Product Description
This is an EXACT reproduction of a book published before 1923. This IS NOT an OCR'd book with strange characters, introduced typographical errors, and jumbled words.This book may have occasional imperfections such as missing or blurred pages, poor pictures, errant marks, etc. that were either part of the original artifact, or were introduced by the scanning process. We believe this work is culturally important, and despite the imperfections, have elected to bring it back into print as part of our continuing commitment to the preservation of printed works worldwide. We appreciate your understanding of the imperfections in the preservation process, and hope you enjoy this valuable book. ... Read more

Product Description
This book starts with the basic concepts of fuzzy arithmetics and progresses through the analysis of sup-t-norm-extended arithmetic operations, possibilistic linear systems and fuzzy reasoning approaches to fuzzy optimization. Four applications of (interdependent) fuzzy optimization and fuzzy reasoning to strategic planning, project management with real options, strategic management and supply chain management are presented and carefully discussed. The book ends with a detailed description of some intelligent software agents, where fuzzy reasoning schemes are used to enhance their functionality. It can be useful for researchers and students working in soft computing, applied mathematics, operations research, management science, information systems, intelligent agents and artificial intelligence. ... Read more

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Publisher: Boston : Allyn and BaconSubjects: PhysicsNotes: This is an OCR reprint. There may be numerous typos or missing text. There are no illustrations or indexes.When you buy the General Books edition of this book you get free trial access to Million-Books.com where you can select from more than a million books for free. You can also preview the book there. ... Read more

Product Description
Fuzzy Logic In Management demonstrates that difficultproblems and changes in the management environment can be more easilyhandled by bringing fuzzy logic into the practice of management. Thisexplicit theme is developed through the book as follows: + Chapter 1, "Management and Intelligent Support Technologies", isa short survey of management leadership and what can be gained fromsupport technologies, + Chapter 2, "Fuzzy Sets and Fuzzy Logic",provides a short introduction to fuzzy sets, fuzzy relations, theextension principle, fuzzy implications and linguistic variables, + Chapter 3, "Group Decision Support Systems", deals with groupdecision making, and discusses methods for supporting the consensusreaching processes, + Chapter 4, "Fuzzy Real Options for StrategicPlanning", summarizes research where the fuzzy real optionstheory was implemented as a series of models. These models werethoroughly tested on a number of real life investments, and validatedin 2001, + Chapter 5, "Soft Computing Methods for Reducing theBullwhip Effect", summarizes research work focused on the demandfluctuations in supply chains. The program enhanced existingtheoretical frameworks with fuzzy logic modeling, + Chapter 6,"Knowledge Management", outlines the collection, storing, transfer andmanagement of knowledge using fuzzy logic. The principles are workedout in detail with software agents, + Chapter 7, "MobileTechnology Application", introduces various applications includingempirical facts and how mobile technology can be supported withsoftware agents.Implicitly the book develops themes that successful companies shoulduse to (1) master effectiveness and quality in both the details andthe whole, (2) build on and work with flexibility, and (3) supportcontinuous learning in both the organizational and the individuallevel. ... Read more

