Book Description
What you see is not always what you get - and this true story of a man and his dog is no exception. Woven just under the surface of this simple parable, Keller presents profound spiritual truth. It is the story of Lass, a worthless animal thought to be untrainable, who becomes a magnificent and valuable sheepdog - not terribly unlike how God's love can transform our worst characteristics into blessings that serve to further His Kingdom. Allow yourself to see Biblical truth in this classic tale of what can happen when you yield to the Master.
Customer Reviews:
Excellent Books / Excellent Buy.......2007-09-28
Loved this book - a wonderful story of Love through the eyes of a shepherd. Lass is a sheepdog who is abused and unloved. Her transformation when she is loved by her master is a picture of our transformation when we receive God's (our master's) love.
Lessons from a Sheep Dog.......2007-04-28
The write ups were misleading. I bought this book for my grandson, only to find it contained Christian propaganda. "Obey the Master's voice" ??? please...
Engaging, light read - recommend for all.......2006-10-09
This book is warm story that shows the relationship of trust and loyalty built between an abused dog and his new owner. I highly recommend it to any and all.
Worthy of a re-read from time to time. Among other messages, a gentle reminder of the spirit of service we are all meant to demonstrate!
Great book for dog lovers.......2006-07-09
I gave this book to a friend for her birthday. She has a dog just like Lass and could relate very closely to the author's experiences. She loved the book. I am reading it now and agree completely. Great book for any dog lover.
Lessons from a Sheep Dog.......2006-03-20
Be sure to get this little book to go with "A shepherd looks at psalm 23". It will open you eyes to your relationship with our good shepherd and it may put you to shame as to how willing are you to follow His call.
Amazon.com
Rosemary and Peter Grant and those assisting them have spend twenty years on Daphne Major, an island in the Galapagos studying natural selection. They recognize each individual bird on the island, when there are four hundred at the time of the author's visit, or when there are over a thousand. They have observed about twenty generations of finches -- continuously.
Jonathan Weiner follows these scientists as they watch Darwin's finches and come up with a new understanding of life itself.
Book Description
Winner of the Pulitzer Prize
On a desert island in the heart of the Galapagos archipelago, where Darwin received his first inklings of the theory of evolution, two scientists, Peter and Rosemary Grant, have spent twenty years proving that Darwin did not know the strength of his own theory. For among the finches of Daphne Major, natural selection is neither rare nor slow: it is taking place by the hour, and we can watch.
In this dramatic story of groundbreaking scientific research, Jonathan Weiner follows these scientists as they watch Darwin's finches and come up with a new understanding of life itself.
The Beak of the Finch is an elegantly written and compelling masterpiece of theory and explication in the tradition of Stephen Jay Gould.
Customer Reviews:
The Beak of the Finch.......2007-07-16
Brilliant writing and organization shows that evolution can occur in as short a time frame as two years. Never boring. The non-scientist will find this book of our changing world a good read.
Wonderful science and a great narrative.......2007-04-14
"Beak" is perhaps the best popular book on evolution between Darwin and Dawkins.
Thoughtful, educated persons must know certain facts about the physical world. One of those facts is evolution. Evolution happens, it is not "just a theory."
As the author explains through the story of the work of Peter and Rosemary Grant, we can see natural selection operate in real time, season by season, in fish, birds, bacteria, and throughout the natural world. The explanation of evolution may be somewhat more open to debate but you can't participate meaningfully in the debate without being armed with some facts.
Don't bring a knife to an intellectual gunfight. Arm yourselves.
One of the Best Books on Nature.......2007-02-22
I have read much on evolution, and the evolution controversy in (primarily) the United States. This book does a wonderful job of demonstrating how scientists, right now, are recording and observing natural selection in action. Before I read this book I was not aware of how much information we really have about evolution and natural selection occurring in "the wild" on an everday basis. This book provides thorough mathematical evidence and predictive models of how natural selection changes the morphology of Darwin's Finches on the Galapogos Islands. It interleaves that story with a decent primer on evolution and snippets of other, similar research, going on right now too.
For example, it describes some fasicinating experiments conducted showing how quickly natural selection will change the color of Amazonian guppies based solely on the color of the rocks in the pools in which the guppies live, and the frequency of predation. It is amazing. As I read more about evolution, I see that rates of evolution vary widely. Evolution operating slowly (over 1000's or millions of years) is pretty obvious. This book provides a window into the amazing world of "rapid" evolution.
