Amazon.com
The world you live in is all in your mind, according to Wharton Business School Professors Yoram Wind and Colin Crook. The Power of Impossible Thinking is a witty and lucid translation of neuroscience research about "mental models"--the deeply ingrained assumptions and images that shape our reality and influence opportunities for success and failure. "Our models are gated communities," say Crook and Wind, who offer a superb crash course on the power and limit of mental models.
The key questions: How do you know when an old model is worn out? How do you avoid "cognitive lock," filtering out information that conflicts with your model? How do you know a new model will live up to its hype? Many of the answers lie in "Mind R&D"--developing an inventory of new and old models and refining your intuition to fit your current reality. These engaging ideas are detailed with portraits of three impossible thinkers (Oprah Winfrey, Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz and Intel's Andy Grove) and vivid examples (The music industry vs. Napster, a French fry cancer scare, O-rings on the Challenger). Wind and Crook make such a brilliant case for new ways of seeing that readers may wish for more coaching to recognize the obsolete models that keep us from changing our minds. --Barbara Mackoff
Book Description
This book is about getting better at making sense of the world...so you can make decisions that respond to reality, not some obsolete model of reality.
Drawing on the latest neuroscientific research and their experience with corporate transformations, Jerry Wind and Colin Crook explain how your mental models stand between you and reality, distorting all your perceptions...and how they create both limits and opportunities.
You'll learn how to develop new ways of seeing...how to keep your mental models fresh and relevant...when to change to a new model...how to build a portfolio of models...and improving your models through constant experimentation.
Better mental models = smarter decisions
How people get "stuck," and what to do about it
How obsolete mental models keep you from making changes
The neuroscience of mental models
What scientists can teach us about perception-and reality
Creating new models
Practical ways to see things in new ways-fast
"Wind and Crook have written a marvelous book that can teach you how to think more effectively in personal and business settings. Read it and learn!"
Drea Zigarmi Author of The Leader Inside: Learning Enough About Yourself To Lead Others and co-author of Leadership and the One Minute Manager
"We like to say, 'See it with your mind's eye.' Wind and Crook show us that our mind is our eye. What we think is what we see, and what we see directs how we act. Not only do the authors make this paradigm clear, but they offer concrete and practical ways to change our mind's eye and as a consequence change our actions and the results we get. The value of that is hard to top."
J. Stewart Black, Ph.D. co-author of Leading Strategic Change and Professor, University of Michigan Business School
"I have been trying to explain why Japan has fallen into a pitfall and cannot come out of even the simplest problems. One can call it an innovators dilemma, but that does not solve the problem. This book suggests we have to go back to the basics of reviewing our underlying 'mental models' now and then, and only then, have to construct a new model, perhaps plural, and move onto exploring the new terrain."
Kenichi Ohmae Author of the international bestseller, The Borderless World
"While most of us may recognize that the world we respond to is more in our mind than in any physical reality, often we don't have a clue why this is so. This very important book clearly explains how our mental models work to construct these distinct inner worlds. And more importantly it offers empowering advice on how we can use this knowledge to work for us rather than against us in creating a better outer world for ourselves, our organizations, and our societies."
Charles C. Manz Best-selling author of SuperLeadership, Fit to Lead, and Temporary Sanity
"This is an important book that 'makes sense of how we make sense.' The authors provide a thorough, fresh, and compelling exploration into the dimensions of mental models. All leaders who want to be more effective in their actions would be served well to leverage the principles in this book to learn about how they think and make sense of the world around them."
Nick Pudar Director of Strategic Initiatives, General Motors
Customer Reviews:
The only paradigm for problem solving is logic.......2007-06-09
This is an interesting book and might be implemented more effectively by readers who have also read "The logic of Failure," by Dietrich Doerner, which itself was a business bestseller in the 1990s.
Doerner's main thesis is that there are patterns of thought that make failure inevitable, and he runs through a number of entertaining case studies documenting how faulty problem-solving paradigms have resulted in disaster. Doerner also notes that cures for the inability to handle complex situations typically rely on facile theories about the human brain, and that the probability that there is a secret mental trick that at one stroke will enable the human mind to solve complex problems is practically zero.
The psychological determinants of failure go far deeper than faulty mental models or paradigms, and they develop gradually according to a predictable logic. A reader concerned about evaluating the effectiveness of mental models or paradigms will gain much from reading "The Logic of Failure."
A toolkit for shifting your paradigm.......2006-05-28
This book is a great combination of theoritical thinking as well as practical business problems. It examines the discussion on paradigms - which the authors prefer to call 'mental models' and how they constrain your perception of reality. So far, so good. Then they start outlining a practical methodology for changing your mental model, which should enable you to 'think impossible thoughts' meaning in this context, thinking thoughts that were impossible in your previous paradigm. I like the depth of research behind the concept and the academic structure given to the book on a subject that has been much discussed, but manages to give it a new perspective and some practical tools to take away with you.
I spoke with the author and have published extracts of the interview on the HyperThinker Experiment site, so please check it out if you want to hear more from the author himself: http://www.hyperthinker.com/Currentinterviews/tabid/693/Default.aspx.
A worthwhile read and a fascinating look at an issue that affects us all.
The power of viewing and molding your reality..........2006-04-16
It's often the case that our vision of reality is a product of our own mental biases. If you can change the way you look at something, the reality of it can undergo a dramatic shift. This whole subject is explored very well in the book The Power of Impossible Thinking: Transform the Business of Your Life and the Life of Your Business by Jerry Wind, Colin Crook, and Robert Gunther. Very powerful stuff...
Contents:
Part 1 - Recognize The Power And Limits Of Mental Models: Our Models Define Our World; Running The Miracle Mile
Part 2 - Keeping Your Models Relevant: Should You Change Horses?; Paradigm Shifts Are A Two-Way Street; Seeing A New Way Of Seeing; Sift For Sense From Streams Of Complexity; Engage In R&D Of The Mind
Part 3 - Transform Your World: Dismantle The Old Order; Find Common Ground To Bridge Adaptive Disconnects
Part 4 - Act Quickly And Effectively: Develop The Intuition To Act Quickly; The Power To Do The Impossible; Challenging Your Own Thinking - Personal, Business, and Society; What You Think Is What You Do; The Neuroscience Behind Mental Models; Selected Bibliography; Acknowledgments; Index; On The Audio CD
This is one of those rare "business books" that can be applied effectively to both your business and your personal life. The authors examine how our mindsets of situations and events cause us to build our own "reality" about them. The opening example is about how you're walking along a dark street and you hear footsteps behind you. You know the neighborhood recently had a well-publizied crime happen. You're sure that you're about to be the next victim. Fight or Flight... Then you turn and find it's one of your co-workers. The reality of the situation never altered, but "your" reality of the situation has completely changed. These "mental models" are then explored in various realms of business and personal life. For instance, Howard Schultz viewed Starbucks through a completely different mental filter than those who were running the operation. Rather than seeing the company as a seller of coffee, he saw the potential for a complete experience surrounding the act of ordering and drinking coffee. He had to leave the company, start his own operation around that model, and then buy out Starbucks once his vision showed signs of success. The same business environment was open to both Schultz and the owners, but they saw the "reality" in completely different ways...
This is one of the better books I've read that deals with the subject of neuroscience. But rather than just giving examples and citing research, the authors show how this research can be applied to your life in ways that can make a dramatic difference. If you've never explored the "science of the mind", this is a great introduction anchored in practical use. And this might just be the spark that causes you to change the way you look at things, thereby changing your life in ways that seem completely impossible right now...
