W Books

This is the only book I know of that deals exclusively with this odd theatre of operations. WWI in Africa did not have any impact on the war in Europe or on world history, but the stories are so fantastic that they deserve to be rmembered and retold. The first and last shots of WWI were actually fired in Africa, by unknown black soldiers. The author describes the colonial setting, and points out how unnecessary the war in Africa really was. All four major campaings are described in chronological order.
The courage and loyality of the black soldiers fighting for the Germans were amazing. Most of the book is dedicated to the longest campaign, in German East Africa. Here, wastly outnumbered German troops fought with rifles and knob-kerries, time and time again outsmarting the British enemy. Idiotic racism led the British to first import Indian recruits to fight, rather than arming the black population. Oddly enough, it was the South African general, Smuts, who actually first starting using black troops for the British. Thus turning the tide.
Von Lettow-Vorbeck must rank as one of the foremost generals of history. He is sadly unknown, even by military buffs, and deserves to be remembered. The book is filled with larger-than-life charaters and their exploits. This book reads like a "boys-own" adventure. One must remind oneself constantly that the pain and suffering described are real.

Informative, insightful, & readable.
At last! A writer who both:
A)Knows his material
and
B) Can write in an absorbing & engaging fashion.
L. Sprague De Camp fans take note--you will like this book.

Also, try--
Mimi and Toutou's Big Adventure: The Bizarre Battle of Lake Tanganyika

Joseph Conrad would have loved and respected Paul von Lettow-Vorbeck, and any woman would have been proud to have been his African Queen. This book is really three vignettes and one great story of courage and endurance.

At the outbreak of World War I, Germany had four African colonies, Togoland, Cameroon, South West Africa (now Namibia) and German East Africa (now mainland Tanzania, Rwanda and Burundi). The stories about the conquering of the first three are very straight forward and give a very good idea of how the fighting in Africa differed from that in Europe. Of course the British made major mistakes of bringing in untried Indian troops who were totally unfit to fight in the 'Bush' but everyone kept a 'stiff upper lip' and died from disease and malnutrition.

The major story is how the commander of the "Schutztruppe" (local militia that were made up of European Officer and NCOs, African levies called Askaries, porters who were the most numerous and their wives and children) Paul von Lettow-Vorbeck, managed to fight a four year war against over- whelming odds, and never lose a major engagement to the British. Throughout the war he was the consummate Guerrilla fighter, never facing the British head on but using hit and run tactics and always being one step ahead.

(There is a great side story that is better documented in "Mimi and Toutou's Big Adventure by Brian Garfield", about the bringing of some British naval ships to fight on Lake Tanganyika; but Farwell does a good job of telling the story in a succinct manner.)

In the end, the British, mostly made up of South African Whites,Nigerians, Kenyans and Indian troops, spend four years chasing Lettow around Tanganyika, into Portuguese East Africa (Mozambique), Northern Rhodesia and back into Tanganyika. During all this time he would leave his sick and wounded behind to be tended by the British, and would release his European prisoners if they would give their parole (agree not to rejoin the war). At the end of WWI, he was leading four to five thousand troops and keeping 87,000 British Commonwealth troops tied down protecting ports and railroads that could have been shipped to France. (He didn't surrender until November 15, 1918.)

For any history buff who enjoys a story that is almost Kipling-esque, this is the book to read.

This book was ok, no way near how good you might think it was by reading all the glowing reviews. To me it read more like a university text book than an exciting story. If you read the other reviews and see them mention all the really interesting "forgotten" stories of WW1 in Africa you may be suprised when you actually read the book. Several reviews mention the "Battle of the bee's" - you may be suprised when you read the book & see that the "battle of the bee's" is one short paragraph in the book. The reviews mention an amazing story of zeppelin L59 - in the book this takes up about 2 pages of text & a picture. So if you have read some of the glowing reviews you know almost as much about the bee's & the Zeppelin journey as if you had read the whole 400 page book. I found most of the book of some interest but I wouldn't really recommend this book to someone unless they are really looking for info on a certain battle in WW1 Africa at this time - but even then the info isn't very in depth.

As an italian, I've always had unending difficulties in search of books or any other source about military operations in Africa during WWI. But now and then, the name of von Lettow-Vorbeck appeared, surrounded of the fame of glorious deeds and exceptional personality. Well, reading this book has been a really enjoyable experience: masterly well-written, with sound attention to details but always keeping in sight the overall perspective. Last but not least, really fair balanced, it depicts men and events almost flawless, without any irritating bias against the one or the other side of the battlefield. In the midst of all that, Paul Emil von Lettow-Vorbeck emerges as a hero and one among the greatest soldier of history, maybe a forgotten one, but nonetheless as great as a von Moltke or a Napoleon.

This is a beautiful book, the moment I read the first chapter I was wishing I'd bought the hard copy so I could put it in pride of place on my bookshelf.
I loved the illustrations, which are on almost every page and give exactly the right amount of detail in a way that photos can't. But the best part is the author's wonderful writing style, which really conveyed a sense of the timeliness and pleasure of woodworking. Even when describing such mundane things as taking measurements, the author has a great knack of focussing on the human aspect of the process, the decisions that need to be made and the emotions that the wrong and the right decision evoke. This, to me, is the reason working with handtools it is such a satisfying pastime, and this book wraps up all of those experiences in a really beautiful way. Top marks.

Just beginning my adventure in woodworking, this book has done exactly as it claims in the back cover. It feels like I have a readily available experience woodworker in my pocket whenever I have a question about a tool. The explanation is clear like a craftsman would teach his apprentice, and because of this, the obvious question of what tool should I get first and what tool should be my next purchase is easily answered, without actually saying. The drawings make the book almost timeless, not dated by photos, and the diagrams are reminiscent of the technical sketch you may see on a drafting table. I purchased other books along with this, but keep referencing back to this book to answer my questions about what tool do I need for the next part of the job. The writing is easily explanatory and conversational at once, and is quite enjoyable to read. You can either read it in a linear fashion, from front to back, or you can choose the tool you have questions about (from the Table of Contents) and move directly to it to have your question answered.

