Cultural Books

The first time I laid my hands on this little pocket size book I could not put it away until I drained out all its information. This book really gave a very concise idea about anthropology and its subfields. The authors provided valuable first hand examples about their experiences as anthropologists and ethnographers. This book is perfect for those who would like to get a brief understanding of what anthropology is about and also good for experts because the authors managed to incorporate some of the most relevant anthropologists.

I wanted my 100th review for Amazon to be for something I could wholeheartedly recommend, and this is it.

The authors manage, within severe space restrictions, to convey the essential features of their discipline, an outline of its history and development, and an indication of the philosophical and moral issues that it raises.

Monaghan's work with the Mixtec of Central America and Just's work with the Dou Donggo of Indonesia are used as sources for the anecdotal details that are used throughout the book to illustrate aspects of anthropology. This is very much a description of anthropology as a practical endeavor, a hands-on discipline whose theories are firmly grounded in the everyday lives of human beings.

Broader theoretical contexts, such as are found in Marxism or Structuralism, are touched on but no more. Those are the things you go on to read about after your appetite has been whetted by an excellent introduction such as this.

This is the first Anthropology introduction I have read that doesn't get bogged down in postmodern academic speak. It was very clear and interesting, with good examples.

This was the first VSI I read and it made me fall in love with the series.

This is a great little book to get a first impression of anthropology. The two authors present different historical developments and schools of thought. I had not know anything about this academic field before, but this book made me want to read more. Especially helpful with that were the examples that pertained to the authors' own fieldwork in Mexico and Indonesia. Reading about bee larvas and onion soup just makes the ideas presented more "real".

After disheartening forays into text books and frustration at readers that are either too thematic or otherwise not quite right for a quick orientation in the discipline, I decided to check this out. This is about as perfect a scene-setter as I could ask for for either an intro course or any course that is likely to attract students who do not have an anthropological background. It's pocket-sized, it's affordable, it's readable, and it's SMART. It covers theoretical debates in a straight-forward and understandable way that shows why anyone should care about evolution vs. diffusion (to name one example). This little book as does about a good a job as any at showing how (and why) anthropologists and others use the word "post-modernity" (pg 69). The field examples are well chosen and engaging. The chapters are of a length and written in a style students are likely to read. Even better, the authors give enough tantalizing detail that I suspect it will inspire students to read MORE.

Hofstadter's classic work remains one of the outstanding challenges to the effect of Darwin's theory of evolution on social attitudes and beliefs. One of the great fallacies of evolutionary thinking can arise from the assumption of universal application of its mechanism of natural selection to all times, thus to the present and future. This is a fallacy and an inherent trap in confusing evolutionary process with a natural law, as in physics. The result of Darwin's theory was to make 'natural selection' a social strategy in the minds of many in a total confusion of theoretical domains of application. The outcome was the many variants of Social Darwinism that stretch into our own times. Hofstadter's documentation of the many shades of opinion generates a sense of deja vu, for few of the viewpoints we hear now are new and appear somewhere in the book, in a merry-go-round of confused thinking. It is a dreadful legacy that too many fell obligated to correct in the wrong fashion, by exempting Darwin entirely, and blaming those who came afterwards. In fact, the perception that Darwin's theory is simply wrong or incomplete is the only antidote to social Darwinist attitudes, which linger in the tacit belief of too many in the need to mimic the ruthlessness enjoined by a confused theory. Robert Bannister's Social Darwinism is also a partial comment on Hofstadter, but does not supercede this original and enduring work.

This book doesn't really take much of a position. Rather, it is a historical chronicle positions others have taken. But if there is a hidden 'thesis' to this book, my guess is that it would look something like this: Evolution is a unique science because it touches on the very idea of who humans are, individually and as a group. Becuase of this, there has been a great urge to make sweeping proclomations applying evolution to politics, ethics, economics, etc. This book is the historical record of various attempts.

What one learns in this book is that far from being limited to Spencer and the laissez-faire crowd, evolution has been invoked to support just about every governmental and economic scheme imaginable: Kropotkin tied 'mutual aid' to anarchism; Marx applied it to communism; Spencer to capitalism; Dewey to government interventionism, etc....etc....

Hofstadter takes us on a ride that begins with Darwin and winds its way through these varied schemes. Everyone, it seems, wanted to apply this newly found science to their side before the other guy could monopolize it! If you couldn't link your beliefs to evolutionary support, then your beliefs may risk seeming unscientific (especially if the other guy COULD claim evolutionary support). And this is the story of that multifarious race.

Obviously Spencer and Sumner are written about quite a bit, as they have become the public face of 'Social darwinim." (As it is a bastard philosophy, I refuse to capitalise the "d" in Social darwinism.) Kropotkin and those who tied evolution to altruism are also gone over a good deal. From there, we get a survey of the often neglected pragmatists and their understanding of Darwinism (I think they got it right; particuluarly William James.) We end in somewhat of an irony, with the anti-Spencerian economists who applied evolutionary thought to the OPPOSITE conclusion from Spencer's.

It is a good read, especially for those interested in the history of ideas. But anyone looking for much of a thesis in this book will be disappointed. The book is not pro- or anti-evolution in any way whatever. The book only suggested (to me anway) the danger that comes when evolutionary thinkers unhinge themselves from the empirical and begin philosophizing about normative things like ethics and politics. Evolutionary psychology is one thing, but evolutionary ideology is quite another (in whatever shape it comes).

Typically, I bestow five stars on books I think profitable to read. This book is a classic: it is imperative to read.

I disagree with the reviewer below (Mr. Landon) who calls for a repudiation of natural selection. I do not believe that sufficient evidence exists to recall the theory of natural selection.