We Should Invest In Our Mind's R & D.......2006-04-13
"The Power of Impossible Thinking" is labelled as a "business book" and it's very hopeful for those in business, both big and small. But it has tremendous value to everyone, in every aspect of our lives. Our "mental models" determine where we'll go and what we'll do and accomplish, throughout our lives. And, our mental models can limit us in our lives as well. One of the focuses is on the thought process, as it should be. Our thought process is often what hinders us. This book reminded me many times of the perils of stagnation. Mental and attitudinal stagnation. This leads to the oft-times subtle downward spiral of complacency, and just plain getting too comfortable.
The "Power of Impossible Thinking" provides practical and do-able models for the contemporary times we live in. This book is divided into 4 sections: a) The importance of mental models and how they help and hurt us b) how to keep models current and know when to alter or change them, and continuously experiment c) obstacles and ways to over come them, and d) develop intuition and act, concluded by "What You Think Is What You Do."
Two chapters specifically help readers sharpen our mental models and use our perceptions to help us in our lives. What we perceive we can do, and what we actually do, depends on our attitude and perceptions: we bring our own baggage with us. Critical, is recognizing things that keep us in our old models and patterns. When we recognize this, we can change it (chapter 8). Professionally, we are constantly inundated by information. Competition is ever-present, 24 hours a day. Our mental ability to recognize and then act upon change seems more important than ever today. Obviously we are surrounded by constant changes in the interdependent global market place. As the world constantly alters and adapts, we must as well. Recognizing the trends and changes is what is needed to survive and prosper. Examples from the emergence and decline of the dot.coms were noted. So many companies jumped onto the dot.com bandwagon, but there was a purge, and the ones that survived and now prosper, are the ones that adapted and continued to alter their products and services: they recognized the change. Many did not, and went out of business. The Internet has highly become a "mail order" pathway, for viewing and ordering many products.
One way to deal with this among many in this book:
Zooming in and Zooming out:
As multi-tasking becomes more common-place and the market and lifestyle pace increases, the concept of "zooming in and zooming out" is one concept that can make our personal and professional lives easier, more-fulfilling, and more productive. "Zooming in and out" addresses the need to overcome obstacles that now make our our world difficult. These obstacles have always existed for humans. The ability to focus and address details - without letting them bog us down and/or cause us to lose sight of our over-all objectives.
Three contemporary case studies were conducted on people we are familiar with. Oprah Winfrey, Howard Schulz of Starbucks Coffee, and Andy Grove, the former CEO of Intel. All of these people created a product(s). These were created from ideas. This may sound cliche, but it's the way it is. Starbucks: the unique coffee (consumer) experience. Who in the world would think this would work back in the early 1990s? I honestly didn't. Oprah: transforming the influence of the Talk Show by positivity, individuality, over-coming obstacles and awareness. Apple, moving to the ipod.
Oprah Winfrey's case study was quite powerful and moving. She grew up in poor, rural Mississippi, without indoor water and electricity. Raised by her grandmother initially. Abused by male friends and family, and sent to a juvenile detention center at 13. At the start of her career as a co-anchor, she was told she didn't have the looks. The case study reinforces the idea that she became what she's become, not by following or conforming to the mold, but by breaking it. Her Book Club and talk show focus on themes of individuality, empowerment, and achievement.
The "Power of Impossible Thinking" is a contemporary and highly relevant book. It's neuro-science approach tells us how to identify our outdated models, recognize the limits of them, and the benefits and power of changing and utilizing new models. This is a great book that deserves more attention.
Awesome!.......2006-03-17
Excellent book! These guys have it together. This book provides new ways of thinking and troubleshooting problems. If you are in the decision making and problem solving arena, you need this read to help come up with a solution.
Larry
www.corpsdevelopment.net
Average customer rating:
- Homeopathy is a valuable resource
- Great way to learn about Homeopathy
- An excellent source for someone to understand Homeopathy better
- An indispensable book for everyone interested in homeopathy
- a fabulous book on many levels
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Impossible Cure: The Promise of Homeopathy
Amy L. Lansky
Manufacturer: R.L. Ranch Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
 General
| Alternative Medicine
| Health, Mind & Body
| Subjects
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Homeopathy
| Alternative Medicine
| Health, Mind & Body
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Health, Mind & Body
| Subjects
| Books
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ASIN: 0972751408 |
Book Description
Impossible Cure: The Promise of Homeopathy provides an in-depth and exciting account of the history, philosophy, and experience of homeopathic medicine. At the core of Impossible Cure is the amazing story of how the author's son was cured of autism with homeopathy. It also includes dozens of other testimonials of homeopathic cure, for a variety of physical, mental, and emotional conditions.
Impossible Cure will serve as an invaluable guide to anyone interested in learning more about this intriguing form of health care. It has won endorsements from leading experts in alternative health care, including: Larry Dossey, MD (executive editor, Alternative Therapies in Health and Medicine, and author of Healing Words); Bernard Rimland, PhD (director, Autism Research Institute); Wayne Jonas, MD (director, Samueli Institute, and former director, Office of Alternative Medicine, NIH); Michael Castleman (author of The New Healing Herbs and other consumer health books); Louis Klein, RSHom (president, Luminos Homeopathic Courses); and Richard Pitt, CCH, RSHom(NA) (director, Pacific Academy of Homeopathy).
Customer Reviews:
Homeopathy is a valuable resource.......2007-05-16
As a long time student of Homeopathy, I heartily endorse this book and all the excellent reviews of it. Rather than repeat what has already been said so eloquently, I will simply add that Homeopathy is an incredible asset to our well-being. Practitioners spend many years studying their art and are always updating their training and learning more about what Homeopathy can do, and how to best utilize this amazing healing agent.
Anyone who is willing to spend a bit of time studying Homeopathy, including its history and the principles on which it is based, will be well rewarded. For chronic or complicated conditions a qualified professional is essential. The optimum would be to consult with a professional, and at the same time study the first aid applications that you can use on your own. It would, of course, be preferable to have the option of checking with the professional when using the remedies independently for such things as bumps and bruises, etc.
Homeopathy is so powerful that it is important to know the basic guidelines, even when using the remedies easily available, such as Arnica. Homeopathy is one area is which the reward for time spent studying is repaid many times over when the correct remedy is used and you experience the miracle of Homeopathy for yourself. Also, by being informed, we know when it is important to consult a professional rather than self-medicate. The remedies are safe and virtually side-effect free, however as with anything that is this effective, knowledge is important.
A great place to start is this book - and if you are already a student of Homeopathy, this is an excellent book to further your understanding.
Great way to learn about Homeopathy.......2007-05-07
This book is a great introduction to Homeopathy. Amy makes it interesting and informative. I highly recommend "Impossible Cure." Even for someone who knows a lot about Homeopathy, it is a great read.
An excellent source for someone to understand Homeopathy better.......2006-11-06
I was on a look out for a good book on Homeopathy as I always felt there are some missing points in my understanding of the practice. I asked the Doctor we consult for advise who without hesitation suggested this book. I started the book and could not put it down. It was written in a fairly easy language, however, on occassions one might need to look up some terms.
I knew about the existance practice for a long time and it has worked wonders for me and my family, however, whenever I tried to explain to different individuals about the benifits I was not satisfied with my explanations to them, most of them were interested upto the point of how it worked for us, however, one need to understand its workings upto some extent to get the benifit. As I know Homeopathy, it is better an individual understand the workings of the medicine before going to a practitioner as it requires patients (or someone close to the patient, say in case of kids) involvement in the treatment. In this context this book is very helpful for someone before going to a practitioner. Even with my long exposure to the practice I learned a lot from the book.
As Dr. Lansky aptly points out it is a complex process, however, it is extremely effective once correct remedy is selected, as her experince has indicated close observation is needed for administering the remedy, for this a good understanding of the workings is essential, this book fills the reader with the information.
