Industrial Books


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Industrial Books sorted by Average customer review: high to low .

Industrial
The Early American Industrial Revolution, 1793-1850 (Let Freedom Ring: the New Nation)
Published in Library Binding by Bridgestone Books (2003-01)
Author: Katie Bagley
List price: $23.93
New price: $14.85
Used price: $13.48

Average review score:

History Society Literature
Helpful Votes: 0 out of 0 total.
Review Date: 2004-06-02
This was an outstanding peice of literature. It was informative and overwhelming with information. The book vividly portrayed the Early American Industrial Revolution. It is a great source. Overall, it was an amazing book.

Buga Review
Helpful Votes: 0 out of 0 total.
Review Date: 2004-06-02
This book was mad interesting! Fun for the whole family. It was informative, short, and to the point. It had tons of interesting information about the Early American Industrial Revolution. It was such a cool book. I couldn't put i down, it was a page turner.

Great Book For Teachers
Helpful Votes: 0 out of 1 total.
Review Date: 2004-06-01
This book can be described as a history of the Industrial Revolution focusing primarily on the United States during the nineteenth century and on the change from an agrarian society to one based on machines and factories. This book is very informative. I am a future teacher and plan on using this book while working in the field with my fifth grade class as we learn about the industrial revolution. I also recomend this book to parents who are homeschooling or to anyone who wants to learn more about the Industrial Revolution.

Freedom Rings Brings Clarity
Helpful Votes: 0 out of 1 total.
Review Date: 2004-06-01
The Early American Industrial Revolution, 1793-1850 (Let Freedom Ring: The New Nation) certainly does not seem like a history book to many of its readers. Its extensive use of subtle transitions between anecdotal stories and factual evidence truely makes the reader feel as if he's no longer living in the 21st century, but rather, has entered into an entirely new world of the Industrial Revolution. However, the book fails to describe fully certain key elements inherent to the Industrial Revolution. I would definately recommend this book to people who are interested in understanding a general concept of how the Industrial Revolution changed the course of American development, rather than those interested in a lenghty, confusing, tangent-bearing book.

Industrial
EcoCities: Rebuilding Cities in Balance with Nature
Published in Paperback by New Society Publishers (2006-04-01)
Author: Richard Register
List price: $23.95
New price: $13.95
Used price: $16.41

Average review score:

Awesome with Clarity
Helpful Votes: 0 out of 0 total.
Review Date: 2008-01-14
Anyone involved in city planning or anyone that lives in a city should read this. Power of Proximity!

moderate environmental views
Helpful Votes: 3 out of 7 total.
Review Date: 2006-09-24
Here is an ambitious remit. Register gives a history of the development of cities. And he offers suggestions for what he calls eco-modern designs. That attempt to minimise energy consumption and maximise biodiversity. The former is an obvious laudable aim for any city and its occupants. Rising energy costs, due in part to ever increasing global industrialisation, can adversely affect everyone in a city. Reducing consumption is shown to involve such trends as more energy efficient cars.

But he also advocates a greater biodiversity within cities. More gardens, including on rooftops. Multiple benefits are offered. A more pleasant recreational environment. And reduced cooling costs for buildings.

Register offers a light leftist approach. He does not seem anticapitalist, unlike some radical environmentalists.

A pattern of urban design we will rediscover
Helpful Votes: 6 out of 6 total.
Review Date: 2007-04-09
EcoCities is a book I have returned to repeatedly and discovered new insights every time. Register is no utopian dreamer; he's addressing real problems in contemporary urban design and land use patterns that cannot be sustained in a lower-energy future. Register's personality comes through loud and clear in his writing--this is no dry treatment of the subject.

Through this book, Register helps us to envision with some specificity what urban landscapes light on automobiles but rich in biodiversity could look like. It's as if he's illustrating a series of before and after treatments of various spaces, but the before picture is now and the after is a future yet to be realized. Highly recommended reading for anyone who wants to help actively design their built environment towards sustainability.

