5 comments about The Future of an Illusion.

1. In his 27 Feb 2006 review of Freud's The Future of an Illusion, Roger Schmeeckle misrepresents Freud's explanation (on pages 38-42 of this Norton publication) between Illusion and Delusion.
   
   Roger correctly identified Freud's concept of Delusion as "something that is believed that is not true" -- but then oversimplifies by stating that Freud said an Illusion is "something that may be true or false, but is believed because we want to believe it."
   
   This oversimplification ignores what Freud goes on to say, "Illusions need not be necessarily false - that is to say unrealizable or in contradiction to reality. For instance, a middle-class girl may have the illusion that a prince will come and marry her. This is possible; and a few such cases have occurred. That the Messiah will come is much less likely. Whether one classifies this belief as illusion or something analogous to delusion will depend on one's personal attitude."
   
   The point being, that while the "absolute" truth or falsity of an illusion is debatable - common sense and reason enable us to infer or deduce where the truth actually lies. For instance, it IS possible that the Sun will rise in the west tomorrow (as I am unable to prove something false which has yet to occur), but I would be a fool and utterly devoid of reason and intellect to presume that it will occur.
   
   Roger then asserts that Freud was "not so much atheistic as irreligious." That Freud was irreligious is certain (what atheist wouldn't be) -- but I do not understand how anyone can read The Future of an Illusion and not easily conclude that the author was a confirmed atheist. The entire work is a testament to atheism. Accordingly, it is absurd to suggest that because Freud does not simply state "I do not believe in God" there is reason to infer that he may have believed in one.
   
   Roger continues by arguing that Freud had a "bias" or "prejudice" against religion, whereby Freud's "wish" for there to be no God led him into his own Illusions of atheism. This is quite a stretch and a distortion of Freud's dissertation -- which has at its core the fundamental assertion of reason and the power of the intellect to overcome humankind's infantile and primitive need for "wish fulfillment" in the form of a protective and benevolent God.
   
   And in a final shot, Roger accusing Freud of being a prisoner of his times -- a subject of "materialistic determinism" -- and for not having investigated or being familiar with "the evidence and reasoning of those who defend their own religious belief."
   
   Yet, that Freud was all too familiar with and understanding of the nature and roots of religious beliefs is the hallmark of The Future of an Illusion. That he might have been a "materialistic determinist" is unknown to me -- but that he was a genius as well as great "Humanist" with a profound regard for and understanding of the Human Race seems clear.



2. This is a very slim text that addresses some very big issues. I would recommend it as part of any Freud collection and also for any collection on religion. Certainly a requirement that one have at least a primer on Freudian concepts so the nature of Illusion can be placed into some kind of meaningful context.



3. This book describes religion as a universal mental illness, which says it all. As such, Freud predicts a time when we can rise above it.
   
   "Religion would thus be the universal obsessional neurosis of humanity; like the obsessional neurosis of children, it arose out of the Oedipus complex, out of the relation to the father." If this is true, then Freud supposes that "a turning away from religion is bound to occur with the fatal inevitability of a process of growth, and ...we find ourselves at this very juncture in the middle of that phase of developement."
   
   It is worth reading quickly, as it makes the same few points over and over.



4. I decided to buy this book after having seen it referenced by many contemporary thinkers (e.g. Daniel Dennett) in their books. Sigmund Freud, the famous Austrian psychiatrist, writes about mankind's struggle with religion and considers what civilization or society would be like if weaned of it. His arguments - bear in mind this book was first published in 1927 - are of the kind a modern-day informed atheist might secretly wonder. I found myself nodding in agreement with a number of Freud's matter-of-fact observations about religion.
   
   For example, he says that mankind will likely focus their energies and learn to adapt to the (harsh) realities of this life if they withdrew their expectations from the vacuous promises of the hereafter. The style of writing is clear but a little weird at times, especially when he pretends to be another party and questions himself on the ideas being argued. In summary, Freud appears to have believed that mankind, in the not-too-distant future will have found a way to go about his daily life without believing in gods or the supernatural and that science will have a significant role in it. I particularly like the last paragraph of the book which states: "No, our science is no illusion. But an illusion it would be to suppose that what science cannot give us we can get elsewhere."
   
