Amazon.com
Christopher Alexander, the humble messiah of good architectural design, invites readers to get comfortable with their inner judgments in The Nature of Order: The Phenomenon of Life. Best known as principal author of A Pattern Language, Alexander has designed and built countless projects worldwide, all the while thinking deeply about the nature of his work. Frustrated with the 20th century's reluctance to acknowledge human commonality and reliance on Cartesian mechanism, he urges us to rethink our understanding of space itself. With an architect's precision and clarity, he explains his theory of life as the order inhabiting space--an order both variable in degree and apprehensible to human minds. Though the scientifically minded will resist his seeming subjectivity, it will be hard for any to argue that his many examples of good and bad design are equivalent. Alexander's combination of powerful analysis and compelling synthesis makes The Nature of Order essential 21st-century reading. --Rob Lightner
Book Description
What is happening when a place in the world has life? And what is happening when it does not? In Book 1 of this four-volume work, Alexander describes a scientific view of the world in which all space-matter has perceptible degrees of life, and sets this understanding of living structure as an intellectual basis for a new architecture.
He identifies fifteen geometric properties which tend to accompany the presence of life in nature, and also in the buildings and cities we make. These properties are seen over and over in nature, and in cities and streets of the past, but have all but disappeared in the deadly developments and buildings of the last one hundred years.
The book shows that living structure depends on features which make a close connection with the human self, and that only living structure has the capacity to support human well-being.
The other three volumes of The Nature of Order continue this thesis with three complementary views giving a masterful prescription for the processes which allow us to generate living structure in the world. They show us what such a world must gradually come to look like, and describe the modified cosmology in which "life" as an essential quality, together with our inner connection to the world around us-towns, streets, buildings, and artifacts-are central to a proper understanding of the scientific nature of the universe.
". . . Five hundred years is a long time, and I don't expect many of the people I interview will be known in the year 2500. Christopher Alexander may be an exception."-David Creelman, author, interviewer and editor, HR Magazine, Toronto
Christopher Alexander is a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, architect, builder and author of many books and technical papers. He is the winner of the first medal for research ever awarded by the American Institute of Architects, and after 40 years of teaching is Professor Emeritus at the University of California, Berkeley.
Customer Reviews:
Gordon L. Prescott come to life?.......2006-09-25
Read 'The Fifteen Properties' excerpted in the 'First Nomination for Book of the Century' customer review, or any other excerpt, and then consider the words of Gordon L. Prescott from 'The Fountainhead':
"The flowing life which comes from the sense of order in chaos, or, if you prefer, from unity in diversity, as well as vice-versa, which is the realization of the contradiction inherent in architecture, is here absolutely absent. I am really trying to express myself as clearly as I can, but it is impossible to present a dialectic state by covering it up with an old fig leaf of logic just for the sake of the mentally lazy layman."
I wish I could give a 'no star' review, but amazon doesn't have that option.
Some of these reviews are flawed.......2005-12-04
Anne Broadbent's review below is completely unjustified. She writes "At the beginning of the first book, Alexander shows a beautiful pagoda - but I still think I wouldn't want to have one near me, in the guise of a shopping centre, school, house, gym, restaurant, bank or whatever: I'd rather see it in its original cultural setting." Alexander agrees completely with this point. His whole theory involves local adaptation following the fundamental properties and transformations that he has outlined in these books. Nowhere does he suggest that we should use the pagoda's form in any other cultural context. If you look at some of the examples he gives from nature you will understand this. He discusses the way sand dunes form following some of the fundamental properties. Does this mean he claims we should create sand dunes in the jungle? Of course not. Examples of buildings, places, and natural phenomena, are used as a means of displaying these fundamental properties and how these properties occur universally in phenomena which the majority of humans, and all other life forms would agree contain the quality of life. Throughout the series of books, Alexander provides hundreds of examples of human creations and natural creations to support his thesis. This may or may not be news to Miss Broadbent, but this is widely acknowledged as good scientific method.
Dissapointing.......2005-11-17
I very much enjoyed 'Pattern Language' and had great hopes for this series, however, after finishing book one, I am not sure I will invest in further volumes. I give the author credit for the time and effort spent in trying to develop his 'unified field theory' of good design, but unlike some of the common sense examples in Pattern language, this book moves to a level of metaphysical abstraction that seems to stretch the ideas past their breaking point. Not-Separateness? The Void? Though he makes a valiant effort, I just couldn't shake the fact that I was reading an after-the-fact justification of the authors pre-conceived tastes. Which essentially boil down to: old = good, new = bad.
Most off-putting also, were the scrawled, barely legible sketches that were meant to illustrate some of the principles. They are so poorly rendered as to be distracting and not very helpful to boot. I would expect more graphic sense from someone purporting to explain the universal secrets of good design. I really wanted to love this book, but I find it simply frustrating.
