People and Society Books

I check this book out of the library and ended up turning the pages down for over 3/4 of the recipes. I decided I needed to buy this book. So far, I have made 4 of the recipes (just got the book last week) and every one has been delicious, healthy and easy to make!

The title caught my eye at the library - to my amazement it's proved very accurate. The recipes are easy to make, only require ingredients that are already in my pantry, and have received thumbs up from my very picky husband. I've ordered extras just for gifts!

Every one of these recipes is great. I've tried more than 20 and the family loves it. Easy to make, highly nutritious, this is the best book of healthy recipes I own -- and I own more than 30! What a great find.

I think every treeplanter can relate to how difficult it is to share their experiences with one who has never gone planting. Words do not suffice. Yet there is a universal understanding among those who have been out there. Helene has captured the experience perfectly with her photographs. Handmade Forests is a beautiful, truthful, nessesary book, and I thank her for sharing it with us.

My brother Jeffrey has worked in the planting world of western Canada for several years, and this book has finally given me a real insight into what his days are like for four or six or eights months a year. I ask myself, at once, why he would choose to do something so horrible to himself, and why I have not given up the mundane and trivial things that fill my own life to confront something so challenging and rewarding, so filled with sights and experiences which, if Cyr's pictures and the accompanying text are any indication, border on the sublime. Of course, it is all made the more powerful when we consider the gigantic favor these laborers are doing for us and the people who will come after us. I am envious of all those whose capacity for physical and mental anguish allows them to reap this kind of reward. Whenever we think we cannot possibly deal with the real world, we would do well to consider the surreal world presented in these pages.

Helene Cyr is right on about treeplanting - she knows the heaven and hell of that life. This is a book I wish my treeplanting buddies and I had put together, so thank you Helene for doing what we'd always talked about. So wonderful to see treeplanting honoured in such an excellent way.

I have heard about this book, but till you actually read it for yourself, hearing about it does not do it justice! I am usually a slow reader, but from the time I opened the first page I was captivated by the "flow" of the story, and the message in it. Before I knew it 2 hours later I had finished the book! Demos Shakarian was truly a messenger from God, his life was centered around the vision God gave to him and he would not compromise on the goal that was set before him. Though God blessed him in the physical realm, it never clouded his judgment or the vision God gave to him. It was truly a remarkable story, about being led by the Spirit of God! This book and Demos's life has been an encouragement in my life!

No human story has built such awe and faith for me. I believe that the generational obedience and worship built into this man and woman a purpose that is truly unusual if not unique in our generation. Certainly the prayers and strength of their home church deserve much of the honor for the achievements accomplished. I heve been blessed each time I read this book.

The Demos Shakarian story is about God's presence in our lives, and the miracles He will perform when we let Him, when we're willing to get out of the way to let Him take over. Mr. Shakarian's story is about a loving God and a loving son, whose heart wants to be in his Father's perfect will, but being human, forgets, and gets in the way. And God waits until he figures that out, steps back, and lets Him lovingly fix everything, often seeing miracles as Father God worked in his life, and in the lives of the people around him. It is a book of hope, of promise, and of love, things we all need and often forget where to go to get them. It was exactly what I needed to read, and I highly recommend it to others.

Many of the techniques used in this book's hardware/software waterfall project to make it succeed, are also used in agile software development to help them succeed. People skills, frequent feedback, keeping in touch with reality. I loved the humor and compassion exhibited by the authors. I recommend this to practitioners of Scrum, Extreme Programming, and other agile methods to provide a perspective on a real-life waterfall project and problems common to all development projects.

Excellent material, well written and cogently organized. Reads like a Steve McConnell book, but at a more general "Project Management" level instead of "Software Project Management". Loaded with funny (in hind sight *grin*) stories that make the major points very memorable.

I related to many of the stories (they read very much like AntiPatterns), and I gained important insights into a current critical project -- which is having immediate positive impact on my current planning and actions.

Very glad I read this book in time.

Strongly recommend this book for current and future project/program leaders!

