Reviews (67)

Comedian As Scientist Entertains As He Informs
I picked this book up recently for the first time since high-school, some 15-plus (!) years ago.Maybe it was Steve Irwin's death, or a viewing of the documentary Grizzly Man, that got me to thinking about it- either way, I'm glad I did.I'd forgotten what a wacky character Farley Mowat was, and how much more there is to this quick read than dry scientific reporting.
"Wolves, please don't cry."
NEVER CRY WOLF is Farley Mowat's first-person reminiscence of his time spent studying wolves in the Canadian arctic. NEVER CRY WOLF, first published in 1963, was one of the earliest, most widely-read, and most effective conservation narratives ever penned. It's Russian edition (the title of which, literally translated back into English, is WOLVES, PLEASE DON'T CRY) was responsible for a Soviet ban on wolf hunting that spared the animals in their natural habitat and gained Mr. Mowat a notorious reputation at the U.S. State Department, which banned his subsequent entry into the United States.
Three Stars for Entertainment, Zero for veracity
I can't believe all the reviewers gushing about this book. It is propaganda, propaganda for a good cause. But, like all propaganda, it is not bound by truth or even by facts.
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Subjects:  1. Animals    2. Essays    3. General    4. Habits and behavior    5. Juvenile literature    6. Nature    7. Nature/Ecology    8. Wildlife    9. Wolves    10. Marriage, family & other relationships    11. Nature / Wildlife    12. Popular psychology   

Subjects:  1. General    2. Social Science    3. Sociology    4. Business & Management    5. Shipping industries    6. Technology / Engineering / Civil   

Reviews (10)

Sociology, more of the same
This is a revolutionary book. It introduces the stage metaphor into sociology; all of social interaction is a performance on a stage. It's questionable how novel this metaphor is, but this is certianly its first explicit statement. The language used to present the ideas of the author is, like most sociological writing, unecessarily complicated. There are some problems with clarity and structure; the book just doesnt have a holistic feel for me. No sociological background is presupposed, there is extensive quoting from other sociological sources, many footnotes, and various other ways to enter sociological literature throught the book. So if you are interested in reading sociology, this is probably a good place to start (again, the language is unecessicarily thick and this may be it's bane as an introduction).
A justifiable classic - though not without its flaws
This review is being written as I am reading "The Presentation of the Self" for the third time.And to put all my cards on the table: I read Goffman more out of necessity than interest.
A sociological classic
I remember reading this work many years ago and feeling a whole new world had opened up to me in relation to understanding ' the self'. Instead of looking inward only it was necessary to see the way we reshape ourselves in response to the kind of people we are with. The ' self' becomes a ' construct' which alters with performance, and with each new set of characters or scene we met. And so we ourselves are in effect many different selves, and there seems to be no limit to the new faces we can make in new worlds that we meet.
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Subjects:  1. Interpersonal Relations    2. Psychology    3. Self    4. Self-presentation    5. Social psychology    6. Social role    7. Sociology    8. Sociology - General    9. Social Science / General   

Reviews (3)

Use it as an outline to guide your studies...
I found the subject matter section to be too brief to be useful alone- I used the AP US and World History books to fill in the blanks.Unfortunately, I relied on the Cliffs test prep alone to review the economics and the test I took was really heavy in that area.It definately wasn't enough.
The author should have her Ph.D. revoked.
Awful.Embarrassing.The Subject Area Review is poorly written, contains contradictions, leaves out incredibly important details, and, in some places, is simply inaccurate.It is also egregiously inconsistent in the way it presents information.
About Time...
It's about time, finally, a preparatory study guide for the Social Studies Content Knowledge test, 0081!!!First rate job by Dr. Pate and I know that it will prepare for my upcomming exam.A suggestion: an audio version would be most helpful for busy folks with families and jobs, however, I must admit that it probably wouldn't be cost effective to produce. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. General    2. Methods Of Instruction And Study (General)    3. Professional - Teacher    4. Social Sciences (General)    5. Study Aids    6. Study Guides    7. Test Prep    8. Tests    9. Sociology, Social Studies    10. Study & learning skills    11. Study Aids / Tests   

Reviews (2)