The actual physical book is not up to the ideals of the content.......2005-08-02
I haven't finshed reading the content of this book - this is more a comment on the delivery medium...
The 'hardcover' book more closely resembles a cardboard cover book. Mine is easily bent and permanently warped in multiple dimensions - makng it much more like your typical large paperback book than a $75 hardback book. It seems harder and harder for publishers to strike that balance between quantity and quality of pictorial content on the one hand, and quality and flashiness of the cover on the other.
This book changed the way I look at everything..........2005-07-10
As a total amateur, I have no design training. I am fascinated by architecture and design, but really only "know what I like". I read "A Pattern Language" when working on object oriented computer systems and find it fascinating - I still re-read it. So, when I saw this book, I was hoping that it would be interesting.
It is way beyond interesting. It completely changed the way I look at the world. It deserves to be read carefully, slowly, savored. Alexander makes his work accessible to both architects and lay people alike.
Bravo.
Even with two kids in college, I am going to spring for book 2. Higher praise could not be given.
Book Description
The processes of nature can make an infinite number of human faces, each one unique, each one beautiful. The same is true for daffodils, streams, and stars. But man-made creations-especially the towns and buildings of the 20th century-have only occasionally been really good, more often mediocre, and in the last 50 years have very often been deadly. What is the reason for the difference?
In Book 2, Alexander explains in detail the kinds of process that are capable of generating living structure. The unfolding of living structure in natural systems is compared to the unfolding of buildings and town plans in traditional society, and then contrasted with present-day building processes.
The comparison reveals deep and shocking problems which pervade the present day planning and construction of buildings. Pervasive changes are needed to create a world in which living process-and hence living structure-are possible; these are changes which are ultimately attainable only through a transformation of society.
It is the use of sequences which makes it possible for each building to become unique, exactly fitted to its context, and harmonious. And it is also this use of sequences which makes it possible for people to participate effectively in the layout of their own buildings and communities.
"This will change the world as effectively as the advent of printing changed the world . . ."-Doug Carlston, Silicon Valley luminary and former president of Broderbund
Christopher Alexander is a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, architect, builder, and author of many books and technical papers. He is the winner of the first medal for research ever awarded by the American Institute of Architects.
Customer Reviews:
Inspirational ideas, but take it slowly.......2007-01-04
I first discovered Christopher Alexander's book "A Pattern Language" about eight years ago and it has been a treasured companion on my bedside table ever since. I would highly recommend it as an excellent introduction to the framework of design concepts proposed by Alexander in subsequent books.
I decided to start with Book 2 in the "Nature of Order" series as one Amazon reviewer described it as the most "practical" of the four. I can best describe my overall reactions as excitement regarding the implications of Alexander's ideas, and disappointment that the text is so dense and repetitive that I fear that only the most committed of readers will persevere. I don't mean to dissuade other readers at all, but merely to warn you that Alexander's motto seems to be "why use one word when you can use ten, and then repeat yourself ten times." I believe a rigorous editing of the book would render it far more digestible without losing any of its inspirational magic.
Alexander provides philosophical, logical and practical examples of concepts of wholeness and flow in design and how these lead to "living" end products, whether these products are buildings, interiors, works of art or simple household objects. I am currently using these ideas to renovate my home and I can now see why some rooms "work" and others don't and what I can do to improve them. There are many photos of "living design" scattered through the book, to reinforce the concepts. In addition, you don't need to be independently wealthy to apply the ideas - you just need to be willing to think about how you like to live, recognise what feels comfortable and "right" in your environment and experiment with small changes to see how they affect the "feel" of a room or space.
I can strongly recommend this book for any fans of "A Pattern Language", but read it slowly and you will see how it provides a strong conceptual framework for using the patterns described in his previous book. I have just ordered Book 1 in the series and will gradually work my way through the remaining books - I may resort to using a highlighter pen to make it easier to re-read and absorb the ideas. (I recently heard an interview with Alexander which was produced by a Canadian radio station - luckily he speaks succinctly and presents very well in conversation).
A major achievement in aesthetics and architecture.......2006-06-22
One can make a strong case for Alexander's Nature of Order as one of the greatest advances in the entire history of aesthetics. Book 1 treats the expression of Life in art in its static form. Book 2 examines the dynamic process of life creation, in real life and in architecture. I can't do better than second what Professor Salingaros says below. He is a major figure in architectural aesthetics himself -- google him on the web and you will see.
In this volume, as in the others, Alexander presents his principles and gives examples both positive and negative, richly illustrated with hundreds of pictures, many in color. His examples are both historical, such as the evolution of St. Mark's Square in Venice over a period of a thousand years, and drawn from his own building experience, showing how he has gone about designing and building a structure in a way that maximizes its life.