It is also an excellent read for someone who just want to understand Homeopathy in general.
An indispensable book for everyone interested in homeopathy.......2006-05-02
A very well-researched, readable, and personable book on homeopathy. I highly recommend it for anyone wanting to know more about how powerfully effective homeopathy is.
a fabulous book on many levels.......2005-12-19
Amy Lansky's book is so engaging and it's an inspiring, informative read! So many people are becoming involved with homeopathic practitioners in spite of the "haughty disrespect" still expressed by many in medicine and pharmacology. (Ms. Lansky quotes the biographer Rima Handley, who describes Christian Hahnemann, the creator of the homeopathic system, and the the "haughty disrespect" paid to him by medical authorities in 1810!)
I was surprised at the strong feelings, impressions and convictions the book leaves me with! (This book isn't going anywhere...hasn't left...except to friends who promise to give it back in a week!!)
While reading Impossible Cure, I enjoyed imagining Christian Hahnemann, born in Germany, starting his medical studies at age 20. And, how he translated Hebrew, Chaldaic, Arabic, was fluent in German, English, French, Italian, Latin, and Greek, and made a huge medical discovery that became the basis of homeopathy!
It was riveting to picture the typhoid fever epidemic in 1813 after the Battle of Leipzig. Lansky and Handley describe Hahneman's loss of only 2 in 188 treated patients! - that's with 8,000 dead and 8,000 wounded in battle, rain what wouldn't quit, filthy water and death everywhere! And how feat made the medical establishment of the day MORE hostile towards the founder of homeopathy (trouble maker that he was, saving all those lives!)
I compare what I'm learning about homeopathy and its track record to the Journal of the American Medical Association's 1998 and 2000 reports about its own system - medicine and practice being the 3rd and 4th leading cause of death, and so on.
This book is inspiring. I do feel it can lead to change. The more people know about options, the less they will accept what is inferior.
With all the talk about bird flu and other pandemics, we have new bills in Congress now to benefit the pharmaceutical companies, when the resource homeopathy is right before us. As Ms. Landsky intelligently addresses the subject, I find myself thinking of the parallel subjects: expensive and toxic petroleum products contrasted with the energy of the sun, hydrogen, the ionosphere, the energy of homeopathy...all practically free. Very few patents possible there, but an abundance of good things for humanity!
Before reading this book I thought it made perfect sense to seek out the cause of disease. I learned how homeopathy works without causes of disease being known. Ms. Lansky explains very well how homeopathy cures without regard to cause!
After talking with many parents and reading Impossible Cure, I'm convinced that we need more homeopathy and more homeopathic practitioners! It takes intelligent, dedicated and brave souls to launch that life effort. Thank goodness for Amy Lansky and other pioneers like Amy.
Along with the historical, philosophical, and sociological aspect of Impossible Cure, I immensely enjoyed the heart-warming and actual cases Ms. Lansky describes.
It's a gem of a book!
Book Description
The Bestselling Classic on Love, Loss, and Letting Go
In Necessary Losses, Judith Viorst turns her considerable talents to a serious and far-reaching subject: how we grow and change through the losses that are an inevitable and necessary part of life. She argues persuasively that through the loss of our mothers' protection, the loss of the impossible expectations we bring to relationships, the loss of our younger selves, and the loss of our loved ones through separation and death, we gain deeper perspective, true maturity, and fuller wisdom about life. She has written a book that is both life affirming and life changing.
Customer Reviews:
Good for everyone.......2007-05-15
Sometimes we wonder why life is so damn tough and sad and tragic. Well, this book doesn't help to answer those questions or to make it seem any better, but it does normalize all of those feelings, and it does explore all of the normal and necessary losses people experience in their lives. My therapist recommended it to me when my not-good-for-me boyfriend broke up with me and in turn, facilitated some of my personal growth and taught me to deal with some really hard feelings. I learned that losing him was necessary to my own well-being. This book is great for everyone.
Awesome!.......2007-05-12
The title caught my attention and I am so glad I bought it. Its one of the easiest books to read about moving on from losses and helps the reader understand that these losses are indeed, necessary. I have been a therapist for 15 years and have not come across such an engaging and practical book as this one. I myself am a slow reader but got through it in record time. Just do yourself and your loved ones a favor by reading this book!
Necessary losses.......2007-03-20
Great book, but you need to take a break now & then..its heavy going and CAN bring up your "stuff" my therapist recommended it...but even she admits that you need to read it slowly..and maybe a few times.It makes a lotta sense.
Deal With Losses.......2007-02-07
I first bought this book over 20 years ago when I got divorced, and it helped me deal with that event as a loss. Frankly, I hadn't even realized that it even was a loss until I read Viorst's wonderful book. I was able also to reach back and deal with the death of my parents, the losses inherent in growing into middle age, and other things . . . even losing my first girl friend.
Since then I have given this book to numerous friends who have had to deal with losses. I hope that they put the book back into full print as it should be required reading for just about everyone.
Necessary Losses.......2007-01-10
First of all, I am a child and adult psychoanalyst and as it happens Mrs. Viorst (a free-lance writer of, among other things, childrens books) was invited by the institute who trained me in Child Psychoanalysis to be a "lay" student-- meaning not medically professional-to participate in the training which was one of the best at that time in child developmental psychoanalytic theory and practice. It was a committment by this author which spanned several years and a very extensive and intensive experience. this book was a distillation of many elements of that program as seen by this very "clear" competent writer. I have given this book to many people and bought this one to replace one of my daughter's copies. It is an indepth look at psychological developement and especially the mother-child relationship (or Object relationships) and was on the New York Times best seller list for many months. It is still very relevent and well-worth the current new and used price.
Product Description
This book explores the history of mathematics from the perspective of the creative tension between common sense and the "impossible" as the author follows the discovery or invention of new concepts that have marked mathematical progress: - Irrational and Imaginary Numbers - The Fourth Dimension - Curved Space - Infinity and others The author puts these creations into a broader context involving related "impossibilities" from art, literature, philosophy, and physics. By imbedding mathematics into a broader cultural context and through his clever and enthusiastic explication of mathematical ideas the author broadens the horizon of students beyond the narrow confines of rote memorization and engages those who are curious about the place of mathematics in our intellectual landscape.
Customer Reviews:
Excellent overview of many less "traditional" topics.......2007-08-12
It is very nice to see a book that treats topics other than irrational and complex numbers (though they are important to understand first, of course!) like quaternions and prime ideals, not to mention all the geometrical connections. This book gives a great historical and motivational perspective; the author may be augmenting the personalities in the book to add to the suspense and mystery, but overall the effect is beautiful.
I would recommend this book for anyone interested in Mathematics, including advanced students (I am a PhD student hovering near the border of Computer Science and Math). It is a welcome inspirational supplement to the tragedy of axioms and formalism that is modern mathematics education.
Excellent.......2007-07-18
This book, which can be viewed as a prequel to Stillwell's "History of mathematics", is an excellent resource for someone who wishes to get a view of mathematics as a field of inquiry driven by the need to solve problems as much as by creative desire to uncover connections between seemingly unrelated ideas by people who made mathematics, such as Gauss, Hamilton, Abel, Euler, Riemann. There are lively short essays about these and other great mathematicians. When read along with regular (good) textbooks on, e.g., complex variables, geometry, the two Stillwell's books will lead to a much better understanding of mathematical ideas.
Beyond Common Sense.......2007-05-30
I liked this book. I particularly liked Chapter 1, The Irrational, Chapter 5, Curved Space, and Chapter 6, The Fourth Dimension.