Deceptive description??
Mark does a great job.
Make Magazine... Makin' Waves
A long time ago (two decades ago) I tinkered with electronics and all sorts of mechanical contraptions (the robot I built and the hovercraft are but a few weird and wonderful things I made).Alas, even Radio Shack stopped selling the classic books on electronics by Forest Mims (ISBN: 0945053282 still available on Amazon.com).
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Subjects:  1. General    2. Language    3. Language Arts & Disciplines    4. Media Studies - Print Media    5. Publishing    6. Sociology    7. Technology & Industrial Arts    8. Computer Hardware & Operating Systems    9. Social Science / General    10. Technology / General    11. Technology/General   

Reviews (14)

Depressing view of the future
The other reviews give you the flavor of this book so I will bring up a few items they and the author ignore. First, it is a vivid illustration of the more general problem in the world of what constitutes "help".If what one does causes more misery in the long run then it is clearly not helpful and this is what nearly all of the "aid" to the third world does.Anything that prolongs lifespans, increases child survival or increases standard of living is eventually disastrous as prosperity is ultimately bought at the expense of the future.The whole world is going down the drain but Africa is the worst case and likely by mid-century, and certainly by it's end, there will be starvation, disease, social violence and war on a staggering scale and as a permanent state.The world has only one problem--too many people--and only one solution--decrease the population at any cost.Of course it's not politically correct to say anything about it and certainly not to do anything really effective and Dettwyler is in a delicate position. These people seem to average a dozen pregnancies and above all they need birth control.
A Drop of Water in the Wide Ocean
This is a good insight into the malnutritional anthropology study of the women and children in Mali. At the very end, her work left me with the feeling that her work is just a drop of water in the wide ocean of the malnutrition dilemma worldwide. So much is needed to be done, yet the man power and the funding for this cause are very much lacking.
Excellent introduction to African life
I am not an anthropologist but a tourist who has visited Africa and is interested in learning more about African people. I found Katherine Dettwyler's book an excellent introduction to how real people live and deal with their lives in Africa. Dettwyler tells us how mothers and children interact, the way families view their children, what day-to-day life in rural Africa is really like. I found it fascinating especially because Dettwyler talks honestly about her reactions to what she found. This book shouldn't be restricted to anthropoogy students. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Case studies    2. Children    3. Cultural And Social Anthropology    4. General    5. Health - Nutrition    6. Health and hygiene    7. Infants    8. Mali    9. Nutrition    10. Nutritional anthropology    11. Social Science / Anthropology / Cultural    12. Sociology    13. Fertility, Human   

Reviews (5)

A detailed, intelligent read
This is a two book set, a bit pricy, but I read it for months.It's a detailed, interesting book.The author could have cut it way down and made it just a quick overview, but I'm glad it was a more detailed version, like it is.I read the interview on First Voice (www.7to7.net) and thought Prechter sounded interesting.He's obviously very smart.He makes his living doing stock market analysis,and has written other books about the market, which doesn't interest me.
An outstanding piece of work
Today, thanks to the genius of Robert Prechter, we have a chance of understanding the R.N. Elliott's own genius which was at root the discovery of the amazing Wave Principle almost 70 years ago when pencils and rulers were used instead of today's advanced computers. I am convinced that years and decades from now, when awareness and acceptance of the Elliott Wave Principle will increase to more appropriate levels, Robert Prechter's contribution in taking "the word out" and laying the foundation for one of the most revolutionary sciences ever, will be self-evidently immense. An outstanding piece of work
Today, thanks to the genius of Robert Prechter, we have a chance of understanding the R.N. Elliott's own genius which was at root the discovery of the amazing Wave Principle almost 70 years ago when pencils and rulers were used instead of today's advanced computers. I am convinced that years and decades from now, when awareness and acceptance of the Elliott Wave Principle will increase to more appropriate levels, Robert Prechter's contribution in taking "the word out" and laying the foundation for one of the most revolutionary sciences ever, will be self-evidently immense. Read more

Subjects:  1. General    2. Social Science    3. Social Science / Sociology / General    4. Sociology    5. Behaviorism (Psychology)    6. Business & Economics    7. Economics - Theory    8. Interpersonal relations    9. Social Interaction    10. Sociological aspects    11. Sociology - General    12. Sociology - Social Theory   

Reviews (38)

You Will Appreciate This Book if You are not a Brainwashed Moron
I don't own the book yet, but will purchase it after reading the reviews. Here's why.
excellent work
This book will appeal to many men and women who realize society has chosen the wrong path in experimenting with gender and gender roles.To us, it is clear that underneath the "socialization," we crave manliness in our leadership, even after long periods of being pressed to resent it.Mansfield hits the nail on the head; men and women will appreciate the refreshing perspective of a Harvard professor who goes against the tide of liberalism.

