Book Description
You've probably seen it before: a human brain dramatically lit from the side, the camera circling it like a helicopter shot of Stonehenge, and a modulated baritone voice exalting the brain's elegant design in reverent tones.
To which this book says: Pure nonsense. In a work at once deeply learned and wonderfully accessible, the neuroscientist David Linden counters the widespread assumption that the brain is a paragon of design--and in its place gives us a compelling explanation of how the brain's serendipitous evolution has resulted in nothing short of our humanity. A guide to the strange and often illogical world of neural function, The Accidental Mind shows how the brain is not an optimized, general-purpose problem-solving machine, but rather a weird agglomeration of ad-hoc solutions that have been piled on through millions of years of evolutionary history. Moreover, Linden tells us how the constraints of evolved brain design have ultimately led to almost every transcendent human foible: our long childhoods, our extensive memory capacity, our search for love and long-term relationships, our need to create compelling narrative, and, ultimately, the universal cultural impulse to create both religious and scientific explanations. With forays into evolutionary biology, this analysis of mental function answers some of our most common questions about how we've come to be who we are.
Customer Reviews:
Nicely done, accessible account of the human brain.......2007-08-08
David Linden's "The Accidental Mind" is a neat little book. He has two main purposes: (a) to write a readable introduction on brain science, accessible to nonspecialists; (b) to make the case that (page 6) `. . .the brain is an inelegant and inefficient agglomeration of stuff, which nonetheless works surprisingly well." As to the first point, this volume is a far cry from the magnificent work, Michael Gazzaniga's The Cognitive Neurosciences III: Third Edition. However, if one is not well steeped in knowledge and understanding of the neurosciences, Gazzaniga's edited work is close to impenetrable. This book is well and crisply written, explaining simply how neurons work the structure of the brain, how the brain develops, and so on.
As to the second point? He asserts that, quoting Francois Jacob (Page 6), "'Evolution is a tinkerer, not an engineer." That is, evolution operates on organisms as they are and then the process of change takes advantage of the material already existent to adapt to new conditions and challenges. Thus, the human brain is mounted on older, more primitive structures, in an ill fitting complex. As he says (page 21): "The brain is built like an ice cream cone (and you are the top scoop): Through evolutionary time, as higher functions were added, a new scoop was placed on top, but the lower scoops were left largely unchanged."
Thereafter, he speaks of the structure of the brain, how the fully mature human brain develops (with both nature and nurture having roles to play), how the brain is associated with all manner of emotions, learning, religion, and so on.
The Ninth chapter has a title that speaks directly to Linden's first theme--"The Unintelligent Design of the Brain." Here, he slyly critiques advocates of the "Intelligent Design" perspective by noting that the brain is hardly an exemplar of some great design. As noted already, he sees the brain as inefficient and "jury-rigged."
This is a book that provides plenty of insight into how neuroscientists study the structure and function of the brain--and presents some of the exciting possibilities for future research.
In sum, this is a work that ought to be attended to by those interested in the brain sciences, but who cannot readily read the technical literature.
Entertaining?.......2007-07-30
This is a great book for readers who are interested in an overview of the anatomical and physiological functions of the brain. If you have had any previous A+P, this book may give you flashbacks (and does a good job of explaining how those feelings were "created.") You may even recognise many of the examples and case studies right from classic lectures.
If you are approaching "The Accidental Mind" as pure entertainment, enjoy. If you are looking for juicier or more in depth case studies, keep browsing.
A Very Refreshing Book On Brain Science.......2007-07-18
The addition of this review is to fill in one gap in particular. Dr. Linden is the first scientific author I have read in quite a while that wasn't flip with schools of thought. He has distilled research with varied hypothesis and has enough respect for his field and the reader to frankly state when "We just don't know." My only regret is that Dr. Linden didn't make this book the "larger tomb" he mentions when wrapping up the research that didn't make it into the book. Highly recommended to anyone who is mystified by belief and dreams.
A Perspective-Changing Read about the Brain.......2007-07-04
Why do we sleep? What is love? What is happening when we dream? These questions seem so basic to our human experience, and yet the average person in at a complete loss to explain even the most common of our daily experiences. This is where the Accidental Mind comes in. Linden's book offers a refreshingly different perspective on the brain. After reading this book, you will have a much better understanding of how your brain shapes your experience, it's limitations, and what is going on "behind the curtain." Intelligence, gender identity, sexuality, are all covered with an eye to how these factors play out in the architecture of the brain.
This book also provides a great deal of information on the biological basis for issues that are being debated in our culture, which many people will find enlightening and necessary for making informed comments.
If you are considering picking up this book, read Chapter 7 on sleep, available for free from Linden's website:
[...]
While the book may sometimes goes into great detail on the biology, most readers will find plenty of compelling information in these pages. People who enjoy this book and are interested in some of the practical insights that new research is providing about humans, how we work, and practical advice for improving our lives should check out The Happiness Hypothesis by Jonathan Haidt.
Happy reading!
For your thinking and reading friends...........2007-05-31
I found The Accidental Mind a well written, humorous and thought-provoking introduction to neuroscience and to some profound ideas about evolution and other topics. It's the kind of book that makes you interrupt your partner's reading every five minutes with "Hey, listen to this...." If Dr. Linden lectures as entertainingly and interestingly as he writes, his classes at Johns Hopkins University must be in great demand.
Book Description
Jonathan A. Knee had a ringside seat during the go-go, boom-and-bust decade and into the 21st century, at the two most prestigious investment banks on Wall Street--Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley. In this candid and irreverent insider's account of an industry in free fall, Knee captures an exhilarating era of fabulous deal-making in a free-wheeling Internet economy--and the catastrophe that followed when the bubble burst. Populated with power players, back stabbers, celebrity bankers, and godzillionaires, here is a vivid account of the dramatic upheaval that took place in investment banking. Indeed, Knee entered an industry that was typified by the motto "first-class business in a first-class way" and saw it transformed in a decade to a free-for-all typified by the acronym IBG, YBG ("I'll be gone, you'll be gone"). Increasingly mercenary bankers signed off on weak deals, knowing they would leave them in the rear-view mirror. Once, investment bankers prospered largely on their success in serving the client, preserving the firm, and protecting the public interest. Now, in the "financial supermarket" era, bankers felt not only that each day might be their last, but that their worth was tied exclusively to how much revenue they generated for the firm on that day--regardless of the source. Today, most young executives feel no loyalty to their firms, and among their clients, Knee finds an unprecedented but understandable level of cynicism and distrust of investment banks. Brimming with insight into what investment bankers actually do, and told with biting humor and unflinching honesty, The Accidental Investment Banker offers a fascinating glimpse behind the scenes of the most powerful companies on Wall Street.
