Reviews Books

The book introduces one to the content of the N-CLEX testing you will be confronted with, it makes one a little less nervous,by giving you tips as to how to figure out answers to questions, the author is funny at times while discussing difficult subjects I am sure I will be using this book throughout my study to become and after I am a registered Nurse.

Easy to read. Packed with info. The CD NCLEX mock test has been very helpful to me in identifying my weakness. I'm an RT in a bridge program to nursing. I just started the program. I took 150 questions of the CD mock test so far. I got about 70% correct. My weakness seemed to be mostly in non respiratory pharmacology. I'm hitting that topic hard now.

This book has a totally different approach to the NCLEX than any of the other books. It does not consist of endless questions and long comprehensive explanations...it focuses on the NCLEX Exam itself and how to dissect a nursing question quickly and accurately. I would definately recommend this to anyone that wants another perspective on the NCLEX!

This book provided information that no other review book has provided. It answered my questions about the NCLEX and now I have a better idea of what is to come! The review questions covered all the different areas without separating them. This book is a must have for your NCLEX prep collection.

I took a chance when buying this book 2 weeks before final exams and it helped my pass my exam. Although I'm just a 1st year nursing student I love this book and have found it easy to use and easy to understand, it helps break everything down. This book is a MUST have for Nursing students and I'm glad I took a chance!!

Bought this as a present for my husband though i had a look in it and it covers a-z of Sci-Fi flicks. Would recommend to any fan.

This really has to be recognised as a monumental reference work. The sheer breadth of material found and reviewed by Hardy is extraordinary. I will be using this book for years to come.

This is an outstanding book. Great reference and all that implies. I like Science Fiction and this book is indispensable. Seems to be little known but it is an outstanding reference work.

I've had this excellent book for several years, and I still go back to it at least once a month to look something up. There is simply no more complete reference guide to science fiction films available. Think you know science fiction cinema? Prepare to be humbled by the sheer volume of this book. I especially appreciate the reviews of the early, silent films, many of which we will probably never get to see.

Some of the reviews are better thought-out than others. And you may occasionally marvel at how a film you were sure was an all-time classic only gets a mediocre review. But these are minor quibbles for an otherwise excellent volume.

If you're a fan of sci-fi films, you absolutely MUST own this book. Yes, it's pricey, but it also might be the last film reference book you will ever need.

You can spend hours browsing trough this encyclopedia. Of course you will recognize many of the classic. Yet you may be surprised at the multitude of great films that you missed. There are better descriptions and stills than you find in most of the genre magazines.

Contents:

THE EARLY YEARS: Innocent Beginnings (1895-1919)
THE TWENTIES: Dark Visions and Brash Adventure
THE THIRTIES: Mad Scientists and Comic Book Heroes
THE FORTIES: Science Fiction Eclipsed

THE FIFTIES: Science Fiction Reborn
THE SISTIES: Science Fiction Respectable
THE SEVENTIES: Big Budgets and Big Bucks
THE EIGHTIES: Science Fiction Triumphant

I am not going to bore you with the list of my favorites but I challenge you not to fine one of yours.

This small novel set in Austria after WWI portrays with vivid poignancy the stifling impact of poverty and the bitter alienation engendered by new wealth as the two face each other amidst the ashes of a great empire's destruction. Written with such feeling that it almost resembles a fairy tale but one with out color, constructed all in shadows of gray on gray.

The setting is economically depressed post World War I Austria, which is a shadow of its former glory as the center of the Austro-Hungarian Empire.

Christine Hoflehner is the "post office girl" who lives a crushingly routine existence managing a post office and nursing her ailing mother in the rural wine-growing region of Austria. Although her life is mundane, it is settled, and Christine doesn't really question the greyness of small village conformity and poverty.

Her life changes dramatically when she is invited by an American aunt to a luxury hotel in the Egadine region of Switzerland. She is soon caught up in the swirl of post WWI partying and decadence amongst the European idle rich, and she quickly transforms (with the aid of her aunt's wardrobe) from shy, retiring provincial to elegant and seemingly sophisticated "Christine van Boolen."

Her dizzying ascendance to toast of the party is matched by a crashing fall to laughingstock. She leaves the hotel early, destroyed in the knowledge that she has been exposed to an opulent side of life that she will never again realize.

The second half of the book covers Christine's relationship with Ferdinand, a completely hollowed-out and cynical war veteran. The two form a relationship not forged in love but rather in mutual despair. The bleakness of their lives bonds them, and they ultimately craft a desperate plan to escape the torture of their daily struggles.

This wonderful book reminds me of Thomas Hardy's best works, since it deals so eloquently with the drabness of rural life and individuals cast adrift in a seemingly random and cruel world. However, unlike most of Hardy's novels, the ending is surprisingly original and refreshing with an opportunity (however slight) for redemption.

An absorbing story, beautifully written; it captures the bleakness of life in Austria between the wars and depicts the soul of central europeans in a sharp and telling way.

. . . and in the lowest deep a lower deep,
Still threatening to devour me, opens wide,
To which the hel l I suffer seems a heaven."
John Milton, Paradise Lost

There are some books that you can finish, put back down on the table and five-minutes later have it virtually erased from your consciousness. Stefan Zweig's "The Post-Office Girl" stayed with me long after I put the book down. It is a brilliantly crafted book that looks at the mind-boggling despair that can crush the soul out of just about anyone. What makes the book memorable is the fact that Zweig does not write with an overwhelming appeal to pathos. No, instead, Zweig is direct and his narrative manages to convey this sense of despair without drowning the reader in rhetorical devices aimed at soliciting sympathy for his characters.