"It Sounded Good When I Started" sounded equally good when I finished reading it.

This is a book about project management, not as it should be, but as it is: confused, satisfying, creative, mundane, exciting, demanding and chaotic. Built around the authors' adventures with a real, large scale project named Delphi, one feels as if she/he is working with the them and their very human cohorts as they cope with problems of enormous complexity.

The chapter titles themselves should give a flavor of the book:
"Digging Yourself into a Hole,""Going Where Angels Fear to Tread: There Is No Right Way to Do the Wrong Thing," and "A Charlatan in Expert's Clothing: Writing a Lie - The Proposal..."
being typical examples.

Each chapter concludes with "clinical" phrases such as, "The Dog Ate My Plan" or "I Wasn't Involved," that serve as warnings, in everyday language, that something is amiss. The warnings are then followed by very useful "bullets" that suggest ways for coping with the "dog" or the excuses one gives for his/her participation in a phase of the project that ended in failure.

A highly readable book, it should be of interest to all people who are engaged in project management, whether the project involves creating a piece of multi-million dollar electronic equipment or planning a extended family reunion of relatives who are ambivalent about getting together.

Woodard writes about the relationship of black power, black cultural arts, and the black nationalist movement with LeRoi Jones, later Amiri Baraka, one of its main supporters. ... He concludes that Black America requires an ideological and political arsenal of both nationalism and Marxism. But at no time can the emphasis be purely Marxist or nationalist without doing damage to the black community. In other words, sectarianism is the enemy of black liberation and the fight for equality. This is a must read for all interested in politics and race in the U.S. Recommended for undergraduates, graduate students, and faculty. -- P. Barton-Kriese, Indiana University East, Choice July/August 1999

Professor Peniel Joseph writes that, "Historian Komozi Woodard's `A Nation Within A Nation' ... stands out as the most important book to be written about the Black Power Movement. `A Nation Within A Nation' is really several books rolled into one. First, it is a well-researched and painstakingly detailed case study of the dramatic consequences of Black Power politics on [the] racial and political dynamics of Newark, New Jersey during the late 1960s and early 1970s. Second, it is a political biography that underscores the significance of Amiri Baraka to the Black Power Movement's rise and eventual decline in American politics. Third, the book explores the transformation of black cultural nationalism during the Black Power era and Baraka's pivotal role in contemporizing black nationalism as an expressive political and cultural vehicle. Finally, it's a study of the divese and complex matrix that produced black political thought and practice during the period; a historical interrogation of the national and international implications of radical anti-colonial discourses that undergirded Black Power politics."

According to Publishers Weekly, "Woodard examines the role of poet Amiri Baraka's `cultural politics' on Black Power and black nationalism in the 1960s. After a brief overview of the evolution of black nationalism since slavery, he focuses on activities in Northeastern urban centers (Baraka's milieus were Newark, NJ, and, to a lesser extent, New York City). Taking issue with scholars who see cultural nationalism as self-destructive, Woodard finds it "fundamental to the endurance of the Black Revolt from the 1960s into the 1970s." California Senator Tom Hayden, says: "The fascinating story of a struggle that nearly succeeded in creating self-determination in the urban ghetto" And, in Professor Robin D.G. Kelley's assessment, the book "will be one of the most important studies of black urban politics and culture in the postwar period." As far as Professor Michael B. Katz is concerned, it "breaks new ground and revises standard interpretations of the era. I am particularly impressed with the way he has connected political mobilization to movements in the arts, literature, and intellectual life, on the one hand, and to the restructuring of American life, on the other. It's a hardheaded, unflinching analysis, and he tells it well and with great feeling." Finally, Professor John Dittmer found it "Balanced and moving." "It should be required reading ... for all citizens who care about the problems of race and class in urban America. ... quite simply, one of the most important books we have on the black urban experience in the twentieth century ... by one of the leading scholars of the African American experience in this country." The book concludes that there have been five distinct phases in the history of black nationality formation in the U.S. The first phase was the ethnogenesis of African Americans during slavery; that established the social and cultural foundations of Black America. The second was the black nationalism that flowered before the Civil War among free Blacks in the urban North. A third phase resulted from the failure of the Civil War and Reconstruction to guarantee full citizenship for African Americans; under racial oppression and Jim Crow segregation, a subject nation developed in the Black Belt areas of the South. The most vivid example of that phase of nationality formation was the great Kansas Exodus. The fourth phase of black nationality formation resulted from the Great Migration of perhaps 1.5 million African Americans and from the development of large, compact, black concentrations in the ghettos of America; the flowering of that nationalism is seen in the Garvey Movement of the 1920s. And finally, a fifth stage of nationality formation ensued from the migration of 4 million Black Americans form the South between 1940 and 1970 and the development of dozens of "second ghettos," that generated hundreds of urban uprisings during the 1960s; that sense of modern nationality was heralded by the Black Power movement and the politics of Black cultural nationalism.

