Product Description
Today the very ideas that made America great imperil its future. Our plans go awry and policies fail. History's grandest war against terrorism creates more terrorists. Global capitalism, intended to improve lives, increases the gap between rich and poor. Decisions made to stem a financial crisis guarantee its worsening. Environmental strategies to protect species lead to their extinction.

The traditional physics of power has been replaced by something radically different. In The Age of the Unthinkable, Joshua Cooper Ramo puts forth a revelatory new model for understanding our dangerously unpredictable world. Drawing upon history, economics, complexity theory, psychology, immunology, and the science of networks, he describes a new landscape of inherent unpredictability--and remarkable, wonderful possibility.Amazon.com Review

Today the very ideas that made America great imperil its future. Our plans go awry and policies fail. History's grandest war against terrorism creates more terrorists. Global capitalism, intended to improve lives, increases the gap between rich and poor. Decisions made to stem a financial crisis guarantee its worsening. Environmental strategies to protect species lead to their extinction.

The traditional physics of power has been replaced by something radically different. In The Age of the Unthinkable, Joshua Cooper Ramo puts forth a revelatory new model for understanding our dangerously unpredictable world. Drawing upon history, economics, complexity theory, psychology, immunology, and the science of networks, he describes a new landscape of inherent unpredictability--and remarkable, wonderful possibility.

Read an Interview with Joshua Ramo Cooper, Author of The Age of the Unthinkable

Customer Reviews (66)

The Age of the Unthinkable
A very thoughtful book with sensible suggestions for thecurrent age.Well worth thetime required to listen to 8 CDs.Every voter concernedabout the future of our country should listen to (read)the book.

guidance for current time
An impressive approach to today's world. Mixing references from multi-cultural backgrounds, this book delivers a incisive perspective over today's unpredictable changes and offer some guidance on how we should behave on such an environment.

Rambling nonsense
If you want to read about Hezbollah terrorists , an amateur analysis on the history of art, and various other hateful or meaningless drivel, read this book.

Change Is Not a Choice
Joshua Cooper Ramo has written the manual for harnessing the infectious energy of change to make sense of our unprecedented and unpredictable times. Whether welike it or not, we are suddenly discovering that change is not a choice - it has unavoidably become become the very center of our lives. Ramo's main argument is that we now find ourselves at the dawn of a new revolutionary era of surprise and innovation where we must all learn to act likerevolutionaries or risk becoming victims of misjudgments from old ways of seeing and thinking. Leaders who continue to employ out-of-date models better suited for a world now several centuries behind us are ill-prepared for the challenges presented by rapid and surprising change. That's because, in a fast-changing world, what matters most is "often hidden in corners where the usual 'experts' in their professions don't - or can't - easily look."

In the old more predictable mechanistic world, experts applying their linear thinking could provide answers that worked. In more stable times, we could rely on heroes and stars to lead the way. Today is different. A key reality of this new revolutionary era is that its complex emergent problems are beyond the comprehension of any one person. Ramo makes the point that when society's fundamental problems evolve from being linear to nonlinear, the questions change. And when you ask different questions, you get different answers. That's why rapid and surprising change originating from a dorm room at Stanford can remake the business landscape.

Revolutions always produce winners and losers. The losers will be those who can't adapt because they remain trapped in old structures. The winners will be those who embrace new technologies that can accomplish what was previously unthinkable. If you are a leader who wants to be among the winners, this book shows you how to manage differently to thrive in the Age of the Unthinkable.

Warning:This book will make you think
I'm sitting in a bar and one of the four TVs on the wall in front of me is showing the Glen Beck program.There's no sound, but enough character generation for me to discern the topic of the show is three books, "The Survivors Club; The Secrets and Science that Could Save Your Life" by Ben Sherwood,"America's Prophet; Moses and the American Story" by Bruce Feiler, and this book.Beck is claiming that many are referring to these tomes as a trilogy.After reading all three, I fail to make the connection, but I suppose a trilogy could even be comprised of "Moby Dick," "Huckleberry Finn," and "Peyton Place."Although I enjoyed all three books discussed by Beck and the authors, "The Age of the Unthinkable" is by far my favorite of the trio.Possibly because it's basic premise is one I strongly believe: the world is too complex and out of control to be managed.Author Ramo graphically describes the situation we now face through his "sandpile" theory, which is profound in its simplicity.He presents the history that got us to this point and then offers hope for the future.Ramo goes beyond presenting the pessimistic philosophy of the current state of unpredictability and presents several compelling thoughts about how we can gain control again through unconventional thinking and fresh ideas.He offers a blueprint for the future.My wish is that the world leaders and those who wish to lead take this book to heart.But, the book is not only for leaders.It also gives individuals tasks they can perform to bring about an order to the New World. From Donkey Kong, to Budweiser, to breaking the Internet, this book is rich in thought provoking concepts and fascinating sidebars to history that brought us to this point.Not only is this book entertaining, it's important for us to understand its concepts to secure a possible future for the world around us. ... Read more

Product Description
A great collection of 39 contemporary instrumental pieces arranged for piano solo. Includes: Angel's Flight * Anne's Song * Barcelona * Cast Your Fate to the Wind * Chariots of Fire * Cristofori's Dream * A Day Without Rain * First Kiss * Flowers on the Water * Gone * Lullaby * Madrona * The Memory of Trees * Return to the Heart * The Steamroller * Sunshine Canyon * The Velocity of Love * Watermark * and more. ... Read more

Product Description
Moira Noonan left the Christian faith in the mid-1970s after suffering a severe accident to which the Church seemed to offer no answers. She went on to explore nearly every path of New Age spiritual practice, mastering such disciplines as psychic healing, clairvoyance, hypnotherapy, reiki, and past-life regression. Her tumultuous life in the occult, and her dramatic return to her original faith, culminating in her deliverance from demonic possession at Medjugorje, are the subjects of this absorbing contemporary classic in the literature of spiritual warfare. Noonan's story has been an inspiration to thousands of people who have felt the inadequacy of New Age-inspired road maps to enlightenment. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (10)

start with the answer?
Hmmmmm ... Noonan starts with the answer and then looks for data to support her answer.All the outrageous claims against the "New Age" movement could be applied equally to aspects of Christianity.I would suggest take the logs out of one's own eyes before you go looking for New Age specks.

Must-read for all Christians
As a licensed massage therapist, I am always keeping my eyes and ears open for ways to expand my services.After all, massage therapy is a very rewarding but physically demanding profession, and anything that can help me do my job better and that also takes a bit of the strain off my hands is something I am especially drawn to.One such service that I knew other massage therapists provided is called Reiki.A type of "energy work," as I'd heard it described, it allegedly helps the body to release "blockages in energy" so that the "life energy" flows better and supposedly can "heal" someone from almost any ill.I had read a little about Reiki but wanted to do more research before I took a course.To make a long story short, while much of what I was reading seemed innocuous, there were enough "weird experiences" I read about to make me question if this was really something I wanted to delve into - people seeing visions and seeing auras and having out-of-body experiences while giving and receiving Reiki.As a devout Catholic, something about all this gave me a "gut feeling" that this just wasn't right.But I thought, "But people are being healed, they're recoving from this or that disease or affliction...and I've been taught all my life that 'everything good comes from God.'Surely this can't be bad...can it?"

