5 comments about CLEP Introductory Sociology (REA)-The Best Test Prep for the CLEP Exam (Test Preps).

1. This book is very good for the CLEP sociology. It is concise, has practice tests, and the rationales for all the answers. I recommend it very highly for anyone who has to take this course.



2. Just took this test and scored a 69. The book reviews a lot, but not everything I found in the exam today. I didn't use any other material,except for occasionally looking up some of the sociologists on the web. It helps to get a sense of what theories are related to what person.
   I used some keywords to remember concepts from each person that the book spoke about, like "Cooley=Looking Glass Theory" and "Max Weber= Versensten" or however that is spelled. Those 2 German words that start with "G" Gemienstien and Gesellstien (spelling is wrong but if you read it you'll know what I mean). I just remembered the 'Ge-mein' one is rural and the Ge-sell is urban- that helped me get an answer correct about those.
   It helps to know the basic concepts of some of the theories, because the questions can really sound different on the actual CLEP test, but if you remember the concept, you'll be ok. I wasn't sure how I had done, I finished it in about 65 minutes- but looks like I got the equivalent of an A. I'd recommend it.



3. I am using CLEP exams as a way in which I can get closer to the 150 hour requirement in order to sit for the CPA exam. As of today (when I took and passed the exam), I am about two weeks away from graduating college with my bachelors.
   
   I had no previous experience in Sociology, although the course seems to be an overlap of economics, history, and pyschology (which I also Clepped) and I have had courses in these subjects before. With that said, I did not use anything else to study for the exam and I passed easily with a 66. Since the score shows up on your transcript as a "P" grade, the score really doesn't mean anything as long as it is over 50.
   
   The book accomplished the goal of getting me 3 credits on my transcipt for the low price of $120 ($20 for book, $65 to CLEP, $35 to my college). How can you beat $40 a credit??



4. OK the book is great as far as about 1/2 of the questions on the test. I took it a week ago and passed just using this book with a 62. The whole time I was taking the test I thought I was going to fail for sure, because the test has a ton of questions not even covered in this book.
   
   I suggest buying this book, studying the questions and answers, and going to college board or another college website and taking their practice tests too. By the way....INDIA is the country closest associated with the caste system :-)



5. The Sociology Clep study guide is typical of the other guides I have used (Macroeconomics, Microeconomics, Principles of Marketing, Principles of Management), meaning: If you have even a passing familiarity with the subject the guide will give you enough information to pass the test. There were questions on the actual exam that the book did not cover, but an educated guess would be 85%-90% of the test questions were mentioned in the study guide.
   
   The guide itself was an easy read. At a scant 80 pages I would suggest reading it twice, taking notes along the way. The sample tests in the back of the book provide a lot of information that the 80 pages of text do not. When grading your self tests do not just check the answers (A-B-C-D-E) but read the explanations for the answers - they hold a wealth of information.

5 comments about On Paradise Drive: How We Live Now (And Always Have) in the Future Tense.

1. Whenever I travel to a different country and enjoy a new culture, I experience my distinctly American identity with a new force. I'll often ask myself what part of "me," how I think, feel, act, speak, relate, worry, dream, work, etc., is truly Christian, and what part of "me" is merely American. For all of that, what does it mean to be American? That is the question David Brooks, PBS television commentator and columnist for the New York Times, tackles in this book. In particular, he tries to describe what life is like for upper-middle-class Americans, "the people who hover over their children, renovate their homes, climb the ladder toward success, and plan anxiously for their retirement." If you grind your own coffee or enroll your kids in SAT prep classes, Brooks has you in his social scientific sights. His purview ignores the very rich, the rural, and the poor (for the latter categories read Robert Kaplan's An Empire Wilderness; Travels Into America's Future). He further asks what motivates our mania to work, study, move, play and consume as frenetically and assiduously as we do. Finally, he wonders whether we are as shallow as we sometimes look.
   
   I have enjoyed Brooks as a sensible commentator on television's McNeil Lehrer Report, and I enjoyed reading this book. If you like large doses of good-natured caricature, satire, exaggeration, sarcasm, and generalizations about Americans and life in America, as I do, then you will likely appreciate Brooks's style. His riff on suburban Ubermoms, for example, is marvelous. Ubermoms raise huge sums for school causes, drive monster SUVs, weigh less than their kids, are tech savvy, and entertain with effortless charm and verve. They have children whose first names sound like last names and they use "summer" as a verb. I saw myself in his chapters on how we educate our children, how we work, and how we shop. In addition to his biting satire, he employs a staple of statistics about consumption patterns, how often we move, household incomes, and the like. Finally, Brooks is not all laughs; he weaves into his cultural analysis extensive interactions with scholarly social criticisms from sociology, economics, history, and literature.
   
   America might be the Rhino of the World, as Brooks suggests, a sort of bull in a china shop, or alternately the Global Bimbo that is vulgar, crass and shallow. But that is not all that is true about us. Brooks clearly loves America, and is not ashamed to say so. Whatever its many faults, and it has many, America truly is a place of equality, opportunity, mobility, and dreams about a possible future: "Born in abundance, inspired by opportunity, nurtured in imagination, spiritualized by a sense of God's blessing, and realized in ordinary life day by day, this Paradise Spell is the controlling ideology of American Life" (p. 268). Paradise Drive is a simple read about an important subject by an informed critic.