Free bench plans if you've never built a workbench, are included. This is a book that could sell itself if you had a chance to open it up.

I don't gush over books very often but this is one of the best investments I have ever made. The illustrations are startling and the writing is clear and unadorned.

What Watson does very well is assume nothing with regard to his reader. He neither panders to the "old pro" nor is condescending to the "rank amateur." He just talks about how to use hand tools, how to think about hand tools and how to appreciate hand tools. I don't think there is a person doing wood working today who would not find something in here that makes them say "Oh, yeah..., that's a good idea."

I have spent quite a lot of money on the Taunton woodworking library and I value them highly. They are good books. But this one is the first one I pick up when I am just spending a few minutes sitting down or before drifting off to sleep.

One caution - this book is about "hand tools" and does include chapters on tools like "hand augurs" which very few of us use, however I have to admit I am tempted to buy one just because of the obvious pleasure this guy has in them. One of my quirks I suppose.

Watson has written a clear and concise user's manual for woodworking hand tools. He includes many of the basic hand tools that are overlooked (such as the brace and drawknife) in other hand tool books. I got more information out of Watson's clear drawings than I did from the beautiful photographs in Garrett Hack's "Classic Hand Tools" book. This book is meant to be kept in your workshop instead of on the coffeetable.

This book, required reading for boatbuilding students at the Landing School, is a terrific resource for anyone using handtools. It covers usage, care, and maintenance of hand tools. A valuable reference book that I will keep handy in my toolroom.

In the vein of Dazed and Confused, HERE BE MONSTERS is a vivid ride around the block in the parts of adolescence that parents don't want to hear about. Eight pages in and I want more.

This is well written. I got through the 8 pages quickly and am looking forward to more. Bring it on Mr. Decker.

Francis knows how to take you on a wild ride right from the beginning. I loved the details he weaves into his narrative: can almost smell the spilled beer, feel the heat and the dripping sweat, feel Fleet's angst with his relationship with Marcus and especially, Vaughn. Give me more!!

"Here Be Monsters" launches itself at you and just doesn't let go, drawing you into the intense world of three prep school teammates. Marcus, the starting quarterback, is the focus of attention and gets all the girls. Vaughn is moody and full of anger. Fleet, the newest member of the group, is trying desperately to fit in.

Francis W. Decker starts fast with a late-night "fender bender" car crash. The boys are drinking and so is the other driver, a middle-aged woman in a nightgown. Though no names are exchanged, Vaughn feels a connection with the woman and I'm sure we'll see her again.

The story moves from Vaughn's to Fleet's point of view, and as noted by another reviewer, this tactic seems less than completely effective in the 5000 words we have to work with. Given the solid writing, however, I'd be willing to wait and see if the differentiation becomes clearer. The writing is tense, slightly elliptical, and attention-grabbing.

"Here Be Monsters" is a story of a world unknown to me. If my sons and their friends lived in this world, they did it completely outside my range of reference. To read this book would be, for me, like reading in a foreign language; and it's an effort I'd be willing to make.

In my mind I can't distance this excerpt from yesterday's headlines -- three boys died in a car, 75 miles down a road well known to me, just two nights ago. Icy road, young driver, their lives ahead of them, three families bereft. Too real. Art imitating life. My interest in Marcus, Vaughn and Fleet is tangled up in my mind with my feelings about those three boys from my part of the world.

I'll be wondering how Francis W. Decker finishes what he started in this fine beginning. Best of luck, Francis.

Linda Bulger, 2008

Oh, the sordid memories of high school...

Author Francis W. Decker's novel excerpt of Here Be Monsters opens strong and lets the reader know some good stuff is ahead. This is solidly written with a good hook. It is an R-rated high school tale that made me squirm through every word, though I mean that in a good way. It is fast paced, has great action and keeps moving.

My only suggestions are regarding point of view, in that I'm not totally feeling the change in POV from the first chapter to the second; I think Vaughn and Fleet's voices are a little too similar. Also, I like Vaughn in the first chapter, but not so much in the next.

This opening assures me that Here Be Monsters would be a fun and interesting read. I'm knocking off a half star only because of the issue with POV, so four and a half stars. Great job!

Sincerly,
Brent (B. Billy) Curtis
Secluded Parking - Official ABNA Entrant

My friend gave this book to me because the book was "thicker" than what she used to reading, and till this day I still thank her for giving me this book for it is a GEM!!!! I tried reading it on a whim and was hooked by midway through the 2nd chapter. The story was soooo addictive that I neglected my school works to read it; I read it in class while my teachers (I was in high school) lectured. I think what made this story different and why it has made a lasting impression on me was the way Holt expland the time the plot takes place. Other stories have their main characters married or fell in love by 6-8 months (some sooner and some later) but Holt takes you through a journey that took years to happen, and she gave all her secondary characters dimension and depth. I may or may not be making sense in my fascination w/ Ms. Holt's work, but other Holt fans would understand me (i hope :D). I also loved how Ms. Holt created the air of romance without (too much of, if at all) pre-marital sex. Call me crazy but i was sooo into her characters that long after finishing the book, i sometimes wondered how "Fabian and Drusilla are doing now, or how many children did they end up having...etc"

I rank The India Fan as one of Victoria Holt's best. Drusilla is an excellent narrator and as in Holt's best, the romance doesn't blindside you out of nowhere, nor does the "hea" seem incongruous because we're shown Fabian's growth and love for her through their interactions. And as is apparent in most of Holt's novels, The India Fan doesn't stint on the lush, vivid descriptions of Indian life and the massacre at Lucknow.

