Amazon.com
Explaining what William McNeill called The Rise of the West has become the central problem in the study of global history. In Guns, Germs, and Steel Jared Diamond presents the biologist's answer: geography, demography, and ecological happenstance. Diamond evenhandedly reviews human history on every continent since the Ice Age at a rate that emphasizes only the broadest movements of peoples and ideas. Yet his survey is binocular: one eye has the rather distant vision of the evolutionary biologist, while the other eye--and his heart--belongs to the people of New Guinea, where he has done field work for more than 30 years.
Book Description
Winner of the Pulitzer Prize. In this "artful, informative, and delightful" (William H. McNeill, New York Review of Books) book, Jared Diamond convincingly argues that geographical and environmental factors shaped the modern world. Societies that had had a head start in food production advanced beyond the hunter-gatherer stage, and then developed religion --as well as nasty germs and potent weapons of war --and adventured on sea and land to conquer and decimate preliterate cultures. A major advance in our understanding of human societies, Guns, Germs, and Steel chronicles the way that the modern world came to be and stunningly dismantles racially based theories of human history. Winner of the Pulitzer Prize, the Phi Beta Kappa Award in Science, the Rhone-Poulenc Prize, and the Commonwealth club of California's Gold Medal.
Customer Reviews:
Very insightful, a worth while read.......2007-10-06
I highly recommend reading this book. Diamond provides compelling evidence for the disparity between civilizations. Any fan of history or just anyone curious about the rise of our current state will find a great read in Guns, Germs, and Steel.
guns,germs and steel.......2007-10-05
great perspective other than what we in western cultures traditionally have in in our relations with 3rd world countries
Dimly Focused.......2007-09-25
Though erudite and crammed with information, some of it a bit arcane, "Guns, Germs, and Steel"suffers somewhat from a blunted point of view. Is the author trying to tell us that some of our assumptions concerning the rise of cultural norms are over simplified? If so, he might have done so more forcefully with fewer words, more carefully selected facts, and perhaps a more lucid writing style. Do some societies prevail because their native tongue is more efficient and expressive than those employed by other cultures? Following that theme might have made for a more intriguing book. Are there some determinisms at work in every culture which inhibit the fulfillment of its destiny? Maybe the author thinks so, but the massive brush used to paint such a scenario causes the entire work to shimmy through a mass of frequently fascinating material without conclusions. The book's excessive length detracts from its compelling points: we live, some of the time, at the mercy of gigantic forces we do not control. Do genetics control our formation, or climate, or enormous economic systems? And who can give us convincing answers? Anthropologists, sociologists, and psychologists of course come to mind. But what of poets, seers, artists, and theologians? Maybe Jared Diamond knows, but by the time he finishes inundating us with facts, some slightly pretentious, it's hard to tell for sure. I had hoped this book's scope and claim would give convincing guidance. But because it lacks definite focus, it did not.
Guns Germs and Steel review.......2007-09-24
This is an excellent book, the hypothesis is very compelling and interesting. I watched the DVD in addition to the book and I was not disappointed at all. Worth the read!
A modern, scientific "just so" story.......2007-09-23
One of the most important books of our time; it single-handedly wipes out every justification for racism, and gets to the roots of why humans groups are where they are presently. An amazing synthesis of disciplines into one very readable explanation of how it came to pass that Europeans happened to be the ones that colonized the rest of the planet instead of some other group. The most clear example I've ever seen of why archaeology, and all the social sciences are not only important but vital to modern people. The better our understanding of the past the more likely we are to be able to let go of the emotionality that keeps us at each other's throats. A modern "just so" story.
Average customer rating:
- Not Free SF Reader
- Fascinating and provocative
- Haunting and horrifying
- Embarrassingly bad
- Great Book
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The Sparrow
Mary Doria Russell
Manufacturer: Ballantine Books
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The Shadow of the Wind
ASIN: 0449912558
Release Date: 1997-09-08 |
Amazon.com
In 2019, humanity finally finds proof of extraterrestrial life when a listening post in Puerto Rico picks up exquisite singing from a planet which will come to be known as Rakhat. While United Nations diplomats endlessly debate a possible first contact mission, the Society of Jesus quietly organizes an eight-person scientific expedition of its own. What the Jesuits find is a world so beyond comprehension that it will lead them to question the meaning of being "human." When the lone survivor of the expedition, Emilio Sandoz, returns to Earth in 2059, he will try to explain what went wrong... Words like "provocative" and "compelling" will come to mind as you read this shocking novel about first contact with a race that creates music akin to both poetry and prayer.
Book Description
ONE OF ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY'S TEN BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR
"A NOTABLE ACHIEVEMENT . . . Russell shows herself to be a skillful storyteller who subtly and expertly builds suspense."
--USA Today
"AN EXPERIENCE NOT TO BE MISSED . . . If you have to send a group of people to a newly discovered planet to contact a totally unknown species, whom would you choose? How about four Jesuit priests, a young astronomer, a physician, her engineer husband, and a child prostitute-turned-computer-expert? That's who Mary Doria Russell sends in her new novel, The Sparrow. This motley combination of agnostics, true believers, and misfits becomes the first to explore the Alpha Centuri world of Rakhat with both enlightening and disastrous results. . . . Vivid and engaging . . . An incredible novel."
--Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
"POWERFUL . . . Father Emilio Sandoz [is] the only survivor of a Jesuit mission to the planet Rakhat, 'a soul . . . looking for God.' We first meet him in Italy . . . sullen and bitter. . . . But he was not always this way, as we learn through flashbacks that tell the story of the ill-fated trip. . . . The Sparrow tackles a difficult subject with grace and intelligence."
--San Francisco Chronicle
"SMOOTH STORYTELLING AND GORGEOUS CHARACTERIZATION . . . Important novels leave deep cracks in our beliefs, our prejudices, and our blinders. The Sparrow is one of them."
--Entertainment Weekly
SELECTED BY THE BOOK-OF-THE-MONTH CLUB
Customer Reviews:
Not Free SF Reader.......2007-09-03
A bad book by a mundane religiously focused writer trying to be a science fiction writer, and failing, in general. Obvious, tedious, and worse than mediocre. This sort of thing has been handled many times before to considerably better effect. The religious preaching is so overt it causes you to grit your teeth and groan.
Fascinating and provocative.......2007-08-08
A fascinating and wholly original imagining of first contact with extraterrestrial life. A suspense story that builds patiently, dropping tantalizing crumbs along the way. Most profoundly, a meditation on the hard questions about God's involvement in our daily affairs, and his responsibility for evil in the universe.
I'm surprised to read so much praise for Doria Russel's characters, as they are the only aspect of the novel that keeps me from giving 'The Sparrow' a five-star rating. I found secondary characters like Voelker, Anne and Supaari to be more believable and fully imagined than the protaganist Emilio Sandoz, and his cardboard attraction Sofia. That aside, this is a powerful novel you will not soon forget.
