From Time Immemorial: The Origins of the Arab-Jewish Conflict over Palestine

Book Description

This monumental and fascinating book, the product of seven years of original research, will forever change the terms of the debate about the conflicting claims of the Arabs and the Jews in the Middle East.

The weight of the comprehensive evidence found and brilliantly analyzed by historian and journalist Joan Peters answers many crucial questions, among them: Why are the Arab refugees from Israel seen in a different light from all the other, far more numerous peoples who were displaced after World War II? Why, indeed, are they seen differently from the Jewish refugees who were forced, in 1948 and after, to leave the Arab countries to find a haven in Israel? Who, in fact, are the Arabs who were living within the borders of present-day Israel, and where did they come from?

Joan Peters's highly readable and moving development of the answers to these and related questions will appear startling, even to those on both sides of the argument who have considered themselves to be in command of the facts. On the basis of a definitive weight of hitherto unexamined population and other historical data, much of it buried in untouched archives, Peters demonstrates that Jews did not displace Arabs in Palestine-just the reverse: Arabs displaced Jews; that a hidden but major Arab migration and immigration took place into areas settled by Jews in pre-Israel Palestine; that a substantial number of the Arab refugees called Palestinians in reality had foreign roots; that for every Arab refugee who left Israel in 1948, there was a Jewish refugee who fled or was expelled from his Arab birthplace at the same time-today's much discussed Sephardic majority in Israel is in fact composed mainly of these Arab-born Jewish refugees or their offspring; that Britain, the Mandatory power, winked at and even encouraged Arab immigration into Palestine between the two World Wars; that by disguising the Arab immigrants as "indigenous native Palestinian Arabs," the British justified their restrictions on Jewish immigration and settlement, dooming masses of European Jews to destruction in the Nazi camps.

Joan Peters also unfolds a historical record to shatter the widely held belief that Arabs and Jews harmoniously coexisted for centuries in the Arab world-the fact is that the Jews, along with other non-Muslims, were second-class citizens, oppressed in the Muslim world for more than a millennium. And this continuing prejudicial tradition of hostility underlies, as well, every Arab action toward the state of Israel.

In addition to her pioneering archival researches, Joan Peters has frequently traveled in the Middle East, conducting numerous interviews and gathering the personal observations of the first-rate reporter she is. The result is a book that has already had a major impact on policy discussions of one of the most vital and intractable of the world's problems, shrouded until now in a fog of misinformation and ignorance.

Distributed exclusively by Jonathan David Publishers.

Customer Reviews:

Brilliantly researched and footnoted.......2007-09-30

If this is a work of fiction it is the most profusely researched and superbly footnoted work of fiction in existence. The copious footnotes are all one needs to refer to in order to dispel the ad-hominem attacks and typical accusations of 'Zionist propaganda' that appear in the reviews of the apologists for Arab propaganda.
When the Arabs could not defeat Israel militarily they took the next most effective course - to engage in the most Orwellian 'turnspeak' in order to turn history on its head.
Ultimately, this tiny notch of land is not the problem for the 'Palestinians'. It is 60 years of self-imposed refugeeship which exists for no reason other than to be a propaganda weapon against Israel. A glance at a map puts the whole thing in stark perspective. A tiny country surrounded by countries which, openly or tacitly, see the destruction of Israel as a holy duty.
This book should be required reading in schools and parliaments across the globe.

"Mrs. Peters' Palestine".......2007-09-30

Joan Peters' work is a well-known hoax and yet it continues to enjoy best selling status at amazon. The book is a complete work of fiction- 600+ pages of hogwash replete with Zionist propaganda. Either the reviewers are simply ignorant or engaged in a deceptive project no different than the author (the latter seems more likely).

A little research on this book would surely reveal Peters' fabrications:

Reviewing the book for the January 16, 1986 issue of The New York Review of Books, Yehoshua Porath wrote that Peters made "highly tendentious use -- or neglect -- of the available source material". But more crucial, he wrote, "is her misunderstanding of basic historical processes and her failure to appreciate the central importance of natural population increase as compared to migratory movements." Porath concluded:

"Readers of her book should be warned not to accept its factual claims without checking their sources. Judging by the interest that the book aroused and the prestige of some who have endorsed it, I thought it would present some new interpretation of the historical facts. I found none. Everyone familiar with the writing of the extreme nationalists of Zeev Jabotinsky's Revisionist party (the forerunner of the Herut party) would immediately recognize the tired and discredited arguments in Mrs. Peters's book. I had mistakenly thought them long forgotten. It is a pity that they have been given new life."

In 2002, the editor of Objectivist Magazine wrote: "I have focused on the critics' claims. From Time Immemorial is work of propaganda, with all the bad connotations that term carries. Peters'[s] case rests upon distortion and fabrication. Time and again, she misconstrues sources in a tendentious manner. She cribs uncritically from partisan works. She conceals crucial calculations, and draws hard conclusions from tenuous evidence. She speculates wildly and without ground. She exaggerates figures and selects numbers to suit her thesis. She adduces evidence that in no way supports her claims, sometimes even omitting `inconvenient' portions of the citation. She invents contradictions in sources she wishes to discredit by quoting them out of context. She `forgets' undesirable numbers in her calculations. She ignores sources that cast doubt on her conclusions, even when she herself uses those sources for other purposes. She makes baseless insinuations and misleading claims."

Time to Read this Book.......2007-09-20

Everyone should take the time to read this book. It may disqualify many of the myths and beliefs Westerner's have about the Middle East. Knowledge combats illogical prejudice, newscasters, and attempts to sway other's thinking.

Debunks Arab Propaganda.......2007-08-19

I thought I knew everything about the Arab propaganda machine. But, what a surprise. Here is a writer with the guts to tell it as it really happened, not as the bleeding hearts for "Palestinians" say it happened. Israel has made mistakes, as any country has, but the greatest mistake was not using Ms. Peters as its spokesperson.

Conversion on the road to Damascus.......2007-08-11

In the first two paragraphs of FROM TIME IMMEMORIAL, author Joan Peters states:

"... The book was originally meant to be solely an investigation of the current plight of the 'Arab refugees,' as that subject was then still generally known ... The deprivation of Arab refugees' human rights and the political manipulation of their unfortunate situation were unconscionable to me, particularly because it seemed their plight had been prolonged by a mechanism funded predominantly by contributions from the United States..."

It is inferred that she gave credence to the observation by Pope John Paul II in 1980:

"...the Jewish people ... gave birth to the state of Israel (after) the extermination of so many sons and daughters, (but) at the same time, a sad condition was created for the Palestinian people who were excluded from their homeland. These are facts everyone can see."

