Evolution of the Human Diet: The Known, the Unknown, and the Unknowable (Human Evolution Series)

Product Description

Among the Gnostic treasures uncovered at Nag Hammadi in 1945 is this extraordinary spiritual narrative. In it, a third-century narrator known as Allogenesthe Foreignerrecounts a series of visions and divine revelations. He describes his spiritual progress: how he overcomes fear and ignorance and ascends into the divine realm as he experiences the transcendent Unknowable God. Karen King, a contributor to The Nag Hammadi Library in English, provides a new English translation of this work, along with complete original-language Coptic text, introduction, and extensive notes.

Customer Reviews:

Allogenes.......2006-11-06

The edition of this beautiful text is given in coptic diplomatic form and with its english translation. It is definitely an exquisite book in its contents and presentation, full of very useful scholarly notes, which add a very rich value to the book. This is a book worth having for scholars and for any lover of christian, gnostic or religious studies.

Rethinking the Fifth Discipline: Learning Within the Unknowable

Average customer rating:

A very readable and practical book on organisational learning
A challenging, thought provoking book!
Systems Thinking beyond Senge
A funeral parlor read -- the patient has died.
Original, profound yet easily understood and operationalised

Rethinking the Fifth Discipline: Learning Within the Unknowable
Robert Lo Flood
Manufacturer: Routledge
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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Systems Thinking: Creative Holism for Managers
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ASIN: 0415185300

Book Description

Written in a clear and straightforward manner, Rethinking the Fifth Discipline makes significant and fundamental improvements to the core discipline of systemic thinking. It establishes crucial developments in the context of the learning organization, including creativity and organizational transformation. Key features include a review and critique of "Fifth Discipline" and systemic thinking, an introduction to the gurus (Senge, Bertalanffy, Beer, Ackoff, Checkland, and Churchman), a redefinition of management, a guide to choosing, implementing, and evaluating improvement strategies, and practical illustrations.

Customer Reviews:

A very readable and practical book on organisational learning.......2006-05-04

Being a fan of Senge's work I was sceptical at first, but Bob Flood build on Senge's work and puts into a larger context of thinking holistically and futuristically.

He adds complexity into the mix in that we must prepare for the unexpected and yet unknown situations using his diagrammatical perspective on scenario planning. I also enjoyed his pages on Satori, his bookshelf metaphor on Process, Structure, Meaning and Fairness (Knowledge-power as he coins it).

The bottom line of the book as he puts it:
* we will not struggle to manage over things, we will manage within the unmanageable;
* we will not battle to organise the totality, we will organise within the unorganisable; and
* we will not simply know things, but we will know of the unknowable.

Flood co-authored `Creative Problem Solving' with Jackson, but I recommend getting this book instead as well as Jackson's later book `Systems Thinking: Creative Holism for Managers'.

A challenging, thought provoking book!.......2001-04-17

This book will provide you value if you're looking for information and analysis of system thinking, and wish to better understand Dr. Senge's seminal book "The Fifth Disciple". However, just as an historical introspective over the last 60 years, it's worth the price of the book alone.

Mr. Flood examines the Fifth Discipline under the careful eye of an academic researcher, bringing into play some of great system thinkers of the past to make his points regarding Senge's five disciplines. As these great thinkers are brought forth, windows of opportunities for new knowledge open up, as do gaps of unspoken positions in Senge's work.

I enjoyed this book very much, probably because it was so unique and carefully laid out. After all, how often to you see a book which is basically a term paper of another book, written by the best professor at the school?

I came away with not only a better understading and appreciation of the Fifth Discipline, but also with a clearer understanding of the history of system thinkers, and how they've each brought us a unique perspective to consider.

Systems Thinking beyond Senge.......2001-04-07

A nice one for the academics. I don't think busy managers would like it. Nevertheless, Flood provides a neat summary and background to all issues involving systems and systems thinking in general. His view that complexity science is a strand of systems theory and not something entirely new is important, especially for those contemplating a new management program based on complexity theory. Flood makes a number of interesting observations and provides some useful suggestions, though some may not be candidates for immediate implementation they do get one thinking. His practical animation of his experience and research at the local police in York in the UK is boring. The essence of systemic thinking as Flood points out is not something that can be easily explained, the notion of wholeness should not be trivialised. To attempt to explain the world in terms of systems and sub-systems does to systemic thinking what analysis does to SATORI - it strips it of all essential meaning. In this sense Flood goes beyond Senge, and I liked it very much.

