Product Description
Adriana by Rosemary Laurey

A lifelong vow of revenge, magic and a love that transcends both.
Adriana has dedicated herself to the destruction of the invading Astrians who murdered her family and destroyed her village. But when she meets an honorable Astrian, she is torn between her lust for revenge and the unexpected love for her avowed enemy.
Warning, this title contains explicit sex

Nova by J.C. Wilder

Customer Reviews (4)

two passionate and well crafted love stories
Courtesy of CK2S Kwips and Kritiques

In the second installment in JC Wilder and Rosemary Laurey's Paradox series, we find two more passionate and well crafted love stories.

In Adriana by Rosemary Laurey, we meet a young woman who was orphaned when her entire village was destroyed by the Astrians. Taken in by two women who lived in the forest and worshipped the goddess Rache, they teach Adriana everything they know. However, Adriana can't let go of her hatred of the Astrians and has sworn revenge for what they did. When Mark wanders into her forest, she originally intends to offer him to Rache, but finds herself falling in love instead.

This was a touching story about learning to forgive and forget. Mark's appearance in Adriana's forest reminds her as she comes to know him, that just because a few of the Astrians are bad or evil does not mean all are. Watching her learn to let go of her prejudices and accept the changes between their people teaches a wonderful lesson. While there is a lot of passion between Adriana and Mark, this story is more sensual than erotic and has a beautiful love story.

Nova (by J C Wilder) was sold into slavery by her own father as a young girl. She spent several years learning every trick she could to outwit her owners and buy her freedom. Now she is a gambler using her winnings to provide security so she never has to worry again. When a winning hand brings her merman Wyn, she vows to give him his freedom, though his previous owner will do anything to get him back. Wyn and Nova never expected that the real prize would be true love.

All Nova wants is to be free and have her own life and home. She was disgusted by the brutality of Wyn's owner and is determined to set him free, after she nurses him back to health. As Wyn begins to heal on the outside, he also heals on the inside, and helps Nova to overcome her past as well. The slave owner is a wicked man and while JC does go into some great detail about his treatment of Wyn, she never goes over the top, only showing enough to reinforce the evil nature of his former owner. Also here in Nova, we find a passionate story of love and romance that will warm your heart.

I read Paradox II several years ago when it was previously released with another publisher. I wanted to read it again since I enjoyed it the first time around. It's been so long though, that if there were any significant changes to the book between publishers, I didn't spot them. This is the second of three Paradox books and each book's stories focus on a specific element of nature. The first one was air, this one water, and the third one is stone.

If readers want a sexy duo of love stories with a fantasy bend, then they are sure to enjoy Paradox II.

© Kelley A. Hartsell, December 2007. All rights reserved.

A Fantastic read
Wilder's and Laurey's PARADOX series just gets better and better.
Can't wait for PARADOX III this fall.

A Must Read!
Fans of the first book, PARADOX, will love the sequel. J.C. Wilder and Rosemary Laurey create incredible, vibrant, sexy stories that will please erotica fans!

Two fantastic stories
If you enjoy sexy paranormal stories, I strongly recommend this book. Every bit as good a read as the first PARADOX.

Can't wait to read PARADOX III ... Read more

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Product Description
The highly anticipated new eThe highly anticipated new edition of the market-leading introduction to strategic management from Bob de Wit (Maastricht School of Management) and Ron Meyer (TiasNimbas Business School). Widely acclaimed for its ability to foster creative, non-prescriptive and global strategic thinking amongst students, Strategy: Synthesis 3e builds on the major international success of the prior edition. Developed from wide-ranging market feedback, all of the cases have been replaced or wholly updated with dozens of new cases crafted by the authors and several international contributors. From Google to KPMG, ING Direct to the Metropolitan Opera, the text now features an unparalleled range of organizations with rich settings for students to develop key strategy skills and understanding. New readings, including coverage of hot topics, ensure the theory remains cutting-edge, while a boosted set of lecturer resources makes this the complete package for 21st century strategy courses.dition of the market-leading introduction to strategic management from Bob de Wit (Maastricht School of Management) and Ron Meyer (TiasNimbas Business School). Widely acclaimed for its ability to foster creative, non-prescriptive and global strategic thinking amongst students, Strategy 4e builds on the major international success of the prior edition. Developed from wide-ranging market feedback, all of the short and long cases have been replaced or wholly updated with dozens of new cases crafted by the authors and several international contributors. From Google to KPMG, ING Direct to the Metropolitan Opera, the text now features an unparalleled range of organizations with rich settings for students to develop key strategy skills and understanding. New readings, including coverage of hot topics like Blue Ocean Strategy, ensure the theory remains cutting-edge, while a boosted set of lecturer resources makes this the complete package for 21st century strategy courses. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

Comparison to Full Text Version
While I have not seen this text, "Strategy Synthesis," I have worked with the full text version of the book, "Strategy: Process, Content, Context."

Judging by the Table of Contents, the two are quite similar.Differences one notes from the TOC are that "Strategy Synthesis" appears to;
...Leave out the Cases (which now all predate 2004, anyway),
...Leave out about half the Readings (regrettable, in my opinion)
...Add a 1 or 2 page "Toward a Synthesis" section to each chapter.

The authors write well, and make substantive contributions of their own in each chapter.Thus this is not a book of readings with a brief summative section added to each chapter.Rather, here the Readings help to flesh-out & support the authors' chapters.

I had been using Mintzberg, et al.'s "The Strategy Process" as a text with my undergraduates, but found it a little high level for them and growing rather long in the tooth.I switched to de Wit & Meyers because it was fresher.But in spite of my hopes, they were, like Mintzberg, still a little too challenging for my students.Undergrads tend to want you to give them a fish, while both of these books are more texts on how to fish.These are books about the strategy process, and undergraduates tend to want just the resulting product / the strategy content.

I believe that process approach is the right one, but there are very few choices for process oriented textbooks:Alex Miller's book was good for undergraduates but is now out of print;Mintzberg, et al., was good but targeted more toward graduate students and is now getting old.That leaves (to my knowledge) just de Wit & Meyers -- but it's still too high level.

"Strategy at it's best !"
An extraordinary "reader's digest" of corporate strategy, covering all major areas and authors. ... Read more

Product Description
In Zen: The Path of Paradox, Osho posits Zen as a possible bridge between East and West, and between science and religion. Zen encourages the reader to throw off the accumulated 'knowing' of a lifetime-to let go of physical, mental, and emotional tensions and relax into the moment of an extraordinary discourse. Zen: The Path of Paradox is a reissue of a classic Osho text, one in a series of three titles that explores Eastern spiritual topics. As he does in Tao: The Pathless Path and Yoga: The Science of the Soul, Osho delves deeply into a popular and important spiritual idea, with his bold, inimitable style and humor. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (4)

OSHO a Great Master like Socrate ...
In my humble opinion every book of Osho is a treasure and give you very important arguments for your personal growing.

Tiziano

Winner!!
Yet another outstanding book from Osho! Zen is a very abstract and complex topic. Most contemporary books on this topic have a steep learning curve that make Zen feel like an elusive concept that seems near, but far at the same time (rightfully dubbed as the Paradox). This small book explains Zen in very simple words. It will make you wonder if something as abstract as Zen can be explained so easily. This book will not teach you how to get there, but it will explain what to expect when you get there and why is it so important to get there.