That's when I stumbled upon Moira Noonan's book.Doing a Google search for "Reiki and Catholicism," I read several articles (including some that were Catholic-based) which denounced Reiki and other "New Age" practices, like psychic healing and clairvoyance.One such article referred to Noonan's book, and I was instantly intrigued.Here was a book written by a woman who was on the "inside" of New Age thought and practices for over twenty years...and who eventually, through faith, prayer, and a special devotion to Blessed Mother Mary, found her way back to the Catholic Church.I ordered the book instantly, and tore into the package as soon as it arrived.In less than a day, I had read "Ransomed from Darkness" cover-to-cover.When I was finished, I knew without a doubt that not only was there no place for Reiki in my massage practice, there was no place for ANY of these New Age ideas, thoughts, and practices in my life.

Noonan has a simple, direct, and succinct style of writing.While I would have liked to read more about specific experiences she had while part of the New Age (she does offer several, including a disquieting story about her experience with spirits while at a lakeside retreat center), her story of conversion is nothing short of miraculous itself.The difficulty she had in literally tearing herself away from New Age - the spiritual warfare that raged on in her life during that time - was startling.And the conversion stories she offers at the end of the book brought tears to my eyes.To read about the dangers and lies and pitfalls and justifications of New Age thoughts and practices (including Reiki, Yoga, meditation, and others), compared with and contrasted against Christian and Catholic doctrines and teachings, really opened my eyes to a whole new understanding of - and thankfulness for - my Catholic faith, for Jesus as our savior, and for the Blessed Mother's love and intercession for us.

For anyone with questions, qualms, or wonderings about the New Age - and who specifically wants to learn, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that New Age and Christianity simply cannot co-exist in their lives - this book is a must-read.

Interesting, yet surprising.
I found this book extremely interesting and easy to read.The author is certainly entitled to her belief (which is the belief of the institutional Roman Catholic Church) that every thing "New Age" is demonic and evil, although based on the description of what she experienced, there is no evidence that anything she did caused anyone harm.She claims her "New Age" meditation training helped cure the pain she experienced from a bad accident, which would be a good thing. I suspect that people like Sylvia Browne would be extremely surprised to learn that their spirit guides are evil and demonic!!

It would be really interesting to ask the author if all of her attempts, and the attempts of others, to "manifest" things into being actually worked, considering all the interest in the many books that claim this works (Witness "The Secret" of recent times and "Psychocybernetics" of many years ago). Of course, the author is not "into" that kind of thing now, and is lecturing around the country to debunk the New Age philosophy and practices.

It would appear that she was not comfortable with what she experienced as a "New Ager", and decided that Roman Catholicism was more compatible with her being.

She has written, in any case, a very intersting book.

An excellent primer for teenagers.
Ransomed From Darkness portrays a truly lost woman of the New Age, omnivorously ingesting the poisoned fruit of many different occult systems, until she was near spiritual and physical death. The wide variety of practices she experimented with--apparently successfully (she made her living as an instructor)--makes this a particularly good book with which to warn teenagers tempted to dabble in what might seem like harmless fun. It's definitely orthodox and Marian in its conclusion, with a plus for devotees of Medjugorje.

Something all Christians (and non-Christians) should read!
This book is an amazing, primary source account of a woman's travel from being a New Age priestess and clairvoyant, to a Roman Catholic, through the intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary and Medjugorje.

If you want a concise book written by a former priestess/Master in the New Though movement (which encompasses everything from "Course in Miracles", Alchemy, Angel guides, Aura work, Angelic channeling, Astral projection, Astrology, Automatic handwriting, Chakra Balancing, Channeling, Clairvoyance, Crystal healing, Crystal divination, Dousing, Eckankar, Energy work, EST, Ethric Light Body Work, Firewalking, Geomancy, Hands of Light, The "I AM" movement, I Ching, Laying of Stones, Medicine Wheel, Necromancy, Out-of-Body work, Past-life regression Therapy, Psychic development, Psychic healing, Rebirthing, Reitki, Shamanism, Silva Mind Control, Soul Travel, Spirit Guides, Spiritual Psychotherapy, Spiritualism, Table-Tipping, Tantra, Tarot Cards, Trance Mediums, Trance Work, Visualization, Wicca).

It describes after she spent over 20 years of her life as a priestess, clairvoyant, channeler, etc. how she realized it was all a lie and every part of her improvement was lead by Satan. She is now a Christian and speaks about her experiences.

Great Christian resource and great non-Christian wake up to the New Age practices.Guard your senses! ... Read more

Product Description
This book is a chronology covering events and characters having dramatic consequences in history. In their own words the gradual unfoldment of the New Age World Order is presented here in a manner which holds the readers' attention throughout. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Cuddy is a Hero
Dr Cuddy is a warrior hero!

Thanks for the speedy delivery of this important book. ... Read more

Product Description
Quartz crystal balls and crystal bowls are popular magical tools. Yet, not everyone understands the extent of their power and multipurpose potential. Ted Andrews reveals how these dynamic instruments can be used for divination, astral projection, spirit communication,  healing, and reaching higher states of consciousness.
Readers will learn many methods of crystal gazing, along with ways to enhance this practice with candles, fragrances, and elixirs. Also included are techniques for divining with water, communicating with angels and spirit guides, developing clairvoyance, and activating creativity. This updated edition also contains new illustrations.
... Read more

Customer Reviews (7)

You need to know how to study a crystal ball.
If you have bought a crystal ball, this book is very helpful, it takes time for things to appear, You must learn, and here you will learn.

Is there better?
There has got to be a better resource on scrying.Some of the material is good (such as clearing and energizing the crystal ball, and contacting the spirit of the sphere), but other times it just gets goofy (like the rabbit and the carrot maze).

The book has a bit of a haphazard feel to it, and the illustrations just seem a bit amateurish.Lots of stuff gets thrown in here - from lunar breathing to picking the right candle color, mixed in with a teeny bit of kabbala and sigil magic.

The book is also missing elements -- such as using the crystal ball as a gateway to the astral plane, and internalizing the energy of the crystal ball into one's inner consciousness.

Note that I just read through the first part on Crystal Balls, so I can't really comment on the crystal bowl section...

NO PROBLEM AT ALL..
This book is good...no problem at all understanding it. It clear and concise...lots of useful info. Its a bit on the Greeko-roman-male theme as the beginning or foundation of things. I especially found it so that he mentions Eastern..including India, Africa, Asia...etc as if on the bottom of the list culture contributions...or as "other cultures"...as if they were some little footnote to the history or humanity or something. However, pass this by and you can still have usefull things to learn and keep the book around on your bookcase or list.

I'm so lucky to have found this book.
Now I feel more prepared to use a crystal sphere. Excellent source of information. But have to admit that I skipped the entire section on crystal bowls as that doesn't "call" to me.