One of the keys to Sustainability
Helpful Votes: 8 out of 8 total.
Review Date: 2007-01-11
Along with books like Natural Capitalism and Cradle to Cradle, Ecocities takes its place among the most important environmental tomes of our day. In a nutshell, Richard Register's vision (replete with a plan to get us there) could transform our world. In fact a structural response like ecocities (and smart growth) may be the best tools available to bring us to our only destination, sustainability. In his thoughtful book, Register waxes poetic on the environmental crisis we face, shares a grand vision for addressing the crisis -- while simultaneously improving our everyday lives -- and wraps it up with a road map for getting there. His many illustrations spark the imagination and are guaranteed to put a smile on your face. If you haven't read it, just do. Buy this important book now.

Industrial
El Rostro Cambiante De La Politica En Estados Unidos: La Politica Obrera y Los Sindicatos
Published in Paperback by Pathfinder Press (NY) (1997-07)
Author: Jack Barnes
List price: $23.00
New price: $15.84

Average review score:

¡Trabajadores en lucha necesitan este libro!
Helpful Votes: 1 out of 1 total.
Review Date: 2002-07-22
¿Que hacer? ¿Que podemos hacer: trabajadores, agricultores, jóvenes-- viviendo todas las consecuencias de la creciente crisis capitalista? ¿Y cómo hacerlo juntos, y no en formas aisladas e ineficaces?
Este libro contiene muchas materiales para estudiar, aprender y aprovechar sobre estas cuestiones tan importantes. Se trata sobre todo de experiencias de trabajadores socialistas en Estados Unidos, pero las lecciones son bien relevantes en cualquier parte del mundo. ¡Un libro de historia y de acción obrera!
Analiza el desarrollo de la sociedad capitalista desde los años 70, el impacto de los movimientos de mases para los derechos civiles del pueblo negro y los chicanos, las luchas reivindicando igualdad para las mujeres, la lucha en contra la guerra norteamericana en Vietnam. También ricas experiencias de lucha obrera: la huelga nacional de los mineros de carbón, la lucha para organizar el astillero Newport News y más. Y cuestiones de tácticas y estrategias para organizarse: relaciones entre obreros de conciencia de clase y la burocracia sindical, propaganda y agitación, organización y formación de un partido de vanguardia de los trabajadores.
Me gusta mucho la sección de fotos, que presenta imágenes vivos de los seres humanos envueltos en distintas luchas del pueblo trabajador.
¡Léalo y compártelo con otros compañeros y compañeras!

To understand this world, you need this book
Helpful Votes: 1 out of 1 total.
Review Date: 2002-06-30
To understand the world you need this book. Since the middle
1970s life for working people in the US has been the ups and downs of attacks on our standards of living, little depressions,booms,more attacks, more wars, racism, even threats of fascism, a stock market crash, and now a looming world economic
crisis. The documents assembled in this book from the 1970s, the 1980s, the 1990s chart this development from the standpoint of the Socialist Workers Party. Just as importantly, they chart the lessons and strategies of building a working class response to
this change, and the creative experience of the SWP in building a revolutionary workers party into the twenty-first century. Some day this book will rank with Lenin's What is to be Done, Trotsky's History of the Russian Revolution, and Cannon's Struggle for a proletarian party among the tools socialist workers use to change the world

To understand the world, you need this book
Helpful Votes: 1 out of 1 total.
Review Date: 2002-06-29
To understand the world you need this book. Since the middle
1970s life for working people in the US has been the ups and downs of attacks on our standards of living, little depressions,
booms,more attacks, more wars, racism, even threats of fascism, a stock market crash, and now a looming world economic
crisis. The documents assembled in this book from the 1970s, the 1980s, the 1990s chart this development from the standpoint
of the Socialist Workers Party. Just as importantly, they chart the lessons and strategies of building a working class response to this change, and the creative experience of the SWP in building a revolutionary workers party into the twenty-first century. Some day this book will rank with Lenin's What is to be Done, Trotsky's History of the Russian Revolution, and Cannon's Struggle for a proletarian party among the tools socialist workers use to change the worl