This is my second Victoria Holt book and it is so beautiful. Although I don't get why saves Lavinia so many times , although she does get rewarded. It's a good thing that Lavinia dies anyway.She defineitly deservered that.But this is a pretty story but not as 'The Silk Vendetta', which is a 10 times better than this . But still it is addicting. I recommend this to anybody who likes romance and mystery . But this one has more mystery and doesn't really tell about the Indian culture that well.

The central character of the book is Drusilla Delany. From her childhood Drusilla's life had been dominated by the Framling's - Lady Harriet, her son Fabian and her daughter Lavinia.

As a child Drusilla had played with Lavinia, and later they are sent away together to a finishing school in France. There Lavinia's wild and wayward behaviour leads them both into trouble.

After marrying, Lavinia leaves England for India, and later Drusilla accepts an opportunity to join her there as governess to Lavinia's children.

Arriving in Bombay Drusilla finds that Lavinia has not learned from her previous disasters.

The story moves between England, France and India and covers the period of the Indian Mutiny against the British in the mid 19th century. It is written mainly in the 1st person.

I didn't think this story would interest me, but I was enjoyably surprised; I think because the story is so well written.

Victoria Holt was one of the pseudonyms of Eleanor Alice Burford. After marrying she became Eleanor Alice Hibbert. Others she wrote under included Jean Plaidy, Ellalice Tate, Kathleen Kellow, Elbur Ford, Philippa Carr. She wrote almost 200 books under these names!

Her books are VERY addictive!

Sadly, most of her books are out of print at the date of this review. Some can be purchased on the Internet or from second-hand bookshops.

This book is AMAZING! Ms. Holt did a wonderful job decribing Drusilla's feelings and the setting in which the book takes place. It's about a vicar's daughter who gets forced into becoming friends with selfish Lavinia Framling and helps her out in many ways ( like helping Lavinia through her pregnency of an ilegimate daughter ). Drusilla is faced with many problems throughout the book. One problem, deciding if she loves Fabian Framlimg ( Lavina's older brother ) who has admitted his feelings for her! This is a book that you will only find once in a life time. If you like Victoria Holt and romantic suspense and mystery than this book is for you! I will read this book probably 100 times and NEVER get sick of it! Yes, that's how good it is! READ THIS BOOK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

This review mostly concerns the Enquiry. The Letter is primarily a defense of Hume's earlier Treatise of Human Nature, while his Abstract is an anonymous review of the Treatise. It strikes me as very funny, though not surprising, that Hume would review his own work. Funny because any author would give his right arm to get at least one favorable review when all the other critics are completely missing its point. Unsurprising because Hume was probably one of the only people alive at that time who could truly grasp all the facets of his radical philosophical claims.

The Enquiry was written after the Treatise. Hume, though he claimed the opposite, seems never to have really recovered from the blow he took from seeing his Treatise "fall dead born from the press." As a result, his Enquiry is far more cautious in the steps it takes. (For those of you who have read both, yes, I swear, Hume IS more cautious. Compare the claims.) A more robust philosophical stance is taken in his Treatise, while a more focused stance is taken in his Enquiry.

The Enquiry is mainly a work of epistemology and as such, scrutinizes our methods of acquiring knowledge. Making perhaps the most radical (and poignant) claim in all of modern philosophy, it posits, and supports, that there is NO causation, only conjunction. That, for example, when we see a glass drop and break, we cannot say we know gravity caused this (in the way we know two plus two equals four). All we see is constant conjunction. The connection is lacking, i.e., it is not inconceivable that the glass wouldn't bounce, turn to ash, or dissolve into sand (the way it is inconceivable that two plus two equals five). This, in effect, nullifies all the so called "laws" of nature that are formed by science. (Note that this does not state that there are no laws of nature, just that we really can never make the claim that we ever really know there are laws of nature.)

This could be thought of as the philosophical shot heard round the world. Agree or disagree, Hume must be answered. Hume has historically been charged with creating an intellectual and philosophical cul-de-sac with his skepticism. To paraphrase Bertrand Russell, Hume makes a claim which none can refute, but at the same time one which none can accept. In effect, Hume's philosophy seems to bind the human mind, stopping its journey of discovery and ultimately accomplishing what his predecessor, John Locke, set out to do, i.e., map the extent of human knowledge.

However, where one may see Hume's philosophy as shackles and fetters in the search for truth, one could also equally see his philosophy as liberation. Implicit in his philosophy is the idea that ANYTHING is possible. There are no shackles, no fetters, no limits; only those that we create for ourselves. Our limits are self-imposed, constructs of our observance (and inference) of connection. In this way Hume appears in the same light as the Eastern masters seeing that reality is not what we have (through experiential knowledge) believed it to be. It is something much more wondrous. In Zen, our causal thinking is the only barrier between the person and enlightenment. Hume could be seen as implying that when the idea of causality is removed, with only conjunction remaining in its place, the state of true knowledge and wisdom (true zen) is achieved.

This, of course, is only idle speculation. But it is stated so as to demonstrate the richness and immense possibility Hume's philosophy possesses when seen in the correct light. Instead of saying, "Nothing is certain," after reading Hume, one can say, with equal validity, "Anything is possible." The first statement approaches philosophy with despair. The second approaches it with a sense of childlike wonder and hope at the immense possibilities of reality. It approaches life as a beginning, not an ending. It approaches life as the philosopher approaches it.

If one accepts the methodology of Descartes in applying scepticism to reason and the senses, in effect denying the existence of all things but a "thinking thing," two entailments are logically consequent: Either Berkeley's idealism or Hume's scepticism. I don't accept Descartes' starting point, so I find the entailments confused and incoherent. But if one does accept Descartes' starting point, then the two extremes must be heeded. If for no other reason than observing the absurdity of either man's conclusions, it is valuable to read both entailments. But in their confused process, both men bring certain salient features to light.

Hume accepts Descartes starting point, making it his own. But to Descartes method, he adds Pyrrhonist scepticism: That all reason leads to infinite regress, and that all sensations (or impressions) can not be trusted.