The best part about it is that it is as much a journalistic endeavor as a well-written book. This is NOT a polemic about why evolution is better than other ideas. This book simply reports the facts. If you don't understand evolution or believe it can be true after reading this book, then you aren't really trying to understand.
Finally, this book deserves the awards and accolades. It is well-written, well-researched, and well-organized. I don't give many books five stars, but this one is worth it. I would recommend it for anyone: scientists, kids, and just people interested in learning and fascinated by the world around us.
Excellent quality -- arrived in good time.......2007-02-10
The book is in excellent shape, and it arrived in a timely fashion.
Beyond Darwin.......2007-01-19
If you're only slightly interested in the ways the evolution works, then this is it. But beware to have some knowledge about the basics of evolution before moving on to this book. There's a bit of a steep learning curve when you're not all to familiair with Darwin's brilliant theory. It also gives a nice insight in the way scientists work.
Book Description
Grayson is Lynne Cox’s first book since Swimming to Antarctica (“Riveting”—Sports Illustrated; “Pitch-perfect”—Outside). In it she tells the story of a miraculous ocean encounter that happened to her when she was seventeen and in training for a big swim (she had already swum the English Channel, twice, and the Catalina Channel).
It was the dark of early morning; Lynne was in 55-degree water as smooth as black ice, two hundred yards offshore, outside the wave break. She was swimming her last half-mile back to the pier before heading home for breakfast when she became aware that something was swimming with her. The ocean was charged with energy as if a squall was moving in; thousands of baby anchovy darted through the water like lit sparklers, trying to evade something larger. Whatever it was, it felt large enough to be a white shark coursing beneath her body.
It wasn’t a shark. It became clear that it was a baby gray whale—following alongside Lynne for a mile or so. Lynne had been swimming for more than an hour; she needed to get out of the water to rest, but she realized that if she did, the young calf would follow her onto shore and die from collapsed lungs.
The baby whale—eighteen feet long!—was migrating on a three-month trek to its feeding grounds in the Bering Sea, an eight-thousand-mile journey. It would have to be carried on its mother’s back for much of that distance, and was dependent on its mother’s milk for food—baby whales drink up to fifty gallons of milk a day. If Lynne didn’t find the mother whale, the baby would suffer from dehydration and starve to death.
Something so enormous—the mother whale was fifty feet long—suddenly seemed very small in the vast Pacific Ocean. How could Lynne possibly find her?
This is the story—part mystery, part magical tale—of what happened . . .
Customer Reviews:
Wonderful story.......2007-09-28
This is a great story, I love the book and have given it to many friends
More self-absorbed than interesting.......2007-08-30
From the black, inky black, so very black ocean at the start to her misunderstanding of gray whales and sonar at the end, Grayson romps along but never quite gets there. I found myself repeatedly flipping to the author biography on the jacket flap, wondering how on earth Lynne Cox ever got published in The New Yorker...and how she could have apparently spent so much time in the ocean without learning very much about its inhabitants.
From the reviews, I was prepared to read about a singular connection between a human being and a gray whale made one lonely morning...instead I found a self-absorbed "true" story about a young woman's encounter with a young whale that wandered off course for several hours, then met up with its mother again. Despite Lynne's self-proclaimed connection with the ocean, she doesn't even realize the young whale is swimming near her until pointed out by her friend on the pier. And then suddenly she feels she is the one totally responsible for the whale, even swimming insanely out to an oil derrick offshore to stay with Grayson. Although she places herself front and center, this event involved many people, including dockside workers, lifeguard patrols, fishing boats, and even the ship Queen Mary. This comes as a slight shock to the reader, as her emphasis on the singularity of her swim with the whale initially has us believing the book is about her interaction with the whale, rather than a multi-pronged rescue effort. It would have read better as a simple narration of what happened, instead of her projections of what the whales were thinking, complete with dopey imaginings of telepathic whale-human connection.
I think there is a nice little story in here somewhere, but Lynne Cox desperately needs better editing, and would have done better to have written it as "based on a true story", which would have allowed the plethora of animal description and interaction without causing readers familiar with marine fauna to suffer from eyeroll strain.