2. I have been reading David Brooks since moving to Silicon Valley to help me understand my new context, it has all his main areas: "Bike Messenger Land" - hip, urban centers, the "Crunchy Suburbs" - somewhat suburban environment but with urban values and mindset, and the "Professional Zones" - commercial zones inhabited by cosmopolitan highly-educated workforce. Palo Alto/Mountain View is all three of these "mushed" together. It is a more suburban environment than San Francisco, but with a corporate/commercialized version of the same basic worldview and values-system. David Brooks understands, admires, and critiques the people who choose to live in this type of environment. He calls them "BOBO's", which is a compression of Bohemian Bourgeoisie. These are people with a 60's radical mindset who have become part of the privileged upper class, ironically, part of the establishment. Bobo's is probably the better book, but On Paradise Drive has a bit broader application. It will not only help you understand places like San Francisco and Decatur, GA, but also the general trajectory of the US. - blogophobe -



3. After writing "BoBos in Paradise," David Brooks certainly had a tough act to follow. I found that BoBos captured the psyche of the affluent baby boomers in a way that was both enlightening and rip roaringly humorous. For me, it's no overstatement to say that BoBos was a joy to read. I haven't enjoyed reading a writer as much since I faithfully read the columns of the late and legenday Mike Royko of the Chicago Tribune.
   
   With "On Paradise Drive," Brooks does it again. This time he takes a broader look at segments of the American population and explains what motivates them to work so hard and be so optimistic. In the book, Brooks brings to life the diverse ways in which we Americans dream about our futures and live out our lives to accomplish our dreams. As it turns out we are united in our future orientation, self-determinism and optimism yet diverse in the paths we choose to pursue. It is delightful to see so many segments of the American population pursuing happiness and at least partially finding it in the pursuit. Aristotle and Thomas Jefferson would be delighted to read this book since they both understood how important it was for humans to seek happiness even with the some of the inevitable bad decisions we make and consequences we experience along the way.
   
   The one area I would have liked Brooks to explore is the actual failure of western societies to improve subjective well-being (i.e the sociologists' term for happiness) since WWII. For those who are interested, two good books to read on this are David Myers' "The American Paradox" and Robert Lanes' "The Loss of Happiness in Market Democracies." Happiness has not increased since WWII and following September 11 people's values are changing. It would be fascinating to hear David Brooks thoughts on this development.
   
   As a side note, Brooks the thinker/writer/commentator is certainly doing great work. As a person, I find his humility, realist's idealism, and sense of humor admirable. Two pieces I read that really give us a sense of David Brooks the person were his tribute in Readers Digest to the late Michael Kelly of The Atlantic (who died in an accident while on assignment in Iraq) and Brook's Times' column on his son's bar mitzvah. In them we sense Mr. Brooks love of liberty, doing good, family, and the friends such as Mr. Kelly that he admires for their strength of character.
   
   I wholeheartily recommend this book. For thought-proving insight and good humor, the views of David Brooks on any subject and in in any media -- books, his tues/sat New York Times columns, or friday evening appearances on PBS's The New Hour)-- are always worth considering.



4. You have to admire a writer like David Brooks. While the rest of the left-wing elite establishment at the NY Times sit in their chairs, making up stories, rarely researching, etc, Brooks puts effort into his writing, and this book is another prime example. And that he does so in a bi-partisan way is even more impressive.
   
   Like in "Bobos", David Brooks is at his best here, introducing us to how culture works and why materialism should be scoffed at---especially amongst the liberal elites. And again, Brooks does so with such objectivity, a great vocabulary and examples. I've lived in many of these locales as well as the Heartland. I've lived near folks like those he describes as well as the opposite. I have been to all 48 lower states and many of the areas described. Brooks is dead on. His thorough research is also extremely evident. Great book. Don't comment on society until you read Brooks.



5. David Brooks is a great statirist and this book extends his thoughts into 2007. While an enjoyable read, Brooks' "Bobo's in Paradise" was better and funnier. So start with it first.

5 comments about In Search of the Old Ones.

1. If you have ever wondered what it would be like to explore the far reaches of Anasazi territory, this book takes you there! If you enjoy armchair travel there isn't a book that puts you there better than this one. David Roberts describes in detail his adventures through many Anasazi sites in the Southwest. Even those ruins that many people will never see because of their remote location.



2. For anyone with a passing interest in the Anasazi and the southwest, this is a great read. It's not a scientific archeology book but instead an easy to read guide to some of the Anasazi ruins of the southwest and the description of the author's hikes and explorations. He touches upon various theories of the fate of the Anasazi and current issues relating to the remaining ruins and National Parks. It has a few B&W photos (could definitely had more). It is a very easy read and to be honest I'm writing this review after having read it for the 3rd time. I have visited many of the sites that he writes about and for anyone who has been to any of the Anasazi sites and National Parks you will truly enjoy this book and have a better understanding of the history and of the ruins of this vanished (or moved) people.



3. David Roberts is my favorite outdoor adventure writer and this, in my opinion, is one of his best works.
   
   Mystery will always surround the Anasazi. The land on which the remnants of their habitations remain is hauntingly beautiful and desolate. For me this book brought back many memories of trips I've made to these areas since childhood and also rekindled the desire to return for more. Natural Bridges, Grand Gulch, Mesa Verde have always been special places for me.
   
   David does an excellent job providing a broad spectrum of thought and research into how the Anasazi lived and why they seemingly disappeared. He also provides a fascinating look at his own travel adventures in southern Utah and the other four-corner states.
   
   I highly recommend this book to all David Roberts fans, southwest canyoneers, Anasazi enthusiasts, or armchair adventurers!



4. If you are at all interested in the ancient Anasazi culture of the southwest, this book should be on your reading list. Excellent stories of hiking on Cedar Mesa in southern Utah. David Roberts has written some good tales of adventure in the canyons. Another very good read is his book "Sandstone Spine".