The setting is post World War I Austria in the 1920s. The Austro-Hungarian empire has been dismantled after the Treaty of Versailles and Austria, like her ally Germany, is suffering the `economic consequences of the peace'. The Post-Office Girl is Christine Hoflehner. At the war's outset, Christine and her family enjoyed a comfortable middle-class existence in Vienna. But the war and the economic suffering brought on by the hyper-inflation of the 1920s has booted Christine out of Vienna and her middle class life. She and her mother live at the poverty level in a one-room bed-sitter in a village two hours from Vienna. Christine works as a low-ranking postal official in the town's post office. As the story opens she's in her 20s and merely going through the motions. But her robot-like existence is shattered when she receives a telegram (a big event) from an aunt, her mother's sister, who left Austria before the war and married a rich American businessman. They invite Christine to spend a holiday with them in a Swiss mountain resort. Christine goes grudgingly but is astonished at the life she is exposed too. Her aunt buys her beautiful clothes, feeds her well and all of a sudden Christine is exposed to a life she never knew existed. She takes to it immediately. She relishes her new life and cherishes every minute of it. But no sooner has she found a new life than she is tossed back into the old one. Any despair Christine may have felt before her Swiss trip is now magnified by the fact that she has actually seen how different life can be. She arrives at what she thought was the lowest deep only to discover that there are depths of despair yet to go.

It is at this point that she finds Ferdinand on a day trip to Vienna. For Ferdinand life has been, if anything, more unkind to him than to Christine. Their meeting and their developing relationship takes us through the second half of the book. They know they are soul mates but their existence is such that they each know that love (if you can call their fumbling attempts at personal physical and social intimacy love) is not nearly enough to be of any help to them at all. They face the question posed by Milton in the heading of this review - which way shall they fly? Zweig's resolution is, in this context, perfect.

What Zweig has done so well in my opinion is to use Christine and Ferdinand as a masterful vehicle for looking at Austrian (and Europe generally) society in the aftermath of the Great War. Zweig's characters are well crafted and felt very realistically drawn to me. They were absorbing, warts and all. "The Post-Office Girl" was well worth reading and I'd recommend it to anyone interested in reading a book that lingers with you after you are done. L. Fleisig

I only review a fraction of the number of books I read, so I don't give this compliment lightly.

Summary, no spoilers:

Let me start off by saying that it is difficult to give a good review of this book without slight spoilers - but I will do my best and try to still give a flavor of what makes this such a memorable read.

This *gorgeously* written novel starts off with a brilliant description of a desolate country post office in Austria, in 1926. Working in this depressing bureaucratic hell, is a 28 year old woman named Christine, who has been beaten down by poverty, dullness and tedium in her life.

Christine had a much different childhood; her family had substantial means and lived comfortably, and she grew up a happy and content child. But all changed with the Great War, and they, like so many other Europeans, lost everything. All that remains to Christine is her job with the post office, and taking care of her sick mother in a depressing and decrepit attic room.

She is devoid of hope, and that is part of the key to this fantastic story.

While toiling at the post office, Christine gets a telegraph message from her aunt in America - a woman she's never met. The wealthy aunt offers her a vacation at an expensive and elegant Alpine resort. Christine immediately runs to her mother to find out if this is real, and her mother explains that it is, and that her sister (the aunt) wanted her to go, but that she couldn't because she couldn't travel and that she should take Christine.

Christine, utterly flummoxed by the thought of any change in the dull routine of her life, packs her small straw suitcase, and takes a train to meet her aunt.

The description of Christine's arrival at the hotel are priceless and brilliant. Christine is overwhelmed by the beauty and by the elegance of everything, and she is like Cinderella at the ball. Her aunt (and uncle) are good to her, and dress her in beautiful clothing and have her hair cut in the latest elegant fashion, and have her face made-up. The scene reminded me of Dorothy in the Wizard of Oz movie - being primped and taken care of from every angle.

Christine is so excited, and so astounded at her ability to feel anything but sadness and tedium, that she cannot sleep for the first night. She feels like her eyes have been opened to the beauty of the world, and she wants to take it all in.

This is all from Part One, of this two part novel. If you want absolutely no spoilers, don't read on (and don't read the back cover of the novel) - although I recommend that you do and that it won't take away from your enjoyment of this novel. For me, knowing a little bit in advance only enhanced my reading experience.

Part Two is a far different story, although it takes place immediately afterwards. Christine, like Cinderella, has been returned to the hovel, but now it all becomes unbearable because she has experienced and seen the other side.

Christine befriends a man named Ferdinand, a bitter war veteran, who shares her world-view and despondency. They try to see each other and have a relationship, but this is not easy in post-war Austria, when one doesn't have any money or means. But they make plans...

There are so many things to love about this book - number one being that it's just so beautifully written. There are paragraphs that I read over and over again, just because of Zweig's ability to string words together to get across a feeling or an idea or a description are just so perfect. And yet this is a translation, to boot! It makes me want to learn German, just so I could read this in its native language.

Secondly, this is an astute novel about what it's like to live without hope, and what happens when someone who has nothing is given this chance to see what the good life is like, and then have it taken away from them. Is it better not to have been given this chance at all?

