Humanities Books

I was assigned readings from this book for my Biopsychosocial aspects of addictions class in graduate school for counseling. Compared to other textbooks, it is a relatively easy read, and there's a great deal of helpful information contained in it. My only complaints for the book thus far are that the chapters on physiology and anatomy include a great deal of information that assumes the reader already has a basis of knowledge in anatomy, biology, and physiology and certain terms aren't defined in context. Also, the book does not contain a great deal of information on "club drugs" such as ecstasy, ketamine, PCP, etc.

This product was great. I love the text in the book. It is interesting and it is placed in an easy to understand format. The text is relatable to the society and I would definitly suggest this book to someone else!

This book--like the work of Lev Manovich, Jay Bolter, N. Katherine Hayles and others--is an important and bold mapping of digital media in an era when the humanities seems to be in crisis. O'Gorman's book is refreshing because it avoids the pitfalls of digital utopianism on the one hand, and nostalgia for the print age on the other. Particularly excellent is his discussion of the "remainder" and "punning" as strategies that can be used to help chart a digital future that does not abandon humanistic traditions. Plus the writing is fresh and lively. Not only does O'Gorman's book offer compelling theory, but if offers practical insights about digital media-related program development. An important contribution to the field of digital media studies.

All students, instructors, performers and producers of music MUST give this book a chance. A great opportunity to train your ear in a way you never knew was possible. I grew up with an excellent ear for music, and this book challanges me. Great for beginners to advanced.

I am on my way to receiving my elementary ed. certification, and I have always dreamed of filling my classroom with art. This book has taught me how I can get my kids excited about making AND thinking about art. Herberholz and Hanson give many ideas about how to implement a quality arts program in your classroom: art production, aesthetic perception, art criticism, and art history. This book has really informed and improved my ability to create quality art expriences for my students.

It's easy to forget just how ahead of its time this book was. Nowadays few scholars take the old standard paradigm of Kamakura Buddhism at face value. The predictable narrative of newly-founded, vibrant, and popular new schools of Buddhism--Pure Land, Zen, and Nichiren--more or less instantly sweeping away and replacing the allegedly moribund, stuffy, and stagnant schools of Heian and Nara Buddhism now looks a little quaint and old-fashioned--almost nostalgically simplistic. And any number of studies have been published showing that the monks of "established" Buddhism, besides being overwhelmingly in the religious mainstream of the time, were doing a whole lot more than just resting on their laurels and hobnobbing with the aristocrats. This was far from the case in 1987, when Robert Morrell's "Minority Report" was first published. Indeed, it was exactly what its title says. So counterintuitive was its approach here, in fact, that Minoru Kiyota lauds Morrell's unique contribution in the book's foreword even as he inadvertently reiterates the standard narrative almost in the same breath. It was that hard a box to think outside of.

All of which is to highlight this deceptively modest little book's dramatic significance in the field of Buddhist Studies, NOT relegate it to the past. It's a fascinating book, offering an intriguing glimpse of several monks of the "established" schools active during the Kamakura Period and exploring their religious ideas and activities. And despite years of "re-visioning" Kamakura Buddhism, these guys are still kind of overshadowed--and this book then still urgently relevant. After setting the stage with some preliminary considerations, then, Morrell introduces us to four monks: Jien, the Tendai abbot, historian, and waka poet; Myoe, the earnest Kegon reformer and exemplar of the monastic ideal; Myoe's friend, Jokei, the devout Hosso reformer and opponent of Pure Land exclusivity; and Kakukai, the Shingon abbot on Koyasan and deconstructor of mythological literalism. Each section includes extensive translations allowing these monks to speak on the issues in their own words--key translations include Jokei's historically important refutation of Honen's emerging Pure Land school, Myoe's popular if delightfully pedestrian aphorisms, and Jien's Buddhist-themed waka poetry from the Imperial anthologies. Also included as an appendix is a fine translation of the Noh play "The Dragon God of Kasuga" affording us an example of Myoe and his life as they appeared in the medieval literary imagination.

The translations are top-notch, careful and scholarly and not afraid to be a little stiltedly literal when need be--as with some of the doctrinal explications, where being exact is more important than trying to outdo Arthur Waley. Morrell's discussions too are thought-provoking, interesting, and models of scholarly clarity with a dash of wit. When he's arguing against conventional wisdom and received opinion, he does so with rare balance, fairness, and gentlemanly grace. And for those of us who are visually-minded, rare portraits of each of the four monks are provided as illustrations. All in all, then, "Early Kamakura Buddhism: A Minority Report" is a groundbreaking book that's still great and of major importance well after the ground's been broken, an indispensable volume in the personal library of anyone interested in Japanese Buddhism. As Myoe might say, just the way a book should be.

P.S. For later books influenced by this title and continuing its approach, you may want to check out Re-Visioning "Kamakura" Buddhism (Studies in East Asian Buddhism, 11) and Jokei and Buddhist Devotion in Early Medieval Japan.

Another excellent book from Prof. Robert Drews. As with "Coming of the Greeks", and "End of the Bronze Age", Prof.Drews focuses his careful research and rational arguments on an interesting topic on which there is a lack of consensus.