Haunting and horrifying.......2007-08-05
My reaction to this book was much the same as "Reader's." The book is beautifully written, and the author crafted characters about whom a reader can truly care. I was mesmerized by a tale so wonderfully and deeply original, and I could not put the book down. But as the story progressed toward its ending, it changed into something sinister -- filled with shocking images and events. A bright promise and a fantastic read turned into a tale of unimaginable savagery. It was as though two different authors had written the story. Like "Reader, "I could not wait to physically separate myself from this book. My father taught me a deep respect of the written word, but this novel sickened me so much I was actually compelled to throw this book away. My apolgies to the author, but she has the talent to do better than to taint her work with graphic horror and sadism.
Embarrassingly bad.......2007-07-13
A sophomoric concept hamfistedly executed, with a cast of characters you just keep hoping will die already. Not remotely good enough to take itself as seriously as it does.
Great Book.......2007-06-28
I wouldn't hesitate to suggest this to anyone. It's themes are universal and it touches them all well.
Average customer rating:
- Calculations are only as good as your numbers
- Pants on fire?
- Accepted History & Chronology Must Be Changed.
- Very Interesting
- History as Science Fiction
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History: Fiction or Science? (Chronology, No. 1)
Anatoly Fomenko
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History: Fiction or Science? Chronology 2 (Chronology)
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History: Fiction or Science? Astronomical methods as applied to chronology. Ptolemy's Almagest. Chronology III
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ASIN: 2913621058 |
Book Description
Recorded history is a finely-woven magic fabric of intricate lies about events predating the sixteenth century. There is not a single piece of evidence that can be reliably and independently traced back earlier than the eleventh century. This book details events that are substantiated by hard facts and logic, and validated by new astronomical research and statistical analysis of ancient sources.
Customer Reviews:
Calculations are only as good as your numbers.......2007-08-03
Yes, we can all agree that mainstream history is nearly 100% BS due to politics, economics, ego, problems with dating techniques, and various conspiracies. Agreed. But, I've been researching the distinct possibility that human history (in terms of civilizations) are much more ancient than we've been told, so coming across this book was very interesting to me. I wondered how Fomenko could be wrong (if at all) because he is very persuasive in his presentations. Then it dawned on me. If at previous times in prehistory, due to the various catastrophies that are well documented (comets, asteroids, planetary disruptions, plasma discharge, pole reversals, etc) the Earth was in a different position in relation to the sun, different tilt on its axis, different orbit, different rotation (in terms of velocity and DIRECTION), and the continents were in different positions, then would this not cause the ancients to see the sky (constellations) differently? In other words, is Fomenko making erronious assumptions about the physics of the Earth in pre-history, which then corrupt his data with regards to dating the relevant astrology? The last event to seriously disrupt our planet occured roughly 3500 years ago, according to other good researchers, so is it possible Fomenko has been confused by this? The vastly different physics of our planet in the not so distant past may explain this confusion, which is not to say the "mainstream" version of history is correct; on the contrary. I am not an expert in these fields, but wanted to see if this idea could spark discussion.
Pants on fire?.......2007-07-19
Will people ever read before spamming? Yes, Jesuits could not rewrite world history alone, they had help. Anyway, Dr Prof Acad A.Fomenko does not point to jesuits as the driving force of world wide history manipulation in published volumes 1,2,3;, actually he barely mentions the poor devils. Check it with 'Search inside' feature, please. China is rarely mentioned either, in fact, Dr Fomenko is completely eurocentric. Right, his theory contradicts all mainstream schools of history, because in their actual state they are all built on blatantly erroneus chronology. You don't need a mysterious cabal (conspiracy) to falsify history, the falsification is its modus operandi. It is inherent to history(ians) to falsify (distort) events, as it is inherent to humans to boast as it is inherent to power (authority) to legimize itself by referrring to glorious past made to its own order. Dr Prof Fomenko and team have identified scores of instances of such manipulation in Russian, European, etc.. history, and delivered valid statistical proof thereof. His own 'reconstruction' is completely another story. Forget c14 as a valid method of dating. W.Libby has initially discovered a brilliant method of INDEPENDENT dating. Too bad, c14 method has become a joke after a forced marrige with dendrochronology with consensual chronological scale inbuilt. Radiocarbon method can't stand blind tests, but is so very productive as a rubberstamp.
Accepted History & Chronology Must Be Changed. .......2007-04-09
There is no doubt that history as most know it is a sham, & institution's version of History both University & Church is fradulent & inaccurate. Everything was established with an agenda, The real "Dark Ages" are now when we have access to incredible amounts of information past authorities & more important 'common folk' didn't have but our institutions & educators are slow to evolve because of what has ignorantly & arrogantly been taught for too long. This is on many subjects not just Chronology.
For anyone to question "Why would a Mathematician have anything credible to say of History?" The answer is from Dr. Fomenko's preface in the book: "It would be worthwhile to remind the reader that in the XVI-XVII century Chronology was considered to be a subdivision of Mathematics." These volumes could possibly be some of the most important works to date & should be read by everyone with an interest in History, especially professors & educators who have a duty to the public. I have read both books & must say that 'Chronology 1' has some very eye opening & revolutionary information. Even if these volumes are part true the implications are profound & opens the doors to further investigations & questions which must be done. I speak several different lanquages & must say the logic Dr. Fomenko uses with "inflection" of words & words being read from left to right in one region & right to left in another then written backwards, the removal of vowels & get down to basics of words, or different cities & locations having the same name etc. is correct. Vowel usage has always been optional & varied, actually complicating linquistics & study. The first thing one has to understand is that words never had a fixed spelling in history like we do now, the spelling of words was mutable & regional, as well as names & titles of people were vast, varied & changed, NOTHING WAS FIXED or understood linear. Matters of Life & Death as well as financial profiteering yesterday & today were & are made with ignorant, illogical & conspiratorial views of history & reality, it's time people get closer to the Truth & society collectively grow up.
Very Interesting.......2007-03-07
It is a good proposal and I believe it will mature into something even better in the future. I think it deserves to be read.
History as Science Fiction.......2007-01-10
Anatoly Fomenko has written a very intriguing book, full of pictures, charts, and computer 'proof' of his thesis: backwards of AD900 we don't really know what happened or when. Between AD900 and AD1600 there is more certainty, but there is still a lot of fuzzy ground, and things don't get reliable until we get past the 1600's where the printing press made it very difficult for the perpetrators of this timeline manipulation to change anything that had been committed to print. The Dark Ages did not happen. Books were burned for a reason. One organization has doubled the actual length of its existence by expanding the real chronology. Read why.
