Microbiology: A Human Perspective w/ARIS bind in card

Book Description

Appropriate for the non-major/allied health student, this authoritative text carefully explains the fundamentals of microbiology, providing a general overview of the principles followed by more detailed explanations. With its clear and concise writing style, Microbiology: A Human Perspective offers modern coverage on such topics as genomics, biofilms, and quorum sensing. A body systems approach is used in the coverage of diseases.

Customer Reviews:

Great textbook, though a little difficult for Nursing Students.......2006-06-15

More Medical School grade information than Nursing School information, great on-line content and help-guides.

microbiology review.......2006-02-19

I purchased this book for my Microbiology class and it is very helpful. My teacher uses the same figures and tables as in the book, which are easily readable/understandable especially when you think of each process as steps. My advise is to buy the book if you need to and take advantage of the given website that is given to you in the beginning pages to test your knowledge.

History: Fiction or Science? (Chronology, No. 1)

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Calculations are only as good as your numbers
Pants on fire?
Accepted History & Chronology Must Be Changed.
Very Interesting
History as Science Fiction

History: Fiction or Science? (Chronology, No. 1)
Anatoly Fomenko
Manufacturer: Mithec
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 2913621058

Book Description

Recorded history is a finely-woven magic fabric of intricate lies about events predating the sixteenth century. There is not a single piece of evidence that can be reliably and independently traced back earlier than the eleventh century. This book details events that are substantiated by hard facts and logic, and validated by new astronomical research and statistical analysis of ancient sources.

Customer Reviews:

Calculations are only as good as your numbers.......2007-08-03

Yes, we can all agree that mainstream history is nearly 100% BS due to politics, economics, ego, problems with dating techniques, and various conspiracies. Agreed. But, I've been researching the distinct possibility that human history (in terms of civilizations) are much more ancient than we've been told, so coming across this book was very interesting to me. I wondered how Fomenko could be wrong (if at all) because he is very persuasive in his presentations. Then it dawned on me. If at previous times in prehistory, due to the various catastrophies that are well documented (comets, asteroids, planetary disruptions, plasma discharge, pole reversals, etc) the Earth was in a different position in relation to the sun, different tilt on its axis, different orbit, different rotation (in terms of velocity and DIRECTION), and the continents were in different positions, then would this not cause the ancients to see the sky (constellations) differently? In other words, is Fomenko making erronious assumptions about the physics of the Earth in pre-history, which then corrupt his data with regards to dating the relevant astrology? The last event to seriously disrupt our planet occured roughly 3500 years ago, according to other good researchers, so is it possible Fomenko has been confused by this? The vastly different physics of our planet in the not so distant past may explain this confusion, which is not to say the "mainstream" version of history is correct; on the contrary. I am not an expert in these fields, but wanted to see if this idea could spark discussion.

Pants on fire?.......2007-07-19

Will people ever read before spamming? Yes, Jesuits could not rewrite world history alone, they had help. Anyway, Dr Prof Acad A.Fomenko does not point to jesuits as the driving force of world wide history manipulation in published volumes 1,2,3;, actually he barely mentions the poor devils. Check it with 'Search inside' feature, please. China is rarely mentioned either, in fact, Dr Fomenko is completely eurocentric. Right, his theory contradicts all mainstream schools of history, because in their actual state they are all built on blatantly erroneus chronology. You don't need a mysterious cabal (conspiracy) to falsify history, the falsification is its modus operandi. It is inherent to history(ians) to falsify (distort) events, as it is inherent to humans to boast as it is inherent to power (authority) to legimize itself by referrring to glorious past made to its own order. Dr Prof Fomenko and team have identified scores of instances of such manipulation in Russian, European, etc.. history, and delivered valid statistical proof thereof. His own 'reconstruction' is completely another story. Forget c14 as a valid method of dating. W.Libby has initially discovered a brilliant method of INDEPENDENT dating. Too bad, c14 method has become a joke after a forced marrige with dendrochronology with consensual chronological scale inbuilt. Radiocarbon method can't stand blind tests, but is so very productive as a rubberstamp.