   At 67 pages the size of Reader's Digest magazine (not including the biographical introduction), this little blue book is moderate-level reading for anyone interested in the psychology of religious beliefs. It is also a nice addition to any library. I personally, bought this edition because it is rather difficult to find where I live.



5. This is a great read for anyone who is interested in the field of Psychology or Philosophy or anyone that is interested in Freud, whether an avid reader or new to his works. This book takes an amazing look and analysis of the world of religion and its effects on civilization and the individual, which can still be applied to our present civilization. Anyone who can appreciate the work of great thinkers will definitely enjoy this work. My only complaint is that it is so short.

5 comments about The Seven Daughters of Eve.

1. Overall, I found the book to be good. The author's descriptions of DNA replication, the role of proteins, the epochs of prehistory (e.g. Paleolithic) were all done well, providing reference material for later inquiry. I enjoyed the author's stories of discovery including the impact of politics, chance and misfortune. As with religion, politics have a big impact on the progress of science. Fortunately for science, the methodology eventually reveals the correct conclusions, regardless of who might dominate the field, unless, of course, the methodology is politically repressed as was done in the Dark Ages.
   
   The author's account of human evolution seemed plausible but with overemphasis on mitochondrial DNA and the maternal line of descent. He strove to build a story that satisfied (as much as possible) his stated objective of finding one woman as the ancestor of all living people. Doing so appeared to warp the story of human descent. He used the term "clan" for all the people who descended from the same woman. I think of "clan" as being a group of related people living together at the same time. Every one of his Eves lived in a tribe including other woman who may have contributed as much DNA to subsequent generations as that Eve, only doing so via nuclear versus mitochondrial DNA.
   
   It seems implausible that all living people came from one Eve at the dawn of humanity. By the author's own construction, that Eve would have lived among many other women. Using very rough figures, drawn from the book, there might have been 2000 people in the "first" human population 150,000 years ago. That population, as the author suggests, came from earlier human-like ancestors. If I accept the figure of 2000 people, about half, or 1000 were women. It seems implausible that only one of these women would be the female ancestor of all living humans. But even if that were true, it would probably have taken many thousands of years for the mitochondrial descendants of the other women to die out. So, it's not like there was a single Eve who, from the beginning, was the ancestor of all subsequent generations.
   
   Otherwise, the author's accounts deduced from mitochondrial DNA seemed essentially valid and enlightening, for example, in the way he settled some arguments. However, I felt he may have overreached in some of his conclusions, based on the available data. But then we all do that. We fill in the blanks as best we can within our own minds in order to construct a whole. (That's how we get religion.) The author indicates that the presence of Polynesian-type genes in South America resulted from a somewhat obscure coastal migration northward along the east coast of Asia and then south along the west coast of the Americas. This may be correct, but Easter Island, which he recognizes as populated by Polynesians via the direct ocean route, is relatively close to South America (and is now a territory of Chile).
   
   The author dismisses the existence of human races, seemingly prompted by political correctness in recent times. Scientists point out that there is more genetic variation within races than between them, thus claiming that the term "race" is meaningless. But the term "race" was used long before anyone ever knew what DNA was. Race does indeed define segments of humanity which have relatively distinct characteristics and geographical origins. Perhaps races evolved as humans spread out over the world and their populations became isolated from one another. Races were probably on their way to becoming separate species when "civilization" and technology arose and brought the races back together while they could still interbreed.
   
   There should have been more charts and some maps to support text. It was difficult to follow some descriptions without such aids.
   
   I did not find the seven fictional chapters on the seven daughters of Eve to be helpful. A scientific discussion of their place in time would have sufficed.
   
   It will be very interesting to see how the story of mankind unfolds as more discoveries are found and the nuclear DNA history is unraveled. I don't believe that the "hobbit" had been discovered when the author wrote his book. I'm referring to fossils of the miniature man found on the Indonesian island of Flores in 2003. This miniature hominid is currently classified as homo floresiensis and may have lived only 18,000 years ago, contemporaneously with modern humans, similar to Neanderthal Man.



