Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies

Amazon.com

Explaining what William McNeill called The Rise of the West has become the central problem in the study of global history. In Guns, Germs, and Steel Jared Diamond presents the biologist's answer: geography, demography, and ecological happenstance. Diamond evenhandedly reviews human history on every continent since the Ice Age at a rate that emphasizes only the broadest movements of peoples and ideas. Yet his survey is binocular: one eye has the rather distant vision of the evolutionary biologist, while the other eye--and his heart--belongs to the people of New Guinea, where he has done field work for more than 30 years.

Book Description

Winner of the Pulitzer Prize. In this "artful, informative, and delightful" (William H. McNeill, New York Review of Books) book, Jared Diamond convincingly argues that geographical and environmental factors shaped the modern world. Societies that had had a head start in food production advanced beyond the hunter-gatherer stage, and then developed religion --as well as nasty germs and potent weapons of war --and adventured on sea and land to conquer and decimate preliterate cultures. A major advance in our understanding of human societies, Guns, Germs, and Steel chronicles the way that the modern world came to be and stunningly dismantles racially based theories of human history. Winner of the Pulitzer Prize, the Phi Beta Kappa Award in Science, the Rhone-Poulenc Prize, and the Commonwealth club of California's Gold Medal.

Customer Reviews:

Very insightful, a worth while read.......2007-10-06

I highly recommend reading this book. Diamond provides compelling evidence for the disparity between civilizations. Any fan of history or just anyone curious about the rise of our current state will find a great read in Guns, Germs, and Steel.

guns,germs and steel.......2007-10-05

great perspective other than what we in western cultures traditionally have in in our relations with 3rd world countries

Dimly Focused.......2007-09-25

Though erudite and crammed with information, some of it a bit arcane, "Guns, Germs, and Steel"suffers somewhat from a blunted point of view. Is the author trying to tell us that some of our assumptions concerning the rise of cultural norms are over simplified? If so, he might have done so more forcefully with fewer words, more carefully selected facts, and perhaps a more lucid writing style. Do some societies prevail because their native tongue is more efficient and expressive than those employed by other cultures? Following that theme might have made for a more intriguing book. Are there some determinisms at work in every culture which inhibit the fulfillment of its destiny? Maybe the author thinks so, but the massive brush used to paint such a scenario causes the entire work to shimmy through a mass of frequently fascinating material without conclusions. The book's excessive length detracts from its compelling points: we live, some of the time, at the mercy of gigantic forces we do not control. Do genetics control our formation, or climate, or enormous economic systems? And who can give us convincing answers? Anthropologists, sociologists, and psychologists of course come to mind. But what of poets, seers, artists, and theologians? Maybe Jared Diamond knows, but by the time he finishes inundating us with facts, some slightly pretentious, it's hard to tell for sure. I had hoped this book's scope and claim would give convincing guidance. But because it lacks definite focus, it did not.

Guns Germs and Steel review.......2007-09-24

This is an excellent book, the hypothesis is very compelling and interesting. I watched the DVD in addition to the book and I was not disappointed at all. Worth the read!

A modern, scientific "just so" story.......2007-09-23

One of the most important books of our time; it single-handedly wipes out every justification for racism, and gets to the roots of why humans groups are where they are presently. An amazing synthesis of disciplines into one very readable explanation of how it came to pass that Europeans happened to be the ones that colonized the rest of the planet instead of some other group. The most clear example I've ever seen of why archaeology, and all the social sciences are not only important but vital to modern people. The better our understanding of the past the more likely we are to be able to let go of the emotionality that keeps us at each other's throats. A modern "just so" story.

Life and Fate (New York Review Books Classics)

Average customer rating:

An epic and vivid depiction of moral pollution
Read it.
A Russian Literary Classic
Read It
Life and Fate, Vasily Grossman

Life and Fate (New York Review Books Classics)
Vasily Grossman
Manufacturer: NYRB Classics
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Contemporary | General | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books

Literary | General | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books

Historical | Genre Fiction | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books

War | Genre Fiction | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books
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ASIN: 1590172019
Release Date: 2006-05-16

Book Description

A book judged so dangerous in the Soviet Union that not only the manuscript but the ribbons on which it had been typed were confiscated by the state, Life and Fate is an epic tale of World War II and a profound reckoning with the dark forces that dominated the twentieth century.

Interweaving a transfixing account of the battle of Stalingrad with the story of a single middle-class family, the Shaposhnikovs, scattered by fortune from Germany to Siberia, Vasily Grossman fashions an immense, intricately detailed tapestry depicting a time of almost unimaginable horror and even stranger hope.

Life and Fate juxtaposes bedrooms and snipers’ nests, scientific laboratories and the Gulag, taking us deep into the hearts and minds of characters ranging from a boy on his way to the gas chambers to Hitler and Stalin themselves.

This novel of unsparing realism and visionary moral intensity is one of the supreme achievements of modern Russian literature.

Customer Reviews:

An epic and vivid depiction of moral pollution.......2007-08-10

The publication of the massive novel LIFE AND FATE by the Soviet war correspondent and novelist Vasily Grossman was a major event in the West when it was finally published in 1985, twenty five years after it was written. LE MONDE called it "the great Russian novel of the 20th century"--which it is most certainly not. Why would somebody read a Social Realist novel almost as long as the Old Testament (Grossman = 880 pages, God = 996 pages)? In my case, it all started with an interest in the relationship between scientific creativity and literary creativity. One of the most interesting thinkers on that subject is the great Hungarian chemist Michael Polanyi, who shows that spontaneous order can be seen in political, social and economic behaviour. Underlying this order is an ethical foundation which Polanyi identifies with truth and human freedom. Everything else, as Polanyi sees it, is a consequence of the initial decision to choose truth or falsehood, and freedom or constraint. Polanyi was therefore very interested in what was in his day the greatest enemy of freedom and truth, the totalitarian political systems of National Socialism and Leninist-Stalinist Socialism. And this is where LIFE AND FATE, and Grossman's own interests, intersect with Polanyi's thought. Polanyi, himself a great research scientist of the first order (and his son was to win a Nobel Prize), recognised in Communism and Nazism a distorted, materialistic scientific world view that had flourished like a weed within the dramatic rise of science and technology over the last 400 years. Polanyi made the passing remark in MEANING that "There were people who actually transformed philosophic error into destructive human action . . . [they developed within] the intelligentsia of central and eastern Europe. They are the nihilists." Grossman must have been on a similar track in this novel about the rotten foundations of the Soviet system, because he makes a physicist one of his most important characters. The key fact about Grossman was that he was an insider and, for most of his life, a supporter of the Stalinist Soviet system. Unlike Pasternak, Mandelstam, Bulgakov, Solzhenitsyn and the other great Russian poets and writers of the 20th century, who suffered persecution, imprisonment, torture, death and / or exile, Grossman was for most of his career a pet of the senior Soviet heirarchy. Trained as a chemist (like Polanyi and the chaos / complexity theorist Prigogine), Grossman was a feted war journalist like Ilya Ehrenberg--and like Isaac Babel a generation before, although Babel was executed in one of Stalin's early purges. Grossman is almost as good a writer as Babel, but he survived long enough to have a crisis of conscience and write about it, unlike Babel, who disappeared into the Lubyanka. So the great interest of LIFE AND FATE is this conflict between lies and truth that Grossman is struggling with personally as a human being and writer throughout the novel. Fortunately for me, before beginning LIFE AND FATE I had started Nadezhda Mandelstam's memoir HOPE AGAINST HOPE, and was half way through, before I started LIFE AND FATE. Mandelstam's memoir provides a clear perspective on the corrupt ethical environment of the Soviet Union which, in LIFE AND FATE, remains murkier. The novel is deeply flawed as a literary work because of its author's unresolved struggle, but as a document of the human spirit trying to overcome its crippled and diseased state, it is fascinating. LIFE AND FATE opens with a powerful evocation of a Nazi concentration camp, and almost the last chapter is a nightmarish vision of the future in which Stalinist gulags merge with global society into an indistinguishable system in which not just manual labour, but all intellectual effort and creativity, is enslaved to the State. In between Grossman makes increasingly explicit comparisons between Leninism-Stalinism and the Nazi system, which was no doubt a major reason the novel couldn't be published in the Soviet Union during his life time. The over-arching plot is a dual track account of the defense of Stalingrad in 1942 and the establishment and operation of the Nazi extermination camp system. Yes, a big downer of a book. On the surface, Grossman would appear to be contrasting the heroic Soviet defeat of the German 6th Army at Stalingrad with the industrial-scale moral obscenity of the Nazi's Final Solution, but in fact the entire novel demonstrates the numerous similarities between the two arenas and the systems that created them. Grossman depicts a kind of anti-Polanyi universe. Polanyi famously described a Republic of Science in which tens of thousands of scientists around the world, each individually commmitted to the truth, continually share information and calibrate their own personal understanding of nature by freely sharing information and interpretations with one another, and then checking this against the data that new experiments report about empirical reality. Grossman shows a Soviet system in which millions of people lie and denounce one another in order to avoid personally coming to the attention of the vast secret police network as an "enemy of the people". Instead of a continous flow of truth and new information, Grossman shows how a vast ocean of lies swirls through the Soviet system, putting literally everyone at immediate risk of arrest, humiliation, torture, imprisonment and / or execution, a fate which millions of innocent people suffered. LIFE AND FATE is a strange book, because in large sections Grossman still writes like a convinced Bolshevik, in others he appears to be trying to write in such a way that the book will slip through the censors, and in many passages he just takes the gloves off and writes about the truth--ie in a way which indicts the murderous nature of the Stalinist system. To untangle these different sections, it would be helpful to read Strauss's PERSECUTION AND THE ART OF WRITING before taking on LIFE AND FATE. For example, a scene in which the characters toast a portrait on the wall of Stalin and refer to what a wonderful leader and great human being Stalin is, almost imperceptibly turns into subtle, but strong, criticism of Stalin. At other times, Grossman puts some of the strongest criticisms of Stalin and Stalinism into the mouths of crazy, criminal, or doomed characters. But the overall comparison between Stalinism and Nazism is so obvious that it is hard to imagine how Grossman thought he would get away with it. In addition, however, there are numerous passages which justify terror as a legitimate tool against real "class enemies", if not necessarily all the "excesses" commmitted against imaginary class enemies. Grossman is himself clearly deeply conflicted, as a prominent writer of the Soviet era, who benefited for most of his career from its system. He seems to have gone along with the nightmares of the late 20s and the Great Terror of 1937, only becoming disillusioned when the murderous, and potentially mass-scale, anti-Jewish persecution ("the so-called 'Doctor's Plot'") was about to be unleashed by Stalin just before Stalin's death. Because Grossman supports terror as a legitimate tool against class enemies, LIFE AND FATE stands as a tainted monument to its era, and to the moral corruption of its author. LIFE AND FATE ends rather abruptly without completing the many plot lines or resolving any of the tensions in its pro- and anti-Soviet depiction of reality. Grossman himself, by the time he died of cancer in 1964, was apparently deeply depressed, just like many of the characters he depicted in LIFE AND FATE who suddenly realise that the ruthless ideals to which they had devoted their lives, and sacrificed their family and friends, were nightmarish lies. Perhaps Grossman did finally recognise and accept the full truth, but if he did, he wasn't able to write about it in a document that survives. By comparison to LIFE AND FATE, the tragic clarity of Nadezhda Mandelstam's HOPE AGAINST HOPE is like a glass of pure water.