Meandering and Random
This book is little more than a meandering list of obtuse, random literary references on the word "Manliness". I must admit that after the first couple of chapters I could not force myself to press on and read the whole thing. It is as boring as reading a train schedule.
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Subjects:  1. Gender Studies    2. Masculinity    3. Men's Studies - Masculinity    4. Philosophy    5. Political aspects    6. Sex role    7. Social Science    8. Sociology    9. Cultural studies    10. Social Science / General   

Reviews (13)

I should need a little bit more
I have read the book at a stretch. In my view, the thesis (human is social) is a very simple, wit, and sound one. Maybe it is a very profound concern to us, whose complete consequences have not yet been taken in a serious consideration. Foundations and arguments in favor, coming from social and computer sciences, are orderly and properly unfolded along the book. The associated web page is being a very valuable resource for me. In short, I have made acquaintance with a good, satisfying mate. There is only a but for me: It has not moved me (but that is my but, not its...)

Good science; not metaphysics : know the difference; win big
You are most likely familiar with the story. In summary form, it is about a group of blind men standing around an elephant each declaring "what an elephant is like" based upon which part of the elephant they are touching -- and elephant is like: a wall (side); a tree trunk (leg); a hose (trunk); a fan (ear); and so on.
Good, but could have been more concise.
Swarm intelligence is burdened with an awful lot of material that is not core to PSO.A great deal of the book consists of the philosophical ramblings of the authors, rather than technical treatment of the topic at hand.An even larger chunk of the book was devoted to what was essentially a survey of AI: neural nets, evolutionary programming, heuristics, etc.Much too much space was devoted to grounding the reader in AI before proceeding.I must admit, however, that, while I found it out of place, the 'AI primer' part of the book is one of the most useful and lucid I have seen;I just think that it should have been a separate book (and this one should have been much thinner).The material that is specific to PSO is a very small fraction of the book, but is thorough and accessible;there really are few alternatives if one is particularly interested in PSO.However, if you are just interested in emergent behavior, and its applications to AI, take a look at Ant Colony Optimization (Dorigo).It covers ACO, rather than PSO, but is more more readable, and provides a much better technical treatment of the topic, if you want to avoid the philosophy and primer. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Artificial Intelligence    2. Artificial Intelligence - General    3. Computer Books: Languages    4. Computers    5. Computers - General Information    6. Distributed artificial intelli    7. Distributed artificial intelligence    8. Engineering - General    9. General    10. Swarm intelligence    11. Systems engineering    12. Computers / Computer Graphics / Design   

Subjects:  1. Art & Art Instruction    2. General    3. History - General    4. Social Science    5. Sociology    6. Art / General    7. Humanities   

Reviews (1)

intercultural communication in contexts
This book makes very interesting reading not only as a text book, but as general reading material.It makes the reader think about how communication is affected by culture and opens the mind to deeper thoughts about who we are. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. General    2. Intercultural communication    3. Language    4. Language Arts & Disciplines    5. Language Arts / Linguistics / Literacy    6. Speech    7. Communication Studies    8. Language Arts & Disciplines / Speech    9. Multicultural studies   

Reviews (4)

Written clearly and comprehensive
I highly recommend this book to any social science researcher, not just the beginners intended as the primary audience.It helps remind everyone of the fundamentals that all good research should be based on.
systematic
I used this book for methodology class, thou the official textbook was the more common book of Bailey. I did so for several reasons. A textbook thats actually readable
This is the sixth edition, which means that the still probably useful fifth and previous editions are now good for landfill duty.The price is hefty. (Why don't textbook publishers offer financing?) That said, this isa usable book, one that the reader might be tempted not to sell after classis over.The research and statistics chapters are well-written and placedin logical order.The material is comprehensive, and strikes a nicebalance between not being too technical without being too elementary.Whatappealed to me was the by-the-numbers approach, with numerous listsembedded in the text throughout.(For example, if there are seven factorsto consider in reference to the internal validity of a research design,they are boxed off and numbered, after being discussed in the text.)Thebook comes with a disk containing a 1996 general survey of social scienceissues.This is provided by way of example, and is referenced at the endof most chapters as a real-world example and 'how to' guide to researchmethedology and design.Nonetheless, you can do as I did, and read withoutusing the disk (I used it once), and still come away with completeunderstanding. This book is also free of the filler that crowds andobscures useful information in the garden variety textbook. This bookwould have gotten five stars, had it not been for the authors' annoyinghabit of using liberal examples.In a social science research text,reference to politically sensetive issues is to be expected.What annoysis that virtually every example, whether derived from real life, or anadmittedly ficticous example, is given a liberal slant.If the factorsbeing researched are education and political orientation, then liberalismcorrelates with higher education (read: conservatives are dummies).If thesubject is nominal variables, the example is party affiliation in adistrict where Democrats outnumber Republicans two-to-one.In other words,the examples serve the standard orthodoxies of our time.Don't expect tosee any on race and abortion, or the use of guns to deter crime.Thatsaid, since the main users of this book are college students, and as suchare getting much heavier doses of campus radicalism and causes du jour,this book's bias is relatively mild.If you are going to study researchmethodologies, you could do much worse than this text. -Lloyd Conway ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Research    2. Social Science    3. Sociology    4. Sociology - General    5. Methodology    6. Social Science / Research    7. Social research & statistics    8. Social sciences    9. Sociology, Social Studies   