Product Description
After a brief history of the Third Army from 1918 - 1947, Fuller uses archival material, veterans' experiences, maps, photographs and statistics to shape this fascinating book and provide an in-depth look at the last eight days of World War II from the view point of the Third Army. It covers enemy resistance, the army's last shots at the enemy, surrenders, and interrogations of German generals. Hardcover. 300 pages + a separate packet containing 16 fold-out-maps of 16" X 22". ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Final Shot of WWII by Patton's 3rd Army
Author Fuller has undertaken a truly colossal effort to identify the circumstances and individuals who fired the last shots for every unit in the 3rd Army in the closing days of WWII. He leavens this work with a fairly comprehensive history of the 3rd Army from its inception during WWI and includes a brief overview of General Patton's career. He adds a very interesting and compelling segment in which General Patton explains in some detail how he expects each type of unit to fight and how these various units will integrate their efforts-this is the most interesting portion of the text, giving a very revealing look at how Patton used combined arms to succeed on the battlefield and what he expected of his commanders. The remainder of the book is exceptionally well detailed, with anecdotal and factual events related right down to the platoon and squad level, with individual soldiers' stories told in their own words. The author has done a superb job of providing maps, both within the text and some separately accompanying the book.These maps are well detailed and assist even the uninitiated in military history to understand the locales and topography of the events revealed. The author includes a number of rare photographs, some in color; however, they are not individually captioned, making the reader refer back in the text to determine their context. The author also includes a number of graphs and charts that detail casualties, unit strengths, number and percentages of days in combat, among other interesting data.This book is not for the casual reader looking for a story about Patton or the 3rd Army; rather it is a serious categorical compendium of unit actions. This book will be a "must read" for anyone who every served in the 3rd Army and should hold interest for foot soldiers, tankers, artillery men and anyone else who served on the ground during WWII. ... Read more

Product Description
General Books publication date: 2009Original publication date: 1928Original Publisher: The Macmillan CompanySubjects: Capitalists and financiersNotes: This is an OCR reprint of the original rare book. There may be typos or missing text and there are no illustrations.When you buy the General Books edition of this book you get free trial access to Million-Books.com where you can select from more than a million books for free. You can also preview the book there. ... Read more

Product Description
This book contains introductory material to neuro-fuzzy systems. Its main purpose is to explain the information processing in mostly-used fuzzy inference systems, neural networks and neuro-fuzzy systems. More than 180 figures and a large number of (numerical) exercises (with solutions) have been inserted to explain the principles of fuzzy, neural and neuro-fuzzy systems. Also the mathematics applied in the models is carefully explained, and in many cases exact computational formulas have been derived for the rules in error correction learning procedures. Numerous models treated in the book will help the reader to design his own neuro-fuzzy system for his specific (managerial, industrial, financial) problem. The book can serve as a textbook for students in computer and management sciences who are interested in adaptive technologies. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Don't buy this book!
I foolishly bought this book as it was recommended by the instructor for my fuzzy logic course (SD 558).

Worst 110 bucks I ever spent in my life. As an introductory book, it's not very verbose. It's boring as hell to read, and it's not very helpful.

It's mostly in point form. So if you're looking for nice explanation on terms or examples, forget it!

My recommendation would be to buy Fuzzy Neural Approaches in Engineering by Robert E. Uhrig. ... Read more

Product Description
It is now generally accepted that the structure and function of the human body deeply influence the nature of human thought.As a consequence, our religious experiences are at least partially determined by our sensory organs, emotional programs, sexual sensibilities, and the neural framework of our brains.
In Spirituality in the Flesh, Robert C. Fuller investigates how studying the body can help us to answer the profoundest spiritual questions.Why is it that some religious traditions assign spiritual currency to pain?How do neurochemically driven emotions, such as fear, shape our religious actions?What is the relationship between chemically altered states of consciousness and religious innovation?Using recent biological research to illuminate religious beliefs and practices, Fuller delves into topics as diverse as apocalypticism, nature religion, Native American peyotism, and the sexual experimentalism of nineteenth-century communal societies, in every case seeking middle ground between the arguments currently emanating from scientists and humanists.He takes most scientific interpreters to task for failing to understand the inherently cultural aspects of embodied experience even as he chides most religion scholars for ignoring new knowledge about the biological substrates of human thought and behavior.
Comfortable with the language of scientific analysis and sympathetic to the inherently subjective aspects of religious events, Fuller introduces the biological study of religion by joining together this era's unprecedented understanding of bodily states with an expert's knowledge of religious phenomena.Culling together insights from scientific observations, historical allusions, and literary references, Spirituality in the Flesh offers a bold look at the biological underpinnings of religion and opens up new and exciting agendas for understanding the nature and value of human religiosity. ... Read more

Product Description
If you are building your own Web pages and need HTML solutions fast, then this book is for you–whether you’re new to Web site authoring or you need a quick refresher on how to create a table. Open the book and you’ll discover clear, easy-to-follow instructions for more than 250 key HTML Web tasks, each presented in ten quick steps–or less. Easy-to-navigate pages, lots of screen shots, and to-the-point directions guide you through every common (and not so common) HTML challenge–and help you get more done in less time.