A funeral parlor read -- the patient has died........2000-06-01

20000531: I have to warn people away from this book, or at least suggest that it be read at a page-a-second clip. What's wrong with it? It's simply analysis that is so process conscious that all it's good for, after painful mastery, in my opinion, is to critique events or "systems" after the fact-if ever! I can see all the fresh bureaucrats now, gathered around their impressive conference tables, watching with barely flinching expressions as bespecktacled "Floodites" make the case for "A" using analyses "A - Z" and sub-positories (sic) "a - z" using an endless succession of highly intelligent flowing diagrams -- a virtual "flood" of absolutely stunning (literally) and pointless DATA, that is intended to let you, eventually, "wall-off," and decide what to "embrase," and group hug the "97 architypes." Perhaps this all sounds good in the quarterly. Flood can't be too sure because there's a lot more stuff by author's "a - Z," and that's just for 1994. But relax -- it's all about "systemic thinking." "Systemic thinking is at the core." So it's -- "systemic." I hate to trash a good man but I would prefer a massage and a tape of wooded sounds. Actually what the professor is describing is what a consciously balanced human brain is supposed to be able to deliver, but with a bit more vigor. I think the professor needs a few magic stones and a trip to Greece. Can anyone _really_ make sense of this erudition? (from title page of part 1): "Knowing oneself following a system of thought, will simply create a result, i.e., oneself, produced by that system of thought -- not knowing oneself." And those bureaucrats? What's in their fresh (collective) mind is a basic _fear_ that holds them tight to the professor and creates lions out of lambs: "Defend the professor with your _life_, because if he's wrong, then that means all of academic structure crumbles." That's what I thought I could hear them thinking as I was watching them. I tear down the work that Mr. Flood and his pedegree erect, to make room for systems that work at least a thousand times better. It pains me to knock anyone's success but with all sobriety I say that as a class, habitually unchallenged professionals like this are more problem than solution.

Original, profound yet easily understood and operationalised.......1999-10-17

The content of Professor Flood's latest book is original and profound, but easily understood and operationalised, therefore this book can be considered a "must have" by academics, students, interventionists, consultants and managers alike. It successfully elucidates how the concepts of Systems Theory, Complexity Theory, Organisational Learning and Organisational Intervention are inextricably intertwined.

There is a significant degree of emergent synergy that arises from the complementarist use of the Senge's approach (as described within the "Fifth Discipline") when used in conjunction with Flood's guiding> frameworks for organisational intervention and improvement. In isolation, Senge provided his readers with guidance on organisational learning - but provided no pragmatic steps to guide organisational analysis and the actual selection and use of improvement strategies. Conversely, Flood's previous writings provided a guiding framework for facilitating organisational improvement but lacked the organisational learning approaches that are simultaneously required if the need for organisational improvement (i.e. change) is to be recognised, validated, operationalised, reflexively critiqued and assimilated as part of a revised organisational paradigm. Empirical studies have clearly demonstrated that without the tools to facilitate organisational learning, it is quite likely that the need and desire to implement change strategies will be attenuated by organisational defence mechanisms. (See the work of Argyris in this regard). Therefore, the augmentation of organisational improvement frameworks with organisational learning offers interventionists an enhanced degree of success.

Thus, by effectively combining his interventional strategies with the Senge's organisational learning strategies, Flood has successfully created a pragmatic approach that is more potent than the sum of its constituent parts. The emergent synergy is not by any means a coincidental by-product of the amalgam. Flood clearly explains how the inescapable and tangible manifestations of Complexity Theory require us to "learn our way into an unknowable future". Flood's book also effectively prepares the reader for the adaptations that will be necessary in contending with a dynamically changing organisational landscape.

Book Description

It's What You Don't Know That Counts

Discover the important roles chance and uncertainty play in successful strategic planning. In this ingenious work, author Ralph D. Stacey shows managers how their companies can benefit from the unexpected developments that impact their business and how they can prepare to creatively leverage the opportunities such developments present. He explains how an appreciation of conflict and team dialogue can help managers discover and build on the innate energy of their organizations. And he illustrates his theories with real-world examples from Sony, Kodak, Federal Express and other noted market innovators.