Yet, near the end of the book on page 390, Peters states:

"The Arabs believe that by creating an Arab Palestinian identity, at the sacrifice of the well-being and the very lives of the 'Arab refugees', they will accomplish politically and through 'guerilla warfare' what they failed to achieve in military combat: the destruction of Israel - the unacceptable independent dhimmi state. That is the heart of the matter."

Saul of Tarsus himself, on the road to Damascus, hardly experienced such a reversal of beliefs. How did Joan arrive at this place?

Evidently, via exhaustively thorough research. FROM TIME IMMEMORIAL contains 121 pages of Notes and a 13-page Bibliography, both in a small type that challenged my aging vision. As one who hated being tasked with semester-ending research papers in high school, the enormity of Joan's project boggles the mind. The amount of information she presents, consistently referenced by the Notes, is prodigious. At times, it verges on the exhausting.

A convenient starting point for a summary of Joan's narrative can perhaps be taken at the beginning of Chapter 3, "The Arab Jew", when she returns to a time immemorial, circa 622 A.D., with the rise of Muhammad:

"... the Prophet Muhammad's original plan had been to induce the Jews to adopt Islam ... but the Jewish community rejected the Prophet Muhammad's religion ... Three years later, Arab hostility against the Jews commenced, when the Meccan army exterminated the Jewish tribe of Quraiza. As a result of the Prophet Muhammad's resentment, the Holy Koran itself contains many of his hostile denunciations of Jews and bitter attacks on Jewish tradition, which undoubtedly have colored the beliefs of religious Muslims down to the present ... Omar, the caliph who succeeded Muhammad, delineated in his Charter of Omar the twelve laws under which a dhimmi, or non-Muslim, was allowed to exist as a 'non-believer' among 'believers.' The Charter codified the conditions of life for Jews under Islam - a life which was forfeited if the dhimmi broke this law."

So, with Omar's Charter in place, Peters recounts the lives of the Jews in Arab countries - Yemen, Aden, Iraq, Egypt, Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Syria, Lebanon, Libya, and Arabia - down through the subsequent centuries to the present. It gives lie to the Arab assertion that "their Jews" have been treated well under Islam.

Joan then turns to the Roman principality of Syria Palestina, which was to become "Palestine". In explaining the demographics of the region over the centuries, it's here that the sheer volume of detailed information becomes almost eye-glazing, especially when she enumerates the numbers of Jews that migrated into Palestine from 1882 to 1948, as well as the number of Arabs that migrated, legally and illegally, into the same area during the same period. In short, Joan make crystal clear that the Jews never entirely left the Holy Land, and the number of truly indigenous Arabs in Jewish-settled Western Palestine that were ostensibly displaced by the newcomers has been wildly exaggerated. And, indeed, the number of displaced Arabs is matched by an equal number of Arab Jews that have fled persecution in their home countries to take refuge in what has become Israel. This population exchange is something not acknowledged by the Arab world.

Perhaps, for me, the most revealing chapters were those detailing Britain's handling of the Palestine Mandate, which was assigned to Britain's oversight after WWI by the League of Nations and which originally grew out of the Balfour Declaration of November 1917, in which it was declared:

"His Majesty's Government view with favor the establishment in Palestine of a National Home for the Jewish People, and will use their best endeavors to facilitate the achievement of this object ..."

Yet, Britain's ultimate custody of the Mandate was reprehensibly and shamefully duplicitous. Fearful of offending the Arabs, the British government separated the National Home of the Jewish People into eastern and western sectors, the former - roughly three-quarters of the total land area of the Mandate - subsequently closed to Jewish settlement and eventually to become Jordan, and severely limited Jewish immigration into the latter while allowing rampant illegal Arab immigration into the same. The author's verdict on British actions and policy prior to and during WWII is positively scathing:

"... that the British virtually signed the death warrants for countless Jews in mortal danger by engaging the might of the British Empire to enforce strict laws against Jewish immigration; that simultaneously Government declared an excess of jobs amounting to a need of 'emergency' proportions, whereby Government not only encouraged or winked at, but officially enacted the illegal immigration of thousand of Arab indigents from neighboring and more distant lands, to take jobs in the Jewish National Home that might have saved the lives of Jewish concentration camp victims - the whole action, seen in context, matches the barbarism that the Allies were battling to defeat."

Mind you, all of this isn't a figment of Joan's imagination, but is rigorously documented and proved by contemporary records.

Any convert from one belief system to another, be it religious, political or whatever, may become overzealously energetic in espousing the new faith. Here, Peters expends her surge of energy in perhaps going further then necessary to make her bottom-line point, which is that the world is being cynically manipulated by Arab public relations when it comes to the conjoined questions of Palestine and the Palestinian refugees. However, Joan's devotion to her new-found cause doesn't produce in FROM TIME IMMEMORIAL a flawed work when it comes to historical facts, but rather one that provides more information than necessary to make the conclusion. Under the circumstances, this is understandable, but it does make for a long read.

Anti-Semites, Arab or otherwise, will positively loathe FROM TIME IMMEMORIAL for the inconvenient truths it brings to the table. Israelis and those who sympathize with them should applaud (unless they're otherwise bent on hand-wringing). Those in between must read this superlative book, along with other works representing the opposing view, to arrive at a knowledgeable position. This is perhaps one of the most informative pieces of investigatory journalism on the market today.

Demonic Males: Apes and the Origins of Human Violence

Average customer rating:

O heavenly bliss! Intelligence, truth, and coherence collides at once!
Y-chromosome: bad
A depressing but very important work
Our roots in reality
Has now been refuted

Demonic Males: Apes and the Origins of Human Violence
Dale Peterson , and Richard Wrangham
Manufacturer: Mariner Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Psychology & Counseling | Health, Mind & Body | Subjects | Books

General | Evolution | Science | Subjects | Books

General | Nature & Ecology | Science | Subjects | Books

Reference | Outdoors & Nature | Subjects | Books
Similar Items:

ASIN: 0395877431

Amazon.com

If you harbor a sneaking suspicion that men are a herd of ignoble savages, then this book is for you. Authors Wrangham and Peterson will confirm your instincts. It turns out that hyperviolent social behavior is deeply rooted in male human genes and common among our closest male primate relatives. Rapes, beatings and killings are as much a part of life among the great apes as they are among us. The authors try to conclude on some upbeat notes that ring hollow, but their science reveals much about the dark side of human nature.