Useful
If Llewellen had better editors, this would be a better book.There's a lot of useful information, techniques, and ideas for using crystal balls and bowls.This may also be the first occult book ever to include a maze with a rabbit chasing after a carrot. (There's a reason for it.The mazes are intended to train your psychic perceptions.)However, the book is poorly organized and edited.There are multiple redundancies of phrase such as "free choice".Sections which appear to depend on certain techniques being mastered are included before the techniques are explained.For instance, it seems common sense to put sections on attuning with the energy of a crystal ball before trance techniques intended to contact an anthropormorphized version of the ball's "angel".If you reverse the process, you'll just be projecting your ideas of what the "angel" is like. The second section is just plain garbled.I found myself having to read paragraphs two or three times just to figure out what Andrews was trying to say.It looks like he was trying to pack information into the section, and couldn't quite figure out where it fit.This is, of course, part of an editor's job.If something doesn't fit where it is, suggest a way to move it or create another subsection where it might find a home. It's a shame that such useful information has to be put together so poorly.But it IS useful, and I recommend the book to anyone interested in crytsal gazing, so long as they're patient and willing to seperate the wheat from the chaff. ... Read more

Product Description
Author: Zhang Boran Order No. 15807 ISBN: 710003308X Binding: Hardcover Publisher: Commercial Press Pub Year: 2004 Pages: 2,818 Language: English and Chinese Size: 7.5 x 10.5 This is a new, large-sized, and illustrated dictionary that contains more than 160,000 entries, with more than 1,000 illustrations and 11 appendices. It also has 1,000 groups of synonyms, 700 groups of usages aiming to provide assistance to solving general problems that often puzzle English learners. This dictionary was compiled by a group of scholars at Nanjing University who had spent six years to complete the project. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

Get it while you can!
I had the opposite volume (New Age Chinese English Dictionary) (q.v) which is also top notch. I resolved to buy this green covered English Chinese volume on my last trip to China and was able to finally find a decent copy in one of the big bookstores, but they are becoming harder and harder to find because they have stopped printing them for some reason. I can't understand why because it really is the BEST dictionary on the market. I browsed every huge English Chinese dictionary they had, and this was still the best. It had the most terms, the most up to date vocabulary as well as the widest number of cultural phrases; everything from Watergate to gigabyte.

My only peeve is that the introduction is in Chinese only, and the list of the chinese abbreviations for 'part of speech' notations (ie--'v','adj','m. word' /Biological term, Italian, Pharmacological, etc) isn't translated into English.(NOTE: MAY, 2009--I've translated the Parts of Speech notations myself, and will be glad to email anyone a PDF copy to tip into the dictionary. Email me at phledd at truvista plus dotnet) I still really recommend this dictionary!

Solid stuff
Mind you, this dictionary is suitable for Chinese knowledgeable people. It doesn't have Pinyin.

Everything about this dictionary is sterling: from the breadth, which is just immense, with so many definitions, that would suffice to a pro even, to the nice, big print, with thick enough paper for comfort, and thin enough to cram more than 2800 pages into one tome. The binding itself is sturdy and will last long.

Weighs at about 6 pounds, it contains phrases (including Latin, French, German et aliae), examples, explanations, names and even some pictures. It includes even new millennium definitions.

The last 76 pages of the dictionary has an exhaustive list of irregulars (including archaic forms), a list of Western names and their variations, conversion tables, the 50 states and information them, like state flower etc, and more. All the English headwords are provided with IPA pronunciation.

Some definitions from the dictionary: samsara, plough the sand(S), sand martin, fait accompli, mutatis mutandis, INTELSAT, odalisque (picture as well), obstreperous and many other goodies.

Enjoy. ... Read more

Product Description
High adventure in the Savage Land! The X-Men discover a wondrous and advanced new civilization when they return to the isolated, Antarctic jungle - but it's none-too-friendly toward humans... or mutants! And could the X-Men have unintentionally helped them take their first steps toward world domination? Plus: The team gains a highly unexpected new member! Collects Uncanny X-Men #455-461. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (6)

It was OK.
I wasn't too impressed with Chris Claremont's "Uncanny X-Men - The New Age Vol. 3: On Ice". Most of what he wrote in the first 3 volumes of "The New Age:...X-Men" was mediocre and a rehash of a rehash.

The Savage Land has already been stomped over many times by Claremont; however, I am glad that he created a new enemy the Haukka. I also like a few twists that happened, but the twists don't really seem logical or feasible. Knowing the pasts of different characters, I don't see how easily certain individuals could get caught up in a trap with the experiences they have.

For any die hard X-Men fans, I'd say read this book. For the casual reader, other than maybe a new enemy, I don't really see anything coming from this story line.

Claremont goes back to the well
On Ice, the third collected volume in Chris Claremont's return to Uncanny X-Men, finds the legendary X-Men scribe going back to the well.On Ice finds Wolverine taking a trip to the Savage Land to lend a hand, and soon enough he's in over his head against mutated beasties.Storm and the rest of the X-Men soon follow to help out, leading to their capture and Marvel Girl being brainwashed.Oh yeah, X-23 is here too, and Psylocke comes back from the dead only after a few years since Claremont killed her off in the now defunct X-Treme X-Men.While the overall story of On Ice is fun, Claremont's story is so cliche ridden and loaded with plot holes that you'll wonder if Claremont still thinks this is the 80's, and his dialogue alone is proof of that.Alan Davis' artwork though is what makes On Ice worth checking out, as he provides some wonderfully realized pencils throughout this TPB, and there is just something about his rendition of Marvel Girl that is simply luscious.All in all, On Ice is worth a look from X-fans, and yes, you can do far better, but you can also do far, far worse (Chuck Austen anybody?).

Ok, this is bad...
The X-Men fighting dinosaur men in the Savage Land. A good story with this plot is impossible. To be fair, Claremont's run on this series seems to be a throwback to the style of the eighties, and plots like this did occur in the X-Men of the eighties. However, this kind of story represents the extremely bad and cheezy side of eighties comics that people make fun of. This easily ranks as one of the worst X-Men stories I've read.
The reason I gave this two stars instead of one is for the last couple of issues, which are actually quite good. One is Psyclocke dealing with her return home, which spans the X-Men's return from the Savage Land through Wolverine: Enemy of the State and X-Men: Phoenix Endsong. The other is a fairly amusing issue featuring Mojo, although I'm not sure how he's alive, since last I saw he was killed in X-Men #11. His return could have been a story in a spin-off X-book or another Marvel title, however.
All in all, I would only recommend this book for completists (like myself)or if you'd rather not go to a comic shop and pick up the last two issues of this volume individually.

Alan Davis Reigns Supreme!!
I don't read as many comics as I used to back in the day, (60's and 70's), but when Alan Davis illustrates such exotic locales such as the lost savage land of Kazar - I must have and read it!

Alan Davis's reincarnation of Killraven was utterly fantastic, his writing skills and fabulous, beautiful artwork shining bigger and better than ever before.

And it shows in this blazing mix of savage jungle and mutant X-men graphic novel. Most excellent in all ways. A must have for any comic book fan who loves great artwork blended with beautiful colors and imagery.

Marvel Girl is the Most Valuable Player in this book.
The XSE goes back to the Savage Land in this TPB. Bizarre things always happen to this team in the Savage Land. This book is no exception.

The beginning of this arc was what threw me, and what made me only give it four out of five stars. Wolverine departs to the Savage Land to investigate some strange findings that an old ex-girlfriend of his (with red hair, go figure) alerted him to. He goes alone (or so he thinks), not realizing that X-23, his teenaged clone, has tagged along as a stowaway on the Blackbird. First, why does Logan insist on going alone? Why was Storm, the leader of the team, okay with it?

Second, why was there no exposition of who Logan's ex-girlfriend was? Granted, she gets killed in the first few pages, but it's nice to have that history.

The Savage Land Mutates make an appearance, as well as a new band of mutated dino-lizards called the Haukka. It's always nice to see some new antagonists for a change. Ka-Zar returns, too, but he didn't have much of a speaking role in this arc.

When the X-Men are taken hostage by the Haukka, they brainwash Marvel Girl into thinking she is one of them. She's so convinced that she begins mutating herself on a molecular level to even physically resemble one of them. THAT was cool. It was neat to see her lope along with the bent posture like the other lizards, further testament to Alan Davis's artwork.