Richard Hofstaedter is not, I repeat, is not calling for that, either. Recalling a scientific theory because of political difficulties caused by misguided adherents is neither right nor necessary. And Richard Hofstaedter demonstrates why it is not necessary right here in this book.

The take-away from this book is that social Darwinism, the belief that only the "fittest" (whatever that means) people among us should survive (rule, whatever), is on shaky ground. Always a morally repugnant doctrine, Hofstaedter shows social Darwinism to be logically suspect as well.

As Hofstaedter points out, one can start with the social Darwinist's appropriation of (or more accurately with their failure to reckon with) the term "natural". Darwin's principle of natural selection never addressed individuals within a species, and its application to individuals is a tremendous mistake. Writing about individuals striving to be "fittest", Hofstaedter here, from the pen of Mr. Darwin himself:

"People who are selfish and contentious will not cohere, and without coherence, nothing can be effected."

Rugged individualism is repudiated by its supposed inventor, and is fatally wounded.

One ponders the origin of the social instinct. Social Darwinists believe it to be contrived. But we were either created or selected to have it, this Darwin seems to know. And we should know it, too.

Hofstaedter avoids bombast, ideology, and religion. Yet he most effectively shames any false philosopher who would trample underfoot the least of his brothers and pronounce it "inevitable", by demonstrating the fallacy of his "logic".

By revealing the spurious origins and assumptions that form the foundation of the doctrine of social Darwinism, Hofstaedter undoes the false conflict between evolutionary science and Christian ethics.

In the end, Mr. Landon and I agree: Five stars. If you're interested in the most significant question arising in the past couple of centuries for social science, ethics and religion, the buck stops here.

If by chance you are unaware of what Social Dawinism is and/or do not know how it has flowed through America's bloodstream (most virtually since the Civil War) you are in for a reader's exploration that is destined to change your world view. For sure, you will realize how social Darwinism is alive and well today and, I offer, that you will be howling to leave it by the wayside by the time you've turned the last page of this unexpected history. This is a cornerstone read for the history buff and a must read for anyone seeking reasons why life--for most of us--is not as joyful or pleasant as it could be...In this light Richard Hofstdter's book is a teacher of both the mind and heart!

Richard Hofstadter is an excellent historian of the trends in American political, social, and religious thought. This book chronicles the rise and fall of Herbert Spencer's philosophy as a reinforcing doctrine for laissez-faire political economy. Hofstadter deftly combines his own observations with carefully selected quotes from the thinkers themselves. One lesson that may be gleaned from this work is that controversial and complex ideas such as Darwinian evolution may be used for a multiplicity of purposes, some of them conflicting. For those who seek a greater insight to the struggle between individualism and collectivism in American political culture. I would also recommend reading Will Durant's chapter on Herbert Spencer in The Story of Philosophy as a supplement.

I don't read autobiographies because they're usually self-serving. I wait until someone with distance does justice to a life.

Soldier, though, is the exception to my rule. June Jordan is able to look back over what seems a chaotic and sometimes cold, cruel childhood, and put it into the context of her life.

The style is many times lyrical and poetic. The words draw you in and keep you reading. The story works back and forth between what's actually happening to June, the child, and what she's thinking about as it unfolds. It's quite different from most autobiographies.

While I understand her father's quest to make sure his child is never a victim, his methods seem too brutal for words. It was a different time, and reality for an African-American is different, too, but reading about it is grueling.

I did have a problem with the fact that June's memories seem much too clear. I may be missing the point, but I don't know anyone who can remember her childhood with such clarity and from the age of six months. Perhaps this is literacy license. If so, fine. The problem, then, is mine.

No matter, this book is a fabulous read. I whipped through it in two hours.

June Jordan, African American Studies professor at UC Berkeley, has written a moving testament to her chaotic, challenging, and bittersweet childhood. This memoir written in a poetic manner is reminiscent of Sandra Cisneros' "House on Mango Street". The daughter of West Indian immigrants who revered education and hard work, she endured almost daily verbal assaults on her gender and physical abuse from her father. He was on one hand a supporter of Marcus Garvey and on the other hand felt the need to put down the American black at every turn. Her mother was a submissive, silent woman who realized that her daughter was her husband's son. Jordan's memories of the people who made an impact on her life and character, her Nanny, her Uncle Teddy, her camp friend, Jodi along with tales of childhood death-defying accidents, academic excellence, and first crushes are just bits and parts that serve to make this memoir a compelling read.

Sure to be a classic. A wonderfully charming and moving series of memories, observations, and poetic passages about a childhood at turns sweet, innocent, and difficult. Sometimes children make the most clear-eyed and wise observers, and it is the rare adult, such as June Jordan, who can recapture and communicate the experience of childhood in both its wonder and bewilderment. Although the elements of Jordan's childhood are specific - 19302/1940s, brusque, occaisionally-violent immigrant father, Harlem and Brooklyn neighborhoods, racial and social inequity - the themes are universal. Wonderful!

June Jordan is not a victim. She shows us that difficult childhoods aren't as straightfoward as that. Her violent father may have taught her to solve problems with violence, but he also taught her to be observant. The best part of this book is that we hear the words and see places that influenced Jordan's writing style: her father, her Uncle Teddy, New York of the 30's and 40's.

Over the past 40 years civil rights has come a long way and progress has been made in areas that makes life easier. But imagine if you had to struggle with poor education, terrible living conditions, and even segregation. Now imagine trying to get ahead in a world and society that was making all this an impossible task.

June Jordan takes you on a twelve year journey through the eyes of one person who life was given these circumstances and somehow managed to succeed and become one of the most successful people, her own. June Jordan tells a story through words and poems that has you stopping and thinking throughout the entire 260 pages.

The book is one of the first I have read that makes a clear representation of how a child caught up in turmoil can block out what they see and find something good in the life they have been given. Jordan's ability to capture the reader makes this book one of the most impressive I have read so far this year.