5. Living near Grand Gulch/Cedar Mesa, this is the first book I recommend to visitors that ask if there are any books about this area. It sparks the imagination of anyone who has visited the ruins. After reading this book, my wife & I decided to move to the Four Corners from Chicago and go on our own "In Search of the Old Ones" You can see some of the ruins described in the book on my blog.
   http://reddirtdawg.blogspot.com/

5 comments about Hezbollah: A Short History (Princeton Studies in Muslim Politics).

1. This book is entertaining, all too short and rather sloppily edited -- for example whether Israel destroyed 15000 homes (p.111) or 1500 homes (p.144) in the 2006 bombardment, as well as several typographical errors you wouldn't expect in few pages with large print. Moreover it is less about Hezbollah than about Shi'i politics in Lebanon since the 1970s. There are no interviews with Hezbollah officials and only a few quotations from public sources. This is understandable, however: I wanted a book, in 2007, that said _something_ about Hezbollah in the context of the 2006 war, and this provides it. Lebanese politics are intricate and this book doesn't seem to oversimplify matters. Plus there's a chapter that first appeared in a drama journal on the dramaturgy of Ashura. As others have implied here, the book probably assumes sympathy for the Shi'a in Lebanon, as against Israel in particular: that's fine with me, but it's obviously not fine with everyone.
   
   I would ask Mr Norton for more detailed information about Hezbollah's connections with Iran and for some characterization of the social or class position of Hezbollah among Lebanese Shi'a, as against AMAL's, say.



2. In this short, but revealing book, Norton has provided an excellent overview of the history and politics surrounding Hezbollah. The book contains chapters on the founding of the group, its internal dynamics, as well as how it operates in the regional context. Unlike some analysis of the group, Norton freely discusses both sides of the group: the side that operates and behaves like an organized and effective political party, and the side that can be characterized as a terrorist organization. Norton does this with relative ease and a clear and direct writing style. He demonstrates that the group has evolved at a rapid pace and that no one can say with absolute certainty how the group will continue to evolve.
   
   Unlike Harik's work on Hezbollah, Norton does a fine job of retaining some neutrality here and does not let a great deal of personal opinion seep into what should be a scholarly work. He has an impressive amount of experience working inside Lebanon and is thus very close to the subject he writes about, but this does not appear to have caused him to tilt one way or the other. His chapter on the July 2006 war with Israel is proof of that. His treatment of a highly controversial subject is remarkably balanced. He identifies what both sides were doing and thinking at the time and how it led to the outbreak of real hostilities.
   
   The book is relatively short, but it was not meant to be a sweeping and comprehensive history. He deals with all of the important aspects of the group and the finished product should be read by all those seeking a greater understanding of Hezbollah. Anything Norton produces in the future will be essential reading for the field.



3. Richard Norton has chronicled the origins and development of the Lebanese resistance party Hezbollah, which rose to prominence as one of the major political players during Israel's occupation of Lebanon during the 1980's. This account benefits from Norton's background in anthropology which enables him to analyze the cultural and ethnic complexity of Lebanon in his discussion. However, his historical background on the political history of Lebanon is somewhat meandering and also slim.
   
   At the same time, this book clears up some misconceptions about Hezbollah. The first of which is that Hezbollah should be regarded as a terrorist group with similar aims of other Islamic fundamentalists organizations like the Taliban and Islamic Jihad. Hezbollah is primarily a defensive organization, and it developed largely in response to Israel's aggression in Southern Lebanon. Norton also points out that the Western belief that Hezbollah was responsible for the death of over 30 U.S. Marines is false, and that that particular atrocity is probably the work of Shi militant agents working for Iran. However, Norton also clears up the misconception that Hezbollah is a "freedom-fighting" organization, and that it's tactics are legal, and that its aims are accomodationist and pluralistic. Hezbollah remains an Islamic theocratic party committed to the destruction of Israel, and it has often chosen poor military tactics with regard to Israel's borders.
   
   This is a worthwhile, though incomplete account of a rising political force in the Middle East.



4. This book is terribly concerned with the idea most people seem to have with Hezbollah, that it is a terrorist organization. The fact that Hezbollah commits murders, kidnappings and launches random rocket attacks at civilians may have led to this unfortunate perception. The author attempts to correct this by pointing out that Hezbollah (with Iranian money) builds hospitals, educational facilities and gives aid to those Shi'a in Lebanon who are in poverty. What the author does not discuss of course is if Hezbollah did not make a habit of kidnapping and killing people who get in its way, many NGOs and the Lebanese government might be able to operate in the areas they control. Better yet, the absence of Hezbollah might go far to relieving the fear, uncertainty and poverty in South Lebanon.
   
   And as far as Hezbollah's "good works" are concerned, the Nazis operated soup kitchens during the Great Depression. That did not make them in less the thug.



5. no one is innocent and no one is as evil as the other side's propaganda machine says.
   
   As one who happened to be in South Lebanon at the time the fighting started in 2006, I can say that Norton's description most closely mirrors my experience.
   
   You will benefit greatly by picking up this easy to follow gem. If you want one book to help you understand what's happening now in the Shi'a movement in Lebanon, this will do it for you.

5 comments about The Long Summer: How Climate Changed Civilization.

1. This should be a five-star review, but I have deducted a star. First the good points. Why is this book a great achievement? Because it makes an enormously convincing case - that climate is the great under-rated driver of human pre-history (up to about 3100BC, before the invention of writing), and, with a brilliant you-can't-see-the-join sweep, moves the argument through the following historical period.
   