Read it........2007-07-13

How should you read this novel? In a time frame that's as condensed possible. It is not a book that can be picked up at intervals, as you will lose track of the characters and their complex, interwoven stories. Why should you read this novel? Here are a few reasons. First, for its depiction of the German concentration camps, where Grossman's own mother perished. Second, for the equation it establishes between the crushing power of the Nazi state and the equally destructive power of the Soviet state. Particularly poignant is the fate of the commissar Krymov, an old Bolshevik whose dedication to the state lands him in prison, in the Lubyanka. He comes to understand Stalin's method, to realize that "the hide was being flayed off the still living body of the Revolution so that a new age could slip into it; as for the red, bloody meat, the steaming innards--they were thrown onto the scrapheap. The new age needed only the hide of the Revolution--and this was being flayed off people who were still alive. Those who then slipped into it spoke the language of the Revolution and mimicked its gestures, but their brains, lungs, livers, and eyes were utterly different" (841). Finally, read the novel for the story of Shtrum, the scientist, and its examination of what happens when science must serve the state.

A Russian Literary Classic.......2007-07-04

Life and Fate is a literary classic. Picture War and Peace set in the 20th century. Replace Napolean with Hitler and substitute the Shaposhnikov family for the Rostofs. I've read scores of works with a World War II backdrop, but never from this perspective.

Never have I seen the war from the viewpoint of the average Russian, at Stalingrad, in the Ukraine, in Moscow and in the death camps. Most jarring is the repressive shadow of Communism and the fear constantly felt by even the most patriotic and loyal party member. Most heart breaking is the astonishing story of Sofya Levinton, her journey to the gas chamber and her "adoption" of the frail, young orphan.

It has been said that a death is a shame, a thousand deaths is a tragedy, but twenty million deaths is a statistic (or something to that effect) and it is true. Until we see an event from the perspective of an individual, we cannot grasp the horror and the emotions involved in an historical event with the scale of a Stalingrad or Treblinka. We cannot grasp the fear and trepidation created by a party apparatus such as the 20th century Communist Party.

This classic work brings all those emotions and human reactions to bear through the eyes of a typical Russian extended family. Though it is a translation, it flows smoothly and seamlessly. While the plethora of Russian names and nicknames is sometimes confusing, an index of characters in the back of the book assists immeasurably. I cannot recommend this novel highly enough.

Read It.......2007-06-13

For a long while I have had an intense interest in WWII, particularly the Holocaust. This in turn led to an interest in the Battle for Stalingrad. This has led to the Russian perspective of the war and its consequences. If you can get past the Russian names, this book opens your eyes to what the peasants, or everyday people, lived through, from the time of the invasion, to a large part of the Battle for Stalingrad. Sometimes those poor Russian folk had no chance. Many were arrested by their own government, never knowing why, their lives and the lives of their families changed forever. This book is not an easy read, but it does tap into human sacrifice and the unending will to live. The book sits happily in my nightstand, and each evening I devour another 30 pages or so, looking forward to the next night's read.

Life and Fate, Vasily Grossman.......2007-06-08

This novel ranks in the same company as Tolstoy's War and Peace.

Water: The Fate of Our Most Precious Resource

Average customer rating:

Good, but fails about Brazil
A real eye opener
A Non-Fiction Page turner (!)
Lacks focus
Easy to Swallow, but with No Additives

Water: The Fate of Our Most Precious Resource
Marq de Villiers
Manufacturer: Mariner Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Water Supply & Land Use | Nature & Ecology | Science | Subjects | Books

Conservation | Environment | Outdoors & Nature | Subjects | Books

Water Supply | Environment | Outdoors & Nature | Subjects | Books

General | Conservation | Outdoors & Nature | Subjects | Books

Water | Conservation | Outdoors & Nature | Subjects | Books

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ASIN: 0618127445

Amazon.com

Water is a curious thing, observed the economist Adam Smith: although it is vital to life, it costs almost nothing, whereas diamonds, which are useless for survival, cost a fortune. In Water, Canadian journalist de Villiers says the resource is still undervalued, but it is becoming more precious. It's not that the world is running out of water, he adds, but that "it's running out in places where it's needed most."

De Villiers examines the checkered history of humankind's management of water--which, he hastens to remind us, is not a renewable resource in many parts of the world. One of them is the Nile River region, burdened by overpopulation. Another is the Sahara, where Libyan ruler Muammar Qaddafi is pressing an ambitious, and potentially environmentally disastrous, campaign to mine deep underground aquifers to make the desert green. Another is northern China, where the damaging effects of irrigation have destroyed once-mighty rivers, and the Aral Sea of Central Asia, which was killed within a human lifetime. And still another is the American Southwest, where crops more fitting to a jungle than a dry land are nursed. De Villiers travels to all these places, reporting on what he sees and delivering news that is rarely good.

De Villiers has a keen eye for detail and a solid command of the scientific literature on which his argument is based. He's also a fine storyteller, and his wide-ranging book makes a useful companion to Marc Reisner's classic Cadillac Desert and other works that call our attention to a globally abused--and vital--resource. --Gregory McNamee

Book Description

In his award-winning book WATER, Marq de Villiers provides an eye-opening account of how we are using, misusing, and abusing our planet's most vital resource. Encompassing ecological, historical, and cultural perspectives, de Villiers reports from hot spots as diverse as China, Las Vegas, and the Middle East, where swelling populations and unchecked development have stressed fresh water supplies nearly beyond remedy. Political struggles for control of water rage around the globe, and rampant pollution daily poses dire ecological theats. With one eye on these looming crises and the other on the history of our dependence on our planet's most precious commodity, de Villiers has crafted a powerful narrative about the lifeblood of civilizations that will be "a wake-up call for concerned citizens, environmentalists, policymakers, and water drinkers everywhere" (Publishers Weekly).