Customer Reviews:
Insightful Depiction of Investment Banking.......2007-10-07
Jonathan Knee has penned an insightful and detailed memoir of his investment banking career at Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley, both leading Wall Street houses.
The Accidental Investment Banker is helpful in that Knee has rendered the considerable service of describing what investment bankers actually do on a daily basis. Knee also offers a lucid analysis of the economic forces that transformed an industry that prided itself on its long-term advisory relationships into an industry that frequently competes directly against its clients. The rise of transactional investment banking, and the unhappy outcomes that it is capable of creating, is the central theme of Knee's book. Altogether, Knee's memoir is more thoughtful and detailed than Liar's Poker and similar memoirs.
Criticisms: Knee's publisher has left many copy-editing errors in the final manuscript. This volume deserves better. For Knee's part, his narrative tends to extol the virtues of the top MBA institutions and the "white shoe" investment banks, while disparaging MBA education in general and the absurdities and excesses of investment banking in particular. A more generous and accurate view-- and I am surprised that "The Accidental Investment Banker" does not endorse it-- is that talented people and successful businesses are found in many venues, and that pedigree is no guarantee of success.
good book - wildly misleading cover blurb.......2007-09-22
The cover of this is so misleading that you wonder what the publisher was thinking. This book does not do for IB what Liar's Poker did for fixed income trading (no slobbish bond salesmen throw telephones around here - though on a couple of occasions people make inappropriate comments at parties and iritate clients, and towards the end, during the internet bubble, they decide to dress down on Fridays, then, when the bubble bursts, they stop doing it again). What it delivers is a critical assessment of the state of the IB business, framed in terms of the author's own experience and observations of life at Goldman and Morgan, together with an apologia pro vita sua.
Both are pretty good and pretty useful. If you work in any branch of professional services, then there is a lot of interesting stuff here (pitch books are, alas, not unique to IB) and it is also readable. Knee's prose is a bit, um, prosaic, he is not Michael Lewis, but it goes by easily - there is a bit of New-Yorker-itis (people are introduced as 'slim, handsome and elegant', even 'elfin' a couple of times - does no-one read Leonard's rules for writers?), but nothing on the scale of Barbarians at the Gate, which, it if it were not so unreadably, incompetently badly written, would be the Liar's Poker of IB. And there are some definite gems, such as the description of the Goldman IBS team as resembling 'a German olympic swimming team' (which is even better than 'the Chets') which must have made some people wince.
In fact there is one possible reference to BatG here, where Knee describes the final negotiations in the sale of West, where he and his team successfully engineered that the 'right' bidder won an open auction, albeit at an extra cost of 50-100m (exhibit A in the 'apolgia'), to be compared and contrasted with the climax of BatG, where Felix Rohatyn efficiently extracted an extra 230 million dollars from KKR. Rohatyn would point out, in his defence, that there were no 'right' bidders for RJR, there were just different packs of predatory carnivores, and RJR was a public company, etc. True, but the parallel is still striking.
Neither Goldman nor Morgan come out of the book looking very good, but Goldman definitely comes out far ahead of Morgan.
What else? Knee crashed into the middle ranks, and moved up fast, so he does not say a lot about the endless diet of midnight pizza and the regular crashing under your desk in your suit which also go with the job, at least in my - very occasional - experience. There are also some interesting notes about Hank Paulson, which must have been written just before he left GS to be Treasury Secretary - Knee is, shall we say, not so impressed.
In conclusion: Definitely worth reading, but not for the jokes, or the madcap anecdotes - there aren't any. Knee comes across convincingly as an honorable, intelligent and likeable man and he delivers a lot of useful information and analysis. Finally, I can also reassure him that his somewhat self-conscious author's pic at the back is enough to guarantee that no-one will ever describe him as 'elfin'.
Great I-Banking Read.......2007-09-17
Though-provoking and pleasurable read that will be greatly appreciated by anyone who has/is working in the realm of high finance or wants to know more about it. A must read for any young, up-and-coming banker. While most i-banking books have their share of good vignettes and war stories, what separates this book apart is the thought-provoking analysis of internal politics with crucial underlying dictums.
Positives:
-Great description of the how the latest boom-and-bust period and other factors have (negatively) affected i-banking.
-Candid opinions and vignettes of people currently or recently active on the Street.
-Edifying/applicable i-banking politics analysis.
-Laugh-out-loud war stories.
Negatives:
-Knee's own importance is likely overstated in some parts, but cut him a break, he's an investment banker!
-Knee's joy in waxing poetic about the 'old days' of investment banking is undeniably in part a pitch for his newer role at Evercore, but again, you have to cut the author a little slack here.
-Some controversial political analyses - I don't have inside information to argue whether Knee's view is the 'true' view or not. At a minimum he is willing to put forth views on matters where, in this day and age, the vast majority of writers are too chicken to attempt.
The book ties together (1) Knee's career path, (2) Knee's most entertaining war stories, (3) Analyses of the rise-and-fall of several key figures on the Street and (4) Knee's main story: the changing roll of investment banks and the reasons for this change. While some have argued that certain parts are off topic, I would say that these stories and analyses are crucial to understanding the time and Knee's reasons for taking his particular view of i-banking. Moreover, we are all wiser and further entertained for its inclusion.
There's one point on which I take issue with Knee. He asserts that his primary reason for staying in investment banking is to influence decision making at the top ranks of corporations; however, if this is one's primary interest, I believe that this goal is better served by a career in private equity. I think this is a view that Knee, whether or not he agrees with it, should have addressed. That said, my zeal for this point is largely driven by my own career decisions, so I'd probably have a hard time claiming to be entirely without bias myself!
Learning: The fun way.......2007-09-04
This book is what banking professors want to recommend as Summer Reading for their students. This story educates people about all the processes and industry terms that are only available through experience or from a drab textbook.
You will learn about the author's education, how he got into banking, and how he has ended up where he ended up. Along the way, you will probably be startled to learn how much he and other top bankers make in a year. The new industry terms are fairly well defined so that people foreign to the industry are not left baffled.