The lucidity of the prose is striking and is interspersed with little stories and anecdotes that add a touch a humor (so very missing in other books on this complex and paradoxical topic). All in all this is a terrific read, that'll launch you into Zen with a real hope of touching and experiencing the paradox.

The only book on Zen you'll ever need
I'm ashamed to admit that my bookshelves are groaning with books about Zen, some good, some not so good. Yet this is that book I come back to for a 'refresher'. Osho always succeeds in attempting the impossible - trying to explain the inexplicable - in simple, beautiful, often poetic, often uncompromising but compassionate language, whether in the Insights For Living series, or here speaking about Zen (all Osho's books are transcribed from talks). I come away from reading Osho feeling as if I've just had a good mental hose down, getting rid of all the accumulated, caked on dross of living in an insane world.

"Don't seek, don't search, don't ask, don't knock, don't demand - relax. If you relax, it comes. If you relax, it is there. If you relax, you start vibrating with it" p 37.

Despite some bad press, Osho was a truly great teacher, and this is one of only a handful of indispensible books on Zen. If I had to choose just one, this would be it.

[Kudos too to St Martins Press. All the books by Osho (St Martins Griffin) are a joy to read - just the right size, stay open on the page and are beautifully produced.]

Zen and kokoro
It is a good book and it is about Osho's favourite concept, Zen. In fact he talks about the same subject in all the books I have read until now (five in total)so I think he does it a lot better in "Joy" or in "Awareness" for instance. What puts me off though is how being ignorant of so many things he speaks with such an authority about EVERYTHING. One example, he says the Japanese has a word "kokoro" that means nothingness. And it is nothing about that, "kokoro" means heart (the feelings) or even mind. He says, probably not in this book but in one of the above mentioned, that during zazen, someone hits you "on the head" if you doze. No, man, it is not on the head, it is between the shoulders.

He gets the meaning of Zen right, so probably it is not such abit deal, but he says a lot of silly things too.
Perfectly Zen, maybe. ... Read more

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Customer Reviews (9)

A balanced approach
What I really appreciated from this work was the approach the author took.With so many books on Iran it seems that the approach seems to get loaded to one perspective or the other whether it takes a U.S. or Iranian centric approach it seems that the work will lose focus of the relationship as a whole, and how each nation affects the strategic rationale of the other.Mr. Takeyh does a good job keeping the whole picture in perspective and explaining how the failures of each side's policies create cycles of failure that are self perpetuating.This is best illustrated by the U.S.'s failed containment policy which ends up actually enhancing the very conservatives it is designed to hurt.It also shows how the Iranian hardliners have isolated Iran to the point where its most important allies are interstate terror groups to allies strictly of convenience that have no real affinity for Iran beyond or their idealogy beyond what they can do for their strategic needs.

The author has no illusions either about how easy it would be for either country to reverse course as each sides strategy has become ingrained to the point of ideology or to even adjust their course.One of the things that makes it very difficult is the fact that both sides have used each other as political punching bags inflating the trangressions and the danger posed by each.While this may make for good stumping to rile up your base it doesn't do much for pragmatic policy.

The main problem with this book is that it is somewhat dated, and as such he makes some mistakes when projecting the future.One major mistake is his assessment of the Israeli war against Hezbollah in 2006, and his view of it being a major setback for Hezbollah.While it showed a gross miscalculation on Hezbollah's part, in a lot of ways it enhanced their image enormously, while it proved disasterous for Israel and the Lebanese people.While very much a Pyrrhic fight for both sides, it certainly was not a defeat as seems to be suggested in this work. The other miss is the author's mistaken belief that Iran's reformist movement was much more institutionalized than it was.Of course many missed this as well but it still has the affect of dating the work.

This is a very good book that will enlighten readers.It is well written and does a service to the topic.I recommend this book

Good overview, but not enough detail
Good book. A little to broad-brush, I was hoping for a bit more detail on the inner workings of Iranian goverment. Overall, a good one volume introduction to Iran's modern history, domestic politics, and foreign policy. A rather balanced discussion, but Takeyh needs to flesh out his recommendations in the conclusion a bit more.

Good Primer
This book would be good for someone who wants to start from scratch and get a relatively objective, non-judgmental overview of the socio-political status of Iran.The author is not a great writer but he is very good at conveying facts cleanly and efficiently.I would recommend this book to anyone who wants to gain a basic understanding ofIran and its relationship with its neighbors and the west.

Takeyh's "Hidden Iran" provides important insights on a complex subject
Ray Takeyh's "Hidden Iran" is a wonderful book that will help everyone understand the many forces shaping Iran's internal cultural and political situation and world facing relations. In particular, I have better understanding of Iran's nuclear intentions as well as its perspectives on the U.S. and Israel, which gives me hope that over time Iran will takes its place as one of the leading nations on a regional and international stage.

Very good book.
This was a little slow going for me at first, but as I went on I found it quite compelling. Takeyh does a great job of enumerating the several policy issues effecting both the United States and Iran with historical and cultural perspective, and void of the vitriolic rhetoric that is common on both sides of this discussion. ... Read more

Product Description

Holmes County, Ohio, is home to the largest and most diverse Amish community in the world. Yet, surprisingly, it remains relatively unknown compared to its famous cousin in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. Charles E. Hurst and David L. McConnell conducted seven years of fieldwork, including interviews with over 200 residents, to understand the dynamism that drives social change and schism within the settlement, where Amish enterprises and nonfarming employment have prospered. The authors contend that the Holmes County Amish are experiencing an unprecedented and complex process of change as their increasing entanglement with the non-Amish market causes them to rethink their religious convictions, family practices, educational choices, occupational shifts, and health care options.

The authors challenge the popular image of the Amish as a homogeneous, static, insulated society, showing how the Amish balance tensions between individual needs and community values. They find that self-made millionaires work alongside struggling dairy farmers; successful female entrepreneurs live next door to stay-at-home mothers; and teenagers both embrace and reject the coming-of-age ritual, rumspringa.

An Amish Paradox captures the complexity and creativity of the Holmes County Amish, dispelling the image of the Amish as a vestige of a bygone era and showing how they reinterpret tradition as modernity encroaches on their distinct way of life.

Customer Reviews (4)

Very serious, photo & title notwithstanding. Read it
I've lived in Lancaster for a lifetime and have known dozens of Amish. It was particularly valuable to me that this study is of Holmes County as it detached me from my personal feelings and observations. I agree with a the other reviewer that the title and cover art are quite misleading, I passed the book by a couple of times before buying it but have discovered a really well done, objective sociological study of the ongoing adaptations to the surrounding culture.

I could go on forever about the food for thought this gives all of us who struggle to be in but not part of the world or even understand what that means. That is one aspect of the book. From an anthropological and sociological point of view, I don't think a one volume work could be better. Even I didn't know how unessential the horse has become in everyday life (here with the no-till agriculture you see less and less mules and horses in the fields, for instance).

Also, the most serious "issues" which divide the Amish like the shunning and the Rumspringa may not be apparent ot an outside observer (like me). You see with great clarity regarding these questions how useless words like "liberal" or "orthodox" are, especially when applied from within a tradition, but from outside, too. If you're interested in the Amish or great sociology, buy it.

Best and Scholarly
The two College of Wooster professors spent a decade doing a thorough study of the Amish culture of Holmes County Ohio. What makes the study of this religious/cultural group so unique is the geographic footprint of the study. The world's largest Amish community in concentrated in the small Ohio county with a total population of approximately 40,000 (40% Amish). This makes an ideal sampling for a learned sociologist and antropologist to do a study.