We get to see some interesting interaction between Storm and Marvel Girl in this book, as well as see more of what Storm's powers can really do on a larger scale. Psylocke returns to the X-Men (and from the dead), still looking Japanese, and no longer telepathic, but she's pretty damned cool. If you are a fan of Bishop, you won't see much of him in this story. Logan also inexplicably disappears, by the second issue of this arc, and you never are offered an explanation as to why (even though we know he was kidnapped and brainwashed by HYDRA in his own series, but that doesn't excuse his absence from the Savage Land, hello?).

Marvel Girl's character begs further exploration, both in terms of her powers and how she will grow with the team. This book made me forget all of the previous "Days of Future Past" arcs, thankfully. All of her previous timeline jumps just gave me a headache. Like her mother, Rachel Grey has the greatest capacity for heroism or ultimate destruction.

This is one more story arc that made me very grateful that Chuck Austen is no longer writing this series. ... Read more

Product Description
Tom Barabas acoustic grand piano, keyboards & synthesizers These richly orchestrated piano and synthesizer compositions based on classical masterpieces and traditional carols also include three original compositions by Tom Barabas. Barabas' evocative melodies and rich harmonies combine with his articulate performance to satisfy both the intellect and the spirit. ... Read more

Product Description

Sarah Pike traces the history of New Age and Neopagan religions in the United States from their origins in the nineteenth century to their reemergence in the 1960s counterculture. She also considers the differences and similarities between the New Age and Neopagan movements as well as the antagonistic relationship between these two practices and other religions in America, particularly Christianity. Covering such topics as healing, gender and sexuality, millennialism, and ritual experience, she offers a sympathetic yet critical treatment of religious practices often marginalized yet soaring in popularity. Her book is a rich analysis of these spiritual worlds and social networks and questions why these faiths are flourishing at this point in American history.

Customer Reviews (2)

excellent, but mostly about the west coast
As a fellow academic in sociology and religion, I am familiar with Pike's work in general. She is an excellent scholar and one of the foremost authorities on alternative religion. However, I will spare you all the tedium of academic discourse and instead make one critique: the book is mostly about new age and neopagan religions as manifested on the west coast of the US. As a scholar of midwest alternative religion, I think her book would benefit greatly from a visit to Chicago and Detroit for example, where paganism and other forms of alternative religion are equally manifest--but with some significant differences. Other areas of the country likely exhibit unique characteristics as well. Still, I strongly recommend the book for academic readers as well as practitioners and other students of religion.

Highly Recommended for General and Student Readership
Sarah Pike's 2004 study is an accessible, enjoyable, very general overview of New Age and Contemporary Pagan religion in the United States. It is intended for students and interested non-students, rather than the religionist per se, and is written from a balanced, critical point of view. Her introduction provides a quick guide to most other major works of this kind, including Graham Harvey's study, and is a vast improvement over other, more polemical studies, such as Philip Davis's "The Goddess Unmasked." Pike's biggest challenge, and a controversial one, is to include yet separate New Age and Pagan religion from each other. Her efforts are probably more successful in this area than other attempts to either totally distinguish them or collapse them together.

What makes Pike's study different is that her goal is not to provide a comprehensive guide to traditions and practices. Rather, her work concentrates on situating the contours of these religions in an American historical context, and demonstrating their continuity, as well as divergence, from other aspects of American Religious History. As well her main areas of investigation are trends in in healing, gender/sexuality, apocalypticism/millenialism, and in the ethics or style of practice, rather than content or specific denominations. This is significant because New Age and Neopagan religions are radically decentralized movements. Lacking a single charasmatic leader, or even one authoritative organization, these movements are for the most part, difficult to study. Unlike early century or 19th century esotericisms, they lack founding texts, or single leaders.

Pike begins by spending a chapter compressing and extending, in parts, America's unchurched religious traditions, including Spiritualist trance, which she considers a significant antecedent to Pagan possession and New Age channeling. We know that Spiritualist demonstrations were attended by many, including Abraham Lincoln, Mary Todd Lincoln, Harriet Beecher Stowe, and James Fenimore Cooper. One of the major ways spirits communicated in Spiritualism was by "rapping," or making noises then interpreted in a narrative fashion. As well, Spiritualist publications and proponents were widely known to engage in ethical advocacy of issues of the day, including the treatment of Amerindians, liberal causes such as death penalty reform, and wage reform, causes advocated by many (but not all) New Agers and Pagans. While discussing Neolithic and Jungian approaches in Pagan myth, Pike firmly locates these traditions as emerging from mid-20th century revivals and transformations of 19th century (and earlier modes of religious expression), even as many Pagans trace their deities directly to classical sources. Pike correctly traces the focus on personalization in this form of religion to the highly personal, ecstatic, and optimistic ways Americans have historically related to sacred power, such as reformist movements and the Great Awakenings. One debatable point is her location of the "birth" of NeoPaganism in the United States with the founding of Feraferia and the Church of All Worlds in 1967.

While many New Age practitioners and Pagans tend to pursue worship and transformation in an entirely private way, there are those who pursue a highly political and even oppositional form of public worship. In Ottawa in 2001 at the World Bank meeting protests, a Pagan group formed a "living river" as part of the protest. At the School of the Americas Protest in Columbus, Georgia, in the same month, several religious groups, including a group of Witches, conducted an "Earth-Based Blessing." Issac Bonewits has been regularly promoting the use of spellwork in encouraging people to participate in the Democratic process in the United States, calling for collective simultaneous action over the Internet, and teaching political ritual workshops at Pagan Festivals. Others take a wider view of activism beyond the nation-state. Some groups take political action in the form of ecological magic, or conducting rituals as threatened natural sites. As well, some of these sites may be contested with indigenous peoples, which adds a whole other dimension and layer of complexity to this issue. Gender activism is particularly important, given the connection to feminism which transformed the movements in the 1960's. Pike as well discusses the tensions between Goddess as mythic symbol, feminine life-force, structuring reality, and ontological literal truth, and clearly debunks much of the fantastic myths surrounding sexuality and its relationship to worship and practice.

Healing plays a central role for New Agers and Neopagans, according to Pike. The influence of wholism and health movements in the United States has a long history in religious communities as well. But its interpenetration with the New Age and Neopagan movements was key to the development of each during the 1970's. Religiously, the older inherited occult notions of correspondence and interconnectedness promote analogical healing of "macrocosm" and "microcosm." The increasing emphasis on a spiritual side to science, including Hindu and Chinese interpolations with quantum mechanics and relativity, gave weight to the increasing view that life and its environment interact at the levels of subtle threads, layers, and relationships of energy. Herbalism continues to be common, with its ties into folk medicine and vernacular lore, while auric healing and direct manipulation/transformation of subtle energies, at the other end of the spectrum, is easily as well known. Sometimes energy manipulation via earthen means combines these notions, such as in crystal healing. Deities may also be part of the healing process. Nuturing powers may be called upon, but ones of fierce defense, and regeneration, such as Kali, are commonplace as well. In any case, Pike continues to make the point that self-exploration and self-understanding are in many cases, foundational to New Age or Pagan forms of healing, both in the sense of deconstruction and regeneration.

Apocalyticism is treated by Pike in a single chapter. The scope of the spectrum she explores again ranges from a totalistic immediate shift in the physical environment to personal transformation. There is more than some elitism among New Age practictioners and Neopagans who see themselves as part of a vanguard that will help usher in the elite, and a corresponding underlying concern that those dragging their feet, so to speak, may not end up with a share in this future world, or paradigm. Pike locates much of her discussion of Pagan Sacred Geography, or dedicated sacred lands, to this topic.