The vocabulary is not too challenging. I would think that this book would be more entertaining than educational for an industry professional.
While not a world-mover, this book was terribly interesting and definitely educational. Although, that might just be my opinion.
On the Money.......2007-08-15
As far as I'm concerned, Jonathan Knee's book is the best of the "life on Wall St" books out there. It isn't the most shocking (Monkey Business), nor about the biggest deal (Barbarians). But it tells the true story of his climb up the ladder (and the trends shaping the industry) with engaging, self-deprecating humor. I worked at DLJ during the "monkey business" years and never encountered any of the unethical frat boy moments recounted in Troob's book (guess I wasn't invited to the cool parties; ha).
The Accidental Investment Banker doesn't dwell on the gutter moments of banking, nor does it glorify the industry. If you're considering a career in banking or just want to understand how the Street works (and laugh along the way), I highly recommend this book.
Vince Scafaria
CEO, DealMaven Inc.
Book Description
Author Chris Lytle had modest career aspirations. He merely wanted to be the next Walter Cronkite. But instead of being offered a job in the newsroom, he was offered a job in the sales department. He took the sales job and became an "accidental salesperson."
Most people don't choose sales as a career. Sales chooses them--and they end up wondering how to make the most of a profession they were never prepared for.
They don't have to wonder anymore. In THE ACCIDENTAL SALESPERSON, Lytle gives readers the road map for excelling in sales. Lively and entertaining, this somewhat unorthodox guide is packed with thought-provoking axioms, humorous and instructive anecdotes, specific strategies, and powerful tools--everything readers need to master essential lessons in sales and professionalism.
Readers will find there are some things THE ACCIDENTAL SALESPERSON lacks--dull theories, manipulative methods, and high-pressure tactics. But with the wealth of money-generating, career-building techniques it does provide, we don't think those items will be missed.
Customer Reviews:
I ACTUALLY READ THE BOOK...........2007-10-04
I read this book and can attest that this book is NOT what it seems to be. The reviews claim this to be the best sales book of all time, but these reviews lack capacity in what is acutally contianed in this book.
The book shows you gimmicks and silly methods used for prospecting. The real world deals with professionals. I am a stock broker and would not want to be associated with these type of methods or have them by any means reflect my line of business.
I would recommend two books: 1. "How to Master the Art of Selling" by Tom Hopkins 2. "Advanced Selling Strategies: The Proven System of Sales Ideas, Methods, and Techniques Used by Top Salespeople Everywhere" by Brian Tracy. These are real books with so much information to be absorbed under one read.
I won't lie to you and tell you that one single book outhere is the best. But these two books combined is the best sales modus you will develop.
Shortcut to success.......2007-07-19
This work is intented for those who, as the author (or as me), have been launched towards a profession that could earn your own money but could stress your nervous system. This guide helps you to focus on the right directive without being distracted by jaws-men or uneducated-chieves.
Really dealed just to understand how to move in this sea of difficulties
A Must For Any Salesperson.......2007-07-07
Chris Lytle has put together an excellent process for sales success. While there is little new in sales under the sun, his treatment of the selling process is fresh and very effective.
I've been using his pre-approach letters and his preparation process for sales interviews with solid success. His techniques work!
Excellent investment.......2007-05-11
I have been purchasing this book for my new Sales Reps for the last several years. They always come back and thank me. It helped me tremendously and many others. Each story / example is short but full of insight. Not your typical sales manual.
Down To Earth Guide.......2007-03-17
Chris has put together a practical guide for all sales people. This is a must-read for anyone finding themselves trying to make a living in the world of selling.
Book Description
Jane Jeffry and longtime beau Detective Mel VanDyne finally decide to marry, but Mel's overbearing mother wants to take charge of not only the rehearsal dinner but the actual wedding. Since Jane half expected Mel's mother to steamroll the entire event, she agrees—but with rules of her own. No bridesmaids, no groomsmen. And she can't tell Jane what to wear.
But during what should have been a blissful interval between the engagement and the bouquet toss, several other occurrences take place. Mel convinces Jane and her best friend, Shelley Nowack, to take a women's safety class. They learn a lot, but the class is cut short when a dead body is discovered. So between Jane's wedding planning, her new writing project, and a battle between both mother-in-laws (which Jane encourages), a murderer must be found before this bride can walk happily down the aisle.
Book Description
“Remarkably insightful . . . A groundbreaking revision that deserves to reframe the entire debate . . . It soars.”—The New York Times Book Review
In The Accidental Empire, Gershom Gorenberg examines the strange birth of the settler movement in the ten years following the Six-Day War and finds that it was as much the child of Labor Party socialism as of religious extremism. The giants of Israeli history—Dayan, Meir, Eshkol, Allon—all played major roles in this drama, as did more contemporary figures like Sharon, Rabin, and Peres. Gorenberg also shows how three American presidents turned a blind eye to what was happening in the territories, and reveals their strategic reasons for doing so.
Drawing on newly opened archives and extensive interviews, Gorenberg calls into question much of what we think we know about this issue that continues to haunt the Middle East.
Customer Reviews:
Romantic view of Israeli history from Israel's leftwing.......2007-04-26
Israel came into being as a result of a civil war during the last days of the British Mandate over Palestine. As the civil war gathered momentum the British abandoned the mandate with the approval of most of the rest of the world. The Israeli left knows this war as the war of Independence and the Arab Palestinians whether now Israeli citizens or stateless Palestinians as the 'Nakba' or 'disaster'.
In Gorenberg's book it is the war of Independence with its effective partition of mandatory Palestine without most of the Jewish religious sites and most of the Arabs with the exception of the Arab areas of the Galilee.
What frightens Gorenberg the most about the Jewish settlements in Judea and Samaria is that they contain most of the sites of Jewish religious significance and that they now also contain centers of Jewish religious population. He fears their existence more than he fears the Palestinian Arabs. The reason is quite simple: one is a distant neighbor and the other is too much like his own mother-in-law.
So the remaining areas of the stateless British Mandate for Palestine which Israel conquered in 1967 are referred to as being occupied territory. This serves both the interests of the Israeli left who don't want the Jewish religious sites nor the re-emergence of a strong religious sentiment among the Jewish people. It also serves the interests of the Palestinian Arabs who want to return to the days of 1948 when partition of the land on better terms for them was still available.