The treatment of the Amish is not intended to be a "tourist" type promotion, nor is it a critical and highly opinionated work. It is easy and very informative reading. This is the kind of study that is instructive for non-Amish readers in that issues faced by Amsih are not unique to them nor Holmes County.

The "Valley Girl" on the cover is likely the decision of the publisher to attract consumer attention, and not the authors. I may have read every local book on the subject. This is the best yet.

A fascinating and thought-provoking read!
Many people consider the Amish to be a static, homogeneous group and often mistakenly refer to them as Mennonites, which they are not. Hurst and McConnell's thoroughly researched and well-written book puts to rest these misconceptions and introduces the reader to a complex, heterogeneous community that is constantly evolving.The book benefits from Hurst and McConnell's proximity to the Amish community and the access they were given during their research.Although the book is fact-driven, it is easyand entertaining to read, not filled with professional jargon and sluggish, as many culture-based books are. Readers with children may be surprised to learn that many of the issues we 'English' parents face our Amish counterparts face, as well.I read the book over two days; the format made it easy to put down and pick up as my schedule permitted.If you are interested in learning more about the Amish this is the one book you must buy.

A welcome addition to religious studies, sociology, and American History shelves
Emeritus professor of sociology Charles E. Hurst and professor of anthropology David L. McConnell present Amish Paradox: Diversity and Change in the World's Largest Amish Community, an extraordinary study of the largest and most diverse Amish community in the world, located in Holmes County, Ohio. Today, the Holmes County Amish are more involved than ever in the changing world at large, forcing them to reconsider their religious tenets, family practices, educational options, occupations, and health care opportunities. In an era where cell phones, school buses, and other modern implements are practically required for the functioning of a large community, modernity is gradually transforming the distinctly Amish way of life. Individual chapters address "Coping with Church Schism", "The Changing Landscape of Learning", "Work Within and Outside Tradition", "Health along the Life Cycle", and much more. A welcome addition to religious studies, sociology, and American History shelves, especially recommended for college libraries. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (8)

Something New, Something Old, Where did that come from?
I had never read Capon.I didn't know what to expect.I found early on that He and I were looking at the same things with two different colored glasses.His more often than mine with perpetual rosy pink lenses! After reading this work I can't come out and say he is absolutely wrong on anything neither can I say he is right on everything.He starts out going so far to the left side of the path that I would get actually concerned he was going to go off the road into a heretical ditch of universalism but he would pull it back at the last minute just in time to keep from crashing his vehicle usually saving it with just a few sentences at the end of various parables.I felt like I was riding a roller coaster.I would actually get very concerned with where he was going fearing the worst and then he would pull it back toward orthodoxy.Needless I have a bad case of whiplash just having read the parables of the Kingdom, not to mention Grace and Judgment.Even with a sore neck from the experience I am grateful to Capon, I will never look at the parables the same.My perception of Christians and non Christians will also be forever changed because of the different insights I gleaned from this work.

the PARABLES yield fresh fire!
as someone who has dwelt in this mystery that is JESUS for over 30 years,
i find myself reading this book and stunningly finding there
answers to questions that have baffled me for years.

RFC penetrates the PARABLES
--that most mysterious core of the biblical text--
and brings forth fresh fire!

it's impossible to overstate
how profound the insights to be found here are:
it is truly a book that WILL open your eyes
to new and fresh dimensions of the CHRIST event.

in a nutshell,
RFC's jesus is more human than you ever imagined,
which-- paradoxicaly--makes his divinity all the more glorious!

Great book on the meaning of the parables
This book provides an excellent discussion of the meaning of Jesus' parables. I learned so much about Jesus' teachings that I never knew were true. It is a little "wordy" and scholarly, but the information is eye-opening.

This is a great book
I found out about this book from our priest's wife when we used it for a bible study group.We loved it.Boy the discussions it fostered!!That was back when the three books were seperate and I think we paid almost as much for each book as you can now buy the one combined book for.A great deal.I've given all my copies away and now will buy a couple of these new ones (I already know who I'm giving one to).

This guy is a terrific author and theologen.I love his writing style.

GET THIS BOOK!!You won't be sorry.

Good theology!
This was given to me by a friend a couple of years ago, and sat on a shelf until a month ago - what a mistake!This is excellent theology - not your average interpretation of the gospel story, yet still well within the realm of "orthodoxy".It's well thought out, well presented, and very readable - can't wait to preach some of this stuff. ... Read more

Product Description
Lucid dreams are dreams in which a person becomes aware that they are dreaming. They are different from ordinary dreams, not just because of the dreamer's awareness that they are dreaming, but because lucid dreams are often strikingly realistic and may be emotionally charged to the point of elation.
Celia Green and Charles McCreery have written a unique introduction to lucid dreams that will appeal to the specialist and general reader alike. The authors explore the experience of lucid dreaming, relate it to other experiences such as out-of-the-body experiences (to which they see it as closely related) and apparitions, and look at how lucid dreams can be induced and controlled. They explore their use for therapeutic purposes such as counteracting nightmares. Their study is illustrated throughout with many case histories. ... Read more

Product Description
USA Today bestselling author Julie Kenner follows up her acclaimed thrillers The Givenchy Code and The Manolo Matrix with a whip-smart new adventure in code-breaking -- Hollywood-style!

Devi Taylor was one of Hollywood's fastest-rising starlets -- until a crazed fan held her at knifepoint and she retreated to a life of privacy and Valium. Now recovered and ready for a comeback, Devi dreams of endorsing all things Prada, whose Rodeo Drive store she can't resist. Instead, she lands the starring role in The Givenchy Code, a high-budget action-adventure flick. But with the tabloids all over Givenchy and her recent split with her drop-dead handsome costar, Blake, Devi can't shake the feeling that another crazed fan is going to strike.

Then a frightening message -- "Play or Die" -- is delivered to Devi's house, and she finds herself sucked into a deadly and cryptic game not unlike the one in the movie she's starring in. Hollywood has always been her life, but does Devi know its secrets well enough to follow the cinematic clues that might save her and her favorite Prada bag?

Julie Kenner is the author of two previous novels in this series,The Givenchy Code and The Manolo Matrix, both available from Downtown Press. Her novel Aphrodite's Kiss was a USA Today bestseller, and Carpe Demon: Adventures of a Demon-Hunting Soccer Mom was a Book Sense Summer Paperback Pick. Her other acclaimed novels include Nobody But You and The Spy Who Loves Me. She lives in Georgetown, Texas, with her husband and daughter. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (11)

The Prada Paradox
As a child, she started making her mark on Hollywood. It helped develop her Prada addiction. Being attacked by a crazed fan cut short Devi Taylor's rise to the top of Hollywood. Now poised to do a comeback, she lands the role of a lifetime, the lead in The Givenchy Code, a high-budget action-adventure flick. One drawback is that her costar is her ex. An ex she split with very publicly and the tabloids bring back the details as often as they can.

Blake is still in love with Devi.He just hopes he can make her see he is not as much of an idiot as he made himself out to be. The Givenchy Code is his big break.Hopefully, he can work with Devi amid the shadows of the past.

The tabloids will not let either Devi or Blake forget the past. Devi is dragged into a deadly game that freakily mirrors the movie she is attempting to complete. . Add a second crazed fan to the mix, and life can get a bit complicated. But there is always Prada.