This is absolutely one of the BEST books on wolves I've ever read! It is packed full of information but does not come across like an encyclopedia. It's easy reading with lots of colorful photographs. I was overcome with sadness and angry when I read McIntyre's account of the story of "Raggs the Digger," one of the famous and incredibly clever so-called "outlaw wolves" that eluded federal government capture for years. The book gives a lively and animated detail of how a famous bounty hunter "finally" killed Raggs, an indomitable spirit. It is an important reminder that there is no animal who will EVER be a match to a human being with a gun intent on killing it.

Excellent and readable book. I couldn't put it down. If you care about wolves, are simply interested in wolves and want to know their story, buy this!

Running a wildlife safari company in Yellowstone, the wolves that we view have become a major attraction. I have learnt so much from this book that it is now a requirement for all my guides to read it from front to back, so they are totally educated on wolves. Rick McIntyre's A Society of Wolves captures everything you want to learn about wolves, including their behavior, pack structure, and how similar they are to us. This book is a must if you are interested in wolves, wildlife and Yellowstone.

Rick McIntyre does us a great service with this book. It is an excellent compilation of written material and photographs that will prove transformational to anyone interested in wildlife. A moving account of day-to-day life in a wolf pack, it also provides an invaluable history of wolf persecution in this country. He also lists excellent resources to contact to learn more about the fate of the wolf and how to become active in their reintroduction. This book answers the questions "Where did all the wolves go?" and "Why do we need them back?" An important and compelling read.

Here is a book for everyone who thinks that ideas are the greatest source of power on the planet. Within this highly-readable volume, you'll find ideas from more than sixty original thinkers - people who, depending on your point of view, can be described as mavericks, geniuses, philosophers, mystics, agitators, insurgents, visionaries, leaders, or members of the lunatic fringe.

The profiles are billed as presenting "People and Ideas to Change Your Life." That may be a tall order to fill, but the range of ideas presented will, at the very least, make you re-think your view of the world and the people in it. It is a book of possibilities and alternative viewpoints, of helpful suggestions and dire warnings - little or none of which you'll find championed in the mainstream media. These are the voices the establishment wants to relegate to the hinterlands of public debate. They are important voices, regardless of whether you find yourself nodding in agreement or shaking your head in bemusement.

This book presents profiles of the most original minds of our time. The Utne Reader editors have outdone themselves with the selection of this compilation. The biographical information is amazing, and the ideas that sprang from those experiences will sweep you away. The book literally cuts across the entire board: Included are scientists, mystics, activists, business leaders, talk show hosts, poets, dissidents, musicians, novelits, Buddhists, rabbis, economists, bankers, futurists, jazz singers, environmentalists, architects, community organizers, feminists, dissenters, book clubers, journalits, conservationists, philosphers, healers, dancers, and America's leading Idler. A small sample of some these amazing people:

* THOMAS BERRY: Catholic priest, environmental philosopher, grandfather of the religious ecology movement. "We have a moral sense of suicide, homocide, and genocide, but no moral sense of biocide or geocide, the killing of the life systems themselves..."