2. Bryan Sykes has an exceptionally clear and engaging writing style and he has lot of interesting material to share. I found this book very interesting on multiple levels:
   
   a. Exceptionally interesting DNA case studies of the Hamsters, the last Russian Czars, the Polynesians and Europians in particular as well as other ones comparing Homo Sapiens (us) with the Neanderthals. As an aside - the history fo the hamsters described is very interesting - did you know that these are originally from Syria and that all the millions of pet hamsters living today are the direct descendants of a single feamle hamster that lived in 1930! This whole interesting story is one among many described in this interesting book.
   
   b. Very good perspective from a top scientist - the incredible rigor involved, the difficult questions to address and how solutions were slowly developed by his team, the competition, the challenges from the establishment and others alike, the emotions involved.....
   
   c. Exceptionally clear explanations of the actual genetics involved - very clear and concise descriptions of concepts that are all too often glossed over in many other books written for the general reader
   
   d. The actual recreations of the 7 Eves - an approach that several reviewers have objected to, however, i found those chapters insightful as well
   
   Some reviewers have taken exception to the "self-centered approach" but in my view that is part and parcel of describing several ground-breaking and cutting-edge studies in the first person.
   
   Overall, a very interesting book and one that has got me thinking of getting my own DNA analyzed as well. I expect to read other books from Bryan Sykes as well. Can't recommend it strongly enough.
   
   -Sudip Chahal



3. This book is great for the average person. What a way to explain our DNA & what was impressive to me was how he came about narrowing down our ancestors & particularly how we all are related back to Eve's children! I would love to know which one is my ancestral Mom! Mother's are special, and he makes us realize it more!



4. I read this book because I had read about National Geographic's Genome Project including the book by the Project Director Spencer Wells. I wanted to learn more on the subject and get other points of view.
   
   The first part of Sykes' book is the most interesting because he summarizes the major advances especially on the maternal side better than Wells without being too technical. The other book was shorter but more technical. Sykes really writes an informative book that takes us step by step through the advances in genetics following the mother's mitochondrial DNA in a kind of "gee whiz" manner about the dicoveries. I accepted that enthusiasm because he does tell you at the beginning that he is a scientist, but his writing is understandable. He elaborates on the scientific debates as a way to communicate the shadings of judgement that go into advancing this frontier of science. The application of genetics to ancestry is fascinating stuff to me..a non scientist. It is...within a short period of time...opening a new door and accelerating the study of Mankind and the evolution of our species. You also get a picture of past Ice Ages and a discussion of "What Happened to the Neanderthals."
   
   In the second part of the book, Sykes speculates on the day to day lives of the seven daughters. After reading the first of these I skipped to the last 2 chapters, then closed the book. I am glad I read the chapters I did.



5. Mr. Skyes narrates his lifetime investigations and his team's discoveries in genetics and merges them with his knowledge of history, archaeological findings (like pottery style and design) and human migrations. This part I found very interesting, although I know there are diverging opinions regarding the two main migrations that are described; in each of the two cases this book is an excellent account of one side of the debate. Mr. Skyes writes with such passion about his point of view and the wrongness of the other scientists, that it makes the story far more interesting and I am definitely compelled to read the other side of it.
   
   The book explains in an easy to read and understandable way the basics of DNA markers and how we can trace our female ancestors through mitochondrial DNA. By means of analyzing the mutations in mitochondrial DNA, scientists can estimate the approximate time and place when the human race appeared on earth and how they expanded from Africa to Asia and Europe. The concept of the seven daughters of Eve, of which the European women descend is also quite interesting, since it does not mean that all women of their tribe had the same DNA (there could have been others), but this seven woman were the only ones to have descendants until our time.
   
   The first part of this book is one of the best books I have read. The author writes as if it were a novel and succeeds to transmit his passion for the subject. The book may oversimplify things a bit and some conclusions might have been taken too far, but in any case it is an interesting and thought provoking reading. Now I will try to find something about Adam...
   
   The second part of the book seems as if the author did not find enough material to complete it, so he introduced short narratives about the life in "clans" of the 7 daughters of Eve. Mr. Skyes should have asked Jean M. Auel to co-author the second part of the book, then if the stories were not to add value to the scientific part of the book, at least they would have been more entertaining. In the end, it doesn't matter, the first part is well worth the reading, just skip the rest.

4 comments about Introduction to Physical Anthropology.

1. If this book is required for your anthropology course, then you're in luck! I appreciate that the authors genuinely enjoy the subject matter, and that it comes through in their writing.
   
   The book is very well organized. You can look forward to chapters of reasonable length -- usually 25 to 30 pages, at most. There are lots of colourful pictures and diagrams, though some flowcharts seem like page fillers to me. The margins are used for definitions of new key words and concepts, a very useful feature.
   