I had always wondered why Christ died about AD33 and yet men waited until the 11th century to form the Knights Templar, the Cathars, etc and go after the Holy Land by force. Why the 1000 year gap? Turns out there wasn't more than a 10-12 year gap and he proves it using astronomy. This also implies that the planet is not as old as we have been told, and current Christian and other creationist scientists are already championing that idea without being aware of Fomenko's book. The two groups, creationist scientists and the Russian mathematical analysts corroborate each other. Fascinating.
Of course, all this flies in the face of what we have been told traditionally is the 'proper' chronology of western civilization, and most readers will experience 'cognitive dissonance' in reading this book. It means that our history going backwards from AD1600 becomes progressively more incorrect and unreliable until it cannot be trusted at all... in the space of 700-800 years.
Naturally, the curious, open-minded reader will want to know WHO did this, WHY, and did any of the events we think of as really ancient ever happen?
Dr. Fomenko is a respected scientist/mathematician at Moscow State University who has already answered these questions to the satisfaction of his initially skeptical colleagues. Most of them are now believers, a few still refuse to believe (the usual diehards), and of course the western press has ignored Fomenko's work -- for obvious reasons when you read the book. The ones who perpetrated this chronology ruse have a lot to answer for. They are still with us. That's why this book is a well-kept secret.
I gave the book a 4-star rating because I was unable to check out some of his claims; those I checked were as he said. But if even 1/3 of his claims are true, this punches a big hole in what we think is our history, the meaning of western civilization, our educational process (for repeating the ruse as gospel), and the trustworthiness of the organization that perpetrated this ruse, well-intentioned or not.
This book relates to current research into a Young Earth paradigm, to John Keel's discoveries about our planet, and Fr Malachi Martin's insights (in his now out-of-print books). We are indeed sheep who are manipulated and kept ignorant -- for a reason. While knowing what these men have to say may be the "booby prize" (as in: 'what can you do with this knowledge?'), it will provide interesting reading. Didn't someone say: "...and the Truth will set you free."?? For you to judge if this book contains the truth.
Amazon.com
Adolescent girls today face the issues girls have always faced: "Who am I?" and "Who do I want to be?" Unfortunately their answers, now more than ever before, revolve around the body rather than the mind, heart, or soul. "The body is at the heart of the crisis that [Carol] Gilligan, [Mary] Pipher, and others describe.... The fact that American girls now make the body their central project is not an accident or a curiosity," writes Brumberg, "it is a symptom of historical changes that are only now beginning to be understood." The historical photos, thorough research, and political even-handedness make this a book of worth and sincerity. The Body Project is also comforting for women, adolescents, parents, lesbians, and male lovers of women--helping us sort out the roots of female insecurities, obsessions, and angst.
Book Description
"Timely and sympathetic . . . a work of impassioned advocacy." --
People
A hundred years ago, women were lacing themselves into corsets and teaching their daughters to do the same. The ideal of the day, however, was inner beauty: a focus on good deeds and a pure heart. Today American women have more social choices and personal freedom than ever before. But fifty-three percent of our girls are dissatisfied with their bodies by the age of thirteen, and many begin a pattern of weight obsession and dieting as early as eight or nine. Why?
In
The Body Project, historian Joan Jacobs Brumberg answers this question, drawing on diary excerpts and media images from 1830 to the present. Tracing girls' attitudes toward topics ranging from breast size and menstruation to hair, clothing, and cosmetics, she exposes the shift from the Victorian concern with inner beauty to our modern focus on outward appearance--in particular, the desire to be model-thin and sexy. Compassionate, insightful, and gracefully written,
The Body Project explores the gains and losses adolescent girls have inherited since they shed the corset and the ideal of virginity for a new world of sexual freedom and consumerism--a world in which the body is their primary project.
"Joan Brumberg's book offers us an insightful and entertaining history behind the destructive mantra of the '90s--'I hate my body!'" --Katie Couric
Customer Reviews:
Understanding a Cultural Obsession.......2007-04-23
Topic: - The book is the author's historical perspective, suggesting there are ever increasing visual evaluations and body standards being placed on American Girls.
Commentary: - The book does an excellent job of bringing attention to the messages girls are constantly bombarded with from all forms of media, advertising and cultural rules, messages that try to persuade them their body should have certain attributes and not have other attributes. It outlines how with each new generation, new social visual ideals are added. From shaving legs, to waxing, to eyebrow control, to hairstyles, to overall weight, to muscle tone, to bad breath, to body odor, to feminine hygeine, to piercings, to tattoos, to teeth straightening, to belly button length, to breast shape, to teeth whitening, and on and on.
Writing Style: - I thought the premise and supporting facts of this book were excellent, but if I have to fault one aspect of the book, it is that the writing sometimes lost my attention - this occurred even though I greatly care about the issues discussed in the book.
What would have made this book better?: - There is an inherent conflict in these issues: How do you make "not being a pawn to these social pressures" interesting and sexually attractive? One of the main draws that advertisers and social forces use is: IF you perfectly control your body and develop these many attributes, THEN you'll be more well liked, treated better, more in control, or more sexually attractive. For the book to have been even better, it needed to spend more time promoting non-conformist beauty ideals and conceptual frameworks.
In other words, it needed to do more to show how NOT persuing a "body perfect" can lead to better social relationships, understanding, attractiveness, etc. It's not enough to tell a person, "Don't do that." It's better to show them how alternative paths can produce more fulfilling and better outcomes. This is because women are constantly bombarded with the opposing messages of: "Make your body perfect" and you will receive _____ (fill in the blank).
Why did I write this review?: - I read this book about a year ago, and I didn't feel compelled to write a review. But one of the attributes of a great idea or a great book of ideas is the longer the ideas are considered in your brain (the more evidence and scenarios you evaluate using those ideas), the more those ideas resonate with 'truth' or significance.
Like most people, I use the internet often. I'm just sickened by the frequency of visual beauty ads. From wrinkle creams, to Stry-Vectyn, to Bo-Tox, to acne-fighters, and every other blemish or age-fighting cream, lotion, or potion. The same messages are coming from T.V.
Dove has launched a "Real Beauty" campaign, where they show women with "non-ideal" body types and weight ranges. And while I can admire some of the premise, which is: "Beauty is broader than the narrow definitions of supemodel advertising," I am also saddened as Dove, a cosmetic company, has also introduced the suggestion: Older women and non-ideal women need to spend more money on our beauty products. Olay's campaign of "Fight crows feet . . . on your elbows and your legs" is creating additional Body Projects for women to be concerned about.
Given the constant messages and pressures American women receive, I expect most women have dealt with an eating disorder or OCD mindset about their physical appearance. After reading this book, I admire every woman who has managed to overcome our culture's body obsession and who has found a way to moderate their eating habits and perceptions of their body.