Good read aloud.......2007-08-20
Because of the music of the prose here and the subject matter, this is a great little book to read aloud to kids. It's a charming little story, with a bit of oceanography thrown in.
For an afternoon on the sun porch..........2007-07-31
Greyson is a tale by Lynne Cox in which she has a close encounter with a large ocean dweller. Having taken place in her teens, this story is her "coming of age" in a few short hours. This book probably won't change your life, but it might just shift your perspective a little - and that is a good thing.
A bit of a disappointment.......2007-05-22
This book was a bit of a disappointment for me. I was hoping for a story about a whale, but got the reminicenses (sp) of a woman remembering...well, herself rather than the whale. She prattles on about her open-minded thinking and brash individualism. Whatever. I wanted to hear about the whale and the ocean. I suppose this could be taken as a motivational speech; but, again, I was hoping the whale would take center stage. I also wish she had written this as a younger woman so that we might have experienced some of her wonder and awe (at the creature -- not herself).
Average customer rating:
- Never received...ordered 3 times!!!
- A book to take you away from everyday life
- A Favorite
- Never got item - it was unavailable
- Nice to look at....PERIOD
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Island Life: Inspirational Interiors
India Hicks , and
David Flint Wood
Manufacturer: Stewart, Tabori and Chang
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Caribbean Elegance
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Island Beauty
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Tropical Interiors
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Caribbean Style
ASIN: 1584793171 |
Book Description
It's the ultimate escape fantasy: Trade in the rat race for life on a tropical island and all the languid luxury that it evokes. For India Hicks and David Flint Wood, the dream became reality when, after high-profile careers-she as a fashion model, he as an advertising executive-the couple left the city behind for the Bahamas. Five years and three children later, the husband-and-wife team have impeccably restored three houses and one hotel. Fusing traditional European design with Asian, African, and Caribbean influences, the resulting interiors reflect their love of intense color and their keen sense of style-inherited on India's side from her father, the renown interior designer David Hicks, and further enhanced by the family's travels.
In Island Life, the secrets of these sumptuous, unique homes-used as locations for Ralph Lauren, J. Crew, and Vogue magazine, among others-are revealed in intimate detail. With panoramic color photographs, David Loftus captures not only the eclectic combinations of antiques, flea market finds, and modern furnishings, but also the overall ambiance of the tropics. For those who share David and India's dream, this is where to start planning.
Customer Reviews:
Never received...ordered 3 times!!!.......2007-06-19
You may or may not receive this book. Like another reviewer, my order was never completed. I ordered it THREE times, waited 6 weeks each time...and then was informed my order was cancelled because it was unavailable. The last time I ordered it, I called them and they "assured" me it was "IN STOCK". Later, I was notified it was unavailable once again. Its bizarre! Don't hold your breath waiting for this one. It may be a great book, but I will apparently never know.
A book to take you away from everyday life.......2007-01-03
I found this book an absolute dream. The pictures are superb and the text is so unpretentious and simple. I loved the way the family has created such a simple and beautiful house (or houses) unlike so many of the gaudy mansions of the rich that inhabit the Bahamas.
I have visited Harbor Island and the lifestyle appears so slow and easy that it really appears to be a paradise. India points out though that there is a price to be paid. The climate does make it difficult to maintain property.
In summary, I loved the book, the words and the pictures and I read it from cover to cover in a little under two days. It left we wanting a simpler, more balanced life and sunshine!
A Favorite.......2006-07-31
I find myself reaching for this book over and over again. In it the authors generously give us a glimpse of the life they have made on a small island in the Bahamas. With a lot of hard work and no pretension, they have gotten it mostly just right. Their houses are neither overdone nor underdone, but pleasing to the eye, soothing and liveable. Highly recommended.
Never got item - it was unavailable.......2006-07-30
Never got item - waited several weeks and then was notified.
Nice to look at....PERIOD.......2004-06-27
The cover was very appealing. First impressions etc;. The inside photos even more so. The writing however sounded like the ramblings of a spoiled child living in an unreachable reality sometimes and at other times, the snobbery of an aristocracy only appreciated in the mind of the writer and those who really believe that paradise can only be created by the writer.