* NOAM CHOMSKY: After Marx, Lenin, Shakespeare, Aristotle, the Bible, Plato, and Freud comes Chomsky on the most quoted top ten list. As you can see, he is the only living person on the list, making him numero uno in the land of the living. Linguist, political analyst, and America's most prominent dissident.

* THICH NHAT HANH: Described as a "living Buddha." "Peace is present right here and now, in ourselves and everything we do and see. The question is whether or not we are in touch with it."

* SATISH KUMAR: Magazine editor, global wander, and advocate of spiritual ecology. "There is a dance between what you know and what you don't know. The place of mystery is the essential ingredient."

* ZALMAN SCHACHTER-SHALOMI: Radically genius, dancing spiritualist, LSD-imbibing rabbi scholar, and flagstaff leader of the "psycho-eco-spiritual revolution of our millennial age."

* STARHAWK: Pagan, feminist, author, activist, protestor, rejuvenator of rituals in American life. "And by `sacred' what I mean is not a great something that you bow down to, but what determines your values, what you would take and stand for."

* FRANCES MOORE LAPPE: Author of "Diet for A Small Planet," chronicler of community activism across the country, promoter of public life. "I made a vow to myself that I would never do anything else again in my life until I understood how it related to the underlying causes of human suffering."

* HELENA NORBERG-HODGE: Advocate of alternative development, defender of global diversity and local culture, founder of the Ladakh Project, a group dedicated to helping Ladakhis understand that they can choose which of the Western ways they want to adopt and which of the traditional ways they want to keep. "The destructive global economy exists only as long as we are prepared to accept it and subsidize it. We can reject it."

* JOHN PAPWORTH: Human-scale advocate, former assistant to the president of Zambia, "shoplifting vicar," and protestor of "car madness." "There is surely reason to suppose that local people running their own neighborhood are far more likely to do what is decent than government ministers trapped in the entrails of power mongering on a mass scale."

* JIM HIGHTOWER: Self-described populist, radio personality, former Texas commissioner of agriculture. "It won't be long before your church alter is adorned with a flashing neon sign hustling St. Joseph's aspirin."

* WINONA LaDUKE: Anishinaabe nationalist, Green Party vice presidential candidate, founder of the White Earth Recovery Project. "We all need to choose some ground and stick to it."

* GEOFF MULGAN: Policy adviser to British prime-minister Tony Blair, founder of the Demos think tank, and chronicler of connectedness. "The most pressing social problems no longer stem from an absence of freedom, but rather from too much freedom that leads to antisocial and self-destructive behavior..."

* MUHAMMAD YUNUS: Founder of the Grameen Bank and "micro-credit," champion of women, and economist. "I avoid grandiose plans."

* FRITJOF CAPRA: Ecological philosopher, physicist, and ecoliteracy advocate. "The environment is no longer one of many `single issues': it is the context of everything else-our lives, our business, our politics."

* THEO COLBORN: Scientist, formulator of important theory about chemicals disrupting our endocrine systems. "Every one of you is carrying at least five hundred measurable chemicals in your body that were never in anybody's body before the 1920s."

* EDWARD GOLDSMITH: Green firebrand, founder of "The Ecologist" magazine, crusader against the global economy. "Nearly everyone today seems to accept the preposterous view that modern man is actually `improving' the world..."

* PAUL HAWKEN: Entrepreneur, green businessman, and prophet of a sustainable economy. Advocates nothing short of replacing our "throw-away" culture with a "closed-loop system".

* HAZEL HENDERSON: Futurist, sustainable-development advocate, self-taught economist. "If I had been inducted into Economics 101, I would have suffered brain damage."

* WILLIAM McDONOUGH: Architect, industrial designer, and pioneer of the next industrial revolution. "The model for the next industrial revolution may have well been right in front of us the whole time: a tree."