Chapter 7, The Ideal, is also excellent and alone worth the purchase price, albeit the reader needs to follow closely the notational details and diagrams. In fact Chapter 7 is the reason I bought the book in the first place. I had always struggled with this important concept and was pleasantely surprised upon finding a book--Stillwell's--that devoted a whole chapter to the subject at an introductory as well as historical level. The author follows the development of the notion of the ideal concept from Gauss, to Kummer, to Dedekind's final generalization, where the payoff comes in Section 7.8. "Ideals, or Unique Prime Factorization Regained".
Short but Sweet.......2007-05-02
Very helpful for a person, such as myself, who wants a clear understanding of mathematics especially geometry and how it relates to modern Cosmology.
Beautiful, substantial, unusual topics.......2006-10-16
The chapters on geometry---projective geometry and hyperbolic geometry in particular---are extremely beautiful. We study many picturesque ideas, wonderful in themselves, that arise as "impossibly" neat solutions to interesting problems (perspective drawing, axiomatisation of geometry, shape of the universe, etc.), and then pay off by supplying unexpected insights elsewhere (e.g., the connection between projectively generated arithmetic and hypercomplex number systems that deserves to be better known). The chapters on complex numbers and quaternions are also very interesting. There are "unrecognised appearances" of complex numbers in already in Diophantus's number theory, namely the equivalent of complex multiplication in the context of sums of two squares. Thousands of years later, when the geometry of complex numbers was established, the search for a three dimensional analog failed and one had to settle for the analog in four dimensions. The historical circle closed beautifully when Graves noted with surprise and satisfaction that this state of affairs is precisely mirrored in classical number theory where Diophantus's theorem on sums of two squares generalises to four squares but not three. Stemming from the same roots in classical number theory, there is also an excellent chapter on algebraic number theory. Just as in his proof of the non-existence of three dimensional hypercomplex numbers in the quaternion chapter, Stillwell here takes on some very serious mathematics that many mathematicians would tell you require plenty of abstract algebra. But Stillwell knows better, cutting to the core of things with beautifully clear geometric arguments in both these cases. The other chapters are less innovative, although we are happy with the initiative to derive the infinite series for pi (essentially by the power series for the arctangent) only ten pages after the idea of infinitesimals is introduced (again relying on geometric methods rather than, as others would have it, abstract theories like Taylor's theorem). The role of the impossible in mathematics is pointed out along the way, and Stillwell offers some rewarding reflections on this subject; these are highly retrospective, however, and if we were to take this topic seriously we would have wished for greater insights into the historical mathematicians' thoughts on these supposedly impossible things.
Book Description
A unique, scientific look into why we are all believers.
In Lewis Carroll's Through the Looking-Glass, the White Queen tells Alice that to believe in a wildly improbable fact she simply needs to "draw a long breath and shut [her] eyes." Alice finds this advice ridiculous. But don't almost all of us, at some time or another, engage in magical thinking? Seventy percent of Americans believe in angels; 13 percent of British scientists "touch wood"; 40 percent of Americans believe that astrology is scientific. And that is only the beginning.
In Six Impossible Things Before Breakfast, Lewis Wolpert tackles one of the most important causes on the horizon of public debate: the nature of belief. Looking at belief's psychological basis and its possible evolutionary origins in physical cause and effect, Wolpert expertly investigates what science can tell us about those concepts we are so sure of, covering everything from everyday beliefs that give coherence to our experiences, to religious beliefs, to paranormal beliefs for which there is no evidence.
Customer Reviews:
Short on Evidence.......2007-10-09
Mr. (Dr?) Wolpert admittedly states, with all due candor, that his book has weak evidence (although he inconceivably suggests that this is only "at times"). How an honest scientist (even in the field of embryology, which is remarkably afield from evolutionary psychology) can write a book like this in the face of this fact is baffling.
And it shows.
The largest problem with this book is that the author himself has no idea what his causative explanation is. For example, pg. 67 "... I argue that it was causal thining that was a fundamental adaptation required for making complex tools, and that it was technology that drove human evolution". Despite this argument, he himself reverts to a different position later in the book. For example, pg. 117, "My suggestion is that [belief and religion] had their origin in the evolution of causal beliefs, which in turn had its origins in tool use" and also, pg. 79, "Thus causal thinking preceded and was an essential prerequisite for language development...Language would help enormously with the construction and use of new tools...".
As this should illuminate, the author can't keep his explanation straight. Instead of choosing a theory and then looking for evidence confirming or disconfirming his theory, he simply accepts that it is true, and uses all manner of shady evidence to prop up this ridiculous contradictory theory.
That said, he never does form a complete thought in the entire book, that I could detect at least. There are manifest evidences but none are convincing and many don't support the idea at all. A single sentence, however, can refute the entire thing. When the primitive tools of many societies are compared, there are remarkable similarities. These similarities disperse as the populations themselves, do, which is correlated, in turn, with the evolution of languages.
Hrm... that does tend to destroy his hypothesis. And it isn't a very good one, either.
Pass.
Harkius
The Great Ape that asked "Why?".......2007-10-07
I read this book as the last of a group of books comprising the recent works of Daniel Dennett (whew!)(Breaking the Spell), Richard Dawkins (The God Delusion), Christopher Hitchens (God is not Great), and both of the works by Sam Harris (The End of Faith and Letter to a Christian Nation). For many reasons and particularly because of Wolpert's straightforward theme, I regret I ended rather than started with Wolpert's book in the group. As you are no doubt aware, the theme/proposition of Six Impossible Things Before Breakfast is that the cause-and-effect wiring that showed up in our brains to permit the competitive edge* of complex tool-making is the same wiring that causes our children to ask innumerable questions beginning with "why" too soon after learning to speak syntactically. It is this drive to model our world by causes and effects that competitively distinguishes us as a species. We are an anxious bunch when left with too many unanswered "whys" and turn to stories of causal links or assign temporally correlated events as causally linked in order to reassure ourselves all is well...things have always and will continue to happen for reasons that may be in our control or in the control of one or more benevolent supernatural entities. Just as the scientific method often tests hypotheses that are not immediately dispelled by common sense, these stories of causal links do not necessarily need a foundation in the natural world...they just need to satisfy the cause-effect craving. As you are aware, correlation may indicate but does not necessarily equate with causation and so scientific investigators are left determining, and re-determining, the causal mechanisms, if any, in nature underlying the correlation. Unlike the scientific method, once these stories of casual links take root, we are wired to hold them fast even in the face of independently corroborating facts to the contrary.
*Sorry, I just couldn't help myself from punning.
Combining Wolpert's book with the recent works of the above-cited authors, one takes away a broader theme (see Michael Shermer, Why Darwin Matters) that perhaps we humans got this far by the extra caution taken when seeing patterns where none exist, by immediately projecting intent and anticipated actions onto other beings or objects (irrespective of whether these beings were present or ever existed) and responding to those projections, and by developing both our technologies and our myths due to our insatiable quest for causal links. When contemplating an existence of our conscious self beyond the lifespan of our amazing, yet mortal, brain, we naturally feel a part of something bigger than ourselves. If this something involves or is orchestrated by one or more supernatural entities, we have no way of scientifically knowing.
Wolpert ends his book in a fashion reminiscent of the late Stephen J. Gould (Rock of Ages) where religious beliefs and scientific beliefs are each given their own due respect/space (as you may recall Gould's nonoverlapping magisteria). To the extent scientific beliefs are nearly inaccessible to those without sufficient skills in critical analysis and mathematics and to the extent religious beliefs can take hold in the mind of a child in a day, the populating advantage appears to go to religious beliefs. Unlike Dawkins, Wolpert climbs no soapbox to cry for enhanced critical analysis, mathematics and scientific reasoning in American public schools. He shows little if any distaste for purposeful "scientific" misinformation fed children in home schools or schools supported by literalist religions. Perhaps Wolpert took the matter as far as he felt comfortable in his closing that religious belief systems should not abridge the rights of others.