Accepted History & Chronology Must Be Changed. .......2007-04-09

There is no doubt that history as most know it is a sham, & institution's version of History both University & Church is fradulent & inaccurate. Everything was established with an agenda, The real "Dark Ages" are now when we have access to incredible amounts of information past authorities & more important 'common folk' didn't have but our institutions & educators are slow to evolve because of what has ignorantly & arrogantly been taught for too long. This is on many subjects not just Chronology.

For anyone to question "Why would a Mathematician have anything credible to say of History?" The answer is from Dr. Fomenko's preface in the book: "It would be worthwhile to remind the reader that in the XVI-XVII century Chronology was considered to be a subdivision of Mathematics." These volumes could possibly be some of the most important works to date & should be read by everyone with an interest in History, especially professors & educators who have a duty to the public. I have read both books & must say that 'Chronology 1' has some very eye opening & revolutionary information. Even if these volumes are part true the implications are profound & opens the doors to further investigations & questions which must be done. I speak several different lanquages & must say the logic Dr. Fomenko uses with "inflection" of words & words being read from left to right in one region & right to left in another then written backwards, the removal of vowels & get down to basics of words, or different cities & locations having the same name etc. is correct. Vowel usage has always been optional & varied, actually complicating linquistics & study. The first thing one has to understand is that words never had a fixed spelling in history like we do now, the spelling of words was mutable & regional, as well as names & titles of people were vast, varied & changed, NOTHING WAS FIXED or understood linear. Matters of Life & Death as well as financial profiteering yesterday & today were & are made with ignorant, illogical & conspiratorial views of history & reality, it's time people get closer to the Truth & society collectively grow up.

Very Interesting.......2007-03-07

It is a good proposal and I believe it will mature into something even better in the future. I think it deserves to be read.

History as Science Fiction.......2007-01-10

Anatoly Fomenko has written a very intriguing book, full of pictures, charts, and computer 'proof' of his thesis: backwards of AD900 we don't really know what happened or when. Between AD900 and AD1600 there is more certainty, but there is still a lot of fuzzy ground, and things don't get reliable until we get past the 1600's where the printing press made it very difficult for the perpetrators of this timeline manipulation to change anything that had been committed to print. The Dark Ages did not happen. Books were burned for a reason. One organization has doubled the actual length of its existence by expanding the real chronology. Read why.

I had always wondered why Christ died about AD33 and yet men waited until the 11th century to form the Knights Templar, the Cathars, etc and go after the Holy Land by force. Why the 1000 year gap? Turns out there wasn't more than a 10-12 year gap and he proves it using astronomy. This also implies that the planet is not as old as we have been told, and current Christian and other creationist scientists are already championing that idea without being aware of Fomenko's book. The two groups, creationist scientists and the Russian mathematical analysts corroborate each other. Fascinating.

Of course, all this flies in the face of what we have been told traditionally is the 'proper' chronology of western civilization, and most readers will experience 'cognitive dissonance' in reading this book. It means that our history going backwards from AD1600 becomes progressively more incorrect and unreliable until it cannot be trusted at all... in the space of 700-800 years.

Naturally, the curious, open-minded reader will want to know WHO did this, WHY, and did any of the events we think of as really ancient ever happen?
Dr. Fomenko is a respected scientist/mathematician at Moscow State University who has already answered these questions to the satisfaction of his initially skeptical colleagues. Most of them are now believers, a few still refuse to believe (the usual diehards), and of course the western press has ignored Fomenko's work -- for obvious reasons when you read the book. The ones who perpetrated this chronology ruse have a lot to answer for. They are still with us. That's why this book is a well-kept secret.

I gave the book a 4-star rating because I was unable to check out some of his claims; those I checked were as he said. But if even 1/3 of his claims are true, this punches a big hole in what we think is our history, the meaning of western civilization, our educational process (for repeating the ruse as gospel), and the trustworthiness of the organization that perpetrated this ruse, well-intentioned or not.