   Aside: There's a little bit of "handwaving" in the early chapters introducing concepts of genetics. That's unfortunate, but necessary at the same time. So if you're interested in the details, I encourage you to pick up a genetics textbook (I liked Concepts of Genetics), or better yet, take a genetics course.
   
   There are certainly debates and controversies in the field. This makes sense, since there are so many unknowns. I appreciate that the authors make mention of differing perspectives and points of view when appropriate.



2. The book is well written, factual and easy to read/understand. Chapters and concepts are not too overwhelming.



3. Thank you so much for the book. It was in great condition, and was shipped quickly. Hope to do business with you in the future.



4. This text was used in my Intro to Biological Anthropology course and I found it to be very useful and interesting. The sections on evolution and genetics are very similar to the material covered in Campbell/Reece's widely used Biology text. I often found myself skimming through chapters that weren't even assigned for class because the material was so fascinating. Key terms are conveniently located in the margins of the text for easy flash card making and studying.

5 comments about The Thinker's Toolkit: 14 Powerful Techniques for Problem Solving.

1. I consider this to be a very `French' book. The French have the reputation of never getting a whole lot done due to their habit of extreme and unending analysis. No question goes unanswered. No possible rabbit trail left to surprise. Not a single contingency allowed. You'll be much more able to over-analyze using the techniques in The Thinker's Toolkit.
   
   I actually love this book. It's basically a treatise on applied logic told in a very readable and useable way. Topics include developing weighted rankings, decision trees, the devil's advocate, and others. There are scores of graphics and asides to help in understanding the concepts.
   
   Don't be put off by the title or the topics: the book is an excellent help for everyday decisions. For examples Jones discusses buying a car or purchasing insurance. He uses newspaper headlines throughout the book as topics for investigation. The entire work is very readable and equally as interesting. Definitely one of the best books on the subject.



2. This is a great book for anyone who needs to make important decisions. I'm with a professional services (consulting) firm, and we're about to make this book mandatory text for all our consultants. It's that good!
   
   Morgan Jones starts off describing that human beings are bad decision makers, but kid themselves about their ability to make good decisions. Then, the book describes 14 tools that can be used to make decision making more structured and error-free. Each tool is described through a story, and has plenty of exercises to try out the tool. It even has the "solutions" at the back to verify your approach.
   
   The book has a few shortcomings. For starters, it does not describe which situations each tool is most useful for. The sample exercises present the facts together - something that is unlikely to be replicated in real life. It also does not classify decisions as being big or small - some decisions are too small to apply structured tools presented here, while some decisions are too big to depend solely on these tools.
   
   This book is written like a textbook. To get full value from The Thinker's Toolkit, you'd have to really participate in the exercises actively. If you're planning to skim through the book, then I'd recommend you drop this book and instead read "Making Great Decisions in Business and Life" by Henderson & Hooper.
   
   To sum up, it's a great textbook if you're a consultant or would like to teach structured problem solving. Bring out your pen and paper!



3. This should be mandatory for all High School students. Clearly teaches logical thinking and how to make the best choice



4. Complete tools for problem solving; a workbook, not a quick read. Only for the very, very serious.



5. This is a tremendous asset to those facing decisions where there's been a loss of perspective or too many alternatives exist.

5 comments about In Search of Memory: The Emergence of a New Science of Mind.

1. A fabulous book from a distinguished scientist who has spent his career in search of memory. Part memoir, part history of neuroscience, and part pop science account, this is definitely an informative and even an entertaining read. It is filled with colorful characters from the past and present of neuroscience, some famous, some primarily known within their particular field of research. One of these colorful characters was Alden Spencer, who was one of Kandel's colleagues, who had a sharp mind and died at a tragically young age. The book also contains some very interesting information about the brain basis of mental illness, including some interesting rodent studies. Also discusses a merging of biological and psychoanalytical thought, plus some recent ideas about consciousness. Overall, a very worthwhile and enjoyable read, for the scientist and general reader alike, delivered with the same thoughtfulness and attention to detail as in his co-authored textbook, Principles of Neural Science. Author of Adjust Your Brain: A Practical Theory for Maximizing Mental Health.