Needless to say, this novel is highly recommended. I also highly recommend another NYRB Classic release, "Beware of Pity", Zweig's first novel released under this label. He is fast becoming my favorite author, and I hope that all of his books and stories become available in English. Sadly, he and his wife committed suicide in 1942 in Brazil, haunted by what was happening in his native Austria and Germany.

a great book for those ho love the series.
a lot of information and a free cd

As I'm a big fan of Prison Break, I've always wanted to buy this book. Shortly, it summarizes the plot very detailed with lots of photos and interesting facts that you didn't know befora aand the included FBI files are great. A must-have for fans!

i lke that they made up a book of "fbi" files, it makes the show feel more real, even though you know it's just a show! i started to understand a lot more about each character! good thing to have if you love the show as much as i do!

This is a must have for all Prison Break fans..book is in full color with lots of information plus you get a bonus dvd :)

I thought that this book was very interesting, and if you have missed anything from this program this book helps you catch up. I think that a person really interested in this show, would really like it.

The book is the account of the anarchist Alexander's Berkman's experiences in prison after his botched attempt to assassinate the industrialist Henry Clay Frick, the monster who "legally" slaughtered workers during the Homestead strike of 1892. Although Berkman never abandons his anarchist principles, he does soften his moral repugnance for criminals whose crimes were not motivated by political or humanitarian aims. If anything his friendships with prisoners deepen his anarchist insights about how exploitation and poverty are the principal causes of criminal behavior. Like his lover Emma Goldman, he spends his prison years advocating for the needs of his fellow inmates, often being punished for his advocacy. Berkman details the brutality, graft and corruption of the prison establishment.

Anticipating Victor Frankl's Man's Search for Meaning, Berkman shows that those who view their punishment as a part of a larger purpose are best equipped to survive the inhuman treatment and conditions of prison life. The book is not all seriousness, however. It often has lighter moments, as when Berkman describes the quixotic attempt by his friends to tunnel into the prison to free him. Berkman's sub rosa argument, made to Goldman, that Leon Czologosz's assassination of President McKinley lacked redeeming social value, unlike his (Berkman's) attempt to assassinate Frick, while though interesting fails to be convincing. Those interested in the relationship of these remarkable people (Goldman and Berkman) will especially want to read that section.

The book is worth reading not merely for its historical value but for its literary qualities as well. It is intelligently written and difficult to put down. Although it is 518 pages, I read it all in three days. It is just that riveting.

In 1892, Alexander Berkman burst into the office of Henry Frick, an overseer at Carnegie's steelworks, and attempted to gun him down to foment a revolutionary uprising. Frick survived. Berkman went to jail. Prison Memoirs of an Anarchist is Berkman's account, not only of the revolutionary ardor which drove him to assault Frick, but also of the horrors of incarceration and the transformation of his own thinking while behind bars.

We get plenty of revolutionary and anarchist theory from Berkman. He opens a door into the thoughts and feelings of people struggling for economic and social justice 100 years ago. More than that, he opens a door into the mindset of a fanatic, one which may help us understand the motivations of those who flew their planes into the World Trade Center and the Pentagon on 9/11/2001:

"Could anything be nobler than to die for a grand, a sublime Cause? Why, the very life of a true revolutionist has no other purpose, no significance whatever, save to sacrifice it on the altar of the beloved People." (p. 12)

"My own individuality is entirely in the background; aye, I am not conscious of any personality in matters pertaining to the Cause. I am simply a revolutionist; a terrorist by conviction, an instrument for furthering the cause of humanity." (p. 13)

"True, the Cause often calls upon the revolutionist to commit an unpleasant act; but it is the test of a true revolutionist-nay, more, his pride-to sacrifice all merely human feeling at the call of the People's Cause." (p. 12)

Berkman, the purist, disdains his fellow prisoners. He sees himself as better than they are, a Servant of Humanity, not a petty criminal, a predator on the poor. But, life in prison, although it does not shake his revolutionary and anarchist convictions, does bring him down from his ivory tower. Berkman begins to see that:

"The individual, in certain cases, is of more direct and immediate consequence than humanity. What is the latter but the aggregate of individual existences-and shall these, the best of them, forever be sacrificed for the metaphysical collectivity?" (p. 403)

His revolutionary understanding also shifts. He begins to differentiate between the autocratic despotism of Europe and the despotism of republican institutions:

"The despotism of republican institutions is far deeper, more insidious, because it rests on the popular delusion of self-government and independence. That is the subtle source of democratic tyranny, and, as such, it cannot be reached with a bullet. In modern capitalism, exploitation rather than oppression is the real enemy of the people ... the battle is to be waged in the economic rather than the political field." (p. 424)

This is not, however, a political manifesto (for that, one can read Berkman's ABCs of Anarchism). Berkman reveals his inner processes during fourteen years of incarceration. We discover, not only the horrors and corruption of the prison system, but also wander intimately through Berkman's mind. We visit his childhood, soften at unexpected gentlenesses behind bars, and begin to appreciate something as simple as the sunrise.

Although Berkman did not write the memoir until after he left prison, it has a sense of surreal immediacy. He wrote in the present tense, but that alone does not account for the way his text grips, and drags the reader into the maelstrom of his experience. We run with him through childhood memories, daily brutality, fantasies of escape and suicide, and the ideals that keep him sane. His longing for Emma Goldman shines through the text. He enthrones her almost as the guardian of his sanity through the years. Little can compare with the poignancy of his fantasy of mailing himself to his beloved Emma, escaping prison and finding himself with her again. (p. 135-137)

Five stars. Absolutely brilliant work, as relevant today as it was nearly 100 years ago. In her autobiography, Living my Life, Emma Goldman recounted how Berkman saved his sanity and his life by writing this memoir. The deep introspection, the flights of fancy, the accounting of prison life-all deeply illumine the best and the worst of human nature. This book is required reading for anybody who wishes to understand the fanatical, terrorist mindset, for Berkman describes that aptly. Far more importantly, he shares the experience of survival and transformation. He, who entered prison a fanatic, left those iron gates more committed than ever to his cause, but no longer a fanatic. His story tells of graduating from terrorist to humanist, from monomaniacal fanatic to a deeply committed human being. If you read nothing else this year, read this book.