Book Description

Whatever their virtues, men are more violent than women. Why do men kill, rape, and wage war, and what can we do about it? Drawing on the latest discoveries about human evolution and about our closest living relatives, the great apes, Demonic Males offers some startling new answers. Dramatic, vivid, and firmly grounded in meticulous research, this book will change the way you see the world. As the San Francisco Chronicle said, it "dares to dig for the roots of a contentious and complicated subject that makes up much of our daily news."

Customer Reviews:

O heavenly bliss! Intelligence, truth, and coherence collides at once!.......2007-08-14

After spending some time postulating theories which might help explain the motives and actions of school shooters, I gathered a list of relevant keywords such as aggression, violence, hate, and male, (since all school shooters I know of have been male) I found myself drawn to a handful of books which I subsequently checked out from my local library. Among these books was a copy of Demonic Males, which I chose (thank God) to read first. I was not disappointed.

In this book Wrangham makes a careful academic study out of his theory that human males are inherently aggressive or demonic as he says, and that this trait is inextricably bound to our common ancestory with apes, and in particular, chimpanzees. He shows this by contrasting human and chimp behavior with other apes, and detailing the calculated murderous behavior exhibited by both species. The result is fascinating. Wrangham carefully shows that aggression is a behavior that evolved in chimps and humans because it enables males to attain a higher status, which in turn guarantees a high percentage of success when feeding and also passing down our genes by sexual reproduction. This search for status he says, to become the alpha male, is the driving desire behind every male, and I could not agree more. As a good example of an aggressive male myself, I confidently say that this desire for status is a primary occupation for all men, especially when they are placed in situations with other males. This, Wrangham asserts, and I also believe to be true, is always the case, regardless of whether the choice to seek a higher status is conscious or not. On an interesting note, he connects (however not assertively or forcefully) that higher animal intelligence in humans and other apes allows the animal to anticipate more effectively, and therefore it can see an obvious advantage to eliminating other males and taking their females and territory (as in the case of chimps) and in the ability of humans to effectively use weapons to kill massive amounts of other people while potientially suffering very few casualties. But Wrangham is tactful on these points, since it would be out of step with current PC thought to assert that the smartest animals kill each other simply on the basis of genes. He is careful to give culturally determined influences their shared blame in this regard, which helps to avoid exonorating those who commit violent crimes.

This is what I find most admirable about the book. Though Wrangham is a born and bred ethologist, he avoids emphasizing the nature side of the nature/nurture debate. Rather he labels that debate as an error perpetuated by Galton, the man who coined the phrase nature versus nurture in the first place. Here the author allows that both biological and cultural factors have their respective and undeniable effects on our behavior, and carefully explains the error in choosing either extreme.

Regarding my interest in school shootings, this book together with chimpanzee politics is essential reading when trying to understand what I would call the more unconscious motives of school shooters, and perhaps even the reasons as to why other males often fail to react aggressively and violently in such situations, given the lean odds for survival and the lack of pre-formed coalitions due to benign competition for alpha male status in a classroom.

If I can derive such information from this book where school shootings are scarcely even mentioned (it was published in 1996 before most memorable shootings), then most any reader interested in the possible reasons for inherently male aggression will delight in the reading of this text. Truly, I cannot reccomend it enough.

Y-chromosome: bad.......2006-11-17

This one provides a quasi-sociobiological and evolutionary historical look at why people are so fond of raping and murdering each other. The authors look at the social relations among the great apes and find, who would have thunk it, very humanlike patterns of war, rape, murder, and other such cute behaviors. They also give various paleontological factoids and speculation about our immediate ancestors which support their thesis. I couldn't help but be annoyed at their blanket condemnation of the entire Y chromosome; they seemed to use the example of the relatively peaceful Bonobo chimps as an excuse for some kind of radical (and nebulous) feminist social engineering a la Aristophanes play 'Lysistrata' where women halted war by withholding nookie. I figure thusly: men are the primary rapists and murderers and warmakers, but wimmenfolk also participate in these activities. Men are also rather stronger and more capable of violence. Furthermore, they are largely responsible for lifting the race from the mud (but wimmenfolk also participate in these activities). These facts are almost certainly related. Menfolk simply have more time for mischeif. Women can be just as vengeful and brutal as men. Still, such books are worthwhile, as there are entire swathes of humanity who think if we all would just indulge them in their particular social, economic or sexual peccadillo, we'd all be peaceful in happy. Not so. Appreciation for the benefits of civilization can only grow when being reminded of the nature of humankind.

A depressing but very important work.......2004-07-09

I read this book several years ago but I find myself constantly referring to it in conversations about politics and global events. The chilling examination of rape, genocide and infanticide practiced by male orangutans, chimpanzees, and gorillas (respectively) is depressingly resonant of our human penchant for violence, and suggests that we come by these behaviors "honestly" by way of a shared genetic heritage. Unfortunately, we don't seem to share as much behavior with our other close relatives, the bonobos, who make love, not war. More poignantly than anything else I have read, this book poses the question of whether humans can ever overcome their genetic predisposition for violence and create a more peaceful society. If the past decade of world events is any indication, the very depressing conclusion would seem to be in the negative. But there are always pockets of progress and glimmers of hope -- of all the great apes we are the most adaptable and unpredictable. By illuminating the biological imperatives underlying our most unattractive behaviors, the book adds to our self-knowledge and, we can dimly hope, may even help our flawed species alter its violent trajectory.

Our roots in reality.......2004-04-21

What drives humanity to engage in its incessant wars? Why do men fight over apparent inconsequentials? Is rape a "natural" and "sex-driven" event, or merely the consequence of human cultural demands? These questions and a host of others are addressed in this superb survey of primate behaviour studies. Ever since Jane Goodall discovered chimpanzees sought colobus monkeys for dinner treats, new studies of primates have revealed arresting behaviour patterns. Like humans, other primates murder, rape and even make war. The authors have scoured a wealth of primate studies to derive a picture of our heritage. They suggest we learn what our cousins do in order to better understand what we do. Otherwise, we will continue to make bad decisions based on flawed assumptions.

Our fellow primates are avid territorialists, argue the authors. Borders unseen by us are clearly delineated by chimpanzees, orangutans and monkeys. These defined areas are hotly defended. The other side of the coin produces invasions. Opportunism, failing resources, or just spite, drives chimpanzee groups to stealthily scout and enter another band's range. Rarely, an individual will stage a foray, but only if he thinks success likely. Too often, the raids appear to have no particular purpose. A sally may lead to injuries or even death, but the attacking troop is just as likely to withdraw to its original range with neither captives nor booty. What prompts these seemingly mindless assaults? Are they inevitable among primates?