Como hacer una revolución-¡ Sí, en los Estados Unidos !
Helpful Votes: 2 out of 2 total.
Review Date: 2002-07-02
El sindicato es demasiado débil. La dirección es un amigo del patrón.
Toda la gente se queda con los que hablan su lengua y en la cafetería no
se mezclan con los demás. Uno quiere luchar junto por los demás, a favor
de todos los trabajadores, ¿pero cuando vamos unir? Este libro es un
manual para los decidios a tomar un próximo paso. Plantea como debemos
ser internacionalistas; pensar y actuar en términos internacionales;
usar, cambiar y transformar nuestros sindicatos en armas políticas y
sociales en contra todos los súper ricos. Tenemos que construir la
unidad de todos las "razas", entre hombres y mujeres, entre los
inmigrantes y los trabajadores "nacidos en los Estados Unidos". Sobre
todo, tenemos que construir el partido revolucionario de los
trabajadores más consciente y más solidario de todos. El premio para
este proceso es un futuro realmente humano: tomar el poder político, tal
como los trabajadores cubanos hicieron hace más de 40 años -pero aquí en
las entrañas de la bestia imperial yanqui-. Esto es un libro por cada
trabajador y trabajadora consciente.

Industrial
Electricity One - Seven (3rd Edition)
Published in Hardcover by Prentice Hall (1998-08-04)
Author: Harry Mileaf
List price: $77.40
New price: $119.44
Used price: $119.44

Average review score:

Jake Conner
Helpful Votes: 0 out of 0 total.
Review Date: 2007-02-23
I first found this book in a dumpster behind a school. I was 6 years old and read this book. Many of the concepts were easy enough to understand as a youngster. I will never forget the concept of 3phase electricity that I grasped from that book. Thanks to this book I have put instrumentation on the International Space Station and work with Femtosecond laser systems.
Thank you Harry Mileaf! Well done.

Amazing!
Helpful Votes: 3 out of 3 total.
Review Date: 2002-10-20
Clearly, logically organised with the best illustrations and supporting, explanatory text. Worth every cent. A masterpiece!

Great Book! Have taught from it for over 25 years.
Helpful Votes: 4 out of 6 total.
Review Date: 1999-06-09
Suited for study of basic electricity. The book provides excellent illustrations. Have written competency based individualized lessons for major portions of the book.

My all time favorite basic electricity book.
Helpful Votes: 7 out of 8 total.
Review Date: 1999-06-14
I'm a power plant operator. I've had to take basic electricity courses for job promotions, (after taking a written test). This is the only book written (that my co-workers and I have had to study) that you can learn from on your own. The other books seemed to be written for a classroom setting, with an instructor.

Industrial
Electronics Projects For Dummies
Published in Kindle Edition by For Dummies (2007-11-05)
Author: Nancy Muir
List price: $24.99
New price: $9.99

Average review score:

What a great book!
Helpful Votes: 15 out of 15 total.
Review Date: 2007-02-01
Years ago (many, many years...) I was an electronics hobbyist, and I even worked at Radio Shack. Recently, I came across some of my old "toys" and wanted to see what was going on in the world of electronics projects these days. A big fan of the "Dummies" books, I saw this title and took a shot.

At first I was a little dismayed to find that there were only ten or so projects, and looking at them they all seemed pretty lame. But once I studied them I realized that these ten, fairly simple projects, were perfect examples of so many different concepts that were easily adoptable and transportable to many other uses, more like what I had in mind.

Basically with these few projects you can learn about remote control, both IR and RF, speech recorder chips, speech synthesis chips, LED sequencing, light activated controls, motion activated controls, robotic propulsion, and even basics of radios and amplifiers, all using modern, easily obtainable parts.

And in additon to great content, the writers have a great style, using an approach and language that is easily understandable to beginners but meaty enough for experts.

If you are interested in an excellent book to give you a wide introduction to many different electronic concepts, this is the book for you!

Great Book
Helpful Votes: 6 out of 6 total.
Review Date: 2006-07-31
If you're into electronics projects, this book gives you 10 great ones to play with-my favorite was the line-following go-kart that uses an optical sensor. The projects are well organized with parts lists and easy to read schematics. I especially like the clear explanations and the easy going writing style. My only complaint is there weren't more projects-where's the sequel?

A fun read!
Helpful Votes: 7 out of 7 total.
Review Date: 2006-11-06
This book is well written and packed with fun, interesting electronics projects. This book provides a great hands-on way to learn the basics of electronics, how to set up your workspace, read circuits and get familiar with electronics components, especially for someone like me who is nervous about electrical things.

electronics projects for dummies
Helpful Votes: 7 out of 7 total.
Review Date: 2006-08-03
I am a hands on handyman type of person. Electronics have always been something I have avoided because I felt it was too complicated. It delt with something, electrons, that I couldn't see or touch. Not like nails, pipes or wood etc. Saw the book and thought that I would give it a quick look. I now own it. It is funny, informative, covers more than just the basics. The book stresses fun and safety.
I may not build my own computer, but I will build my own Go-Cart. If you have a problem you can actually contact the Authors at [...]