I live in the Bahamas and so yes I have a paradise of my own, but does anyone really care about 'my personal paradise' so much that they would read about it. I think not. The thing that makes simple beauty, well simply beautiful is simply leaving it alone.
Final thot; Nice to look at.....PERIOD.
other books I own - CARIBBEAN STYLE; CARIBBEAN ELEGANCE; ISLAND STYLE.
Customer Reviews:
Outstanding Resource.......2007-07-16
I would imagine that most visitors to the Galapaos are not naturalists. For those without a strong background in natural sciences, I would highly recommend this book. The book is easy and fun to read, detailed without being tedious. The photos are amazing and the author's passion for the islands is evident. If you only have time to read one book, this is one I would advise a Galapagos visitor to read in advance of their trip.
A wonderful introduction to the life of this fantastic place.......2006-04-29
My wife and I bought Jackson's book in preparation for a trip to the Galapagos. The book served us well; when we arrived at the islands we felt that we were almost on a first-name basis with all the fantastic creatures and plants that make the Galapagos such a fascinating place. The book is considerably more than just a field guide; it includes information on the islands' history, their environmental and ecological setting, and the conservation efforts being made to preserve this truly unique place. And, as the title indicates, the book provides a lot of natural history, not just a brief summary of bare facts about each animal or plant. Not only is it a fine guide, it is a most enjoyable read.
The Guide's bible on the Galapagos.......2004-08-11
Every naturalist guide in the Galapagos has this book. They also sell this book at the Charles Darwin Center in Santa Cruz, and it is a must read. It explains how the islands came about and what makes them so unique. I highly recommend this book!
The one book needed when travelling to the galapagos.......2000-08-15
I just recently returned from the Galapagos Islands, and the book that guided me throughout my journey was this book by M.H. Jackson. Very easy to find the animal you are looking, and also helps to discover more creatures to look for. Helped explain things further from what the guides had said. Also helped me in answering many people's questions about different creatures. A Great book! A must for all travelers to the galapagos in search of unique wildlife.
Undoubtedly the best overview of "Darwin's Islands"........1998-05-21
I am a biologist that has been working in the Galapagos as a Naturalist leading tours there for the last 6 years. Michael Jackson's book is the "Bible" for the beginning naturalist and certainly more than adequate for the casual "ecotourist". Jackson covers all major aspects of the history, geology, ecology, and biology of the islands. In the "biology" section, he gives a clear, concise, but thorough group-by-group treatment of all major taxa including plants, reptiles, land and sea birds, mammals, and a brief section covering marine life. While there are other guidebooks available, none come close to the accuracy, clarity of presentation, and logical format of this book. Of particular usefulness are the many photos, tables, and graphs which provide a visual representation of many of the topics discussed and a synthesis of large amounts of data.
Amazon.com
That the United States government engaged in dangerous biological research during World War II will come as no surprise to Americans jaded by revelations of secret medical experiments and radiation exposures. But that the accident-plagued facility where it happened--and continues to happen--is just off the coast of Long Island may alarm many readers of Michael Christopher Carroll's Lab 257. Carroll, an attorney by trade, gamely takes on complex microbiology and shady government record-keeping in telling the story of Plum Island, home of the Animal Disease Center--no place for a casual picnic. The lab, initially set up by the Army to research ways of destroying Soviet farm animals (and to keep them from destroying ours), has often dealt with bacteria and viruses that can be passed from animals to humans. Carroll draws compelling causal links between Plum Island and the introduction of Lyme disease, West Nile virus, and duck enteritis, all non-native germs that wreaked sudden havoc in North America, and all germs that Plum Island scientists were allegedly working with. With hurricanes and terrorists on his mind, Carroll asks readers to imagine a scenario in which the Plum Island lab might release pathogens into the most densely populated area in the country. He ends the book with two chilling questions. First, does the United States need a research facility that investigates animal pathogens with potential for human transmission? Second, considering that Plum Island never had a particularly good safety record, is it the right place for such a facility? Lab 257, while occasionally veering into unsupported speculation, introduces key questions to the debate on biological security in the 21st century. --Therese Littleton
Book Description
Nestled near the Hamptons, the fashionable summer playground of America's rich and famous, and in the shadow of New York City, lies an unimposing 840-acre island unidentified on most maps. On the few on which it can be found, Plum Island is marked red or yellow, and stamped U.S. government—restricted or dangerous animal diseases. Though many people live the good life within a scant mile or two from its shores, few know the name of this pork chop-shaped island. Even fewer can say whether it is inhabited, or why it doesn't exist on the map. That's all about to change.