The latter question was answered, according to the authors, with the discovery of the "pygmy chimpanzee" or bonobo. This species contrasts sharply with its common chimpanzee cousins, who live in bands beset by tension. Common chimpanzees may raid other groups, but "back home" the hierarchical structure leads to internal conflict. Raids on other groups may vent some aggravation, but it's the struggle for dominance that rules common chimp behaviour. Bonobos, by contrast, use sex to resolve their social conflicts. Bisexual and same sex couplings are common and frequent. With no hierarchy to climb, males need not struggle for dominance. Although a senior female may wield some authority, even her "rules" are imparted by selected groomings or couplings with aggressors.

Bonobos are late arrivals on the evolutionary stage, having split off from the chimpanzee line after chimps and humans diverged from their common ancestor. Humans tended in some ways toward chimpanzee behaviour, toward bonobos in other aspects. Male dominance and most aspects of male violence stem from similarities to our nearest cousins, the chimps, say the authors. They stress that most human violence is rooted in our volutionary past. Although they're prompt to deny that this foundation cannot be overcome, they stress that we must understand these roots in order to make better decisions. Most significantly, they argue, we must shed the mythology of violence as a cultural artefact. This will be a difficult step for many, but it must be taken. This book will ease the path.
[stephen a. haines - Ottawa, Canada]

Has now been refuted.......2004-01-11

I would refer you all to a recent documentary in the BBC "Horizon" series investigating the whole "demonic male chimp" controversy, based on comparing the chimp colony at Gombe with others. Suffice to say, it told a disturbing story of inductive research, extensive intervention by the researchers themselves, affecting the apes' behaviour and ditching of evidence which refuted the "demonic" hypothesis. The alternative hypothesis presented was that the Gombe chimps are unusual, and their aggression owes more to overcrowding within a shrinking area of forest than to any natural "demonic" streak; other chimp colonies apparently show far lower levels of mutual aggression, if any at all. The scariest moment came not from learning that the legendary Frodo had killed and partially eaten a human baby, but from Dr Goodall's apparent coldness towards this incident. Had a tiger or crocodile done this, it would have been shot within days, but tigers and crocs don't have glamourous young women anthropomorphising them in bestselling books or on primetime TV.

The Immense Journey: An Imaginative Naturalist Explores the Mysteries of Man and Nature

Average customer rating:

Pondering Nature
one of the little known great writers.
Great book arrived in great shape
scholarly treatment of Darwin's ideas - and textual analysis
"...Lie Awake While the Meteors Whisper Greenly Overhead."

The Immense Journey: An Imaginative Naturalist Explores the Mysteries of Man and Nature
Loren Eiseley
Manufacturer: Vintage
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Mass Market Paperback

General | Evolution | Science | Subjects | Books

General | History & Philosophy | Science | Subjects | Books

Nature Writing | Outdoors & Nature | Subjects | Books

Reference | Outdoors & Nature | Subjects | Books
Similar Items:

ASIN: 0394701577
Release Date: 1959-01-12

Book Description

Anthropologist and naturalist Loren Eiseley blends scientific knowledge and imaginative vision in this story of man.

Customer Reviews:

Pondering Nature.......2007-08-31

Most of us do not spend our days thinking about the magic of nature. In fact, it is rare that we stop and wonder at the unique qualities of life and evolution. This book is a collection of short essays which seem to take a walk through nature, pondering its interesting and beautiful idiosyncrasies. Without going into too much detail, Eiseley helps us to stop and look at the seemingly small things and understand their vast importance. This is not a complicated book designed for naturalists, but a fairly straightforward and engaging book for those who simply enjoy nature. A high school student interested in studying anthropology or environmental science in college would be wise to read this as inspiration.

one of the little known great writers........2007-02-10

the title, i suppose, could lead one to think that this book might be too heavily on the new-agey side of things for one's taste. not so! mr eiseley is one of the most profound thinkers i have come across over the years, and his writing is spectacular. i have seldom come across a non-fiction writer with such a marvellous prose style (lytton strachey comes to mind as an equivilant). this great book had me looking at life past and present in ways and from angles i had never considered. the authors wonder at existence in all its mystery, joy, and sorrow, made for some of the most moving reading i have ever encountered. this, and other works by mr eiseley, i will be reading and rereading throughout my lifetime.

Great book arrived in great shape.......2006-03-20

Great book, it arrived in great shape in a timely manner

scholarly treatment of Darwin's ideas - and textual analysis.......2004-05-23

Eiseley has read all of the different editions of "Origin," and in that way traces the evolution of Darwin's thought in the context of his times and in how he re-edited his books as his opinion changed. It is well written and argued and somewhat better than normal academic writing, but it still reads like a pedantic text. Perhaps it was too advanced, or simply too detailed, for the level of my interest, but I found a lot of this somewhat boring - and I admit that that is as personal as a reflection on the text. Eiseley is a world-class science writer, up there with Sagan and Gould, and explains with great clarity, etc. You get to know Darwin's mind, his many doubts, and the way he constantly hedged and worried about his reception.

Recommended with this in mind. It really depends on what you are looking for.

"...Lie Awake While the Meteors Whisper Greenly Overhead.".......2003-10-17

This is a very unusual book. It is ostensibly about the "Immense Journey" of man along his long evolutionary trail. But, in the same way that "The Odyssey" is not just an historical travel tale, Eiseley's book is much more. This is a work about the wonders of life, the joys of curiosity, the rewards from solitary time spent in the natural world and the transitory nature of all existence.

This one must have been just fantastic when it was published in 1957. It's still very good in 2003 despite the passage of time, which has exposed several of Eiseley's scientific beliefs and musings to be erroneous. Keep in mind the tremendous advancements in archeology, molecular biology and all other fields of science over the last 46 years and don't get hung up on these anachronisms. Instead, revel in the beautiful language Eiseley uses and the imagery he evokes: "Some lands are flat and grass-covered, and smile so evenly up at the sun that they seem forever youthful, untouched by man or time." Or another favorite: "Tyrannosaurs, enormous bipedal caricatures of men, would stalk mindlessly across the sites of future cities and go their slow way down into the dark of geologic time."

Book Description

A dazzling debut novel by the prize-winning author of Yellow, set in the unique and exotic nightworld of Tokyo.

