Arnold Books

Review: Brute Force

This is an insightful, analytically astute, balanced, and timely ethnographic study of humane law enforcement officers (the "animal police"). Suspended, as they are, between police officers and animal control workers, humane officers seek to safeguard the well-being and welfare of animals in a society where animal-human relationships are becoming ever more ubiquitous and ever more finely textured.

Although this is not a "shock book," I still found it disconcerting to read. One would assume (as I did prior to reading this book) that if someone has taken on the responsibility of owning a domesticated/farm animal or pet, that simple utilitarian motives would move that individual to at least minimally provide for that animal[s]. This, sadly, is not always the case. I also learned that legal constructs such as "abuse" and "cruelty" are not clear cut--whether that be in the field or in the courtroom.

Arluke constructs this thoughtful examination around several themes and concepts, including the emotional socialization of humane officers as they move from the idealism of newly graduated rookies to the more nuanced perspective of senior officers. Perspectives toward the meaning of work can differ as Arluke found two occupational groupings in the humane officers he studied: (1) the "police-oriented officer" and the (2) "animal-inclined officers." As reflected in their labels, the police-oriented officers identified more with the police and law enforcements aspects of their work while the animal-inclined officers were often younger, more likely to be female, and more often identified themselves as "animal people" and pet owners.

I was most impressed with the work of humane officers as Arluke detailed the lengths to which these public servants would mediate with animal owners, the complainant and/or neighbors on behalf of animals. Officers bought pet food for poor owners, constructed shelters for trapped in the element animals. and went out of their way to defuse what can easily be extremely volatile situations (e.g., Humane Officer: "A complaint about animal abuse/neglect/cruelty has been made against you...." Animal Owner: "What stinking jerk said that? I want to know who that is--and now."

Most troublesome was the indifference displayed by court officials, (e.g., clerks, district attorneys and judges) when humane officers felt it was necessary to file criminal charges--usually only as a last resort by humane officers who are quite aware of their low stature and legitimacy on the court docket. It is discouraging to think how difficult it is to prove abuse or cruelty and how often the animal literally has to die or be unarguably maimed before justice can be served.

This is a well written and easily digested book, with something for animal lovers (even animal tolerators), and for social scientists interested in understanding the nature and importance of human-animal relationships.

As a 20 year veteran to the meetings and trade show industry I found this book to be helpful in all aspects of exhibit/trade shows. If you are a novice who is just starting out to the person who needs some help getting new ideas for their annual trade show with an exhibit that takes up half the show floor. Maryls the author is very informative, her information in the book is easy to read, comprehend and most important IMPLEMENT. You will see results. She also covered a wide variety of topics and gives statics and examples so you can truly learn how to make your trade show dollars count. I have several books on trade shows and marketing but because of the easy layout I find myself picking up this one the most. This is a great bargin for the amount of USEFUL information you will receive.

Thanks Maryls!
Claire R. Gould
Rx for Catering, LLC ~ A F & B Negotiation Service

i would like to review themes for the month of januar

Edit of 22 Dec 07 to stress importance of this book today, and add links. This books says that one of the rules of the game is to lie to the President if you think you can get away with it. Dick Cheney has created three new rules:

1. Ignore the President, Hijack the Presidency

2. Subvert Congress and Article 1 of the Constitution

3. Lie to the People, Over and Over, Even After the Lie is Known to be a Lie

This book is quite extraordinary. It is one of perhaps ten that I consider to be lifetime essential references for any national security official--not because I condone the rules for subverting and manipulating policy that the book documents, but in order to defend against them, for in the aggregate, they all undermine both the Constitution and the power of Congress.

Part I is an introduction to national security interests, the organizations within the government that each take on a life of their own and interpret both what our foreign policy should be and how it should be pursued in their own terms, how Presidential interests--predominantly defined by domestic constituencies--compete with the bureaucracy, and how the various players from career officials to political appointees to others play against one another.