   It is an engaging read. The metaphors and analogies are often good. He compares early man, who adapted and survived the constant storms of climate change, with the way that a wooden yacht rides a storm. The seas may blow at storm force, or even present a 25-metre megawave. A well-battened down yacht will bob like a cork. But, a sophisticated steel supertanker will cut through all the waves as it steams on - it is designed to ignore them, so to speak. Except of course, if a megawave catches it side on, then it will roll over. And it could just hit an iceberg, we all know it has happened. The supertanker is modern civilisation, we have aircon in our houses and cars, we turn on the lights when it gets dark. The electricity could be generated by wind turbines, coal, or nuclear power. Just so long as the lights are on. But a big enough volcano, asteroid hit, or reduced solar gain triggering an ice age? That would be our megawave: we might be rolled over.
   
   He has such a wide sweep of the disciplines: scientific studies of ice cores and lake mud, anthropological studies of the ancient Sumerians, Egyptians, the Greeks, historians like Julius Caesar and Polybius. He is good. He knows that data from carbon dating, pollen studies, ancient written histories, geology, analyses of animal domestication, archaeological digs, and more, all have to handled with interpretive skill to make a coherent story. And the picture gets updated every time a new study rolls off the presses. I take off all my hats to him. He goes into considerable detail over the Medieval Warm Period (AD900-1300). This is important because Europe was as warm and in parts warmer then than it is today, and 21st century climatologists looking for their next tax-dollar research grant do not want you to know about it. They are willing to suppress the data and re-name it to an `anomaly', it ruins their scare-scenarios. The politicians want to sound concerned and raise your taxes too. So it's win-win for them, lose-lose for us. The Medieval Warm Period was extravagantly good for Europe, and bad for the West coast Americas, and Brian Fagan paints a fascinating diptych.
   
   However, I come to review this book, and not to panegyricise. I do not care that his style is somewhat clichéd. I do not much mind that his unidimensional approach to climate-driven history is patently simplistic and ridiculously telescoped near the end. I can read any ordinary history, or economic history like the excellent Richard Bulliet's `The Camel and the Wheel', or Gordon & Rendsburg's `The Bible and the Ancient Near East' for an immensely better straight historical approach.
   
   But what I object to in him in the strongest terms is what philosophers call `scientism'. (Try Mary Midgley, C.S. Lewis, John Wild, Michael Polanyi, or G.K. Chesterton for a good grab-bag of approaches to exploding this. I am coming to conclusion is better to mock it than reason with it. Dawkins is a hard-line offender on this, but there are so many others. They even start their books with stuff along the lines of, "I know I am a mere reductionist, and this is really philosophically silly, but I do not repent and recant because I know not how".) His religion and faith is science. It is belief in evolutionism, not just biological evolution. To him, other faiths (OK, let's get it out, Christianity, he cannot be that bothered to mock animists, Buddhists, or Hindus), are absurd in general. They are amusingly quaint and superstitious. His attitude to the `noble savage' of the Maya/Aztec, the Dakota Sioux, and the woadfully aggressive Celts wavers between the patronising and the politically correct multiculturally pseudo-respectful. The human sacrifice, scalping, and savage gods of the savages somehow fail to hold his attention long enough to actually write of them. (Just try watching the films `A Man Called Horse', and the sequel to get a real idea. Or read `The Epic of Gilgamesh', and the grislier bits of Greek mythology.) His equation of the beliefs of Stone Age man and the faith of builders of Gothic cathedrals is insulting, but there is more to any of them than there is to him. But modern is as modern does. He looks down on our ancestors, not at them. He is infected with what C.S. Lewis called `chronological snobbery'.
   
   And what is science anyway? What is this god that he so worshipfully serves? It is just a description of `How Things Work'. How do plants work? Photosynthesis. How does photosynthesis work? By the chemistry of chlorophyll and capture of the photons of the sun. How does the chemistry work? By electrons being passed around, they are atomic particles, we can calculate the energy gained and lost, and glory, glory, we make bread from the plant and digest it and then we have the energy! QED, cogito ergo sum. You get the idea. Science is about mechanisms, how things work, how the knee-bone is connected to the ankle-bone. But does he `Hear the word of the Lord'? No. He does not know what it all Means, he is all Mechanism. And scientists really are just mechanics. All his many-spendoured anthropological terminological circumlocutions and prestidigitations lead to a big round `nil points' in the point-of-it-all department. `Skias onar anthropos' - 'man is but a dream of a shadow' - so said the ancient Greek, and the ancient Hebrew asked God `What is man that thou art mindful of him?', but in truth he has yet to wake up for the first time to these things. He thinks a lot, but he is not mindful. Man can live without science, and did so for thousands of years, but he cannot live even threescore years and ten without meaning. Let us not kow-tow to Science or its priesthood, either they serve us or destroy us. Only men can rule men. Ignore the soul and you lose it.



2. This is a good book on the effects of climate on history. The other reviews (11 as of this writing) tell the good points. I merely want to add a cautionary note: Dr. Fagan is prone to give only the "climate did it" side of what are often very complex arguments. Most scholars would generally agree with him, and where there are differences I think he is usually on the right side, but he can get too simplistic. Significantly, the cases he knows best are told with more nuance and detail. The story of the Chumash of the Santa Barbara area (where he lived for many years) is particularly good: he shows how they responded creatively and thoughtfully to varying climates. He is also knowledgeable about, and thus nunanced when writing about, Europe and the Atlantic. He is farther from home with the Maya; he gives the most likely scenario for their fall, which involves drought as the key factor, but does not discuss other theories (warfare, trade route shifts, distant power shifts...) that have at least enough merit to be advocated by many Mayanists. Still farther from home is the Tiwanaku case, where he credits the fall of Tiwanaku on drought that may actually have happened a century or two later than the fall. And he has the Old Kingdom of Egypt falling because drought convinced the people that the pharaohs weren't God after all. Surely the Egyptians were more sophisticated than that, and surely the situation was much more complex. Only in old travel accounts does anyone seriously hold the idea that "those other folks" are so dumb that they think the chief is a god because the volcano erupts or the river floods on time.
   Looking over European history, I am struck by how little the shift from the Medieval Warm Period to the Little Ice Age affected history. It had its effect, and a lot of people died, but people usually coped well and intelligently. On the other hand, Fagan misses one beautiful case where that shift mattered a lot: the decline of steppe-nomad power and the Silk Road. The Mongols rode out to conquer the world, and the Silk Road flourished, during the Medieval Warm Period. The Little Ice Age ended this--the steppes got too prone to horrible winters that killed the livestock, and the Silk Road got difficult just as the sea lanes were opening up due to Chinese, Arab, Spanish and Portuguese advances in shipping.
   Moral: climate affects history greatly, but people don't just let it happen or naively think "God done it." They respond with all sorts of creative and interesting strategies. This emerges from Fagan's book, especially when he talks about Native Americans, but the reader is cautioned to look into the full complexity of the cases he describes.