I recommend at least scanning this book to find any topics of interest. Hopefully, young women who have read this book will be more able to recognize the unnecessary demands and often unreachable standards being asked of them. Hopefully they will learn to define their beauty, and the beauty of the women around them, using more non-body-defined benchmarks.
Fabulous.......2007-04-04
This book was the best non-fiction I have ever read. It details the changing attitudes towards girls' bodies from the Victorian era to now. It's a sad, hard truth, but opens readers' eyes to the stark reality of girls' bodies going from prime real estate -joint owners being parents and the future husband- to nothing but over-sexed, under nourished, under appreciated, and under protected citizens of society.
This book is a wonderful chronicle of the changes in physical appearance, as well as mental status, in the ever-changing world of girls in society.
Fair Attempt to Explain a Growing Problem.......2006-06-10
I bought this book because I see how girls/young women stuggle to achieve a very unrealistic ideal of beauty and how middle aged women stuggle to hang on to what they had as young women. As I approach 50, I know I am expected to stay trim, fit and muscular in spite of the fact that my body struggles mightly against it, especially since pregnancy and child birth.
As for the book, it is heavily researched and some of that research does involve journals from the 19th century and beyond. The first chapter is about how girls' bodies are maturing at a much faster rate than those of their fore sisters and the implications of this. Interesting.
The second chapter covers menstruation and menarche in detail. It is really too long. The basic premise of the chapter is how menarche has become consumerized. Mothers provide their daughters with all the mass manufactured equipment and not much else. The author wants menarche to be explained to girls as the time they enter womanhood, but I have a problem with this for two reasons. #1 Most girls are entering menarche at a time when they are not even remotely ready to be women. #2 When I enter menopause, am I exiting womanhood?
The third chapter covers the quest for perfect skin. It is page after page covering the subject of acne and how it has been dealt with over the past century. This, also, the author feels has been very much consumerized, as mothers take their daughters to the doctors and buy any and every cream and potion to relieve their daughters' agony.
The fourth chapter deals with the history of girls trying to achieve the perfect body and the fifth with the disappearance of virginity and how women have gained sexual freedom, but this has also filtered down to girls in middle school and high school and most of these girls and young women are ill equipped mentally and emotionally to deal with the ramifications of their sexuality.
The overall ideals in the book are excellent. The fact that girls have lost their closeness with mothers, aunts, teachers and other female role models. The fact that most of their learning comes from the media and girls their own ages. The fact that outward beauty is what females are judged by rather than beauty that comes from inside. The fact that girls are no longer protected through the family unit. They are sexually active earlier and earlier and often with older men and not boys of their own age. They have been sold the goods of freedom and independence when they are really not ready for them, etc.
Unfortunately, the book did not so much back up these ideas, but more harped on consumerism...the buying of feminine products, make up, clothes, etc. I am pretty sure this is but I small part of the problem.
Why "beautiful on the inside" doesn't seem to matter anymore.......2006-01-19
What happened to American girls, to women, over the past hundred years, that caused a quantum shift in how they present themselves to the world?
Intelligence, spirituality, charity and volunteerism, and skills for all things domestic were once revered. The most popular girl in her class wasn't the prettiest girl. The girl considered best for marriage had the qualities desired for a wife and mother and not what she looked like on her husband's arm.
We are all victims of this shift.
I admit I first noticed this book on a shelf in a train-station bookstore because of the flat, tanned belly on the cover. We've become a society obsessed with pieces and parts and appearances of the pieces and parts rather than the beauty of the whole person. Our self-esteem is measured by the numbers on the scale or the size of our jeans or the clarity of our skin.
Over the past six years, I've reread this book a few times, and always find a new point that rings true.
In her revealing (yet not surprising) sociological history Blumberg uses the best and most frank sources to illustrate her case: the private diaries of young women, from the Victorian era to present day (the late 90's). Blumberg theorizes that it's the media and consumerism that are the biggest contributors to the shift and uses excerpts from the diaries to make her point.
Blumberg focuses on middle-class Caucasian girls circa 1998, and perhaps the book needs an update to focus on a broader demographic as well as address the influence of the internet which has since become an increasingly important factor in the socialization and self-awareness of young women.
I think this is a decent book for a teenage girl, but I'm not sure it will have much of a positive influence. Girls are constantly being fed about how they should look and what products they should buy to achieve beauty.
It's a better book for a woman in her 20's or 30's who might want a better understanding of why we've become the way we are.
Unworthy of "American" in its title.......2005-10-02
The Body Project provides very selective leeway into the societal effects of African-American adolescent girls and their personal body projects. The main focus of this book is on the evolution of the white middle-class adolescent girl throughout American history. African-American and Jewish girls are mentioned briefly in a few chapters, while other ethnic groups are simply never discussed. Are these other various ethnic groups not worthy of their equal place in Brumberg's book?
Brumberg focuses on the evolution of the white middle-class female adolescent starting in the early 1800s and ending in the late 1990s. An evolution of the African American adolescent also took place during these times, but differently than that of their white female counterparts.
In order to understand black American adolescents today, foundation for cultural practices must first be established. Brumberg never mentions the coexistence of enslaved blacks, in America during the 18th or 19th centuries.
Though all women have the same biological anatomy, our genes vary, our cultures vary, so we should dispel the idea that when certain groups of women who menstruate earlier than others are abnormal or inferior. Brumberg reveals that this type of thought was well circulated throughout the medical community remained true during the Victorian period. The notion that black health was considered an expendable asset in the American medical community well through the early 1970s.
One major issue that Brumberg avoids is the abuse of children and adolescents. There is probably a close connection between the body projects that adolescents undertake and their harsh self-image.
Brumberg fails to expand on the greater idea that people exist who can never truly choose their identity before it first chooses them. Many girls are intrinsically bound to a stereotype, despite self-image. Possibly everyone has small things that they would like to alter about their physical appearances; however Americans also fail to see these "body projects" as a form a western female mutilation, of which millions of women have fallen victim. Plastic surgery is an ever-growing project that young girls obsess about. This standard idea of beauty that girls manipulate themselves on must disappear, before our individuality as women disappears.
Book Description
The Fourth Edition of Spencer Cahill's best-selling anthology provides an introduction to the sociological study of social psychology, interpersonal interaction, and the social shaping of human experience. The book's primary-source articles feature both contemporary and classic theoretical statements as well as empirical studies.
Introductions to each section and each article identify and explain central issues, key concepts, and relationships among topics.
The new edition features revised section introductions, one slightly expanded selection, and 15 entirely new contributions. The new articles address such topics as:
The central role of culture in human psychology.
Young children's everyday uses of racial and ethnic identities.