Nice Concept, Bad Execution.......2007-09-22
Wolpert selected a very interesting topic for this book. And that's all the nice things I have to say about it. He makes a large number of claims that he doesn't bother to support with evidence or explanation. He does not cite his references, although they are listed in the back matter (helpful, but not terribly so, since a particular statement cannot be linked to its source). His paragraphs seem to start and stop willy-nilly and do not provide clear arguments to support his claims. It is unclear which of his claims he intends to support and which he intends to lob toward any ear that will listen.
In short, this book seems like it was written in an ad-hoc, stream-of-consciousness manner. The book does not clearly present its arguments, define important terms like "understand" (this is very important when discussing this topic), or lend itself to detailed study of the subject matter. This book was not yet ripe for the printing, but it was printed nevertheless. Do us all a favor and don't support the publishing of bad books by purchasing them.
A Good Summary of Complex New Evidence.......2007-08-05
Six Impossible Things before Breakfast, by Lewis Wolpert.
This book was very interesting to me as an analysis of human understanding of causation and the importance of our understanding of causation in how we perform other intellectual functions. In particular, we formulate beliefs. One of the characteristics that separates us even from the closest animals is our ability to understand and rationalize cause and effect. Animals, even the great apes, have very limited understanding -- if any -- of causality. We know that from subjecting those animals to experiments in which they would be rewarded for exercising any intellectual capacity that they have.
Human beings have a strong motive to understand causation. Sometimes the intellectual process by which we reach conclusions about causation is described as a "belief engine." There is no doubt that our belief engine is somewhat faulty. Our belief engine "prefers quick decisions, it is bad with numbers, loves representativeness, and sees patterns where often there is only randomness. It is too often influenced by authority, and it has a liking for mysticism." p. 220. We suffer from the "Pollyanna principle," being far more likely to focus on and remember positive rather than negative reports about ourselves. The "Lake Wobegon effect," explains why 94% of college professors believe that they are better than their average colleague at their jobs. The "interviewer illusion" guarantees that we will, as a rule, feel far more confident in our ability to predict the future of others than an objective retrospective analysis would justify. We are overconfident in the correctness of our own judgments. The "Barnum effect" means that we will see merit in vague and generalized descriptions.
We tend to make up stories to explain what we have observed, and the stories often overcome the actual memories. We jump to conclusions on inadequate evidence and then hold to those conclusions with vigor. Placebos work. We are capable of internalizing "forced beliefs," manufactured beliefs forced on us by society or authority. These "forced beliefs" are often manufactured to support other beliefs "that are poorly supported by evidence." Page 88.
We are pathetically bad at evaluating risks, fearing the airplane flight more than the automobile trip to the airport. We have no natural ability to infer what we learn from statistics. We are good at acquiring superstitious beliefs, and terrible at getting rid of them. We are vulnerable to both hypnotic and ordinary suggestion. Studies have shown just how susceptible we are to the implantation of false memories.
We are subject to a strong confirmation bias, which means that once we have formed a belief, we are far more likely to credit new evidence that conforms to those beliefs then evidence that challenges them.
It is difficult to understand the human mind because the instrument with which we must understand it is, of course, the human mind. Studies of animals, babies, children, and people with various kinds of brain damage can give us valuable clues. Carefully designed experiments, with adequate controls, can give us valuable hints. Studies of obviously false beliefs held by people with mental illnesses or under the influence of mind altering drugs can help us understand as well. Even this is difficult because "there are no sharp dividing lines between normal beliefs and delusional beliefs." Page 101. Still, susceptibility to delusions has a strong genetic component, suggesting that our susceptibility is somewhat hardwired into the brain.
We are naturally resistant to scientific evidence because scientific results are frequently counterintuitive. "Almost without exception, any common-sense view of the world is scientifically false." Page 203.
Wolpert proposes that some of the same pathways that developed because of our understanding of causality, particularly tool use, help us to understand our "belief engine." He contends that, "religion and causal beliefs in general had their evolutionary origin in toolmaking, which drove evolution." He admits that the evidence is limited but he could find little or no evidence to contradict this hypothesis. Our belief system is genetically programmed, by which Wolpert means, "that there are circuits in our brain that are set up by the genes that predispose us to have religious and mystical beliefs. It is hard to imagine that the religious and mystical beliefs found in every culture have some other origin." Page 217-18.
This is a short book. It is a good introduction to the science of how the human mind works. I had heard of a lot of the studies discussed in this book before. The author does an excellent job of summarizing the significance of the studies. I enjoy books that explain the cutting edge of science to non-scientists. Wolpert goes into my short list of successful popularizers of complex science.
Fantastic .......2007-06-23
It is quite beautiful how Wolpert sets up the book to explain how some can reject his premise of a non-existent god. The facts contained in this book, and the occasional theory (though well-backed ones), are brilliant and come from a man with an extensive background in the field he writes about, taking special care to write in a way anyone, even an unscientific mind, can understand. It is fantastic how someone can understand, through this book, why they reject certain arguments (specifically that a god is irrational) yet walk away still denying everything, holding on to their old beliefs, knowing exactly how. Though that of course is only a mere portion of the book. Brilliant.
Product Description
Journey to the Impossible: Designing an Extraordinary Life, a Benjamin Franklin Award finalist, will take you wherever you want to go-over, under, around, and through any obstacles, challenges, and barriers to reach a life of indescribable fulfillment.
* Learn how to achieve impossible results in every area of your life.
* Unlock five magic words to transform your life.
* Discover how to master your health with six pure energy principles.
* Unravel the ultimate secret behind innovation.
* Master the power of Playful Defiance.
Short, simple chapters make it easy to absorb the information at your convenience.
Customer Reviews:
Required reading for everyone.......2003-02-11
I review many, many books each year and each year I find two or three that are so powerful that I find myself taking notes. "Journey to the Impossible" is one of these books. Read it, reread it, highlight it, take notes, do whatever you need to do to keep this information at hand while you use it to transform your life.
A lot of things are impossible only because we perceive them to be impossible. And yet others who don't see them that way achieve those same goals. Scott Jeffrey takes us on a wonderful journey to achieving the impossible every day. With short, easy to read chapters the book lends itself to reading a chapter whenever you get a few minutes. This is easily one of the most practical life-changing books that I have ever read. Bravo, Scott Jeffrey, I could not recommend the book more highly.
This book will get you moving!.......2002-03-27
Got dreams you haven't begun to put wings on? Got goals you have not yet achieved? Got plans for the future? Well, Scott Jeffrey's book has been a genuine inspiration to me, and I believe it will help you too. He gives you short, easy tips to implement, fun ways to motivate yourself, and a whole toolbox of ideas that will help you put wings on those dreams and reach those goals.
I have 4-5 favorite chapters that offered advice that has become part of my daily life, and even if those chapters are not your own favorites, I know every reader will find something that will speak to him or her personally. This is easily the best motivational book I've read in several years.
Something for EVERYbody!.......2002-03-20
The title got me excited -- and the rest of the book changed me. 'Journey to the Impossible' is full of useful, easy and practical ways to change your life and create something extraordinary.
The chapters are broken into bite-sized pieces, some only 2-3 pages long. This technique allowed me to easily take Scott's recommendations and apply them - instantly. I didn't need to learn a philosophy to begin practicing what Scott preaches, as I was able to digest every chapter quickly and see the effects of the excercise, thought process, etc. right away. This is a powerful difference between 'Journey' and many other books on the market right now. With the busy lives we lead, we need something that we can take in and integrate quickly and effectively. Scott Jeffrey's 'Journey' accomplishes this admirably.