(If you'd like to dialogue with me about this book or review, please click the "about me" link above and drop me an email. Thanks!)

Everyone should read this book. It was written at the begining of the 19th century, but everything is still important today. I ordered this book for a friend in prison and he loved it, and passed it around to other prisoners. If you know anyone in jail or prison, please send them this book. It was my husband's favorite book before he was killed on a freight train. It's very well written and comes highly recommended.

This is one of the best memoirs I have ever read. Berkman, as you probably know, tried to kill Henry Frick in an ill fated (and stupid) solidarity action with a group of strikers. He went to jail for it, and his immature poltics underwent an amazing transistion.

But instead of coming out of jail reformed, he came out with a more complex sense of who he was and what he had to do and returned immediately to his poltical work. Berkman's writing style changes as he changes as a person, starting out ultra doctrinare and ending up a more well rounded and likeable human being. Highly recommened, even if you aren't interested in the politics.

"Is there anything higher in life than to be a true revolutionist...?" - From Prison Memoirs of an Anarchist

This is an incredibly moving and detailed account of an activist's experiences in early industrial America. As an Anarchist, Alexander Berkman recounts his observations of the era's struggle for decent living standards and fair treatment from fat cat industrialists. In prison for attempted assasination of a steel magnate who was responsible for firing and killing striking steel workers, Berkman eloquently describes his reasons for acting on behalf of the working poor and exploited. His experiences in prison are gut wrenching and very human. Not much fluffy language - very straighforward observations, which are emotionally piercing in their social significance and human truth. An exceptional read for anyone interested in the American history that is usually left out of school text books. Berkman's experiences are painful but very motivating and inspiring as they illustrate human love, the will to survive and continue to work for an ideal under the most horrendous conditions. This book is an extraordinary powerful testament to human goodness and strength.

Project Sunlight is an awesome book. It is easy to read and easier to get caught up in.

My Grandma owns a copy from 1980's and she offered it to me to read. I thought it was going to be a 'girl' book but I was completely wrong.

I love how it explores areas such as much ignored truths versus long accepted traditions.

This book is great. 5 stars easily.

This is a lovely book. It is well-written, and the author has done a wonderful job and included appropriate Scripture references throughout the story. I have read this book twice, and both times I was filled with wonder anew that Jesus Christ, the Son, loves me so much and is looking forward to the day when I can join Him in Heaven, along with my other saved siblings in Christ. This would be a good choice for a book club to consider, if they want a good inspirational book. The story is about a young single mother of two, Meg, who is searching for meaning in her life, and her journey to becoming a Christian. Meg's story is being written down by Jared, a recording angel in Heaven. Jared nicknames Meg, "Sunlight." This book is also a great choice for parents to read to their children, or for a husband or wife to read to each other. I also highly recommend it for those who are Sabbath school teachers, and for those who are curious about the seventh-day Sabbath of the Bible. Another choice would be for churches to present this story as a play about the end-times. Buy this book--it is a must-have for your inspirational library.

Project Sunlight is like no other book I've read. It is so unique and intresting. I read this book when i was 12 and loved it so much. Then when i was 15 my dad bought it for me and i read it again and again. This book enlighted the way I looked at this universe from another point of veiw. I strogly recommened this book because you will see in someone elses eyes in a way you never have before about why we live here on earth and our purpose.

This book was read to me by my junior high teacher. I have kept this book in mind for many years, and now as a Sabbath school teacher, I would like to share it with my class. I hope it can serve as an inspiration to not only my class, but also to all others who read it.

it tells you basicly what will happen to an end! it helps you get ready!
(note: the guy who reconmand this book to me helped people get baptized by suggesting them to read the book!)
there is no doupt just get the book!
(you will love the ending!)

I've read many a' Rough Guide to a variety of musical forms, and Kurt Wolff's book on country absolutely takes the cake. From the music's hillbilly beginnings to the alt-country offshoots of the '90s, this well-researched book is written with wit and a tender affection for the genre's highlights AND lowlights. I can't imagine a better gift for someone interested in country music. My only gripe: Now that the book is four years old, some of the artist information could use an update. Second edition, Kurt? Please?

An essential addition to your music library - whether you're a country novice or expert. The author has meticulously researched and written about country music in a well-organized chronological format that allows the reader to fully grasp the roots and progression of this music genre. The book includes biographies of country artists (those who are well-known, as well as some forgotten gems), discographies, reviews, and essays which fit the music into a broader social and historical perspective.

Great purchase - one of the best music reference books I own. Also check out the companion guide - 100 Essential CD's. Some interesting picks.

This is a truly fine one-volume encyclopedia of country music. Organized both historically and generically, the book is divided into 14 chapters, each discussing a type of music (hillbilly, cowboy, western swing, honky tonk, etc.) and tracing it from the time of its introduction to the present, with an overview followed by entries spotlighting the artists in alphabetical order. The chapter on rockabilly, for instance, includes both Elvis and the Stray Cats. Each entry concludes with brief reviews of recommended recordings. In addition, there are over 250 photographs of performers and album covers and numerous sidebars with short essays on a variety of topics.