After reading this book and seeing how the tough and often overbearing father along with the serine and religious mother were at odds, I gained a deeper understating of how difficult it must have been for any African American to try to make and succeed in the white man's world.

Jordan has written several other books and has won a number of prestigious awards over the years. I found this book enjoyable and easy to read. Take time out and follow through the 12 years with a child who I found dealt with the same things I did as a child, only Jordan had them magnified. An excellent book!

I read this book my senior year in high school. Harris happened to be a great friend of my teacher and was more than happy to share even more of his experiences with the class. His ability to tell stories on paper equals his ability to tell them orally.

Mesmerizing - one of the best books I have read in recent years. The prose is engaging, descriptive and, at times, haunting. Reading this book was like opening a window into another human's soul - and seeing his dreams, demons, fears and aspirations. A must read!

In SOUTH OF HAUNTED DREAMS, Eddy L. Harris gives his readers an exceptional self-portrait of a black man wrestling with the emotional, political, and genetic legacies of American slavery. From the outset, Harris makes it clear that he is a man not merely obsessed with anger toward racial injustice but possessed by the demons of fear and rage, fear for his physical safety in the supposedly New South as well of fear of his own reactions to any racial conflicts he might experience journeying through the South. Hopping on his BMW.K75s motorcycle, Harris zips through Ohio, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Florida, and other places in search of racists, downtrodden African-Americans, and spiritual balm for his tormented soul. What he finds are a lot of people as confused about race, life in general, and their own individuality as he is. As he approaches both Blacks and Whites in his quest to understand the nature of racism in the United States, Harris renders some engaging sketches of individuals who share with the author both their time and the folksy wisdom for which the South is known. Yet, as entertaining as these vignettes are, it is perhaps a serious flaw that Harris fails in SOUTH OF HAUNTED DREAMS to make a definitive distinction between what might called the lesser evil of individual racism and the greater evil of institutional racism. For whereas the former sometimes manifests as nothing more than a bad attitude, the latter often results in the kind of economic and political deprivation that can tear a people or a country to moral shreds. For Harris, the South seems to be both a collective and an individual state of mind. And for that reason, the book reads in turn like a travelogue, social criticism, philosophy, "Blackamerican History," and personal memoir. It is mostly as personal memoir that it can and should be appreciated.
Aberjhani
author of THE WISDOM OF W. E. B. DU BOIS
and ENCYCLOPEDIA OF THE HARLEM RENAISSANCE

I hesitate to use this term to describe an author because I read so many books by great writers, but Eddy L. Harris is brilliant. His writing is extremely accessible and also engaging. He writes like a friend while also imparting wisdom. For anyone who's ever dreamed of simply living a free life and exploring the world(and being brave enough to write about it and generous enough to share about it), Eddy writes for you. His words are gorgeous without being flowery. His writing reaches deep and touches your heart and mind. I not only recommend THIS Eddy Harris book highly, I recommend ANY Eddy L. Harris book highly.

Eddy L. Harris is the best modern-day "travel" writer there is, bar none. He has gone down the Mississippi in a canoe, trekked across Africa and even written a book about his explorations, both internal and external, of today's Harlem.
Harris is a writer who happens to be black. He doesn't want people to judge him because he's black any more than because he has a beard or is tall, but blackness is part of him, and as a writer he seems to feel an urge to connect with what it means to be black in America.
In this poetic, fascinating account, Harris tours the Southern states of the U.S. with his own peronal twist - he rides a motorcycle. This way, as is not the case with a car trip, he can connect with the land and the people as he travels; he is closer to them. Of course, this means they have no choice but to see him, too. What Harris encounters and comes to find out on his trip is surprising, at times sad and at times wonderful. The writing is skillful in the extreme: although non-fiction, Harris manages to arrange his experiences and his ruminations about them in such a way as to form a novel-like construction, with buildup, climax and denouement.
This memoir is emminently readable and ultimately revealing about race, the South and America. For anyone even remotely interested in those topics, this is without doubt a must read

I've truly enjoyed Mr. Basbanes books and this one is no exception. Mr. Basbanes is clearly in love with the written word, even as it happens to be found in between the covers of the book we've come to recognize. As Bookreporter.com remarked, this book can be somewhat disjointed, but it's one of the reasons I fell into reading it with such joy.

This book isn't a scholarly work in the sense that it will bore the eyebrows off of you. To those persons I read sections, they found the material intriguing and interesting. Two of those persons are now on a waiting list at the local library to read it. (Which is quite astonishing when one considers that these persons aren't regular book readers, let alone a bibliophile as I am...)

I certainly cannot bring any additional information to the excellent review by Bookreporter.com. As someone who loves reading, books, words, etc. I feel that those persons that own Basbanes' first books in the trilogy, this final book wouldn't be a waste of your time and money to add it to your collection.

"A Splendor of Letters" is entertaining, informative and enlightening. I'm quite pleased it resides in my personal library.

Nicholas Basbanes has enriched the lives of bibliophiles with his A Gentle Madness and Patience and Fortitude, the first two volumes in this trilogy devoted to books and the people who love them. He has now brought the trilogy to a close with A Splendor of Letters, which is just as fascinating as either of the first two volumes.

A Splendor of Letters is a wide ranging look at many aspects of the book world. History is served through an examination of several attempts to destroy the written word, from Nazi Germany to Pol Pot's Cambodia; and with happier stories of archaeologists' rediscoveries of ancient libraries. More stories of book collectors of the sort that made A Gentle Madness so interesting are also provided, as is more material on the problems libraries and collections have when they run out of space and must determine what to do with the overflow, which was a major topic in Patience and Fortitude. The main thrust of A Splendor of Letters, however, is a defense of the book in its traditional form against those who would proclaim its death at the hands of technology.