Customer Reviews:

Good, but fails about Brazil.......2006-06-21

I'm an agronomist and I live in Brazil.I read this book, translated to the portuguese, here in Brazil.This book really has many usefull informations, about water suplly in the world.
China, Israel, Africa, USA, Mexico, India are some of the nations who are with water's problems and are focused in this book.
About Brazil this book is a failure.Brazil export far less paper and wood than Canada or USA, but we have far more forests than Canada or USA.And our forests grow far more fast than an american or canadian forest.And this book talks about ecomyths about Brazil.
In fact, this book sometimes reproduces, the ridiculous lies from "green eugenicists" or ecologists.

A real eye opener.......2005-05-03

This is an excellent overview of the water problems plaguing the globe at the moment, as Marq de Villiers travels far and wide to show just how precious a resource water really is. Most importantly, he does so in a very accessible style of writing that personalizes so many of the issues surrounding the rapid depletion of aquifers by drawing on childhood memories of his home farm in South Africa and first hand sources in the current geopolitical battles.

Of note is the Middle East and North Africa where the battle over water is entertwined with the ongoing political disputes. He notes how carefully Israel has managed its water resources yet is heavily reliant on sources in the West Bank to sustain its agricultural industry. Needless to say this has made the issue of Palestinian statehood that much more difficult. He also explores the thorny relationships along the Nile where downstream Egypt has threatened to go to war with the Sudan and Ethiopia over any divergence attempts with this great river. And, Kaddafi's attempts to create a massive underground river from aquifers deep below the Sahara to coastal Libya, in order to restore badly depleted sources.

But, even in seemingly water rich nations like the US and Canada, water battles persist, mostly to do with the contamination of rivers and aquifers that are the result of industrial waste and poor farming practices. More thorny are precious water rights in dry states like Wyoming and Montana that often end up in court and sometimes settled using frontier justice.

For those not familiar with the looming water crisis, this book will be a real opener, for others it will provide valuable information regarding disputes from the Yellow River in China to the Colorado River, which has long since quit flowing to the Gulf of California. While de Villiers avoids being the doomsayer, he does make one exceedingly worried about the future of this most precious resource.

A Non-Fiction Page turner (!).......2005-03-21

This book is by far one of the most interesting, can't-put-it-down non-fictional books I've ever read. I know, I'm speaking in superlatives, but I can't say enough about this book.

I made my thesis topic water-related after I read Water. And yet Water reads like a novel, even though it's packed with information and statistics; de Villiers does an amazing job of making the scientific research information palatable to the average (non-science inclined) reader by weaving in his own experiences and stories.

You can feel his passion for this issue come through in his writing style. He integrates quotes very well and makes the subject come alive. For example, when writing about a severe chemical spill along the Rhine River, he quoted Bertram Muelle, saying: "The river ran red... Otherwise, it looked no different...But I knew that as I watched, its creatures were dying. It was the most terrible feeling. I was frozen, sickened..."He makes turns a very technical and scientific topic into a page-turner. A must-read! P.S. Pay attention to the Canada-US Great Lakes issue, along with the Rhine and Danube Rivers (the subject of my thesis!).

Lacks focus.......2004-04-03

This a fascinating book about a fascinating (and critical topic). But in appealling to the general reader, Mr. de Villiers inserts too much (for my taste) personal anecdote. A regrettable travelogue quality permeates the narrative.

This is unfortunate, because there is much of value here. In particular, the discussion about the sources and uses of the Jordan River, Isreali concern with controlling its water supply, and water problems of the immediate Arab neighorhood, opened my eyes to an aspect of the current intractable problems of the Middle East.

My advice is to read this with pleasure, but don't be afraid to skim if you find some portions of the narrative uninteresting.

Easy to Swallow, but with No Additives.......2002-09-12

This easy to read and conversational book can be used as an introduction to the fate of water supplies around the world and their impact on human societies. de Villiers takes us on a chapter-by-chapter dissertation first on the technical aspects of water issues, such as the mechanics of groundwater and dams. Then we proceed to selected examples of water crises around the globe, such as China's dilemma of having too much where it's not needed and too little where it is needed, or the hideous catastrophe of the Aral Sea in the former USSR.

The author takes an admirably middle-of-the-road stance here and usually lets the facts speak for themselves, with just a little bit of opinionating. But his opinions are still quite moderate and level-headed, as he doesn't align himself with either unyielding environmentalists or extreme free trade proponents, both of which he accurately condemns as having very narrow outlooks on the real world. Some of de Villiers' key observations concern the water wars that will probably start erupting in coming years in dry regions of the world. Two countries will probably spend more money in a single day of war than it takes to improve water supplies for both of them for decades to come. Also, de Villiers drives home the point that the worrisome decline of fresh water around the globe is not due to greedy businessmen, corrupt politicians, or greens who refuse to let it be used. It's just the natural outcome of humans living like humans. Therefore real human cooperation across all societies is necessary to address the problem.

Book Description

It is a well-known fact that eutrophication of coastal waters causes significant changes in the species composition of the primary producers. Usually a shift from an ecosystem dominated by sea grasses or large brown algae to an ecosystem dominated by fast-growing green algae or phytoplankton is observed. While this shift has been documented in a number of research papers and books, the consequences of this shift are less well known. This book focuses on the consequences of such changes for nutrient cycling.

The aim is to investigate how different types of primary producers influence nutrient cycling in coastal marine waters, and how nutrient cycling changes qualitatively and quantitatively as a consequence of the changes in the primary producer community caused by eutrophication. The various chapters address specific ecological processes such as grazing, decomposition, burial and export of biomass from the ecosystem. The book is intended for researchers and professionals working in the field of coastal marine ecology and estuarine ecology and for advanced students in this field.

The Opposite of Fate: Memories of a Writing Life

Average customer rating:

That rare book I can recommend to any would-be writer
I had no idea.
Serendipity in Essay Form
Disbelief
Story of Serendipity

The Opposite of Fate: Memories of a Writing Life
Amy Tan
Manufacturer: Penguin (Non-Classics)
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Authors | Arts & Literature | Biographies & Memoirs | Subjects | Books

Chinese | Ethnic & National | Biographies & Memoirs | Subjects | Books

General | Biographies & Memoirs | Subjects | Books

Women | Specific Groups | Biographies & Memoirs | Subjects | Books

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ASIN: 0142004898
Release Date: 2004-09-28

Amazon.com

Amy Tan begins The Opposite of Fate: A Book of Musings, a collection of essays that spans her literary career, on a humorous note; she is troubled that her life and novels have become the subject of a "Cliff's Notes" abridgement. Reading the little yellow booklet, she discovers that her work is seen as complex and rich with symbolism. However, Tan assures her readers that she has no lofty, literary intentions in writing her novels--she writes for herself, and insists that the recurring patterns and themes that critics find in them are entirely their own making. This self-deprecating stance, coupled with Tan's own clarification of her intentions, makes The Opposite of Fate feel like an extended, private conversation with the author.

Tan manages to find grace and frequent comedy in her sometimes painful life, and she takes great pleasure in being a celebrity. "Midlife Confidential" brings readers on tour with Tan and the rest of the leather-clad writers' rock band, the Rock-Bottom Remainders. And "Angst and the Second Book" is a brutally honest, frequently hysterical reflection on Tan's self-conscious attempts to follow the success of The Joy Luck Club.

In a collection so diverse and spanning such a long period of time, inevitably some of the pieces feel dated or repetitious. Yet, Tan comes off as a remarkably humble and sane woman, and the book works well both to fill in her biography and to clarify the boundaries between her life and her fiction. In her final, title essay, Tan juxtaposes her personal struggles against a persistent disease with the nation's struggles against terrorism in the aftermath of 9/11. She declares her transformative, artistic power over tragedy, reflecting: "As a storyteller, I know that if I don't like the ending, I can write a better one." --Patrick O'Kelley

Book Description

Amy Tan has touched millions of readers with haunting and sympathetic novels of cultural complexity and profound empathy. With the same spirit and humor that characterize her acclaimed novels, she now shares her insight into her own life and how she escaped the curses of her past to make a future of her own. She takes us on a journey from her childhood of tragedy and comedy to the present day and her arrival as one of the world's best-loved novelists. Whether recalling arguments with her mother in suburban California or introducing us to the ghosts that inhabit her computer, The Opposite of Fate offers vivid portraits of choices, attitudes, charms, and luck in action—a refreshing antidote to the world-weariness and uncertainties we all face today.

Customer Reviews:

That rare book I can recommend to any would-be writer.......2007-06-17

The first Amy Tan book I read was THE KITCHEN GOD'S WIFE, and it blew me away. It did what a really fine literary novel ought to do, in my opinion: it spoke the truth about human beings. While I enjoyed Tan's use of her own Chinese American background to give the book its setting, and her sharing of her heritage with its characters, I took those things as judicious use of the oldest and best advice given to fiction writers: "Write what you know." I was surprised, therefore, to read in this memoir about Tan's amazement when she began hearing herself declared a "minority" writer. A "writer of color," and so on. With each of those labels came a heavy load of expectations, of responsibilities (as perceived by those applying the label) to which she must rise. What didn't surprise me one bit, though, was the resentment that followed Tan's initial consternation. Labels that seem perfectly logical, and therefore helpful, to someone else can be limiting and hurtful to the person slapped with them. To put it another way, being pigeonholed pinches. And attempting to live up to the expectations of readers, reviewers, etc. as one writes a second novel after producing a wildly successful first book has got to be the most creativity-stifling exercise in this world.