Industrial
Electronics Sensors for the Evil Genius: 54 Electrifying Projects (Evil Genius)
Published in Paperback by McGraw-Hill/TAB Electronics (2006-01-20)
Author: Thomas Petruzzellis
List price: $24.95
New price: $12.46
Used price: $11.33

Average review score:

And I thought Electronic Projects Were Dead
Helpful Votes: 16 out of 18 total.
Review Date: 2006-03-26
Back many, many years ago, when the earth was flat and the sun went around the earth, I built a whole series of crystal radios. It seemed to me that something was lost when everything electronic became a chip and nearly everything you could imagine was made in Japan.

Now all of a sudden comes along this book. No, alas, there's not a crystal radio in it, but there's a short wave radio that's made with three chips. The complexity of the circuits is about the same as the old crystal sets. And the thrill of listening to WWV tell you the time as to be about the same as listening to the local radio station on the crystal set the first time.

There are quite a number of projects suitable for science fairs and the like. Come to think of it, building one of those electronic compasses from page 178 might be a good project even for an old kid of my advanced age.

An Inspiring Manual
Helpful Votes: 2 out of 2 total.
Review Date: 2008-02-01
Also great reference for the rest of us. As a robotics enthusiast, I found the subject of this manual to be of intense interest. After receiving the book, I was further amazed by the inspiring variety and depth of the coverage of the subject matter. MacGyver would have loved this book! For best results, I would recommend that reader has at least a basic knowledge in electronics.
Whether your intention is to give 5 senses to your robotics project, build your own weather station, or build a paranormal detection device, you're well on your way with this compilation.

Nice collection of sensor projects
Helpful Votes: 4 out of 4 total.
Review Date: 2007-05-07
Interesting collection of projects that require more than a simple trip to the Radio Shack to build. Each project has considerable scientific background information not just an electrical schematic and parts list. Many of the projects would make worthwhile science fair projects or other amateur science pursuits.

Good hobbyist book on sensors
Helpful Votes: 42 out of 42 total.
Review Date: 2006-03-26
I own several books by the author, and like his other books, this one is focused on construction details and how each particular circuit works, along with datasheets, as opposed to theory. So if you are looking for the theory of operation on individual sensors, I think you will be disappointed. However, if you are just looking for interesting projects to build, this book is full of good ideas for circuits. The projects range from the more simple and inexpensive, such as the overtemperature alarm, to the more complex and costly advanced electronic ion chamber. If you want a good book on sensors and the theory behind them you might try Fraden's recent edition of "Handbook of Modern Sensors". I notice that Amazon does not show the table of contents so I do that here:
Chapter 1: Audio Projects
Electronic stethoscope
Underwater hydrophone
Ultrasonic listener
Chapter 2: Light Detection & Measurement
Opto Listener
Basic radiometer
Digital ultraviolet radiometer
Digital ozone-meter
Sensitive optical tachometer
Chapter 3: Heat Sensing
Infrared flame detector
Freeze alarm
Over-temperature alarm
Analog data-logger system
LCD thermometer
Infrared motion detector
Chapter 4: Fluid Sensing
Rain detector
Fluid sensor
Fluid/water level indicator
Humidity monitor
pH meter
Chapter 5: Gas Sensing
Air pressure switch
Electronic sniffer
Combustible gas sensor
Electronic barometer
Chapter 6: Vibration Monitoring
Vibration hour monitor
Vibration alarm
Piezo seismic alarm
Research seismograph
Chapter 7: Magnetic Detection
Mag-Ear amplifier
ELF monitor
Electronic compass
Earth field magnetometer
Chapter 8: Sensing Electric Fields
Electroscope
Static tube
Simple electronic electroscope
Atmospheric electricity monitor
Cloud charge monitor
Chapter 9: Radio Projects
Lightning detector
ELF natural radio
Shortwave receiver
Jupiter radio telescope
Chapter 10: Radiation Detection
Cloud chamber
Low cost electronic ion chamber I
Advanced electronic ion chamber II
Geiger Counter
Appendix A: Helpful Contact Information
Appendix B: Data Sheets