As with all of Mr. Basbanes' works (which also include Among the Gently Mad, A Primer for Book Collectors), the fascinating material is enhanced by the beauty of the writing. No book lover should pass this by.

Nicholas A. Basbanes has a love affair going with the printed word. Not just the book --- the printed word, be it chiseled on stone 2,000 years ago, scrawled on wallpaper, palm leaves or cloth, or even imprinted on a computer screen the day before yesterday.

That is the main message delivered in this, the third of a trio of books he has written celebrating the triumphs, tragedies, perils and potentialities of print. A SPLENDOR OF LETTERS, a kind of miscellaneous grab bag of print-talk, was preceded by A GENTLE MADNESS (1995) and PATIENCE & FORTITUDE (2001). Truly, a man obsessed with his subject.

A SPLENDOR OF LETTERS is a book full of fascinating bits of information on all sorts of subjects relating to the printed word. This is at once its main attraction and its principal drawback. Much of the information packed into these pages is interesting in itself, but the book has no single overarching theme, seemingly no real purpose except to display the author's enthusiasm and interest for his subject.

Among the many topics touched upon in this bag of scholarly/literary potato chips are the disappearance of many important texts produced by ancient civilizations; the question of whether a modern copy of an ancient book can or should replace the original; the wanton destruction of valuable libraries in places like ancient Carthage, Nazi Germany, Sarajevo, Cambodia and Tibet; the morality of physically mutilating books in order to turn their valuable illustrations into objects of commerce; the morality of breaking up great library collections so their contents can be sold off for cash to meet current needs; the best means of preserving printed records for the longest time; and --- inevitably --- the already looming question of whether electronic books will make the familiar object we hold in our hands today a mere museum curiosity anytime soon.

Basbanes tries hard to be objective about all of this. He has sought out people on all sides of every question he considers --- but his sympathies obviously seem in the end to lie with the preservationists and the physical book rather than with its electronic doppelganger.

Every new development in the advancement of print has been greeted, he assures us, by people who saw it as the end of literature. He has resurrected a Medieval monk named Johannes Trithemius, who urged his fellow monks not to stop copying manuscripts by hand just because printing had been invented ("The written word on parchment will last a thousand years. The printed word is on paper. How long will it last? The most you can expect a book of paper to survive is two hundred years..."). And even so modest a modern forward step as the idea of equipping pencils with rubber erasers rang alarm bells among educators ("the easier errors may be corrected, the more errors will be made").

Basbanes seems thoroughly at home rummaging around in the distant past to describe fascinating documentary finds in odd corners of Egypt, Pakistan and similar remote places. His tales of great modern-day book collectors are also interesting. And he devotes much of the latter part of his book to the computer-vs.-physical book controversy, reporting for instance that computer files are proving to be a terrible means of preserving data because the swift pace of technological advance in computerdom quickly makes obsolete whatever machines could read them when they were created. And he has uncovered a delightful quote from someone named W. T. Williams back in the 1980s --- that is, in computer terms, back in prehistoric times: "Man is the only computer yet designed which can be produced entirely by unskilled labor."

A SPLENDOR OF LETTERS is informative and entertaining. The only problem with it is trying to answer the question: What, exactly, is it about?

--- Reviewed by Robert Finn

A Splendor Of Letters: The Permanence Of Books In An Impermanent World by Nicholas A. Basbanes is an absorbing contemplation of issues concerning books in contemporary society, ranging from the destruction of books and libraries in Sarajevo, Tibet, and Cambodia; to the matter of "discards" at various libraries; the many types of materials used to record information from ancient times down to the modern day; debates about preservation whether in regard to storing books on paper or keeping them in electronic format; and so much more. An amazing study of issues critical to bibliophiles worldwide today, A Splendor Of Letters is a seminal and impressive work which is most especially recommended to the attention of dedicated bibliophiles, cultural historians, and Library Science reference collections.

Reading the works of Nicholas A. Basbanes is somewhat like attending a series of lectures by a master professor, one who loves his subject passionately and seems to know every aspect of it. In this volume, as in the preceding works of his trilogy, Mr. Basbanes takes you around the world and back in forth in time, yet the journey always has a constant purpose: to explore the many ways in which humankind has transmitted its thoughts in written form.

A central theme of this work is the many assaults on the written word through the ages, and their ultimate triumph of survival. From the destruction of Carthage to the Nazi book-burnings and the more recent destruction of libraries in Tibet, Cambodia, Sarajevo, the written word has again and again been one of the prime targets for those who wish to subjugate a people. Yet for all that has been lost through violence and neglect, much has been preserved.

Here Basbanes turns to threats to books of a different sort--libraries discarding little-used volumes because of space issues, or various electronic technologies that have been heralded as being the replacement for the codex, or bound book, as we have known it for centuries. Yet the book endures, and if enough people with the passion of Nicholas A. Basbanes are around, it should endure for countless years to come.

This book and its two predecessors represents an educational, entertaining and thought-provoking distillation of a career spent learning about and celebrating the written word. Although "A Splendor of Letters" marks the completion of his trilogy, I hope this will not be the last word Mr. Basbanes has to share on the subject. And I'm sure many other readers feel the same way.--William C. Hall

Too often, the high-stakes testing debate wanders into the realm smoke and mirrors. If you follow this debate, you'll find the same arguments presented here that have been presented all along: standardized tests are biased, they do not measure intelligence or knowledge, etc. What you don't normally get are the facts that back up this argument, and that is what Sacks provides. This book concretizes what has become (wrongly) a very abstract, political issue, and should be regularly referenced by all who oppose the mediocrity such testing rewards. These tests may sound good in theory, but in practice, Sacks shows with convincing success, they just don't do the job.