I remember something else about THE KITCHEN GOD'S WIFE. I'd never heard of Amy Tan when I happened to pick it up, scan it, and decide to take it home. I sought out THE JOY LUCK CLUB, therefore, only after getting to know Tan's writing from her second book; and although I enjoyed her first, I thought (and still think) that her second novel is better by far. What I loved about both books was the universality of their themes, and of the characters I met in their pages. I'm not Chinese American (I'm a Down East Yankee, thank you very much, with Maine coastal roots three centuries deep). But I recognized the women she wrote about just the same! And despite cultural differences, I also recognized their joys and their sorrows; their dilemmas, and the ways in which they resolved them.

People are people everywhere, and writing is something writers do in order to stay sane. That's what Tan's work tells me. Both her novels, and this memoir that will be joining Stephen King's ON WRITING as that rare book I can recommend to any would-be writer. "Read this first, and then decide whether or not you're really cut out for this life," I can say. "This writer tells it like it is, and you need to know what you're getting into."

I had no idea........2007-05-14

I finised this book several weeks ago and still can't get it out of my mind. That last chapter was brutal. This book was also responsible for me hunting down a copy of "The Best American Short Stories - 1999". Thanks Amy, I've read all your (adult) books and have enjoyed them all.

Serendipity in Essay Form.......2007-04-05

Tan gives the reader a glimpse into her life with this collection of essays covering everything from a China trip with her mother to a childhood crush.

Disbelief.......2007-01-29

I enjoyed the style of Amy Tan's writing in this collection of essays, which span a broad range of topics: a China trip with her mother, a childhood crush, and the violent death of a friend, to name a few. I enjoyed the glimpse Tan was able to give the reader into her real life, and the contrasts between her reality and the fiction she writes. I liked reading about how she writes her novels, where her ideas originate and how she sometimes struggles to keep a book going when her inspiration seems to have failed her. Tan jumped off of the pages as a real, three-dimensional person, and one that I liked.

I was uncomfortable with one aspect of the book, though. Tan writes at one point that she realized as a child that memory was highly suggestible. She reveals that when she writes something, sometimes what she's written becomes confused with the actual truth. She presents two meetings with writer Vladimir Nabokov, then reveals that she never actually met him, that these were fictional constructions based on wishful thinking.

This seeming willingness to be foggy about the truth made me a bit suspicious about much of the book. Tan writes in many of her essays about the overwhelming string of coincidences she's noticed in her life. She writes of her friend predicting the circumstances of his death, which then come to pass almost exactly as he'd thought. She describes being worried about an unforseen bill for her cat's medical care, then being involved in a fender-bender with the man at fault offering to pay her, in cash, the exact amount of the worrisome bill. This focus on coincidences and also on proving the existence of ghosts or other friendly spirits that inhabit Tan's life, made me feel she was not a reliable narrator and perhaps I shouldn't take what she had written to heart.

Rather than simply appreciating her writing and the stories of her life, I found myself pulling back from Tan frequently with disbelief, which weakened my enjoyment of her book.

Story of Serendipity.......2006-12-13

Time and time again as children, we are told to do our best to accomplish our goals. We have it reinforced in us by parents, teachers, religious, and other community leaders. It's inbred in us that it is our greatest opportunity and privilege as citizens of the United States of America to do our best to accomplish our dreams. Some people do succeed, some don't, and sometimes people end up involved or doing something that they never thought or even considered being a part of or thought that they would get into. All things are possible, but sometimes our path in life takes unexpected turns for whatever reason because of the people we are close with.
Even before graduation, high school students typically decide in their senior year that they are going to college to further their education. Then somewhere along the line, they may end up doing something different: they may change a major, change universities or colleges, instead of college, they may decide that they should drop out to become a mechanic because it's a skilled trade, or maybe they decide that instead of art school they want to pursue a career in medicine. Maybe, like Bill Gates, they don't even finish high school and drop out to program computers that end up being the next big thing. There is the occasion that students stick with their original plans, and there are times where something happens to change it all.
Now imagine that you're in your senior year at Berkley at the University of California. You are on your way to getting your doctorates in linguistics and aren't really sure what you're going to do with the rest of you life after that point. Then something drastic happens. One of your good friends and roommates is murdered the night that he moves into his brand new apartment. In Amy Tan's case, the entire course of her life changed with the event of that friend's death and with influence of her mother upon her own life.
Throughout our lives we come across people who make a great impact upon us that later comes back to aide or hinder us somehow in the most difficult times we experience, like in a traumatic time as Amy experienced with the death of her friend, the trial of the murders of her friend, and the passing of her mother. The life of Amy Tan is a great example of how relationships can truly influence and change our fate, as she writes about her experiences in her book, The Opposite of Fate: Memoirs of a Writing Life. The book offers a look into her life as she deals with the struggles of so much tragedy and recalls each as an important step in her life as a writer. Chopped full of humor, touching moments, and sadness Opposite is an emotional journey that shows the human part behind the writer that typically is only revealed a little in her fiction. She writes for herself and to preserve her memories and the memories of others that were close to her. Tan has never forgotten her roots or those who influenced her life in such a way that made her become a writer. The Opposite of Fate gives evidence to readers that much of our fate is influenced upon the relationships we develop with others and the events that happen with those people in our lives
By taking a look at Tan's biography, we can also learn a little bit about her that will already be discussed in the book, although it isn't necessarily covered in the book itself. Amy was born on February 19th, 1952 in Oakland, California. She lived there with her mother, and her younger brother until 1966 when her mother uprooted them and insisted they move to Switzerland after both her father and second brother died from brain tumors. She went to high school in Switzerland and later came back to the United States to go to college. Tan went to five colleges: The Linfield College in Oregon, San Jose City College, San Jose State University, the University of California in Santa Cruz, and finally The University of California at Berkley. She became a freelance writer after she graduated college with her linguistics doctorate and became a language development consultant mainly working with children, although she never wanted anything to do with children except to be studied as subjects. She's written many books, her most popular novel that was published, The Joy Luck Club, was later turned into a movie. As for family life, Tan and her husband Lou DeMattei don't have any children but have been married since 1974. Tan does have two half sisters and an uncle who live in China, and an older brother who lives in Vancouver, Canada. Tan and her husband have two homes, one in New York and another in San Francisco. The house in San Francisco was close where her mother lived before she died in the year 2000 from a combination of old age and the later stages of Alzheimer's disease. Tan was her mother's care giver for a great deal of the rest of her mother's life and her mother, in turn was then revealed to be Tan's most influential ties according to Opposite.
As a child, Amy often listened to her mother lament over the tragedy of the same kind of death happening in the same family twice. Both Tan's brother and father died within a year of each other from brain tumors. As a teenager, like most, Amy dreaded hearing her mother's nagging. More than that, she despised hear her mother's hysterical ravings, suicidal threats, and the attempts that the entire family witnessed time and again from the time she was a little girl and even into her mother's old age. Although Tan has no real qualms about this happening now that she's older, as a teenager she would ignore her mother's suicide threats in the open, but deep down she was "terrified that one day my mother would carry out one of those empty threats" (Tan 130). She admits to having let her eyes glaze over and act as if the verbal threats were just dead noise then later would find herself staring into the bathroom mirror feeling ill and scared at the thought of her mother carrying out some plan to kill herself. Now as an older adult, she has come to accept the idea that if her mother had been completely happy and well adjusted earlier in her life, she would not have become the writer that she is today.
As many parents would have great hopes for their children, Amy's mother and father wanted Amy to become a doctor or a concert pianist even though she showed no interesting in actually playing the piano. As a little girl, the typical motherly anecdotes of "don't cross the street without looking," came as absolutes of impending death, "if you don't look, you get smashed" (Tan 33). However if her mother had been like most simply saying," it's alright honey, you don't have to practice, go outside and play," it's questionable whether or not Tan would have chosen the same path. Perhaps, if her and her mother had not had such tragic lives, she would have become the doctor or concert pianist that her parents wanted her to be. Instead, she went to college to get a doctorates in linguistics, then chose a different path because of a tragedy that hit very close to her with the death of a room mate that she and her husband had lived, worked, and studied with for the better half of a year or so.
Pete was an engineering student at Berkley and worked along side Amy and her husband at The Round Table pizza parlor in San Jose. They often shared late nights of political, religious, and philosophical discussions over drinks and became close friends, even enough to start renting a new apartment together. Unfortunately the celebration of their friendship and their new apartment together was cut short the night that they had moved into the new apartment. Pete was murdered in his sleep by two burglars who had hog-tied him and left him for dead on the floor. After that, Pete starts to come to Amy in her dreams and through the dreams Pete delivers advice as life became harder and more complicated with the start of the trial that would decide the fate of one of his syndicates. About a month before Pete died, Amy had been trying to decide what she was going to do with her degree after she graduated but couldn't think of anything. Pete suggested that she start working with children in language development. After his death, Amy took Pete's suggestion and ran with it, in a direction that before hand she had never really intended to get involved.
As the trial came to a close, Pete told Amy that she should talk to one of his friends who come help her later when she became a writer. Tan automatically dismissed the idea until later when she received a letter from Rose, Pete's friend, thanking her for telling her about Pete's death. At that point, her fate was set in motion to bring her to being the woman and the writer that she is today. Pete stopped visiting in dreams but a new relationship blossomed with Rose as a result. Rose and Amy kept in contact through letters and eventually Rose became Amy's first writing mentor.
During the time of her mother's death, Tan came to realize how much of an influence her mother actually had on her. After dementia set in, her mother was no longer the unhappy person she had seen before. Instead of bad memories, her mother became to remember the memories she shared with Amy, going on trips and the happier times in their lives. Her mother wasn't the same person that she had grown up with before. Tan came to the cruel realization that for most of their lives, she had not been approaching her mother's needs the right way. She had missed the concept that her mother wanted to be depended on before her mother became ill as much as after the illness struck. For example, instead of scowling at her mother as a teenager, she should have acknowledged and appreciated what her mother was trying to do for her, and then she would have been able to get away with doing different things as well. She began to think that she could have solve so many problems by learning this earlier in life, and they could have had happier lives if she had only realized this earlier. During the time of the illness, Amy became much closer with her other and after her mother's death, started writing a new book, The Bonesetter's Daughter with the renewed appreciation she had for her mother.
Whether it is a friend, a parent, sibling, husband, wife, boyfriend girlfriend or any other type of relationship, these entities set up our lives in such ways that create a domino effect to get us to the point we are at or the point which we wish to achieve. It is an act of conscious choice at which we decide who we are, whom we will be with, and what we wish to be. Our parents may effect us on some level as to instilling in us what types of values we wish to make a part of our lives, but our decisions are still solely our own. Every once in a while, we have someone who comes into our lives and after meeting them everything falls in place whether or not we admit it, remember it, or even think about it. After that point, whatever happens in our life that involves them may change what we decide to do.
The book, The Opposite of Fate: Memoirs of a Writing Life brings readers to believe that fate is not only left up to us as individuals, but to the influences of people around us who are important to us that impact our lives. Tan's humorous writing makes the book a quick read, and also helps the reader to stay interested, even though it isn't necessarily in chronological order. Tan slipped in a lot of very emotional memoirs in the book that are both happy and sad. The tone of Opposite in comparison to Tan's other work is far less serious than that of The Joy Luck Club, or The Kitchen God's Wife, but does have a lot of very serious memoirs in it dealing with loss and the role of hope in people's lives. Opposite is a wonderful book and an exceptional choice to read if a reader enjoys Tan's style, and remains to be enlightening, interesting, and causes the reader to think about fate and who and how it is effected by the people we know and care about.
Fate is not entirely dependent on the people we are around, those we hand around or those we are friends with, but that is just a slice of the pie of things that influence us. In Tan's life, many different played a part in her success as a writer, but only one event led to the point where she made the conscious decision to take a step towards becoming a writer. Her Success after that came from what inspiration she got mostly by spending time and caring for her mother, and other writers she was close to like Stephen King, or her editor Faith Sale, her mentors, and close friends like Pete. Without these influences, there may not have been a chance to read any of her work, including this book.