Industrial
The Empire State Building (Architecture)
Published in Paperback by Prestel Publishing (2001-03)
Author:
List price: $19.95
New price: $23.86
Used price: $23.84

Average review score:

Beautiful Memories
Helpful Votes: 4 out of 5 total.
Review Date: 2001-05-01
This book is wonderful. The pictures bring back a time in our country's history that was hopeful and expansive - a nice antidote to today's closed attitudes. Anyone with an interest in American history and the story of one our momumental achievements should have this book. P.S. Children love this book too -- my two sons take it off the shelf almost every night!

Reaching Towards Heaven--An Empire of a Feat
Helpful Votes: 48 out of 75 total.
Review Date: 2000-08-15
I like architecture. I like buildings. And I adore The Empire State building in New York City. (as if I need to mention location) This is an informative book by Mr. Doherty and others giving us a detailed view into dreams coming to life of the then tallest building in the world. How it was built, human drama behind the scenes, how fast it went up---4 stories a week, the limestone that was only brought in from Indiana, and other fascinating information.

With a glossary, index, photo's of helmeted men in 1930---daringly straddling beams above a floor of cement doom, one can relive visiting this icon or enjoy true anticipation of using one of its 73 elevators to reach for the heavens on an open aired viewing floor where everything from weddings to arm wrestling competitions take place.

Did you know they began using outdoor lights due to an aircraft bomber, lost in the fog and crashing into her 79th floor back in the 40's? And now, one can see it adorned with special lit colors--Blue was done as a tribute to Frank Sinatra, Blue & White for Churchill, and Gold for the Pope.

Yes, the building that may now not be the tallest, will forever hold a special place in our hearts. As seen in many movies, from King Kong to Sleepless In Seattle, we can step back and wonder who is behind those 6,000 windows ( you might spot Donald Trump, he owns part of her now ) and wistfully sigh at the romance of it all.

other reading suggestions: "The Majesty of the French Quarter" by Kerri McCaffety

--CDS--

Craftsmen in the air.
Helpful Votes: 5 out of 7 total.
Review Date: 2004-03-02
The sixty-five photographs in this book are probably the best of the thousand Lewis Hine took during the construction of the Empire State Building. Several are now the standard image used to depict industrial output during the Depression and rightly so. Hine concentrates on the workers rather than the actual building and you can see just how precarious some of their activity is. Years before hardhats and workman's comp hundreds of seasoned craftsmen managed to erect a building nearly a quarter of a mile high in 410 days and weighing 365,000 tons.

Author Freddy Langer writes an interesting short essay about Lewis Hine explaining how he became interested in using photography to expose the exploitation of child labor during the early years of the last century. These photos were used in his book 'Kids at Work' (ISBN 0395797268). His interest in photographing the workplace got him the commission to record the building of the Empire State and some of these images also appeared in his 1932 book 'Men at Work' (ISBN 0486234754).

It is a shame that the book does not give more explanation to what the craftsmen are doing in the photos. A book that does have photos (though not by Hine) and detailed captions is 'Building the Empire State' (ISBN 0393730301) edited by Carol White, it reproduces seventy-seven pages of typewritten description, some of it quite technical, that someone at Starrett Brothers, the builders, produced as a record of the construction.

The Empire State was in competition with the Chrysler Building and a book by David Stravitz, 'The Chrysler Building' (ISBN 1568983549) is a week-by-week photographic construction record of Van Allen's Art Deco masterpiece with detailed captions to the pictures. Strangely many of Hine's photos clearly show the Chrysler Building in the background.

All three books celebrate the building of two stunning New York skyscrapers.

Unsung hero of American photography
Helpful Votes: 6 out of 16 total.
Review Date: 1999-02-14
Pictures that are not well known, but warm the heart

Industrial
The Encyclopedia of Tanks and Armored Fighting Vehicles: From World War I to the Present Day
Published in Hardcover by Thunder Bay Press (2006-07-29)
Author: Chris Bishop
List price: $29.95
New price: $14.59
Used price: $13.00

Average review score:

Excellent book on Tanks & Armored Vehicles
Helpful Votes: 1 out of 2 total.
Review Date: 2007-08-06
Excellent reference resources. Good pictures and discussion. I definitely recommend this book to anyone who has an interest in the development of armored vehicles.