Highly recommended for the student, general reader, or historian of American Religion. Advanced practitioners may find much of the non-historical material redundant. Pike includes a resource guide for those interested in continuing their study in this area, either in terms of scholarship or practice. ... Read more

Product Description
At 5:02 A.M. on August 29, 2005, Power Went Out in the Superdome. Not long after, wind ripped giant white rubber sheets off the roof and sent huge shards of debris flying toward Uptown. Rivulets of rainwater began finding their way down through the ceiling, dripping and pouring into the stands, the mezzanine, and the football field. Without ventilation, the air began to get gamy with the smell of sweat and garbage. The bathrooms stopped working. Many people slept; others waited, mostly in silence. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (9)

Destruction by Nature, Helped by Humans
Path of Destruction tells the story of Hurricane Katrina and its impact on New Orleans quite well.Even better, it gives us the "back story" on the history of hurricanes along the Gulf Coast, and the gradual settling of New Orleans, starting with the Native Americans.

Given that virtually every politician responsible really messed up big time, from the mayor, governor, senator, president, FEMA officials, etc., I thought the tone of the book was surprisingly fair and mostly devoid of blame, but perhaps that's because the authors assigned blame so evenly to almost everybody in a position of authority.

In many ways, the head of FEMA, one Mr. Brown "Doin' a heck of a job, Brownie", is made to look less like the pathetic character he was than just another victim of Bush's malaise and indifference towards the have-nots.Apparently, FEMA was built up to an almost adequate ageny under the previous administration, but Bush went out of his way to eviscerate FEMA, as he philosphically believed that disaster response was best left to the states.

Bush is treated somewhat with kid gloves in this book, possibly because it was written by newspaper reporters who have an almost compulsive need to be fair and balanced even when there really is only one side of the story.However, a few scathing remarks appear occasionally in the book, such as this one that rang true with me: "Katrina exposed the basic incompetence of Bush and his lack of empathy".

It didn't just hit New Orleans
The book did a good job portraying the devastation of Katrina on the city of New Orleans, but it appears the authors didn't think we survivors from the MS gulf coast rated enough to even be mentioned. The storm leveled Biloxi, and surrounding coastal MS towns. Katrina did not directly hit N.O. That city felt the resulting floods, but the wind damage, and storm surge was felt the most in Bay St. Louis, MS. I wait for the day when the real story of the entire devastated areas is told.

An intelligent look at a historic disaster, but not without flaws
At its best, this book gives the broadest, most clear-headed analysis so far of why and how New Orleans was nearly destroyed.

In the first half- which in my opinion makes this book essential reading for ordinary citizens and officials alike - the authors trace the root causes to geological and topographical causes, made worse by human factors, economic, political and bureaucratic. The authors succeed in showing these causes become intertwined, going as far back to the formation of the Mississippi Delta millennia ago and coming to a head in the 20th century with the development of modern New Orleans.

The second half of the book gives a blow-by-blow account of Katrina's landfall and its aftermath, seen through the eyes a handful of disparate residents struggling to survive, and through those who (mis)managed the disaster, as well. The authors bring to life the victims of the storm, emphasizing their suffering and perseverance.

The authors portray whatever successes the disaster relief had in saving lives and easing suffering as being a patchwork of ad-hoc efforts by low- to mid-level officials who threw out the book. Those in officialdom who made interpreting the book their biggest priority - Gov. Kathleen Blanco, the heads of Homeland Security, FEMA and the military - are described in less-than-heroic terms (though "Brownie" appears less the incompetent political hack than he's generally portrayed as being by the media, though I suspect the authors merely took the head of FEMA at his word, in interviews and his self-serving congressional testimony).

Those more concerned about saving their own political skin than in saving people's lives - the Bush administration - are justly cast as outright boobs. Somewhere in the middle is Ray Nagin, New Orleans' hapless mayor, who spends most of the book complaining to talk shows when he isn't sequestered in a hotel room.

As good as this book is in substance, it leaves much to be desired in presentation.

To start, the first two chapters can easily be skimmed or skipped altogether. In these chapters, the authors go too far in invoking "narrative journalism" to recount in detail several major storms of the past few hundred years - one of which, the Galveston, Texas, hurricane of 1900 -- didn't actually hit Louisiana. There's a particularly maddening passage extending several pages that narrates, for no reason I can discern, the early history of hurricane tracking. Interesting for a book devoted to meteorology, but not relevant here.

The book also does not have a detailed bibliography; it has vague summaries of the source material. I'm a geek when it comes to this sort of thing, so this may not be too important to most readers. But it is frustrating that the sources for chapters 7-15 are written off in a single paragraph. That's half the book here, fellas - not among the best practices of nonfiction.

The visual elements are also lacking. The black-and-white maps are crammed onto two pages, are difficult to read and don't show many of the areas described in the text. The photos aren't compelling at all. (Most are credited to government agencies - did the Pulitzer-winning Times-Pic not allow the authors to reprint some of its staff-shot photos??)

Finally, as other reviewers have pointed out, the "age of superstorms" part of the title is mostly an afterthought. The authors half-heartedly outline the debate over global warming-generated vs. cyclical upticks in hurricane intensity, but don't go so far as to say which side has the best evidence to support it.

Three stars.

Katrina and survival
I am a Katrina survivor and, of course, am interested in all things written about this storm and its aftermath.This is the best of all that I have read and reads like a great novel with good descriptions of the devastation as well as the principles involved.

A must read!
In 2002, John McQuaid and Mark Schleifstein wrote "Washing Away," an award-winning series for the New Orleans Times-Picayune. The authors exposed the unique vulnerability of New Orleans to hurricanes, exploring "an obvious but little-acknowledged fact: here was a city that, for the six months of every hurricane season, lived with a substantial risk of utter annihilation...much of the city was built on top of a swamp, below sea level and gradually sinking."

On August 29, 2005, Hurricane Katrina struck New Orleans and the Louisiana coast. In Path of Destruction: The Devastation of New Orleans and the Coming Age of Superstorms, McQuaid and Schleifstein revisit familiar territory, helping readers understand why this tragic event happened when there were so many warnings.

Path of Destruction outlines the factors that contributed to the tragedy in New Orleans. By 2005, many levees were still incomplete and those built had inadequate safety levels, with safety factors of 1.3 (bridges have a safety factor of 2). The Army Corps of Engineers were more interested in commerce than hurricane safety. When combined with sinking marshlands and unstable soil, these facts increased the likelihood that levees would be overtopped or broken by a Category 2 hurricane, turning much of New Orleans into a lake. Hurricanes sweeping in off the Gulf of Mexico no longer have extensive marshlands to diminish the storm's strength for "the delta has collapsed like a souffle."

McQuaid and Schleifstein also provide extensive evaluation of Katrina's aftermath. Once the levees broke, 80% of New Orleans was under water and the delayed response by FEMA severely increased the misery caused by Katrina.

Despite the harrowing experiences of one year ago and the knowledge that what happened in New Orleans was "catastrophic structural failure" not an "act of God," the U.S. government is poised to repeat prior mistakes. The Corps is rebuilding levees to their former level of protection, leaving New Orleans as exposed as before Katrina. At one point, Corps contractors were caught "dredging up weak soil and incorporating it into a new levee." Given the prediction of an increase in Katrina-like storms, the time to act and prevent future tragedies is now.

Armchair Interviews says: Alarming information from award-winning journalists.