This book relates to current research into a Young Earth paradigm, to John Keel's discoveries about our planet, and Fr Malachi Martin's insights (in his now out-of-print books). We are indeed sheep who are manipulated and kept ignorant -- for a reason. While knowing what these men have to say may be the "booby prize" (as in: 'what can you do with this knowledge?'), it will provide interesting reading. Didn't someone say: "...and the Truth will set you free."?? For you to judge if this book contains the truth.

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Bio: Old but Good

Human Aging: Biological Perspectives
Augustine G. Digiovanna
Manufacturer: McGraw-Hill Science/Engineering/Math
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0072926910

Book Description

With the growing size of the elderly population comes an increased interest in aging as a subject of research and study. Human Aging: Biological Perspectives is written for the one-quarter or one-semester introductory level course and is aimed at students with little or no science background. The main structure of the text follows a body systems approach. In addition to the introductory chapter and a chapter covering molecules, cells, and the theories of aging, each body system is covered in its own chapter.

Customer Reviews:

Bio: Old but Good.......2006-08-20

I am a little surprised that my instructor used this book seeing as it is about 4 editions old. Other than that it is a good book.

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Microbiology: A Human Perspective

Manufacturer: McGraw-Hill Companies
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 007283031X

Sense and Nonsense: Evolutionary Perspectives on Human Behaviour

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Sorting out the Issues
God sense, not nonsense
A breath of fresh air

Sense and Nonsense: Evolutionary Perspectives on Human Behaviour
Kevin N. Laland , and Gillian Brown
Manufacturer: Oxford University Press, USA
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0198508840

Book Description

Evolutionary theory is one of the most wide-ranging and inspiring of scientific ideas. It offers a battery of methods that can be used to help us understand human behaviour. Nevertheless, the legitimacy of this exercise is at the centre of a heated controversy that has raged for over a century. Many evolutionary biologists, anthropologists and psychologists have taken these evolutionary principles and tried using them to explain a wide range of human characteristics, such as homicide, religion and sex differences in behaviour. Others, however, are sceptical of these interpretations. Moreover, researchers disagree as to the best ways to use evolution to explore humanity, and a number of schools have emerged. 'Sense and Nonsense' provides an introduction to the ideas, methods, and findings of five such schools, namely, sociobiology, human behavioural ecology, evolutionary psychology, memetics, and gene-culture co-evolution. Carefully guiding the reader through the mire of confusing terminology, claim and counter-claim, and polemical statements, Laland and Brown provide a balanced, rigorous analysis that scrutinizes both the evolutionary arguments and the allegations of the critics. This is a book that will be make fascinating reading for popular science readers, undergraduate and postgraduate students (for example, in psychology, anthropology and zoology), and to experts on one approach who would like to know more about the other perspectives. Having completed this book the reader will feel better placed to assess the legitimacy of claims made about human behaviour under the name of evolution, and to make judgements as to what is sense and what is nonsense.

Customer Reviews:

Sorting out the Issues.......2005-08-13

Kevin Laland is a prominent researcher in gene-culture coevolution, niche construction (the study of how organisms modify their social and physical environment, and thereby modify their own gene pool) and animal social learning. Gillian Brown is a primatologist who studies parenting behavior. Their book is a study of six strands of evolutionary theory as applied to human behavior: (a) Darwin and his pre-sociobiology followers (including Galton, Spencer, Lorenz, Tinbergen, von Frisch, and Ardrey); (b) the founders of sociobiology, including Dawkins, Trivers, Hamilton, Maynard Smith, and E. O. Wilson; and three offshoots of sociobiology, (c) behavioral ecology (including Hill, Kaplan, Hawkes, and Chagnon); (d) evolutionary psychology (including Cosmides, Tooby, Daly, Margo Wilson, Pinker, Buss); (e) memetics; and (f) gene-culture coevolution (including Cavalli-Sforza and Feldman, Boyd and Richerson, and Laland himself).