If you are a fanatic about the world wars.....
Helpful Votes: 1 out of 2 total.
Review Date: 2007-02-06
My husband is infatuated with army tanks (and anything else related to)from WW I and WW II. There is not a week that goes by that he is not reading about the war or watching the Military Channel. If you have any interest in the war, this book is very informative and the photographs are very well preserved. Educational at best!

Over 300 tanks and vehicles are presented in a pairing of vintage and action photos
Helpful Votes: 2 out of 3 total.
Review Date: 2006-10-15
Two outstanding references are top picks, packing in pages of value for their price tags and providing a wide-ranging history. Chris Bishop edits ENCYCLOPEDIA OF TANKS & ARMORED FIGHTING VEHICLES FROM WW I TO THE PRESENT DAY (159223626X): an exhaustive reference that may appeal to general readers, but is a special pick for military collections. Over 300 tanks and vehicles are presented in a pairing of vintage and action photos and detailed drawings, with descriptions including extensive and in-depth service histories of specs and tanks.

Diane C. Donovan
California Bookwatch

Essential for Tank buffs
Helpful Votes: 9 out of 9 total.
Review Date: 2007-04-05
This is truly a complete encyclopedia of Tanks from WWI to the Present Day. I own the Christopher Foss encyclopedia (Nov. 2002) and this encyclopedia is a lot more updated than that volume. For example, there is a lot more information and more recent photographs on the latest Chinese MBT, the type 98 tank. This volume also describes the latest Merkava Mk 4 tank. The most recent Russian tank, the type 90 is given a lot fuller treatment.

What I enjoyed the most are the wonderful photographs / color plates and descriptions for each tank and AFV. Notable tanks are given a feature article, such as the Panther, the Sherman, the Centurion, the Challenger I, the Abrams Tank, etc. I really enjoyed some of the feature articles that described the combat performance of these notable tanks. For example, for both the British Challenger I and the Abrams tanks, there was a brief feature article about how each performed during the 1st Gulf War.

Besides covering tanks, this reference also describes the various armored personnel carriers, light tanks, motorized gun carriages, along with specialized vehicles.

It is truly a monumental work. Tank buffs and modelers will love this reference!

Industrial
Ending Poverty As We Know It: Guaranteeing A Right To A Job
Published in Paperback by Temple University Press (2003-06-01)
Author: William Quigley
List price: $20.95
New price: $17.45
Used price: $7.14

Average review score:

Ending Poverty as we Know It
Helpful Votes: 4 out of 5 total.
Review Date: 2003-08-27
The book is a unique compilation of information that cogently makes the case that poverty is largely misunderstood by the non-poor, mis-diagnosed by politicians and pundits, and the remedies usually prescribed are nearly always nostrums and panaceas which only add misery to the miserable.

The book lists commonly held but untrue myths about poverty and poor people, and gives evidence that such attitudes are the heritage of English law established nearly 500 years ago and carried forward into the colonies and later states. Think of "Oliver Twist" and the social norms and attitudes toward poor people of that time - that's out heritage.

The book is a comprehensive deflation of the overwrought fear mongering, character assination, and easy dismissal of the poor. It proposes a down to earth, realistic focus on and admission thatlow wages are the root cause of most poverty in America today. The author, Bill Quigley proposes adoption of a constitutional amendment to establish a right to a job that pays a living wage to all Americans who can work. Polly Anna? That's what was said about Child labor laws, minimum wage, mandatory overtime pay, social security and many other rights and protections we now take for granted. Additionally, the book details the cost of poverty to Americans, who in truth are now subsidizing commercial enterprises. That subsidy comes by way of their taxes, used to supplement the income and the survival of workers paid so little that they and their children cannot live without "public assistance". Most poor work!

If you are opposed to the concept, I urge you to read the book nonetheless, if only to know more about how history has shaped our views, prejudices and laws dealing with poverty issues and the poor. If you have a better answer to reducing poverty and its costs - go for it!! But learn a little reality before you define the problem. Read this book.