I was in the middle of reading Standardized Minds when I heard a panel of "Experts" talk about the future of LA Unified School District on Which Way LA, a local radio show. Specifically they were discussing the notion of linking teacher bonus pay to the performance of their students on standardized tests. I wish Peter Sacks had been on the program as he successfully demolishes the continued folly of our reliance on standardized tests as a way to judge our schools, our teachers and our students. I wholeheartedly endorse the opinions of the previous two reviewers. Speaking as a parent, I can only say that the more people who read this book, engage in a discussion about the issues so eloquently raised within it and help push the national dialogue on education forward in the directions the author suggests, the better off our kids and we as a society will be.

Mr. Sacks in his new publication, Standardized Minds, has done an outstanding job of placing norm-refrenced standardized tests, along with their associated multiple-choice item formats, in proper perspective. These tests have set standards for academic assessment for many years, and, as Mr. Sacks points out, are being questioned by many in the testing profession as being inapporpriate and insensitive as single and simplisthic guages of educational progress. He has documented extensive research on this subject, presented some impressive "case studies" of those who have been penalized in their career and life chioces based on "low" test scroes when all other extracurricular or in-school performances predicted otherwise. In addition to the many problems associated with mulitple-choice item types, a main focus is on the misunderstanding and misuse of the scores by all levels of society. As he so eloquently states, many educators are not properly taught how to interpret and use these data, legislative or government policy-makers have little or any idea of the substance or meaning of these scores, the media are at the mercy of the lack of knowledge (or political direction) fed them, and parents and children are left confused with numbers that do not give them specific constructive instructional information. The end result is that these test results are forced into a political and unethical framework which has greatly weakened their usefulness. If the desire is to help children learn and teachers teach, some interesting and effective alternatives are provided. I would strongly recommend this book to anyone interested in improving educational assessment.

I am a high school senior so I am currently getting a lot of pressure from my parents to get that silly 1600 on my SAT which will take place in October and December this year. Then there's also the ACTs and the 3 SAT IIs! I was always suspicious of test prep companies, the ETS, and the SATs themselves. Living in Los Angeles, these test prep companies have grown like weeds in the community, sucking up money from middle and upper class students. Though I am fortunate, my parents have also forcefully enrolled me at one of these. My SAT school is doing a nice job with its profits and have managed to get a new paint job, redecorate the "classrooms", and to get more students and more teachers, to just get it bigger and bigger. While my "teachers" explain the concepts of the SAT, I can't help but wish I was in the library reading more books such as this or practicing the piano. It is so unfair that only the rich people can afford these classes and they are the ones who get the good scores on the SATs. After getting a mediocre score on the SAT in June, my parents have now considered me a total idiot, even though my report cards and comments from teachers say otherwise. This book is so chock-full of information that deserves wide reading. The author has done the most extensive research imaginable. The controversy of the standardized tests is something that should have been addressed and Peter Sacks is the best one to do it. He has full of statistics and information to back up everything he says, yet he never just blows them off to you, but explains them. In addition to statistics, are the personal recollections of the people he interviewed-the teachers, educators, college admissions people, and even students. The tale of one student who had 7 tries to take a silly test and not being able to graduate and forced to stay in high school was frightening to the say the least. I am also glad that the author also included a section about the infamous incident in 1998 in Massachusetts when everyone condemned the teachers that they failed "a basic reading and writing test", which had become a punch-line for many of Jay Leno's jokes that year. It was rather strange that the media did not go into detail about the exact questions or the more specifics of that exam, but everyone just wanted to call these teachers "idiots".

The book is comprehensive on all testing, with the exception of secondary school admissions tests such as the ISEE and the SSAT. Going to California private schools, I have become familiar with ERBs and the Stanford 9 tests. In order to get into private high schools, I had to take the ISEE and the SSAT. Now I have the SATs and ACTs to conquer.

This is more than a book analyzing the damaging effects of the testing culture. The author suggest an standing ovation-worthy proposal of evaluating students on what they can do, whether it is projects and more research opportunities such as outside occupational research or conducting a lab or evaluating a student 's portfolio, instead of standardized tests.

Yes, this book should be read by politicians educators, teachers, yet I am here to emphasize STUDENTS should read this book too. Students who are daunted by the SATs need to be educated about our obsessive testing culture and that they are NOT idiots for a silly number.

In today's US it is almost impossible to avoid encountering standardized tests--mass-produced, multiple-choice, fill-in-the-bubble, machine-scored exams of all sorts. Standardized tests are used to assess the performance of public schools, in many systems to determine which students will be held back a grade, to decide who will get into college, and into graduate and professional school, and who will get certain jobs.

In "Standardized Minds," Peter Sacks delivers a devastating critique of the use of such tests. His indictment includes a wide range of particulars, only some of which can be summarized here.

First, standardized tests are not a source of useful information. A widely used reading test given to elementary school students can err by as much as three grade levels in measuring a student's reading level. The SAT, required for admission to most colleges, has no use other than to make predictions, with limited accuracy, of students' freshman year grades. The GRE, required for admission to most Ph.D. programs, actually has a negative correlation with future success as a scholar.

Second, standardized tests are very biased. The best known of these biases is that of the SAT against low-income, minority students. Sacks shows that this bias extends to other tests as well. Another bias identified by Sacks is that standardized tests are biased in favor of superficial thinking--the ability to rapidly recall and repeat facts--and against the deeper thinking necessary to solve complex real-world problems.

Third, and perhaps most harmfully, standardized tests promote "teaching to the test." A number of states have established what Sacks terms "high-stakes accountability" programs, in which standardized test scores determine whether students are promoted to the next grade or are allowed to graduate, and are used to rank the performance of schools. Sacks documents how such "high-stakes" programs cause teachers to spend enormous amounts of time drilling students in preparation for the tests. Such teaching practices promote rote memorization and superficial thinking at the expense of critical thinking skills and genuine understanding--hardly a desireable educational goal.