[...].

The Stoic Life: Emotions, Duties, and Fate

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The Stoic Life: Emotions, Duties, and Fate
Tad Brennan
Manufacturer: Oxford University Press, USA
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 019921705X

Book Description

Tad Brennan explains how to live the Stoic life - and why we might want to. Stoicism has been one of the main currents of thought in Western civilization for two thousand years: Brennan offers a fascinating guide through the ethical ideas of the original Stoic philosophers, and shows how valuable these ideas remain today, both intellectually and in practice. He writes in a lively informal style which will bring Stoicism to life for readers who are new to ancient philosophy. The Stoic Life will also be of great interest to philosophers and classicists seeking a full understanding of the intellectual legacy of the Stoics. Brennan starts from scrupulous attention to the evidence (references are provided to all of the standard collections of Stoic texts). He provides translations of the original texts, with extensive annotations that will allow readers to pursue further reading. No knowledge of Greek is required. An introductory section provides context by introducing the reader to the most important figures in the Stoic school, the philosophical climate in which they worked, and a brief summary of the leading tenets of the Stoic system. After this context is established, the book is divided into three sections. The first provides a thorough exploration of the Stoic school's theories of psychology, focusing on their analyses of fear, desire, and other emotions. The second develops the more centrally ethical topics of value, obligation, and right action. The third part explores the Stoic school's views on fate, determinism, and moral responsibility. For anyone interested in the origins of Western ethical thought, who wishes to understand the vast influence that Stoic philosophy has had on philosophy and religion up to our time, this book will be essential reading.

The Fate of Communion: The Agony of Anglicanism and the Future of a Global Church

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Not quite bold enough or deep enough
Highly Recommended

The Fate of Communion: The Agony of Anglicanism and the Future of a Global Church
Ephraim Radner , and Philip Turner
Manufacturer: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0802863272

Book Description

Foreword by Stanley Hauerwas

Current debates over a host of issues, particularly those relating to homosexuality, have left the 70-million-member Anglican Communion straining to understand what it means to be a communion — and even wondering whether life as a communion is possible.

In this timely book two priest-scholars, Ephraim Radner and Philip Turner, examine the future of the concept of "communion" as a viable church structure, tracing its historical development as a self-conscious Anglican third way between Protestant congregationalism and Catholic centralism. In examining this essential issue, Radner and Turner relate the specific challenges of the U.S. Episcopal Church to the unity of the worldwide communion, touching on such divisive subjects as the place of Scripture, liberal theology, and episcopal authority. Their discussion is at once measured and impassioned, erudite and practical.

Compelling reading for Episcopalians and those in other traditions who are searching for a truly Christian approach to these thorny topics, The Fate of Communion is a forthright, direct examination of a church in turmoil.

Customer Reviews:

Not quite bold enough or deep enough.......2007-04-05

I write what I believe is the second review on Amazon about this book. For the past six months I have been focusing on the "issues" in the Episcopal/Anglican church and have learned most of what I know from articles and blog sites. The title of the book and a positive review in a journal prompted me to buy it and read it.

I was not entirely satisfied. One problem is the the situation in Anglicanism perhaps is morphing too rapidly to be captured in a book. What can and should be captured in a book is a long-term trend. It was, I believe, an Anglican Bishop (Stubbs) who said "The roots of the present lie deep in the past." "Deep" is an operative word in the quote. While Radner and Turner give us a good view of the recent past--their analysis of the "prophetic" voice of the Episcopal Clergy is spot on--they do not go deep enough into the past for us to more clearly see the trajectory that church has been on for over a hundred years, and possibly since its inception.

If one's purpose is to understand what is going on, then Radner and Turner simply don't given enough information. Their stated agenda is to propose a way out and forward. Given Radner's recent comments however, it does not appear that the program he outlines has gained much traction.

I am afraid that for a brief moment this book might have been quite useful, but that moment has passed. Now we must resort to quickly aging articles, or to more magisterial works that examine the church's history for a longer period of time.

I'd give the book 3.5 stars if I could. I'm glad I read it, but if I didn't have it so marked up, I would be selling it as a used book right now.

Highly Recommended.......2007-03-18

This book deserves far more attention that it is getting. The two authors take a discerning look at the current crisis within Episcopal Church and the Anglican Communion from a decidedly conservative stance. The book is divided into four segments. The first looks at the current situation in the Anglican Communion and the Episcopal Church. The second section considers the issue of authority in the Church. The third segment considers what it means to be a Communion. And the final section looks at some of the issues that could well impact the future of the Anglican Communion.

They have written a well reasoned book that manages to avoid much of the rancor that permeates so much of what is written about the current conflicts within the Anglican Communion and the Episcopal Church. They approach this subject from an unabashedly conservative point of view. A point of view that I do not share on the immediately divisive issue of human sexuality. I feel that I came away from this book with a better understanding of some of the issues surrounding the current Anglican crisis. And, I read the entire book without getting so pissed off that I threw it against the wall. Not once!

