Conferences Books

Crane's synopsis is a little frustrating to read. Not because it is badly written. But because it is so skimpy. The interested reader might reasonably be frustrated by the lack of more details. Still, this book is part of a series of conference reports. Deliberately formatted as a quick way to digest the gist of various national security and military conferences sponsored by the US Dept. of Defense.

The book describes how the US might want to consider 2 types of strategies. One for fighting a large, conventional war. And one against enemies conducting asymmetric tactics. "Non-traditional threats", as one speaker put it. Basically, it is the prospect of insurgency. The conference was in 2000, before the events of September 2001. Putting its speculations under a new light.

As the other books in this series, this book consists of a set of water-resistant maps (7 in this case), lists of mileage points, brief trail descriptions, and general information about nearby towns, transportation, etc. Each of the maps also includes an elevation chart at the bottom (which tend to be rather rough approximations). As the title suggests, the guidebook focuses on the AT, though a few side trails are described as well. In contrast to the other 3 AT guidebooks I own, the maps come on separate sheets, with the back of each used for trail description; the book itself contains only general information. In my view, this is a very convenient feature as you can just carry the maps you need and leave the book at home.

I used maps 1-3 to hike the 100 mile Wilderness (just south of the Baxter State Park) and found the maps and the trail descriptions to be generally very accurate. However, some information that might have been useful is omitted. For example, there are a couple of developed campsites (maintained by the state) at the south end of Nahmakanta Lake; they are not official AT campsites and there is no mention of them in the guidebook. More information about tenting opportunities at the shelter site would have been nice as well (a lot of shelters in the wilderness have rather poor tentsites). Overall, this guidebook is all you need to follow the trail though, and there is no other choice I am aware of anyway :)

I am planning a thru-hike of the Appalachian Trail and found this book very helpful. It gives all the information needed for mail drops,supply stops,shelters and towns along the way from Georgia to Maine. It is organized state by state and is in a handy spiral bound booklet. It is a useful guide for a thru-hike or just a couple of days on the trail. I gave 4 stars because there could be more maps. Otherwise a very useful guide.

In this interesting book leading scholars discuss the evidence for "fertility cult" and above all for a goddess religion in the mediterranean in prehistoric times. The discussion is sometimes hard - so hard that one of the partipicipants in the conference withdraw her contribution as a protest against one of the papers in the book! As I see it, the main difference in the discussion about ancient goddess religion is between those scholars who accept the evidence for a goddess religion and those who try to explain it away. Both these positions are well represented in this book. On one hand we have scholars like Christina Biaggi who begin from the archaeological evidence and try to interpret it - on the other hand we have those like Brian Hayden who are engaging in a frenzied polemic against all those who argue for a goddess religion. Hayden is an interesting example of academic denial - he could be seen as an almost archetypical case!

The book can be recommended for those who likes to read different opinions on this interesting subject and compare them.

This is a short booklet, written in January 2001. A little spooky. The asymmetry in the title refers to the fact that the US possesses an overwhelming superiority in conventional and nuclear weaponry. So a potential adversary might be expected to resort to very unconventional techniques and weapons.

Reading this after September 2001 put it into a new light. Very prescient. The author did not of course foresee those particular events or methods. But there was clear discussion of expecting unorthodox attacks. Guerilla-style.

This slim book, first published in 1943, is an interesting conjunction of two of my favorite authors: H.V. Morton, in his time and since a very popular travel writer, and Winston S. Churchill, appearing in his better-known role as wartime British prime minister. Morton's considerable talents are here deployed to describe the memorable trip WSC made to meet President Roosevelt in 1941 -- a trip that led to the Atlantic Charter.

The Charter was issued (not signed, as Morton points out) 66 years ago today, August 14, 1941. Although the US was not yet in the war, the Charter described the Anglo-American vision for the post-war world, including self-determination for all peoples, "freedom from want and fear," and disarmament. As a basis for future agreements, including the UN Charter -- as well as useful propaganda for both allied and Axis nations -- it was a significant document.

Morton's book starts with what struck me as an unusually stiff Introduction, in which he discusses the Charter in the formal tones one uses for Really Important Things. After that, however, Morton's prose resumes its normal cadences as he describes his sudden and secretive invitation to go on this trip, the trip across the Atlantic aboard HMS Prince of Wales, the meeting with FDR, and the voyage back home. Though a brief book, the reader is still treated to a vivid description of a trans-Atlantic cruise in wartime -- made all the more poignant if the reader knows what was in store for Prince of Wales and her crew just a few months later (Morton does not mention this himself) -- as well as lively depictions of Churchill himself. FDR necessarily has a smaller role in the book, but he too is well-described, and no secret is made of his battle with polio.

"Atlantic Meeting" is a book which should attract a variety of readers: Churchillians, fans of H.V. Morton's work, and students of the war -- both its naval and its diplomatic efforts. Since I am all those things, I was pleased several times over. Fortunately, copies of "Atlantic Meeting" are not hard to find or expensive. If you fit these categories too, it may be worth finding a copy of your own.