It is important to note that Sacks is not merely giving his personal opinions. He has studied and mastered a great deal of research. At the same time, his book is far more than a dry academic recital. Unlike the Dinesh D'Souzas of the world, Sacks knows the proper usage of anecdotes--to illustrate a generalzation, not as the basis for it. Of the many illuminating stories he tells, one bears repeating. St. John's University's psych department requires students entering the Ph.D. program to take the GRE, which is useless except to make somewhat accurate predictions of first-year grades. Students seeking a masters degree only, while they take the same first-year courses, are not required to take the GRE. However, if these students wish, on completing a masters degree, to enter the Ph.D. program, they must then take the GRE, even though the only value of the exam is to "predict" their grades in courses they have already taken.

Sacks ends the book by noting some optimistic trends, such as the growing number of colleges and universities which no longer require applicants to take the SAT. However, breaking the tyranny of standardized testing will not be easy--the political pressures for the kind of superficial "standards" and "accountability" such tests provide are enormous. But reading Sacks' book, and freeing your own mind from the spell cast by standardized test scores, would be a good start.

I bought this for a 9-month old who was our youngest Thanksgiving visitor. The story is simple, clear, and had just the right level of religious tone for me, ie: mentions thanking God without being preachy. I'm hoping it will be a special book for her for several years.

My 7 year old and 4 year old asked me to read this book every night since before Thanksgiving. It's December and they are still requesting it. The words are so simple, that they now recognize most of them and read to me! Simple words, but great story.

My five year old daughter (and to some extent my 3 y.o. son) is ready for a more advanced book than this one, but before we move on I thought I would say something about this sturdy little book that has been our foundation in Thanksgiving Day preparations for the last four years.

"The Story of Thanksgiving" begins with a question about why we celebrate Thanksgiving. It then goes on to depict how the pilgrims left England to come to America. It shows pictures of sad Pilgrims boarding the Mayflower, followed by a rough ocean (at least by toddler standards) and then the thankful travelers arriving at Plymouth. (They are thankful to be on land again-LOL)

After that the Pilgrims are shown briefly struggling with snow and cold, followed by a more cheerful picture of them planting. With Squanto's arrival they learn new things about the new land of America. Squanto shows them how to plant pumpkins, corn, and squash. And the book ends with a picture of Native Americans and Pilgrims at their feast; followed by a modern family at their feast.

"Thank you, God, for our families, our food, and our homes" the author writes.

Five Stars. A sturdy little book with child friendly artwork. The text is simple and easily understandable without needing many explanations from mom or dad. The religious aspects can be emphasized or not.

Examples of text so you can judge for yourself:

The Pilgrims lived in England.
They could not have their own church,
so they left their homes for a new land far away.

From another page:

The Pilgrims built their homes. Winter came.
Icy winds blew. Snow fell.
There was not much food to eat.

Nice clear pictures, short, simple, interesting story with appropriate emphasis on God's role in the pilgrim's lives (without being a "religious" book). My favorite thanksgiving book for little kids.

My daughter, 20 months at the time, absolutely loved this book. She got to the point where she would say all the key words before I did. I highly recommend it to any parent of a young toddler.

I had to read THE STRANGER NEXT DOOR for a Sociology class, and I must say that this is one of the more fascinating nonfiction books I've read yet. The author, Arlene Stein (who is a Sociology professor at Rutgers University, where I currently attend), spent some time in the mid-90s in an Oregon town she names Timbertown, and tries to understand what led this town to be torn apart by a divisive argument about gay rights when there was no apparent queer population in town to speak of (and if there were any gays, they usually kept a low profile). Basically the town is divided into two groups: those who support a particular measure to try to curb gay rights, and those who do not. It is a thought-provoking book, and also rather frightening to read: the actions some of these people take against the "other" border on hate violence, and lead some people to compare the actions of the pro-antigay-measure people to Nazis. It is always rather scary to see what happens when fear coupled with ignorance is allowed to run rampant in these kinds of small, closely-knit communities. And yet Stein thankfully never comes off as overly smug or judgmental (though she clearly has her liberal leanings---and she's a lesbian herself): she makes an admirable effort to try to understand both sides of the issue, and what kind of circumstances, whether economic or religious, might have led these ordinary folk to turn against homosexuals the way they did. The end result of her painstaking field research is a well-written, fascinating, compelling book that might astonish you with its insights about what leads ordinary people to suddenly turn against each other. This is no dull academic lecture in writing, trust me: you won't be bored by this at all. Highly recommended.

Inherent in the Fundamenalist view is the assumption that ethical principles come together harmoniously and do not meaningfully conflict. Indeed, conflict is seen as a test of one's ability to adhere to these moral priniciples. Thus, Fundamentalism knows the answers and isn't particularly open to persuasion--or so it would seem. However, Stein's sympathetic interviews reveals a different story about the Fundamentalists who launched a charter amendment against 'special rights' for gays and lesbians in a small, Oregon town where there weren't many gays and lesbians to speak of. Here, we meet Christian Fundamentalist women who weren't particularly close minded; felt uncertain about their principles; regretted the conflict they engendered; and, in some sense, felt an unacknowledged sense of shame. For reasons which are probably not very far from view, they just couldn't accept pluralism--mostly because it didn't speak to their insecurities. Those seeking insight into the present turn in American and feminist politics would do well to read and take heed!