Yes, it costs $75, but considering its aesthetic gravity and its 636 pages and all the illustrations, this is a bargain. I bought all four and am still benefitting by rereading them.
fascinating approach to architecture.......2005-04-02
I originally only intended to read book one of this series because they are so expensive; however, after reading the first, and becoming interested in Alexander's ideas, I have committed to the entire series. There is a lot of food for thought in these books, from the idea that there is actually a universal consensus on what is beautiful when one looks at things on a fundamental level, to the concepts that we spend too much time in this society on ornamentation and rule making to the exclusion of building things that actually enhance life. Book 2 in this series goes in depth into the concept that things can only be built to enhance life and be truly beautiful and useful if they are built in a sequence of appropriate steps. Alexander is changing the way that I look at the world. This is not a book for someone who just wants to know how to decorate a pretty house.
A Landmark Book.......2003-10-31
Review by Nikos A. Salingaros.
PART A. REVIEW FOR ARCHITECTS.
Contemporary architecture is increasingly grounded in science and mathematics. Architectural discourse has shifted radically from the sometimes disorienting Derridean deconstruction, to engaging scientific terms such as fractals, chaos, complexity, nonlinearity, and evolving systems. That's where the architectural action is -- at least for cutting-edge architects and thinkers -- and every practicing architect and student needs to become conversant with these terms and know what they mean. Unfortunately, the vast majority of architecture faculty are unprepared to explain them to students, not having had a scientific education themselves.
Here is an architecture book by an architect/scientist, just in time to help architects in the new millennium. Alexander discusses many of the scientific terms arising in cutting-edge architecture, and explains them to those who don't have scientific training or advanced mathematical knowledge. We find discussions of the evolution of forms; the importance of process in design; iteration; genetic algorithms; sequences of transformations; different levels of scale (i.e. fractals); etc. They are explained here by an architect who is also a scientist, because he wants to change the way architects think and build. Alexander is not merely popularizing other scientists' results and making them accessible to architects: he is in fact presenting new and original scientific work that ties many of these concepts together in a way that will be useful to architects.
Alexander spends many of the 636 pages of this book talking about PROCESS. He describes the sequence of steps leading to a built form, and how each step depends on all previous steps. Alexander distinguishes between good and bad sequences of steps, where the latter are marked by some disruptive discontinuity, and which, as a result, cannot lead to coherent form. It follows that the method of design taught in architecture schools for decades -- "conceive an interesting image in your mind, then impose it onto the environment" -- is wrong. ALEXANDER ARGUES THAT COHERENCE CAN NEVER BE ACHIEVED EXCEPT BY THE SEQUENCE METHOD. Don't forget this is the Alexander who wrote "A Pattern Language", an equally revolutionary book. Therefore, every architect, especially those whose own design methodology clashes with Alexander's ideas, is well advised to become aware of what he says instead of simply dismissing him offhand.
The present volume is the second of four. I believe that, with some effort, it can be read independently from the first volume (not that I am suggesting this, but merely to encourage people to plunge into Volume 2 immediately). This is the one of the four volumes that is most likely to appeal to those who are already interested in and actively working in applying the New Sciences to architecture. I therefore urge innovative architects and architecture students to read this book. In my opinion, it should enlighten everyone's conception of the design process, and help to initiate a reexamination in one's mind of how new ideas for structures and buildings are generated. This book might well influence in a major way how buildings of the future are designed and built, hence how they will look. No-one who thinks deeply and conscientiously about design today should pass it by.
PART B. REVIEW FOR SCIENTISTS.
Alexander is famous in the architectural world, yet he trained in Physics and Mathematics in Cambridge, and was part of the group of scientists who developed systems theory along with Herbert Simon. He has been investigating the interaction between science and architecture all of his life, and the four-volume work "The Nature of Order" contains the results of his researches. Volume 2, in particular, contains the most science. It may surprise many professional scientists that Alexander has managed to conceive of new results by applying architecture to science, surely a development that is as unexpected as it is novel.
This book contains interesting scientific insights. For example, already by page 42, Alexander proposes a radical rethinking of the standard Neo-Darwinian synthesis. He suggests that, based on a broad range of examples, evolving form in any context is driven just as much by intrinsic long-range forces having to do with geometrical configurations, as by the usual random Darwinian selection process. He thus takes suggestions by Stuart Kauffman and Brian Goodwin and develops them into a proto-theory of morphogenesis. It is not complete, and Alexander knows that, but I believe that the evolutionary biology community will get very excited about this idea. He supports his arguments by using phenomenology, and providing a theoretical basis wherever he can. I believe we are going to see a lot of activity, as ideas from this book inspire other authors to try to prove or disprove them. All of that is healthy, and will eventually establish Alexander as a contributor to scientific thinking.