Lisa Countryman is a woman of complex origins. Half-Japanese, adopted by African American parents, she returns to Tokyo, ostensibly to research her thesis on Japan's "sad, brutal reign of conformity." When she vanishes, Tom Hurley, who is half-Korean and half-white, is assigned to her case at the American embassy, as is local cop Kenzo Ota, who is 100 percent Japanese but deemed an outsider.

In this "poignant story of prejudice, betrayal and the search for identity" (Newsweek International), the trials and tribulations of these three remarkable characters are "at turns trenchantly funny and heartbreakingly sad" (Publishers Weekly). "[An] elegant and haunting debut" (Entertainment Weekly), Country of Origin is a "swirl of action, a whirl of love and sex and race and politics, local and international" (Chicago Tribune)—a "quiet literary triumph" (Booklist).

Customer Reviews:

Promising Tokyo-Set Debut.......2006-09-01

Set in 1980 Tokyo, this debut novel preoccupies itself with the theme of identity born of mixed heritage. At the the plot level, it's a fairly effective mystery about an American woman who goes missing and the sad sack Japanese detective who's assigned her case. The woman is Lisa Countryman, who is ostensibly in Tokyo to research the sex economy for her PhD thesis. She was born in Japan, but was adopted as a baby by a black U.S. military family, and the real impetus for her trip is to locate her birth mother. When her sister in the U.S. eventually calls the embassy for help in locating her, the case is assigned to Tom Hurley. He's a somewhat dissolute 30something consular officer who's mostly interested in bedding the wife of a CIA officer, but is also conflicted about his own mixed heritage. Hurley passes the case on to Kenzo Ota, a lonely, ineffectual, middle-aged police detective invisible to his peers and society in general.

For Ota, the case is an opportunity to get away from his window office (a position of shame in the Japanese workplace at the time) and win some respect from his colleagues. Ota's investigation alternates with flashbacks to Lisa's arrival in Japan, as she drifts from research into bar hostessing, and hires a detective of her own to track down her mother. Meanwhile, a third subplot revolves around Hurley's affair with the CIA wife, Julia, who has somehow heard about the missing Lisa and takes a mysterious interest in the case. There's also a running subplot about Ota's personal life, which includes an encounter with his ex-wife and her son (who may be his), and a budding romance. This is a lot of plot to juggle, and Lee mostly pulls it off, although the book probably could have been much improved by excising or greatly diminishing the Hurley material. The best parts of the book are those that follow Lisa as she navigates the world of fly-by-night English schools and various levels of hostess bars, and those showing the forlorn Ota struggling for redemption. He's the embodiment of one aspect of the Japanese national psyche, the sense that life is suffering and sorrow, and that moments of happiness are the exception rather than the rule.

What's also quite good about the book is the portrait of Japan, although one has to remember that it is set some 25 years in the past (the Iran hostage crisis is a running background element). It's a time when foreigners were present in Tokyo in much lesser numbers than now but Western cultural influence is starting to assert itself. Against all this, the central theme of identity is brought ought through the Japanese preoccupation with racial distinctions and the conflicts deep within many of the characters about themselves. Lee's prose is quite fluid and if the book is guilty of anything, it's of trying to cram in a bit too much. Still, I will certainly keep an eye out for his next book.

Marvelous discussion of mixed race in homogenous Japan plus a great mystery.......2006-07-29

Lisa Countryman is the adopted asian/black daughter of a black US Serviceman and his wife. She was brought back to the States at the age of four. She has no memory of her life there or her mother. After the loss of her adoptive parents she decides to return to Japan to look for her birth mother. She does so under the pretext of doing her PhD thesis on the Japanese sex trade.

She becomes a hostess in a gaijan (foreigner) bar that's frequented by upper management japanese. Her job is to entertain only, she is not allowed to go on a dohan (date) with the clients, though she is allowed to accept gifts from them. Her job is very much like that of a true geisha, to entertain her clients but not to have sex with them; unlike the american idea of a geisha, she is not now nor ever was a prostitute.

In Japan, the most racially homogenous country in the world, to be non-japanese and especially to be of mixed race (and especially to be part black) is considered a mark that cannot be overcome. You are not a citizen, cannot be a citizen and therefore are condemned to the lowest level of respect and economic means.

It is 1980, and Tom Hurley (who is half-korean) is working at the US embassy in Tokyo when he is asked by Lisa Countryman's sister to find out where she is so that she can settle some legal issues the two sisters have. Tom is having an affair with the wife of Vincent Kitamaru/David Saito/Bob Sasaki, who is a CIA operative at the embassy. Kitamaru is part of a group who go to Lisa's bar and call themselves Mojo, Larry and Curley.

Tom Hurley has met with a Tokyo detective named Kenzo Ota, who is part of the 'window squad' (a group that has been exiled to window desks because they have nothing else to do but look out the window all day). Kenzo becomes intrigued by Lisa and her disappearance, and even though he's told to lay off by his superiors, he continues to plug away. What he finds in the end makes this a detective story. But what he finds out on the way is a great discussion of the cultural difficulties/racial slurs/ everyday indignities that non-full blooded japanese suffer from in their own country.

A good read!.......2006-01-06

I thought this was a great read, though not quite worth five stars. A reviewer below describes the writing style as poor, but I disagree--I think Lee writes very well, very efficiently, without getting in the way of a story that kept me interested at all times. Having read his earlier story collection, Yellow, which is full of surprising characters and situations (and just as well written), I was somewhat taken aback here by the familiar "mystery" storyline. The plot felt a little mechanical, but for the most part, the mystery did keep me going, and the bringing-together of many disparate characters near the end was smooth and convincing.

I also thought most of the characters were fascinating people. The bumbling Japanese detective was especially compelling, a combination of TV's Columbo and Monk whose essential honesty and humanity wins out in the end. The identity issues, and the success some characters have at escaping their former identities and growing into more appropriate or comfortable ones, were also convincing, even inspiring. A reviewer below finds the setting confusing--why 1980 instead of now? Well for one thing, the Iranian hostage crisis was dragging on and on at that time. The idea of a "hostage" symbolizes the identity struggles of many of the characters.