Passing an amendment to end poverty
Helpful Votes: 5 out of 7 total.
Review Date: 2003-12-28
While I would like to see everyone in America able to achieve a good job at a wage that feeds their family and houses them comfortably, the facts of economics fight against this dream. Creating a Constitutional Amendment to guarantee a right to a good-paying job is foolish in the face of the basic economic laws of supply and demand. Someone supplies a job based on their need for the labor; someone agrees to do the job based on their willingness to work and their need for money, and the number of competitors willing to do such work and qualified to do the work. While I nearly cried when I visited the Tenement Museum of the Lower East Side of New York, and while I believe in the reforms that moved workers out of sweatshops, sweatshops still exist and immigrants coming legally or illegally to the US are doing labor for less than minimum wage. Why? Because they need the money, and the competition abroad from lower wage earners make our minimum wage unprofitable for business.

How do we bridge the gap between low cost foreign work (where even high-tech and skilled jobs are flowing) and our own cost of living, which is admittedly high? This book has NONE of the answers. Merely passing a law cannot push back the massive forces of economics. The author suggests Lester Thurow's solution of a massive government jobs program. The last time this was tried, it created sinecures for those privileged to land a government program job, and didn't teach anyone marketable skills. Even HeadStart is paying low wages to teachers, neither improving their skills or improving the readiness of the hapless client children who are supposed to be getting an education from this low-paid government job holders. There are countless examples of why what Dr. Quigley suggests has already failed, and passing a Constitutional Amendment is just another brick on the way to a failed socialistic system that costs the American worker a percentage of what they earn and throws it away on those who don't produce (the bureaucrats and their clientele that are not meeting market needs.)

Why don't we find a way to make American products and services in demand, free up business to fuel an economy with high demand for all labor services? Remember when unemployment was so low, jobs went begging? It was barely five years ago. We can have that again, and have even the poorest able to find work at more than minimum wage. But not this way.

Noble Cause, Arguments Insufficient
Helpful Votes: 5 out of 5 total.
Review Date: 2003-09-01
It's an enticing proposition: eliminate poverty as we know it, simply by giving everyone the right to a job and a living wage. But is it valid? This is the question I kept asking as I made my way from chapter to chapter.

A key problem Quigley doesn't even address: the globalization of labor. It's not just low-skilled manufacturing jobs that American companies outsource to China et al. nowadays. It's white collar desk jobs too; highly educated Indians gladly take $5,000/year for a job that would cost $50,000 in the US. It's a king's ransom for them, but for us, it's illegally below minimum wage. This is a problematic anomaly which stands as a major threat to America's economy. If we implemented Quigley's constitutional amendment, the threat might loom closer still. The author's utter silence here was most disappointing.

Despite that lapse, I recommend a reading. Its diverse facts and figures, while often repetitive, can be eye-opening. The numbers suggest we pay for poverty one way or another. At present, we subsidize parasitic employers and grant wealthy corporations obscenely generous loopholes. Redeploying our public assets to help the less fortunate into dignified employment might be a good idea. I smile at the simple beauty of it.

Note from Author
Helpful Votes: 6 out of 7 total.
Review Date: 2003-08-25
Two people that I respect very much have this to say about this book.
Lani Guinier, Harvard Law Prof and co-author of Miner's Canary says:
ýBill Quigley draws on the common sense of Thomas Paine, the moral inspiration of Martin Luther King, Jr., and the political wisdom of Franklin Delano Roosevelt to issue a bold challenge for our society: to guarantee people who want to work the right to a job at a living wage. In a brave and witty book that is both visionary and practical, Quigley reminds us that if once-radical ideas like social security and the abolition of slavery can become realities, then the current partnership between poverty and work can be upended too.ý
Sr. Helen Prejean, social activist and author of Dead Man Walking says: "Bill Quigley's book makes us believe that America can really change for the better and provide a decent job and a fair wage to hard-working families. This is a very important book. Bill brings a lifeteim of knowledge and commitment to this; and he really shows us, step by step, how it can be done."
This book points out that over 45 million people in the US live in poverty. Over 30 million work and earn less than $8.20 an hour and another 15 million people are either out of work or working part-time and would like to be working full-time. I review the real facts and stories about poverty in the US today, especially among the working poor. After reviewing our history and surprising public and religious support for the right to a job and the right to a living wage, I call for a constitutional amendment guaranteeing every person the right to a job at a living wage.
Hope this helps explain what it is about. Peace!