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Product Description
Piano solo arrangements of 17 songs from the leading new age label: Cristofori's Dream * Flight of the Seagull * Heart Sounds * Mary's Question * Pianoscapes * Rain on the Pond. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (6)

Nada Narada
I thought the songs would be interesting but easy to play.They were easy to play, but pretty boring.I'll never play them after reading them.For this type of music/level I'd suggest George Winston's Piano Solos.

I am really enjoying playing this music.
The music in this piano book is really quite lovely and not that difficult to play.Even a novice like me can play most of the pieces, yet they are complicated enough that they don't sound like music for beginners.I am looking forward to the publication of more of these types of music.(I am Henry's wife, btw.)

I was very pleased at how quickly this order came.

17 New Age Pieces by 5 Top Composers
The book highlights work from Micheal Jones, Daivd Lanz, Spencer Brewer, Richard Souther, and Wayne Gratz. Having never heard the composers before borrowing the book, I was still able to pick up the book and play.It is simple yet soothing music that can be understood and felt easily.Every time I returned this book back to the library I missed it, so I bought one for myself.

Music from the heart
Difficulty-Medium to hard. All inspiring.Your imagination will be flowing.Beautiful arrangements. Descriptions of the pieces are only listed for Michael Jones.It would be nice to have descriptions for the remaining 13 pieces. I purchased "Piano Sampler 2" after playing this book.A good addition to anyone's music library.

Narada New Age Sampler
Narada New Age Sampler arrived in good condition, and the contents are excellent.I am using the music for therapeutic music in a hospital. ... Read more

Product Description
Since its appearance twenty years ago, Benjamin R. Barber's Strong Democracy has been one of the primary standards against which political science thinking and writing is measured. Defined as the participation of all of the people in at least some aspects of self-government at least some of the time, Strong Democracy offers liberal society a new way of thinking about and of practicing democracy. Contrary to the commonly held view that an excess of democracy can undo liberal institutions, Barber argues that an excess of liberalism has undermined our democratic institutions and brought about the set of crises we still find ourselves struggling against: cynicism about voting, alienation, privatization, and the growing paralysis of public institutions. In a new preface Barber looks at the past twenty years and restates his argument, which seems, sadly, more pressing than ever. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

Strong Idealism
As a student of politics I found this book intriguing. Barber's understanding of the importance of small-town/local bureaucracy is something missing from our liberal democratic understanding of politics. Barber draws from many different schools of Social Contract Theory, making a well rounded argument--until he hits national politics. His argument is interesting, and although it would never be realistically applicable in it's entirety--portions of his argument could be used to manage the socio-economic stratification issues in the United States. Barber is a good read for those interested in interpreting contemporary politics from a traditional standpoint, in new and innovative ways.

Too strong? Only a dreamer?
As shown in the title, this book has a strong message. Actually, it is too strong.
The definition of strong democracy is extremely narrow and idealistic. According to the book, unbelievably, Pateman's position (about participatory (industry) democracy) is also thin democracy.
It seems a book for dreamers.
But, the interesting point is that the strong democracy which the author proposed may fit well with the current IT society. The final section of this book is still meaningful for us in 21th century.

Strong versus Thin Democracy
Beginning with a frontal attack on the liberal democratic theory, which is grounded on and ramified from epistemological premises that are largely pre-historical and pre-theoretical, and stretching to the practical propositions aiming and helping to create a new sense of citizenship and community, Barber produces a masterpiece that can be perused over and over again. Well cognizant of the problems created by the heavy emphasis of liberal democratic theory on atomized individualism, through which social system is deemed not more than the competing atoms who are presupposed in permanent fight to all others, Barber packages his arguments in a highly pragmatic bag that goes far beyond the kind of demagogic platitude.

I read a number of books whose focus is on how to develop a strong democracy in both national and grass-roots levels, some of which are set on either pure theory or practice lacking ideational power. Strong democracy discerns itself from those that were written in the similar veins in that Barber knits all his arguments together cleverly based on both epistemological and practical weaknesses of what he objects, from which Barber's thesis comes, and practical ways toward and the tools for what he advocates: strong democracy.

Barber persuasively displays the importance of citizenship that is closely linked to and associated with the active engagement and participation in the affairs of community to promote the betterment of the commune of which individual citizen is a part. As a response to the unceasing preoccupation of liberal theory with pre-historical and pre-theoretical epistemology taken to practice, Barber points to the very import of community that defines the specifics and boundaries of what liberal theory takes for granted such as liberty and equality, so, the community is rendered much more than the mere sum of individual interests. That is, community is designated as a medium that is congenial to create new perspectives passing beyond the interests and ideas of individual citizens. Barber comes up with a vision under which free individuals of community would convene for the purpose of revealing and dialoguing the common problems facing the community. The community in Barber's vision is a pragmatic one, hardly dependent on any overarching set of pre-historical principles.

The book is organized around ten chapters, the first five of which deal with the core assumptions and frames (pre-conceptual, epistemological and psychological frames) of liberal theory, thereby Barber displays how liberal theory has misguided the practice of democracy in the twentieth century, with consequences being the anomie on the part of citizens and thin democracy in general. The last five chapters are spent for developing theory for strong democracy, the kind of democracy sharing less commonality with liberal representative democracy. In the lexicon of the book, the more the individual participates in the affairs of community, the more the individual becomes a citizen, so that politics for him/her becomes a way of living rather than a meaningless ritual. Therefore, representative government changes itself into the self-governing by community. For reaching what Barber offers, there is a number of very interesting propositions in the book that target at developing a powerful sense of active citizenship and community. The argument of Barber resembles how Danish scholar Bent Flyvbjerg (in Rationality and Power, 1998) depicts democracy: democracy as a form of governing that is fought for, day in and day out, to make it work rather than being a final point that is obtained for once and retained forever. Politics, of course, stands for the daily activity on the part of citizens for making democracy work.

Although a meticulously woven and spellbindingly presented theory of strong democracy this book is, I recommend, it should be read together with two important books, of which the first is "The Idea of Civil Society" by Adam Seligman, therein the importance of individualism-to which Barber objects with cautionary reservation-for both the sustenance and promotion of equality and pluralism as an antidote (or balance) to the exclusionary tendency of communitarian solidarity, is stressed. The other book is "Making Democracy Work" by Robert Putnam in which the interrelationship between active civic engagement and high performance governance is empirically documented by which elucidates how "enlightened self-interest" ought to be understood in the relational context of community-citizen interaction.

Yet, you can find some points in the book to which you would be in opposition, you may try to complement the creative and frank vision of Barber by chinking in further, of course, If you "will". This is a highly recommended classic by all standards. ... Read more

Product Description
This unique book exposes and reveals the key false teachings of New Age that are filtering into the lives of Christians leading them away from their faith. The book will equip the Christian believer with God's Word, sound theological reasoning from great leaders and "life wisdom" from the author who was once a New Age teacher. She knows why and how to avoid the traps of sch destructive teachings. The book will also alert those outside of the Christian faith about the dangers of false teaching that are keeping them from a Savior who has offered them eternal life. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

An Excellent Resource book
This is a well written, very well researched book that can be easily understood by the lay reader yet greatly appreciated by the theologian. Dr. Clifton equips the average Christian with valuable information about the insidiousness of the new age movement. The authoraddresses the "reality begins from within" claim, the attempt to intersperse Christian terminology but with alternate meanings, and Scripture twisting, to name a few. The reader is taught how to thoughtfully address these issues.New Age thinking is so ingrained in our society that we do not so easily recognize it.Dr. Clifton's book does not allow the reader to be intimidated by new agers, but shakes readers into focus and brings the Christian reader back to the absolute truth and reality of God's Word. Her book is so well done and organized that the information could easily be used as a primer to educate in new member orientation classes as well as our congregations during bible studies. This reviewer agrees with Dr. Clifton as she so succinctly stated early on in her book, that regardless of your personal belief system, the reality of Jesus Christ still exists.