Customer Reviews:

Most organizations don't know they do this already.......1998-04-18

Very thought provoking and only after several weeks of 'mulling' over what I had read did I realize that the global corporation for which I work (along with many others I know)actually does achieve its competitive edge through these instances of creative bounded chaos--they just don't know it yet. Our striving to creative a 'long term strategic vision' is of itself an attempt to explain that which we do not know, cannot control or explain on a balance sheet. Self-awareness being the first step to self-actualization for the individual--the same would apply to my organization successfully navigating its' current transformation. Listening to the words of Stacey would assist enormously in this process.

Insightful, foundational integration of chaos & biz strategy.......1998-03-25

This book is a highly insightful integration of chaos theory with strategic management, a "must have" for anyone interested in "new science" practically applied in organizations. Stacey's description of an organization as a complex web of relationships in a state of bounded instability is brilliant. Strongly recommended for any manager seeking to avoid portrayal in "Dilbert" - and EVERY executive.

Real Is Unknowable, The Knowable Is Unreal

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Real Is Unknowable, The Knowable Is Unreal
Robert Powell
Manufacturer: North Atlantic Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Philosophy | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books

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ASIN: 1556435533
Release Date: 2005-03-29

Book Description

Wisdom is to reject conventional wisdom about almost everything.

Thus begins Robert Powell's inquiry into the nature of Totality and the unreality of all else. This small but profound book is divided into three parts. In the first, Reflections, Robert Powell comments on some of humankind's most timeless puzzles and questions: Does the body actually exist? What is man, if not that bundle of concepts and images that comes upon him at birth? The second, Interchanges, uses a dialogue format that recalls Plato's Allegory of the Cave, in which a teacher and student questioner in a modern setting discuss non-duality, consciousness, and reality. The third part, Essays, is comprised of eight essays, each only a few pages long but addressing overarching themes including consciousness, fear of death, the end of the search, and the notion of the real as unknowable. Readers will leave the book with a satisfying conclusion to a brief, luminous work that can be read again and again.

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The Unknowable Gurdjieff (Arkana)
Margaret Anderson
Manufacturer: Penguin (Non-Classics)
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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Knowing The Unknowable God: Theology
David B. Burrell
Manufacturer: University of Notre Dame Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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The Unknowable (Discrete Mathematics and Theoretical Computer Science)

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More annoying than amusing
Not a modest man but why should he be?
Future Classic - Beautiful Ideas
Save your money
A Complete Waste of Time

The Unknowable (Discrete Mathematics and Theoretical Computer Science)
Gregory J. Chaitin
Manufacturer: Springer
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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Godel's Proof

ASIN: 9814021725

Book Description

This essential companion volume to Chaitin's highly successful "The Limits of Mathematics", also published by Springer, gives a brilliant historical survey of the work of this century on the foundations of mathematics, in which the author was a major participant. The Unknowable is a very readable and concrete introduction to Chaitin's ideas, and it includes a detailed explanation of the programming language used by Chaitin in both volumes. It will enable computer users to interact with the author's proofs and discover for themselves how they work. The software for The Unknowable can be downloaded from the author's Web site.

Customer Reviews:

More annoying than amusing.......2004-01-21

First the good part about this book. Chaitins first chapter is quite good. Here he outlines the results of Godel, Turing and his own. It is very readable. Without going into the real mathematics he can really make you feel you understand these deep ideas. The later chapters go more deeply in to the ideas presented there and illustrate them with lisp computer programs. Especially the search for lisp programs that evaluate to themselves is amusing.

But let's now focus on the parts of the books that I did not like. His exposition is mixed with an account of how he first learned these result. I am charmed the first time when he explains how he read so many books as a kid. But soon I do not want to hear again what he felt as 12 year old. Also he keeps comparing his own work to that of other scientist. We really need to now that he is just as good as Godel and as Turing.
For example he takes pages to explain that Kolmogorov ripped of his ideas. What I also find funny as well is both chapter 1 and chapter 6 give an identical link to "my first major paper".

Sigh. He's the best, we get it, ok?, now please move on.