The Palestinian Arab viewpoint is that the entire area should be Islamic and Arab despite its large Jewish population. This is not well discussed. The idea that UN resolution 242 is effectively a return to the Peel commisions partition plan or the 1947 UN plan for partition plan is also not discussed. It is presented only as a preservation of the status quo of the 1949 armistice lines now disguised as being Israel and the rest as being occupied territory. This mis-reading of history maximizes the area of the partition for Palestinian Arabs without taking on additional Jewish religious sites. It also helps prevent the re-emergence of strong religious sentiment among the Jewish people in Israel.
As an Israeli it is a fun book to read, but understand that you are reading propaganda from a very interested party. A book on the same events from the standpoint of a Palestinian Arab or a religious Palestinian Jew would tell you an entirely different story.
Full, in depth, information.......2007-02-12
The Accidental Empire is a wide ranging book, but a wonderfully focused and well researched account aftermath of the Six Days War, the capture of the Golan Heights, the West Bank, and the Gaza Strip. TAE appears to be a wider treatment of Gorenberg's far less successful (though very interesting) first book, The End of Days, about the growing power of religious Zionists. Instead of focusing on the Temple Mount, TAE provides an account of the religious settlement movement, primarily Gush Emunim, and their attempts to create illegal settlements in the Gaza Strip and West Bank. Perhaps the strongest point of the book is how muddled the thinking of the Labor leadership was about the new settlements. As aging revolutionaries, they were still wedded to the idea that settlements meant security; that creating facts on the land would lead to a more secure Israel. But they were equally drawn to the idea that land was a negotiating chip with surrounding Arab states. The pull between both impulses led to a sustained paralysis.
Any interested in Zionist history and issues must have this........2006-09-24
THE ACCIDENTAL EMPIRE: ISRAEL AND THE BIRTH OF THE SETTLEMENTS, 1967-77 offers up the untold story based on new original research, of the actions and issues which created the Israeli settlements in the occupied territories. It goes beyond detailing the well-known events of the Six Day War to probe the birth of the settler movement in Israel, the product of Labor Party socialism and religious extremism. Israel's major figures and how they interacted with U.S. administrative forces - distracted by Vietnam - are probed in chapters which tell of the first Israeli settler in occupied territory p to modern times. Any interested in Zionist history and issues must have this.
Diane C. Donovan
California Bookwatch
Adds much to a better understanding of the historical context of the current strife in the West Bank and Gaza.......2006-07-09
It is essential in reading this book, and perhaps more significantly in reading reviews of this book, to separate the views of religious expansionists from those of the secular government and of by far the highest portion of the population of Israel throughout its existence regarding the settlements. It is also important to compare the strong emotional, almost messianic, attachment to the land of Samaria and Judea felt and espoused by the settlers with the need of the government to "create facts" on the land that supposedly distinguished its own internal legal opinions, and those of most of the rest of the world, regarding the "legality" of the settlements. Whatever personal views you may have on these and other core issues raised by Gorenberg's thoroughly researched, well documented and extensively footnoted work, his dispassionate, well written report of the events is an invaluable reference work that helps define the significance of the settlements as contributing to Middle East unrest. Moreover, Gorenberg's fascinating report of the inner workings of the Eshkol, Meir and Rabin cabinets, and the arrogant disregard of official government policy by cabinet members who represented a small but powerful portion of the population, provide insight into the intrigues that seemingly drive many national decisions in Israel because of the need to form coalition governments that direct the policies of the country.
A well written, well researched, thorough history of an import period of Israeli history.......2006-05-17
Although I consider myself very knowledgeable about the Arab-Israeli conflict, this book nevertheless provided me with much new information. I think that it is common for people to believe that following the six day war the labor government desperately desired to trade the newly conquered territories for peace and that settlements did not start until the Likud government took over in the late '70's. This book sets the record straight. Although, the Israeli government's official position was that it was ready to trade land for peace, their actions spoke otherwise. Largely due to an emotional attachment to the "Whole Land of Israel" as well as for security concerns, the labor government was actually conflicted about giving up the territories. Slowly but surely the labor government encouraged or condoned settlements including near major Arab population centers (eg Hebron). This was despite the government's knowledge that such settlement contravened international law. Israel's grasp on the territories was already quite firm before the likud governments of the 1980's.
Gorenberg's book is very well researched as he relies upon archived documents as well as interviews of the political players at the time. A unique aspect of the book is how Gorenberg follows certain "unknown" individuals, such as a regular army soldier who fought in the six day war, and intersperses their emotions and ideas within the relatively more dry telling of the history.
This is a very important book for anyone who wants to understand the current conflict.
Average customer rating:
- Craptabulous!
- Enjoyed it
- Great book
- This is a woman who needs professional help!
- no lifeguard on duty
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No Lifeguard: The Accidental Life of the World's First Supermodel
Janice Dickinson
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A Paper Life
ASIN: 0060566175
Release Date: 2003-09-30 |
Book Description
A rollicking memoir by one of the greatest (and most outrageous) supermodels of the 1970s.
Janice Dickinson was not only the first of the supermodels, she endured a nightmarishly traumatic childhood at the hands of a sadistic, sexually and emotionally abusive father, and emerged in the early 1970s as the first lush–lipped 'exotic' brunette to break into a modelling world dominated by sunny California blondes.
Janice owned the modelling world in the 1970s. Animated by a fierce desire to be recognised, a fearless spirit, and an insatiable hunger for alcohol, cocaine, sex, and fun, Dickinson appeared on every magazine cover, worked with every major designer and photographer (from Calvin Klein and Gianni Versace to Helmut Newton and Richard Avedon), was married three times, and had passionate affairs or one–night stands with everyone from Warren Beatty to Jack Nicholson to Mick Jagger. Though her career waned in the 1990s, her dramatic life story did not: in recent years she has fought a hotly contested paternity suit with Sylvester Stallone, survived a near–fatal car wreck during a tequila/marijuana blackout in St Bart's, and waged a raging battle with alcohol and drug addiction.
Customer Reviews:
Craptabulous!.......2007-08-24
So, I am a fan of crazy-gorgeous-extreme model types, because they are so much the opposite of me.
Take Janice Dickinson, for instance. Janice walks in a room, and everyone knows it. Maybe they smell her heady melange of booze, perfume, and cigarettes. It could be the obnoxiously loud string of foulness that always enters before she does. And perhaps it's because she's gorgeous and has those crazy -- as in substantially unstable -- eyes that demand attention in a Charlie Manson kind of way. I don't know. Whatever it is, I want it, as do millions of young ladies.