• Each solution is ten steps–or less–to help you get the job done fast
• Self-contained two-page spreads deliver the answers you need–without flipping pages
• A no-fluff approach focuses on helping you achieve results
• A resource packed with useful and fun ways to get the most out of HTML
• Companion Web site provides additional detailed XHTML, hexadecimal color usage, and Web site planning references, pointers to useful Web HTML references, and code samples for download

Customer Reviews (4)

Be Weary of Buying From Jasmine Johnson!
Jasmine has great reviews, except for mine. I don't know if something happened to her, but she hasn't responded to one email, and still hasn't shipped my book (today's the last of the estimated delivery days). I'm so upset! I paid to have shipping expedited and its not even in the mail :(.

Excellent HTML Resource
I am dabbling in the world of HTML, XML, RSS, Atom, XHTML etc. and I found this book. I rented it from the library and was amazed at its step by step approach to HTML and Web Design and I am now trying to purchase the book (most likely off Amazon) as it seems such a good value for money.

Quick Answers, Great Way to Learn!
I purchased the hardcopy edition when I was desperate for some training materials. I had been asked to teach an HTML course at the University of Arizona's Continuing Studies Division.This book is terrific, students find it easy to learn HTML as they build on the concepts one by one starting with META tags and following through some basic (but very useful) CSS.Probably the best HTML reference I've found.

Very cool approach to learning HTML
At first I thought "10 simple steps" would be too simple to be really effective, but I was wrong -- it's a great approach.I've had the book for about a week, and I've really been able to learn a lot. I've been working with HTML off and on at work helping with some of our company's site pages, but never had time to really master it. The book's approach makes it easty to grab the concepts and learn them, and I appreciate the author's straightforward style. I recommend this book to anyone who wants to learn or learn more about HTML and web page construction in general. It's a good book! ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Is Wine a culture or an adjunct to religion?
As a long term alcoholic, this reader has wrestled with whether he should take wine at his service.This small volumn provides the background for an intelligent individual answer to the question.It also gives insight tothe question of cultural purity in the midst of others, and the ritualsdesigned to preclude contamination by non-believers.It's subtitle,"A Cutural History of Wine Drinking in the United States." is itsbest recommendation.If one already has the answer, then this opennon-polemical history is not for them.I particularly related to itsdescription of wine tasting as a religous-secular ceremony.The recentdecision to prohibit sales of wine via the Internet makes sense after"tasting" this easy read volume.A strong recommendation forreligous anthropologists, recovering alcoholics, and the just plaincurious.The only omission that I noted was no discussion of the use ofnon-preserved grape juice "mus" for ministers, rabbis, andpriests who are alcoholics. ... Read more

Product Description
A biography of an outstanding creative thinker and designer whose inventive technological expressions were attempts to make life easier and more comfortable for people while still maintaining a close relationship with nature. ... Read more

Product Description
In this clever and entertaining look at the United States and religious freedom, Robert C. Fuller introduces us to religious revolutionaries who, in very unique ways, shaped American religious tradition and fought to establish new forms of spirituality. Chronological in scope, Religious Revolutionaries takes us from Puritanism and Calvinism in America's colonial period to present-day belief systems. We meet religious rebels who are widely recognized, such as Thomas Jefferson, the architect of our constitutional guarantee of religious freedom. We meet Andrew Jackson Davis, America's first trance channeler and forceful champion of the inner divinity of every person. We are introduced to Mary Daly, who openly confronted the sexist bias of most organized religion. We also learn about trailblazers such as Phineas P. Quimby, who challenged the Protestant theology of his day and whose ideas became the foundation for Christian Science philosophy, and James Cone, the bold spokesperson for black power and black spirituality. Religious Revolutionaries is a page-turner that focuses on the people who shaped religion in the United States, but it is also a captivating journey through the history of our diverse country.
... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

Useful Reference
I was looking for a quick read on the development of religious thought in the U.S., and this book did the trick.It was well-documented and written in layman's terms.A book this size could not have adequately addressed the objections/problems that a deeper study might reveal about each of the religions discussed.Readers searching for criticisms (a highly-recommended activity) will need to look elsewhere because it wasn't this book's purpose.