Read and recommend this book to all you care about. This book brings home a strong message for those who want to lead the best life they possibly can...it is amazing how the power of a few words can change so much.
In all, a true pleasure to read and recommend!
Book Description
Feelings of oneness with other people, nature, and the universe. Encounters with extraterrestrials, deities, and demons. Out-of-body experiences and past-life memories. Science casts a skeptical eye. But Dr. Stanislav Grof—the psychiatric researcher who co-founded transpersonal psychology—believes otherwise. When the Impossible Happens presents Dr. Grof 's mesmerizing firsthand account of over 50 years of inquiry into waters uncharted by classical psychology, one that will leave readers questioning the very fabric of our existence. From his first LSD session that gave him a glimpse of cosmic consciousness to his latest work with Holotropic Breathwork, When the Impossible Happens will amaze readers with vivid explorations of topics such as: • "Temptations of a Non-Local Universe"—experiments in astral projection • "Praying Mantis in Manhattan" and other tales of synchronicity • "Trailing Clouds of Glory"—remembering birth and prenatal life • "Dying and Beyond"—survival of consciousness after death Here is an incredible opportunity to journey beyond ordinary consciousness—guaranteed to shake the foundations of what we assume to be reality—and sure to offer a new vision of our human potential, as we contemplate When the Impossible Happens.
Customer Reviews:
Beyond the materialistic worldview........2007-08-24
This fascinating book by one of the intellectual giants of our time falls somewhere between Jung's "Memories, Dreams, Refelections" and Timothy Leary's "Flashback". It gives an overview over Grof's life and his personal experiences with realities that lies beyond what the materialistic-scientific worldview considers 'possible'.
Some of the anecdotes are taken from his previous books, but they are certainly worth telling again. Experiences with esp, reincarnation, energy-transferring (Swami Muktananda) and not least lots of experiences with all kinds of mind-altering drugs, often taken at exotic places like old mayan temples and the australian desert.
Many of the examples are taken from his own life-story, but a lot of them comes from his yearlong work as a therapist, with LSD and later holotropic breathwork.
Few people challenges the ortodox scientific worldview with such vigor and depth as Grof (guess a book like this could give Richard Dawkins nightmares for weeks, if he had the courage to rewad it). But having said that there seems to be in his works a strong tendency to make spirituality synonymous with 'experiences' and to underestimate the value of Silence, introspection and emptying the mind.
In this book Grof certainly comes across as more of a 'head' than in his previous more scientific works, like a man who likes to take drugs and let the vision of the world be altered by chemical means.
All in all an important collection for anyone interested in a more comprehensive picture of the world around us.
nice cover but dubious information.......2007-08-23
I would be glad to be proven wrong but having read half of this book it has lead me to feel skeptical...even though I was looking for information to make me believe more (see angels and aliens, deepak chopra, etc.)
Unfortunately this book reminds me more of the whitley streiber style of taking too much time talking of personal experiences (with much apparent filler of unrelated personal life details and name dropping).
And also of the Streiber style of completely condemning the scientific method and methodology in general. At least STan does not go so far as to talk of a scientific conspiracy but he does throw the baby out with the bath water.
Case in point and the chapter that really disappointed me was on the quartz crystal skull. Stan gives vague annecdotes with little research into these episodes, including a jaguar in the living room which left Stan's subject in (giggles here) "metaphysical horror". The chapter ends not with an assessment of this mysterious object but stans failure to meditate infront of it and instead right a fiction story.
Hey, kudos to him for researching the mysterious, but am I the only one who is disappointed their is not a more sober, investigative approach? Stan to me gave me no more insight into the supernatural than you may get from someone at a busstop with unsubstantiated claims other than his apparent own experiences which even those have little to back up.
BTW: found much more intriguing info on the skull on wikipedia of all places.
I hope stan's other books are better, with less filler of his personal life and less like flaky books like "connecting the dots' and more like "angels and aliens" or the spirit molecule. the last two being much more sober, investigative and objective.
I like books on spiritualism and the supernatural a lot but am very tired of people exploiting the genre with their empty supposed studies. Anyways the cover was cool. I will do my research better next time.
Light but entertaining read.......2007-06-20
Most of Stan Grof's books are full of Big Thoughts, but this one is on the light side. Good bedside reading. Short chapters are just the right size for a one a night rhythm.
Impossible? Never..........2007-05-24
Grof's latest work tells stories some of us have heard many times before, but it's interesting enough anyway. I think the book is more accurately entiteld "When the Improbable Happens: My Speculations about Reality, Most of Which Conveniently Ignore the Most Lucid, Rational Possibilities." Unfortunately, despite what some reviewers claim, there is absolutely nothing paradigm-busting here. Grof presents notable, novel coincidences, and suggests that such nuggets are veritable proof that there's something Very Deep going on. Unfortunately, not a SINGLE experience he recounts can be said to be literally "impossible." I mean, first of all, assuming they all took place as described, then they are the DEFINITION of "possible," since they otherwise wouldn't have taken place! The ONE SINGLE SOLITARY INSTANCE in which Grof himself has the opportunity to test his ideas and experiences in the realm of objective reality, with scientific empiricism, he fails to do so, essentially because he gets the creeps when he ponders the possible repurcussions of *proof*. That's the problem with assigning meaning to coincidences; the only meaning they truly have is that that we assign to them! Think about it: in the realm of INFINITE POTENTIAL, just about anything is possible. On a moment to moment basis, few of us experience highly novel, completely weird coincidences. Um, yeah, duh! That's why they *seem* so strange and significant, simply because they're unlikely. The more unlikely and striking a coincidence, the more meaning we attach to it. Where is the scientific evidence that PROVES BEYOND ALL DOUBT AND RATIONALIZING AWAY OF THESE MATTERS? *It doesn't exist*. Where is the astral projector who can, in a controlled study, travel across a continent, read twenty words on a list, memorize them for an hour, and travel back to his/her body and repeat the words verbatim, with nary a single mistake? That never happens. Instead, we have information "suggestive" of such-and-such. Essentially, the book rests on the human feeling of "like, that was so WEIRD, dude!" to posit the objective existence of a realm of non-ordinary, um, stuff.
That said, the book is highly thought-provoking and interesting, despite the extremely huge holes in its logical foundations.
Again, I ask, where is 100% undeniable evidence? Where is the nuclear bomb of mysticism?
an ineresting new view on many potencial mind structure.......2007-05-12
A very light writting on almost new self investigation between psichology and spirituality. very interesting and an excellent aproach to a new vision for anybody who seek to see between lines.
Book Description
What keeps us going when times get tough? How do we act to create a more humane world, no matter how hard it seems? How do we offer models of involvement for our students when many feel their actions cannot matter? The Impossible Will Take a Little While gathers stories and essays of engagement that range across nations, eras, and political movements. These visionary and eloquent voices include Diane Ackerman, Sherman Alexie, Maya Angelou, Mary Catherine Bateson, Ariel Dorfman, Marian Wright Edelman, Eduardo Galeano, Susan Griffin, V‡clav Havel, Seamus Heaney, Tony Kushner, Jonathan Kozol, Bill McKibben, Nelson Mandela, Pablo Neruda, Henri Nouwen, Arundhati Roy, Desmond Tutu, Alice Walker, Cornel West, Terry Tempest Williams, and Howard Zinn. Their voices can help us all keep working for a better world, despite the obstacles. In The Impossible Will Take a Little While, a phrase borrowed from Billie Holliday, the editor of Soul of a Citizen brings together fifty stories and essays that range across nations, eras, wars, and political movements. Danusha Goska, an Indiana activist with a paralyzing physical disability, writes about overcoming political immobilization, drawing on her history with the Peace Corps and Mother Teresa. Vaclav Havel, the former president of the Czech Republic, finds value in seemingly doomed or futile actions taken by oppressed peoples. Rosemarie Freeney Harding recalls the music that sustained the civil rights movement, and Paxus Calta-Star recounts the powerful vignette of an 18-year-old who launched the overthrow of Bulgaria's dictatorship. Many of the essays are new, others classic works that continue to inspire. Together, these writers explore a path of heartfelt community involvement that leads beyond despair to compassion and hope. The voices collected in The Impossible Will Take a Little While will help keep us all working for a better world despite the obstacles.