The Prada Paradox starts with a bang, and keeps up the pace throughout. Ms. Kenner throws in enough clues to make life interesting for Devi and Blake. You suspect certain details that she then throws into the air. A well played mystery and romance. The Prada Paradox throws an interesting look at online games and possibilities that life can throw at you. A thoroughly enjoyable read.

Emma
Reviewed for Joyfully Reviewed

Not the best out of the three
I feel that the author wasn't being creative in this installment in the series. In the second book, the main female character was an actress. In this book, the samle thing, the main female character is an actress. In the second book, the main male character's name was Devlin. In this book, the main female character's name was is Devi. Way too similar. I think the author more or less ran out of steam here. I did like the ending, but it took me a long while to get to it as unlike the previous two books, I couldn't read this one all in one setting and had to keep putting it down.

Much Better Than The Last
I was a bit put off by the last book in this series.It was too similar to the first, and just not interesting enough to keep me entertained.But, the final book in this series was wonderful.The characters and story line follow what you have read before - and yet there are answers in this book (yes, you find out who did it).This story follows an actress (Devi) who is playing the original character (Mel from book 1) in a movie about Play, Survive, Win (PSW).Devi gets sucked into the game - as do all the leading ladies in this series - and she has to fight to keep herself alive.

What was fun with this book was the introduction of a whole group of new players, the movie scene in Hollywood, and the fact that you can actually start to put together whomever is behind this whole thing.I wouldn't pick this book up without first reading book one.But, it is very fun and will keep you hoping that our leading lady makes it out with her life!

Good read, same formula
The Prada Paradox is the third in the PSW trilogy, so if you haven't read The Givenchy Code and The Manolo Matrix you might want to start with those first.It follows the formula of the first two books, although it starts much slower than those did, and you are over one quarter of the way through the book before the game starts.It's a bit self-referential in that the protagonists are the stars of a movie version of The Givenchy Code. Once it gets going it proceeds quickly and is well-written, as the other two books were also. When it comes down to it, there are really very few clues that need to be solved in these games and the books would have more substance if there were more of them.It also resolves the mystery as to who is behind the live version of the games, but if anyone is actually fooled it's because they haven't been awake while reading.All in all it's a good read, but it's a good thing that this is the finale' of the trilogy, the formula plot is wearing thin.

I liked this
3rd in the series. I liked it better than the 2nd I think. It was quick and entertaining, which I am all about these days. I could do without schlep in the book though. For some reason, it irks me. Still, a good book. I like how it tied into the 1st. ... Read more

Product Description
In an age of numbingly rapid change, one of the most brilliant and engaging thinkers of our day extends a guiding hand in the search for order. Ranging widely over business, family, education, citizenship, money, relationships, and other subjects, the author of The Age of Unreason proposes bold ideas for navigating through this brave new world. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (10)

Extremely Relevant in Today's Turbulent Times
While the Age of Paradox was written more than 15 years ago, it is just as relevelant today as it was then - perhaps even more so.Charles Handy makes engaging arguments as to how individuals and businesses should conduct themselves.While the book has a philosophical bent, it is also a practical guide.

Charles Handy frames up many emerging trends that were less clear in the early 1990's but in many situations have come to fruition during the last decade.I had to chuckle when he described the turbulence of the times (1990's).Looking back, it all seemed pretty tame compared to today.

His discussion on The Sigmoid Curve and the need to create new Curves as you go through life is fascinating.Equally compelling are his discussions about the purpose of a business.The book points out that profit for the sake of profit is destructive in the long-run.But profit as a means to make things better, more abundant, and create long-term wealth is the best model.As you read his words, you can appreciate how a culture of short-term profit maximization during the last decade led to not only a destruction of shareholder wealth but crippled this nation's competitive advantage on the global stage.

This book is a classic masterpiece that will help you gain a better appreciation of who you are or can become both as a human being and as a person in business.

The Age of Paradox
Charles Handy does an excellent job in setting forth his case that we live in an age of paradox.The need for organization is greater than ever yet the need for remaking our organizations is also greater than ever.He has many ideas and suggestions which may be helpful in refitting our organizations.The concepts that the new capital of organizations is their intellects and that there needs to be a new 'federalism', an era of 'twin citizenship' between the local and the center, are both interesting and challenging.It is a good read and a provocative one.One weakness is that Handy seems to posit the need for greater local control while speaking of social changes which only a new power center (the government) will truly be able to implement.He seems to be caught in a paradox of his own creation.

Must Read for Leaders
Handy, one of he world's foremost business philosophers, provides an important work that all leaders must read or at minimum acknowledge the concepts he espouses.As a leadership writer and instructor, Handy's work is a staple for my students.His chapters on the Sigmoid Curve and Doughnut are alone worth the price of the book.

The paradox: the presence of the myth in the PostIndustrial Society!
The zealous analysis of the human behavior, the hidden clues conferred by the unconscious philosophy inserted in the myths, the absolute domain of the evolution of the paradigms, the constant and growing application in almost every one of our tangible and intangible systems and procedures around the knowledge 's universe, plus the prodigious imagination of Charles Handy has produced this admirable intelligent and audacious text that breaks the barriers of the conventional thinking around the well know managements issues.

All the organizations are supported unconsciously by ancient and similar facts immersed in the history. Handy has rethought, confirmed and carved in relief a magnificent example of what intelligence means: to reorder and focus from different angles the essential principles that underlie beneath the complexity and the increasing competitiveness of the modern world.

In this order of ideas, Handy plans and puts on the table of the leonine executive 's mind new proposals, demolishing certain behavior patterns that remain such authentic mental barriers. The paradoxes as well as the myths don' t pretend erect as perpetual life' s lessons, because this attitude would reveal precisely he rationalization of the mythical fact. Handy opposes the reality against the illusion of the reality and unmasks certain learned and absorbed models that we ten to assume as unerring. The paradoxes ' intention, in last instance is unbalance to rebalance, but you as manager is the only who can do itif you process the information and redistributes the iron laws in search of your role.

Innovation is simply an intelligent transformation, and this book bets for that device.

It baffles me how the book is so highly rated
It has virtually a few pages of sense that can be put into practice, and have any value.

I may be influenced by, my privilege of having lived in England from the mid seventies thru early eighties. He particularly acknowledges the former Labor Party, Tony Benn. This "socialist" even frightened moderate laborites of its time. Another one of those he acknowlges is former Vice President Al Gore, and for Mayor of New York, Mayor Dinkins. As a resident and taxpayer of New York, I know the true David Dinkins !

He correctly points out that Microsoft Corporation is merely "intelectual Property". I agree with him. Later on, he rambles on that ownership of Corporations and business's should be overhauled.

We can all learn from Japan and Germany, and without Japan the US Auto Industry would still be producing thousands upon thousands of junk. However, his reasons that British and American Society should adapt the German and Japanese systems are a joke. In reality, much which was implemented in the 80's in both UK and US is now hurriedly being copied in Germany.

His Chinese Contract is not even worth the time to comment on it !