The title is inspired by the authors' impression that, despite the fact that the academic social sciences have virtually ignored evolutionary approaches, the public finds them very sexy and provocative, to the point where evolutionary research is continually influenced by political and journalistic concerns, and the science tends to be overwhelmed by the junk and the hype. I fully share this impression, and I think they have done a fine job in extracting the "sense" from the "nonsense." They even manage to treat memetics seriously, despite the fact that memetics' attempt to detach culture from reproduction, production, cooperation, conflict, and the other basic activities of social life cannot possibly succeed.

Laland and Brown vigorously defend the early Darwinists and sociobiologists against the many politically motivated attacks against them (they do not deal with religious critiques). While the authors recognize that their ideas have often eclipsed by more contemporary research, they find no major fault in the constitution of these two schools. I think this is a bad mistake. In the century from Darwin to E. O. Wilson, evolutionary researchers managed to isolate themselves from every mainstream social science, including economics, sociology, psychology, political science, and to a lesser extent, anthropology. It is futile to blame this on the mainstream. The fault lies squarely with the evolutionary theorists, who failed to make a convincing case for the position.

This is quite unforgivable, because mainstream social science has made many central contributions that must be integrated into evolutionary theory to provide a solid, scientific body of knowledge concerning human behavior. Laland and Brown give no reason for this isolation of evolutionary theory, except the trivial commonplaces mouthed by virtually everyone in this tradition (traditional social science is ideology, the mainstream is afraid of being tainted with the sins of eugenics and racist genetic determinism, and so on). The major problem facing evolutionary theory today is not to shuck the nonsense, but to account for its failure to become part of the mainstream, I believe, and Laland and Brown do not recognize this.

The very idea of forming schools of thought, such as behavioral ecology, evolutionary psychology, and gene-culture coevolution is an indication of the inability of evolutionary theory to consider itself a science. Scientists seek integration, not fragmentation. Behavioral ecologists, for instance, are anthropologists who study simple societies, while evolutionary psychologists are psychologists who study commonalities in human behavior across all societies. How could they possibly consider themselves "alternative" theories? They very idea is absurd, a capitulation to the natural human tendency to congregate in small groups of "insiders" whose major motivation is to triumph over the many groups of "outsiders" whose strange ways are threatening and unsettling.

This one issue aside, I find Laland and Brown very convincing in adjudicating among the various approaches, and in their plea for tolerance and exchange of information among them. Like the authors, I believe that gene-culture coevolution is the overarching principle that includes the others as subclasses. I also believe that gene-culture coevolution is the most promising basis for the integration of evolutionary with mainstream social science. The authors' only critique of gene-culture coevolution is that it tends to be highly mathematical and does not generate many empirical studies. I do not agree with this critique. Cavalli-Sforza and Feldman, as well as Boyd and Richerson, have done admirable empirical work, and with the use of experimental game theory in recent years, we will have much more such research in the near future. The true critique of gene-culture coevolutionary theory, in my view, is its ignorance of and contempt for traditional social science. Unless this is overcome, evolutionary social theory will remain marginalized for the foreseeable future.

Of course, most potential readers of this book will have the same prejudices concerning the traditional disciplines as do the authors, and they should find this book a welcome and incisive corrective to the disarray within evolutionary social theory.

God sense, not nonsense.......2004-02-18

The final chapter of E O Wilson's Sociobiology was a bombshell whose shockwaves reverberate today. Kevin Laland and Gillian Brown set out to sift through the morass of evolutionary approaches to human nature that is has spawned.

This is a useful review of the various schools of research, although I would have liked a firmer conclusion than 'a pluralistic approach is best'. Sometimes the authors could be a little less polite and have a little more bite.