A series of sermons delivered during a church missions conference. Hits hard and gives Christians and their churches a call to action towards world and urban missions. Uses examples from all over the Bible (Old and New Testaments) of how God wants His people to reach the world. Looks extensively at global missions but I felt it made a better case for urban ministry than global missions. Has some bits against people who are too America-centered but otherwise I enjoyed the quick read.

Included flow modelling in arteries and bypass grafts, concepts of fluid dynamics and turbulence in the system, and heomorheology and haemodnamics exploring factors that play a role in coronary circulations. This is a collection of papers from leaders in each of these and related fields and will be of major importance to anyone working in the mathematical or medical professions as an up-to-date treatment on the study of biological systems and their mathematical descriptions.cluded flow modelling in arteries and bypass grafts, concepts of fluid dynamics and turbulence in the system, and heomorheology and haemodnamics exploring factors that play a role in coronary circulations. This is a collection of papers from leaders in each of these and related fields and will be of major importance to anyone working in the mathematical or medical professions as an up-to-date treatment on the study of biological systems and their mathematical descriptions.

This book by the World Bank indicates how dramatic and lasting the progress against global poverty has been in the past 50 years. It also shows how dramatically the Bank's own understanding has risen, even in the past decade, of how to make its efforts more effective in relieving poverty and achieving other development goals. These two themes form the basis for the World Bank's visionary thesis: that eradicating much of the poverty, ill health, and illiteracy around the world is within reach.

The World Bank is full of optimism. Then again, it shows good reason for this outlook. It outlines the substantial advances that have been made over the past few decades in poverty reduction and advances in health and education in the developing world, identifying the World Bank's role in these advances, as one component of a complex, cooperative effort. For instance, the Bank indicates that:
* Over the past 40 years, life expectancy at birth in developing countries has increased by 20 years - about as much as was achieved in all of human history prior to the middle of the 20th century.
* Over the past 30 years, illiteracy in the developing world has been cut nearly in half, from 47 percent to 25 percent in adults.
* Over the past 20 years, the absolute number of people living on less than $1 a day, after rising steadily for the last 200 years, has for the first time begun to fall, even as the world's population has grown by 1.6 billion people.

The book's main message is that foreign development aid is reaching a level of sophistication that translates into dramatic improvements in the human condition like never before. This aid is lifting people out of poverty, improving their health and education, and contributing to the stability and security of the entire world. As the book says, "Aid is not simply a transfer payment for the consumption of poor people, but an investment in improved policies and institutions. The best aid finances the costs of change, rather than the costs of not changing."

The Bank's vision is grand and inspiring. This is far more than a financial treatise; it is instead a bold blueprint for raising the human condition throughout the globe. With such reach, it touches on much of the agenda for foreign affairs, and makes for compelling reading for anyone concerned with international relations. As the Bank aspires, "we must make globalization stand for common humanity, not for commercial brands or competitive advantage."

"The Catholic Writer," edited by Ralph McInerny, is a collection of papers presented at the Wetheresfield Institute by eight men and women of various professions -- most are college professors and a few are editors of national periodicals -- bound together by their Catholic Faith.

Gregory Wolfe's article, "'Ever Ancient, Ever New': The Catholic Writer in the Modern World," opens the book. In what is the best of the eight essays, Wolfe outlines the role of the modern Catholic writer, both the writer of fiction and non-fiction. Wolfe says that today's Catholic writers ought to have three themes that run throughout all their work: (1) the recovery of the sacred; (2) the critique of the world; (3) the assimilation of modernity.

The other seven essays comment on Catholic writers of the 20th century.

Russell Hittinger writes an interesting article on Christopher Dawson's understanding of the social sciences. Edward A. Synan, a former student of Étienne Gilson, authored a pleasant piece about his former teacher. Michael Novak writes on "perhaps the greatest exemplar of the Catholic laity in the last two centuries," Jacques Maritain. Frederick D. Wilhelmsen writes on the Catholic defender of the faith, Hilaire Belloc. Alice von Hilderbrand composed a beautiful essay on the intellectual life and attitude of her husband, Dietrich von Hilderbrand. Willaim A. Marra's work on Dietrich von Hilderbrand's philosophy of love, happiness, and sex complements Alice von Hilderbrand's work. And finally, Michael Platt writes on the theme of happiness in the fiction of Willa Cather.

Of these eight papers, Wolfe's paper is of most value since it (correctly) outlines the task of the modern Catholic writer. The other essays intermingle biography with thought, and, at times, more biography than thought. Though these essays make for interesting reading, few insights on the modern tasks are offered.

But this is only the view of one person who, after reading Wolfe's article, thought the other seven would follow suit. My disappointment denied this book of a fifth star. I would say that any person who is Catholic and wants to be a "Catholic writer" as opposed to a "writer who is Catholic," ought to read the whole book at least once, and Wolfe's article should be read a few times each year.