So I really wanted to like this book and experience a lot of "Oh no she di'int" admiration, but mostly, I was stumbling over the lackluster, disconnected writing. Does anyone believe celebrities of her caliber -- low, that is -- really write their own material? I suppose her "writing partner" is partially to blame for the poor quality, but having seen Dickinson in action (critiquing ANTM contestants and manipulating her way through the D-list dumpster that is The Surreal Life), I don't doubt for a second that she'd have creative control and final say on the content and style.
Janice does deliver some juicy bits. For example, way back when Sly Stallone was her man, Janice was regularly given mystery "vitamins" by the Rocky that, in light of recent events, may've been an early iteration of HGH. Hm. Plus there's tons of drugs and boyfriends (and girlfriends), although I could've done without the explicit descriptions of sex ham-fistedly sandwiched into random spots. (It's like she forgot she wasn't writing a Harlequin for a couple of pages.)
As in other memoirs by people who shouldn't necessarily be writing any, there's the usual childhood drama blown out of proportion. Being abused is drama enough -- why add the Lifetime Movie of the Week sentiment for fanfare? It feels a little... exploitative.
But I suppose that's the point. Dickinson made her career out of exploitation -- of her body, the camera, other people's bodies... you name it. I appreciate the candor she shows, and no-holds-barred "outing" of celeb secrets is balanced by kind words for others (for instance, Christie Brinkley is -- or at least was -- a saint). This could've been an excellent book if only she'd taken an intensive in English composition and pulled out a thesaurus. (At least it wasn't as bad as Iceberg Slim!)
Enjoyed it.......2007-06-28
I thought this book was v interesting & honest...a true look into Janice's Dickinsons life. She is a strong character & has survived a hell of a childhood - now i now why she still acts kinda crazy when you see her on tv!
Great book.......2007-06-27
This woman has balls. It is not a book written by someone who is afraid of looking bad, or offending people (I am looking at YOU Kimora Lee Simmons). Janice is one fierce b*tch. I must say she did start to get on my nerves after viewing her reality show, but if you are looking for a juicy book, get this one. You will be satisfied!
This is a woman who needs professional help!.......2007-06-13
This is truly a sick (emotionally & maybe mentally) and delusional woman.
It's amazing to me that this sewer-mouthed narcisist got as far as she did.
This book is trash!
no lifeguard on duty.......2007-05-24
this book is interesting when it talks about her life with family and friends but the rest of it is slow and boring i thought this was going to be great like her other book but its very boring and hard to keep reading,
Book Description
On April 14, 1994, two U.S. Air Force F-15 fighters accidentally shot down two U.S. Army Black Hawk Helicopters over Northern Iraq, killing all twenty-six peacekeepers onboard. In response to this disaster the complete array of military and civilian investigative and judicial procedures ran their course. After almost two years of investigation with virtually unlimited resources, no culprit emerged, no bad guy showed himself, no smoking gun was found. This book attempts to make sense of this tragedy--a tragedy that on its surface makes no sense at all.
With almost twenty years in uniform and a Ph.D. in organizational behavior, Lieutenant Colonel Snook writes from a unique perspective. A victim of friendly fire himself, he develops individual, group, organizational, and cross-level accounts of the accident and applies a rigorous analysis based on behavioral science theory to account for critical links in the causal chain of events. By explaining separate pieces of the puzzle, and analyzing each at a different level, the author removes much of the mystery surrounding the shootdown. Based on a grounded theory analysis, Snook offers a dynamic, cross-level mechanism he calls "practical drift"--the slow, steady uncoupling of practice from written procedure--to complete his explanation.
His conclusion is disturbing. This accident happened because, or perhaps in spite of everyone behaving just the way we would expect them to behave, just the way theory would predict. The shootdown was a normal accident in a highly reliable organization.
Customer Reviews:
Utterly fascinating.......2002-11-29
I went into this book thinking "how in the world could this happen" and finished it asking "how is it that this didn't occur before."
A fascinating book that has significance for all types of emergency responders, who need to understand how such "mistakes" might occur and thus how to potentially prevent such mistakes from occuring in the future.
An Organizational Analysis.......2000-12-14
Friendly Fire is a insightful, intriguing analysis of the 1994 incident that resulted in the needless deaths of 26 peacekeepers in the Iraqi Norther No Fly Zone. Snook presents a compelling tale of a complex system gone awry, an organization operating on the edge of chaos, and the ultimate result of a deterministic system spinning out of control. Drawing on his extensive knowledge of systems theory and organizational behavior, LTC Snook presents his thesis with exceptional clarity and depth of understanding; his conclusions are as disturbing as they are fascinating: a series of rational decisions made by equally rational human beings still failed to prevent the very incident the organization was designed to forestall. A concise, well-written account of and incident with lessons that we should all take to heart.
An Exceptional Account and Evaluation.......2000-09-30
Friendly Fire is a marvelous analysis of one of the most horrific accidents in recent military history. Snook is unfaltering in his tenacity to get to the root causes of this tragedy. The reader is given a broad perspective of how events, even those occuring years previous, led to the fateful day when 26 peacekeepers lost their lives. His ability to put the reader into the mind of each participant is riveting. More than just a recitation of facts or an outpouring of emotion, this book blends all the elements into a comprehensive understanding of a most complicated event. Friendly Fire should be required reading for all military personnel and anyone whose actions hold the lives of others in their hands.
When bad things happen to good organizations.......2000-04-13
In this book, Scott A. Snook, Ph.D. provides a thoughtful and readable account of how things can go tragically wrong in normal, healthy organizations. The author creatively applies several key theories in organizational structure and change to develop an understanding of (1) the tragic shootdown of two Army helicopters by U.S. Air Force jet fighters, which occurred in northern Iraq in 1994, and (2) "friendly-fire" events in general and broadly-defined --- or how it is that bad things can happen to good organizations, and there really is no one to blame. The book begins with an impressive, detailed examination of the data surrounding the 1994 Blackhawk shootdown. This includes thousands of hours of transcribed testimony gathered in hearings and court martial proceedings. In addition to official reports, Snook personally interviewed many of the key players in the Blackhawk friendly-fire incident. Using a "grounded-theory" approach, the author allows the data to shape and guide his reconstruction of the event itself, and his subsequent theoretical formulations to explain what happened. His resultant theory of "practical drift" spans multiple levels-of-analysis, from the individual to the cultural, providing dramatic insight into how such seemingly impossible events can be expected to occur in complex organizations. This book sheds the kind of light which both clarifies and disturbs. It should prove of real value not only to military leaders interested in reducing friendly-fire incidents, but also to leaders in non-military organizations who wish to understand, and perhaps avoid, normal disasters.