My own favorite part is the discussion of how generative sequences break symmetry: instead of producing identical components (i.e., windows, houses, office blocks, apartments), the same generative process gives rise to similar types of complex objects that are individualized and thus distinct. This helps us to understand natural complexity, where adaptation does indeed produce diversity within the same typology. The underlying problem is how to correlate the different scales in a complex system, hitherto unsolved in any discipline. Therefore, this discussion is of great interest to computer scientists, who are grappling with modularization in software so as to handle the increasing complexity of code.
I am a scientist, and I have profited from Alexander's efforts to understand very deep problems in complexity. The price to pay is having to read through all the architectural examples (which may or may not be of interest to many scientists). Alexander is like a moth circling around fascinating problems. Even when he does not give a solution, his circling in fact identifies the problem, and by approaching it, he gives nontrivial hints towards its eventual solution. And, don't forget that it's the architectural stuff that's going to inspire architects to build a more beautiful world for the rest of us.
Customer Reviews:
On why we should eat bison instead of cattle........2007-08-09
Paul really outlines in alternating chapters the demise of the heartland's habitats for birds, grasses, and grazing herbivores that once dominated the scene. He explains some of the keys in this transformation, beginning with how we farm and how we farm. Ultimately though, he offers solutions and provides some hope that habitats for prairie animals and the prairies themselves could all return if our culture chose to eat Bison meat instead of cows. I read this when it was published many years ago and haven't for one day forgotten the lessons he taught me.
On alternate chapters there is story about him returning to his roots, which is nice to space out the heaviness of the serious chapters. This part of the story I can still remember a little about, but it's not the crux of the book, just Paul's style.
Book Description
For nearly forty years, Chet Raymo has walked a one-mile path from his house in North Easton, Massachusetts, to the Stonehill College campus where he has taught physics and astronomy. The woods, meadows, and stream he passes are as familiar to him as his own backyard, yet each day he finds something new. "Every pebble and wildflower has a story to tell," Raymo says.
In The Path, Raymo chronicles the universe he has found by closely observing every detail of his route. He connects the local to the global, the microscopic to the galactic, with a scientists's curiosity, a historian's respect for the past, a child's capacity for wonder. With each step, the landscape he traverses becomes richer and more multidimensional, opening door after door into astromnomy, geology, biology, history, and literaure.
"The flake of granite in the path was once at the core of towering mountains pushed up across New England when continents collided," he writes. "The purple loosestrife beside the stream emigrated from Europe in the 1800s as a garden ornamental, then went wantonly native in a land of wild frontiers. The light from the star Arcturus I see reflected in the brook beneath the bridge at night has been traveling across space for forty years before entering my eye. I have attended to all of these stories and tried to hear what the landscape has to say .... I have attended, too, to language. How did the wood anemone and Sheep Pasture get their names? What does the queset of Queset Brook signify in the language of Native Americans? Scratch a name in a landscape, and history bubbles up like a spring."
The path also reveals the stories of nineteenth-century industrialists who transformed natural resources into power, and turn-of-the-century landscape architects, such as Frederick Law Olmsted, who championed an ideal of nature tamed by conscious intent. In its transformations over the centuries, Raymo writes, the path "encapsulates in many surprising ways the history of our nation and of our fickle love affair with the natural world."
Recognizing that his path is commonplace, and that we all have such routes in our lives, Raymo urges us to walk attentively, stopping often to watch and listen with care. His wisdom and insights inspire us to turn local paths-- whether through cities, suburbs, or rural areas-- into doorways to greater understanding of nature and history.
Customer Reviews:
The miracles lie in the detail.......2005-07-23
For 37 years now Mr Reymo is walking the same one-mile path between his house in North Easton, near Boston, and his workplace, the Stonehill College, back and forth, nearly everyday. And he uses precisely this short path as starting point to his exploration of the miracles of Nature.
First he emphasizes on things he notices along his way (like the river, the forest, the rocky ground, animals, fossils, and so on) to make you aware of the all-abounding, but often overlooked, wonders that surround you. And then he gives scientific, but very readable, explanations of why these things are they way they are or where they came from. His elaborations cover multiple themes like biology, botany, astronomy and anthropology. To only name a few.
But what makes this book so intriguing is especially the fact that he focuses on little, simple, everyday things and then shows how they fit in the greater frame. It makes you curious and want to just start exploring your own backyard. And you will definitely see it with other eyes!