Subjects:  1. General    2. Social Science    3. Social Science / General    4. Social Science / Sociology / General    5. Social conditions    6. Social sciences    7. Sociology    8. Sociology - General    9. United States   

Reviews (24)

An important look at the future of this century
While this book is focused on the future, the author from time to time writes of events in the past, to give context to the present situation and the predictions for the future that he makes.I learned a lot of history I did not know, as well as learned about the practices found in Christianity found throughout the world today.
a world far different from the one we thought we knew
In a memorable passage from the movie APOLLO THIRTEEN, a military man in the tense Houston control room shares with a political figure his premonition that the tragedy unfolding before them will be *the* catastrophic moment for the space program.Mission control flight chief Gene Kranz overhears their conversation and addresses it: 'With all due respect, gentleman, I believe this will be our finest hour.'The scene could stand in for the hand-wringing that often accompanies the apparent demise of the Western church when it comes to prognosticating on its fate over against the perceived adversaries of secularism and post-modernism.Philip Jenkins reminds us that, when viewed through a wide-screen lens, the immediacy of threat often yields to a broad panorama of opportunity.
the Church to Come
The Next Christendom, by Philip Jenkins, 258 pages.
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Subjects:  1. Religion - Church History    2. Christianity - History - General    3. General    4. 21st century    5. Christianity    6. Religion & Theology | History of Christianity | Modern    7. Religion / Christianity    8. Christianity - General    9. Religion   

Reviews (1)

Not Sure What Happened
I am sure that when this book left the seller it was in greaat condition, however the way it was packed or handled, the book was bent and the cover was broken. I am hoping this is not how all of their books are sent out, and this accident should be seen as such. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Fire Science    2. General    3. Law enforcement    4. Police    5. Politics - Current Events    6. Politics / Current Events    7. Science/Mathematics    8. Technology    9. United States    10. Police & security services    11. Technology / Fire Science    12. USA   

Reviews (4)

A great intuitive approach
When i studied microeconomics i paid too much attention on the "inner" sense of models (perfect and unperfect markets). But this way of studying keeps a student a little bit far from what really matters in any of them: its power to explain, its power to catch up essential features from social reality (in this case, essential features from flesh-and-bone markets). Well, this book helped me a lot to restore my sense of reality when i think of basic microeconomic concepts (demand and supply curves, marginal cost / productivity, etc.).Friedman has an intuitive approach to microeconomics. He shows that models are engines to think of economic reality, they are not by themselves the ultimate goals of economic science. Study models. Do it properly. If in the road you feel your mind lost, take back to this classic and make a review of your usual assumptions. Economics is mathematics, yes, but with economic sense what stands for good understanding of what it is being modelled.
One of the Best Economics Books Ever Written
I was lucky enough to take Dr. Friedman's two-quarter graduate sequence in price theory (called "microeconomics" elsewhere) in the early 70s at the University of Chicago. This book was the textbook. I have never revised my original opinion that Friedman's 301 and 302 were simply outstanding, maybe the best courses I ever had in economics. This is the BEST book on price theory ever written.
A serious book for serious students - no glossy pages, no color, and not a single wasted word.Friedman's book is the most authoritative and definitive textbook on Price Theory around.The material may be more difficult than some textbooks but this is, after all, economics Chicago style.Price Theory offers a rigorous and demanding treatment of the subject, exactly what a serious student should want. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Business / Economics / Finance    2. Business/Economics    3. Economics - Theory    4. General    5. Microeconomics    6. Business & Economics / Economics / Theory