A few parts of the book stand out in my mind. Fr. Radner's chapter titled "Children of Cain" was particularly interesting. It examines the negative impact of the American cultural aspects of religious pluralism and religious marketplace mentality on the character and structure of the Episcopal Church. Fascinating material! I will let you read it for yourself.

Dr Turner's chapter titled, "ECUSA's God and the Idols of Liberal Protestantism" provides a very succinct (and perhaps too brief) an analysis of what he calls the Episcopal Church's 'working theology'. The reduction of theology to one of radical inclusion does, I think, lead to a de-emphasis on the concepts of atonement, holiness, discipleship, and even evangelism. I agree with him here. Anyone who has read the Episcopal Church's current Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori's recent book titled A Wing and a Prayer will realize that he is 'spot on' in his analysis. Again, well worth reading.

One issue that is alluded to but not fully examined is whether or not the Anglican Communion is simply a voluntary federation of independent national churches or 'something much more'. Both authors argue that the Anglican communion is decidedly 'something much more' although that is hardly a universal (and most likely not even a majority) view within the Episcopal Church. Certainly, the Anglican Communion has been slowly lurching towards communion, but as late as the 1978 Lambeth Conference, a resolution was passed that explicitly stated that the conference was not legislative body and so its resolutions were not binding.

The Life and Death of Planet Earth: How the New Science of Astrobiology Charts the Ultimate Fate of Our World

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Very good read
Earth systems logical thoght processes.
One of the best popular science books in print
Enjoyment from a dusty subject
An entertaining and informative read

The Life and Death of Planet Earth: How the New Science of Astrobiology Charts the Ultimate Fate of Our World
Donald Brownlee , and Peter D. Ward
Manufacturer: Owl Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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Rare Earth: Why Complex Life Is Uncommon in the Universe
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ASIN: 0805075127

Book Description

Science has worked hard to piece together the story of the evolution of our world up to this point, but only recently have we developed the understanding and the tools to describe the entire life cycle of our planet. Peter D. Ward and Donald Brownlee, a geologist and an astronomer respectively, are in the vanguard of the new field of astrobiology. Combining their knowledge of how the critical sustaining systems of our planet evolve through time with their understanding of how stars and solar systems grow and change throughout their own life cycles, the authors tell the story of the second half of Earth's life. In this masterful melding of groundbreaking research and captivating, eloquent science writing, Ward and Brownlee provide a comprehensive portrait of Earth's life cycle that allows us to understand and appreciate how the planet sustains itself today, and offers us a glimpse of our place in the cosmic order.

Customer Reviews:

Very good read.......2007-09-17

Some parts of this book repeat several times (could have been edited better), but it is an eye opening book. The latest theories are represented here in a very logical progression. Very enjoyable and educational read.

Earth systems logical thoght processes........2006-07-11

The ideas exposed in this book may not be shared by all astrobiologists/scientists however I find its Earth systems approach highly valuable, taking the reader through the thinking process behind most current astrobiological hypothesis on the evolution of a habitable planet. Thus it is not the conclusions it reaches which I personally find of the highest value but its underlying logical thought process and the manner in which the author approaches as well the non specialized reader by ways of powerful analogies. Ihrenes 2006.

One of the best popular science books in print.......2006-01-03

I am not a scientist, but have an avid interest in science. In particular, I am fascinated by evolution, cosmology and astronomy. That's what makes this book so compelling. Few authors have been able to match such good writing with such compelling subject matter (Timothy Ferris has; notably, Stephen Hawking has not).

Yes, there are some editing errors, but they do not detract in any substantive way from the book.

The reviewer who indicated the authors were writing some political tome aimed at the global warming denialists, Republicans, etc. has obviously not read the book. If anything, Ward and Brownlee tend to skim over the short-term impact of human-introduced greenhouse gases. In fact, the book's sweeping timescale largely subsumes that issue. Where it is discussed, it is done so in an even-handed way. I do wish they would have added a chapter to hit harder the short-term consequences of human activity on the environment - not because I have a political agenda, but because I have an interest in the science of it.

Those minor criticisms aside, with Rare Earth, and now with this book, Ward and Brownlee have made major contributions to the public's understanding of their respective disciplines.

In short, I would say Life and Death and Rare Earth are two of the most influential books I have read in recent years.

Enjoyment from a dusty subject.......2005-06-11

While this book does have a few errors that should have been picked up before printing and distributing, the overall content of the book is fascinating and keeps the reader entertained throughout the entire reading experience. I used to read books to fall asleep, but I couldn't put this one down. Not only did they do a good job of helping you imagine what they are discussing, but they also made it understandable to the average Joe. I thought this book's concept of the whole subject, along with the manner in which it was presented was a compelling mixture. I would suggest this book to anyone who has the slightest curiosity about the future of our Earth.
Even though they end with a bleak and ravaged earth, there are many steps along the way that show how interesting the planet's demise will be, from a strictly observational view. The planet covered in ice, which has happened a few times in the past, is shown here as one of the greater signs of an "Apocalypse". Water levels recede from the shores and areas that can support life wither away and die completely. The monumentous changes in the weather across the globe affecting the biosphere in major ways. The authors do a spectacular job of bringing you to the scene and helping you imagine it for yourself. The future's lack of plants kills the animals that eat them. Some plants exist for a short while but are not a decent source of nutrients for the other living beings. Heavy winds tear across the plains, devastating the soil until those plants finally expire. The authors try to show how these things have already been set in to motion and could be starting to show as we speak. The number of plant species has begun its decline, heralding the beginning of animal extinctions, which we are not helping to avoid with the way we live on this earth.
Through their use of the language, along with their knowledge of Astrology, Biology, Chemistry, and Geology, they float you through time. From the beginning of the earth as a giant molten rock, they slowly show us how they believe the earth has come to be in its present form. We see life as we know it slowly fade as the authors take us into their vision of the abysmal future that awaits our gentle planet and all its inhabitants. With the past, present and future looking so grim, one is entranced by the words of these men.
The authors discuss the evolution of life on earth throughout the evolving environmental, geological and astrophysical conditions. Then project further in time, using these theoretical conditions, into the distant future. From climate changes and ice ages all the way up to the sun's eventual growth into what is known as a "White Dwarf." They discuss the theoretical effects on all forms of life in the earth's biosphere and on the earth itself. They do not really get into humanity's involvement. Humans have the ability to modify their environment for the better or for the worse. Based on the advances in science and technology over the past few hundred years, one could expect these advances to continue to grow well into the next few centuries. Humans may be able to prevent, if not delay, at least some of the abysmal consequences. The ultimate fate of humanity, as portrayed by the authors, does indeed look rather bleak; but time will tell how well we humans make out in the end.
I enjoyed being put in the moment that Ward and Brownlee were describing. I also enjoyed their take no heckling attitude, especially because I believe much more in scientific evidence than faith in something more powerful. The Authors' sense of perspective and their cynicism towards those who don't fully believe in the scientific evidence provide in their book allowed me a genuinely entertaining reading experience.

An entertaining and informative read.......2005-04-26

At the best of times, geology is probably a dry subject but the rewards for a story are great. Geology is a subject which has the capacity to incorporate just about any other branch of science - in an historical sense, and this is what Ward and Brownlee have set out to do! And the result is a fascinating example living up to Hutton's assessment, "The past is the key to the present" - and the future!

Combining their astrobiological and geological backgrounds enables Ward and Brownlee to examine recent research in both their disciplines to present a rather complete picture of how our planet evolved, and how it may end. For any geologist with an interest in SF, there may be very little new here. The only thing I was vaguely disappointed about was they didn't mention the role Antarctica plays in our current climate, preferring to attribute it all to the formation of the Himalayas. If there is anything that can be guaranteed in geology, it is that there is not one process acting at any one time causing things!

But that aside, I think the authors shone brilliantly at describing everything in a way which easily conjures up the imagery in your mind without being too verbose. Sometimes they use anologies, but most of the time, they used facts - and current facts as well! Kudos as well for looking into space for some speculation on what will happen to our planet - and galaxy - and how it impacts on life.(Would have liked to have had mention of our solar system bobbing up and down through the galactic plane and ice age/asteroid impact through time, but alas...)

I think the book only fell down towards the end there where they got a little bit waffly and little bit negative. Sure, they say, we are scientists and it is us who are reasonable and logical while Science Fiction is for the unrealistic, but... I still think humans have a long way to go with science and who knows what new twists in physics we'll unearth. Afterall, at one time, black holes didn't exits, then when they were proven to exist, nothing escaped their gravity well, and then even that got recently recanted. Just like in geology there are many process which result in an outcome, there are undoubtedly many more refinements to the laws of physics waiting to be discovered. At least the authors put forward some good ideas, even if they tended to rubbish them...

Overall though, a very interesting book; it paints a decent 'unifying' picture for those with an earth science interest, and it is simply fascinating and very understandable for those who are simply interested in science!