2. I don't believe many people would choose to give up a promising career as psychiatrist in order to spend their life studying the reaction of a snail neuron to electrical shocks, even though that particular snail might be quite gigantic. But Dr. Kandel did exactly this and, what is even more astonishing, succeeded in writing a very readable book about it. At first glance, the findings of his research seem to be of even more limited scope than one would expect from the previous description. If an electric charge is applied to one end of a neuron how, and under what conditions, is a related charge transmitted to neurons located near its other end? Equally important, how do such events change the system so that successive stimulation events cause later results to differ from earlier ones? This last effect is where memory comes in.
   
   Dr. Kandel's research discovered what makes this process work and how the "synapses" between adjoining neurons physically change with successive charge transmittals. But the existence of the process itself had been theoretically predicted decades earlier by the psychologist D. Hebb. His ideas formed the basis of computer science's early artificial intelligence programs that did not wait for experimental proof of the theory's correctness. Nevertheless, as Dr. Kandel himself admits, knowing how neuron synapses change with use cannot explain anything about how our brain remembers aunt Thelma and her idiosyncrasies. Although he takes a few pages to discuss the modern treatments for dementia and Alzheimer disease, he admits that an entirely different approach will be needed to experimentally study the actual functioning of the brain and its memory.
   
   But the book is not a dull relating of experiments. Interspersed through its pages we find the story of the author growing from a child in pre-Nazi Vienna to a Nobel laureate and a colorful description of the award ceremonies. (Be careful, however, when reading his discussion of the finances of the Nobel Foundation on pages 396 and 397. Poor editing, probably, has confused the data valid at the time of the Foundation's inception with those applicable when he received his own prize.) He takes time to proudly describe the mental excellence of his children, from the remarkable poem that his six-year-old daughter wrote about his snail to the adult achievements of his children and their spouses. And every now and then, his anger at the Nazis and the world's indifference to their treatment of the Jews peeks out of his writing.
   
   This is a remarkable book and, considering the difficulty of the subject, a very readable one. I recommend it to all who are interested in how the brain works.
   
   (The writer is the author of "The Way of the Butterfly: A Scientific Speculation on God and the Hereafter," and of "Christianity Without Fairy Tales: When Science And Religion Merge
   .")



3. Nobel Prize winner Eric R. Kandel is perhaps one of the most insightful and visionary scientists in the field of neurology today. In his book, In Search of Memory: The Emergence of a New Science of Mind, Kandel weaves his own autobiography in with an explanation of his discoveries about the nature of memory from the standpoints of history, molecular biology, psychology, and anatomical neuroscience. Kandel begins the book as an exploration of his childhood, explaining his roots in Nazi-occupied Austria and his subsequent move to America. There, he began researching at Columbia University, which is when he began to be interested in neuroscience. Kandel's initial motivation, which is eloquently described by him as a call to action rather than simply an academic drive, was to biologically explain Freud's structural theory of psychology. That is, Kandel sought to describe the ego, superego, and id, and their interactions with consciousness from a purely neurological perspective.
   In the course of his early research, Kandel encountered the hard realization that he had to study the brain and its functions "one cell at a time." He, along with many others in the 1950s, began studying the basic physiology of the brain in an attempt to explain basic neurological phenomena which previously were never explained. Using large crayfish axons, Kandel began to study brain function with the express goal of finding the locus of memory in the cerebral cortex on the surface of the brain. He realized that there was no anatomical center for memory storage in the cerebral cortex. In the advent of this defeat, he joined the Laboratory of Neurophysiology at the National Institutes of Health in 1957 and experimented on hippocampal neurons with two other colleagues. They noticed that there were spontaneous action potentials that didn't necessarily correspond to normal brain activity, but couldn't draw a conclusion as to what this indicated. Ultimately, they concluded that although there was no direct electrophysiological evidence that memory storage occurs in the hippocampus, there was still possibility of further experimentation before the hippocampus could be ruled out.
   It was around this time that Kandel's real work began. He theorized that memory and learning are directly dependent on inter-neuronal communication; that is, he believed that, in his own words, "...learning modifies the strength of the synaptic connections between neurons." Kandel decided to study invertebrates, specifically, Aplysia californica, a mollusk. In 1981, he and many colleagues at New York University studied the behavior and all type of neuronal communications in Aplysia, which ultimately provided a solid basis for understanding learning as an increase in the strength of synaptic connections and excitatory nerve impulses. Simultaneously, Kandel and his colleagues concluded that there were also changes in protein composition of ganglions in long-term memory formation. This lead to the fundamental and final conclusion that short-term memory stemmed from changes in existing neurons, while long-term memory was derived from an increase in the number of synaptic connections between ganglion cells.
   Kandel's endeavors and the method by which he approached them are to be admired. The way in which he constructed his book, half scientific treatise and half memoir, is beautiful in its own right because it provides insight into a life guided first by self-fulfillment, and second by the quest for knowledge. I found his book important and timely, especially because the field of neuroscience is expanding so fast, largely based on discoveries that Kandel made. Because of Dr. Kandel, we now know how much further we must go before we have a true understanding of the human brain.