Part II, the heart of the book, dissects the many strategies for manipulating decisions within the bureacracy. The "rules of the game" include the manipulation of which agency gets the lead (tending to suppress all dissenting opinions from other agencies) to which staffer in the White House has the lead (pre-determining the outcome), to means of using foreign officials, the press, and business leaders to present supporting opinions, to manipulating the President. [Although not cited in this book, having occurred many years later, John Lehman's ability to get President Reagan to pick three names for three aircraft carriers, was sufficient to blow away the Secretary of Defense view that only two were needed...as related in his Command of the Seas.]

Part III is, if you will, the guerrilla campaign that follows a decision. As George Shultz, then Secretary of State, is on record in Congressional testimony as saying--we paraphrase from recollection: "nothing in this town is ever decided--every decision has to be refought every single day." The author concludes his extraordinary book with the rules of the game for distorting, undermining, or extending decisions through implementation decisions and actions in the field far from Washington. We are reminded of Harry Truman's reflections on CIA, after he retired, to the effect that he had never intended for CIA to become an action arm or anything other than a central analysis organization.

I cannot recommend a more useful nor more important book to those who would seek to understand how a handful of neo-conservatives, led by Dick Cheney, were able to manipulate the President, Congress, the Armed Forces (including the silent Joint Chiefs of Staff) and the American public, into an unjust war with Iraq. Cheney knows the "rules of the game" better than anyone else including the President....this book reveals his methods of operation in a concise and easy to understand manner.

Other books that build on this one:
Vice: Dick Cheney and the Hijacking of the American Presidency
Running on Empty: How the Democratic and Republican Parties Are Bankrupting Our Future and What Americans Can Do About It
Breach of Trust: How Washington Turns Outsiders Into Insiders
Breaking the Real Axis of Evil: How to Oust the World's Last Dictators by 2025
9/11 Synthetic Terror: Made in USA, Fourth Edition
Legacy of Ashes: The History of the CIA

Books that go in the right direction:
A Foreign Policy of Freedom: Peace, Commerce, and Honest Friendship
The Paradox of American Power: Why the World's Only Superpower Can't Go It Alone
The Unconquerable World: Power, Nonviolence, and the Will of the People
The Tao of Democracy: Using Co-Intelligence to Create a World That Works for All

I received this book in great condition, i was not expecting to get here so quickly and in the condition it was in...this was a great buy..thanks so much

I just love how the book is organized. It is divided into a section of Marketing, Operations Management, Human Resources, External Environment, and etc. There are several sub-sections under each section made into chapters, making the materials even more organized for the readers. I have been using it for two years in my high school, but decided to bring it along to college. The lay out of the book is really nice, and the little case studies make the materials more understandable as they are interesting cases in real life!

"By Heart" is a masterpiece. The book is a tale of Vermont life in the midsts of small town, workmans life. Being a poetry book it combines empathy, happiness, and dedication. Bob Arnold knows what he is doing when he sits down a writes. A true man to his writing.

Zable's book takes place in a milk bar/coffee lounge in St. Kilda, a suburb of Melbourne AU. Rather, the people on whom the book is based are there - the story takes place in the present (when he interviewed the survivors-between 1990 and 2000, I think) and in the time of WWII. The stories these Jewish immigrants to Australia share are raw, a way of developing a new family, and "in your face" as Zable told our class - the survivors lost everything in the concentration camps except the will to live and rebuilt their lives in Melbourne. Their stories come to light (the stories were already alive) in Zable's book, as does the love that Masha and Avram share - they were the owners of Cafe S. when the book was written. The stories are gripping; it's a 5 hankie book in my estimation. While the book is a fictionalized account of what happened to these folks (characters are composites for example), the events are real. Zable is a wonderful story teller and feels we all have a story to tell, but in order to be story tellers, we have to be excellent listeners. He is an excellent listener. If you are interested in stories of human behavior, history, or the Holocaust, then this is a book well worth reading.