Standing Against the Schemes of Satan and Deception
Former New Age psychic, teacher and speaker, Dr. Sandra Clifton understands the contaminating influence of the half truths, inferences, hidden deceit and innuendos of alternative teachings of New Age spiritual humanism. In her earlier book "From New Age to New Life" Dr. Clifton shared her own journey out of New Age Deception.

In her new book "New Age Lies Exposed" Clifton lays a Biblical and theological foundation for her reader. She clearly defines the message of the Christ of the Christian gospel and of the importance of experiencing authentic Christian faith.

She carefully analyzes the tenets of humanism and alerts the reader to beware of their use of spiritual terms, Jesus and other appealing words which often endanger the individual believer's walk with Christ and jeopardize the strength of their faith. She cautions the reader to be let them know that these teachings can be hazardous to the spiritual life of the believer. She discusses reasons for concern regarding the subtleties of New Age relativism, the abandonment of absolutes, of reality and existentialism, teachings regarding self evolving versus the transforming power of Christ, and New Age teaching of a cosmic Christ.

I particularly liked the "Putting it to Use Section" included in each chapter.Practical down to earth questions for review and assimilation help the reader understand and apply the material covered in the chapter. Clifton uses a progression of moving from the "AHA" moment to taking action steps which lead to informing others of the dangers of these New Age lies.

The Book is written for the lay person desirous of avoiding the deceit of New age teaching, the pastor who wants to protect their flock from deception, and for the seminary student who wants to be proactive in protecting their future followers from Satan's snares and his schemes of deception.

Clifton's writing is thoroughly researched and documented, brilliantly articulated, warmly compassionate, and valuable in content.



... Read more

Product Description
This is the fourth volume in architect and historian Robert A. M. Stern's monumental series of documentary studies of New York City architecture and urbanism. The three previous books in the series, New York 1900, New York 1930, and New York 1960, have comprehensively covered the architects and urban planners who defined New York over the course of the twentieth century.

In this volume, Stern turns back to 1880 -- the end of the Civil War, the beginning of European modernism -- to trace the earlier history of the city. This dynamic era saw the technological advances and acts of civic and private will that formed the identity of New York City as we know it today. The installation of water, telephone, and electricity infrastructures as well as the advent of electric lighting, the elevator, and mass transit allowed the city to grow both out and up. The office building and apartment house types were envisioned and defined, changing the ways that New Yorkers worked and lived. Such massive public projects as the Brooklyn Bridge and Central Park became realities, along with such private efforts as Grand Central Station.

Like the other three volumes, New York 1880 is an in-depth presentation of the buildings and plans that transformed New York from a harbor town into a world-class metropolis. A broad range of primary sources -- critics and writers, architects, planners, city officials -- brings the time period to life and allows the city to tell its own complex story. The book is generously illustrated with over 1,200 archival photographs, which show the city as it was, and as some parts of it still are. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (4)

QUITE A TOME
This book is the very definition of comprehensive, this book really hashes out beautiful Guilded Age New York.It is to be lamented that so many of these gorgeous buildings are no longer extant, but at least these wonderful archival images are available.As you walk around NYC today, you see glimpses of the grandeur that once pervaded the city, but this book conjures up the ghosts of an Age of unimaginable wealth and unparalled craftsmanship.High recommended to one and all.

New York architecture in the late 1800s
With over 1100 pages, this book was so difficult to handle physically, that it hampered my enjoyment of this epic-length volume. On the other hand, the book is a bargain in terms of cents per page! Photos average more than one per page; however, the quality of photographic reproduction is frequently very disappointing (even when compared to Stern's 'New York 1900,' which also uses very old photographs). There are approximately 75 floor plans, with most page space used for the less-than-rivetting text. Chapters are divided by building type. A surprising amount of page space is consumed by illustrations of entries in architectural competitions (Union League Club and Cathedral of St. John the Divine).

I was disappointed.
This period was covered in New York 1900, which provided background material from 1876 and before. Although New York 1880 is longer than New York 1900, it seemed to me to be a padding of what had already been said ina more succinct and more readable way in the first book of the series (NY1900).As for the length, New York 1880 badly needs an editor.

A Wonderful fabulous work of scholarship on New York City
While it is too heavy to lug around, NY 1880 is an eye popping journey into New York of 120 or so years ago. There are over 1,200 photographs and 99 pages of footnotes. Anyone interested in seeing what this wonderful citywas like a generation before the First World War is strongly urged to grabthis book. So much of what this book is about is no longer standing -churches, synagogues, clubs, apartments, etc.

Buy it!! This is the bestof the 4 books in the series (NY 1880, NY 1900, NY 1930 and NY 1960) withNY 2000 to come in a few years. ... Read more

Product Description
Few people have lived as rich and as varied a life as has Ruth Montgomery, the bestselling author who has enlightened millions about everything from spirit communication and reincarnation to Walk-ins, extraterrestrials, and the New Age that is dawning.

Now she tells her own fascinating story: her earlier career as a nationally syndicated political columnist and distinguished Washington correspondent...her initial skepticism about psychic phenomena and her gradual conversion to the truths of this largely unexplored and mysterious realm...her friendship with renowned spiritualists like Jeane Dixon and Arthur Ford...her predictions of the sweeping changes that lie ahead of us as the twenty-first century approaches. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

Ruth Montgomery's books are a Must Read of the Century
Her books should be required reading - in the order they were written.All 12 of them.

Herald of a New Age
The book was shipped and packaged well - delivered as promised and the quality of the book was excellant.I will gladly purchase from this person again.

Ruth Montgomery Herald of the New Age
A great introduction to Ruth Montgomery.Reading each chapter pertaining to a different book allows you to choose which you would like to read. ... Read more

Product Description
LIVING IN THE INFORMATION AGE traces the development, surveys the literature, and explores the impact of new technologies on the media landscape. The author examines conceptual and practical aspects of life in an information society through 50 articles that explore the utopian promises of technology's true believers and the dystopian views of technology's critics. Further, the reader encourages students to consider how the media industries are being transformed through digital convergence and corporate concentration. ... Read more