The many details about Tokyo are also fascinating, though at times the piling up of "quirky Japan" examples ("weird" sex bars and love hotels, fetishistic Japanese men, bizzare TV shows, etc.) got to be a bit much. Those able to direct the Western gaze toward Japan should give it credit for more than its "weirdness," which people in the West already tend to know about. Fortunately, the multidimensional Japanese characters offered by Lee balance out those times where he pauses for yet another cultural oddity. Finally, the description of other details of Japanese behavior and thought, such as an underlying expectation that life will consist mostly of sadness, also help to give a fuller sense of Japan. So I think readers should be careful about accepting the novel's accuracy in this regard. As Lee says in an appended author's note, "this novel should not be considered an accurate representation of Japan. Dramatic licenses were freely taken." Overall, a gripping book that I very much recommend.

excellent reading.......2005-08-21

I loved this book, the mix of Oriental/Asian/American intrigue was just right, kept me reading and finished it in an afternoon. I hope this author has more up his sleeve!

strong look at what is race inside a fine police procedural.......2005-05-26

In 1980 University of Berkley graduate student Lisa Countryman, a half-Japanese, half-black American, conducts her dissertation research in Tokyo on the brutal societal conformity of bar girls. Lisa also has a personal agenda to learn more about who she is as a mixed race person.

Needing work, Lisa finds employment as a hostess girl at a Tokyo men's club. Eventually she vanishes and her disappearance comes to the attention of American Junior Diplomat Tom Hurley, who has no interest in a half-breed's disappearance except as a nuisance that takes him away from the embassy pool and cocktails, which in his mind is more important to a purebred Hawaiian that he insists he is. In fact he is embarrassed by his roots of being a hybrid half-Korean, half white. Police Inspector Kenzo Ota, who spent three miserable teen years in Missouri, investigates the missing American, feeling strongly this case could make his career if he can solve it fast.

This is an interesting look at racial relationships told through the three key characters whose convergence centers on the disappearance. The entertaining story line grips the reader from the moment that Lisa's vanishing is reported and never slows down as Tom half heartedly and Ota fully are engaged in learning what happened to her. Though minor in terms of the plot, the Tokyo embassy is in bright contrast to the stark Iranian hostage situation that is occurring at the same time. Don Lee uses a Japanese police procedural to provide a strong look at is racial origins.

Harriet Klausner

May All Be Fed: 'a Diet For A New World : Including Recipes By Jia Patton And Friends

Average customer rating:

Super Delish
Loved the recipes
have I bought you this book yet?
May All Be Fed - Diet for a New World
Third World issues/possible solutions addressed.

May All Be Fed: 'a Diet For A New World : Including Recipes By Jia Patton And Friends
John Robbins , and Gia Patton
Manufacturer: Harper Perennial
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books

General | Nutrition | Health, Mind & Body | Subjects | Books

General | Health, Mind & Body | Subjects | Books

General | Social Sciences | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books

Accessories:

Tanita BC533 Glass Innerscan Body Composition Monitor

ASIN: 0380719010

Customer Reviews:

Super Delish.......2007-01-01

Though I am not totally vegan yet, I have been working my way towards a more plant centered diet. I remembered seeing really great looking recipes in this book and decided to order it. It's a shame this is out of print and hasn't gotten more attention. One thing I needed help with is that I have a huge sweet tooth but can't tolerate any type of sugar. The dessert recipes in this book all use natural sweeteners ilke fruit juice concentrate and maple syrup. They also have no saturated fat. The Caramel Apple Crunch is simply amazing, it tastes just as rich and delicious as the apple crisp mom used to make. But with none of the butter or refined sugar. It calls for Fruitsource, which is no longer available, but I use a product called FruitSweet. The carrot cake is also wonderful,it used an interesting blenderized mix of sweetener, orange zest, oil and raisins to create a really terrific flavor. For Christmas, I made the pecan pie and the apple-cranberry bread pudding, both got raves. I want to try more of the savory recipes now, but only gave four stars due to the savory results so far: the broccoli soup was fair, kind of bland, and the cornbread was really dry and not good. Overall though, an interesting read with a lot of great recipes. Jia Patton should put out her own cookbook.

Loved the recipes.......2003-09-08

I loved the hints and tips for mainting a cupboard and kitchen, and the nice recipes that I have been using/modifying for my own use. The information in the beginning is nice, too, although mostly a reprint of Diet for a New America.

The updated sections on fish and milk were very interesting, however, especially fish, which is touted today as a wonder-food for older people hoping to live longer. Many fish today arrive at your supermarkets having previously been mold-contaminated from sitting out in the open too long, and many contain high concentrations of Mercury, which also has been documented in a recent Reader's Digest article.

Just like what Marianne Williamson said on the front cover of this book: "I hope everyone reads this book!"

have I bought you this book yet?.......2002-01-13

This is the first book on becoming vegan and the first vegan cookbook I ever bought. I'll be needing a new one soon, as the one I have now (second copy) is getting too dog-eared and stained to read. Robbins concisely presents every reason for becoming vegan, and backs them all up with extensive, useful footnotes. And the recipes are just plain delicious! The Mexican Black Bean Dip & Eggplant, Vegetable & Tahini Spread are addictive. The Caramel Apple Crunch makes a cold, sad day all better. The Plum Cobbler is just the thing to make when Italian prune plums are in season. The only sad thing is that he lives in Santa Cruz & I don't, so the delicious recipes focusing on what is in season don't work as well for me as for him.

May All Be Fed - Diet for a New World.......2001-11-06

Wonder what one person CAN DO to improve not only your own life but that of the entire planet? Read this book. It is filled with understandable information that can radically change your health, the health of the planet itself and give the opportunity for life to others as well. This book has changed my life...so much so that, after reading the library's copy, I am buying one.

Third World issues/possible solutions addressed........2001-07-31

Diet for a New World will make you think twice about your next meal. Robbins offers real solutions to third world issues. When we consume meat, the crops were grown in abundance in a third world or extremely poor country, then it was exported to a meat farm to feed the cattle. Robbins explains that the grain used to feed the cattle could have fed the starving population of the growers and us as well.

Some of this book is difficult to read because it makes us take a serious look and the way live, eat and purchase everyday items. I'm glad I did- it changed my life.

Becoming vegetarian or vegan is only part of the solution. Buy the book, read it, practice it, bring veg dishes to gatherings and share what you know. Buy the book as a gift too, that's how I got it.

Book Description

Slave Country tells the tragic story of the expansion of slavery in the new United States. In the wake of the American Revolution, slavery gradually disappeared from the northern states and the importation of captive Africans was prohibited. Yet, at the same time, the country's slave population grew, new plantation crops appeared, and several new slave states joined the Union. Adam Rothman explores how slavery flourished in a new nation dedicated to the principle of equality among free men, and reveals the enormous consequences of U.S. expansion into the region that became the Deep South.