Industrial
The Endless Frontier: Vannevar Bush, Engineer of the American Century
Published in Hardcover by Free Press (1997-01)
Author: G. Pascal Zachary
List price: $30.00
Used price: $82.37

Average review score:

An excellent biography of an important but little known man.
Helpful Votes: 10 out of 11 total.
Review Date: 1998-05-07
A very interesting and thorough biography of Vannevar Bush, who more than any other individual is responsible (for good or for ill) for the shape of today's scientific establishment. Well-written and engaging, with lots of interesting historical tidbits and good insight on the personalities involved. Excellent!

Vannevar Bush a key player in American military strength
Helpful Votes: 2 out of 3 total.
Review Date: 2006-04-01
More than one person has written on this page that Vannevar Bush is "little known", "forgotten", etc. I am only 54 years old, but I remember seeing Bush's name in print many, many times while growing up. He was always described as crucial to American military and technological supremacy since 1943 or so. A few of his accomplishments: He mobilized American science and engineering during WWII. His leadership was crucial to the Manhattan project. His differential analyzer led to MIT's Lincoln Labs playing an important role in the rise of information technology. He was Claude Shannon's teacher.

Biography of great scientific leader and public servant
Helpful Votes: 4 out of 4 total.
Review Date: 2006-05-10
Zachary deserves great credit for writing a book that offers many virtues and lessons of lasting relevance. Because the author's commitment is worthy of his subject, this book should have timeless value. The roles for science and technology and how best to harness them for prosperity and for security to enable the preservation of peace are questions which transcend any particular time.

The subtitle, Engineer of the American Century, is justified. Bush contributed to American society in many ways. He was a fecund, tireless inventor, helping launch Raytheon Corporation. He was dedicated to boosting the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and thereby strengthening society through teaching and seeking practical knowledge. He was a pioneer and convenor of advances in computing.

Clear-mindedly appreciating the gathering evil of Nazi Germany, Bush decided to do something, as typical. He left MIT and got to Washington as head of the Carnegie Institution. Though a Republican, he persuaded President Franklin Roosevelt that those who were technically educated needed to be harnessed within a National Defense Research Committee, in service to their nation's needs. By helping harness the extraordinary abilities of civilian and academic technologists to serve their nation in meeting the challenges of World War II, Bush helped unleash a cornucopia of inventions and advances in thinking, with extraordinary economic legacies (computing, electronics, medicine, radar).

A few words from Zachary:
--Bush's "was a life not of looking back, but of charging ahead."
--He had a "commitment to excellence and integrity that reinforced his belief in the power of one person to make a difference."
--"Bush shared Eisenhower's unease about the alliance between academia, the military, and industry"
--"The proliferation of nuclear weapons, the rise of environmental hazards, and the evident political partisanship of many scientists - all combined to engender a cynicism in the public about the aims and evidence of science."

Several other books of possible interest in relation to the contributions of technologists:
Philip Taubman, Secret Empire (2003)
James Phinney Baxter, Scientists Against Time (1946)
Biographies of Edwin Land
James Killian, Sputniks, Scientists, and Eisenhower (1977). Killian was a 1950s Bush, down to earth and his book is movingly endowed with wisdom.

Vannevar like beaver
Helpful Votes: 9 out of 10 total.
Review Date: 2000-07-06
This is a very well written and entertaining book about a scientific administrator who played a major effort in organizing the technical responses required to anticipate and successfully meet the challenges of WWII. His skillful analysis, technical comprehension and political astuteness not only provided outstanding leadership at the time but shaped the intractions of goverment, industry and the academic community in such a fashion as to remain intact to this time. One comes awawy with an enormous respect for Dr. Bush. He must have been one tough character and difficult to deal with but he got the jobs done. It is a pity that his battles with Admiral Ernest King have, to my knowledge, never been documented. The issues they disagreed about were not trivial and their interactions must have been awesome. I read this book shortly after completing Tycho's Island and the similarity between the two men and the administrative issues they dealt with is both striking and illuminating.

Good men are hard to find and good books about them deserve our attention.


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