Good stuff overall though, probably most helpful for those new to the area, or for students looking for an introduction. The book is a little light in content, concentrating on methodology, but the emphasis on cultural processes, absent from many evolutionary discussions, is most refreshing.

Do Laland and Brown successfully separate the sense from the nonsense? No. But they do equip the reader with some of the tools to do it for herself.

A breath of fresh air.......2002-07-17

This book is both a great read, and an informative one, for anyone interested in human behavior, evolutionary theory, and the links between the two. The area of potential evolutionary bases to human behavior has traditionally been filled with much controversy, some fighting, scattered irresponsible speculations and pronouncements that at times have produced tragic effects, and quite often, more heat than light. Laland and Brown have produced a book that is truly a breath of fresh air. One of the things I liked most about Sense and Nonsense is that Laland and Brown had actually sat down to talk with--and listen to--many of the leading proponents of different "schools" of thought. They work hard in Sense and Nonsense to give a fair presentation of each different approach, before moving on in each chapter to provide their own analysis of the approach presented from their own perspective as working scientists. In the midst of an area in which some researchers have been prone to simply shout louder--often literally--at those they disagree with, Laland and Brown have truly taken the time to listen, reflect, and form considered and thoughtful judgements. This is a service to all of us: After reading their book, I know that I will always look reflect differently on researchers' claims of evolutionary bases of human behavior, whether that's hearing them at a conference, or reading a journal article, or the latest best-selling book or TV interview. If you want to improve your understanding of evolution and human behavior, get a guided tour through the area and its controversies by two thoughtful experts, and come out with a changed perspective that will likely always stay with you, then read Sense and Nonsense. Great book.

Neanderthals Revisited: New Approaches and Perspectives (Vertebrate Paleobiology and Paleoanthropology)

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Neanderthals Revisited: New Approaches and Perspectives (Vertebrate Paleobiology and Paleoanthropology)

Manufacturer: Springer
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 1402051204

Book Description

Recent years have witnessed exciting and important scientific breakthroughs in the study of Neanderthals and their place in human evolution which have transformed our appreciation of this group’s paleobiology and evolution. This volume presents cutting-edge research by leading scientists re-examining the major debates in Neanderthal research with the use of innovative state-of-the art methods and exciting new theoretical approaches.

Topics addressed include the re-evaluation of Neanderthal anatomy, inferred adaptations and habitual activities, developmental patterns, phylogenetic relationships, and the Neanderthal extinction; new methods include computer tomography, 3D geometric morphometrics, ancient DNA and bioenergetics. The diverse contributions offer fresh insights and advances in Neanderthal and modern human origins research.

This is a Volume in The Max-Planck-Institute Subseries in Human Evolution coordinated by Jean-Jacques Hublin, Max-Planck-Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Department of Human Evolution, Leipzig, Germany

Human Evolutionary Biology: Human Anatomy and Physiology from an Evolutionary Perspective

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Remarkable.
Human Evolutionary Biology
The Power of an Evolutionary Perspective
EXCITING!

Human Evolutionary Biology: Human Anatomy and Physiology from an Evolutionary Perspective
Arndt Von Hippel
Manufacturer: Stone Age Press of Alaska
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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The God Delusion

ASIN: 0961580828

Book Description

In his inimitably upbeat and irreverent style, Dr. Arndt von Hippel demonstrates how the latest scientific findings confirm a tortuous progression of events from the universal Big Bang to you.

This book is
* timely - there are no others
* up-to-date - includes recent discoveries
* complete - it provides an essential overview as well as a detailed explanation of human body systems
* exciting - because it presents a great deal of information in a more meaningful fashion.