Hume begins with the conclusion that all sense perception is either an impression or idea. Even memory and imagination, two other faculties of the mind, are conflated into these two species of perceptions, as impressions. Their difference is one of degree (vivacity), not of kind. Hence, Hume is the author of what is known as the "Copy Principle." Instead of unmediated, direct perception through the ordinary senses, all perception is mediated by the imagination into impressions and ideas. From this follows certain resemblances, contiguity, and causal associations between impressions or ideas, and from this association we develop a sense of self. But even the notion of causality here is one of implied inference, not of actual inductive reason. Hume denies there is any real causality that can be known, although we operate "as if" we infer cause from effect. Even probability is reduced to a mere association of ideas and/or impressions; because neither reason (which always leads to infinite regress) or senses (which can always be deceived) can actually be true. The Enquiry also treats of miracles and the testimony of others derisively; but don't we rely on the testimony of others who claim the earth is round rather than flat, just as we rely on others who testify to miracles in a byegone era? After all, few of us have direct experience with a spherical earth (Popper makes this observation).

Hume's method incorporates five kinds of scepticism: (i) methodological, (ii) conceptual, (ii) nomological, (iv) explanatory, and (v) reductive empiricism. His commitment to scepticism is not without some capitulation. While he denies absolute causality and inductive inference and probability in an actual senses, he relies on them for practical purposes. One can't remain a pyrrhonist for long; some elements of reason and some degree of confidence in impressions is necessary for ordinary life. But if one starts with Descartes' starting point, extreme scepticism is a necessary entailment. Which, after seeing Hume deny so much intuition, is it really worth starting with Descartes' scepticism? Answering that question is what makes Hume interesting.

David Hume was perhaps the leading light in the Empiricist movement in philosophy. Empiricism is seen in distinction from Rationalism, in that it doubts the viability of universal principles (rational or otherwise), and uses sense data as the basis of all knowledge - experience is the source of knowledge. Hume was a skeptic as well as empiricist, and had radical (for the time) atheist ideas that often got in the way of his professional advancement, but given his reliance on experience (and the kinds of experiences he had), his problem with much that was considered conventional was understandable.

Hume's major work, 'A Treatise of Human Nature', was not well received intially - according to Hume, 'it fell dead-born from the press'. Hume reworked the first part of this work in a more popular way for this text, which has become a standard, and perhaps the best introduction to Empiricism.

In a nutshell, the idea of empiricism is that experience teaches, and rules and understanding are derived from this. However, for Hume this wasn't sufficient. Just because billiard balls when striking always behave in a certain manner, or just because the sun always rose in the morning, there was no direct causal connection that could be automatically affirmed - we assume a necessary connection, but how can this be proved?

Hume's ideas impact not only metaphysics, but also epistemology and psychology. Hume develops empiricism to a point that empiricism is practically unsupportable (and it is in this regard that Kant sees this text as a very important piece, and works toward his synthesis of Empiricism and Rationalism). For Hume, empirical thought requires skepticism, but leaves it unresolved as far as what one then needs to accept with regard to reason and understanding. According to scholar Eric Steinberg, 'A view that pervades nearly all of Hume's philosophical writings is that both ancient and modern philosophers have been guilty of optimistic and exaggerated claims for the power of human reason.'

Some have seen Hume as presenting a fundamental mistrust of daily belief while recognising that we cannot escape from some sort of framework; others have seen Hume as working toward a more naturalist paradigm of human understanding. In fact, Hume is open to a number of different interpretations, and these different interpretations have been taken up by subsequent philosophers to develop areas of synthetic philosophical ideas, as well as further developments more directly out of Empiricism (such as Phenomenology).

This is in fact a rather short book, a mere 100 pages or so in many editions. As a primer for understanding Hume, the British Empiricists (who include Hobbes, Locke, and Berkeley), as well as the major philosphical concerns of the eighteenth century, this is a great text with which to start.

Hume, I and many others think, was the greatest philosopher to have written in English, and this is the book to pick up if you want to introduce yourself to Saint David's distinctive brand of classical empiricism. This is a must-read for anyone with even a passing interest in philosophy, and it's hard for me to see how anyone interested in the history of modern thought can avoid reading this book or the corresponding sections of Hume's Treatise.

As is well-known, the Enquiry concerning Human Understanding was intended as an encapsulation and popularization of the views Hume defended in Book I of his magnum opus, A Treatise of Human Nature. Hume assumed that book's commercial failure could be accounted for by its length, difficulty, and lack of accessibility, and so, being a man who desired literary fame, he hoped to acquire commercial success by presenting the same ideas in a more appealing and accessible manner. Unfortunately, it seems Hume misunderstood what the literati of his day were looking for in a philosophical treatise. For the Enquiry, like the Treatise before it, didn't bring him the fame he sought. Still, Hume did understand what goes into writing excellent philosophical prose, and consequently this book is a much easier read than Book I of the Treatise. Indeed, this book constitutes an excellent introduction to Hume's thought, and, except for maybe Berkeley's Three Dialogues, I can't think of another primary source that would serve as a better introduction to classical British empiricism.

Now, let's get to the ideas here. Hume, like the other classical empiricists, was primarily concerned with the psychological question of the origin of our concepts. About the answer to this question, the empiricists were all agreed--our concepts are furnished by experience, which includes both sensory experience and introspection (i.e., the experience of our own mental states). And the empiricists also agreed about the way we can justify our beliefs. Some beliefs are true (or false) in virtue of the ideas they contained, and we can know their truth (or falsity) simply by thinking about them; other beliefs are true (or false) in virtue of how the external world is, and we can know their truth (or falsity) only by drawing on our experiences of the world. According to Hume, all substantial conclusions about the world fall into this second category. That is, the truth (or falsity) of all substantial claims about the existence and nature of things in the external world can be discovered only by checking those claims against the evidence of our senses.