Nice to be included.
Professor Fuller, who teaches religious studies at Bradley University,
has included Joseph Smith (1805-1844) among those "revolutionaries"
who have "reshaped" the American religious horizon.

He also treats other so-called "revolutionaries," including Paul Tillich (1886-1965), William James (1842-1910), Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882),
and Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826).

As slight as Fuller's treatment of individual authors is, it is nice to have Joseph Smith included among those who get respectful attention. As his brief remarks about Joseph Smith (pp. 75-85) illustrate, the treatments afforded by Fuller of a host of "revolutionaries" tend to be brief, sketchy, and not overly critical.

He borrows his brief narrative on Joseph Smith from a few of the better
secondary sources, for example, R. Lawrence Moore, Jan Shipps,
Thomas F. O'Dea, Leonard J. Arrington, and Davis Bitton. Little is
original in Religious Revolutionaries, especially in Fuller's treatment of
Joseph Smith or the others he labels "religious revolutionaries."
... Read more

Product Description
Bucko recounts his journey through life after the death of his mother at the age of eight. Later when he continues to run away from a dysfunctional home, his father has him committed to a reform school. He later joins the U.S. Navy and serves in the South Pacific during World War II. In civilian life, some of his obstacles were losing of sight in one eye, jumping from a burning tractor-trailer traveling at forty miles per hour, and being struck by a stock car while serving as a flagman at the race track. Bucko’s crowning achievement was accepting God’s love and His Saving Grace. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Must Buy
A very interesting story from start to finish.Makes you just love Bucko, the man. ... Read more

Product Description
In HTML Virtual Classroom, text and multimedia combine to create the ultimate learning experience.This large-format, illustrated guide presents instructional material in an easy-to-follow style--and the CD-ROM features the author speaking directly to you. Using a combination of moving screenshots, animation, and audiovisual presentations, he'll teach you how to master the Internet's most popular coding language in no time! ... Read more

Customer Reviews (5)

Great Book!
I will always keep this book in my arsenal. Great resource and companion for any other HTML books.

Great book & I liked the video too!
A good quick way to learn HTML.We are using it to train web developers in a professional corporate environment.I like the video. Yes, it is not from script, but neither is a class you attend in person. The print, fonts, and colors used in the book make it a joy to read the book.You can get through this book in two days cover to cover and have a good basic understanding of HTML.

Book is good, the video is NOT!!
I gave this book a 2, because most people, like me will buy the book thinking that there is value in the video.The material covered in this book can be found on the Internet 100 time over for free so the only reason to buy this book is the video of a real person teaching.

I teach an HTML class and thought this book would provide some video I could show my students.I looked at the video on tables, which is the most important part of HTML, because it's what you use to layout the page.I tried to listen as a student and not someone who already knew HTML.Here are my observations.

He is speaking without a script, which lends itself to mistakes, which he does make, and though he corrects himself it's confusing for the student to hear the wrong thing first.He should have spoken from a script and edited out mistakes.

Because he is not using a script (atleast if he is speaking from script it certainly doesn't sound that way) he is sometimes searching for words.His sentences were so confusing at times I was amazed that this video ever made it out the door.

He is boring!!!

His advice is quirky and unnecessary.

Overall the video seemed confusing and unprofessional.

If you are only buying this book because of the video, DON'T.There is a good tutorial on the web.Search on "Dave's HTML Tutorial" and you'll find it.