4. Had Eric Kandel been my Science teacher back in High School, I would've probably picked Medicine or Biochemistry as my BA, instead of English. This book took me quite long to read -about 3 months-, both due to second-language interference (English is not my native language) and to my nearly complete ignorance regarding even basic biology and chemistry. Yet, despite having had to make an effort more than once to fully comprehend what I was reading I DID NOT FEEL AT ALL BORED. NOT EVEN ONCE.
   
   In fact, I was so fascinated by the book and Kandel's enthusiasm over his research was so contagious, I searched for and got my hands on some basic Biology texts in order to delve deeper into some concepts and get a better grasp on the significance of his and his colleagues' findings. In addition to this, the text itself is written in easily readable language and the scientific explanations are presented in a manner simple enough to be understood by both scientific and un-scientific minds (such as mine), and accompanied by illustrations that make them even clearer.
   
   When regarded as Kandel's autobiography, detailing his line of research, the obstacles he met, and his motivation to comprehend the biology of memory, it is a fascinating text for anyone interested on getting some insight on what it is that makes great minds tick.
   
   When regarded as a biography presenting the birth and development of a new science that combines Biology, Chemistry, Physiology, Psychiatry and many specific sub-areas within these disciplines, it is simply a "must read". Even for someone who, like me, completely lacks scientific formation.



5. Such a simple and beautiful expression of one's own life history embracing the history of neuroscience: Written with simplicity, ease and humor this book tells the history of neuroscience beautifully harmonized with the Kandel's own life history. I do not know of any other authors who explain the scientific approaches to the study of mind in such an understandable way. Ayla Arslan, Istanbul.

5 comments about Cultural Anthropology: The Human Challenge.

1. I only bought this book because I had to for a college general education class. WAY overpriced for a book I'll never use again. By far more expensive per page than any other text book I've ever had to purchase.



2. The book arrived in perfect conditions. I hope this vendor would offer overnight shipping or at least other fast delivery option than regular shipping next time, however he complied with his promises. I am very please.
   Thanks



3. This book came way before expected and I got it just in time for the class I needed it for!



4. i feel as if i payed too much for this book and i barely use it for my telecourse class. cant wait to sell this thing back!



5. This book is not worth for around 100 bucks i paid. Hard to read and not easy to follow

5 comments about Freud And Beyond: A History Of Modern Psychoanalytic Thought.

1. I would strongly recommend this book to anyone wanting a historical perspective of the development of psychoanalytic theory. This book takes you through different offsprings of psychoanalysis beginning with Freud's contribution. It also offers a comparison of each new theory with classic Freudian psychoanalytic thought so you have an idea of which aspects were further developed and which ones were "trashed." It's a good foundational book for anyone beginning an interest in psychoanalysis.



2. If you, like me, are curious and fascinated about psychology and psychoanalysis, have confusedly heard some bits & pieces about Freud and his weird but intriguing ideas, and think that it has finally come the time when you want to find out what it's all about, this book will serve you as a gentle and effective introduction. You will gain an historical perspective of the main theories and school of thoughts, with enough material to get you started and further stimulate your curiosity, avoiding overwhelming details. Of course to really appreciate psychology and psychoanalysis you eventually have to read the main authors directly... as this discipline is not clear cut like mathematics or computer science, and the interpretation and relative weights given to the original ideas can play a major role. But you have to start somewhere, you need to have a bird's view of the discipline so that you find your orientation and decide where to go digging for more. This book serves exactly this purpose, with a synthesis of Freud's views, and an exposition of the derivation of his theories . the psychology of the ego, the Psychology of the Self, and Freudian revisionism. Alongside this historical development some case studies are presented, a nice addition to help keep the discussion on practical and realistic terms. As a minor criticism to this book, I wish there cases had been discussed in more depth. Also, you cannot help getting the impression that , like in philosophy, psychology is a field where bs is standard practice, there are no experiments like in physics and biology that can disprove the impostors. As a general rule, avoid the most convoluted and obscure authors. Freud might be weird, he might be wrong, but at least he was very clear about his ideas. Almost invariably, here and elsewhere, complexity is just a cover for emptiness.