Rothman maps the combination of transatlantic capitalism and American nationalism that provoked a massive forced migration of slaves into Louisiana, Alabama, and Mississippi. He tells the fascinating story of collaboration and conflict among the diverse European, African, and indigenous peoples who inhabited the Deep South during the Jeffersonian era, and who turned the region into the most dynamic slave system of the Atlantic world. Paying close attention to dramatic episodes of resistance, rebellion, and war, Rothman exposes the terrible violence that haunted the Jeffersonian vision of republican expansion across the American continent.

Slave Country combines political, economic, military, and social history in an elegant narrative that illuminates the perilous relation between freedom and slavery in the early United States. This book is essential reading for anyone interested in an honest look at America's troubled past.

Customer Reviews:

Intriguing look at the formation of "Slave Country".......2007-07-20

Adam Rothman portends that the Lousiana Purchase and Pinckney's treaty paved the way for the expansion of slavery in the Antebellum United States, since these two events led to the states of Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama being admitted to the Union as slave states.

Unfortunately, the book is slanted largely towards the expansion of slavery into Louisiana, though Rothman's work in this area is superb. The concepts he presents of why and how slavery became such a critical component of Lousiana life prior to the Civil War are all well documented, largely through manuscripts and business records left by participants in the events. His use of secondary sources is judicious and always appropriate.

Rothman does not use the term 'manifest destiny', though his argument is indicative of the concept; he explains Jefferson's concept of expansion and slavery, which sets the tone for the whole book. His expansion on how slavery became a significant factor in life in these states is well thought out and very thorough.

Given the subtitle of the book ("American Expansion and the Origins of the Deep South"), I had anticipated more treatment of the other two states - Mississippi and Alabama, although I realize that this would have significantly expanded the size of the work. Despite this fact, this book is well worth reading and an excellent treatment of the subject. I would recommend it to anyone seeking an understanding of why slavery expanded with such full force into Louisiana, but not for Alabama or Mississippi.

Slave Country is history at its best........2005-06-05

Adam Rothman's Slave Country is a very readable book about the development of slavery in the deep South after the American Revolution. Using precise language and an elegant narrative form, Rothman brings legislation, cultural forces, economics, and the political battles involving slavery to life. It is necessary reading for anyone who wishes to understand the United States during the nineteenth century. Rothman has a gift for language and the wit of a master historian.

Buy this book.

The Origins of Islamic Jurisprudence: Meccan Fiqh Before the Classical Schools (Islamic History and Civilization)

Average customer rating:

Solid rebuttal to the Schachtian critique
Destined to be a Pivotal Work in Islamic Studies

The Origins of Islamic Jurisprudence: Meccan Fiqh Before the Classical Schools (Islamic History and Civilization)
Harald Motzki
Manufacturer: Brill Academic Publishers
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

General | Middle East | History | Subjects | Books

General | World | History | Subjects | Books

General | Religion & Spirituality | Subjects | Books

jp-unknown3 | Specialty Stores | Books

All Titles | Qualifying Textbooks - Fall 2007 | Stores | Books
Similar Items:

The Origins and Evolution of Islamic Law (Themes in Islamic Law)

ASIN: 9004121315

Customer Reviews:

Solid rebuttal to the Schachtian critique.......2004-11-16

Motzki presents one of the best rebuttals to the Schachtian theory, which is that the majority of even the "sahih" hadith must be regarded as forgeries that are back-projected onto their supposed sources. In an extensive analysis of Abd al-Razzaq's Musannaf, Motzki shows how each of its various chains of transmission bears distinctive narrative characteristics, relating, for example, to the extent to which the transmitters restrict themselves to verbatim narrations vs inserting their own reasoning, or the extent to which the transmitters relied upon certain sources vs others. We are given a picture of a great many transmitters, across a spectrum of transmissional chains, each with a unique yet internally consistent narrational profile. In the end, as Motzki argues, it is highly improbable that such a constellation of persons, relationships and profiles could have been artificially created.

Destined to be a Pivotal Work in Islamic Studies.......2003-11-10

Motzki's work has finally been translated from the German almost over ten years after its first original edition. That American scholarship has hitherto tended to neglect his work can evidenced in the absence of any mention of his work in such a recent and excellent work as Dutton's examination of Malik.

Customer Reviews:

Finger Lakes Region Geology Explained.......2001-03-06

I found Dr. von Engeln's text to be incredibly informative on this enigmatic subject. Thousands of people visit the Finger Lakes region annually for it's beautiful lakes and abundant wineries, but few know how the region came to be. Dr. von Engeln has filled that gap nicely.

Average customer rating:

Dr. de Duve tells it all!
The story's in the details
Part brilliant, part rehashed
A brilliant compilation
Very informative

Vital Dust: Life as a Cosmic Imperative
Christian De Duve , and Christian De Duve
Manufacturer: Basic Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Evolution | Science | Subjects | Books

General | Science | Subjects | Books

ASIN: 0465090451

Book Description

"In a work of majestic sweep and bold speculation, Nobel Prize-winning biochemist [Christian] de Duve presents an awesome panorama of life on Earth."--Publishers Weekly

Customer Reviews:

Dr. de Duve tells it all!.......2005-01-03

This book is structured along the time line from anaerobic times to multi-celled organism. In addition to its primary topic of how life evolved from plants and bacteria to multi-celled, it also discusses the external environment's role in "driving" the evolution of life. Dr. de Duve uses a most wonderful writing device by citing MODERN organisms (Giardia), things we can study TODAY, to illustrate ancient organisms and our cellular metabolism. He established the unbroken chain from waaaaay back when to now.

I wanted to know how we 'learned' to 'make' mitochondria, and other very important symbionts. His chapter Oxygen Crisis in combination with The Guests Who Stayed explained it. His chapter on Membranes gave me a whole new view of the importance of membranes, another huge body of knowledge that I must study-up.

Please do pay attention to his wonderfully helpful "end matter," bibliography, glossary and Further Reading. Do read carefully his comments about Further Reading: it ranges from books on cosmology (another of my enthusiasms), through biochem, molecular bio, cell structures, evolution... all the way to Philosophy. It shows the common thread through all these fields of science. The suggested reading includes his own illustrated book, "A Guided Tour of the Living Cell," ISBN: 0716750023. It's a Scientic American product so you can rely on excellent illustrations.

"Vital Dust" is compehensive in scope without being superficial (unlike so many trade books on science), and written by a real scientist (not journalist) and Nobel Prize winner "for [his]discoveries concerning the structural and functional organization of the cell." A pdf of his Nobel lecture is downloadable from the Nobel Prize site.

This book has plenty of detail as well being thought provoking and well-written, but an undergrad bio, or biochem background would help you get more out of it. Even so, it warrants several readings.