The traditional way of placing Hume within the story of empiricism goes something like this. Hume takes up the empiricism of Locke and Berkeley and pushes it to its logical conclusion. Whereas Locke and Berkeley hadn't been wholly consistent empiricists, Hume, the true believer, demonstrates that classical empiricism leads to a pretty thoroughgoing skepticism. Since he's wholly convinced of the truth of his empiricist premises, Hume is willing to accept the skepticism that goes along with them. However, those who aren't convinced of that his empiricism is obviously correct think that Hume has actually demonstrated the implausibility of his empiricism. If this is where empiricism leads, they think, then it's clear that we need to reject empiricism. Indeed, some, like Thomas Reid, view Hume's arguments as constituting a reductio ad absurdum of his sort of empiricism. On this interpretation, Hume's philosophy essentially presents a dilemma for all future thinkers: abandon empiricism, or accept empiricism along with Humean skepticism.

But a different view of Hume, one of Hume as proposing a wholly naturalistic account of the human mind, has recently emerged as a competitor to the general conception of Hume's place within philosophy sketched in the previous paragraph. This interpretation downplays Hume's skepticism and emphasizes his professed intentions to provide a positive account of the operation of the human mind that appealed to nothing beyond the evidence of our senses. According to proponents of this interpretation, Hume is most interested in a description of the operation of the human mind. He's describing what human nature allows us to know and what it doesn't allow us to know. Furthermore, he argues that our nature is such that, where it fails to provide us with the resources to acquire the knowledge we might want, it provides us with a natural habit of forming the right conclusions anyway. Even though our nature limits our knowledge of the world, it ensures that we possess the habits of mind needed to make our way in the world. Hume dubs all these habits of mind "custom."

If this view is correct, then Hume has abjured many of the normative aims of traditional epistemological inquiry. He isn't attempting to show how we can answer a skeptic or why we have good reason to believe what we think we know. Instead, he wants us to stand back from our everyday beliefs and think about the natural processes that result in them. How, exactly, do our minds operate? How do we come to think what we do about the world? Hume thinks that this sort of inquiry will lead us see that, at some point, the explanation of why we think what we think reaches certain brute facts about the operation of the human mind. When we reach these points, there is nothing more to be said. We simply can't help thinking in these ways, and we lack the resources to demonstrate that these ways of thinking constitute an accurate way to represent the operation of the external world. And, Hume claims, it turns out that many of the fundamental elements of our conception of the world--the belief that things stand in causal relations to one another, the belief that we can know that there is a world outside our minds, the belief the future will resemble the past--end up not being open to ratification by experience. With respect to beliefs of these sorts, we ultimately have to appeal to custom in order to explain their existence and popularity. Hume, then, can be seen as demolishing the pretensions of reason in order to make room for a wholly naturalistic account of human thinking.

First I would like to commend the excellent review of this book by CT Dreyer in which he correctly shows how Hume extended the empiricism of Locke and Berkeley to the point where skepticism seemed our only honest way of thinking about our knowledge of the world. Hume's questioning of induction, of how we can be sure tomorrow will be like today , his questioning of how we can trust our senses to know the outside world, his questioning of how we can hold our world logically together when analysis reveals that there is no necessary connection between ' cause' and 'effect' in everyday life action means he wakened not only Kant from his dogmatic slumber but Philosophy itself from the sense that it will provide absolute understanding.
Hume is a very clear writer. I remember reading the famous billiard ball account of causality in which our common sense view of ' before' and ' after' is questioned and taken apart. I believe Hume says after this account, something to the effect and ' still when we leave the room we leave by the door and not by the window'. A friend of mine in this class when the class ended opened the window ( on the ground floor ) and went out that way.
This is difficult and great philosophy. I do not pretend to understand it or its implications fully. A test of the mind and a necessary read for anyone who would know Western Philosophy.

I purchased Dr. Thomas' book to assist me in my research in leadership behaviors and stakeholder empowerment, and what a great help.

However, the best part of reading this book, I was forced to remember much of my past training and reignite many of the qualities I had forgetten to practice.

What a great book, would recommend to anyone interested in understand how and why motivation works.

Intrinsic Motivation is one of the better books on leadership and management that I have read recently. Thomas targets both managers and employees, arguing that salaries and other extrinsic rewards are neither the sole nor the primary source of motivation in modern organizations. In fact, monetary compensation is only a factor when making major life decisions (e.g., whether and when to change jobs) and when there is a question of fairness. The best a manager can hope for, says Thomas, is perceived equity - that those doing the most and the best work are the best compensated. Absent major life decisions and inequities, it is intrinsic rewards that will motivate employees.

Intrinsic motivation, according to Thomas, means giving employees an understanding of the purpose of the tasks they do and giving them whole tasks whenever possible. Today's workforce is more highly educated than its forerunners. Competition and the need for quick decision-making have reduced the reliance on middle managers and bureaucratic rulebooks. In this environment, employees must be self-managing and they must have a sense of meaningfulness, choice, competence, and progress in the work that they do. If they feel that they have all four of these factors, employees will feel a great sense of job satisfaction, be highly motivated, and perform well.

Thomas offers managers and employees suggestions on how to improve in each area if it seems that that factor is lacking. In fact, if an employee is feeling unmotivated, Thomas suggests the employee consider which of the four "vital signs" is weak and address it accordingly. It is important, for example, for employees at all levels to have a personal vision to boost their sense of meaningfulness. Feeling that you have no choice in how you do your work? Negotiate with your boss for more authority or, if all else fails, consider moving to another job that provides more choice. A sense of competence comes from training and learning, but it also comes from patting oneself on the back for a job well done. Progress can be measured in a number of ways, but one of the best is through contact with customers.