3. This book is one of the best that I've read on Freud, his ideas, and those who have branched from the psychoanalytic movement. It gives case examples for Freud's most basic concepts and showcases psychoanalytic therapists beautifully. I would HIGHLY recommend this book.



4. I received this book by accident.It was bought as a present for another person and was left at my house. On finding it I started to read without a lot of interest, but suddenly realied that this book is a wonderful review of phsychoanalysis. It is easy to understand and gives a thumbnail review of many important people in this field. After having spoken very enthusiasically to other people I was asked to get another copy and others have asked to borrow mine after I have finished. But this book will only be lent out and not given, this is a reference book of the highest wuality.



5. What a delight to read: it is hard to put down and not let its appeal interfer with work. Mitchell is a gifted writer who can explain the difficult in delightful prose. His descriptions glide over the page and you are spurred on to learn more. He manages to cover most of the development and ideas of psychoanalysis from its beginnings with Freud to the present. A rare find.

3 comments about Mind in Society: Development of Higher Psychological Processes.

1. This is one of the earliest and still one of the best introductions to socio-historical psychology, the study of how individual human intelligence develops in interaction with people and the environment. In concert with many contemporary approaches in cognitive science today, Lev Vygotsky, A.R. Luria and A.N. Leontiev argued that human intelligence is characteristically mediated through objects and social activity. Humans think through tools. Talking to oneself, for example, is not an irrelevant activity. Putting one's actions into speech is a way of focusing one's consciousness on the problem. This kind of speech is not pointless, but rather a cognitive tool that gives one a greater awareness of one's own actions and makes it easier to modify these actions--a point that Vygotsky proved with research on how children solved problems. Much of human activity involves making use of tools, signs, and activities, the kinetic melodies of action and conceptualization that make us smart, and through which we are able to accomplish the uniquely human feats of complex intellectual action. This is an excellent place to begin studying Vygotsky and activity theory. If you like this you will also like A.R. Luria's *The Making of Mind*, and the classics *The Man With A Shattered World* and *The Mind of a Mnemonist*, the books that inspired Oliver Sacks' writing.



2. While the book is full of theory that might discourage someone from reading it, it has an absolutly fantastic practical implacation worth the effort! The second half of this book, "Educational Implications" discusses the Zone of Proximal Development. Learning about this "Zone" plus the discussion regarding how children learn to read and write, tells those of us who really want to help children learn, ways to set-up an environment and activities to do it!!
   Don't let the theory scare you away, this is a MUST READ!



3. This is a good start to understanding the researh and theories of Lev Vygotsky.

5 comments about The Culture Code: An Ingenious Way to Understand Why People Around the World Live and Buy as They Do.

1. 
   Nice stories, good observations, simplistic exposés and bold statements... but dubious generalizations.
   
   This book fails to satisfy the very basic rules of logic. One can propose a generalization of a phenomenon based on unique observations and, depending upon which school of epistemology you belong to, either treat it as a hypothesis that must yet be proven, or adopt it as theory until it is proven wrong (i.e., falsified). But in either case, the existence of a counterexample will shatter the claim. If you are willing to read Rapaille's book from a critical thinking perspective, you will find a counterexample to his theories on almost every page.
   
   I totally endorse Publishers Weekly's review: "preposterous generalizations and overstatements".
   
   This does not discount the book's value as fantasy novel and "feel-good" reading.



2. There aren't many books I just don't like, but this was one. Rapaille comes across as an elitist who's tricked everyone into believing he's a guru. I would compare his book to a work of art where some know-it-all expert at the gallery is raving about the artist's use of light, color, and internal meaning, only to find out later that the painting was done by an elephant with a brush in its trunk (i.e. waaaay too much meaning assigned to random things). The same is true here. Rapaille's conclusions are ambigious and unproveable, and you or I could spout the same arbitrary theories. For example, because Americans consume a lot of hamburgers, I hereby declare that the culture code for America is a cow. See? It's easy. This type of random link between unrelated things (and the unsupportable claim that they're not random and they ARE related)is what you get with this book. Rapaille's only genius is in convincing corporate America that he is one.