Book Description
When a single-dad TV executive hires Melody Seabright--a flaky rich girl and rumored witch--as his babysitter, she magically lands her own cooking show...and makes sparks fly.
Customer Reviews:
Couldn't find the story past the sex.......2007-09-01
I thought the premise of this book was great but I was so disappointed. It is one a the few books I threw out. I tried and I tried but I got disgusted with the sex. Give me the story with the sex thrown in, but this guy's every thought in the book was sexual. It was too much for me and I moved on.
Cute and Entertaining.......2007-08-04
This is not my usual genre - but I'm glad I picked this book up! Living in New England, I think the atmosphere was captured nicely and the characters were interesting and amusing. I found a couple of errors (Logan is rubbing his eyes from just waking up in one sentence then putting Shane to bed in the next - and - how come the whole town was loosing power, etc, but the news room's computer works fine - no worry of loosing the work they're doing?)....but - other than those small things - I liked this book and will read more by Ms. Blair.
Blessed Be.
A Fun Read.......2007-03-20
I actually got this because of the title, and then I fell in love with Melody and Logan as the story progressed. It was fun to have a character who knew next to nothing about cooking have a cooking show. You don't see that in this society. All in all, a fun, sexy read.
A great day read ! I didn't want it to end............2007-02-17
The Kitchen Witch by Annette Blair will leave you with a smile on your face. I read My Favorite Witch first and knew I had to read more from this author. In this novel Logan had colorful youth and now has returned to Salem, Massachusetts as suit and tie guy with his four your old son. He is looking for a calm life and a good stable mother for his son. He finds Melody who is "witch" and is fun loving women who loves his son. They end up working together at a TV station and sparks fly and lots of conflicts. I didn't want it to end.
Check out the whole Accidental Witch Trilogy; 1. The Kitchen Witch 2. My Favorite Witch 3. The Scot, the Witch & the Wardrobe.
Looking forward to her new series Triplet Witch Trilogy 1. Sex and the Psychic Witch, August 2007 2. Never Cross a Witch with PMS, May 2008 and 3. The Lady is a Witch, 2008/2009
yummy romp through the not so supernatural.......2007-02-12
I picked up this book thinking it had a little flair of supernatural. I was wrong but still wasn't dissapointed. It turned out to be a sweet and funny story about a woman taking advantage of her reputation as a witch, a very sweet little boy, and his dad who just now gets to be with his son.
I liked the idea of the TV show and the sparks flying between our "witch" Melody and new father Logan. The intimate scenes are not sugarcoated with pretty words, but there aren't too many of them and they don't last long. So if that normally bothers you it doesn't play that large of a role here. I also found the other woman vying for Logan and the situations that came up with her pretty unbelievable...one minute something huge happens and then the consequences are not mentioned for many many days. I still would reccommend this story- just remember to suspend your disbelief during those scenes. This story is wonderful girly fluff and I have gone back for seconds.
Amazon.com
Before writing The Accidental, Ali Smith wrote Hotel World, shortlisted for both the Orange Prize and the Man Booker Prize, and several short story collections. Her work is absolutely original, with a trademark quirky style, with whole passages that seem to have been bound into the wrong book and occasional historical asides completely outside the narrative line. Don't be fooled; with Smith, every word has a purpose.
Amber is the catalyst who makes the novel happen. She appears on the doorstep of the Smart's rented summer cottage in Norfolk, England, barefoot and unexpected. Eve Smart, a third-rate author suffering writer's block, believes that she is a friend of her husband's. Michael is a womanizing University professor, but he doesn't usually drag his quarry home. He thinks that she must be a friend of Eve's. Everyone is politely confused and Amber is invited to dinner. She is a consummate liar and manipulator who manages to seduce everyone in the family in some significant way.
Magnus, Eve's 17-year-old son from a former marriage and Astrid, her 12-year-old daughter, are easy prey. Magnus is in despair. He played a prank on a classmate and it went horribly wrong when she killed herself because of the humiliation it caused. He cannot shake the guilt and is about to hang himself from the shower rod when Amber walks into the bathroom, the perfect deus ex machina. She bathes him and takes him back downstairs, announcing that she found him trying to kill himself. Everyone titters. Could it be possible? This is a recurring question as Amber's behavior becomes more and more outrageous. Is this really happening, or is it some family-wide delusion? To add to the mystery, there is a Rashomon-like character to the story in that the same events are recalled by the Smarts through their own filters.
This life force who is Amber is finally thwarted when Eve, after a disturbing event, compels her to leave. The family is left to re-evaluate who they are post-Amber and to decide how to live with the changes she has brought about in them through this "accidental" encounter. This is a completely engrossing novel that raises as many questions as it answers. --Valerie Ryan
Book Description
The Accidental is the dizzyingly entertaining, wickedly humorous story of a mysterious stranger whose sudden appearance during a family’s summer holiday transforms four variously unhappy people. Each of the Smarts–parents Eve and Michael, son Magnus, and the youngest, daughter Astrid–encounter Amber in his or her own solipsistic way, but somehow her presence allows them to se their lives (and their life together) in a new light. Smith’s exhilarating facility with language, her narrative freedom, and her chromatic wordplay propel the novel to its startling, wonderfully enigmatic conclusion.
Ali Smith’s acclaimed novel won the prestigious Whitbread Award and was a finalist for the Man Booker Prize, the Orange Prize, and the James Tait Black Memorial Prize.
Customer Reviews:
Palaver.......2007-08-10
In one of the few impressive passages of Ali Smith's novel "The Accidental," a 17 year old boy named Magnus, the son of Eve Smart and stepson of her husband Michael Smart, reflects upon Plato's allegory of the cave:
"A group of men were chained inside a cave, and all they saw, all they could see and all they'd ever seen of the world was the shadows their own fire made on the walls. They watched the shadows all the time. They spent their days watching them. They believed that's what life was. But then one of them was forced out of the cave and into the real world. When he came back into the cave and told the others about sunlight, they didn't believe him." (p. 249)
Plato' allegory has a timeless quality that captures, in its provocative way, something essential about the human condition. People tend to flounder in their lives, to be unsure of what they want, and to pursue things that will not bring them happiness. It is the part of wisdom to leave the cave and see reality clearly. For those who take Plato's allegory seriously, philosophy and spirituality (religion) tend to be the paths that can lead out of the cave.