Thomas's book is only an overview into each of these areas. He intends Intrinsic Motivation to be an all-encompassing model of employee motivation, and he generally succeeds. Those seeking more details would need to use Thomas's notes to find articles and books on individual subjects discussed within the book. And it is a shame that while Thomas characterizes outdated management styles as "paternalistic" he uses analogies of parents and children when describing intrinsic motivation. Overall, however, Intrinsic Motivation is a healthy reminder to both managers and workers that there are many steps we can take to improve employee morale and productivity. More money is better than less, Thomas agrees, but a true sense of purpose and worth can be priceless.

This is the first book that I have read that provides me with the information to confront the problems associated with instilling intrinsic motivation in those that I manage. It is often the problem that people show little concern for their work. The rule seems to be something like this- Do just enough to get by while exerting the least energy as possible. I like this book because the information is not a story of what a good manager has as an opinion as to what works best but it is a scholarly book in the sense that it provides information based on research that is proven. This is to date the best book that I have to reference when dealing with teams that act out of extrinsic motivation or no motivation at all. I applaud the author for this work.

This book deserves more than five stars.

Prior to Intrinsic Motivation at Work, management books often referred to the need for intrinsic motivation or sources of thta motivation (such as an inspiring purpose or interesting work). This book takes those isolated thoughts and connects them into a systematic method of improving overall motivation by increasing internal motivation and connecting with external sources of motivation. This book will be a landmark in the field of human resource management for decades to come.

The book contains many helpful elements to help you understand its message. One that I particularly liked was the management tale. In one connected example, it showed how management attention has shifted in the last 120 years from making people perform more effectively at predefined tasks (the rational approach as defined by scientific management) to creating passion and fulfillment from work, by focusing on the emotional side of a person. You get an overview of management practice and theory in very small and easy-to-digest doses. For example, one of my favorite sentences was "So the executives crafted Vision Statements that emphasized Contribution to Customers and Quality . . . but often [they] rang hollow in time -- like unkept promises."

The author distills the relevant sources of intrinsic motivation into meaningfulness, choice, competence, and progress. These ideas are nicely developed in several dimensions. For example, it is explained how these affect the worker (or associate, if you prefer that term). You also find out what the leader or manager has to do to help create those factors for the worker. Then, the author also exposes how the four areas are connected in a system of postive (or potentially negative) feedback. Further, you are given five elements of each one to develop.

Basically, the model calls for the meaningful purpose of the organization as the starting point. The next step is to give people a choice of actions to implement that purpose. Then activities are performed, and these are monitored for the competency shown (which may generate the need for better choices to pursue the object or to enhance the competency of those involved). After the activities are completed, you also look for progress and relate this back to the original purpose and your choices for fulfilling that purpose.

The book goes on the explain how to integrate intrinsic and external sources of motivation so that they reinforce one another.

There are several points to keep in mind when considering this book. First, you will get even better results if the organization picks a meaningful purpose that offers the potential for more intrinsic motivation. Some purposes have more potential to be accomplished and some are more exciting to more people. I find that most people latch onto an organizational purpose with too little consideration of the alternatives. Second, any on-going organization has a perceived purpose that attracts and retains employees now. You should find out what that is before changing it. My experience has been that you get better results by building upon that assumed purpose than by striking off in a totally new direction. Third, simplification (see Simplicity) is a related thought process that should be employed with this one. A lot of demotivation along intrinsic lines follows errors in making things too complicated and difficult.

Although this book is about work, its principles apply just as well to volunteer activities. I suggest that you share the book with those you volunteer with and then discuss how to employ its lessons to fulfill your empowering purposes.

Kenneth W. Thomas presents a model for using intrinsic motivation in the workplace to assure a more committed, self-managed workforce. He advocates leading for meaningfulness, choice, competence, and progress. He emphasizes the need to use this approach to give employees the greater independence and decision-making authority they need as bureaucratic management models break down. While many of these themes are presented in other books on leadership, motivation, training and worker empowerment, Thomas pulls them together in a well-organized, clearly written presentation that gives readers clear directions. The succinct style of writing is easy to understand, even though it is directed toward the serious reader. We [...] recommend this book to executives, managers, trainers and management consultants, as well as to employees, who will find helpful ideas for exercising greater self-management.

The book contains a great deal of information about Kauai's best hidden places and how to discover them on your own. It is a great resource for people who prefer peace and natural beauty without crowds or commercialism. However, tours are sometimes the only way to explore the places that make Kauai so special (for example boat tours of the Na Pali coast, helicopter tours, or hiking tours of the interior wilderness best accessed by experienced leaders) and so the authors suggest the best local companies, particularly those with a history of responsible tourism and respect for the environment. Readers need options, and the authors try to make detailed information available for informed choices. As the original guidebook writers to Kauai, the book has often been praised for its extensive and reliable research. It made my vacation!

Not enough information on how to do any activities on your own. Too many "Guided tours".

My husband and I have been using the Underground Guide for our trips to Kauai for 18 years. We make sure we have a current edition for every trip we take. It has saved us precious time and a lot of money over the years. Other guides are ok, but this one is by far and away the best for the most up to date information, useful information for those new to the island as well as seasoned veterans, the best directions, and a wide variety of reviews on activities and restaurants for different budgets. Safety is a priority when it comes to both the swimming (some beaches have tricky conditions to watch for) and helicopter tours and she has a great review of both. We have found many fabulous places that we never would have found on our own, even though we have spent many vacations there. Don't miss out on Hamura's Saimin - you'll never eat ramen from a styrofoam cup again!