Arlene Stein is a professor of sociology who moved to Oregon in 1994, a time when rural Oregon was in the surprising position of coming to terms with homosexuality. She tells how this happened to "Timbertown" (a pseudonym, and she has used pseudonyms for all the town residents) in The Stranger Next Door: The Story of a Small Community's Battle over Sex, Faith, and Civil Rights_ (Beacon Press), a balanced history of a contemporary controversy. Timbertown was a logging community, and in the eighties the economy turned bad for it. Newcomers came to the region, some in communes, and in the bad economy, didn't always get along with the long term timbermen. Among the newcomers were homosexuals, not many, to be sure, and most of them were women who blended into the community so that most others hardly knew. When the Oregon Citizens Alliance (OCA), an outside agency powered by Christian fundamentalism, came, Timbertown started fracturing.

Timbertown was hardly teeming with the sort of gay population that scared the OCA, those that could be found in the larger, more open cities of the area, the hypermasculine muscleboys in leather, who dared to flaunt aggressive sexuality. Though a spokesman for the OCA could warn that the intent of homosexuals "... is to take over the state of Oregon and turn it into Queer Nation," no one in Timbertown could have seriously thought that of any fellow residents. The idea that homosexuals were going somehow to ruin government, or that homosexuality somehow weakens marriages (whose?), were never shown to have any factual foundations. But the OCA put a petition to put an anti-gay civil rights measure on an upcoming ballot, splitting the community into sides. This had bizarre and unexpected consequences.

An exhibit based on the life of Anne Frank became politicized, with the OCA calling it "pro-homosexual propaganda." The valuable role of victimhood was sought by both sides, with the OCA unconvincingly arguing that they themselves were the persecuted minority, the equivalent of Jews in the Holocaust. The mayor of the town had to withdraw from the traditional annual prayer breakfast as it, too, became political rather than ecumenical. Children at school began to beat each other up depending on what sides their parents took on the issue. The few members of minority races in the town saw an increase in hostility, and although the newspaper and schools took an anti-racist attitude, the white majority who were losing jobs did what people always do, and found someone else to blame. There was no racial strife before the sexual issue started splitting people. Even more sadly, although the ballot measure passed with 57% of the vote, it accomplished little except the fracturing of Timbertown. In less than a year, there was an injunction against putting the measure into effect, a statewide antigay ballot failed, and U.S. Supreme Court ruled in ways that would make the measure a dead issue, but of course Timbertown could not be put back together again. Stein's well-researched book coolly recounts the agonies of Timbertown, and reminds us that they are national concerns, here merely writ small.

It tooks about four pages to suspect that TImbertown is the town in which I live -- and a couple of more references for me to confirm it. I picked up the book not so much because it was a dicourse on homosexuality and politics but because it addressed the grass roots philospohy and tactics of a conservative Christian political movement. Being neither gay or very conservative, I found the book to be a well written insight into community relations, politics, gay politics, gay non-politics, the devlopment of evagelicalism in the West, and the politics of the far right. I also had a great time trying to figure out who the pseudonyms were. This aside --the Timbertown situation is representative of a lot of small town in many states

A social history of the political repercussions of an anti-gay coalition formed in a small town in Oregon in the mid 1990s to alter the town charter to prevent "special rights" from being granted to gay/lesbian citizens, "The Stranger Next Door," does a brilliant job of distilling the national discourse on gay and lesbian rights through a description of the pitched battle between conservatives and liberals for the hearts and minds of the citizens of "Timbertown." An often harrowing tale of the manipulation of a small town which has fallen on hard times by a conservative organizer, Ms. Klein's admirably balanced re-telling of the events leading up to the vote on the anti-gay referendum, bristles with memorable people caught in a web of intolerance.

Short, concise, compelling, Ms. Klein introduces us to Christian evangelical ministers and their flocks vs. mainline liberal Presbyterians, rednecks vs. yuppies, business owners vs. unemployed mill hands, long-time residents vs. recent arrivals from California, and takes us through an increasingly bitter political fight that eventually polarizes the town into two bitter factions, and sets neighbor against neighbor in a fight where sexual orientation, once private becomes public. Along the way she discusses the stratgies undertaken by the opposing camps, such as the too-easy invocation of the Holocaust and Nazism as analogous to the situation in Timbertown by the liberal elite, and on the other side, the invocation of the Bible by born-again Christians as the ultimate authority on sexual behavior. There is also a particularly trenchant chapter which clearly illustrates the tendency of the media to respond only the most divisive stories and events, and thus fan the fires of hatred higher.

Also worth the price of admission is a precise discussion of the various "creation tales" of homosexuality. For instance, there is the "essentialist" view of many liberals and parents of gays/lesbians, a view that insists that sexual orientation is purely genetic, a response that was perhaps partly developed to counter the conservative Christians' insistence that homomsexuality is a choice, and therefore a sin. She notes the essentialist view gets parents of homosexual children off the hook, and also, for liberals "normalizes" homosexuals as a natural category, thus making them worthy of political voice. Klein believes this view is a disservice to the truth and the multifarious ways in which sexual orientation may come about. For instance, she tells a lovely vignette of two women, both married with 6 children between them, who, without ever thinking through the "political" aspects of their attraction, leave their husbands and set up housekeeping in Timbertown. The peculiar and ironic tragedy of this couple is that until the trouble in Timbertown started, no one thought of them as lesbians, and neither had they ever gone out of their way to make it known.

A profoundly sad book in the end. The intransigence on both sides speaks to the declining possibilities for Americans to speak across class, race and sexual orientation, but, at the same this cleared-eyed report encourages us to believe that even if we can't talk across these battle lines, at least there are sociologists like Ms. Klein who can honestly describe the motivations on each side of the divide, and,perhaps in so doing help generate a bridge across the chasm. As a perfect companion to this book, read "Suburban Warriors" by Lisa McGirr, a history of the rise of the conservative right in Orange County, CA.