The Woman at the Washington Zoo: Writings on Politics, Family, and Fate

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4.5 stars: the best are very, very good
Learned to read
Sharp and sassy, sweet and sentimental--wonderful stories
Could not put it down
Touching without being Treacly

The Woman at the Washington Zoo: Writings on Politics, Family, and Fate
Marjorie Williams
Manufacturer: PublicAffairs
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 1586484575

Book Description

Beloved by readers and critics nationwide, The Woman at the Washington Zoo collects Marjorie Williams's brilliant writings-from sharp political profiles to witty commentary on gender and family life to tender, intensely personal explorations of illness and loss. A Washington Post columnist and contributing editor at Vanity Fair, Marjorie wrote political portraits that came to be considered the final word on the capital's most powerful figures. She also wrote essays for Slate, the Post's op-ed page and other publications that extended beyond politics to tackle topics at once broader and more intimate, including "Hit by Lightning," Williams's memoir of her battle against fourth-stage liver cancer. In "The Alchemist" Williams paints a heartbreaking portrait of her own mother at middle age that follows a winding path from the culinary arts to love, infidelity, admiration, and sorrow. Throughout the book Williams writes with a blend of candor, humor, and grace that was uniquely her own. This splendid collection provides a window into Washington's political elite, the messy lives that the rest of us lead, and-perhaps most powerfully-Williams herself.

Customer Reviews:

4.5 stars: the best are very, very good.......2007-05-14

I used to read Marjorie Williams in the Washington Post, and was reminded of her work when her exceptionally moving essay "Hit by Lightning" was in a "best of" book by multiple authors. It was so good that I simply had to read this collection of only her work.

The finest essays and profiles here are wonderful. The writing is outstanding, and ranges from great insight to humor and sadness and to the biting remark that takes down somebody famous a notch or two.

My favorites were (besides "Hit by Lightning"):

- "The Alchemist", a previously unpublished profile of her mother. What an exploration of a mother's relationship to her daughter and (presumably) perceptive view of her mother's life!

- "Scenes from a Marriage" - oh, my, how it drills into the relationship between Clinton and Gore, after the 2004 election and back into their time in office. This essay was justifiably well-known.

- "Bill Clinton, Feminist" - Ms. Williams shreds the feminists who defended President Clinton in his sexual escapades, while disregarding the women involved. She doesn't even break a sweat. Brutal and delightful reading.

- "The Halloween of My Dreams" - her final column, about her daughter's Halloween, the last Halloween Ms. Williams would see.

- The profiles of Jeb Bush and Barbara Bush, both of which offered fresh insights and information.

- Of the columns, many of which are first rate, I particularly liked the one on Princess Diana's death (I'm not sure why, to be honest) and one on assisted suicide.

The book actually got off to a slow start for me. The first two profiles were relatively dated and uninteresting, and the third, on Richard Darman, was wonderfully crafted, but I found myself not that curious about someone who moved rapidly into footnote status. However, Darman's profile had one of the best lines in the entire book: "As always, the vapor of self-certainty leaks off him like rocket fuel". Didn't these people know who they were up against in Marjorie Williams?

The short columns included are mostly very good, yet they also suffer from the usual fate of newspaper columns, in that they don't age that well, as the topic in hand often quickly becomes old news. Ms. Williams is far from alone in that fate, of course, so some of these pieces serve as a reminder of past news to reconsider with hindsight and contemplate what has happened since.

Learned to read.......2007-05-13

This book made me realize how painful it could be to at sometimes for the lack of a better word be a " dubmass " It took me a lot of brushing up on my reading skills to fully appreceiate this book and it was very insightfull just as the other books that were recomened to me to be read if I liked this one were. It also taught me that caring=sharing which can cause mass confusion sometimes to people who need to improve there reading skills which in turn = understanding and then ultimatly joy and happiness for many years to come. However this just could be a hopeful thought, but I would like to think it holds true for all readers especially the ones that would enjoy reading A year of Magical Thinking, where I think it says something about country boys being of big hearts are stubborn and rarely give up on anything.

Sharp and sassy, sweet and sentimental--wonderful stories.......2007-03-09

No, this isn't about the typical zoon--but about the "Zoo" that is Washington, D.C.

Marjorie Williams, a journalist for the Washington Post, had a sense of unrelenting refusal to deal with just the surface reality--but find the truth beneath.

Sitting here in the Midwest, some of these stories, some of the people are not players we hear about every day, but some were.

Marjorie and Tim Noah (Senior writer for Slate) were married in 1990. In 2001, happy and healthy, Marjorie discovered a lump in her lower abdomen and after much effort, died in 2005 from liver cancer at the age of 47. Tim has selected what he feels are her most revealing columns written about politicians, the shakers and movers of Washington's social ad business life, and about her family.

As an outsider I enjoyed reading about insiders like Ambassador Lucky Roosevelt and her long marriage, and other characters that made good reading.

Jennifer Senior, New York Times Book Review said, "Williams was a crowbar, prying great quotes from her sources, and she found herself face to face with rather intimate details of their life."

So true, whether she was writing about Bill and Hillary, the couple that always give us something to talk about, her own illness, her mother's illness, or her children--her observations were always sharp and often sweet.

Some of my favorites were her most personal stories, like The Cat Race about how she was "going to raise her children," that is, until she actually had children. This felt very familiar.

The Art of Fake (and Useful) Apology, (in the news again as I write this) used by politicians reminds us that this happens far too often.

With another Presidential campaign heating up, Williams takes us back to 1992 when Al Gore was running for President (without hitching his star to Clinton). Her article, "Scenes from a Marriage" is about that time, and the end of that "marriage" and the not-too-obvious divorce of Clinton and Gore.

Sadly the world will never again read about current events from her.

Armchair Interviews says: This book was a New York Times Bestseller.

Could not put it down.......2006-09-29

Really two books. One, a series of pieces about inside Washington stories, often with characters who are largely off stage but important in how things get done in the seat of empire. Rather than the usual insider's view, Ms. Williams has an extraordinarily keen eye for seeing what is there for all to see, perhaps along the lines of I.F. Stone's insistence on using only attributed sources. The second book is an account of her diagnosis and subsequent experiences with an ultimately fatal cancer, its impact on her life, outlook, work, as well and an account of her medical care.

Touching without being Treacly.......2006-09-16

I bought this book primarily because I enjoy memoir and it was represented in the media as a collection of personal essays by a woman who fought what was eventually a losing battle with cancer.

In fact, the personal essays comprise the smaller part of this collection. Most pieces are in-depth political commentary or profiles of Washington, D.C. personalities. I'm not interested in that subject matter at all.

To correct one of the other reviewers, this collection was compiled after Williams' death by her husband. It contains material that she apparently never intended to publish. But long-time fans of Williams should not fault *her* for what was and was not included in the book, since these decisions were made posthumously.

Williams was a gifted writer -- insightful, precise, and painfully honest. I enjoyed the personal essays immensely (particularly the piece about her complex relationship with her mother) and even found myself reading and enjoying the political essays.

Nature's Magic: Synergy in Evolution and the Fate of Humankind

Average customer rating:

Great, but not perfect
We are the sorcerer's apprentice
Impeccable, documented, ground breaking scholarship
Synergy replaces self-organization
a magical read

Nature's Magic: Synergy in Evolution and the Fate of Humankind
Peter Corning
Manufacturer: Cambridge University Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

General | Evolution | Science | Subjects | Books

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Natural History | Nature & Ecology | Science | Subjects | Books

All Titles | Qualifying Textbooks - Fall 2007 | Stores | Books
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ASIN: 0521825474

Book Description

In Nature's Magic Peter Corning states that synergy--a vaguely familiar term to many of us--has been a wellspring of creativity in the natural world and has played a key role in the evolution of cooperation and complexity at all levels, from physics and chemistry to the latest human technologies. The 'Synergism Hypothesis' asserts that synergy is more than a class of interesting and ubiquitous effects. It has also been a major causal agency in evolution; it represents a unifying explanation for biological complexity and represents a different perspective on the evolutionary process. In contrast to gene-centered theories, or postulates of self-organization and emergent 'laws' of complexity, the Synergism Hypothesis represents, in essence, an 'economic' (or bio-economic) theory of complexity. Peter A. Corning, Ph.D., is the Director of the Institute for the Study of Complex Systems in Palo Alto, California. He has published numerous research papers and articles and three previous books, one of which was a theoretical monograph on the role of synergy in evolution, The Synergism Hypothesis: A Theory of Progressive Evolution (McGraw-Hill, 1983).

Customer Reviews:

Great, but not perfect.......2007-09-01

There are a number of books on the market that give the reader a fine overview of (complex adaptive) systems thinking in physics, chemistry, biology, sociology and economics. And this is without a doubt one of the best available. The author spends a lot of pages covering historic developments, famous (and infamous) scientists, and future trends. You read about the reductionist vs. holistic debate, the natural selection vs. self-organization debate, the gene-level vs. the group-level debate, the competition vs. cooperation debate, and much, much more. In fact, the book is so dense with information that, after a while, I felt it becoming tiresome and I started skimming some pages.