Smith's book seems to be a meditiation on how people continue to be caught in Plato's cave and in its world of illusions. The chief characters in the book are the members of a disfunctional family, the Smarts. Michael Smart, 42, is a womanizing professor of English and a poet. His wife Eve, 42, is a writer of historical fiction. Magnus, Eve's son, has adolescent sexuality and a dark secret on his mind. Astrid, 12, a budding adolescent, spends a great deal of time with photography and with an expensive camera her parents have given her.
On a summer holiday in Norfolk, the Smart's meet -- or do they -- a 30ish woman named Amber who changes their lives. She throws away Astrid's camera, has sex with Magnus, insults Eve, and doesn't sleep with Michael. Amber, or the idea of Amber, changes the life of the family and each of its four members, irrevocably when they return from their holiday.
Smith's writing style is a major problem with this book. While she does try to develop her characters, the writing is choppy and mannered. The writing calls attention to itself, shows no real inner feeling, and is, in general, unsuited to a serious theme. It failed to hold my interest after only a few pages.
I didn't find the book took Plato or his cave seriously. The book has an aura of importance to it which is belied by its mannerism and its triviality. Smith and her character Amber may want to call the reader's attention to how the Smarts, and most people remain imprisoned in Plato's cave. But the writing itself, and Amber's antics, did not inspire confidence in me. The story of the book and the characters did not persuade me that anyone was understanding or escaping from a cave. Rather, the characters, the author, and the story itself, seem caught in their cave. The characters and their problems seemed stereotyped and predictable, and the manner of the telling was irritating. There was little insightful in the problems of the characters, in Amber's impact upon them, or in the resolution.
The theme of a mysterious stranger, generally a woman, who descends upon a family and brings the voice of imagination or hope into their lives is not unusual in fiction. A much better, though less heralded novel in which the theme is well explored is "The Illuminated Soul" by Aryeh Stollman. That book explains the effect of a woman visitor of uncertain origins on the imagination and life of a brooding, highly intelligent adolescent boy who has lost his father and on his family. The story is told much more seriously and reflectively than is the case in this novel.
Readers who are interested in Smith's theme will find it much better realized in Stollman's fine book.
Plato's allegory of the cave remains an archetype of human experience, the stuff of which novels are made. But I am afraid "The Accidental" is flip, stilted, and pretentious. It remains caught in its own morass.
Robin Friedman
An angel passing through.......2007-06-20
One might almost call this "Touched by an Angel." An enigmatic young woman, Amber -- free-sprited, unpredictable -- attaches herself to a dysfunctional English family on holiday in Norfolk, and quickly forms a special relationship with each member of it, seeing into and eventually unknotting their various obsessions. The twelve-year-old daughter is obsessed with her video camera, the teenage son with his guilt in the suicide of a schoolmate, the English professor stepfather with his beddable students, and the driven mother with her career as a writer of creative non-fiction. Although the things that Amber does are far from angelic, ranging from larceny to assault, her presence catalyzes a change for the better in each of the characters, that continues to develop even after she has moved on.
Smith's writing is lively and audacious, but its apparent informality conceals a careful texture of references and reminiscences. She is excellent at capturing the voices of each of the four family members, even writing a section for the father as a tour-de-force sonnet sequence. At times the pattern seems a little too predictable, but Smith keeps some surprises up her sleeve --- none less than the surprising ending which wraps the book up neatly in narrative terms, if not quite so pleasingly in human ones.
I seem to have read a lot of books lately based on what one might charitably call non-nuclear families, and narrated at least partly in the voice of one of the children. THE ACCIDENTAL is a fine example of the genre, but not the best of them; I would award that title to Myla Goldberg's superb BEE SEASON. Other books of this kind that might appeal to readers of THE ACCIDENTAL are, in an English or Irish context: MJ Hyland's CARRY ME DOWN, David Mitchell's BLACK SWAN GREEN, Kate Atkinson's family saga BEHIND THE SCENES AT THE MUSEUM, and Mark Haddon's very special special case: THE CURIOUS INCIDENT OF THE DOG IN THE NIGHT-TIME. Zadie Smith transports the genre to American shores in ON BEAUTY, where Jonathan Safran Foer uses the quirkier elements of it in EXTREMELY LOUD AND INCREDIBLY CLOSE, and Nicole Krauss develops the lyrical side in THE HISTORY OF LOVE. Finally Marisha Pessl's SPECIAL TOPICS IN CALAMITY PHYSICS, though written through the eyes of a more mature character, also explores the power of a mysterious and charismatic outsider to affect (not necessarily for the best) the life of a growing child. Few of these books are perfect, and THE ACCIDENTAL isn't either, but any reader who enjoyed one of them would probably find much to admire in the others.
I should've kept my receipt...........2007-06-12
This was one of the worst books I've ever read. If I hadn't bought the book I would've quit about 20 pages in and returned it. The author rambled on and on many times about unimportant things. I felt as though the storyline lost itself repeatedly and I was left asking questions throughout the story and even at the end. This Amber person might've "helped" (if you can call it help), the family but it's hard to understand why anyone would let a total stranger stay with them for such a long period of time. Anyways. I would not recommend this book to anyone unless you want to be frustrated and annoyed.
Accidentally astonishing........2007-04-17
Ali Smith's writing is astonishing. She has a knack for quirky humor and engrossing wordplay. In her novel THE ACCIDENTAL, for instance, one of Smith's characters (Amber) describes her childhood: "But my father was Alfie, my mother was Isadora. I was unnaturally psychic in my teens, I made a boy fall off his bike and I burned down a whole school. My mother was crazy, she was in love with God. There I was at the altar about to marry someone else when my boyfriend hammered on the church glass at the back and we eloped together on a bus. My mother was furious. She'd slept with him too. The devil got me pregnant and a satanic sect made me go through with it. Then I fell in with a couple of outlaws and did me some talking to the sun. I said I didn't like the way he got things done. I had sex in the back of the old closing cinema. I used butter in Paris. I had a farm in Africa. I took off my clothes in the window of an apartment building and distracted the two police inspectors from watching for the madman on the roof who was trying to shoot the priest. I fell for an Italian. It was his moves on the dancefloor that did it. I knew what love meant. It meant never having to say you're sorry. It meant the man who drove the taxi would kill the presidential candidate, or the pimp. It was soft as an easy chair" (pp. 104-105). When it was published in 2004, not surprisingly, THE ACCIDENTAL was shortlisted for the 2005 Man Booker Prize and won the 2005 Whitbread Novel of the Year award.