Customer Reviews:

Remarkable........2004-07-20

This is a remarkable book, despite some flaws. In a fast paced, informal, conversational voice, von Hippel presents an incredible amount of information, most of it very interesting. The emphasis is on physiology, not anatomy, and it is grounded in evolutionary concepts. Thus, while things work remarkably well, designs are certainly not what you would get starting from scratch - although Hippel sometimes shows that there are so many conflicting constraints that many apparently simpler designs would not work. Hippel, a doctor, is interested in clinical problems and treatments, as well as evolution and how things work in other life forms. He is also the type of scientist who draws scientific lessons from the most mundane phenomenon of everyday life. I personally enjoyed his sense of humor and crusty manner, although you might not if you are a lawyer or politician. The problem with the book is that while Hippel explains things clearly enough, there is a limit to how well you can convey material without the graphical aids found in good textbooks, nor is Hippel that clear in his own mind about just what kind of background he expects his readers to have. I tended to enjoy most of the sections I was not fully following: I would read quickly and pick up interesting nuggets. Still, readers without any background in molecular biology are likely to miss a lot and may have difficulty with the first few chapters.

Human Evolutionary Biology.......2001-08-06

This book tackles what it's title states, "Human Evolutionary Biology." The author displays an impressive knowledge of human anatomy and physiology. He begins with physics and chemistry to help us understand the role these play in shaping us, from our pH to why we're so water-logged, then examines how multicellular organisms like ourselves arose from single-celled ancestors. Next, through covering such topics as blood (e.g. Iron defiency), the skelotomuscular system (e.g. types of muscle) and the immune system (MHC system, etc.) through their own chapters, Hippel gets into details and finds a successful way to organize the remainder of the book. There is plenty of space to lag and lull the reader to sleep. But this book does just the opposite, keeping one's attention throughout. The writing style is lively and irreverent; the metaphors wonderful and humor ripe. Hippel actively advances evolutionary explanations throughout, challenging the reader with such views rather than leaving such interpretations for sidebars or background noise. So if you are an ardent evolutionist yourself, you'll probably love this. If you're not, you might find some of the dismissals of religious views as too zealous and perhaps gleeful. In other small weaknesses, the book contains no figures, meaning that one will have to search elsewhere for diagrams of the skeletal system, the cranial nerves and the digestive system. A few clinical asides also seem out of place, given that the rest of the book seems designed for broader audiences. Overall, however, this book successfully addresses what it advertises: human anatomy and physiology from an evolutionary perspective.

The Power of an Evolutionary Perspective.......2001-07-10

From an unabashedly evolutionary perspective, Dr. von Hippel takes on human anatomy and physiology. Is he successful? Largely so. The writing is active, ripe with humor (try, "Thereafter you can be junked more cheaply than rebuilt" [p. 97]) and playfully blunt ("So rather than Earth being clothed in peacefully coexisting photosynthetic populations slowly depleting all available resources in idyllic surroundings while smothering in their own wastes, every growing group and its wastes provide new opportunities for the next opportunist." [p. 105]). It begins with the basics of the scientific method, moving to background on chemistry and physics necessary for understanding our evolution (e.g. our water-logged bodies). It shows how we became multicellular creatures from single-celled origins and how a range of our systems, from the immune system to emotions, developed as adaptations to past selection pressures. Throughout, the detail is impressive: the author clearly knows his subject in considerable detail. On the more critical side, the book could have benefitted by including anatomical or other illustrations. It's hard to get a good sense of the anatomy and physiology without such aids, though this book doesn't contain any such illustrations. Without prior knowledge, it therefore reads better alongside a basic, well-illustrated anatomy and physiology text and would alone be unsuitable for a course. A few of the medical asides also seemed superfluous to the audience that, on the whole, could be of varied backgrounds, extending beyond the medical community (I'm an example myself as a non-M.D.). Overall, this book contains a wealth of information and adaptive interpretations that inspire, entertain and can best be digested alongside more standard, better-illustrated texts.

EXCITING!.......1998-06-30

I was reading Edward O. Wilson's "Consilience" when I received this book. Both are very beautifully written books by very accomplished men. As an M.D., I found von Hippel's book very exciting that I will never look at the patients the same way again. We need scientific knowledge for everyone and we need it now. This book will engross anyone willing to learn the scientific truth beneath the common information.