The story's in the details.......2004-03-26

Ever since Charles Darwin postulated the beginnings of life in "some warm little pond" science has probed into origin mechanisms. As it became clearer that life is a molecular phenomenon, researchers have delved deeper into chemical processes to work out life's start. De Duve joins that quest with a detailed examination of these mechanisms and the environments in which they come about. In his explanation of life's origins, it becomes clear that the mechanisms leading to life are common. Earth, therefore, is not alone - "the universe is awash with life". If conditions are right, and many of the processes can't go forward unless the environment permits them to, life at some level is sure to begin. "Life is one", he stipulates, but likely in many places.

De Duve's narrative is highly detailed in the opening sections. The conditions and operations he describes are fundamental to life's development. How carbon-based molecules interact in ways that led to replication, then selection, are carefully explained. While many of the early steps were random, perhaps even chaotic, "superior" [because they survived and replicated better] molecular structures became more common. While he notes there are preferred environments for this process, they aren't tightly limited. Change of environment formed selection pressures which even early life could respond to without difficulty. While at first glance this description may appear an account of many chance events, De Duve points out that life started on a "deterministic" path almost from the beginning. The rules of chemical reactions limit what chance can impose. Yet, once the start has been made, similar rules force the process of life forward.

This book is a major statement and deserves serious consideration. That this is a technically challenging read should not discourage you. A thorough analysis of life's development, right up to that major achievement of evolution, the human mind, de Duve demonstrates how important knowledge of ourselves is to our survival. He further postulates that values are an essential part human evolution, including wisdom, love, and responsibility for our place in nature. True science, he argues, supports a sense of moral values, it doesn't abandon nor avoid them. Learning about origins of life as a fact of chemistry doesn't reduce it to sterility nor meaninglessness. These ideas aren't necessarily novel with de Duve, but he expresses them better than most. He also provides a better foundation for believing in them than most. A valuable book, it's one that should be considered vital for any student of nature or philosophy. [stephen a. haines - Ottawa, Canada]

Part brilliant, part rehashed.......2002-02-01

Duve's thesis is that life springs naturally from the universe. As he concludes: "Life is either a reproducible, almost commonplace manifestation of matter, given certain conditions, or a miracle. Too many steps are involved to allow for something in between."

The best part of the book is early on, when Duve exercises his expertise in biochemistry and discusses how life must have come into existence and made the first moves toward complexity. This is difficult but rewarding reading, and a section I think I will be returning to.

The final chapters, discussing the future of mankind, environmental issues, and the nature of consciousness, are almost entirely derivative, consisting of rehashed thoughts of others rather than original concepts or explanations.

Still the book is well worth it just for the understanding of how life might have come to be and how it developed into what it is today. Recommended.

A brilliant compilation.......2001-08-04

A brilliant compilation.

My personal tendency is to consider the systems of creation in the light and abyss of concepts which cannot ever be fully explained by creatures such as ourselves. Humanity tries desperately to box and categorize ideas which, in essence, are too amorphous for such assertion. As a result we attempt to fill in the gaps and the unknowns of all existence with such nebulous ideas as deities and, counter to De Duve's argument, creationism. Neither of these two particular concepts have ever maintained a thread of commonality throughout humanity's histories or logic. If a spiritual singularity ever did exist which is verifiable, true and realistic, then all humanity would likely have coalesced upon and maintained such a line of understanding from the earliest of times to the present. If a conceptual singularity ever did exist then it is likely that the complexity and simplicity of our understanding would be little different than the fundamental truths of hunger and food. When it comes to theological perspectives, humanity is intensely ubiquitous which is sadly revealing of how little we do understand.

However, at least there is a slate which we all tend to. Written on this slate are all the ideas ever imagined about our universe and ourselves. If one can point to any thread of commonality throughout all the ages it might be that this slate does seem to exist in our understanding and observations. It has height and depth and thickness. This slate encompasses the past, the present and the future. It has detectable energies and forces. This slate is yet mostly mysterious. This slate on which we attempt to write all solutions toward an omnipotent solution is comprised of all the predictable forces and elements which we are able to perceive. We all seem to strive to sense the patterns and order upon this slate and we all seem to attempt to read and write upon that mantra. It is a hunger after all. We eat, drink and spew these ideas without full understanding or even a need to understand the infinite complexities required to disassemble and recreate within the depths of our mind or our bowels. Yet we do continue to live and procreate without personal omnipotence or even without association to omnipotence.

Christian De Duve has come very close to creating complete patterns from our chaotic comprehension of this universe. The architectural mantra he has created in this book draw on the foundations of verifiable evidence from thousands of sources. If his patterns grow weak in some areas that are yet unexplored then Christian admits that short leaps of faith must be taken to continue the process of filling the patterns. These apprehensive leaps are typically few and often short and upon finding solid ground again the journey safely continues on. If conflicts or similarities occur within the overview of a step in the processes, Christian offers these as optional paths to the same end. Christian De Duve's approach and writing style is honest and humble. My limited personal perspectives of universal indifference and chaos has been challenged by Vital Dust. I am beginning to accept and sense that the forces which cause the existence of living matter are inerent in all the elements, the very atoms and quantum particles, observable or not; existent in the energies, detectable or not; existent in the time envelope in which all is immersed; and existent in all yet undiscovered unrealized phenomena. How grand this thread of logic. The unfolding patterns Christian De Duve present exquisitely link and interlink to provide us with a brilliant perspective heretofore only dimly imagined.

Very informative.......2001-01-03

I found this book to be quite informative and well written. The one small complaint I have about "Vital Dust" is its sparse use of diagrams and illustrations, hence the 4 star rating rather than 5. Otherwise, I found this book to be excellent. I am a research life scientist, so had little trouble with Dr de Duve's explanations, but feel the work would be more accessible to the general reader with more illustrations. This is such an interesting book, that I would hate for someone to be "put off" of it because of technical language.

The Origins of the Arab Israeli Wars (The Origins of Modern Wars Series, 3rd Edition)

Average customer rating:

The Origins of the Arab Israeli Wars (The Origins of Modern Wars Series, 3rd Edition)
Ritchie Ovendale
Manufacturer: Longman
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Asia | History | Subjects | Books

General | Middle East | History | Subjects | Books

Israel | Middle East | History | Subjects | Books

General | Military | History | Subjects | Books

Strategy | Military | History | Subjects | Books

General | World | History | Subjects | Books
Similar Items:

ASIN: 0582368952

Books:

Books Index

Books Home

Recommended Books