3. This slim volume by Brian Fagan provides an excellent overview of the changes in climate effecting human culture over hundreds and thousands of years. The climate changes are shown with their global and regional effects. Professor Fagan then relates the geological changes to gross changes in human culture such as the switch from a hunter-gatherer culture to a settled development of agriculture. He proposes that drought is one of the causes of the growth of cities from villages.
   
   This book could be of benefit in World History, American History, and European History classes in addition to basic enviromental science classes.



4. interesting account of how changes in climate may have helped to shape our civilization giving rise to farming and eventually cities



5. Many of the historical questions that once existed, such as why the Mayan civilization collapsed, have since been explained by long term climate change, particularly drought. I am unsure what Fagan's specific purpose was in writing this book, which isn't very systematic, but certainly much of it is interesting. Fagan's biggest problem is what to do about providing the facts and understanding of longer term climate change; consequently he can be confusing, so I recommend this book as a possible follow on to Fred Pearce's terrific book, "With Speed and Violence: Why Scientists Fear Tipping Points in Climate Change".
   
   Fagan is also concerned with short term climate change (drought of a year or two or even perhaps the Biblical 7 years) and how civilizations organized to survive them. When geographic areas were way below potential population densities, survival generally involved mobility, and/or taking advantage of less desirable foods. When population densities were high, food storage, and the ability to take advantage of food in other areas through empires, kin relationships or trade provided answers.
   
   The strongest part of the book is Fagan's imagining of what life was like in Cro-Magnon Europe, before and during a warming period, and in the earliest Mesopotamian and Egyptian settlements. Among the many nuggets of information in the book is that the amount of animal protein that humans can safely consume without long term health consequences, even when life expectancy is relatively short, is 50%; the percent needs to be even lower for pregnant women. Another nugget that struck me is that nomads in dry areas can herd cattle rather than sheep or goats because cattle can survive longer without water.
   
   I don't completely trust Fagan as to accuracy. On p.42 he contradicts himself in successive paragraphs as to the Siberian climate between 20,000 and 18,000. He discusses how farming spread into Europe without any mention of what genetic analysis has to say (issue is whether people moved or practices were copied). And as I said, his discussion of climate is sometimes muddled.

5 comments about Bohemian Manifesto: A Field Guide to Living on the Edge.

1. This is a fun read for those who lack philosophy and understanding of European culture. To suggest conservative values are somehow tied in with corporate profit taking is beyond stupidity. Often it is the lesse faire entrepreneur that thumbs his nose at community values. The entrepreneur is often the bourgeois aristocrat with the capital enough to succeed in his endeavors. Those who hold to the lifestyle described in this book should understand that they are bought and sold by pop culture that claims to "disrupt society norms". Your puppets and you should not claim to be original or rebellious--try lazy and subjective!



2. I think that pretty much sums up this book. It is essentially a person trying to squeeze a movement that stands for individuality into a pattern not unlike an organized religion, which I'm sure most real 'Bohemians' would object to. The 'Bohemianism' that this book describes is an elitist club in which you must start your day off with a cup of coffee (not from Starbucks),
   drink wine, and balance eclectic and sometimes extravagent style with the poverty necessary to be more 'Bohemian' than the average Bush-voting, Church-attending Capitalist.
   
   That being said, it is fun to read and has some meager value in it. If you read fast and can get the book for cheap, then go for it. It's more productive than watching soap operas or browsing MySpace, if that's what you're going to be doing, anyway. If 2.5 stars was an option, I would have given it the extra credit. Just don't get distracted by the shiny object that is incognito conformity.



3. great book, perfect condition. i would absolutely buy from this seller again. it took a little long to arrive, but it was worth the great price and perfect condition. :) thanks!



4. I have for a long time considered myself a Bohemian. This book summarized every aspect of the lifestyle beautifully. Yes, there are some cliché's among its pages, and the book is written with a touch of humor, but I find that it doesn't mar the beauty or quality of Ms. Stover's book. It is filled with references to famous Bohemians in history, and lists dozens of unique books, movies, and music that are essential to the culture. The word 'Bohemian' has been commercialized over the years, and mutilated into such phrases as `boho-chic' and whatever else fashion magazines want to advertise, or 20 something's want to buy into. Bohemia was a culture that was the opposite of trends, conformity, or mainstream culture. It was sometimes blissful, sometimes agonizing, but always rich with art and a unique beauty that lingered long after it passed. I believe it's still possible to live a life dedicated to the lifestyle and culture, and this book is a little relic to lend you a helping hand and show you how it's possible.



5. They used to say that if you remember the sixties, you weren't there. Similarly, if you're reading this book--or want to read this book--you're not bohemian.
   
   I realize the author's approach is tongue-in-cheek, but sadly, the people most likely to pick up this quick moneymaker (and peruse it for more than a moment) won't *get* the tongue-in-cheek part: they will instead use this pricey tome as a resource guide, i.e., "Rimbaud anthology--check; thrift-store clothes--check; hair under arms [if I'm a woman]--check."
   