This Kauai Guide Book is One of the most recent and up-to-date Guides to "Things-to-do" on Kauai....My Third Trip is coming up in Febuary and this Guide has Information in it that I was not aware of of....Buy this Guide!!!!(Make sure when ordering that the Copy you are buying is the "Latest Most-up-to-date Edition--Some Amazon Merchants have Guides listed that are 1 to 3 years old)..It has a Nice Selection of Hawaiian Music on CD in the rear of the book....Two other Guides are also Great(It's Nice to have all 3 because each are different).."The Utlimate Kauai Guidebook(2006 is the latest Edition)" and "Kauai Trailblazer"(2007)....All 3 Books will give you just about everything you need to know...Don't forget to ask Locals questions on other Spots when you get there---As Great as these Guides are,Kauai is changing!...TWO TIPS----FOR GOLFERS---Check Ebay(Kauai Golf) for Golf Times at the Resorts--You can save a lot of Money buying these Tee Times in Advance....AVOID DRIVING IN RUSH HOURS ON THE COCONUT COAST(Kapaa area down to Lihue to Koloa)...You may creep along in traffic for an Hour or so.Jim Gscheidle

This is an amazing travel guide. The authors cover every inch of the island, and their descriptions are spot-on accurate. We spent 12 days in Kauai and stayed at the Lihue Marriott as perfectly recommended by the book. We carried this book with us every where we went.

The book was simply an inexhaustible resource that steered us in the right direction time and time again. The book made our vacation even more stress free. I don't know how the vacation would have gone without it.

The only downside of the book is that the authors don't recommend their "overall favorite" beach for winter and summer, or their "overall favorite" restaurant.

The beaches are dramatically different during the winter and the summer. For example, you do not want to be on the north side of the island during the winter, where it rains all the time. In the winter, the best beaches by far can be found at Salt Pond Beach Park on the south side of the island, or at Polihale State Park on the west side of the island (make sure to rent a Jeep or SUV if you want to enjoy the Polihale State Park's spectacular mountainside beaches, which can only be accessed via a dirt road through sugar cane fields; we braved the trip in a Pontiac G6 but it was a white knuckle drive.).

Unfortunately, the authors' descriptions of the beaches are generally in a "best weather" format, and generally don't distinguish between the seasons. As a result, we spent one day driving around in rain on the north and east sides of the island looking for what were supposed to be great beaches. The beaches are great in the summer, but in the winter they were nothing but rough waves, wind, and rain. (We confirmed the first day's results when we frequently re-visited those sides of the island to dine.)

We also spent a few nights at restaurants that the authors described as good, and that were generally good. However, I wish we hadn't waited to dine at The Blossoming Lotus, which offers a dining experience unmatched by any other restaurant on the island, and can certainly compete with any mainland fine dining restaurant. In 2006, the restaurant was named the best on the island and is critically praised by many experts. The authors should just acknowledge what everyone else already knows and come out and call it the best restaurant on the island. Generally, all of the island's restaurants except the Mexican restaurants (try Mariachi's!) offer the same dishes, and, thus, are redundant. The Blossoming Lotus is truly a unique dining experience, and I will quickly add not just on the island. It literally blew us away!!!

Buy the book and enjoy Kauai!!!

This is one of the oddest books I have ever read and I recommend it to anyone -not just food lovers. It kept me facinated until the end. One of those books which enlightens one to the small but exciting adventures people can find themselves caught up with. You don't have to be a movie star or run for president to find some exciting things in your own life. Laura Schenone did this and brought the reader along with her. I don't know this lady but it would be fun having her for a neighbor - especially for Christmas ravioli.

Schenone has written a mesmerizing meditation on food that is a mystery, a memoir and a love letter to ravioli all at once. The book made me wish I had Italian ancestors, so I could go hop a plane and explore the mountains of Italy to track down secret recipes, and hidden family lore, too. Instead I made the walnut sauce--which was delicious. This book is a beautiful and honest memoir about a woman's search to understand her family and herself. Honestly, I didn't want the journey to end.

I love this book! It is a little bit cooking, a little bit history, a little bit travel, a little bit genealogy, a little bit family drama. I had borrowed a copy from my local library, and I enjoyed it so much that I had to buy it.
I am intending to try some of the recipes and make my own ravioli.(My all time favorite food)

Lending libraries strong in culinary history, particularly American regional dishes, will delight in THE LOST RAVIOLI RECIPES OF HOBOKEN, based on the author's quest for a great grandmother's recipe for ravioli. Her journey takes her to family history and archives, surveys conflicting ideas of culinary history, and journeys from New Jersey's suburbs to her Italian ancestors' home. The result's a lively food history not to be missed.

THE LOST RAVIOLI RECIPES OF HOBOKEN is a marvelously well written "search for identity" rumination. If it has any fault it is that is takes itself so seriously that the reader is afraid to smile too broadly.

As a former student of Ms. LaPlante's, I have first-hand knowledge of her teaching talent. She has somehow managed to get her priceless lectures into a book that is thorough and accessible. Teachers and writers of all shapes and sizes will find a way into their material with Alice LaPlante's guide. Not all teachers are excellent writers and not all writers are excellent teachers. Alice is uniquely both. Lucky us that Alice decided to write this book. Enjoy!

Alice LaPlante's "The Making of a Story" is textbook-length (well over six hundred pages), and should appeal not only to serious writing students, but also to teachers and readers who would like more insight into how writers create. Creative writing is not for the faint-hearted; that is clear from the outset. It is easy to feel overwhelmed when staring at a blank page or screen, trying to come with original ideas and fresh ways to express them. LaPlante gently and slowly guides her readers through the entire process from getting off the ground to putting the finishing touches on the final draft.

LaPlante's scope is encyclopedic. She includes such topics as: making the ordinary extraordinary, employing imagery effectively, writing a good opening, developing plot and characters, choosing a point of view, writing believable dialogue, generating suspense, and revising one's work. She also discusses the strengths and limitations of writing workshops. The author emphasizes that there are no hard and fast rules; rather, she is passing on "conventions" that have worked for many but not all writers.