Lab 257: The Disturbing Story of the Government's Secret Plum Island Germ Laboratory blows the lid off the stunning true nature and checkered history of Plum Island. It shows that the seemingly bucolic island on the edge of the largest population center in the United States is a ticking biological time bomb that none of us can safely ignore.
Based on innumerable declassified government documents, scores of in-depth interviews, and access to Plum Island itself, this is an eye-opening, suspenseful account of a federal government germ laboratory gone terribly wrong. For the first time, Lab 257 takes you deep inside this secret world and presents startling revelations including virus outbreaks, biological meltdowns, infected workers who were denied assistance in diagnosis by Plum Island brass, the periodic flushing of contaminated raw sewage into area waters, and the insidious connections between Plum Island, Lyme disease, and the deadly 1999 West Nile virus outbreak.
An exploration of the complex world of microbiology, viruses, and bacteria, Lab 257 also shows how the U.S. Department of Agriculture, which ran Plum Island for the last half century, is far more than wholesome grade-A eggs and the food pyramid. The book probes what's in store for Plum Island's new owner, the Department of Homeland Security, in this age of bioterrorism. And for those interested in questions of national security and safety, it is a call to action for those concerned with protecting present and future generations from preventable biological catastrophes.
Lab 257 will change forever our current understanding of Plum Island -- a place that is, in the words of one insider, "a biological Three Mile Island."
Customer Reviews:
Interesting and frightening read.......2007-04-11
I picked up this book on a whim because I love the conspiracy theory-type books about all the shady government projects. As it turns out, this book really disturbed me.
Carroll, an attorney, wrote this book over the course of seven years, during which he requested government documents under the FOIA, conducted interviews with current and former employees of Plum Island, researched the connection to US-harbored Nazi scientists, and the inevitable decline of lab conditions under the new American trend of "privatization". Carroll visited the island himself before his access was pulled; he never states exactly why this happened. The book outlines the creation of the labs, how and why the island location was chosen (prevailing winds blow out to sea rather than inland, or so they said at the time), how it went from the US Army's jurisdiction to the USDA, and from there how the program went into a long, slow decline in standards, safety, and hazards. The chapter on the hurricane was terrifying in itself - you can feel the terror the maintenance workers must have felt knowing how helpless they were to prevent a potential "biological meltdown".
The book brings up some interesting potential connections between the labs on Pulm island and the relatively sudden appearance of Lyme disease and West Nile virus. Even if the research into animal diseases is the absolute truth, you still can't help but feel incredibly suspicious that the highest concentration of both Lyme and West Nile began in and around Connecticut and Long Island - the closest points of civilian population to Plum Island. Couple that with the discussion of bird migration and mosquito infestations, and you're inspired to do further reading on your own to uncover more of the truth - you can't take anything at face value, but any time the US government is involved on this large of a scale, healthy skepticism of government denials is required.
For those who wonder if we aren't already seeing "bioterror" attacks in the form of salmonella and e. coli attacks on our food manufacturing facilities and mad cow disease ravaging British livestock, this book is a must read on the programs that Richard Nixon supposedly ended in 1972.
The U.S. Government exposed...again........2006-12-13
I don't know about most American's, but I for one am fed up with the insane amount of government corruption. Every day there is something new discovered, or admitted by the government that shows how the principle that one's government should benefit them and protect them before anything else is falling apart. Lab 257 exposes the truth about some of the nation's greatest mysteries, including the outbreak of both Lyme disease and the West Nile virus, both unseen in the United States until after Plum Island's research on the substances, both originating in the area immediately surrounding the island. Carroll ultimately allows the reader to draw their own conclusions about the nature of the Biological Time Bomb known as Plum Island, but as for me, it is quite obvious that the American government is not always working for its people. The sad truth, the harsh truth, must be known; reading this book is essentially to destroying the ignorance so prevalent in the mass society we live in, the ignorance towards politics and just what exactly is going on in terms of biological research. The greatest threat to America is not from Islamic terrorists, but from its own government's lack of care for the most dangerous of situations. Plum Island is one startling example of such blatant disregard, and Lab 257 ingeniously exposes the true nature of its past, present, and frightening future.