Microbiology: A Human Perspective- Student Study Guide Only

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Microbiology: A Human Perspective- Student Study Guide Only

Manufacturer: McGraw Hill
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
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Microbiology: A Human Perspective w/ARIS bind in card

ASIN: 0072830328

Product Description

Student Study Guide to accompany "Microbiology, 5th edition."

Thinking with Animals: New Perspectives on Anthropomorphism

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Thinking with Animals: New Perspectives on Anthropomorphism

Manufacturer: Columbia University Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0231130392

Book Description

Is anthropomorphism a scientific sin? Scientists and animal researchers routinely warn against "animal stories," and contrast rigorous explanations and observation to facile and even fanciful projections about animals. Yet many of us, scientists and researchers included, continue to see animals as humans and humans as animals. As this innovative new collection demonstrates, humans use animals to transcend the confines of self and species; they also enlist them to symbolize, dramatize, and illuminate aspects of humans' experience and fantasy. Humans merge with animals in stories, films, philosophical speculations, and scientific treatises. In their performance with humans on many stages and in different ways, animals move us to think.

From Victorian vivisectionists to elephant conservation, from ancient Indian mythology to pet ownership in the contemporary United States, our understanding of both animals and what it means to be human has been shaped by anthropomorphic thinking. The contributors to Thinking with Animals explore the how and why of anthropomorphism, drawing attention to its rich and varied uses. Prominent scholars in the fields of anthropology, ethology, history, and philosophy, as well as filmmakers and photographers, take a closer look at how deeply and broadly ways of imagining animals have transformed humans and animals alike.

Essays in the book investigate the changing patterns of anthropomorphism across different time periods and settings, as well as their transformative effects, both figuratively and literally, upon animals, humans, and their interactions. Examining how anthropomorphic thinking "works" in a range of different contexts, contributors reveal the ways in which anthropomorphism turns out to be remarkably useful: it can promote good health and spirits, enlist support in political causes, sell products across boundaries of culture of and nationality, crystallize and strengthen social values, and hold up a philosophical mirror to the human predicament.

Past in Perspective: An Introduction to Human Prehistory

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Strong on Fossil Forms, Weak on Latter-Day Cultures
Putting more than the past into perspective

Past in Perspective: An Introduction to Human Prehistory
Kenneth L. Feder
Manufacturer: Mcgraw-Hill College
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0073107700

Book Description

This engaging introduction to the human prehistoric past presents the chronicle of human physical and cultural evolution. Rather than an encyclopedic, all-inclusive survey of the human evolutionary story, this text presents human prehistory within a framework of themes, issues, and debates.

Customer Reviews:

Strong on Fossil Forms, Weak on Latter-Day Cultures.......2006-01-19

I have used this book for about three years in my archaeology class, discontinuously I must admit. It's good for those who want a strong biological perspective in humankind's cultural evolution, but it comes up short when it comes to regional civilizations. Treatment of the state-level societies in each region (e.g., Mesopotamia, Egypt, China, Mesoamerica, Andean America) could be more detailed, and the book would be easier to follow if it used a sequence of culture model for each region from its Neolithic to florescence to decline. In treating fossil hominids and their material culture, from the earliest human and humanlike forms through the Lower Paleolithic to the Mesolithic traditions and their makers, however, this is a solid presentation.

Putting more than the past into perspective.......2000-03-31

Kenneth Fader's "The Past In Perspective" is a book designed for those who wish to learn the basics regarding the field of archaelology. Focusing on the cultural evolutions of mankind, Fader never lapses into the jargon so popularly found in some textbooks. This is a book designed to introduce over five million years of human evolution, so naturally it is best for those who are new to the topic. Although I used this book for my archeology class, it contains information that could interest anyone with a flair for history. All in all, it is easy of to follow and does its best to represent all sides of arguments that are presented, although at times it seems to stress a war between religous and evolutionary ideas that may, or may not exist as much as the author would like them to.

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