Other than a few pages of real practicality and common sense, this book is nothing more than left wing rambling and nonsense

He says it is about time we paid the third world a fair price for their trees. I insist must replant trees, we must reduce the amount of paper we comsume. Culprits must not get off the hook. This,in my opinion,is essential whatever ones political beliefs. This paperback is about 320 pages. It is a pity so many trees have to be torn down and the end result is this junk ... Read more

Product Description
Gary McIntosh and Samuel Rima look at the flip side of leadership and identify those darker seductions that can undermine good intentions. The authors believe that identifying one's dark side is the key to avoiding the pitfalls that threaten leadership. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (16)

Overcoming Obstacles to Leadership
"Overcoming the Dark Side of Leadership" looks at the paradox of personal dysfunction.The book addresses three issues, understanding how the dark side develops, discovering the issues experienced most often by leaders to help the reader determine their dark side, and a five-step plan for redeeming or overcoming the dark side.

The authors, Gary McIntosh and Samuel Rima speak from their own discovery of personal dysfunction and share how they recognized their dark side and began a life long journey of self discovery, healing, and fulfillment in their ministries.

Stories from the lives of well known public figures, from Biblical leaders, and from classical stories are used to illustrate the dysfunctions of the compulsive leader, the narcissistic leader, the paranoid leader, the codependent leader, and the passive-aggressive leader.

I personally found the "targeting insights," and "applying insights" features at the end of each chapter to be excellent tools for self examination and self discovery. The appendix listing available personality profiles, an accountability group covenant, a sample personal constitution, and a performance evaluation were also helpful resources.

Significant and relevant, this is an important and helpful book for pastors, and leadership at every level of church ministry.

Overcoming the Dark Side of Leadership: The Paradox of Personal Dysfunction
Excellent book that enabled me to re-examine my past and accept my weaknesses now as strengths.

Ministry Must
The author's main purpose is to make every one realize, particularly those in or considering ministry, that the drive that causes effective leadership has a dark and dangerous side. They not only identify the symptoms and potential dangers, but seek to provide practical ways of mitigating the effects of the past.

Overcoming the Dark Side of Leadership
This work is very insightful and practical.First explaining how our dark sides are problematic but also how they grow out of some very positive characteristics that serve us well.Then, the authors name and describe five different types of dark sides and how they play out in our lives.These are made very helpful by the inclusion of a tool that assists the reader in determining their individual mix of dark side tendencies and share a five step method overcoming them.Engaging and helpful in giving direction, this is one of the best tomes I've read to see one's personality make up from a uniquely helpful perspective.

Why Do Christian Leaders So Often Fall, and Fall Hard?
In the light of the many failures and downfalls of Christian leaders, this book examines what may be the cause of many of these downfalls.The failures of Christian leaders have actually put many barriers between the general public and the savior.The cause of Christ is losing ground if Christians cannot stop this alarming trend.The first step in overcoming these problems in Christian leadership is to first recognize the problem, and this book labels the problem the `dark side'. This obviously represents the defeated sinful nature inside every believer, but it also represents the different traumatic experiences that the sinful nature can use in our lives.The author argues that the ability to `overcome' the dark side is much more important than the managerial or leadership skills that are so often espoused in contemporary leadership thought.

The book does an excellent job of showing the painful reality of victory that leaders' dark sides have accomplished over many Christian leaders.The dark sides of these leaders do not develop and appear over night, but downfalls of Christian leaders happen slowly, often so subtlety that the leaders often are blind to the development.A lot of psychology is used to explain how the different types of `dark sides' develop and control leaders.And self-tests available in the book are helpful to discover if you personally may be susceptible to one of the different types of `dark sides'.

The last part of the book is the most helpful, showing HOW to overcome the dark side of leadership.Five helpful steps are provided for leaders to follow in order to prevent the dark side from gaining control.First, the leader must recognize the dark side.Second, the leader must examine his or her past.Third, the leader must resist unrealistic expectations.Fourth, the leader must be continually feeding himself or herself and checking himself or herself.And finally, the leader must have a strong sense of self-identity in Christ.I believe these are very helpful and a chapter is devoted to each of these steps.

The book is written very well, and especially helpful are the numerous examples and illustrations (including the lives of the authors).The book does a great job of showing the urgency of this issue, but it doesn't stop there.A well thought `remedy' is given for overcoming the dark side, and it isn't an easy fix that you find in many self-improvement books.I believe any Christian leader would do well to read this book and apply it to his or her life.

I have always recognized the existence of my dark side, but I have never understood the complexity of it.Although I had a hard time placing myself into one of the four types of the dark side given in the book, I could see things that I could possibly be susceptible to and I also saw things that I have actually experienced in the past as a result of my dark side.

Especially helpful were the five steps at the end of the book.I believe these steps are founded upon biblical principles, and they are very simple, but it is amazing how hard it is for Christians (and leaders specifically) to apply these truths.I learned that more accountability would be helpful in my life.I was also reminded that having a firm, continual acceptance of my identity in Christ is vitally important.So many problems from the dark side come from insecurity issues and issues with our relationships, but if the Christian leader understands his identity and security in Christ and also that this relationship is the most important relationship that can possibly be cultivated, these problems can be avoided.This leadership was a great encouragement to me. ... Read more

Product Description
Answers to science's most enduring questions from "Can I break the light-speed barrier like on Star Trek?" and "Is there life on other planets?" to "What is empty space made of?"

This is an indispensable guide to physics that offers readers an overview of the most popular physics topics written in an accessible, irreverent, and engaging manner while still maintaining a tone of wry skepticism. Even the novice will be able to follow along, as the topics are addressed using plain English and (almost) no equations. Veterans of popular physics will also find their nagging questions addressed, like whether the universe can expand faster than light, and for that matter, what the universe is expanding into anyway.

• Gives a one-stop tour of all the big questions that capture the public imagination including string theory, quantum mechanics, parallel universes, and the beginning of time
• Explains serious science in an entertaining, conversational, and easy-to-understand way
• Includes dozens of delightfully groan-worthy cartoons that explain everything from special relativity to Dark Matter

 Filled with fascinating information and insights, this book will both deepen and transform your understanding of the universe. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (17)

Awsome book
I'm a technical person who had an understanding of most of these topics already. This book gave me a much better understanding of the topic and has enabled me to explain it to those not so mathematically inclined.

A great summer read
The book is fun and brings the information in an understandable way that doesn't insult the reader.The illustrations and great pop culture refrences keep things moving smoothly and you don't even realize how quickly the book goes.

Like a science guy trying just a little too hard to relate...
Generally, I like books like this.Non-fiction books that talk about serious complex topics with a bit of levity are right up my alley.However, I kind of thought this book was pretty mediocre; kind of like the science club nerd trying too hard to appeal to whole class but only really appeals to other science club nerds. Their analogies are terrible and sometimes even difficult to follow.Their constant asides and sarcastic footnotes get tiresome after awhile and far too often they offer no insight into how things were discovered to be a particular way or explain things without having to just "take their words for it."

True, there is only one formula in here, which is a plus for the general public's consumption.But last I saw, Bill Bryson's "A Short Explanation of Nearly Everything" covered much of the same ground, was a better read, explained things much more completely and at a minimum of formulas as well.In short, if this topic interests you, get that book, not this one.

OK, but not a must read
A User's Guide to the Universe is the authors' attempt to educate liberal arts people like me about science and physics.They get brownie points for trying, but it may be that I am a lost cause.The book jacket calls the book a "plain-English, plain-hilarious handbook (that) ushers you through all of the major discoveries of modern physics".The authors take basic questions (can I build a time machine; what happened before the Big Bang) and bring the answers down to the level of mere mortals.