Worth your time!.......2006-08-08
Quick read that will really make you question your government. While the intentions were good in the beginning..it just goes to show what happens when we get lazy about certain things (security) and start neglecting important details.
This one will have you scratching your head about the intelligence of our government. I only wonder if this would happen in a post 9-11 America.
Hurricane Bob, Hurricane Katrina = Government Keystone Cops.......2006-03-14
Read and become informed of an enemy within, your? government's arrogance coupled with incompetence. But they did stay at a Holiday Inn Express! With leaders like these who needs enemies? Plum Island brings on the West Nile virus, Lyme disease & many more. Yes, the point of origin, Plum Island USA, a biological laboratory doing dangerous germ/bacterial warfare expermintation. Your tax dollars are killing you! Surprize, Surprise! Well researched by an author who lived it for more than 5 years before publishing. The mainsteam press won't touch this! Its simply too true. Off limits for public consumption. You be the judge.
Lab 257.......2006-03-01
Carroll has done his homework - he documents all the chilling incidents in the history of this "lab of terror." His speculations on the origins of Lyme Disease are thought-provoking, too. A good read with a lot of detail.
Average customer rating:
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Island Biology
Sherwin Carlquist
Manufacturer: Columbia University Press
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Binding: Hardcover
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ASIN: 0231035624 |
Book Description
Rarely do science and literature come together in the same book. When they do -- as in Charles Darwin's On the Origin of Species, for example -- they become classics, quoted and studied by scholars and the general public alike.
Margaret Mead accomplished this remarkable feat not once but several times, beginning with Coming of Age in Samoa. It details her historic journey to American Samoa, taken where she was just twenty-three, where she did her first fieldwork. Here, for the first time, she presented to the public the idea that the individual experience of developmental stages could be shaped by cultural demands and expectations. Adolescence, she wrote, might be more or less stormy, and sexual development more or less problematic in different cultures. The "civilized" world, she taught us had much to learn from the "primitive." Now this groundbreaking, beautifully written work as been reissued for the centennial of her birth, featuring introductions by Mary Pipher and by Mead's daughter, Mary Catherine Bateson.
Customer Reviews:
This book is a LIE!!!!!!.......2007-04-30
Please do not buy this book. It is a lie about Samoans. How could she have learned to speak well enough to comunicate with Samoans in 5 months.
watch "Margaret Mead and Samoa"
or read Derek Freeman's work against the book.
The book is all a lie!
Somwhere between Freeman's vitriol and an ameteur' s efforts.......2007-04-19
I was the Medical Director of American Samoa a few years after Mead's six
month in Ta'u, a village in the Manu'a group and spent over two years there. On my trips to Manu'a I found and talked to Chief Tufele and those Mead worked with. With two years study of Hawaiian I was able to converse with them quite easily. Mead studied Samoan for only six weeks in Pago Pago.
There are many errors and self-projections in the work of a 23-year old girl fresh out of college on her first field trip, but not enough to incur
Freeman's wrath. About half of his criticisms are not true.
Let's not be hasty.......2006-09-13
In answer to "Mead's Samoa hoax has been exposed" (see below), which is based largely upon Derek Freeman's work.
Derek Freeman's work has also engendered debate, given its own problems. Both methodology and (inevitably) conclusions have been shown to be suspect. For instance: some of Mead's subjects survived long enough into old age to be questioned by Freeman, whereupon they stated that they lied to Mead regarding their past behavior. With what certainty can it be presumed that they are telling the truth now?
But I shan't go on. Suffice it to say that it is of little use to base a critique of one book (Mead's) based upon another of equally unsound and uncertain scholarship (Freeman's). It is simply dishonest of the writer of that review to attempt to discredit Mead by quoting Freeman, while (conveniently) omitting to mention that Freeman's work is not accepted either.
Without being able to either substantiate Mead or debunk her, her book remains fascinating for its own sake, more than for its admittedly tenuous conclusions, and is interesting not least for the insight that it gives into the nature of its author.