The effects of beauty images in the mass media on adolescent girls'self-concepts.
The historical development of conflicting standards of self-control in America.
Narratives of Self in Codependency
The social order of conversation.
The challenges and dynamics of constructing family.
The experience of caring for mentally ill loved ones.
Clique hierarchies and their effects on identity among children.
The contrasting agendas of white and black sororities.
The impact of legal restrictions on the informal social order of street vendors.
The construction of criminal selves in prisons.
The emergence of road rage as a social problem.
The social factors and processes that led to the Holocaust.
The expanding possibilities for self-construction in the contemporary world.
Customer Reviews:
Flashback!.......2003-01-25
This is an excellent sociology text for anyone interested in how people thought about sociology in the early 1980s. It is impressively unaffected by any sociological thinking of the past two decades. If you'd be amazed to find that social forces affect the way people think about themselves, this is the book for you!
Four essays do stand out, however: Goffman's (two) and Geertz's essays are classics, and one centemporary author (Diamond) actually takes into account relatively recent ideas from disability studies.
Average customer rating:
- Good for Freshman Composition
- English??
- wide ranging and entertaining
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Common Culture: Reading and Writing About American Popular Culture (5th Edition)
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Similar Items:
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Pop Dreams: Music, Movies, and the Media in the American 1960's (Harbrace Books on America Since 1945)
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Rules for Writers
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Mirror on America: Short Essays and Images from Popular Culture
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The Bedford Researcher
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Being There
ASIN: 0132202670 |
Book Description
From Barbie to the Internet, the Simpsons to the malls, this engaging book on pop culture can help readers develop writing skills while reading and thinking about subjects they find inherently interesting. It contains essays addressing pop culture topics along with suggestions for further reading. Topics covered in the essays include advertising, television, popular music, cyberculture, sports, and movies. Because of its several comprehensive indices, this book is an excellent reference work for writers and analysts of popular culture.
Customer Reviews:
Good for Freshman Composition.......2007-03-02
I'm using it with my students this semester and it appears to be a hit. Of course, some students who are loathe to engage in critical thinking will find this book useless, but for those who enjoy thinking, analyzing, and questioning, this book serves as a good segueway into deeper critical analyses. This book features readings on pop culture ranging from relatively easy-to-read articles to selections from academic articles from scholarly journals. As a result, many students are faced with difficult and complex readings, often for the first time. By focusing on critical analysis, with this text in the guise of questioning the function of pop culture, students develop their analytical skills and refrain from being passive. Thus, they're encouraged to be active and engaged with their environment. I much prefer a reader in the composition classroom instead of the boring, "how-to" compositions. For the actual writing, I make my own handouts and assignments (individual, small group, and large group), and conduct in-class writing conferences. If a professor isn't willing to do the extra work needed in order to show and model solid collegiate writing, then this book, perhaps, isn't for him or her. But if a professor likes depth to the composition classroom and likes to encourage critical thinking in the students, then this book may be for him or her.
English??.......2002-02-12
I had to have this book for an english class. its just a bunch of articles that were selected, yet we didn't use them. I think that there are better ways to do something like this
wide ranging and entertaining.......2001-05-24
it's good to find perceptive analyses of aspects of culture we otherwise take for granted treated with both the humor and curiosity they deserve. the scope of this book will help dispel any jaded stare your eyes might have acquired in seeing life grow increasingly routine. as anthropologists are finding westernization leaving scarcer indigenous pickings, we can be happy cultural studies questioning some of the modes becoming more "common".
Amazon.com
Despite scientific evidence to the contrary, as far as the health care profession is concerned the standard operating design of the human body is male. So when a book comes along as beautifully written and endlessly informative as Natalie Angier's Woman: An Intimate Geography, it's a cause for major celebration. Written with whimsy and eloquence, her investigation into female physiology draws its inspiration not only from scientific and medical sources but also from mythology, history, art, and literature, layering biological factoids with her own personal encounters and arcane anecdotes from the history of science. Who knew, for example, that the clitoris--with 8,000 nerve fibers--packs double the pleasure of the penis; that the gene controlling cellular sensitivity to male androgens, ironically enough, resides on the X-chromosome; or that stress hormones like cortisol and corticosterone are the true precursors of friendship?
The mysteries of evolution are not a new subject for Angier, a Pulitzer Prize-winning biology writer for the New York Times whose previous books include The Beauty of the Beastly and Natural Obsessions. The strengths of Woman begin with Angier's witty and evocative prose style, but its real contribution is the way it expands the definition of female "geography" beyond womb, breasts, and estrogen, down as far as the bimolecular substructure of DNA and up as high as the transcendent infrastructure of the human brain. --Patrizia DiLucchio
Book Description
With the clarity, insight, and sheer exuberance of language that make her one of The New York Times's premier stylists, Pulitzer Prize-winner Natalie Angier lifts the veil of secrecy from that most enigmatic of evolutionary masterpieces, the female body. Angier takes readers on a mesmerizing tour of female anatomy and physiology that explores everything from organs to orgasm, and delves into topics such as exercise, menopause, and the mysterious properties of breast milk.
A self-proclaimed "scientific fantasia of womanhood."
Woman ultimately challenges widely accepted Darwinian-based gender stereotypes. Angier shows how cultural biases have influenced research in evolutionary psychology (the study of the biological bases of behavior) and consequently lead to dubious conclusions about "female nature." such as the idea that women are innately monogamous while men are natural philanderers.
But Angier doesn't just point fingers; she offers optimistic alternatives and transcends feminist polemics with an enlightened subversiveness that makes for a joyful, fresh vision of womanhood.
Woman is a seminal work that will endure as an essential read for anyone intersted in how biology affects who we are?as women, as men, and as human beings.
Customer Reviews:
Raging feminism.......2007-05-03
Really. There's little significant new information in this book that isn't covered in the 30 something pages of sources. Just pick up any anatomy book and you'd get the same information, minus the feminism BS.
One of my favorites!.......2007-05-02
I just love this book. It gives insight into the possible connections in our lives. Why is painful labor beneficial? Why do we have menopause and other animals do not?... I could go on and on. It provides great insight and a sense of womanly pride. I love science-based books that are not a bore. This is entertaining and I have a new perspective and appreciation for many things that make me a woman!
Very informative and feminist!.......2007-01-19
After looking for books about female biology and wanting something that did not place women in gendered roles according to their supposed biological nature, I came upon this one.
The author makes several invaluble arguments to counter the 'biology is who we are' theory. I'm a young university student and reading this was indespensable, and informative. All authors who write about women need to be feminists. Recommended for young women, particularly as an informed intelligent book about our body as well as armor for what society may be pushing down your throat.
great writing, great info.......2006-09-05
I'd call this a textbook on Women's Anatomy except it's too well-written to call it that. Still, it's packed with information, every chapter focusing on one area of a woman's body, from breasts to uteruses to how ovaries work. Angier also takes up debates like people like breasts so much, what we "know" about gender roles from anthropological biology, to why breast-feeding goes in and out of fashion. Really, this one is more than recommended, it's required reading for anyone who wants to know how women's bodies work.