The book comes in at almost 600 pages, covering the length and breadth of the subject and making a pretty fair attempt at measuring the depth, as well. To give an idea of the book's scope, the "classic" stars Johnny Cash and Patsy Cline don't appear until the middle. For anyone who may think country music starts and ends with Nashville, it will come as a surprise that so much of this music originated elsewhere.

You can read this book any old way you like, flipping through the pages, letting the pictures catch your eye as you discover favorite performers. If you grew up with country, there's many a trip down memory lane. If you're just discovering country, it is an excellent reference book just filled with information charting the careers of artists and their place in country music history. Well written, handsomely designed, easy to read and enjoy, it's a terrific book that will enhance any fan's love of this great musical tradition.

I bought this book at the advice of a friend and was not disappointed. Wolff is a thoughtful and articulate writer, and this book has plenty of recording artists that I was not aware of. It is arranged in chronological historical chapters, which show the progression of country music to the present. Interesting write-ups on all the major artists, and plenty of information on musicians you probably won't have heard of.

Love this book, just stumbled on it a few weeks ago, and can't put it down. I've been listening to country and loving it since I was a little girl, and this thing keeps turning me on to more music I want to go out and buy. Cool bio's on the artists and a great section on the seventies outlaw artists.

S Club 7 In Miami's Official Scrapbook is definitely a gem. I was expecting to recieve the book and see pictures and information about the show that I already knew. However, this book has tons and tons of pictures that I've never seen before! There's at least four pages simply devoted to pictures of the show in a really cute scrapbook style. Also, there are two pages devoted to each S Club 7 member telling a little bit about them. There's a couple of other pages that talk about the show's episodes and their summaries, what songs are performed on what episode, etc. All in all, this was an excellent buy and I only wish S Club's three other TV series were scrapbooked like this! I recommend this to anyone who loves S Club or their series Miami 7.

This is a really good book. It has 2 giant posters or S Club, behind the scenes of Miami 7 pictures, a guide to each member containing facts and a full biography page. In each 'Beginners Guide' there is a picture or a S Clubber. It also includes the story guide of the Miami series, along with many other posters it has quotes from the series, the S Club 7 lingo, it also has a whole other page of 25 facts, and a page of 'Classic Moments'. This book is loaded with information and pictures! Go and buy it.

Although this book doesn't really have that much info on the band, it has billions of pictures. There are several fold-out posters, losts of collages, and an episode guide, too.

Even though it's a bit old, every S Club fan should own this!

The S Club 7 has millions of pictures, good info about the band, and 2 great posters that I put on my locker @ school. The pictures are great, and for their birthday!! Happy reading!

This book is all about the show. It has lots of pictures. Even summeries of all the episodes with what songs were sung. This book is perfect for anyone who loved the series. Even comes with posters!

Dyson is a beautiful craftsman with words. His book translates the emotion of science as portrayed by the endeavors of the well known pioneers. He literally walks the reader through the influences of each pioneers time to reflect the energy they found to perservere in their endeavor. I am truly happy to have read this book and it will FOREVER impact the way I look at life.

Physicist Freeman Dyson has been prominent in his field since the forties, when he participated in the development of nuclear weapons. In "The Scientist As Rebel," he presents a collection of his book reviews, essays, and lectures - mostly from the last decade. The typical review covers more than one book by authors with differing views - the books serving as templates for Dyson to develop his own themes. The books themselves are of varying ages, one being from the 1600's. Many of the scientists and their biographers - probably over 150 among them both - will be readily recognized by readers of science history.

Dyson takes his time with these reviews. Sometimes it is not quickly evident where he is going, but the payoff usually justifies the suspense. In the process, we get to hear his take on innumerable hot issues in science and its interface with humanity:

*The urgent need to find a unifying theory of physics - formulas that would be compatible with both quantum mechanics and Einstein's gravitational formulas of space-time - is over-rated. We will probably never make these formulas mathematically compatible.

*Technological progress does more harm than good unless accompanied by ethical progress. The free market by itself will not produce technologies access-friendly to the poor.

*We don't have to worry about the nanotech bee-like swarms presented by Crichton in "Prey." The laws of physics don't allow entities that small to fly faster than 1/10 inch/second.

*The willingness of the British abolitionists to buy out the slave owners made the crucial difference between the peaceful liberation of the West Indian slaves in 1833 and the bloody liberation of the American slaves thirty years later.

*In Newton's time, Cambridge University and Trinity College professors had to be Anglican priests. Newton didn't even believe in the Trinity, but King Charles II gave him special dispensation. Newton complied by keeping his religious writings (and some of his scientific writings) in a private metal box - a "don't ask, don't tell" situation.

*After each published review, Dyson always had letters. The nonexpert readers were overwhelmingly complimentary. The expert readers usually had corrections for his "mistakes." This book reflects adjustments to the original reviews based on this correspondence and sometimes a PS based on more current data.

*Richard Feynman spoke from scanty notes and hated to write, claiming he was barely literate. His books were transcribed and edited from his taped words. A friend locked him in his room and wouldn't let him out until he wrote the paper about his diagrams - the paper that got him a Nobel Prize. His daughter was astounded to find extensive literate, inspirational and compassionate correspondence by Feynman 16 years after his death - some of it to strangers wanting simple information about science.

*Littlewood's law of miracles: Each person experiences about 30,000 events per day. A miracle - an event with special significance - has a probability of one chance in a million. This works out to about one miracle per person per month.

