreams: Exploringthe dreams that can transform your life (Riverhead Books) Marc Baraschrelates the story of his editor trying to envision a simple sound-bitepromotion for his book. The editor asked, "How would a healingdream help the average person be effective in their daily lives?"Barasch, was, in his own words, "flummoxed" by thequestion. He had spent years researching the subject, through his owndreams as he dealt with cancer, through interviewing countless peoplewho had received dreams of Great Mysteries, and through in-depthscholarship on the vast spiritual traditions pointing to dreams as achannel by which God might speak and redirect our ignorant andsleepwalking lives into the pursuit of wisdom. Yet the editor wantedsomething simple to explain it all to the consuming public. Baraschsaid he was reminded of the saying that when a thief meets a saint,all he sees is the holy man's pockets. Later, when the editor had adream about struggling to land an extremely large fish, Baraschsuspected that the fellow had finally gotten the idea: dreams, andhealing dreams especially, take us beyond our narrow categories andconcepts into a much larger world. As he puts us, healing dreamsdon't come to make it all better, but to help us live the truth.Iknow from my experience that it is difficult to take a healing dreamand turn it into a nifty formula for rescuing others....
Iappreciate Barasch's new book for the rare and worthy achievementit is: Through beautiful, even poetic language, integrated with thegrounding influence of the facts from the lives of those heinterviewed, he gives us a glimpse of a holy World Order that inspiresus to try to empathize with something that we can not fullyunderstand. In that sense, Barasch's book is the next best thing toa personal encounter with a healing dream itself.Among the varioustypes of healing dreams he explores, he includes his experiences withthe "Dream Helper Ceremony." Perhaps the most far-flungexport from A.R.E.'s summer camp, where it was first invented,Dream Helper involves a group of people volunteering to donate theirdreams to help someone in distress, doing so without knowing inadvance the nature of the person's problem. What began as anattempt to put a spiritual spin on traditional dream telepathyexperiments soon evolved into a potent healing ritual that many peoplehave used to their benefit....On the basis of his dream helperexperience, Barasch draws two important conclusions about healingdreams. First: if you want to have one yourself, offer to have ahealing dream for someone else! That's the closest to a healingdream formula he offers in the entire book.Two: there is some kind ofliving, spiritual fabric that unites all of us with a life beyond thephysical and to which we have a important relationship, acknowledgedor not. Healing dreams, he has discovered, come to pull us back fromthe abyss of isolationism into a more conscious relationship with thatunifying lifeforce. There's more to a saint, in other words, thanwhat can be found in his pockets.
Review by David LaChapelle.......2000-11-08
What we have here is the living yoga of an inquiry that has opened the author, and now the reader, to the interwoven nature of our reality. We are unavoidably called upon to consider the intelligence of the universe. Marc's passionate pursuit of what he was given has taken the rubies of the inner world and held them up for us to marvel at, and become inspired from.
His personal journey has been the alchemical vessel in which the passion of dream knowledge has been fired and made authentic. Reading this book will change the way you go to bed at night, deepening your life with the ongoing adventure of conscious participation in this mysterious universe. It is an invitation to consider that guidance is a gift to all of us, and that when we sleep, we are in fact making a soul journey.
This book is not another self-help book sprung from some modest good intention and hope for fast money. It is a living document of life lived at the edge of fire, bringing back the heat of our inner world in a way that compels us to wake up, and acknowledge the mysteries at work. We are in Marc's debt for the work he has done, for a way has been opened that can deepen all our lives.
Books:
- Small & Decentralized Wastewater Management Systems
- Sociology: A Global Perspective
- Species Invasions: Insights into Ecology, Evolution, and Biogeography
- Stochastic Population Dynamics in Ecology and Conservation (Oxford Series in Ecology and Evolution)
- Student Study Guide for Biology
- The Basics of Bioethics
- The Cooperative Gene: How Mendel's Demon Explains the Evolution of Complex Beings
- The Diversity of Life
- The Double Helix: A Personal Account of the Discovery of the Structure of DNA
- The Expanded Family Life Cycle: Individual, Family, and Social Perspectives (An Allyn & Bacon Classics Edition) (with MyHelpingLab) (3rd Edition) (Allyn and Bacon Classics Edition)
Books Index
Books Home
Recommended Books
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- Lonely Planet the Travel Book: A Journey Through Every Country in the World
- Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas and Other American Stories
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- Legends: Women Who Have Changed the World Through the Eyes of Great Women Writers
- The Complete Idiot's Guide to Digital Photography Like A Pro, 4E
- Earth's Insights: A Multicultural Survey of Ecological Ethics from the Mediterranean Basin to the Au
- End of the Chapter : Maid in Waiting; Flowering Wilderness; One More River
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Velvet Elvis: Repainting the Christian Faith (Cover Image May Vary)
Velvet Elvis: Repainting the Christian Faith
The Irresistible Revolution: Living as an Ordinary Radical
Searching for God Knows What
Blue Like Jazz: Nonreligious Thoughts on Christian Spirituality