   If you're a true bo, you're not reading this review--because you either can't afford a computer, are steadfastly against electronics, or both. If you are reading this review, and want to be a bohemian, it's too late: you've been mainstreamed. If, on the other hand, you want to be a faux-bo--or if you simply like bohemian-esque clothes, furnishings, and accessories, take the money that you would have used for this book and buy some Patchouli incense and a Billie Holliday CD instead.

5 comments about Ancient Futures: Learning from Ladakh.

1. How does life in a non-industrial society compare to life in our own? In which society are people happier? If life in non-industrial societies compares favorably to life in our own, then why are the barrios of the third world filling up with migrants from remote villages? This book provides surprising insights into these questions. It also provokes reflections on our own society and its influence on the rest of the world. After reading a used copy I picked up for free, I bought seven copies of this book for friends and family!



2. The first half of *Ancient Futures* will delight and amaze you; the second half will break your heart.

   In the 1970s, the Ladakhis of Little Tibet were a happy people. They had a sustainable traditional economy based on trade and cooperation - not money. One person's gain was not another person's loss. There was plenty of leisure, no hunger or poverty, very little sickness or disease, everyone was valued, there was no pollution and nothing was wasted. They got along fine with their Muslim neighbors and they kept their population stable through marriage customs based on land use. Almost every family had a celibate monk or nun. Buddhist monasteries and people had a mutually beneficial economic, social and spiritual relationship. Ladakhis are a naturally contemplative people with a great deal of spiritual awareness. "Schon chan" (one who angers easily) is about the only insult in the Ladakhi lnaguage. "Lack of pride is a virtue, for pride, born of ego, has nothing to do with self-respect among these Buddhist people." The author says that it took her two years of living among them to realize that the people were genuinely and joyfully HAPPY. Then the world beat a path to their door and all that changed - in fewer than two decades.

   It's like a little piece of cultural time-lapse photography. What took western culture more than four centuries to do to the Native-Americans took only twenty years here. Ladakh has become a cautionary tale and a monument to western greed and stupidity.

   Now there is poverty and unemployment, stress-related disease, women are devalued, the people are ashamed of their "backward" culture, there is little leisure but a great deal of pollution and waste as well as dispute between Muslims and Buddhists and the population had increased markedly. ("Interestingly, a number of Ladakhis have linked the rise of birth rates to the advent of modern democracy. "Power is a question of votes" is a current slogan, meaning that, in the modern sector, the larger your group, the greater your access to power. Competition for jobs and political representation within the new centralized structures is increasingly dividing Ladakhis.")

   Chiildren are trained to become specialists in a technological rather than an ecological society. They no longer have time to learn the superb survival techniques of their families. Western culture is creating artificial scarsity and inducing competition.

   Now I understand the mechanism better. A culture that has a heavily subsidized infrastructure invades a traditional self-sustaining culture and creates artificial "needs." So they go to the city to earn money which they never needed before, leaving their farms and women, who are immediately devalued because they're not wage earners. The people are no longer planting, irrigating, spinning wool, gathering seeds, harvesting, playing music and singing and telling stories, having seasonal parties, marriage parties or funeral watches - together.

   Time has become a commodity. It has become uneconomical to grow one's own food, make one's own clothes and build one's own house. You have to pay your neighbors for the work that the whole community used to do for free.

   The men are in the cities earning money and the women are producing tourist commodities with the wool they used to spin for their own use and the food they used to grow for their own families. Now they grow cash crops for strangers so they can make enough money to buy polyester clothes and walkmans and jeans for their kids and food grown hundreds of miles away and fuel trucked in from afar.

   The Yak and the Dzo, uniquely suited for high altitudes of Ladakh gave rich milk but not as much as western cattle. So what did the conquering culture do? They imported cattle that can't make it at such altitudes, so more land has to be relegated to planting crops to feed the cattle, thereby upsetting the balance. And they call this progress.

   Why can't we just leave people alone - especially when they're doing FINE without us?

   "When one-third of the world's population consumes two-thirds of the world's resources," says Norberg-Hodge, "and then in effect turns around and tells the others to do as they do, it is little short of a hoax. Development is all too often a euphemism for exploitation, a new colonialism."

   All this would be a dismal tragedy comparable to Columbus's complete genocide of the Tainos if not for a "counter development" movement generated in part by this author. Since the Ladakhis can't go back, they can at least go forward. Instead of importing expensive fossil fuels (previously they had used yak dung and kept warm) they can have solar houses and greenhouses, which have worked very well and given them one benefit that they have previously not had. That's something. Information is another plus. The people are being made aware that westerners pay more for whole grains, organic vegetables, pure water, natural fibers, and natural building materials - things these people have had for a thousand years without money. This is something so-called third-world people are generally not told about.

   Once in a while a book comes along that changes one's perspective forever. *Ancient Futures* is such a book. I haven't been the same since.

   One of the reviewers on this site said he ended up buy copies for his friends. So have I. This book is a must-read for every person who is concerned about the preservation of our planet and our species.

   pamhan99@aol.com




3. Rarely have I felt more dispair about the direction of what we know as civilization as I felt halfway through this book. The Ladakh people are described as happy, healthy, and self-reliant. Suddenly, the "real world" happens to them, and they come to see themselves as poor, when before they had no need of money.

   The authors do a nice job of weaving a story of hope at the end but I have concern for the future of these people. It helps me understand the decision the government of Bhutan has made to isolate themselves from western-style civilization.




4. This book has changed the way I looked at the issues of development, modernisation & morals. An amazing read, beautifully written and with great insights.