A Beautiful Walk Through Life With Prof. Raymo!.......2005-05-05
Chet Raymo, a physics and astronomy professor at Stonehill College, poetically and lyrically takes us on a "stroll" with him while he walks from his home in North Easton, Massachusetts to the college campus. He has walked this path for 37 years and by careful observation of the forested landscape, he has garnered an eternities worth of insights. One is immediately reminded or the keen observations and musings of Henry David Thoreau and John Muir, et al. "The Path" is written in an uncomplicated, approachable style for all audiences, and yet deep with wisdom and knowledge producing a broad spectrum view of the workings of the world.
And from Raymo's musings, we see the history of the Stonehill region come to life and how it has shaped the lives of generations of people, the flora/fauna and the "natural" landscape with special attention to the early entrepreneurs who most influenced the region, their motivations of nation building, personal wealth and the current display of their legacies.
We get an over-view of geologic transformations, biological processes, and the building blocks of all physical manifestations through the coding of DNA strands. The interconnectedness of all life and our tinkering with nature resulting in such side-effects and backlashes as global warming and broken down natural resource distribution cycles.
From the wintertime stroll, we get observations of: "The tiny six-pointed snowflake is, on a deeper level, a buzzing hive of molecular vibrations. And so, too, the lush diversity of life in the water meadow, examined more closely, resolves itself into a fandango of dancing molecules. The seen is a mask for the unseen. Our eyes open at birth to a flood of photons, but we must learn to see." (p. 146)
The careful observations of nature in action through all four seasons from a stroll on this path creates a summation of our evolving human relation to life on the planet in such thoughts as: "Knowledge once gained cannot be unlearned, and knowledge is power. For better or worse, the future of the planet has been handed to us, not by a deity but by fate. Stewardship of other creature is in our hands." "...an understanding of the ecological wholeness of the Earth suggest that our altruism should extend to other creatures, too: plants, animals, even microbes." And, "Environmental conservation-clean water and air, a steady climate- is in the interest of our species." (p. 171)
This is a beautiful melding of the thoughts and observations of such greats as the sociobiologist, E. O. Wilson, "The Future of Life", Thomas Berry, "The Dream of the Earth", et al. who are all in unison with the profound need for humanity to seriously embrace an ethic of life stewardship for the survival of our beautiful blue planet Earth. Thank you again, Prof. Chet Raymo!
Philosophy and Evolution.......2005-03-05
This book is a poor attempt at proving evolution. While I don't believe in evoltion but do believe in natural selection, I could still give a better argument for evolution than Mr. Raymo provides. Even though I had to endure the little evolutionary stabs he throws in to the mix here and there I did enjoy the history and the way he describes the beauty of nature.
pleasant stroll describes the read as well as subject.......2004-10-13
The Path is exactly what the title says it is, a one-mile walk which lends Raymo the small details of life and the world (monarch butterflies, a minor brook, blooming loosestrife) so that he may expand on them to larger, grander issues: the birth of the universe and our world, global warming, the impact of technology, etc. Both the stroll and the read are "pleasant" --short little jaunts that will seem at least somewhat familiar to many, especially those who would tend toward a book of this sort especially. The mini-essays on these larger issues dip in and out, offering the reader just enough information to keep them interested and while sometimes the brevity seems perfect, at others it comes across as a bit superficial. Raymo keeps the book grounded in the literalness of his walk and also in the local history, which though certainly less important and obviously more proscribed than the universe as a whole, at times is actually more interesting. Overall, Raymo keeps a nice balance on the three-legged stool of his physical walk along the path, his historical walk through the village's past, and his rational stroll through the science of nitrogen-fixing and star formation. Overlaying all three, permeating the entire work, is a spirituality that is warm, familiar, conversational, rarely didactic, often passionate, and always sincere. While the book was interesting and well-written throughout, I thought the writing ticked up in the last quarter or so to a more poetic, lyric style that was a true pleasure to read. Overall, the book is a good intro to the topics, its local history nicely balances the grander view, and if it reads a bit superficially or disjointed at times, those flaws don't outweigh the positives. It isn't a great book by any stretch, nor does it aspire to it. It is just as it's advertised, a pleasant stroll that now and then catches you by surprise in a moment of joyful appreciation. Recommended.
A path from the particular to the universal.......2004-08-14
At the end of the last chapter (before the epilogue) Raymo writes that the "ideal of humans living in harmony with tamed nature ... is a sturdy old myth, and in it we might still hope to combine the Enlightenment, with its confidence in the power of the human mind to make sense of the world, and romanticism, with its belief that all of life is a miracle."
That neatly sums up the main themes of this book, that describes the author's daily walk through the woods to work. The author wanders the path and all the thoughts and associations it provokes, seeking both ends: to make sense of the world, and to celebrate that life is a miracle.