Mead's Samoa hoax has been exposed.......2006-02-23
In the unpaginated `Preface [to the] 1973 Edition', Margaret Mead stresses that her description of Samoan moeurs should be read as applying to conditions at the time of her research. She finds it needful to `shout' that advice because during her 1971 brief visit to Samoa, `young critics even asked me when am I going to revise this book and look unbelieving and angry when I say that to revise it is impossible'.
This is a reference to an abrasive session with students who told her that her description of fa'aSamoa (Samoan custom) was false and insulting. They were miffed by her styling Samoans `primitives' and her pronouncement that since anthropologists enjoy an `immense superiority', they can `master the fundamental structure' [of primitive society] . . . `in a few months' (p. 8). In keeping with this arrogance, Samoans attending university were told by their instructors that their experience of fa'aSamoa was not valid evidence against Mead's scientific study. And, as we've just seen, Mead refused to revise her book even when she knew that it is mistaken in many particulars.
For Samoans this patronizing manner was the familiar voice of the papalagi (the colonial power). Mead's hosts on her field trip, aware that she enjoyed the protection of the Pacific Fleet admiral and Boss of American Samoa, went to great lengths to provide reliable information. When they learned of what they call her luma fai tele (`shameless defamaton'), they could not comprehend how she could have betrayed their hospitality. They were also aggrieved that she deceived them about her marital status. For she accepted the title taupou (ceremonial virgin) although as a married woman she was ineligible. Then she disgraced the title by carrying on with Aviata, a young man regarded as a rake.
While Samoans long knew the mendacity of this book, its correction in academic circles commenced only with the 1983 publication of Derek Freeman's Margaret Mead and Samoa: The Making and Unmaking of an Anthropological Myth (Harvard University Press). That event shook anthropology to its boots. Such was Mead's prestige that the popular mind identified her with anthropology. If her credibility was seriously questioned in respect to the most widely believed anthropological study ever published, the credibility of the profession was at risk. That is why Freeman was attacked with great ferocity, even by those who agreed with his critique.
Freeman's book initiated a reappraisal of Coming of Age in Samoa. Martin Orans and Freeman have recently published studies of her Samoa investigations based on her field notes. They confirm that Mead's account of Samoan sexual moeurs is a travesty. But they go beyond that. Mead recorded the accounts given by her informants, but by ignoring key facts, twisting others, and inventing still others, she contrived to represent Samoa as a free love duck pond. She also misrepresented the research she carried out. She was funded to conduct a study of adolescent girls; and she states that she spent `six months accumulating an intimate and detailed knowledge of all adolescent girls in the community'. Her field notes tell otherwise. She devoted her time to assembling ethnography; the funded study never got off the ground. She states that she conducted `all' her interviews with these girls in the Samoan language (`I spoke their language and ate their food'). Orans found however that her information on adolescent girls came from `English-speaking informants using English to communicate'. He notes that `no conversations in Samoan are recorded in any of the field materials'. This is consistent with Freeman's finding that the study of adolescent girls was not conducted at all.
Mead built her picture of free love by tossing off unsupported one-liners. The `inept lover is a laughing stock'. There are `no neurotic pictures, no frigidity' in Samoa. Masturbation `is a universal habit'. Homosexual activity is `very prevalent' and is regarded as `simply play'. `[Samoan] girls' minds were perplexed by no conflicts . . . [to have as] many lovers as possible and then to marry . . . these were uniform and satisfying ambitions'. The field materials do not show that Mead collected any evidence whatever about masturbation, homosexuality, or incidence of neuroticism and frigidity. She had but one informant about intimate sexual moeurs--an eighteen year old school teacher. In 1981 that person told Freeman that he had an affair with Margaret. Thus Samoa's alleged free love amounts to no more than a loose wife's gullibility to the pillow talk of her teenage lover. Such is the `science' that made this book famous.
Research on Mead's field notes clarifies a feature of this book that has puzzled many readers. It is the drastic and repeated inconsistency between Mead's descriptions of Samoan vigilance of virginity and punishments of straying girls, and the attribution of a casual attitude toward sexuality. What we now can see is that Mead patched her free love pillow talk into descriptions given to her by her adult informants.