I enjoyed the book for the first chapter or so.The authors are amusing and I was able to hang in there with them for a while.But not for long. On the one hand, I hesitate to blame them, as I have to say I lost interest when I couldn't follow them anymore.On the other, their jokes got old, the analogies stopped working, and I stopped caring.

So, do you read the book or not?If you really want to learn more about physics in a non-threatening way, go for it.But be warned, the authors' style can wear you down, and in the end, perhaps some things don't need to be understood.Isn't that why we have physicists?

Warning - Global Warming alert
I was enjoying this book right up to the 'man-made global warming is universally accepted by all scientists part.I guess the 31,000 signatures of the Global Warming Petition (google it) don't count.

Then the author starts making fun of people who don't accept the IPCC (Intergovernmental panel on climate change) as a - get this - 'credible scientific organization'.

Anyone read the news the past six months?The IPCC is a political arm of the UN and has less to do with science than Minnie Mouse.

As I'm writing this review drudge is reporting that Tony Blair is set to make MILLIONS OF POUNDS as a 'CLIMATE ADVISOR'. 'Global Warming' is the biggest fraud and scientific scandal of all time.That the authors of this book have embraced it so completely means that their 'scientific' writings have no interest for me. ... Read more

Product Description
A new understanding of democracy that acknowledges the inescapable and essential antagonism in its workings, by one of today’s foremost radical political theorists.The Democratic Paradox is Chantal Mouffe’s most accessible and illuminating study of democracy’s sharp edges, fractures, and incongruities. Orienting her discussion within the debates over modern liberal democracy, Mouffe takes aim at John Rawls, Jürgen Habermas, and the consensus building of 'third way' politics to show how their conceptions of democracy fall victim to paralyzing contradictions. Against this background, Mouffe develops a rich conception of 'agonistic pluralism' that draws on Wittgenstein, Derrida, and the provocative theses of Carl Schmitt, attempting to reclaim the antagonism and conflict of radical democracy as its most vital, abiding feature. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Powerful And Important
Chantal Mouffe- The Democratic Paradox

¡§Consensus in a liberal-democratic society is- and will always be- the expression of a hegemony and the crystallization of power relations. The frontier that it establishes between what is and is not legitimate is a political one, and for that reason it should remain contestable.¡¨ -Chantal Mouffe

If you¡¦ve read Mouffe¡¦s landmark work with Ernesto Laclau, Hegemony AndSocialist Strategy, you can probably surmise what this work entails: it further elaborates theses presented in that work and Mouffe¡¦s Return Of The Political. These theses are, coincidentally, central to Zizek¡¦s work on the ¡¥quilting point¡¦ that unifies an ideological field (for more on this, see Zizek¡¦s appraisal of Laclau and Mouffe in the anthology Interrogating The Real).
I shall try to indicate, for newcomers to Chantal Mouffe, the principal coordinates of her theoretical intervention:
³ Society does not exist. This, for Zizek, is the central postulate of Hegemony and Socialist Strategy, one which he returns to at various points of The Sublime Object Of Ideology. When we say that ¡¥society does not exist¡¦, we mean that the sociological (ideological) fantasy of a homeostatic social whole is impossible. Society can never achieve a state of consummate closure, because it is divided from within by an irreconcilable schism. In Marxist theory, this rift assumes the form of the class struggle. There can be no rapprochement between classes, and the ¡¥truth¡¦ of society does not lie in a holistic, transcendent judgment that stands above this cleavage (the perspective of an omniscient God) but in this antagonism itself. Antagonism is the Real of every social formation, preventing it from closing in on itself, from forming a consistent totality. Ideology merely displaces this antagonism, assigning it to some object-cause (the Jew in anti-Semitism) instead of confronting it as an inalienable limit.
³ Every critical theory must therefore abandon its dangerous fetishization of the fantasmatic object, the fascinating thing that ostensibly prevents it from fulfilling its desire. In Marxist theory, this object is the state, and Foucault¡¦s extensive analyses of power represent nothing less than an endeavor to traverse the Marxist fantasy and deliver us from the specter of the sovereign. Classical Marxism assumes that revolution is the event upon which desire hinges- once the State is supplanted, antagonism can be done away with through the gradual movement towards communism. This myth of transparency and fullness has been profoundly debilitating in two respects: it simplifies, in an inexcusable fashion, the multiplicity of power relations that constitute the social strata. These ¡¥power games¡¦ form the very tissue of social reality, and, as Althusser and Gramsci have shown prior to Foucault, are ultimately irreducible to a central hub (the State). In accepting this formulation, we abandon the ground of grand, macropolitics in lieu of capillary, molecular ¡¥micropolitics¡¦.
³ Antagonism is, in the conflicts and confrontations it engenders, the political itself. It is here that Mouffe introduces another startling claim. In the introduction to The Democratic Paradox, Mouffe separates ¡¥politics¡¦, which she designates as the administration of the political via the State and its representative parties, and ¡¥politics¡¦, which is the field of irreconcilable, adversarial antagonisms. Politics, then, is the inexorable, pure difference that prevents a State from achieving self-identity. Neither field can be reduced to the other, and the conflation of one with the other (as in Habermas¡¦ regulative ideal of ¡¥pure communication¡¦ and Giddensian notions of the ¡¥Third Way¡¦) amounts to a foreclosure, an evacuation of the political. If we can think of antagonism as the ¡¥constitutive outside¡¦ of every political configuration, the Other that divides the State from itself, then the State¡¦s absorption of this field would lead to the disastrous collapse of democracy as an exercise of constituent, popular power. In other words, its disappearance is commensurate with the disappearance of the political: ¡§To negate the ineradicable character of antagonism is to aim at a universal rational consensus- this is the real threat to democracy.¡¨ (22) Alain Badiou, in his stinging Metapolitics, has made a parallel claim, though his treatment of the word ¡¥politics¡¦ is diametrically opposed to Mouffe¡¦s. In Badiou, every politics is a singular sequence of thought that establishes a real distance between itself and parliamentary democracy. It generates, through a subjective process of truth, a real alternative to parliamentarism. The philosophical interest of this lies in the fact that politics is a mode of thought, while the State, as the regulation/administration of interests, does not think.

Coextensive with this is Mouffe¡¦s statement that ¡¥liberal democracy¡¦ is, in actuality, a precarious synthesis of two polarities. Through an incisive reading of Carl Schmitt, Mouffe reveals that there is no intrinsic compatibility between liberalism and democracy. On the contrary, the two are, at the limit, radically antithetical to one another. This antinomy, this ¡¥democratic paradox¡¦ is crucial, because it reinforces the fact that democracy is a negotiation between totally heterogeneous adversaries. This negotiation is that which prevents representative, constitutive power from subjecting us to the untrammeled, frictionless tyranny of the Law. If the State is that which demarcates a territory, defining who belongs/does not belong to it through the invocation of a ¡¥people¡¦, we can begin to understand why the preservation of this field is central to the question of immigrant rights: ¡§To offer a different¡Kanswer to the compatibility of pluralism and liberal democracy requires, in my view, putting into question any idea of ¡¥the people¡¦ as already given, with a substantive identity¡KOnce we have recognized that the unity of people is the result of a political construction we need to explore all the logical possibilities that a political articulation entails¡KDemocratic politics does not consist in the moment when a fully constituted people exercises its rule. The moment of rule is indissociable from the very struggle about the definition of the people, about the constitution of its identity. Such an identity, however, can never be fully constituted, and it can exist only through multiple and competing forms of identifications.¡¨ (55-56)

This is a brief, lucid and powerful text which, though repetitious in parts, does justice to the acuity of Mouffe¡¦s political thought.
... Read more

Product Description
Clifford A. Pickover bridges the gulf between logic, spirit, science, and religion in his arguably most compelling creation. Through science, history, philosophy, science fiction, and mind-stretching brain teasers, he unfolds the paradox of God like no other writer. Asserting that a supernatural God is not beyond the domain of science, Pickover provides glimpses into the infinite, altering how we might consider God and the universe. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (17)

So whose God is constrained by logic
As I understand it, anthropomorphism is giving human qualities to animals. I don't know if there is a word for constraining God by assigning human limitations to him/her/it (language fails us again). Perhaps it is typical of humans that we impose ourselves everywhere in the natural (and supernatural) world. This is such an impudent self-centredness which is certainly underlying everything in this book.