*Dyson describes himself as a skeptical Christian as was his mother, who told him, "You can throw religion out the door, but it will always come back through the window."

This is a Great book! I was continuously entertained both by the selection of books reviewed and by Dyson's excellent commentary. Skip the second section if you don't care about military issues - the better science reviews are in the last half of the book.

Dyson holds high credentials as an innovative mathematician and theoretical physicist, and has known, or, in many cases worked with, most of the leading scientists of the past six decades. He has spent the larger portion of his life as professor of physics at Princeton's Institute for Advanced Studies. His analysis of issues confronting disciplines other than professional science has defied the rigidly predictable partisan polemics of the typical commentator. These other areas of interest notably include history, politics, the arts, religion, culture and technology, ethics, and military technologies and strategies. Part of what makes his analysis so interesting is his tendency to cut across the grain of the ubiquitous partisan polemic in which our world wallows. He is obviously an informed and interested student of many issues, and highly articulate and logical. Of course the fact that he is not a narrowly definable polemist virtually assures that many ideologues will dislike aspects of his thought. Dyson is easily up to the task of defending his views.

Dyson has long been a contributor of reviews of books written by scientists and others, for The New York Review of Books. This book is a collection of Dyson's essays and reviews written and published between 1964 and 2006, and includes essays from some of his own books. If anything stands out as much as does his freewheeling intellect, it is the fact that he is no one's sycophant, no ideologue's dutiful foot soldier. For example: (1) Dyson is a strong, articulate champion of international arms control and disarmament, notably of unilateral disarmament (that beyond any international agreements, the U.S. should reduce weapons stockpiles, which he argues is particularly effective at speeding arms reduction generally); and he argues that nuclear weapons hold a threat to the country that holds them that exceeds any threat they present an enemy. He is hopeful that a day will come when all nuclear weapons have been destroyed and outlawed worldwide. Based on the above, you may be prepared to "pigeon hole" Dyson as being a `dove' who would oppose everything about nuclear weapons, whether in practice or principle. But your expectation would be too simplistic, as this is merely what we've come to expect from typical dogmatic ideologues. Dyson is not one of them, as we see: (2) He argues that nuclear weapons have probably prevented large scale conventional wars, particularly in the 1950's and early 60's, by keeping the Cold War "cold," and that the eventual elimination of all nuclear weapons is a goal that must be pursued with great caution and pragmatism. To cast Dyson as being either a simple 'dove' or a simple `hawk' would be an error. A similar consideration might be his views on climate change, where again, his views cannot be neatly packed into either of the standard polemic boxes.

There are points on which I disagreed with Dyson, and points on which he was wrong (his `updates' following most of the essays often admit of being wrong). Dyson's views are important in large part because he is the model of disciplined but un-boxed intellectual integrity. While there may be points on which one may not agree with Dyson, we can benefit greatly from the gentle intellectual integrity which he models, especially when too many ideologues, whether in science, politics, or culture at large, are given to bullying opposing, or less dogmatically strident, voices from the public forum. Dyson is, I believe, a fine picture of what a scientist should be--one who honestly engages the great questions of the world, rather than trying to force dogmatic doctrine upon it.

I loved this book. A collection of essays that paint a picture of a very thoughtful and caring man. Prof. Dyson's broad understanding of nature and humanity clearly is seen in this book. I would recommend this to anyone, a must read for the engineering and science students of today.

And I paraphrase Mr. Dyson; at Chapter 13, pp 133-38:

"In January 1939 a meeting of physicists was held at George Washington University in Washington, D.C. The meeting had been planned by George Gamow long before fission was discovered. It was one of a regular series of annual meetings. It happened by chance that Neils Bohr arrived in America two weeks before the meeting, bringing from Europe the news of the discovery of fission. Gamow quickly reorganized the meeting so that fission became the main subject. Bohr and Enrico Fermi were the main speakers. For the first time, the splitting of the atom was publicly described, and the consequent possibility of atomic bombs was widely reported in the newspapers. Not much was said at the meeting about atomic bombs. Everyone at the meeting was aware of the possibilities, but nobody spoke up boldly to suggest that questions of ethical responsibility be put on the agenda. The meeting came too soon for any consensus concerning ethical responsibilities to be reached. Most of the people at the meeting were hearing about fission for the first time. But it would have been possible to start a preliminary discussion, to make plans for an informal organization of physicists, and to prepare for further meetings. After several weeks of preparations, a second meeting might have been arranged with the explicit purpose of reaching an ethical consensus.

...(By 1941, the) fear of Hitler was so pervasive that hardly a single physicist who was aware of the possibilities of nuclear weapons could resist it. The fear allowed scientists to design bombs with a clear conscience. In 1941 they persuaded the British and American governments to build the factories and laboratories where bombs could be manufactured. It would have been impossible for the community of British and American physicists to say to the world in 1941, "Let Hitler have his nuclear bombs and do his worst with them. We refuse on ethical grounds to have anything to do with such weapons. It will be better for us in the long run to defeat him without using such weapons, even if it takes a little longer and costs us more lives." Hardly anybody in 1941 would have wished to make such a statement. And if some of the scientists had wished to make it, the statement could not have been made publicly, because all discussion of nuclear matters was hidden behind walls of secrecy. The world in 1941 was divided into armed camps with no possibility of communications between them. Scientists in the Soviet Union were living in separate black boxes. It was too late in 1941 for the scientists of the world to take a united ethical stand against nuclear weapons. The latest time that such a stand could have been taken was in 1939, when the world was still at peace and secrecy not yet been imposed.