Then one more thing. The computer programs that he uses are in lisp. That is fine by me, lisp is a beautiful language. But do you think he uses any of the available dialects? No, of course not, he introduces he own strange version. The programs given do not run in clisp for example.

So to sum it up. I learned his own result on incompleness (that one cannot produce the shortes program for a particular function) and that is a nice result. Reading the rest of the book is more annoying than amusing.

Not a modest man but why should he be?.......2000-05-17

...reasons that I rated this a 5 star read.

Firstly I agree that Chaitin is not a modest man. I don't think that really matters, because he has made a major contribution to my understanding of this whole area which previously I had found almost impenetrable. The only other criticism I had is the excessive use of the exclamation mark!

In all other respects this is a superb book. I found the chapter introducing LISP a little dense (much like me) but I read a book called "The Little Lisper" which is a great book in itself and that helped me.

The real beauty of this book for me was working through the various LISP exercises and beginning to understand, to feel almost, the logic and concepts behind the work of people such as Godel and Turing.

In other words I felt able to walk for a while in the footsteps of geniuses - and I would count Chaitin among that number. END

Future Classic - Beautiful Ideas.......2000-05-13

In the 21st century mathematicians will debate the meaning of Chaitin's theorems just as we now debate the meaning of Godel's and Cantor's theorems. We have a rare opportunity here to read the author's interpretation. This book is wonderful. It is, by far, the most polished and most readable of Chaitin's publications. Much of the value of this book comes from the terse LISP proofs, which can be appreciated for their beauty and craftiness. The reader must not only read the proofs but also run the proofs. This can be accomplished by downloading the author's LISP interpreter applet.

If you like Hofstadter's GEB you'll love this book but you'll come out of it with a much more optimistic outlook. Hofstadter believes that man is just a machine. I don't think Chaitin shares that view. I know that Godel didn't share that view. Nevertheless, parts of mathematics are beyond our understanding. We have gotten use to the idea that there are true propositions that can't be proved. Chaitin defines numbers, like omega, that can't be known. But this means that there is no end to mathematics. It is optimistic because it means that theorems that have been proved and numbers that are known are all the more interesting. If something is unknowable well then it's just unknowable, but if you can know that it's unknowable then that's really remarkable.

Save your money.......2000-05-12

This Book is horrible. The only point of the Unknowable is to prove that Chaitin is as smart as Godel and Turing. The entire book can also be retrived off his homepage. If you want to have a good overview of this topic buy Limits of Mathematics by Chaitin.

A Complete Waste of Time.......2000-04-30

I checked out this book from the library with high hope. It turned out to be a complete waste of time. The only purpose of this book is to claim that the author is as great as Godel and Turing. The reason? Unknowable.

Average customer rating:

Affection for the Unknowable
Len Anderson
Manufacturer: Hummingbird Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: 0971637350

Book Description

The introverted childhood of this poet and physicist, the deaths of his parents, his work experience, and his daily encounters both inform and are illuminated by a spirituality grounded in the limitations on human knowledge.

Knowing the Unknowable God: How Faith Thrives on Divine Mystery

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Knowing the Unknowable God: How Faith Thrives on Divine Mystery
James R. Lucas
Manufacturer: WaterBrook Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Religion & Spirituality | Subjects | Books

General | Spirituality | Religion & Spirituality | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 1578566002
Release Date: 2003-12-16

Book Description

Meet the God Who Is Greater Than Your Biggest Questions.

The Bible never shies away from seeming contradictions. We are told both to resist our enemies and to love them, and that our all-knowing God can sometimes forget. Unable to reconcile such biblical paradoxes, some people abandon Christianity, while others pretend that the seeming contradictions don’t exist–preferring to believe in an uncomplicated, easy-to-comprehend God. Yet countless others are hungry for new insight into the God behind the Bible’s mysterious paradoxes.

Responding to this spiritual hunger, James Lucas delves into the mysteries of Scripture, demonstrating that biblical “contradictions” are actually exquisite paradoxes that enlarge our understanding of God.

With this book as your guide, you can embrace the paradoxes of Scripture and pursue honest answers to your hardest questions. The study of biblical paradox leads to greater devotion to the majestic God who makes himself known even while he surpasses human understanding. Today, you can begin Knowing the Unknowable God.

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