   I have just returned from a trip to Ladakh and I could really relate to what Ms.Norberg talks about in the book.

   Just a couple of side issues. It'd be good to know what exactly went wrong in Ladakh. Here are a people who for 2000 years had lived successfully by the rules of Buddhism. How & why did Buddhism fail these people in the face of global/western economic & cultural imperialism? Does the blame lie with Buddhism- it being too 'compassionate' and allowing a religion? Does the blame lie with the Ladakhis who probably were not as sincere Buddhists as they are made out to be?

   After all if they really were such devout Buddhists, how come they fell to the greed that capitalism breeds?

   Anyway, these are issues which could have been addressed in the book. Regardless, the book is excellent! A must read.




5. After reading this book, I suddenly realized the root problem of Western Civilization: We have no culture. Where there was once culture, we now have an expanding economic order threatening all life on the planet. Through its mechanism of growth and expansion, the global economy is conquering and converting life's diversity into an ecological and social monoculture of cash crops, Levis, soda pop and movie theatres. Perhaps moonscape would be a better word. Of course, it doesn't have to be this way. Our fast-paced, increasingly technological, capital-intensive, fossil fuel-centered, centralized, highly specialized, travel and commercial-oriented, often stressful society is by no means the end-all-be-all of human history. Murder, child abuse, drug abuse, theft, poverty, hunger, and every other problem that plagues the West are not products of human nature. The pathology of civilization is not natural or inevitable, and the Ladakhi are proof of this. Read this book and rediscover ancient, profound, life-affirmating alternatives to the modern humdrum. Discover another way of living, thinking and feeling. Important, necessary, engaging and masterfully written - this book was a treasure to read. Indeed, it was an awaking.
   
   A MUST READ

5 comments about Worlds Before Our Own.

1. This little book is truly a remarkable find. Presented in a clear and lucid style, Mr. Steiger presents information concerning anomalous archeological finds without the hyperbole usually associated with this type of material.
   
   A great deal of information is provided in a compact format. The book is only a total of 224 pages long and is a reprint by Anomalist Books of the book, which was originally published over 30 years ago. It would be nice to have an update of the information provided - has any new information turned up or has anyone done first hand research of any of the sites mentioned? For example, early in the book the author mentions that concrete blocks, as well as a wall of these blocks, were found in a seam of coal in Oklahoma in 1928. Due to a tunnel collapse, this section of the mine was immediately closed thereafter. It would be interesting to follow-up on this report by first hand reporting of the site in question.
   
   Overall, the book is worth the money and provides a very nice overview of this topic.



2. Very interesting information - it makes me think that the history we're taught in school is so edited down, we may as well start over to get any kind of grasp of where we've come from. I'm glad this was compiled and preserved - it has reorganized my thinking in several areas. The only reason I'm not giving it 5 stars is that no real way is given to authenticate every case included in the book.



3. The mounting scientific and paleontological evidence towards an alternative to the current world view, that man evolved from apes during the last three to five million years, is skillfully and relentlessly presented by Brad Steiger in this landmark book. It is now widely accepted that the fragmented physical evidence for the establisment view would not actually fill a car boot whereas the accumulation of what are considered by science to be random anomalous finds is quickly filling a space the size of the Royal Albert Hall. Quite apart from the evidence which is being subverted from public view the tidle wave of skeletal remains, human footprints frozen in rock strata alongside those of dinosaurs, metal tools, metal jewellery and metal ornaments all discovered in strata beyond 50 million years of age, all point to human involvement in the affairs of planet Earth on a timescale which completely alters and constantly predates the established view by millions of years.
   We are long overdue for a radical review of human origins and our perceptions of our place in the universe. The tipping point will come when the general public comes forward in greater numbers to question the current thesis. Anyone at all interested in human origins and the birth of civilizations would do well to get up to speed and educate themselves on the subject and what better place to start than with this excellent book.



4. I read this because a young member of my book group is interested in such topics (para-normal, alternative history, etc.) Can't say I was impressed. Most of the book was regurgitated quotes from other writings, and mostly out of date. I found the book repetitive and disorganized. The topics were indeed interesting--where did we come from? how much more do we have to learn about the history of the earth and of humans? how advanced were previous civilizations and how much can we discover about them? I liked the premise, but not the presentation.



5. Hi everyone. This is not your usual run of the mill ufo conspiracy theory book written for psychics by authors who can't distinguish the nuts & the bolts from the spiritual, whereby the only people who can see ufos are of the psychic persuasion but is rather an alternative view on ancient civilisations & the possibility that we are not the first advanced technological civilisation. The author goes on to describe annoying annomolies & artifacts that are dug up at archaeological digs from depths in the ground where only dinosaur bones are supposed to be found which would make these artifacts millions of years old. The author also asks the taboo question whether mankind actually existed alongside these giant reptiles.
   
   Not only is there mention of giant reptiles but of giant humans, too. Is it possible that the human race were responsible for the extinction of the dinosaurs? There is mention of a giant human skeleton at 34 feet long! This raises the questions if there were such massive humans what species were they & if technology was so advanced at one time is it possible that these humans were genetically engineered to be so big & why isn't there mention of these giant human species in orthodox natural history books?
   
   Atlantis is also mentioned & the possibility was mentioned that it was once a vast island continent that spanned the Atlantic ocean & may have been destroyed by complacent scientists or in a massive prehistoric war. Amerindian history teaches of human history as being cyclic, that is the human race starts off as hunter gatherers & then advances technologically until the human race meets a golden age in science & medicine & then the advanced civilisation gets destroyed either in a natural disaster or the human race becomes arrogant, complacent & greedy & destroys itself in a massive war! There is mention of evidence of prehistoric nuclear conflicts on our planet where glassy patches are found in the sand in some of the desert areas of our planet similar to those found in the Nevada desert after nuclear experiments were carried out in world war 2.
   