Packed with interesting information about Seattle. The book must have been written before the rabbit problem started in the area around Greenlake. A chapter for a second edition? I subtract one star for the "ring-necked gull?" on page 19 and the lack of an index.

I learned a lot about Seattle that I can't wait to tell visitors (guess what's under I-5?!) and got inspired to take some of the urban nature walks myself, like all the way along Thornton Creek. What I liked best was the view of what Seattle historically looked like - accompanied by really nice maps!

As a city-dweller I love cafes, the opera, the night-life.... but I also need the trees, the birds, and the Puget Sound. Williams' wonderful collection of notes on my hometown, Seattle, are a fun read and have helped me discover things I would have never discovered otherwise. If you live in Seattle, or even if you're coming for a visit and want an alternative to the regular tourist attractions, this book is for you. Enjoy!

I just moved to Seattle a couple of weeks ago and was given this book to read. Can I just say that it is by far one of the best books I've ever had the pleasure of meeting?

The author explores all sorts of natural phenomena around Seattle, from the geological quirks to the water quality to the crows. I learned a LOT about the local area, as far as the natural setting goes.

The writing is superior--it's obvious he's done his research, both in books and in the field. I can't imagine how much time he put into this. And he has an excellent sense of humor that had my giggling every couple of pages.

Highly, highly, highly recommended

I am loudly and joyously singing the praises of "The Street-Smart Naturalist: Field Notes from Seattle"; this is the sort of book about Seattle's natural history that I was particularly searching for. Keeping mostly within the city limits, David Williams talks about natural boglands and bald eagles, the fossils and stones that make up Seattle's skyscrapers, naturally occuring plants and recent imports, tectonic plates and city planning, radiocarbon dating of the last earthquake by the trees displaced and drowned, local microclimates and how they affect the weather (Capitol Hill gets 11 inches more of rain per year than the University of Washington campus ten minutes away) -- Williams has it all, and recounts his anecdotes with a dry and wonderful sense of humor. He traces creeks and chases crows, catalogues billion year old granite, and tells anyone who will listen about the fine quarries and the fossil beds from whence they came. This is exactly the sort of local history that I wanted to hear, happily jumping from the geological aeons to the conservation programs of the last fifty years. Every Seattleite interested in history or nature should buy this book. Non-Seattleites interested in urban orienteering/nature-in-the-city are also likely to be fans. Go go David Williams.

This is a very engaging read. It's rather scary, I think--especially since this man is a real person. If you want a book that will keep you thinking long after you've read it, get this one. This is a very fine effort, an enjoyable read.

An excellent book, a bit scary. This guy would CON anyone. There are a lot of great tips on what I can do to keep my grandfather from being conned.

Dave Gray (AKA Alabama Fats) takes the confessional platform in this excellent book TELLING IT ALL - MY LIFE AS A CON MAN, a reflection of a life of crime as shared by an 80-year-old African American to writer Steven Levi, and what makes this book even better than the rather sensational aspect of its con man content is a survey of social history from 1927 to 2007, a period of great change in the status of African American position in the culture of the USA. It is a terrifically entertaining and informative brief read, but it is also a reflection of change we all need to remember.

Alabama Fats is the child of a poverty stricken family who at age 19 met up with a con artist who introduced him to the profession of taking money from people by means of card games (Three Card Molly) and money scams such as Bank Agents. Fats 'tells it all' without remorse, sharing techniques and secrets of how 'lames' (victims) could be identified and bilked out of their cash. And while this information is rather startling and fascinating and shocking, the method of sharing the changes in the way con men worked as the atmosphere in the USA changed from the Depression years through the post-WW II years, through the spend thrift 1950s, into the 1960s and beyond gives a unique historical vantage: the disappearance of trains as a common means of transportation, the introduction of credit cards and checks overriding the carrying of cash, and the altered view of the African American male with the shift from Inner City ghetto life to integration of cities and the speedy exit modes of the automobile culture changed the approach of the con artist as 'progress' altered life in the US.

If the book is at times repetitive (and what conversation with older people isn't?) and despite excessive editorial flaws, this is a fine little book to read and from which to learn. Steven Levi captures a refreshing freedom of style that makes this little volume feel like an oral history, and while Alabama Fats makes no apologies for his life as a con man, he concludes his true story with a warning for folks (especially the vulnerable elderly) to be aware that the streets are still populated with artists trained to take their money. Grady Harp, September 07

This book is a must read for those who want to climb inside the criminal mind and protect themselves from those who think that way. Keep yourself one step ahead of crooks and read this book. You'll be glad you did!

Telling it All: My Life as a Con Man is the true-life memoir of professional African-American con man "Alabama Fats", as told to author Steven Levi. Alabama Fats was a black man who made a career of working the streets and conning people out of their money, whether through a game of Three Card Molly or by posing as a Bank Agent or selling junk jewelry for far more than its true value. His talent was to sucker marks (or "lames", as he calls them) who thought they would be cheating him - often with the help of a partner. "I'm not writing this book to help the con; I'm doing it for the old people who are going to get conned, because there are lots of people just like me out on the streets." Alabama Fats is unrepentant of the cheating he did, but gives the straight scoop on the life of a scam artist, and how the nature of the con evolved from the 30's and the Great Depression to the war-torn 40's to the latter half of the twentieth century when cars became more common than trains, to the modern era of credit cards and checks, when cash isn't so easy to find on lames anymore. An utterly captivating "must-read" especially for anyone who thinks they're immune to the con. "If you are a young person reading this book, keep an eye on your mother and father and grandparents... Know who they are talking to. Con men like me will sting anyone. We don't care and the older people are the easiest to con... If you don't watch out for your parents and grandparents, they will lose it all... If they are in a nursing home and lose it all, they could end up living with you." Highly recommended.