A must read or re-read for every woman or man who loves women.......2006-07-30
What do you really know about female biology. Author Natlie Angier a Pulitzer Prize winner takes on everything from organs to orgasm. She goes into such topics as menopause, female anger/aggression and evolutionary ideas. She writes about biology for the NY Times and knows her stuff. A great book for a college student or pre-med student or a senior citizen. Start with how one perfect solar cell forms and what is involved in female chrosome. The author covers a whole chapter on the Clitoris and all of its 8000 nerve fibers and moves on to talk about the Uterus and the breast and breast milk. Ovaries get their due and hormones estrogen, testotsterone and women and desire all get their own sectins. Why muscle not fat. And what role does evolutionary psychology play in making women vs men. Bonding and oxytocin --complex female bonding stuff and more.
Amazon.com
In a wonderful weave of science, metaphor, and prose, David Quammen, author of The Flight of the Iguana, applies the lessons of island biogeography - the study of the distribution of species on islands and islandlike patches of landscape - to modern ecosystem decay, offering us insight into the origin and extinction of species, our relationship to nature, and the future of our world.
Book Description
David Quammen's book, The Song of the Dodo, is a
brilliant, stirring work, breathtaking in its scope,
far-reaching in its message -- a crucial book in
precarious times, which radically alters the way in
which we understand the natural world and our place
in that world. It's also a book full of entertainment
and wonders.
In The Song of the Dodo, we follow Quammen's keen
intellect through the ideas, theories, and experiments
of prominent naturalists of the last two centuries.
We trail after him as he travels the world,
tracking the subject of island biogeography, which
encompasses nothing less than the study of the origin
and extinction of all species. Why is this island
idea so important? Because islands are where
species most commonly go extinct -- and because, as
Quammen points out, we live in an age when all of
Earth's landscapes are being chopped into island-like
fragments by human activity.
Through his eyes, we glimpse the nature of evolution
and extinction, and in so doing come to understand
the monumental diversity of our planet, and
the importance of preserving its wild landscapes,
animals, and plants. We also meet some fascinating
human characters. By the book's end we are wiser,
and more deeply concerned, but Quammen
leaves us with a message of excitement and hope.
Customer Reviews:
Science Journalism? Yeh, it rules!.......2007-09-26
This is the first book I've read by Quammen, an imminently talented journalist who perfectly balances the information and writing style of the book. He follows a chronological progression of island biogeography from Darwin through Jared Diamond (who became hugely famous shortly after the release of this book). Quammen's travelogues are excellent, combining a sympathetic, open perspective that is adventurous and engaged. Late in the book, Quammen describes a climb to the nest of a Mauritius kestrel: "When I'm thirty feet up, a tree branch flicks off my glasses, which drop to the ground. I could go down and retrieve them, sure, that would be sensible, but I'd fall too far behind the cheerful maniacs...
'Do you trust this vine?' I call up to Jones. Gangly but tall, he must weigh two hundred pounds, and from this angle I can appreciate the size of his feet.
'Not greatly.'
We ratchet our way upward, slowly, on the cliff face. It isn't Half Dome but it's more perilous than the average birdwatching stroll. We rise out above the valley. As we move beyond the treetops, I give myself an explicit mental reminder: Fall from here and you don't go home. Finally, Jones and I catch up with Lewis on a narrow rock shelf, like a window ledge ten stories above Lexington Avenue...
I gaze out at the panorama--the forested canyon below us, the deer ranch beyond, and the cane plantation beyond that, all spreading westward for five miles to the crescent of beach and then the great turquoise plane of the Indian Ocean." (562-3)
It's Quammen's excitement and sensitivty that inspire the reader to continue and to care, to take notice of humanity's influence: carving nature into islands, resulting in astonishing rates of extinction and ecosystem decay. But Quammen urges us to cling to hope, not despair, because "besides being fruitless it's far less exciting than hope, however slim." (636)
Desultory fluff.......2007-09-06
This is by far the most desultory, fluff-filled history of biological evolution that I've ever read. Generally, I am not a skimmer of Quammen's work, and in fact often enjoy his wit and lithesome prose, but after only a dozen pages or so into Dodo I found myself flipping page after page looking for something substantive, looking for meat. In one word, the pace is SLOW. Over and over again in the margins I found myself scribbling "Go! Go! We'd advanced this far thirty pages ago!" But on the plus side I suppose if you are looking for a book to practice your speed reading, Dodo may be it: you can flip ten pages at a throw and hardly miss a thing.
Fabulous.......2006-09-06
Quammen's book is a rare bird--a clearly written science book that doesn't condescend to readers. It's long enough to go fairly deep, and deep enough to be interesting: it's on my short list of favorites.
As other reviewers point out, the history of squabbles wears a little thin, but neither Darwin nor anyone else sticks in my memory as having been unfairly kneecapped. In fact, the only faintly negative impression I had was of the excessive care Quammen takes in presenting some fairly basic math. Highly recommended.
Plotting the roadmap to species extinction.......2006-07-23
"Islands are where species go to die." - David Quammen, author of THE SONG OF THE DODO
This book is all about the birth, maturation, and real world applications of the science of island biogeography as it relates to the circumstances of species isolation and diversification and subsequent decline and extinction. Here, "island" means not only the obvious - a bit of land surrounded by water - but any habitat separated from the rest of the world by a geographic barrier which its resident species are unlikely to cross. "Island", then, can refer, for examples, to a lake, a remnant of rain forest surrounded by clear-cut, a temperate mountaintop surrounded by desert, a national park hemmed in by human habitation, a cave, an expanse of jungle bordered by wide rivers, or a literal island in the sea.
Island biogeography inexorably leads the reader to the concept of conservation biology and viable-population theory. You see, the rampant human population is cutting the world's diverse ecosystems into little bits - islands - thus dooming countless species living within them - especially large vertebrates - to eventual destruction.