And that is one of the three problems I have with this book: I felt that the author was trying to prove to me how much he knows. When explaining something he does not give just three good examples. He gives fifty. He does not limit himself to listing the few best scientists. It seems he lists just about everyone and their family.

The second problem I have with the author is that he is downplaying some of the most brilliant and famous scientists in the world, like Richard Dawkins, Stuart Kauffman, the late Stephen Jay Gould, and several others. Corning gives them all a (minor) bashing in some way or another. Well, I have read books from each of these other scientists and I must say that Corning can hardly stand in their shadow. It feels like Corning is trying to make a name for himself with his own theory (which is all about synergy) and to do so he feels he must in some way question the validity of the tremendous work of the Great Ones.

Third, I think the "theory" that Corning presents is not much of a theory to begin with. He claims that synergy can be found in all systems on all levels, and that synergy plays a major if not critical role in the evolution of complex adaptive systems. This, I think, is self-evident. Each system, by definition, is comprised of parts. If those parts do not make up a system as a whole by forming relationships with one another then you cannot even talk of a system. So yes, synergy in complex adaptive systems is vital, just like elements, space and time. This is hardly a ground-breaking hypothesis, in my humble opinion. But maybe the scientists that made the really astounding discoveries, like Dawkins and Kauffman, will someday tell me wrong and acknowledge Corning's work, lifting him up to their own level. We'll see.

But, whatever you think about the synergy theory, if you like reading lots and lots of stories about complex systems in all levels of nature (and biology in particular) you should definately not skip this book!

Oh, and be advised that the book is not really 454 pages long. More than a quarter of the book consists of an almost endless list of notes and references. The actual text of the book ends at page 319.

We are the sorcerer's apprentice.......2003-09-21

In Nature's Magic, Peter Corning offers us good news and bad news.

The good news is that chance, necessity, and natural selection aren't the only factors in our evolution. There is also a very real role for purpose (or more specifically, purposiveness). And the role of purposiveness has continued to increase over time. Humans make particularly effective use of it.

The bad news is that our efforts to seek an underlying grand law or force that governs history or evolution may be fundamentally flawed. We may be more responsible for our own survival than we have so far been willing to recognize. The true teleonomy (internal goal-directedness) inherent in Corning's view gives us both a creative and destructive role that is discounted in theories that rely on grand laws of history.

Corning refers to the various quests for an inherent mathematical law of evolution as "Neo-Pythagoreans" after the mystical cult surrounding the legendary mathematician. He counts various well-known contomporary complexity theorists like John Holland and Stuart Kauffman and some physicists among them.

Corning doesn't see the world as necessarily a glorious self-maintaining Gaia, he sees it as a place where living things through their relations and interactions have come to have certain responsibility for their own fate. This becomes an awesome burden once we apply this view to humans, where we take on the role of the Sorcerer's Apprentice in Goethe's (and Disney's) tale where the apprentice knows just enough magic to get himself into serious trouble.

The starting point is Arthur Koestler's insight that "true innovation occurs when things are put together for the first time that had been separate." Peter Corning takes this insight to heart and explores its remarkable implications, applying this "astonishing capacity" to nature in general.

The essence of the argument is not that nature creates things that cannot be explained or things that cannot be understood, but that no grand laws of nature predict her fruits. In effect, evolution is grounded in nature's astonishing capacity to create beyond what we foresee at every juncture.

Corning's theory of complexity in evolution is based on synergy, by which he simply and elegantly means the myriad effects of combining things where the result doesn't resemble what we'd expect simply by adding them together: the whole is different than the sum of the parts.

Corning's "Holistic Darwinism" is a way of viewing variety and selection in nature which is at once fully consistent with the neo-Darwinian synthesis and also provides theoretical bridges with the cybernetic theory of self-regulating systems and much of the body of scientific literature in social and political sciences. Holistic Darwinism shifts the focus in natural selection from selection itself as a causal force to where the variety comes from.

Nature's Magic describes a very similar role for information in evolution as in John Maynard Smith's work "Major Transitions," and Corning also makes particular use of Maynard Smith's concept of "synergistic selection." If unrelated individuals are often locked into a shared reproductive fate with others, as Corning suggests, then it is reasonable to assume that they will evolve strategies for cooperation, not for "altruism" but in their own interest as part of a "collective survival enterprise."

This shift in perspective in seeing evolution is an ambitious task for a single book, but at least the ground floor of the case is made extremely well here. Nature's Magic persuades us that nature continually yields variety that is neither predictable nor random, but fundamentally economic in its operation. In other words, Holistic Darwinism sees nature as a great marketplace where the functional outcomes of new innovations are continually shaped by the consequences of their costs and benefits.

If combined effects in nature are really different in general than we would expect from simply putting things together, there are some unexpected implications. For one thing, it implies that history matters. If things combine in new ways to produce new features in nature that are not simply an extension of the laws governing the parts, then those new features can potentially have meaningful functional outcomes that play a role in natural selection. This is the core of Corning's argument.

Corning boldly claims that Lamarck was right after all (in a sense). Not that giraffes can create new genes by stretching their necks, but that they can create new ecological niches through their behavior that can later be reinforced by natural selection because of the successful outcomes of those new behaviors. The logic of the "Baldwin Effect" thus figures prominently in Corning's Darwinism and gives an active role to organisms in evolution.

In a nutshell: "synergy" is combined effects all around us in various forms, it plays a causal role in differential reproductive fitness in a highly context-specific way, and it provides a scientific alternative to overreaching grand laws of history.

Instead of theorizing a vague new force or seeking a new law to help explain how natural selection can lead to biological complexity, Peter Corning supplies a fresh way of looking at the whole puzzle of complexity. He does this by reversing the usual logic about cooperation in living things. Rather than living things somehow cooperating to produce new outcomes through some unexplained form of 'altruism,' Corning sees 'nature's magic' of synergies underlying cooperation.

The clarity and scholarship of Corning's writing are extremely impressive, and he makes his case with a massive amount of data drawn from a wide variety of fields. There is quite obviously decades worth of research behind this book and it covers a lot of ground and has links to a number of other theories in both economics and biology.

Because it is so lucid and well-written, I can recommend this fascinating book not only to academics interested in systems science, bioeconomics, and the philosophy of biology but also to those with no academic background in biology who want to keep up with what will most likely be a significant part of the future of biological science.

Impeccable, documented, ground breaking scholarship.......2003-08-09

Written by Peter Corning (Director of the Institute for the Study of Complex Systems in Palo Alto, California), Nature's Magic: Synergy In Evolution And The Fate Of Humankind presents a "Synergism Hypothesis" that combines economic theory with the complexity of biology and life science. Applying theory to the evolution of humanity from the level of apes, to the acquisition of language, science, and projections of the future, Nature's Magic is a quite profound and widely encompassing amalgamation of inductive reasoning and broad repeating patterns directly affecting society itself. A work of impeccable, documented, ground breaking scholarship, Nature's Magic is so well written as to be complete accessible to academic and non-specialist general readers alike.

Synergy replaces self-organization.......2003-07-11

This is a marvelous book, which will change your perception of reality, of how things work and act together. Corning's central claim of the book is that synergy - "the combined, or cooperative, effects produced by the relationships among various forces, particles, elements, parts, or individuals in a given context" (2) - complements our contemporary scientific worldview. Moreover, the concept of synergy is more tangible than the rather fuzzy concept of 'self-organization.' The concept of self-organization defies definition, while Corning is able to define synergy clearly, to list the most important properties of synergistic effects, and to give numerous examples of synergy in the living and non-living world.

Indeed, Corning is a scientist with a Wittgensteinian soul, as his adagium seems to be: do not explain so much as to show how it works! This makes the book down-to-earth, tangible, highly interesting, while the examples can be seen as practices in synergistic perception: they alter one's perception of reality. The enormous amount of bibliographical references are a highly valuable guide for further study.

I believe this book has the potential of becoming a classic in complexity-studies. It certainly deserves this status. Moreover, as a personal note: for me, working in religion and science, this book illustrates one of the central ideas of the Christian religion: that our reality is fundamentally relational.

Read it, and be amazed!

a magical read.......2003-07-11

This book is a great read, and it has a great message: synergy has been the key to the evolution of complex systems, including our own species. Corning shows that there are many different kinds of synergy, and he provides so many examples that I lost count. I especially liked his argument that our species invented itself. In Corning's scenario, cooperative behavioral developments, including new technologies, were a key factor in our evolution. As he says, we're still inventing ourselves. But sometimes we create "black magic" -- a nice way of putting it.

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