Robert Fuller Delivers Superb HTML Instruction!
Plenty of good books have been written to help people "code their own" HTML (HyperText Markup Language) Web pages. HTML Virtual Classroom by Robert Fuller impresses me as being one of the easiest HTML books to learn from, that I've seen, in a long time.

The author surveys the functionality and use of the more common HTML tags - including line and paragraph breaks, text attributes, image attributes, text and image alignments, background coloring, fonts, forms, frames, tables, layers, cascading style sheets, and hyperlinking. He also devotes quality time to help his readers fully develop their Websites - not just teaching them "the coding" part. He provides detailed instruction for smartly working with text, images, colors, Web browsers, story boarding, testing, and uploading created Web pages.For instance, readers are encouraged to sketch out their Website design ideas - on computers, graph paper, index cards, or napkins. Cute, clever, and outstanding advice!

The book is accompanied by a multimedia CD containing a number of video lessons in both the Windows and QuickTime file formats. They are definitely designed for enhancing the learning process. Lesson content is delivered at a comfortable pace and is clearly presented. As author Robert Fuller can be seen speaking to his students the instructional content of his book comes to life on the screen. Readers can freely move back and forth between the book and the video presentations to learn at their individual paces. Furthermore, the video lessons can be played back and backed up as often as necessary to drive the instruction content home. Depending upon individual computer system specifications, some readers may prefer to copy the lesson files to their computer hard drives for smoother and more convenient viewing!

HTML still continues to serve as the foundation of Website design. Although other markup languages have arrived on the scene that offer their own advantages, there is still great demand for HTML programming skills for creating business Websites. Robert Fuller delivers superb instruction. This book is highly recommended for classroom, workshop, small business, and organizational use. I can't wait to get my hands on his Dreamweaver book!

Believe it or not - an entertaining way to learn HTML
I'm an anti-coder myself, but you can only go so far with Dreamweaver etc before you need a more systematic understanding of the generated tags and how they work. Besides, understanding the underlying HTML provides insight into those frustrating events when the page you design with your WYSIWYG design tool doesn't look right in a Browser.

I keep the Peachpit HTML book on my shelf as a reference, but for a step-by-step presentation of HTML, this is the best book I've seen. The videos are especially creative - Robert Fuller's videos have a refreshing, inconoclastic tone and approach that keeps you entertained as you digest HTML syntax.

I've used videos from the book's CD in my live Web design class, and found them a great way to supplement classroom content.

Don't want to learn HTML from a book? Then this is your "book" + CD/video. ... Read more

Product Description

Dignity for All: It's Time!

In his books Somebodies and Nobodies and All Rise, Robert Fuller exposed rankism--abuse of the power inherent in rank to exploit or humiliate someone of lower rank. In Dignity for All, Fuller and Pamela Gerloff offer a concise, action-oriented guide to the concrete steps we can take to eradicate it. They focus on us as individuals--how we can recognize rankism in our own experiences, even in ourselves, and how, on a day-to-day basis, we can help others to see its insidious influence and work with them to create a better world.

Fuller and Gerloff offer advice on the best ways to forcefully but compassionately bring rankist behavior to light. They include examples of rankism in action as well as the often surprisingly simple things people have done to counteract it. Perhaps most importantly, they show how we can prevent rankism from taking root in the first place. Dignity for All will help you map out your own personal strategy for creating a society in which every human being feels truly valued and respected.

Customer Reviews (6)

Excellent Off-Site, Gift, or Personal Improvement Book
I had previously read and reviewed All Rise: Somebodies, Nobodies, and the Politics of Dignity (BK Currents (Hardcover)) and as much as I liked that first book, this is the one I recommend as a broad use item.It is ideal for any company or organizational off-set as a pre-arrival required reading, as a gift (including as an anonymous gift to the rankism-challenged, and as a personal easy to read book.

I myself have been terribly guilty of rankism, primarily in the customer service arena, where mediocre service has roused my fury and I have been less than stellar at realizing that it's not the person, it's the system, and so many others are responsible for the mediocrity that I am a fool for taking it out on the one person I can see.