How does this work differ from others of its type? "The Making of a Story" covers more territory than most writing handbooks. Part of the book's length results from the inclusion of quite a few full-length classic stories, such as Tim O'Brien's "The Things They Carried," John Cheever's "The Swimmer," James Baldwin's "Sonny's Blues," and a non-fiction piece, Barbara Ehrenreich's "Welcome to Cancerland." Each work is followed by thought questions such as "How do the opening paragraphs set the tone for the story?" and "Can you point to some sections of narration that are convincing because of their specificity?" There are also dozens of exercises sprinkled throughout the book. For example, the student should pretend that she is a camera and record everything that she sees in a place rich with visual stimulation.

"Reading Like a Writer" by Francine Prose is another excellent work of this type; in fact, LaPlante quotes Prose and even uses the phrase "Reading as a Writer" repeatedly. "The Making of a Story" is well organized into fourteen carefully constructed chapters. There is a useful table of contents, a glossary of literary terms, a bibliography, a list of stories, and a thorough index. This guide cannot be absorbed in one sitting. It should be savored slowly and kept as a ready reference book. Used judiciously, it can serve as a source of inspiration to help writers bring out the best in themselves.

Alice LaPlante's THE MAKING OF A STORY: A PRIMER lucidly explains the craft basics of fiction and creative nonfiction, presenting numerous examples from both genres. However, this massive book's subtitle, " a primer," led me to expect a multi-genre approach as in Burroway's IMAGINATIVE WRITING: THE ELEMENTS OF CRAFT, which covers not only fiction and creative nonfiction but also drama and poetry. (See my Amazon review of the second edition of Burroway.)

Several of the illustrative short stories LaPlante includes are the same as in the classic WRITING FICTION: A GUIDE TO NARRATIVE CRAFT by Janet Burroway and in Tom Bailey's ON WRITING SHORT STORIES.

For introductory writing courses that discuss fiction and creative nonfiction (but exclude drama and poetry) LaPlante's detailed primer could well be a better choice as it is relatively cheap, nearly one-fourth the price of the two Burroway books. For teaching yourself the basic craft aspects of creative writing, I recommend Burrroway's concurrent multi-genre IMAGINATIVE WRITING as the best primer. For the beginning short-story writer, I recommend Tom Bailey's ON WRITING SHORT STORIES & SHORT-STORY WRITER'S COMANION.

-- C J Singh

This book has great insight into what it takes to be a creative author. My only complaint is the content of some of the sample stories. I realize they are very well written and serve the intended purpose. However, when limited pieces of suspense and crime stories are included it leaves the readers (who are simply trying to to get an education) with a terrible feeling in the pit of their stomach.

The Making of a Story by Alice LaPlante is the BEST BOOK I have read on creative writing--a truly "modern" version of older books like Janet Burroway's Writing Fiction and John Gardner's The Art of Fiction. The book is broader and deeper than previous books: for example it contains information on writing creative nonfiction as well as fiction; it describes the traditional models of shaping a story (conflict-crisis-resolution model, epiphany and change models) but is inclusive, allows for a wider, organic, more creative definition (stories must surprise us and convince us at the same time Alice says); it contains 26 complete short stories from outstanding writers (Baldwin, Carver, Cheever, Chekhov, Cooper, Didion, Ehrenreich, Hemingway, Johnson, Lamott, Oates, O'Brien, Packer, Sharma, and others) AND has exercises for writers at the end of each chapter--and examples of each exercise completed by students from Alice LaPlante's classes whose writing excellence is equal in many cases to that of the published authors in the book. What is really helpful is the ability of these exercises, or "constraints" as she explains, to help writers (beginners or advanced) access their personal, authentic, most inspirational material. This book teaches how to combine method (craft) with madness (inspiration) and is fascinating to read! I recommend it to anyone who loves stories--readers and writers.

For the individual more interested in Christian living than philosophical arguments this is the Schaeffer book for you. This book is very short, I finished in two nights of easy reading. It is basically expanding his thoughts on John 13:34-35

"A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another."

I think his main point is that God has given the world a litmus test for whether Christianity is the truth and whether we are truly followers of him. If the world can OBSERVE that we love one another they will know, if not, then they have the right to judge us accordingly. How we deal with conflict within ourselves is the true test. Loving each other through harmony is easy, loving each other when there are disagreements is much harder.

This is an oversimplification of his work, and reading this short book is well worth the effort. Light and short reading with maximum impact.

Though may easily be overlooked as something Christians are and should be familiar with, I still take Dr. Schaeffer's encouragement seriously to love like Jesus loves according to what he commands his disciples at the Last Supper; both those "in the household of faith" and those who are outside, that the world may know that Christians are Christ's indeed. I can not agree more that cold, uncaring, indifferent, unloving, narcissistic Christianity; something that I'm liable to as well; is not only an oxymoron, but also ugly, as Dr. Schaeffer puts it. On a similar subject, pursuing Christian unity; what it is and what it is not; is something that he claims as the other mark of a Christian, and though intuitively is natural when there is a genuine love to one another, but is still worth studying in this little yet practical book.

Schaeffer writes a book here that is challenging and very needed. He simply takes two statements of Jesus on how we should love one another and strive for peace and unity instead of discord and pride, and demonstrates the crucial need to follow these verses. A Christian is supposed to be a bearer of love and peace to every other human being (Christian or not; you can promote peace and show love without sacrificing truth). This book along with his "True Spirituality" are both on the top of my list of messages that have made the most impact on me. All of Schaeffer's work is good but this book is one of my favorites. I second the motion that this is a must read for any Christian.

As with most of Francis Schaffer's books... though written in the 1970's it seems like it was written yesterday. A short but powerful book looking at John 13 & 17 and what he calls is the "Final Apologetic". He basically asks "How will they know we are Christians?" And expounds on that. A highly reflective book. A book we need today. A Must Read.

I first read this book as a young Christian and now am impressed with how many of the concepts I have adopted in my own creed. I detest pop Christian symbols and the urge to define a Christian by market forces. Schaeffer attempts to challenge the reader into not only glimpsing in the mirror, but to really make changes accordingly.