Product Description
In keeping with its tradition of sending writers out into America to take the pulse of our citizens and civilization, The New Yorker over the past decade has reported on the unprecedented economy and how it has changed the ways in which we live. This new anthology collects the best of these profiles, essays, and articles, which depict, in the magazine's inimitable style, the mega-, meta-, monster-wealth created in this, our new Gilded Age.
        Who are the barons of the new economy? Profiles of Martha Stewart by Joan Didion, Bill Gates by Ken Auletta, and Alan Greenspan by John Cassidy reveal the personal histories of our most influential citizens, people who affect our daily lives even more than we know. Who really understands the Web? Malcolm Gladwell analyzes the economics of e-commerce in "Clicks and Mortar." Profiles of two of the Internet's most respected analysts, George Gilder and Mary Meeker, expose the human factor in hot stocks, declining issues, and the instant fortunes created by an IPO. And in "The Kids in the Conference Room," Nicholas Lemann meets McKinsey & Company's business analysts, the twenty-two-year-olds hired to advise America's CEOs on the future of their business, and the economy.
        And what defines this new age, one that was unimaginable even five years ago? Susan Orlean hangs out with one of New York City's busiest real estate brokers ("I Want This Apartment"). A clicking stampede of Manolo Blahniks can be heard in Michael Specter's "High-Heel Heaven." Tony Horwitz visits the little inn in the little town where moguls graze ("The Inn Crowd"). Meghan Daum flees her maxed-out credit cards. Brendan Gill lunches with Brooke Astor at the Metropolitan Club. And Calvin Trillin, in his masterly "Marisa and Jeff," portrays the young and fresh faces of greed.
        Eras often begin gradually and end abruptly, and the people who live through extraordinary periods of history do so unaware of the unique qualities of their time. The flappers and tycoons of the 1920s thought the bootleg, and the speculation, would flow perpetually—until October 1929. The shoulder pads and the junk bonds of the 1980s came to feel normal—until October 1987. Read as a whole, The New Gilded Age portrays America, here, today, now—an epoch so exuberant and flush and in thrall of risk that forecasts of its conclusion are dismissed as Luddite brays. Yet under The New Yorker's examination, our current day is ex-posed as a special time in history: affluent and aggressive, prosperous and peaceful, wired and wild, and, ultimately, finite.
Amazon.com Review
The New Yorker caters to America's upper classes; it's the kind of magazine meant to be accompanied by a glass of pricey Merlot. Over the years its elitism has waxed and waned. Ex-editor Tina Brown worked valiantly to inject a dose of pop-cultural crassness into its ivory-tower sensibilities: profiling celebrities and publishing fashion issues where models stared out from every page, looking chilly. When David Remnick took over in the late '90s, the magazine shifted, grew quieter and more circumspect, and the old guard breathed a collective sigh of relief.

The New Gilded Age collects essays and profiles from 1999 and 2000 and reveals Remnick's New Yorker to be obsessed with money and business--arguably less interesting than celebrity, but also deeper ways of looking at America and power. The title refers to the period of technological revolution symbolized by the rise of Microsoft, the booming of Silicon Valley, and the end of the belief that an Ivy League education will get you anywhere.

What's admirable about this New Yorker is its timeliness; the way, without seeming like a panicked "edge" magazine, it managed to document and acknowledge the shifting sands of the millennial moment. Standouts in this regard: William Finnegan on the protesters behind the 1999 WTO riots in Seattle; Ken Auletta following Bill Gates through various meltdowns as he comes to terms with the federal government's antitrust lawsuit against Microsoft. These are painstakingly reported pieces in which style is submerged. The more audacious writers tend to be women. In "Everywoman.com," Joan Didion describes Martha Stewart in a flood of rapt lyricism:

This is not a story about a woman who made the best of traditional skills. This is a story about a woman who did her own I.P.O. This is the "woman's pluck" story, the dust-bowl story, the burying-your-child-on-the-trail story, the I-will-never-go-hungry-again story, the Mildred Pierce story, the story about how the sheer nerve of even professionally unskilled women can prevail, show the men; the story that has historically encouraged women in this country, even as it has threatened men.

Jessica's story seems far from the world of The New Yorker's target audience. When in "My Misspent Youth" Meghan Daum laments her poverty and credit card debt, then reveals she lives alone in a $1,500-a-month apartment on Manhattan's Upper West Side, you have to wonder: Did the poor thing ever hear of roommates? As both a document and celebration of such rarefied and privileged attitudes, The New Gilded Age is a rich, informative glimpse into America at the turn of the millennium--before the NASDAQ crashed and the dot-com kids went home to count their losses. --Emily White ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

Entertaining and Historically Useful late-90's Work
As indicated in the review's title, the composite of this book is a useful and quite accurate historical view of the late-nineties.In light of this, the fact that these essays were written at the time is mostly negligible because the writers seem to have a sense of how the attitudes, fads, and people of the late-90s fit in to the broader themes that will come to define the period when it is transcribed by historians.This book is at its best when editor Remnick is mindful of this historical purpose.For example, the inclusion of two David Brooks essays offers perspectives on the social networks and the yuppie consumerism of the nineties that is both humorous and culturally relevant.The insclusion of Malcom Gladwell's "Six Degrees of Lois Weissberg," on the other hand, is somewhat self-indulgent: there is no justifiable reason that it should be included in a book about the late nineties, nothwithstanding the quality of the essay.Overall, the essays are of interest, though one would have liked to see less space devoted to essays about the internet and more space devoted to other areas of interest.On the other hand, I would much sooner have David Remnick's edited version of the late nineties than Tina Brown's!

Facinating stories
I loved this book.The writing is great.What an amzing journey through the depths, heights and depths of affluence. I recommend it.

routine
The pieces in this collection are a cut above the pieces you find in other weeklies, like New York magazine, but they suffer in comparison to "fact" pieces published during the Shawn administration.A lot of these pieces were obviously written in a hurry, and the haste is evident.David Remnick is a capable editor, but he's not a genius.Shawn was a genius. ... Read more

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Customer Reviews (86)

Great advice for a new and conscious way of living
I liked this book because it really makes you think on what you want to do with the rest of your life. Up to a certain point your life does start when you hit midlife. You view life and the world differently by then. And you don't have much more time left to fool around, you really have to focus on what you truly want and how you want to experience it. Before this age you might have lived the life you needed to live, and not the life you wanted (which is my case), in order lo learn many things. But at this point you are entitled and obliged to live the life you really want to live.

The author gives good advice as to how we should live after we hit the midlife line in our life odometer. You can take it or leave it, but she does have a point. When you hit midlife it's more likely that you already have a different perspective of life due to experience and that you are more mature (which you reach at any age or not at all), so you can totally relate to her own experiences and enjoy her advice. You can even try changing some attitude traits and ideas for your best interest and improvement as human beings. The book is oriented to women, but men wont get hurt if they read it. They might even learn a couple of things and understand what women go through when they reach midlife.

Every Age Requires Insight
Marianne has done it again. She is an inspiration who guides us through that confusing midlife crisis. She gives us hope and strength to "keep on keepin on" no matter what our age. You go girl! A voice that will not fade into the woodwork because we are a generation of movers and shakers that will move and shake right on through until we have "earth, as it is in Heaven".

Enjoyable Read
I enjoy all of Marianne's work.This particular book moved me as I am 38 years old and never considered myself to be "middle aged" .... Marianne confirmed that for me in this book!!

A Higher Perspective on the Process of Aging
Marianne is like a breath of fresh air.She changes our perceptions about midlife through her honesty and sharing her personal challenges.How real! I found my own feelings being stated so clearly and I could reflect on my own midlife journey for the past 14 years.Each day has been a miracle and it just gets better and better when I stay connected in the NOW with my Higher Power.Thank you Marianne for writing and all that you do in this world. Another great little known book that will open readers' eyes to the experience of love in ways never before written about is, Not Your Mother's Diet available on [...]

Disappointing
I saw all the great reviews and expected much more. The first few chapters were good but once she got into (liberal) politics--talking about presidential elections being "stolen," etc., she completely lost me and it even ruined the parts I had previously enjoyed. There was no need to insert her political views into this book. I would never buy another one of her books. ... Read more

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The intellectual property laws change nearly every year. To keep your Intellectual Property course up to date, rely on this comprehensive 2010 Case and Statutory Supplement to provide the latest legislative and international developments in all areas of Intellectual Property.

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Updates to Patent, Trademark, and Copyright law:

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