The book does indeed wander. Under T in the index (unusual to find such a good index in a small book), for example, you can find Tao (Way); Technology; Thales of Miletus; Third World; Thoreau, Henry David; Thousand-monkey metaphor; Tibetan Plateau; Timber, harvesting; ...
In part they are connected by Raymo's story of how everything _is_ connected, and how in the particular we can find the universal. That is what he shows as he wanders the path from start to end. He starts with the particular - the names of streets, local history - and ranges in his genial, learned way - through the amazing journey of monarch butterflies, the DNA that shapes and is shaped by life - to the universal - the laws of nature, the mystery that so much is explicable, yet not entirely.
That is where the story touches on its deeper themes. Though he quotes Oscar Wilde, that "the true mystery of the world is the visible, not the invisible," he warns that "our senses are dulled by the tedium of the commonplace" and tries to remind us, and show us, vividly "that the ordinary is not ordinary at all, that the commonplace is miraculous."
Then The Path is at its best (and best read, not reviewed).
Book Description
How did everything around us-the air, the land, the sea, and the stars-originate? What is the source of order, form, and structure characterizing all material things? These are just some of the grand scientific questions Eric J. Chaisson, author of the classic work Cosmic Dawn, explores in his enthralling and illuminating history of the universe. Explaining new discoveries and a range of cutting-edge ideas and theories, Chaisson provides a creative and coherent synthesis of current scientific thinking on the universe's beginnings. He takes us on a tour of the seven ages of the cosmos, from the formless era of radiation through the origins of human culture. Along the way he examines the development of the most microscopic and the most immense aspects of our universe and the complex ways in which they interact.
Drawing on recent breakthroughs in astrophysics and biochemistry, Chaisson discusses the contemporary scientific view that all objects-from quarks and quasars to microbes and the human mind-are interrelated. Researchers in all the natural sciences are beginning to identify an underlying pattern penetrating the fabric of existence-a sweepingly encompassing view of the formation, structure, and function of all objects in our multitudinous universe. Moreover, as Chaisson demonstrates, by deciphering the scenario of cosmic evolution, scientists can also determine how living organisms managed to inhabit the land, generate language, and create culture.
Epic of Evolution offers a stunning view of how various changes, operating across almost incomprehensible domains of space and nearly inconceivable stretches of time and through the evolutionary combination of necessity and chance, have given rise to our galaxy, our star, our planet, and ourselves.
Customer Reviews:
Creation Story Told with Care.......2006-10-07
If the sciences haven't been natural for you, if you can appreciate but not calculate complex math, Prof. Chaisson gives the story of the universe. The marvels of physics, astronomy, chemistry, geology, biology and anthropology are told here without dumbing it down. You get a sense of the humility and thorough observation that show Chaisson to be a great scientist. His clarity and tight narrative show he's a great writer.
The extraordinary scales of distance and time are almost disorienting as he skillfully relates them. Throughout, he gives the wondrous sense of how chance has always been a part of the story.
I am fascinated by his explanation of the working of thermodynamics: how flows of energy are structured and systemized to achieve ever greater energy densities in ordered complexity. He shows how these principles relate to the creativity and power of all phenomena, from stars to ideas.
While Chaisson provides access to scientific insights into all levels of reality, he leaves us with a profoundly humanistic care for the destiny of life, especially how human culture may influence reality, offering the hope for an "Ethical Epoch."
Outstanding Book About Cosmic Evolution.......2006-06-22
This book is an updated version of the author's 1981 book Cosmic Dawn. Chaisson uses considerable poetic license in projecting emotions on inanimate objects such as stars and planets as well as on scientists. This is one of the rare academic science books that is difficult to put down once you start reading it.
This is an unusually good science book.
The Best Understanding that We Have.......2005-12-11
This book is an updated look, using the most recent theories of the history of the Cosmos. It takes about half the book to get to the formation of the earth, made out of heavier elements that were cooked in the atmospheres of stars, and to the point where chemistry could begin. After that he looks at the evidence of the smallest and earliest ancient cells left in the fossil record.
After the transition has been made to where life exists he describes the growth from the very beginnings to the changes that have made mankind.
Through the whole book he describes and illustrates the basic scientific method where a theory is established, it is tested by experinent and observation and finally modified as needed to meet the changed data. To be valid, the theory must also predict unknown things. As you examine the theory, you move along to get to the next step, and if evidence is found to support the prediction the theory is considered better and better. This description alone sets this book apart from many others.
As best we can possibly tell, this is how we and everything else came about.
Book Description
"Scientific writing at its very best" (Wall Street Journal), these twenty-nine essays emphasize the breadth and humanity of the scientific endeavor. All royalties benefit Share Our Strength's antihunger programs.