Despite this, this is such a fascinating book, exploring a lot of logical issues around the ideas of omniscience and omnipotence. It really does get the mind working! The story of the Garden of Eden and our interpretation of it has been an interest of mine for some time. But here were new insights, new speculations. Pickover doesn't shy away from 'suggesting' that perhaps priests have oppressed the people through such stories. He also dosen't shy away from the terrible things narrated in the Old Testament especially apparently, reportedly, at the hand of God. How could a loving caring God behave like this - often almost genocidally? And how could a loving caring God allow 'Man' to behave in the awful ways that 'Man' has?

If logic dominates we humans - do this and you will cause that - then the logical inconsistencies described in this book DO demonstrate how omniscience and omnipotence are impossible for we HUMANS. But why constrain God with logic? In my mind God is higher than constraints such as physical laws and logic.

Pickover's worst book to date
Actually, this effort can not be appropriately called a book. It can be more appropriately described as a collection of random thoughts.
When Pickover tries to really dig into the problem he posed to himself, his efforts end up either being shallow or degrading into rumblings about mathematical formulas. No significant advance in the matter is ever reached.
Almost all of his premises can be seen, by any mildly intelligent person, as false from the beginning, which turns any effort in reading through the entire book a Herculean task.
I have read almost every book Pickover wrote to this date and enjoyed them very much, which prompted me to buy this one mostly because his name was on the cover... Suffice to say that I won't be making that mistake twice.

A Book That Invites Mental Participation
Does Cliff Pickover provide an answer to humanity's questions about the nature of God? Absolutely not. What he does in this book is much more important. He encourages his readers to think for themselves. By creating a series of paradoxical riddles that continuously entangle themselves in catch-22s, Pickover demonstrates how little we actually understand about a hypothetical "omniscient" being. Can we ever understand God from a human point of view? I don't know, but this book encourages us to at least try. That in itself is a valuable gift.One word of warning:if you are a passive reader, looking for a few hours of lazy entertainment, don't buy this book. However,if you want mental stimulation and a nice potent cerebral workout,definately read this book! It really doesn't matter if one believes in God or not when reading this book. The thought processes evoked by the book are worth the price itself.

Book Review: The Paradox of God
Can God create a rock so heavy that He cannot lift it?

Clifford A. Pickover addresses this question and numerous others in his book The Paradox of God and the Science of Omniscience. Not content with examining well-known problems that arise when we think of a literally existing omnipotent being, Pickover pulls together difficult brainteasers from statistics, philosophy, time-travel along with theology and questions about free will. He demonstrates that being able to predict the future might actually be a disadvantage in practical situations and explains why your brain perceives things that apparently haven't happened yet.

This is the second book I've read by Pickover, the first being Time: A Traveler's Guide. Pickover is creative and entertaining, and someone accessible to all- neither a Jehovah's Witness or a positive atheist is likely to be offended by his treatment of the touchy subject matter. His approach isn't to solve the problems for us or even explain what he thinks are the answers. Pickover simply explains the paradoxes, presents the opinions of great thinkers, and tells an amusing story.

The book can get annoying at times, however. Pickover has a lot of trouble sticking to the same subject for more than a few pages, making me wonder just who was hired to edit this thing. If you want some in-depth treatment of the nature of knowledge, Pickover's frequent tangents on irrelevant tangents will likely frustrate you. Personally, I would have liked a chapter on what purpose or meaning an omnipotent being could find in life.

But when Pickover wants to make a point, he explains this clearly enough that math failures like me can understand. My favorite example is in the last chapter, 'Some Final Thoughts,' where he uses game theory and a though experiment involving a square room and a lever to predict the conditions that a person will resist or succumb to temptation, even if we grant full free will.

So if you're looking for an intelligent entertaining read that you can pick up and put down whenever you like, I highly recommend The Paradox of God.

Bring an Open Mind and Plenty of Aspirin to Explore God
What does biology, physics, the Bible, and Led Zeppelin's "Stairway to Heaven" have in common? They are part of Clifford A. Pickover's subject material used to explore the paradoxes of God and the science of omniscience. Pickover, a professional puzzler and inventor, will bend your mind like a wet noodle, so please bring an open mind and more importantly, plenty of aspirin when reading "The Paradox of God and The Science of Omniscience."

Pickover will convince you without a doubt about point A, but then be equally convincing with a contradicting point B. The book is bursting at the seam with paradoxes concerning God's nature. An interesting notion is that omniscience has its disadvantages. One example the author cogently dissects is a game of chicken with an omniscient being. If you enjoy ruminating on such notions, then this book will quickly enthrall and delight with the numerous permutations the author diverges on to grasp a fuller understanding of God. However, if the aforementioned leaves you in the doldrums, harking back to a time when you were forced to sit through the requisite Philosophy 101 college class, then this treatise will have you running for the hills.

The point of the author's writings is to challenge the definitions of God and the universe. The effect may be shattering as one's paradigm slowly shifts. Pickover seems to enjoy being the provocateur; his tone is gleeful at times. Pickover states, "The mere asking of these questions stretches our minds." He leads discussions via the Socratic method, but definitive answers are lacking as questions quickly multiply. However, one absolute is this: a gem of a read for anyone vaguely interested in God.

Bohdan Kot ... Read more

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Customer Reviews (1)

Good book but a little slow in places
Fact-based analysis of how we can learn from past failures.A good lesson with good examples but the book is a little slow in places. ... Read more

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This expanded edition of The Ways of Paradox includes papers that are among Professor Quine's most important and influential, such as "Truth by Convention," "Carnap and Logical Truth," "On Carnap's Views on Ontology," "The Scope and Language of Science," and "Posits and Reality." Many of these essays deal with unresolved issues of central interest to philosophers today. About half of them are addressed to "a wider public than philosophers." The remainder are somewhat more professional and technical. This new edition of The Ways of Paradox contains eight essays that appeared after publication of the first edition, and it retains the seminal essays that must be read by anyone who seeks to master Quine's philosophy.

Quine has been characterized, in The New York Review of Books, as "the most distinguished American recruit to logical empiricism, probably the contemporary American philosopher most admired in the profession, and an original philosophical thinker of the first rank." His "philosophical innovations add up to a coherent theory of knowledge which he has for the most part constructed single-handed." In The Ways of Paradox new generations of readers will gain access to this philosophy.