...In October of 1995, I was giving a lunchtime lecture to a crowd of students at George Washington University about the history of nuclear weapons. I told them about the meeting that had been held in a nearby building on their campus in January 1939. I told them how the scientists at the meeting missed the opportunity that was fleetingly placed in their hands, to forestall the development of nuclear weapons and to change the course of history. I talked about the nuclear projects that grew during World War II, massive and in deadly earnest in America, small and halfhearted in Germany, serious but late-starting in Russia. I described the atmosphere of furious effort and intense camaraderie that existed in wartime Los Alamos, with the British and American scientists so deeply engaged in the race to produce a bomb that they did not think of stopping when the opposing German team dropped out of the race. I told them how, when it became clear in 1944 that there would be no German bomb, only one man, of all the scientists in Los Alamos, stopped. That man was Joseph Rotblat. I told how Rotblat left Los Alamos and became the leader of the Pugwash movement, working indefatigably to unite scientists of all countries in efforts to undo the evils to which Los Alamos gave rise. I remarked how shameful it was that the Nobel Peace Prize, which had been awarded to so many less deserving people, had never been awarded to Rotblat. At that moment one of the students in the audience shouted, "Didn't you hear? He won this morning." I shouted, "Hooray," and the whole auditorium erupted in wild cheering. In my head the cheers of the students are still resounding."

This is usually the third book you read in a Political Philosophy course after "The Republic" and the "Nichomachean Ethics".

Locke comes to an understanding of "society", "government", and "property", among a number of notions central to our way of life. Doing that, he's also justifying them, as they exist. He states better and more clearly than anyone else what it is we think these things are and why we should view them as good. I don't know if anyone is thought to have done these particular things any better. (I guess I'm saying that Hobbes, Rousseau, etc., did other things.)

Lots of good stuff written here on this. Just think it's worth pointing out that Locke's argument for man's leaving the state of nature and his argument for the establishment of property are notoriously inconsistent.

The "state of nature" is more rhetorical device or thought-experiment than historical description. Nonetheless, it is essential to the argument.

Oh well. Plato's dialogues often end in despair.

I wish more people knew political philosophy. It would raise the general level of discussion. People would spend less time monkeying demagogues, charlatans, and hucksters.

Good edition too.

John Locke (1632-1704) wrote "Second Treatise of Government" in 1690, it was the main political philosophical source that our "Founding Fathers" went to in writing the "Declaration of Independence" and in forming our government. I think you should know something of Locke to understand what influenced his thinking. His father was a small landowner, attorney, Puritan and his political sympathies were with the Cromwell Parliament. Like Hobbes, Locke attended Oxford Univ. and did not think much about the curriculum or his professors. Most of his education came from reading books in the Univ. library. Renee Descartes and Sir Isaac Newton's writings greatly influenced Locke. Like Hobbes, he took a tutoring job teaching the son of the 1st Earl of Shaftesbury, and traveled Europe. His friendship with the Earl was beneficial in obtaining government appointments. During the political unrest in England, (1679-83) he fled to Holland because his liberal notions put him at odds with the government.

Locke writes the "Second Treatise of Government" to justify the Revolt of 1688 and the ascension of William of Orange to the English throne. The book argues against two lines of absolutist ideas. The first is Sir Robert Filmer's "patriarchal theory of divine right of kings; secondly, Hobbes argument for the sovereign's absolute power in his book "Leviathan." Locke argues that government emanates from the people. Locke's treatise rests like other political writings on its interpretation of human nature. He sees our nature opposite the way Hobbes did, decent and not as selfish or competitive. Man is more inclined to join society through reason and not fear. Man prefers stability to change.

His very important contribution to "law of nature" theory was his bias toward individualism. In state of nature, before government, men were free independent, equal enjoying inalienable rights "chief among them being life, liberty, and property." Where have you read that before? Property rights receive much attention in this treatise. Locke argues that government based on consent of man can still preserve freedom independence and equality.

His political writing had immediate influence in the world and influenced our founding fathers in their struggle against tyranny. He is an excellent writer and his theories are easy to understand by the laymen. As a graduate student of political philosophy, I recommend if you have an interest in politics, philosophy, or government then you must read Locke's "Second Treatise of Government"

John Locke's Second Treatise on Government is the Natural Rights philosophy's greatest essay. Locke, an English freethinker, wrote both his Frist and Second Treatise on Government to refute the patriarchial and absolutist writings of Sir Robert Filmer. Locke clearly believes man is imbued with the natural right to life, liberty, and property. He believes men have a right to live free from tyrannical government.

Locke shows how when a government degenerates into tyranny the "people" have a right to revolt and throw off such government. Sound familar? Jefferson wrote these words into the Declaration of Independence. Locke believes that liberty is a man's right by his very nature of being human. He points out how that men come together to form a government, based upon a social contract, and that the rulers or government must abide by that contract or man returns to his natural state. In the natural state men are not bound to the current ruler but may institute new government for their security and protection.

Although he believed that government should not be changed lightly or on a whim, and believed that the ruler must violate the contract and usurp power, he nevertheless pointed out that government is of men, not God or gods. He repudiated the doctrine propagated by Filmer, that rulers are appointed to rule by God, ie: the Divine Right of Kings.

This "wee little book" as Jefferson put it, has had a tremendous influence on the Western world. Locke, a child of the English Enlightenment has caused conservatives and other tyrants, socialists and communists to shudder at the right to throw off tyrannical government. A truly great read.