The focus of the book is to examine the history of the use of horses for warfare. Prof.Drews challenges, and indeed does a good job demolishing, the traditional view held by many, that the peoples of the steppes of Central Asia have been great horsemen and mounted warriors (especially mounted archers) since the Bronze Age or even the Neolithic Age. Prof.Drews demonstrates that no such evidence exists, and that rather all evidence points to good riding dating back to no earlier than the early Iron Age (around 1,000 bc or so). He concedes that men no doubt did some awkward riding for centuries before, as pictorial/statue representations from the Near East demonstrate, but that only in the Iron Age did men master riding well enough to be able to do active hunting and fighting with it.

Prior to that time, horses, specifically on the steppe, were mostly used for food or for chariot/cart-pulling (the latter also in the Near East).

As with his others books, Prof.Drews carefully goes through various counter-theories, and shows them to be unfounded in their assertions.

His arguments about the effectiveness of mounted warfare, of cavalry vs. infantry, may not be as soldid as his other points, and will seem so for anyone who knows about military history, but these are minor points, as the main focus of the book is the developement of mounted warefare, not its tactical uses in battle.

Prof.Drews' style is very easy, and can be read by lay-man and professional alike, though some basic knowledge of the history of the regions covered would be good.

Unfortunately, in this book Prof.Drews once again continues his habit (noted by other reviewers of his other books) of giving quotes in other languages, such as German, without translating them. A habit that will no doubt frustrate those who are interested in his references.

Overall, another great book from Prof.Drews. I hope he continues to write books on such great topics.

"Eco-Socialism or Eco-Capitalism" by Saral Sarkar offers an unique vision of a sustainable future. Mr. Sarkar was born and educated in India and wrote the book while residing in Germany, where he has been active in the Green Party and related political and environmental movements for many years. The author's education, work and multi-cultural life experiences combine to produce a nuanced, thoughtful and mature work that should intrigue readers interested in political theory and the environment.

Mr. Sarkar believes that the ecology movement must recognize that socialism, not capitalism, offers the best hope for society to realize the state of "biocentric equality" that will be needed to secure human rights and stabilize the environment. Central to the author's analysis is the "limits to growth" paradigm espoused by Green Economics thinkers such as Herman Daly, which posits that economic growth achieved through increasing natural resources consumption can not continue indefinitely. But the author goes well beyond Daly and his peers by insisting that a steady state economy (SSE) can not succeed in a free market capitalist system; rather, it can only be viable in the context of socialism.

Mr. Sarkar does not toss the word "socialism" around lightly. In fact, he devotes two chapters extensively studying why socialism failed in the USSR. In short, Mr. Sarkar posits that environmental constraints combined with widespread moral degeneration led to a crisis that could not be resolved by the USSR's privileged political/bureaucratic class. While many might argue that the USSR failed on a number of other levels as well, I found the author's analysis credible and well-supported by the evidence. Importantly, the analysis provides several take-aways that are later incorporated into the author's proposed eco-socialist theory, such as the importance of morals to the building and maintenance of a well-functioning society.

Mr. Sarkar examines the natural resource base that the present world economy depends upon in order to ascertain if new technologies might be able to offer us hope in overcoming scarcity. The author surveys various energy sources and technologies to provide detailed answers to this question. He also critiques the fashionable view that the contemporary "dematerialized" information society is less environmentally destructive than yesterday's industrial society. Mr. Sarkar's thoughts that follow from this discussion about what must be done in the face of the world's dwindling stock of natural resources might appear to some to be commonsense but are nonetheless well worth reading. Indeed, the author's candor is refreshing and welcome, especially when compared with the media's usual message of consumerism without end.

Mr. Sarkar presents his vision of how an eco-socialist society might succeed and discusses the notion of progress in the final two chapters of the book. The author believes that eco-socialism can rightly fuse the moral strengths of socialism with the pragamtism of the ecology movement to create a society that is free from greed, war, exploitation and rascism. This is achieved by embracing policies that are widely acknowledged in Leftist circles, including: full employment, women's rights, pay equity, limits on private enterprise, greater emphasis on the local production of goods and services, increased democratic participation, and so on. But the author also makes a very strong argument for controversial measures such as the rationing of consumer goods, strict controls on population growth, and more. Mr. Sarkar's justification is that the inconveniences created for some will be more than offset by the creation of a harmonious, peaceful and stable planet for all.

As wars around the world intensify due to struggles over increasingly scarce resources such as oil, Mr. Sarkar's opinion that humanity must eventually choose "either eco-socialism or barbarism" may well be true. To that end, I highly recommend this outstanding book to those who might be interested in reading thought-provoking ideas from an uniquely visionary, compassionate and intelligent author.

Merchant's book covers themes that are common to many environmental readers - deep ecology, ecofeminism, and environmental justice. Where this book excels is its treatment of important, though neglected topics - the Frankfurt's School's critical theory, social ecology, spirituality, and postmodern science. The critical theory section, which includes articles by Horkheimer and Adorno, Marcuse, Leiss, and Eckersley are perhaps the most important contribution of this collection. This edited volume would benefit from a greater attention to international perspectives, especially the developing world and nonwestern religions. There is some attention to these theme as well.

I have found this book to be an excellent guide in the absence of having an accomplished teacher present. Reading it over several times, meditating on the meaning, sincerely trying to understand what is meant, yields results with this book because of the tremendous care taken to accurately communicate knowledge to the reader.

Based on the best seller "The Rise of the West" it is a good text book for both advanced high school and college students. McNeill's book centers on his theory "contact and interaction is the drive wheel of humanity". Although some areas of history are skimmed over or neglected it is certainly one of the best text books on world history.
Highly recommended.