   Amerindian history also teaches that there are to be seven cycles & by the seventh cycle mankind would have learnt to live in harmony with nature & with each other & that the human race would have reached the point of utopia. The author ran through the seven cycles & he is of the opinion we are probably in the sixth cycle & not the seventh! Afterall you only have to look around you at our society today, particularly western society which is based on capitalism, greed & overpopulation to realise that our society is heading towards the destruction of our planet & ourselves! Everything has to be done at 90 miles an hour today, even our leisure is based on being hard & fast! Today we live in a revolting materialistic must have society, a society based on selfishness!
   
   Amerindian culture which is totally alien to our way of thinking but far superior in idealism is based on putting back into the Earth what is taken from it & the Amerindians never overpopulated there habitat unlike us in the west who have been overpopulated for centuries & have always had to rely on a technological fix to sustain our population levels. The author also emphasises that Amerindian society wasn't always primitive but was once very advanced like our own society, possibly even more so with heavier than air flying machines. There is also mention that some sightings of wee folk seen both in Europe & Amerindian culture could be attributed to the ufo sightings that are seen today! Is it possible that some historians have found evidence of these advanced machines that appear as ufos & that these have now been reverse engineered by the American military & this technology actually existed in prehistory?
   
   Do buy this book it's an interesting read & very thought provoking!

5 comments about Trickster Makes This World Mischief, Myth, and Art.

1. This book, like the myths it describes, is an interpretation. It is one man's exploration of his own exploration of the trickster myths. True, some of the tricksters he indentifies don't live up to his own definition; and true, his own definition is elastic. The structure of the book is a bit circular and tangential, not the most eloquently structured thing I've read. But... the book is also full of insights about how we erect a world, both in story and in fact. It makes distinctions that, as other reviewers have said, are glaringly obvious once you've read them, but were somehow beyond the pale before you read the book.

   I've not yet read The Gift, though I did purchase it after reading half-way through this book. I found "Trickster" inspiring and insightful, often funny, always surprising.

   Hyde does not promise us a scholarly dissection, which, when you consider that we're talking about myths, is entirely appropriate. His writing, even when he takes us on tangents, is fluid and clear. He's someone I'd want to have dinner with, maybe once a month or so, just to hear where his thinking is going and where it's been.

   Read the excerpt. See for yourself.




2. A brilliantly written, funny and moving book--filled with substantial scholarship and honest about its own stakes.

   To tell you the truth, I was moved to write this review by the two reviews below, both of which fall pretty wide of the mark. First, this is an amazingly well-written book, and that goes for both Hyde's prose style and his winding structure. His reflections of his own project do not upstage the subject matter but rather deepen and situate it in "time-haunted history." I wonder why anyone would expect or want a book about tricksters to be linear and transparent. By this I don't mean to suggest that Hyde is exactly "performing" the trickster in his writing. He announces his approach perfectly well: Saturn dreams of Mercury.

   I suspect that this book will frustrate all species of lazy reader because it asks for a sustained, continuous, and thorough reading. All the chapters are rewarding individually, but they are best read sequentially. If you want to be able to look at a table of contents and pick one or two chapters by topic, find a doctoral thesis, or a utilitarian academic monograph.




3. The Trickster is a mythological or archetypal character found in stories throughout the world. The best known in Western myth are Hermes and Loki. In this fascinating study, Lewis Hyde gives equal time to the Native American Coyote, the Chinese Monkey King and India's Krishna. At first glance, these characters are merely pranksters; humorous, sometimes annoying and occasionally dangerous ne'er do wells who disrupt the normal flow of things. As the title of this book suggests, Hyde believes tricksters are much more than this. He makes a convincing case that tricksters are essential in both preserving and transforming societies. Without their disruptions, cultural stagnation would result. He points out that tricksters can either help to maintain the status quo or bring about radical transformation. An example of the former case is illustrated by carnivals such as Mardi Gras, where social customs are predictably and temporarily ignored or reversed. This allows people to vent their frustrations and unleash their inhibitions before returning to normal life. Hyde mentions the abolishionist Frederick Douglas as an example of the more radical sort of trickster who brings about permanent change. Within the institution of slavery, slaves were allowed one week of freedom and revelry. Douglas was not satisfied with this; he wanted to completely overhaul the status quo and indeed helped to accomplish this. Trickster Makes this World describes the antics of both actual (e.g. Douglas, the artist Marcel Duchamp) and mythic (e.g. Hermes, Coyote, Krishna) tricksters. This, of course, suggests a worldview similar to that of Joseph Campbell and others, who see the mythic as the foundation of real life. This book isn't easy reading; Hyde has a trickster-like style of zig-zagging his way all over a very expansive intellectual terrain. It doesn't so much make a case or present an argument as suggest a way of seeing the world. At the center of this worldview is not the all-powerful Zeus, but the slippery messenger/thief/trader Hermes (or one of his counterparts). Getting back to the provocative title, Trickster does not make the world in the conventional way (as the God of the Bible, for example). Rather, he (tricksters are usually male, an issue Hyde devotes a chapter to exploring) remakes and readjusts the world in which he finds himself. This is arguably a task as important as creation itself, or an essential part of creation.



4. Intelligent, widescoped and worthwhile. High academic quality in basic language. The connection of trickster's paradigmatic qualities and capabilities to the spirit of certain modern artisits is an important & original idea! Highly recommended. (Theater directress and lecturer.)



5. This is one of the most interesting books I've read in awhile (and I read a lot.)

No comments about Millennial Monsters: Japanese Toys and the Global Imagination (Asia: Local Studies / Global Themes).