In his book, Second Treatise of Government, John Locke (1632 - 1704) writes that all humans are born equal with the same ability to reason for themselves, and because of this, government should have limitations to ensure that people are free from the arbitrary will of another person, according to the laws of nature. Government, in Locke's view, is a social contract between the people in control, and the people who submit to it.

The editor of this edition, C. B. Macpherson, gives a little background and overview in his introduction to this book. He writes that the book "was directed against the principles of Sir Robert Filmer, whose books, asserting the divine authority of kings and denying any right of resistance, were thought by Locke and his fellow Whigs to be too influential among the gentry to be left unchallenged by those who held that resistance to an arbitrary monarch might be justified." (p. viii)
Locke's book served as a philosophical justification for revolting against tyrannical monarchies in the Glorious Revolution and the American Revolution. His book was practically quoted in the Declaration of Independence.

Locke lays out his basis for government on the foundation that people are able to reason. Because of this, people have inherent freedoms or natural rights. Though he believed in reason, Locke was an empiricist, meaning he believed that all knowledge of the world comes from what our senses tell us. The mind starts as a "tabula rasa", latin for an empty slate. As soon as we are born, we immediately begin learning ideas. Thus, all the material for our knowledge of the world comes to us through sensations. Nevertheless, Locke had an unshakable faith in human reason. He believed that people do learn what is right and wrong, regardless of what they choose to do. Locke believed that faith in God, certain moral norms and understanding consequences were inherent in human reason. So, even though people acquire everything they know about the world through the senses, they are able to think for themselves and reason at a higher level about what they learn.

Locke presumed that there are universally recognized principles and that the consequences are practically scientific. He was greatly influenced by Isaac Newton (1647-1727) who wrote The Mathematical Principles of Natural Philosophy. Locke took the ideas that there were "natural laws" in science and tried to extend that to society.

Natural laws, or rights, in Locke's view, are obvious and learned through human reasoning, and apply to everyone. They are also called "self-evident," which appears in The Declaration of Independence. All humans are created equal, and Locke bases this idea on the golden rule, that people are to do to others as they would have others do to them. Natural equality is the basis of the first and most important "natural law" which is to care for one another. (p. 9) Locke believes that with or without government, there were universal natural rights.

Without government, people are unprotected from harm by other people. Where there is no government, people are free to do as they please, even to harm others. In this state, natural laws still apply, such as the right of people to protect themselves and seek reparation for injuries done to them. However, people are naturally inconsistent in executing punishments, because they have a propensity to act out of hate or revenge. Therefore, laws are necessary in a civil society to fairly arbitrate justice. The purpose of creating a civil society is to avoid major conflicts and keep peace.
Thus, civil government is a "contract" between people to regulate their affairs fairly. According to Locke's theories, people enter into a social contract by forming governments that will preserve order.

Locke describes a civil government as being democratic with some checks to ensure that it does not overstep its boundaries, and having both legislative and executive powers. A civil government is democratic or representative, meaning laws are created by the consent of the people through the voice of a majority vote. The legislature should represent the people equally based on population. (Salus populi suprema lex) All people are subject to the law, including the rulers-no one is above the law. Even the legislature needs "standing rules" to keep it from over-stepping its boundaries. Locke advocated the principle of division of powers. Because the legislature only meets at appointed times to create or revise laws, there needs to be an executive power that is constantly enforcing the laws. So Locke describes a division of the legislative and executive powers.

In contrast to what was being claimed by the rulers of the time, Locke taught that the purpose of government is to serve and benefit the people and that it should be controlled by the people for which the government was made. His claim that people have the right to rebel against government was controversial. Second Treatise of Government served as a foundation for future political philosophies.

John Locke (1632-1704) wrote "Second Treatise of Government" in 1690, it was the main political philosophical source that our "Founding Fathers" went to in writing the "Declaration of Independence" and in forming our government. I think you should know something of Locke to understand what influenced his thinking. His father was a small landowner, attorney, Puritan and his political sympathies were with the Cromwell Parliament. Like Hobbes, Locke attended Oxford Univ. and did not think much about the curriculum or his professors. Most of his education came from reading books in the Univ. library. Renee Descartes and Sir Isaac Newton's writings greatly influenced Locke. Like Hobbes, he took a tutoring job teaching the son of the 1st Earl of Shaftesbury, and traveled Europe. His friendship with the Earl was beneficial in obtaining government appointments. During the political unrest in England, (1679-83) he fled to Holland because his liberal notions put him at odds with the government.

Locke writes the "Second Treatise of Government" to justify the Revolt of 1688 and the ascension of William of Orange to the English throne. The book argues against two lines of absolutist ideas. The first is Sir Robert Filmer's "patriarchal theory of divine right of kings; secondly, Hobbes argument for the sovereign's absolute power in his book "Leviathan." Locke argues that government emanates from the people. Locke's treatise rests like other political writings on its interpretation of human nature. He sees our nature opposite the way Hobbes did, decent and not as selfish or competitive. Man is more inclined to join society through reason and not fear. Man prefers stability to change.

His very important contribution to "law of nature" theory was his bias toward individualism. In state of nature, before government, men were free independent, equal enjoying inalienable rights "chief among them being life, liberty, and property." Where have you read that before? Property rights receive much attention in this treatise. Locke argues that government based on consent of man can still preserve freedom independence and equality.

His political writing had immediate influence in the world and influenced our founding fathers in their struggle against tyranny. He is an excellent writer and his theories are easy to understand by the laymen. As a graduate student of political philosophy, I recommend if you have an interest in politics, philosophy, or government then you must read Locke's "Second Treatise of Government"