Walter Kaufmann was a highly accomplished professor of philosophy at Princeton, who translated Nietzsche, wrote a lot of philosophy books, and also wrote this great book of poems.

There are some sheer gems in it, such as:

What is hard
to follow
often hides lard
or is hollow.

Or this one:

Cowardice tries to repeat
Throws that succeed,
seeks what is obsolete,
snug as a creed,
lacking the courage to meet
unheard-of need.

Simply by being the first,
undefiled flings,
those that are unrehearsed
are granted wings.
What is repeated is cursed:
rote never sings.

It's a modern rarity, rhymed poetry that really grapples with man's role in the universe in a brilliant way. Also worth having is his book of translations of German poetry, originally called 20 German poets, but the title changed when he added a few more poets.

English was not his first language, so his accomplishment is all the more remarkable. It's notable enough to become an accomplished prose writer in a second language, like Joseph Conrad or Ayn Rand. Becoming a poet in an alien tongue is really rate.

I see the book has gotten expensive on the used market. I hope someone has the sense to reissue it soon.

[...]
If you are curious about the Cambridge Patonists, Patrides carefully edited selection of texts gives you the cream of the crop! - Benjamin Whichcote, Ralph Cudworth, John Smith, Henry More et al. - material reprinted from the original texts, complete with all the archaic but fascinating English spellings. The texts are fully annotated with comparisons and
references to a wide range of cognate works.

If you are reading the Cambridge Platonists as part of an academic exercise or are otherwise familiar with their milieu, well and good. You will know what to expect. I think it is worth saying something here - for the general reader. I am sufficiently 'unmodern' (or perhaps 'un-postmodernist') to
read the Cambridge Platonists because I think they still have something valuable to say!

Not everyone would agree with me - but, I think the portrait of Benjamin Whichcote which graces the cover of this book (and the frontispiece) says something about the sort of men we are dealing with. (The portrait still hangs in the gallery at Emmanuel College, Cambridge). There is composure in that expression. It seems to infuse the whole being of the man. It is the expression of a mind which has found calm waters,
seen eternal verities.

One of the papers in this book - Ralph Cudworth's, was preached as a Sermon Before the House of Commons (i.e. the British Parliament). Things are different with us today. We are no longer certain of eternal verities. It seems almost incomprehensible - now, to think that when the Cambridge Platonists were expounding their ideas in the 17th c., they were touching on matters of concern to most thinking people.
Religion and science had not yet parted company (despite being called a 'father of modern science' in school books, Issac Newton was a deeply religious man, very much in tune with the ideas of the Cambridge Platonists).

The great beauty of the Cambridge Platonists, is their calm confidence, their utter conviction that there are eternal verities, that Reason and Faith are complementary faculties. Thus, on the one hand, they looked back to the philosophers of antiquity (strictly speaking, they are Neo-Platonists, taking in everything between Plato, Plotinus, Ficino/Renaissance thought, even Hermeticism) - and the legacy of Christianity, while on the other hand - they were alive to the emerging 'scientific' spirit, the renewed quest to understand the principles ordering the phenomenal universe. For them, there was an Intelligent - and intelligible order in the universe. For them, Reason (capital R) still had its pre-Kantian, classical sweep. 'Reason' was not a mere idea in the head, an itching in the cranium, but presupposed the divine Nous (intellect), intimately connected with the activity of a divine energy (energeia)informing the pattern of the universe. We find them preaching against false religious 'enthusiasm' - as soundly as they preached against atheism.

"Good men spiritualise their bodies; bad men do
incarnate their souls. "

"We are no more than Second causes; and our
Suffiency is only in God, who is the First.
A Second Cause is no Cause, divided from
the First. "

- Benjamin Whichcote.

This is an excellent reference for all types of pain.
It has given me good information for drug recommendation
for acute, chronic pain without cancer, cancer pain
and pallitive care.