Where this book renders a very useful service is in the naming of the anti-thesis to dignity, i.e. rankism.This is not a book about dignity, but rather about rankism in all its forms and how that robs all of us of dignity, but especially those least able to handle the inequalities including (new term for me) micro-inequalities--the subtle pecking to death by ducks, e.g. being interrupted constantly, not noticed, etc.

I have been focusing on integrity recently, on truth, and I confess that I have not given enough thought to the tact side of the equation.This book is persuasive in saying that truth by itself is not enough, truth must be accompanied by tact, or as I have it in my notes, "Integrity plus dignity = informed democracy."

There are 24 sidebars, each a little gem, the key points are summarized at the end of each chapter, and Ibelieve this book finally meets the need for a Citizen 101 Guide.

Among my fly-leaf notes:

1.Lack of dignity is a driver toward violence and unreason.This joins a mantra from elsewhere, that anger and violence generally stem from a feeling of being treated unfairly.

2.Dignity should be the first human right.

3.Costs of not providing dignity are enormous.The following is quoted from pages 3-4:

"The consequences of violating others' dignity are evident in widespread social problems such as high rates of school dropout, prison incarceration, violent crime, depression, suicide, divorce, and despair; in the business world in reduced creativity, lower productivity, or disloyalty to the organization.Even health and longevity areaffected."

While the above is grossly simplistic, it is important and merits note.

4.Rnakism is the "root" "ism" e.g. for sexism, racism, etc, the one that fosters all other isms by artificially elevating one person over another.

5.Dignitarian intervention breaks the rankism cycle.John Steiner intervened with me one time in Denver, and I have to say that without having read this book, I did not quite see his point.Those intervening should anticipate not being understood the first several times.

6.HUMILITY in leaders signifies an open mind willing to listen to everybody.I have just finished giving up on the leaders of the U.S. intelligence community as they live in "closed circles" and are like Henry Kissinger when David Elsberg counseled him, becoming like morons in that they rely too much on narrow secrets and allow their "closed circle" to shut out all those who actually have ground truth real world experience.See my review of Secrets: A Memoir of Vietnam and the Pentagon Papers

7.The vignettes are not to be skipped.As impatient a reader as I am, I realized after a few of them that they comprise in the aggregate a 360 degree repetition of the basic lesson in many more naunced ways.

8.Secrecy and silencing are part of the Borg as I have tekn to calling it, the "establishment" in which neither Bush nor Obama really controls anything, the "system" goes on with its Wall Street ubber alles and two parties doing the bidding of special interests.Snobbery (think Council on Foreign Relations), bullying (think clearances removed from whistle-blowers) and blackballing (think CIA never hiring anyone critical of their nonsense) are all part of the Borg.

9.The book ends with comments on truth and reconciliation, of which I am a huge fan, believing the USA needs at least two--one for what has been done to We the People including our Native Americans and people of color, another for what has been done around the world "in our name" and at our expenses.Appreciative inquiry is discussed, as well as shared governances and shared evaluation.

Bottom line: this may well be the one book and the one idea that We the People cannot do without.

I also recommend:
The Tao of Democracy: Using Co-Intelligence to Create a World That Works for All
Society's Breakthrough!: Releasing Essential Wisdom and Virtue in All the People
The New Golden Rule: Community And Morality In A Democratic Society
Communitas: Means of Livelihood and Ways of Life
Orbiting the Giant Hairball: A Corporate Fool's Guide to Surviving with Grace
We the Purple: Faith, Politics, and the Independent Voter
Blessed Unrest: How the Largest Social Movement in History Is Restoring Grace, Justice, and Beauty to the World
Collective Intelligence: Creating a Prosperous World at Peace

Mutual co-operation instead of rankist exploitation
You will recognize a problem more easily once you have a name for it. And "rankism" is such a name for a major problem of today! It's easy to see how the discrimination according to career status is already so thoroughly baked into modern society that it governs everything! -Our society is BASED on rankist exploitation instead of mutual co-operation.