Customer Reviews:
Revied on The Impossible Will Take a Little While.......2007-02-14
Received on time and in a very well condition. Very Satified.
a much needed balm.......2007-01-17
Good things are possible, keep at it, it will take a while, but, it is not impossible! Even the review here at Amazon by Ms. Nina Rosenberg shows the uphill distance we have to go. Let's all keep walking, and even invite Ms Rosenberg along, maybe offer her a cup of tea. Anyhow, I loved this book and feel that we need to sometimes focus on what is good, and what HAS been accomplished and try to understand how it was acomplished so that we too may pave the way to greater peace, for all. Yes, not just for the USA, but for all citizens of the world. If you liked this book, I suspect you might also enjoy a book on non-violence called "nonviolence: twenty five lessons" by Mark Kurlansky.
Don't give up, keep at it, keep the faith, ward off despair!
very readable.......2007-01-12
This book managed to be easy to read despite the large amount of information within its pages. I found it to be inspiring without being too heavy, and informative without leaving me wracked with guilt and anxiety.
Love, Empathy & Hope.......2006-01-23
This is an inspirational compendium from contributers such as Maya Angelou, Jim Hightower, Jonathan Kozol, Nelson Mandela, Arundhati Roy, Desmond Tutu, and Howard Zinn (to name a few). Since the resurgence of the warfare state when Marvin Bush planted bombs in the Twin Towers, which were blown-up after they were hit by planes and the incident blamed on alleged Arabs (see "The New Pearl Harbor" by David Ray Griffin), we have been living an Orwellian nightmare. Just like before when FDR provoked the Japanese to attack Pearl Harbor to make us Yanks war crazy so we would fight the Nazis in Europe and stop Russia from taking it over, we are demoralized and mired in social crisis. Hence, this compilation by editor Paul Loeb is salve to the wounded soul.
Nelson Mandela's contribution is "The Dark Years" when the South African white-led apartheid government incarcerated him and other political prisoners on Robben Island. The inmates organized and maintained their own inmate-led micro-society behind bars, which empowered them and sustained their souls.
Desmond Tutu wrote that people of faith are prisoners of hope. He said that the South African experience was God's beacon of hope, not just to the third world, but Northern Ireland as well.
Howard Zinn's contribution is "The Optimism of Uncertainty". He said "There will always be something to fear in life, but this should not prevent you from living your life, thinking independently, and speaking your mind".
Maya Angelou shared a poem titled "Still I Rise": "Just like moons and like suns, With the certainty of the tides, Just like hopes springing high, Still I rise."
This book is an inspiration to all in peace work.
Hope from start to finish..........2005-12-06
This book is tangible hope in a dark and murky time. The insights gathered in these pages offer a historical bird's eye view of what it means to fight for what is right, no matter the cost. The cross section of stories from around the world unifies disparate groups in a way that is needed on all levels of society today. The book came to me as a gift from a friend, and in the spirit of "Pay It Forward" I made sure that at least 3 other friends got to share in the hope that I enjoyed while reading Paul's work. The stories have further galvanized my personal and politcal beliefs and sent me in some very positive directions working for peace. What started as another casual read quickly became a manual for hope. I reccomend this to all who feel hopeless in light of current events.
Book Description
Here are the keys to turnings all your dreams into reality.
Whether your dreams are to start a business, lose twenty pounds, or build better relationships, they are all within your grasp. The keys are in the "Power Secrets," a set of specific strategies and techniques that enabled Steve Scott to fulfill his impossible dreams, not only in business, but in every other area of life. Along the way, he discovered that the world's most successful women and men -- such as Oprah Winfrey, Steven Spielberg, and Bill Gates -- use these same techniques, including:
- Overcoming a fear of failure
- Turning critics from foes into friends
- Gaining a clear and precise vision
- Recruiting the partners and mentors of your dreams
- Communicating effectively and persuasively
- Taking control of your life one minute at a time
- Igniting the fuel of passion
With stories, advice, and plenty of interactive material to help you create your own personal plan, Simple Steps to Impossible Dreams doesn't just motivate you to fulfill your dreams, it gives you the step-by-step directions to do it!
Customer Reviews:
I couldn't believe how useful the information is!.......2007-07-21
Steven K. Scott has put together a no nonsense book that will help you be more successful in life, careers, relationships and more. I am so pumped by the information I ordered the companion workbook and journal to begin my transformation. Scott is part life coach, career coach, therapist and motivational speaker. The best part is he is truly successful from using the techniques he teaches. He did not just making his money writing books and tapes. Ever heard of the Total Gym? His company markets it.
Leadership and Goal setting at its finest.......2007-03-07
This book will help you set a goal and follow through on that goal. Mr. Scott teaches the sucessful way of creating a goal and then breaking it down to the minor details of achieveing that goal. Out of this world. He could sell high dollar seminars on this very subject. If you are self employed this book has the potential to double or triple your business in the first year. Alignments are stressed in this book and have really opened my eyes to whom I am parterened with in business. Steven Scott hit a home run on this book!
One of the "success" books that actually delivers specific strategies that you can use.......2007-01-20
This is the earlier version of another book that had more fluff plus 2 more recent projects, one which he sells for well over 100 dollars.
Learn the basics here.
I have realized that he writes his books to wet your appetite for the higher priced courses, the best value being a cd series you can buy (do a search for his name if you want it)
Having said that I think he does a better job of revealing his strategies in this version than he does in the next, more recent book, where he basically says much of the same over again.
Here you will find ways to improve your business or personal life. What I did find most profound was the fact that I actually use some of these strategies before I knew of this material, and they really do work.
You will learn such things has how to properly utilize and handle criticism (hard for many entreprenuers), as well as improve professional and personal relationships by understanding others points of view, and how to get others to listen and understand you as well. I can tell you that these strategies to translate well into the professional life of an entrepreneur.
It touches on 15 different strategies to help you change your life:
1.)Reprogramming Your On-Board Computer (getting rid of damaging self-concepts)
2.)Overcoming Fear of Failure
3.)Turning Criticism from Foe to Friend
4.)Gaining a Clear and Precise Vision
5.)Overcoming Your Lack of Know-How
6.)Overcoming Your Lack of Resources
7.)Achieving Infinitely More in a Fraction of the Time
8.)Dreaming and Achieving Impossible Dreams
9.)Recruiting the Partners and Mentors of Your Dreams
10.)Igniting the Engine of Positiveness
11.)Effectively and Persuasively Communicating
12.)Acquiring the Discipline of Winning Most of the Time
13.)Taking Control of Your Life, One Minute at a Time
14.)Acquiring the Fuel of Passion
15.)Flipping the Switch
While I do feel that there is a bit of a over self flattering in all his materials there are some valueable lessons here for those that don't want to spend 80 to hundreds of dollars for his higher priced courses
Especially at this low price point on amazon, having said all this, it really is a deal, with some great tips with actual *real* strategies (that work) to help you rather than some rah rah book designed to just pump you up.