Other profiles include: KENNY AUSUBEL & AND NINA SIMONS, ANDREW KIMBRELL, DAVID MORIS, ANDRES DUANY & ELIZABETH PLATER-ZYBERK, STEPHAN AND ONDREA LEVINE, VIRGINIA VALENTINE, MICHAEL LIND, ROBERTA BRANDES GRATZ, JANE JACOBS, GARY DELGADO, TED HALSTEAD, RIANE EISLER, COLIN GREER, BELL HOOKS, JERRY MANDER, ERNESTO CORTES JR, THEOADORE ROSZAK, CHARLENE SPRETNAK, GLORIA ANZALDUA, OCTAVIA BUTLER, EDUARDO GALEANO, GEORGE GERBNER, BARBARA MARX HUBBARD, KALLE LASN, BOBBY McFERRIN, BILL MOYERS, NEIL POSTMAN, RACHEL ROSENTHAL, JOHN RALSTON SAUL, WILLIAM STRICKLAND, LARRY DOSSEY, CHELLIS GLENDINNING, SUSAN GRIFFIN, JAMES HILLMAN, TOM HODGKINSON, HENRY & DAREN KIMSEY-HOUSE, JANE MAXWELL, VICKI ROBIN, BABRIELLE ROTH, and ALICE WATER, DONELLA MEADOWS, BILL McKIBBEN

I came across this book not long ago while looking for something completely different. After reading a few of the small bios in it about activists such as Bill Moyers, Noam Chomsky, and bell hooks to name a few, I bought it.

The best thing about the book is not the bios of the famous. It is the moving and inspiring stories of the unknowns. The activists who have worked tirelessly for years and decades to fix some injustice that they will receive very little praise for.

It made me realize (I guess I had known, but needed verification) that one person can make a REAL difference and after reading this book, I won't stand idle while a problem openly exists.

I second "historian0"'s review, and I have to add that the numerous first person accounts from letters and interviews make this an excellent choice for a logic-staged child studying this time period. My 6th and 8th graders will be reading this to get an understanding of how their lives would have been ordered if they were born into Hitler's Germany.

In purchasing this book, I was looking for a quick glance into the lives of German youth during the Third Reich and I got just that. The book thouroughly explains the HItlerjugend mindset and mentality. It has a great educational value because a lot of terms and historical events are explained so that everybody understands what they're reading. It is an afternoon read with a very inside depth. I recommend this book to people of all ages and educational backgrounds.

My parents lived during the WW II in Poland. The war stories shaped my childhood, especially since my mother's family lived in Silesia, close to the boarder with Germany. My family was dealing with "bad" and "good" Germans all the time. I always wanted to understand people on the other side, their mindset, since I realize that these people were like us. They were just born on the other side of the boarder.

This book gives a right perspective. It does not demonize Germans or German youth. It just shows how the totalitarian system affect people. Very interesting, very informative and with good pictures. The author uses the personal accounts to help to understand young people in Germany in that time. This is not the account of "good" versus "bad". It helps us to learn from the mistakes of Nazi generation.

Don't be scared away by the title, this book offers wisdom to readers of all ages. The Fields/Norris essay will be of particular interest to women going through any life-transition. It helps you embrace and learn from uncertainty, so you can apply the knowledge you already have.

This important text offers chapters from 44 well known authors on topics from theology to social science theory as well as ministry and pastoral psychology. This book won the award for one of the 10 most important books to be ready by Parish Clergy. Packed with insights and important research this book is a key tool for both researchers and practitioners.

This book is recipient of the Reviewer's Choice award and is well deserving of it. It is a great synthesis which reviews the many different types of allergies, what causes them, and what treatments work. Also it reviews all the tests to help you find out what kind of allergy you have and talks about the VERY serious kinds of allergies that can be fatal and what to do about them. Outstanding!

As a long time allergy sufferer I've bought scores of books to try to better understand and deal with my problems. This is really the best I've found. What information! Really top notch. The question and answer approach makes this so user friendly. It really helped me deal with my doctors. Thanks to Hay and the People's Medical Society. I'll buy more of their books from now on.