THE SONG OF THE DODO is a lucid, erudite, troubling, and extensively researched piece of science writing by journalist David Quammen. It's biggest fault is that he just about beats the subject to death. Where, perhaps, just a few examples of past species extinction (the Dodo or the Micronesian honeyeater) and present pending extinction (the indri of Madagascar or the Concho water snake in Texas) would suffice, the author includes at least a dozen more. But, as Quammen is such an excellent writer who feels strongly about this important subject, one cannot award less than five stars. Amidst the record of both realized and threatened animal extirpations, David even manages to be humorous when his narrative becomes a personal travelogue as he journeys to exotic places to observe the pending carnage for himself, as when tripping face-first into a spiderweb on Guam ("My worst nightmares feature tarantulas the size of badgers") or getting mugged in Rio de Janeiro. About the last incident, when confronted at the local police station with the one (of three) of his attackers unlucky enough to get caught, David quips:
"He's looking at five years (imprisonment) I'm told. Cinco anos. Cinco, no kidding? that's a lot of anos, I say. Probably I should feel terrible for the young thug, on grounds of socioeconomic extenuation, but in the weakness of the moment my liberal knee fails to jerk and cinco anos sounds fine."
The most glaring negative is the lack of photographs, both of the various creatures under discussion and the scientists, past and present, who've contributed to, and fought over, the theory and practice of island biogeography.
Recently, I saw AN INCONVENIENT TRUTH, a documentary on global warming. Taken together with THE SONG OF THE DODO, my pessimism is kindled to a white heat. I don't have a high opinion of my fellow man: Homo sapiens is a rapacious species ungenerous to the other life forms riding Mother Earth. We blithely defecate on our own doorstep. At some point, the planet, which will ultimately endure, will turn to Man and say, "I'll show you!" Then, as Quammen puts it:
"When we ourselves do go (extinct), the sparrows and the cockroaches and the rats and the dandelions that survive us should eventually give rise to a new inflorescence of diversity. I'll leave it to you to decide whether that represents a gloomy scenario or a cheery one."
Comprehensive.......2006-07-19
Mr Quammen's work is the finest written on the facts of island biogeography. Broad in scope, the writer visited the leks of the birds of paradise and those nasty lizards on Komodo. Other places of interest the book visits are Madagascar and the Galapagos, known for their weird endemic faunas that can only be explained in an evolutionary, and biogeographic manner.
Amazon.com
In the follow-up to his bestseller, Genome, Matt Ridley takes on a centuries-old question: is it nature or nurture that makes us who we are? Ridley asserts that the question itself is a "false dichotomy." Using copious examples from human and animal behavior, he presents the notion that our environment affects the way our genes express themselves.
Ridley writes that the switches controlling our 30,000 or so genes not only form the structures of our brains but do so in such a way as to cue off the outside environment in a tidy feedback loop of body and behavior. In fact, it seems clear that we have genetic "thermostats" that are turned up and down by environmental factors. He challenges both scientific and folk concepts, from assumptions of what's malleable in a person to sociobiological theories based solely on the "selfish gene."
Ridley's proof is in the pudding for such touchy subjects as monogamy, aggression, and parenting, which we now understand have some genetic controls. Nevertheless, "the more we understand both our genes and our instincts, the less inevitable they seem." A consummate popularizer of science, Ridley once again provides a perfect mix of history, genetics, and sociology for readers hungry to understand the implications of the human genome sequence. --Therese Littleton
Book Description
Following his highly praised and bestselling book Genome: The Autobiography of a Species in 23 Chapters, Matt Ridley has written a brilliant and profound book about the roots of human behavior. Nature via Nurture explores the complex and endlessly intriguing question of what makes us who we are.
In February 2001 it was announced that the human genome contains not 100,000 genes, as originally postulated, but only 30,000. This startling revision led some scientists to conclude that there are simply not enough human genes to account for all the different ways people behave: we must be made by nurture, not nature. Yet again biology was to be stretched on the Procrustean bed of the nature-nurture debate. Matt Ridley argues that the emerging truth is far more interesting than this myth. Nurture depends on genes, too, and genes need nurture. Genes not only predetermine the broad structure of the brain, they also absorb formative experiences, react to social cues, and even run memory. They are consequences as well as causes of the will.
Published fifty years after the discovery of the double helix of DNA, Nature via Nurture chronicles a revolution in our understanding of genes. Ridley recounts the hundred years' war between the partisans of nature and nurture to explain how this paradoxical creature, the human being, can be simultaneously free-willed and motivated by instinct and culture. Nature via Nurture is an enthralling,up-to-the-minute account of how genes build brains to absorb experience.
Customer Reviews:
An interesting, light read.......2007-05-10
In "The Agile Gene: How Nature Turns on Nurture" (previously published as "Nature via Nurture") Matt Ridley explores how the modern understanding of the genome recasts the boundaries of the age-old nature versus nurture debate. Nature versus nurture is a long, intense and often highly charged, intellectual debate but Ridley shows it to be a false dichotomy. The two sides are not mutually exclusive. Genes (on the nature side of the equation) enable the acquisition of environmental influences (nurture) and the environmental influences in turn exert their effects by changing the patterns of gene expression. Ever since the work of Francois Jacob and Jacques Monod at the Institut Pasteur on the genetic control of enzyme synthesis in E. coli bacteria, it has been appropriate to think about genes in terms of 'switches'. Jacob and Monod had shown that in the absence of lactose (a milk sugar) the E. coli bacterium does not bother to produce the enzyme which processes lactose. This is because the gene for that enzyme is effectively turned off by what's called a `repressor protein'. However, in the presence of lactose this repressor protein is inactivated and the gene in question begins to churn out the required enzyme. This work showed that the control of gene expression could be tuned by the bacterium's environment. The gene was not just a template for the production of proteins - it was also a switch. As the psychologist Gary Marcus has pointed out, genes function like IF-THEN lines of code in a computer program. The IF refers to the regulatory portion of the gene and THEN refers to the protein template region.
Ridley's book is an interesting historical look at the nature-nurture debate and how either one or the other extreme has waxed and waned in popularity - from Francis Galton and the eugenics movement to the ideological blank slate views of 20th century social scientists to modern developments in evolutionary psychology which attempt to balance the debate and bring it in line with our current knowledge of how genes work. He also discusses some of the most interesting findings to emerge from the study of the genome, particularly as these findings pertain to issues of behavioral genetics. This includes an overview of the CREB genes which are necessary for the modification of neural circuits in learning and memory, the FOXP2 gene whose mutation in humans has been implicated in the development of language, the role of the BDNF gene in neuroticism and many others. The writing is accessible to a general audience as it does not delve into the biochemical details of how these genes perform their work but rather discusses the implications of the findings. Ridley also lightens the reading with anecdotal details about some of the scientists involved and the ways in which some of the discoveries were made.
As in "The Genome", Ridley appears to stumble a bit when he attempts to discuss the really big philosophical issues like free will. His attempt to explain how genes enable free will is not convincing and the argument that he tries to make does not seem all that clear even to Ridley himself. It is also of some interest that Ridley, like several others, paints Freud as an 'environmentalist'. The extent to which Freud's was a blank slate world is certainly debatable. The historian of science, Frank Sulloway, in his book "Freud, Biologist of the Mind" shows how Freud was far less of a `blank slater' than some might think.