Great Resource.......2007-01-17
My husband and I believe that The Simple Steps to Impossible Dreams is one of the best motivational books we have ever read. We were able to identify our weaknesses, it makes us aware how negative our subconscious were and we were able to set our goals for 2007. What gives this book the exceptional quality is the road map.
I truly believe if these steps are followed, it will truly change our lives personally and financially.
This book is really really bad.......2006-12-20
Don't waste your money or your time. This is an infomercial salesman's book. Read: "How to be Rich" by J. Paul Getty instead.
Book Description
This book traces the origins of the "illegal alien" in American law and society, explaining why and how illegal migration became the central problem in U.S. immigration policy--a process that profoundly shaped ideas and practices about citizenship, race, and state authority in the twentieth century.
Mae Ngai offers a close reading of the legal regime of restriction that commenced in the 1920s--its statutory architecture, judicial genealogies, administrative enforcement, differential treatment of European and non-European migrants, and long-term effects. In well-drawn historical portraits, Ngai peoples her study with the Filipinos, Mexicans, Japanese, and Chinese who comprised, variously, illegal aliens, alien citizens, colonial subjects, and imported contract workers. She shows that immigration restriction, particularly national-origin and numerical quotas, re-mapped the nation both by creating new categories of racial difference and by emphasizing as never before the nation's contiguous land borders and their patrol. This yielded the "illegal alien," a new legal and political subject whose inclusion in the nation was a social reality but a legal impossibility--a subject without rights and excluded from citizenship. Questions of fundamental legal status created new challenges for liberal democratic society and have directly informed the politics of multiculturalism and national belonging in our time.
Ngai's analysis is based on extensive archival research, including previously unstudied records of the U.S. Border Patrol and Immigration and Naturalization Service. Contributing to American history, legal history, and ethnic studies, Impossible Subjects is a major reconsideration of U.S. immigration in the twentieth century.
Customer Reviews:
The construction of the illegal immigrant and discriminatory US policies.......2006-12-01
The United States of America is the great melting pot of the world's immigrants, or is it? A white, middle-class, Protestant, European American lifestyle is what the great melting pot of American folklore was truly intended to articulate to the immigrants of the early 20th century. Mai Ngai counters this image of the US as the embracive playground of diverse immigrants and powerfully weaves the tale of how race, nationality, assimilation, and immigration all became interwoven concepts in overtly discriminatory US immigration policy of the mid-20th century in her newest book Impossible Subjects: Illegal Aliens and the Making of Modern America. As Mae says, "The telos of immigrant settlement, assimilation, and citizenship has been an enduring narrative of American history, but it has not always been the reality of migrants' desires or their experiences and interactions with American society and state." (5)
Throughout the history of the United States, there has been a clear struggle to define who can gain citizenship in this great nation. Ngai's book attempts not to tackle this debate, but rather how the construction of the illegal immigrant came about because "the promise of citizenship applies only to the legal alien, the lawfully present immigrant. The illegal immigrant has no right to be present, let alone embark on the path to citizenship." (6) Her book begins in 1924 with the adoption of the Johnson-Reed Act which established numeric quotas for immigration from countries across the globe. Prior to the 1920s, immigration was relatively unrestricted as, "the free global movement of labor was essential to economic development in the New World." (17) Ngai points out that it is vital to note that this pre-Johnson Reed Act period did see the exclusion of Chinese laborers who migration disturbed the precious ideas of manifest destiny in the West. She stresses that the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882 was most important because the Supreme Court gave Congress absolute control over immigration as part of foreign relations.
Throughout her book, Ngai focuses on what she believes to be the two biggest consequences of the Johnson-Reed Act, the first being creation of the concept of illegal alien and the second being racially ranking the desirability for certain groups to immigrate to the United States. Perhaps the most powerful quote of the entire book goes, "Immigration restriction produced the illegal alien as a new legal and political subject, whose inclusion within the nation was simultaneously a social reality and a legal impossibility - a subject barred from citizenship and without rights." (4) Ngai points out that the irony of this newly created status is that the undocumented or illegal immigrants are woven into the economic fabric and labor market of our nation, and yet as they are cheap labor, they are disposable labor who can easily lose their ability to live in even the subhuman conditions in this oh so great nation.
Now that this new quota system was to be implemented, how would the country establish what the quotas would be for the varying countries of the world? Easy, they compared it to the approximate composition of the US population circa 1790, a clearly discriminatory and completely inaccurate and unreliable practice! As the rising popularity of eugenics was during this time period, there had been increased emphasis on census and racial definition and maintaining "racial hygiene". "Euro-American identities turned both on ethnicity - that is, a nationality-based cultural identity that is defined as capable of transformation and assimilation - and on racial identity defined by whiteness." (7) In this construction of the white American, those non-white, browner immigrants from Asia, Africa, and Mexico were deemed less desirable and lower class peoples who subsequently had a lower quota for the number of immigrants allowed. Ngai points to Mexicans as a changing population in regards to the immigration and whiteness policy of time, as originally they were deemed white as the need for immigrant farm workers was needed in the Southwest, but then subsequently deportation and repatriation of Mexicans and Mexican-Americans became the common practice.
Ngai wonderfully illustrates how as this period of quota-based immigration restrictions continued, the treatment of Filipinos, Mexicans, Chinese, and Japanese worsened to the extent of which no matter how long they or their families had been woven into the fabric of the US, they were viewed and abused as second-class foreigners. Ngai urges you to remember, these were systematic attempts at ranking races, excusing maltreatment, and elevating the political, economic, and racial status of white Euro-Americans, and not just subtle nuances of American policies. As the US struggled with its policies towards the Philippines, practices bounced back and forth from Filipinos being portrayed as being capable of "benevolent assimilation" but at the same time clearly of Asian ancestry and eventually was pushed towards independence and repatriation. As World War II arose, the massive discrimination and maltreatment that the Japanese and Chinese Americans endured only further reinforced their cultural ties to their home countries and therefore they were portrayed as disloyal citizens. In many cases these were actual citizens of the US, native-born patriotic people who had protected rights unlike those of their illegal immigrant counterparts. Ngai reminds us not to forget about the Cold War and the extreme measures that were taken to exclude Chinese people from immigration to the US and even participation as US citizens in order to protect us from evil communist China.
Ngai's phenomenal history comes to a close with the Immigration Act of 1965. Although this act overturned the racialized, discriminatory numeric quota system, it did sadly further extend the reach of numeric restrictions. For anyone who believes that racial hierarchy as part of US policy is a thing of the ancient past, for anyone who believes that African-Americans and their struggles for civil rights were the only systematically discriminated against population in recent US history, this is the book for you! Sit back and relax as Ngai takes you through this tremendously researched sensational tale of the United States and the construction of the illegal immigrant.
This book makes me want to hop the border to Canada.......2005-11-20
This book is truly awful. I don't know what her publisher was thinking by letting this book get out. The tone: Nasal. The language: Sociological jargon. The argument: Garbage. Save a tree and find something better.
Reframing immigration history.......2005-11-03
Mae Ngai's ambitious book compels historians and general readers alike to critically reassess traditional understandings of and approaches to U.S. immigration. Much of the histories on U.S. immigration and immigration policies have told a similar tale. The United States, the narrative goes, has been tainted by a long history of exclusion, a blight on the nation's democratic tradition that was only recently removed with the passage of the Immigration Act of 1965. Such a narrative not only reaffirms the myth of American universalism, but also consistently fails to produce any new critical knowledge about U.S. immigration and U.S. history. Impossible Subjects differs from these other works of immig
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