The novel tells the non-linear story (told through the shifting mental perspectives of each character) of a blonde, free-spirited, thirtysomething woman (Amber), who unexpectedly disrupts the Smart family vacation in Norfolk, England by seducing each family member with her psychological manipulations. If you believe the Smarts, Amber is "a charlatan and a trickster and a liar" (p. 230). Astrid Smart is a 12-year-old who sees the world through the lens of her video camera. To her, Amber is a hero who throws her camera from a highway overpass. Magnus Smart is Astrid's guilt-racked 17-year-old brother, who believes he killed a classmate with a humiliating e-mail. To him, Amber is an angel who not only saves him from his despair, but who also awakens his sexuality. Their mother, Eve Smart, is a writer suffering from writer's block, who believes Amber is her womanizing husband's latest conquest. Michael Smart is a University professor, who assumes Amber is his wife's friend. When Amber just as abruptly disappears from their lives (as the US war in Iraq is escalating), the Smarts have discovered that, while they can take a vacation from the shadows of the world they have been calling life, it takes an "accidental" encounter with Amber to jolt them from that life. Smith suggests the Smarts are like the "group of men" in Plato's cave, who mistake the shadows of the cave for the world, and Amber is like the one who wandered outside the cave to discover the sunlight of the real world (p. 249). Highly recommended.
G. Merritt
thoroughly engaging!.......2007-04-03
I loved this book - couldn't put it down! I don't know _how_ people found it to be pretentious ... some of the CHARACTERS were pretentious ... but the book was masterfully crafted. I haven't liked a book this much since Ian McEwan's Atonement and Kazuo Ishiguro's Never Let Me Go (I hoped Banville's The Sea would be as good, but I liked THAT book a lot less).
Average customer rating:
- Worth the money!
- A great read!
- Well-written and THOROUGHLY enjoyable!
- A very enjoyable read.
- Serious and Funny all in one!
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An Accidental Cowboy
Jameson Parker
Manufacturer: Thomas Dunne Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
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ASIN: 0312310242 |
Book Description
n the 1990s, Jameson Parker was shot and almost killed. Fleeing the psychological aftereffects, he and his wife Darlene moved out of Los Angeles to a Southern California cattle ranch and into an unexpected life of horses, cowboys, unruly cattle, and vast, healing spaces. An Accidental Cowboy is a story of trauma, depression, and the beginnings of hope, set against the backdrop of the American Southwest.
Customer Reviews:
Worth the money!.......2007-01-18
You never would have known an actor from the 80's would turn out to be a modern day cowboy. Well, it seems that Jameson Parker has. You always wonder what happens to a person after a successful tv stint and now we know. The parts in this book that explain the shooting incident were intense. True, the wounds turned out not to be life threatening. Be that as it may, how would any of us react to looking down the face of a gun and watching as the bullet comes straight for us. I can understand where the PTSS would come in later in life. This book is recommended for anyone who wants a good read about cowboy life, life's ups and downs, stress, loss, ect. It is extremely well written and will hold your attention. Bravo, Mr. Parker. I already own Absent Friends and anxiously await further works from Jameson Parker.
A great read!.......2005-10-07
I loved this book. I have been a fan of Mr. Parker since he starred in "Simon and Simon" in the 80s, and always wondered what had become of him. In "An Accidental Cowboy" I found out.
I commend him for writing about things that he probably would have rather forgotten -- his depression, his suicidal thoughts, etc. It is very hard to explain things you do not know yourself. And to open yourself up to total strangers, even when you don't have to look those people in the face, is especially difficult. Thank you for being so honest.
The stories about ranch life were very entertaining. Even people who have never been on a ranch before should find them fascinating. I grew up on a farm in Oklahoma, where we had cattle and horses, and I was caught up in the day-to-day life of the California cowboys. I will never forget this book, and I hope anyone else who reads it enjoys it as much as (most of) the reviewers here did.
Well-written and THOROUGHLY enjoyable!.......2004-10-28
I've read a lot of books, and while many of them may be fun to read, they are not always well-written. This book is both. I grew up on a farm and thoroughly enjoyed Mr. Parker's account of ranch life. His account is witty and fun to read, as well as being right on target with how cowboy life really is. At the same time, Mr. Parker has a wonderful grasp of the English language. His descriptions are easy to visualize and some of his comparisons are poetic as well as funny/heart-rending depending on what he is depicting. All in all, this was a thoroughly enjoyable read and one that is worth reading a second time.
A very enjoyable read........2004-04-01
I loved all the cowboy stories! Being a "city-slicker" it was all new to me and yet I found the stories interesting, and very, very funny at times. The parts about the shooting and the aftermath were hard to read and I was very surprised that the writer exposed himself as much as he did. I thought that was very brave and I hope it helped him to get it down on paper. I never felt the writer to be overdramatic, whiney or self indulgent. ANY shooting, whether the wounds be superficial or not, is very tramatic. I question one reviewers motives when they say that they purchased the book out of "sheer boredom". They go on to say that they had no interest in reading about life on a ranch. Wouldn't reading about something you had no interest in cause you to become more bored? Could this review be a personal vendetta? Sounded like it to me.
Serious and Funny all in one!.......2004-02-09
I'm not much of a book reader, but a friend said to read this book. I have been around horses most of my life and a few years back started into the 'Real Cowboy' cattle ranch scene too! Mr. Parker has done a great job at describing in wonderful and funny detail what it is really like. Add in the history he has put in there and his very personal struggles makes for some great reading and a book I could not put down until done! Great Job!
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- The Bad Place
- The Complete Maus: A Survivor's Tale
- The Dead Room
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- The First Eagle (Jim Chee Novels)
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- The Golden Age of the Moor (Journal of African Civilizations, Vol 11, Fall 1991)
- The Historic Christmas Tree Ship: A True Story of Faith, Hope And Love
- The Last Continent
- The Mark of the Assassin
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