3. We are products of our environment, rearing and experiences. This book may have value from a marketing stand-point. It is not why I read it.
   
   Culture Code is insightful as to the behavior of people based on their life experiences. Our values as a society are reflected in our actions and our purchases. We do what is accepted by the majority and reject many things that are unpopular.
   
   When a culture embraces a behavior we accept it as we grow within that culture. Sometimes it makes sense, other times, it does not.
   
   If you are interested in why things are accepted as relevant for no seemingly good reason, read this title.



4. Although the writer mainly does his (extremely highly paid) work for marketing and advertising purposes, the book gives an unusually deep insight into the underlying meanings of certain concepts for various cultures.
   
   Based on the learning of the particular culture as constructed in early childhood, he defines (for instance) what the word "love" means to several different cultures - and backs up his claims. He says that to the Americans (an adolescent culture) "love" really means "false expectation"; that in France "love" and pleasure are intertwined; the Italians expect love to contain strong dimensions of pleasure, beauty and (above all) fun (and that for them true love is maternal love); and for the Japanese (an older culture) love is a "temporary disease".
   
   No, it's not terribly well written, but most of what he says resonates as true (I have lived for more than a decade each in Western Europe, US and Japan). He provides valuable insights and I'd love to read more on this subject by this author.



5. ... someone will introduce you to positions or ideas that on some level you already know, but in a way that makes you say wow. Now I get it. This is one of those books. Filled with insights that are both revolutionary and obvious, it is a book that will make you re-think the way you talk with your product developers, frontline staff and creative department.

5 comments about The Little Ice Age: How Climate Made History, 1300-1850.

1. Interesting with several unique approaches. The problem for me rests with his intricate explanations of causes of climate changes from North Atlantic Oscillation,Sun spots,solar flares, ocean currents, polar melting, volcanoes. methane release, and a host of other causes. Yet,he speaks in unsubstantated conviction that todays warming is due to mans fossil fuel use. Then he concludes with "The Little Ice Age reminds us that climate change is inevitable, unpredictable, and sometimes vicious.I would ask him does he believe this is really caused by man?



2. This book is a social history of Western Europe and other areas from c.1500-1900. It describes how volcanos, sunspots, ocean currents and other natural phenomena unknown or unappreciated by these people affected their lives. It's an easy read full of anecdotes with a dose of science and the many methods scientists use to determine climate so long ago.
   It's politically neutral and emphasizes the complex processes involved but it's essentially a social history of a period where Winters and Summers were highly variable without much human influence. A great read for an easy understanding of some of the complexities behind the "climate debate".



3. The book was in better condition than expected and arrived sooner than expected, Thank you.



4. Superbly done. The book really hammers out the crucial points of how dramatic historical events were somehow related to violent climate shifts that lasted over 500 years.
   The book examines origins of these violent climate shifts, discusses life during the middle ages and talks about intriguing topics of world events shaped by global climate. Such famous events are the French Revolution, Bubonic Plague of the 1300's, Potato Irish Famine, JamesTown to name just a few.
   The Arthur is very to the point and uses excellent statistics and data to back things up.
   Truly an epic book that will completely change your outlook on history forever.
   Its only 200 pages and can be finished in a weekend. Get it and enjoy.



5. The author of this book is not an environmental determinist, but he makes a plea for us to observe weather as best we can, not only in our time, but in history, and study its interplay with human social, political, artistic, and military activity. He speaks of ice cores, tree rings, contemporary chronicles, and even paintings as ways to recover information about the weather of the past, and his focus is of course the cold years in Europe between 1300 and 1850. The book is filled with vital details; it is filled with precisely stated and very readable observations about what weather has meant to people, what it might mean to us, and it urges us to be more conscious of what is happening with weather today. I found it extremely inviting and thought provoking, and highly recommend it to anyone interested in European history and art. There is tremendous scope here. Anyone interested in Global Warming ought certainly to read the book, too. Quite a pleasure. Quite a terrific book.