Product Description
In an era of escalating food politics, many believe organic farming to be the agrarian answer. In this first comprehensive study of organic farming in California, Julie Guthman casts doubt on the current wisdom about organic food and agriculture, at least as it has evolved in the Golden State. Refuting popular portrayals of organic agriculture as a small-scale family farm endeavor in opposition to "industrial" agriculture, Guthman explains how organic farming has replicated what it set out to oppose. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

The Local Organic Movement
I'm currently writing my dissertation on the dynamics of the local organic movement in Southern Arizona.This book was a wonderful resource in helping me frame my literature review.

Well written with careful research
I agree with the previous reviewer, this book did a great job of exposing the hypocrisy of 'Big Ag' in organic agriculture without seeming the author was biased or selling an agenda.I am an aspiring organic farmer myself, and found this book informative about both the history of organic agriculture as a movement and its march towards mainstream acceptance, along with the corporate infiltration that comes with it.I thought the author did a good job of not just detailing the current state of organic agriculture in California, but in explaining the seemingly inevitability of its development to today's conditions. This is a great read for anyone interested in the economics of organic agriculture or farming in general.

Original, Intellectually Engaging: It Rips Stale Myths Apart
Well, everything you think you know about organic agriculture gets brilliantly demolished and reformulated in this innovative and ground breaking book. Think you know about small family farmers in California? Well, get ready to learn about the real corporate farming tradition, especially in the Central Valley. Think a new generation of organic farms makes for some sort of new utopia? Well, you're living in an "agrarian dream" if you think conditions for agricultural workers get transformed automatically in a more "organic" world.

I eat organic food all the time and myth after myth that I have accepted gets exposed in this book. Think the regulators are always on the side of the little guy? Think eating organic food automatically creates a more sustainable food system? Think you're "going back to nature" if you eat organic? Well, Guthman lays out how all of us have to think critically and take concerted action if we really want to change the power relations of today's industrial agriculture.

And yet I finished this book more exhilirated and inspired to
think about and work toward a new world of sustainable agriculture. And with my eyes now wide open that when I'm eating an organic apple that doesn't transform the world or ease the exploitation of those working the land. I see this as a seminal work in showing us clearly how to tear off our blinders and move from our agrarian "dreams' to a new agrarian reality. ... Read more

Product Description
Stimulating, thought-provoking analysis of a number of the most interesting intellectual inconsistencies in mathematics, physics and language. Delightful elucidations of methods for misunderstanding the real world of experiment (Aristotle’s Circle paradox), being led astray by algebra (De Morgan’s paradox) and other mind-benders. Some high school algebra and geometry is assumed; any other math needed is developed in text. Reprint of 1982 ed.
... Read more

Customer Reviews (8)

An adequate introduction
If you've never encountered the problems in MFaP before, you're sure to find MFaP a decent and generally easygoing introduction to the subject matter.If you have encountered them before, you're sure to find little new between the covers of this slim volume.MFaP is an able and by-the-numbers overview of an exceedingly complex and fascinating topic.Should you read to the endof it, I'd highly recommend having a look at the brief bibliography Bunch assembled.Not all of it represents 2008 state-of-the-art, but there are several outstanding titles on this list to whet the appetite for further study.Read MFaP to taste some choice bits.But be sure to read elsewhere if you it's a feast you're after.

A great introduction to the limits of math
Most causual users of math consider it to be the most unassailable of endeavors.

After, 2 + 2 always has to equal 4 doesn't it?

It turns out that at the periphery of math there are certain inconsistencies that can arise either owing to the use of faulty methods in arriving at a conclusion (what Bunch calls "fallacies") or inconsistencies owing to the limits of math itself (what Bunch calls "paradoxes").

Though one would need recourse to the book itself in order to completely understand what Bunch means by each category, what follows are a couple of examples to help illustrate the kinds of issues this book will treat.

In relation to fallacies, an early example used by Bunch is Aristotle's paradox wherein Aristotle tried to use a deceptively simple experiment to measure the perimeter of two circles.For ease of convenience, let's say he used two coins of different denominations...say a dime and a half dollar.

Obviously, the coins by their size have to have different measures of distance around their perimeters.And yet, according to Aristotle's experiment, they turn out equally.They turn out equally because Aristotle simply placed one on top of the other and rolled them to see which would make a complete turn the earliest.As you may have gleaned they both turned at the same time owing to the particular mathematics of circles.

Bunch's point is that by applying incorrect reasoning Aristotle's "paradoxical" result was simply a fallacy.

In terms of true paradoxes, Bunch discussed Kurt Godel's incompleteness theorem which says that any consistent system will produce so called "formally undecideable propositions."In other words, to the extent that a consistent system produces self referential statements, those statements can defy formal proof.

An oft used English language example is "This sentence is false."Obviously, the sentence is neither be bracketed with all true statements or all false statements owing to its category defying nature.

In turns out that Kurt Godel was able to stand over two millenia of math philosophy on its head by showing that math had its logically limits of proof.

As can be seen from the previous examples, this book is thought provoking even for casual readers who admittedly will have to struggle cracking the hard nutshell of some its more dense arguments.However, those who do so will be richly rewarded for the heightened understanding of the limits of math they have thereby gained in the process.

Informal and engaging
This is a great informal treatment of some of the more notable paradoxes and fallacies of mathematics and mathematical reasoning, old and new. Bunch's prose style is clear and unencumbered and his presentation of each topic - from his easily resolved fallacies and paradoxes of basic algebra and geometry to the deeper and unresolved paradoxes of logic and analysis - is always clean, well-illustrated and engaging.

At a glance, he treats:
The Liar paradox and Godel's Incompleteness theorems
Zeno's and the Sorites paradoxes and the conceptual difficulties associated with the continuum
The existence of irrational magnitudes and some basic philosophical issues associated with existence proofs
The Petersburg paradox
The paradoxes of Infinity and the Formalist and Intuitionist responses to them
The set theoretic paradoxes of Cantor, Russell, and Burali-Forti
The paradoxes of the axiom of choice including the Cantor diagonilisation, Skolem, Hausdorff and Tarski-Banach parodoxes

and a range of thought experiments which highlight the difficulties that may be asociated with applying abstract reasoning to the real world - notably those of the Thompson lamp experiment and Tarski-Banach golden sphere manufacturing plant.

If you want a good popular treatment of the subject matter with a detailed and informal emphasis on the key themes mathematical logic, then this is the book for you. The informal description Godel's first Incompleteness theorem is excellent, as is the discussion of the paradoxes of self reference as they appear in set theory and logic. As such, I would recommend it as excellent recreational reading for anyone with a budding interest in mathematical logic, whether they be math graduates or high-school students.

This is a Great Book for Math Fans
This is a great book for people who love mathematics, including: recreational math enthusiasts, math teachers, professors and other university level math instructors, curious and self-motivated students, etc. This book provides numerous examples of how seemingly logical steps can lead to mathematically fallacious results. The level of math ranges from advanced high school to college level math, but the level is not really important ... what is important is the insights one can get from looking at common mathematical mistakes.

This book may also be of interest to neuroscientists, cognitive scientists, and psychologists who are interested in how human beings learn and apply mathematics. On a somewhat related note, I have noticed that (for some strange reason) this book has attracted a set of rather bizarre reviewers (see below). Please ignore them and buy this inexpensive and insightful book on math.

Zeno and set theory
It is the paradoxes that keep us honest in mathematics. Tarski with Banach found a basic flaw in the axiom of choice in set theory. Zeno has puzzled children for two thousand years... Time travel paradoxes are the modern "new" problem of tacyonic loops and the Hawking conjecture. Without examples of critical thinking doctrine rules and men become fools! ... Read more