How is that anthropologists for so long were taken in by a popular book? One part of the answer is that many weren't taken in. The controversy brought to light numerous statements to this effect. Thus Weston LaBarre wrote: "When I was a graduate student in anthropology at Yale in the late '30's, Mead's Sex and Temperament came out. Puzzled that even a big island like New Guinea should have had three tribes waiting to be discovered to prove her point about the non-biological nature of gender, I went to Edward Sapir with my puzzlement. He said laconically, `She's a pathological liar'. I was startled as much by what he said, as by the fact that an eminent anthropologist and chairman of a department should say this to a mere graduate student. But over the years, I have come to believe that this is literally the case." The next round in the evaluation of Mead's anthropology, we may hope, will collect and critically assess this largely unpublished expert opinion.
Hiram Caton
Editor, The Samoa Reader: Anthropologists Take Stock.
read it for yourself.......2005-12-28
Famous books in any academic discipline draw a lot of attention (thus making them famous). When negative, most such attention arises from personal jealously about the success of others, and given that Mead is a woman, she draws additional scorn from male academics (and their female supplicants). As a result, many myths develop and circulate around academic departments, and even worse, people rely on textbook (mis)representations in place of their own reading. I encourage anyone with serious interest in traditional Samoa and/or anthropology to read this book for themselves, consider Mead's evidence and analysis, and develop your own assessment. Clearly, most of the reviewers here have not read the book. By the way, I give the book four stars because it does have flaws, but read it and decide for yourself.
Average customer rating:
- Galápagos on your coffee table
- Visually stunning, comprehensively informative.
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Spectacular Galapagos (Spectacular)
Tui De Roy
Manufacturer: Universe
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
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Galapagos (IMAX)
ASIN: 0883638479
Release Date: 1999-09-28 |
Book Description
Over millions of years the story of the Galapagos has been one of birth, death, and rebirth, as volcanoes rise above the "hot spot" only to crumble back into the sea and be replaced by new ones. This cycle has given way to a "magic web" where antediluvian dragons sleep alongside gull chicks and, in the sun-baked interiors, gigantic cacti become the only source of moisture for birds and animals. These islands inspired Charles Darwin's theory of evolution when he explored them aboard the HMS Beagle in 1835.
A pairing of spectacular photographs and insightful text by the award-winning author explores this unique island setting, a collection of animals and an environment unparalleled anywhere on earth.
Customer Reviews:
Galápagos on your coffee table.......2000-08-31
I treasure the time I spent in Ecuadór's Galápagos Islands, "Las Islas Encantadas". Tui De Roy has managed to capture the essence of these wondrous islands as much as can be done photographically and make them accessible to everyone. A wonderful gift for those who love nature, or those who have been there.
For those who are going there, add Michael Jackson's book on the natural history, Paul Humann's book on the underwater and Barry Boyce's guide book. Tui De Roy's book will whet their appetite and serve as a vivid reminder after the trip is over.
Visually stunning, comprehensively informative........2000-02-03
The author moved to the Galapagos Islands at the age of two and spent over thirty years exploring their natural wonders: Spectacular Galapagos is an oversized presentation pairing a natural history text with spectacular full-page color photos of the Galapagos creatures, blending a coffee table presentation with scientific facts. Highly recommended: Spectacular Galapagos is an astonishing visual wonder in and of itself.
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This re-examination of the Trobrianders of Papua New Guinea, the people described in Malinowski's classic ethnographic work of the early 20th century, provides a balanced view of the society from a male and female perspective, including coverage of new discoveries about the importance of woman's work and wealth in the society.
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A Whole New World.......2000-04-28
Annette Weiner has really captured the essence of the people of the Trobriand Islands in this ethnography. She was following in the footsteps of Malinowski a well known person in her field. She was not afraid to question his findings or contradict his beliefs. In the course of this ethnography, readers will come to know the culture of the Trobriand Islands. You will understand the importance of yams in their every day life. The rituals that you know see has odd will be proven to be spiritual and have more purpose that you could have ever imagined. You will learn in detail what the death of a Trobriander means to the entire community. Reading this book will leave you in awe of these people. You will learn of a culutre that is of matrilineal descent and what that means to them. This novel will open your eyes to a whole new world. A world of traditions and spiritual beliefs. The people of the Trobriand Islands will amaze you and you will walk away from this book with more knowledge and more respect for this people than you could have ever imagined.
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