All in all Ridley's book is a light and highly accesible read on an interesting and still controversial topic. It is a bit skimpy on the details and it is far from being an exhaustive treatment on the subject but as far as popular science writing is concerned, it is recommended.
Sheds light on various nature versus nurture arguments.......2006-11-10
Science writer Matt Ridley is a must read for anyone wanting to understand new discoveries about genes, and how they influence us throughout our lives. "The Agile Gene" is not as illuminating and captivating as the other Matt Ridley books (his best works are "The Origins of Human Virtue" and "The Red Queen: Sex and the Evolution of Human Nature"). You'll get a broader and deeper understanding of nature vs. nuture from the other books if you are interested in understanding how genes effect human relations in societies, and civilizations. This book, however, is of particular interest if you want to understand how genes can effect an individual throughout ones life.
For example, the book is dedicated to supporting Ridley's comments like the following: "the influence of genes increases and the influence of shared environment gradually disappears with age. The older you grow, the less your family background predicts your IQ and the better your genes predict it." or "the shared environment plays only a small and non-significant role in the creation of personality differences in adults."
If you are interested in knowing how Ridley can support such statements, and his arguments either way, then this book is for you.
Nature through Nurture through Nature in an Endless Series of Adaptations.......2006-08-02
Note: This book was originally published as "Nature via Nurture."
Ridley is a journalist with an impeccable and broad understanding of "sociobiology." He is capable of distilling a broad array of sociobiological phenomena so that the layman can grasp what science is doing behind those polysyllabic and arcane words. This is yet another of his home runs.
Another Ridley home run! He's batting a thousand. Not bad for a popularizer of science.
Don't let the book's title fool you. If Ridley merely resolved the nurture/nature debate, which most of us already know, the book might be a bust. However, Ridley's means of resolution is an unsuspected, yet dramatic, one. The book's strengths lie in applying the resolution of this dilemma to other dilemmas. Not that this approach "answers" these dilemmas; indeed, maybe the reverse, it seems to complicate them. Therein lies the book's brilliance and novelty, while being entirely scientific.
For example, 18th C. philosopher David Hume raised doubts about humans' causal inferences, i.e., "cause-and-effect." E.g. The light goes out (effect). Caused by what: the filament, the glass, the wiring, the switch, the panel, or maybe something else? Many people, including scientists, dismissed Hume's skepticism as extreme and anti-scientific. Ridley's Fourth Chapter vindicates Hume, more dramatically than Hume himself (or Popper in 1944). The subject for discussion is "schizophrenia." The perennial nature/nurture debate and the theories its drawn are investigated, and given Ridley's insight and science's "evidence," the putative "cause(s)" of schizophrenia are all found wanting. How wanting? Incredibly wanting. But ironically, it's not all wrong. Mostly wrong. And it's revealed in, through, and by the prism of nature/nurture dispute, seen through the topic of schizophrenia. (The subject of causality in human behavior makes an important reappearance later.)
[N.B. A cautionary note. Chap. 3 seemed uncharacteristically long-winded and redundant. It passes and never recurs.]
Ridley's encyclopedic knowledge (what field of knowledge does he not know?) is breathtaking. His ability to coordinate all this diverse, even disparate, knowledge in defense of this thesis is extraordinary. To keep all the scientific jargon on an accessible level is masterful. To use an artful device with elegant prose adds creativity and imagination. The implications of these insights are even more stunning. Science does not get better than this!
Educational.......2006-07-11
The main thesis of this book was nothing new to me. The flow of concepts and explanations was often difficult for me to follow and I had to read them over a number of times before I felt I comprehended them - maybe his writing wasn't as clear as it could have been, or maybe because I'm getting older my mind isn't as sharp as it used to be. At any rate, I felt I learned a lot from reading this book. I hadn't realized that genes (or their resultant enzymes) might have such varying functions. The first bit of information which stood out in my mind was that Oxytocin could be the Love chemical. I was familiar with Oxytocin's function of precipitating the birth of a baby. The idea that it might be secreted by the pituitary during intercourse and thus result in the two individuals falling in love was new to me, and fascinating indeed. Or that it's presence might result in males being the faithful type rather than skirt chasers was also very interesting. There were a number of specific genes mentioned and how they played a part in talents, illnesses, or behavior. This information made me think and even modify some of my beliefs about what determines character. I've been leaning on the nurture side and now feel I am seeing better the part that nature plays (in conflicts, for example). So I feel this book has been very important to me. A disappointment was his pages on Free Will. I couldn't understand what the heck he was saying about this. Daniel Dennett is much easier to understand. Personally I don't feel that this knowledge about genes implies anything about questions like: Is there a God? What is consciousness? or Does Free Will exist? This book seems to me to be more about how living things function, regardless of the answers to such questions. How nature works and how living things function is fascinating stuff, and after reading this book I feel I have a clearer idea.
I should add that the results of studies he cites should be taken with a grain of salt. Mr. Ridley's writing is not that of a rigorous scientist. But even though he writes as though the conclusions he draws from the studies cited are clear and definite, and even though there is much room for doubt, his general positions as to what the genes do are in the ballpark of the functioning of the genes/enzymes which for me was the main value of this exposition.
Maddenly Engaging.......2006-07-10
Another Ridley home run! He's batting a thousand. Not bad for a popularizer of science.
Don't let the book's title fool you. If Ridley merely resolved the nurture/nature debate, which most of us already know, the book might be a bust. However, Ridley's means of resolution is an unsuspected, yet dramatic, one. The book's strengths lie in applying the resolution of this dilemma to other dilemmas. Not that this approach "answers" these dilemmas; indeed, maybe the reverse, it seems to complicate them. Therein lies the book's brilliance and novelty, while being entirely scientific.
For example, 18th C. philosopher David Hume raised doubts about humans' causal inferences, i.e., "cause-and-effect." E.g. The light goes out (effect). Caused by what: the filament, the glass, the wiring, the switch, the panel, or maybe something else? Many people, including scientists, dismissed Hume's skepticism as extreme and anti-scientific. Ridley's Fourth Chapter vindicates Hume, more dramatically than Hume himself (or Popper in 1944). The subject for discussion is "schizophrenia." The perennial nature/nurture debate and the theories its drawn are investigated, and given Ridley's insight and science's "evidence," the putative "cause(s)" of schizophrenia are all found wanting. How wanting? Incredibly wanting. But ironically, it's not all wrong. Mostly wrong. And it's revealed in, through, and by the prism of nature/nurture dispute, seen through the topic of schizophrenia. (The subject of causality in human behavior makes an important reappearance later.)
[N.B. A cautionary note. Chap. 3 seemed uncharacteristically long-winded and redundant. It passes and never recurs.]
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