Average customer rating:
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Life in the Universe Essays
Carl Sagan
Manufacturer: Audio Scholar
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Accessories:
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Sony WMFX479 Walkman
ASIN: 1879557517 |
Book Description
The only collection of the Pulitzer Prize winning astronomer's essay to appear on audio or in print.
Customer Reviews:
NOT ENOUGH STAR STUFF.......2005-07-16
As a Sagan fan I was hoping for more. The lectures are out of date, of course, and the statisics are totally off the wall now with new info for 15 years but I knew and expect that going in. What disappointed me was that this very small collection has so much repetative material. The man gave lectures for 30 years on TV, talk shows, radio, books and in hundreds of classes and all that they could find was a few repeat lectures?
It still gets 3 stars because if you haven't heard Sagan, and you have any interest in if "we are alone," then this is still a worth while buy. If you'd like to him at his best try "The Demon Haunted World."
Average customer rating:
- Touching, thought provoking...
- Nostalgic Humor
- WOW, this book sent me through a full spectrum of emotions
- If you can read only one more book, read THE AMATEUR PARENT
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The Amateur Parent: A Book on Life, Death, War, and Peace, and Everything Else in the Universe!
William Isaac Douglas
Manufacturer: Smartaichi.com
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
Personal Transformation
| Self-Help
| Health, Mind & Body
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General
| Parenting
| Parenting & Families
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Personal Transformation
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Look Inside Parenting Books
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ASIN: 1893634159 |
Book Description
As the title says, "a book on life, death, war, and peace, and everything else in the universe!"
A profoundly inspirational book that explores and celebrates all the great issues of our time and our lives through the everyday experiences of . . . an Amateur Parent (aren't we all?).
This collection of two or so page vignettes weave together a tapestry that readers have called, "Moving!" "Magical" and "A rare book of truth."
This book was the product of an angelic experience it's author Bill Douglas had, reinforced by a miraculous message from his mother who'd passed away years before. However, as ethereal as it's inspiration was, the tales told in it's pages are folksy, down to earth, and yet at the same time expansive and profound.
Both hysterical and heart breaking, the common thread of all the adventures of amateur parenthood within it's pages, is compassion. You will discover that you are not alone in the self doubts and issues you confront in parenthood and life. And you will shed some tears and share some laughs with the entire human race, as this book's universal message helps you feel a part of a greater whole of the amateur human beings that inhabit this beautiful world.
Customer Reviews:
Touching, thought provoking..........2003-07-03
What a book! And what a nice man... For anyone out there who thinks they may not be doing such a great job at this parent thing it's a great read... you realise that you're actually not doing too bad, that you can't be perfect all the time and are allowed to make mistakes - and learn from them, because after all that's what they're for. It makes you think, then it hits you that however long your childs life is it isn't that long at all... I for one will take a little step back, take a deep breath and enjoy my son a little more.
Nostalgic Humor.......2002-11-27
One of my favorite memories growing up was sitting around the fire pit in my grandparent's backyard. Those summer nights with the crisp breezes would carry embers of the roaring fire my Grandfather couldn't help feeding. With every twig or twist of paper he's poke in, a story would ignite. Its those "I remember when's" that educated me, inspired me, molded me and triggered my youthful imagination.
Now, thirteen years after his passing, the embers no longer blow in the crisp breeze . . . but the "I remember when's" are continuing on. Only now, instead of embracing my Grandfather's spirited recollections and insights, it is the words of others I am capturing. William Isaac Douglas, author of the Amateur Parent, pens the words of the latest "I remember when's" and tales of insight I drank in.
These words, however, are different. Douglas intertwines lessons and pieces of nostalgic moments into bits of writing and pieces of poetry all sprinkled with wit and humor. At just the right moment, you'll find quotations from singers, writers and the like. While learning about him and his family, you can't help but learn about you and yours.
This inspirational work, comprising of 154 pages, is a relatively quick read. I wasn't able to put it down - each turn of the page unfolded a mystery both within the life of his amateur parenthood and my own. I found myself related to a lot of what he wrote and expecting to experience that which had nothing to do with me or my family. This book taught me that the journey never ends and the journey of my own parents continues.
Jennifer Hollowell -- Editor -- This Book Reviewer
WOW, this book sent me through a full spectrum of emotions.......2002-10-05
WOW, this book sent me through a full spectrum of emotions. I was laughing, crying, and completely inspired by it's words. The book touched me deep in my heart.
I read it on my way to Washington DC this past week. I just got home this evening. It allowed me to view my fellow man in a new
light while I walked the countries capital.
Dr. Michael Steward, Sr.