It should be safe for anyone, anytime, in any position to question the rightful role of the rank. A fundamental characteristic of a healthy work culture is that everyone, regardless of rank, exhibits a co-operational attitude. A rank should be earned again from time to time in a fair contest, in which everyone is equal.

This is a book about an important concept in itself, but I was left feeling like it was too simplistic, and lacking any deeper philosophical views on things... Because personally, I think the whole compulsory schooling system as it is should be abolished in order that "dignity for all" could become possible. -Also, be aware that some of the same stories from the author's earlier book called "All Rise: Somebodies, Nobodies, and the Politics of Dignity" are present in this book too.

We can manifest dignity for all!
I felt inadequate, incompetent and worthless. I didn't have words do describe my pain. What was happening? In previous positions, I was a valued team member who enjoyed inclusion, increasing responsibilities, friendships and community with co-workers and supervisors and had glowing recommendations.
Drs. Fuller's and Gerloff's book, Dignity for All, gave me the words rankism and microinequities to describe my pain. Dignity for All provided information that reassured me and normalized my experience. Dignity for All also gave me a new word "dignitarian" which galvanized me to work toward creating inclusive work environments where the dignity of all people is honored and preserved. I reached out to people who share a vision of healthy work environments and together we are manifesting dignity for all.

Thank you Bob Fuller and Pamela Gerloff!

Lisa Leddy
Co-Chair of Dignity4All
City of Portland Affinity Group

Add this book to your reading list!
At some point during our education or careers, we've all experienced the effects of rankism--the abuse of rank by someone in a position considered "higher" or "more important" than our own. Until now, however, we haven't had the terminology or framework for discussing its effects on our lives and on society as a whole. In this enlightening little book, the authors provide a comprehensive description of a topic that's particularly relevant today. Gerloff and Fuller have accomplished the difficult task of making a complex topic accessible and highly readable. By identifying the serious, negative effects that rankism has had throughout history and some of the ways that we ourselves may have participated in rankism in some capacity, this book will serve to open the eyes of all readers. Most impressive, however, is that the authors do not focus solely on the problem, but also provide a vision of a society that is kinder, gentler, and more respectful of all its people. Using personal examples and stories, the book clearly illustrates the detrimental effects of rankism on society while also offering practical strategies that we as individuals can take to overcome rankism and create a society based on dignity and respect.

Revising core cultural beliefs
Authors Robert Fuller and Pamela Gerloff propose an audacious goal: "to outline a pathway into a bold new world." They maintain that the failure to afford dignity to all persons is at the root of much of the unnecessary suffering, injustice and violence in the world, and that the simple (though elusive) intention to treat each individual with respect could provide societies with a fundamentally different moral and ethical compass. A "dignitarian" society, or a "culture of dignity," would fully honor the founding principles of American democracy and universal principles of human rights. According to Fuller and Gerloff, modern democracies have advanced toward these principles by identifying and addressing social realms where injustice has existed, and now, the simple conceptual tool of "rankism" enables us to identify, and begin to root out, the widespread abuse of power arising from social status and position. They suggest that "rankism" may well be the "overarching ism" that fuels all the specific variants of inequality, discrimination, and oppression.

The book is written in a deceptively simple style, to demonstrate that individuals can begin to recognize the many subtle ways that rankism operates in common, everyday behavior. The book does not propose a sophisticated political, ideological, or economic analysis because the authors suggest that the shift from rankism to dignitarian society is more basic, more elemental, than those layers of social reality. In this sense, the book's analysis offers a practical variation on Riane Eisler's concept of "dominator" vs. "partnership" cultural orientations--broad cultural templates that underpin a wide range of institutions, beliefs, and mundane, taken-for-granted habits.

Dignity for All does not dwell on this or other theories, but focuses on specific strategies for rooting out the dominator (rankist) mindset wherever it might be found. It is a handbook for a subtle revolution in values that could lead to a more collaborative, egalitarian society. ... Read more