Team USA -- Senior Coach
If you can read only one more book, read THE AMATEUR PARENT.......2002-09-27
Bill Douglas has written a fine book about parenting, but this book is so much more. It's about learning and teaching, and mostly it's about love.
"One of the things parenthood has done for me, or "to me", is that I have been forced to see my parents with wholly new eyes -- in a way meeting them for the very first time." "I am so grateful to my children for helping me rediscover my childhood, and my parents as the real people they were, struggling to do a good job -- just like you and I are."
This understanding, that children are basically innocent, and we parents bring them out learning experiences, not meaning to teach them prejudice or anger or hostility, is Bill's revelation. "Each new generation is proof that God has not given up on us," says Bill, quoting Deepak Chopra.
The Amateur Parent gets you to look inside yourself and the journey you've made so far. And understand that respect for God-like innocence children are born with is the same respect we must share with all of humankind. After being rough on his daughter because she wouldn't listen, Bill reflected, "I think when I get home we'll have a talk, about what they need, and what I want. Then maybe we'll hold hands and walk a new path . . . a little higher than fear . . . a little farther than wrath."
The Amateur Parent is about wisdom and courage and beauty. William Isaac Douglas has discovered and now imparts the importance of loving and understanding and respecting one another. And he does it with grace and humor and timeless insight. If you can read only one more book, that book should be THE AMATEUR PARENT - A Book on Life, Death, War and Peace, and Everything Else in the Universe.
Richard Fuller -- Senior Editor -- Metaphysical Reviews
Average customer rating:
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Cosmology, Ontology, and Human Efficacy: Essays in Chinese Thought
Richard J. Smith
Manufacturer: Univ of Hawaii Pr
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
General
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Chinese
| Eastern
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Cosmology
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General
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ASIN: 0824814436 |
Customer Reviews:
A senior scientist reflects on the human condition and provides advice for the future .......2007-08-16
Dyson reflects here on the 'dome of many - colored glass that stains the white radiance of eternity' our richly varied world. He shows a commendable humility in his reflections on the place of life in the Universe. Originally given as public lectures to a scientifically literate public Dyson opens with a consideration of problems of biotechnology.
In one section he writes about three heresies he espouses, one in which he suggests that global warning is not perhaps the awesome danger many see it to be. In another reflection he speaks about the divisions between 'humanists' and 'naturalists' the latter being those who wish to preserve 'nature' and believe nature's way superior. He talks about his own native England about the poverty of the natural landscape until human beings transformed it to the land of meadows and moors, of pastures and green farmland. He considers himself a 'humanist' who believes that mankind's mission is too in transforming nature for the better. And this though of course he is aware of the dangers of this, of those we have created for ourselves. In another realm he speaks about his belief that the U.S. is about to be replaced as the world's major power most likely by China but perhaps by Brazil or India. He suggests that about one- hundred and fifty years is all the time a major nation can be predominant before it becomes over- extended in every way. He suggests the U.S will reach this point around 2070.
In speaking to young people about the future he warns about rapid changes making obsolescent the professions and work they have trained for. But he concludes with a modest and somewhat optimistic word of advice to them.
"The main lesson that I would like them to take home is that the long-range future is not predetermined. The future is in their hands. The rules of the world-historical game change from decade to decade in unpredictable ways. All our fashionable worries and all our prevailing dogmas will probably be obsolete in fifty years. My heresies will probably also be obsolete. It is up to them to find new heresies to guide our way to a more hopeful future."
"
The biased review sets the stage for all further input........2007-08-13
Freeman Dyson is one of the most forward thinking people of the last 100 years. For some book review to simply dismiss his resume out of hand is absurd. This is a complex issue that demands we think with our heads and not with our hearts. The study of this issue requires that those familiar with the complex mathematics involved have a say so, and not just climate scientists with only a cursory understanding of the machinations of their climate models....twhair@fgcu.edu
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- The Quantum Theory of Fields, Volume 2: Modern Applications
- The Rise and Decline of Nations: Economic Growth, Stagflation, and Social Rigidities
- This Moment on Earth: Today's New Environmentalists and Their Vision for the Future
- Water and Power: The Conflict over Los Angeles' Water Supply in the Owens Valley
- We, the Jury: Deciding the Scott Peterson Case
- Why the Cocks Fight: Dominicans, Haitians, and the Struggle for Hispaniola
- Wills' Mineral Processing Technology, Seventh Edition: An Introduction to the Practical Aspects of Ore Treatment and Mineral Recovery
- 1001 Do-It-Yourself Hints & Tips : Tricks, Shortcuts, How-Tos, and Other Great Ideas for Inside, Outside, and All Around Your House
- A Crack in the Edge of the World: America and the Great California Earthquake of 1906 (P.S.)
- An ABC of Witchcraft Past and Present
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