Anderson Books

Do not be misled by the appearance of Don Rosa's name as a author. This wonderful compendium actually has stories by Barks, Scarpa, Rota, Van Horn and others, in addition to Rosa. Admirers of the warm hearted, money loving, webbed foot, duck will need no encouragement to purchase. The presentation is attractive, the paper good, and the humor and satire unmissable.

Maybe this is an obvious, uh, observation, but this collection is much more focused than the first Walt Disney Treasures volume. That collection, while enjoyable, tried to cover so much ground that its contents would probably seem like a bizarre mishmash to anyone not already familiar with Disney comics. (I am speaking somewhat of myself here.)

This volume, with its focus on Uncle Scrooge, allows a reader to get to know each character a little bit better because it doesn't jump around so much. The stories are all fun and the collection includes selections from a variety of creators rather than just Carl Barks or Don Rosa. I enjoyed reading these somewhat different takes on Scrooge. The capstone story of the book, "Whatever Happened to Scrooge McDuck" is a winner. The author found a way to wrap up the lifetime of Scrooge McDuck while still leaving the impression that the old duck's adventures will last forever.

After reading two of these Walt Disney Treasures volumes, the feeling that I get is that these stories are meant to whet the appetite rather than to satisfly. Unlike the Treasures DVDs, neither of these volumes are comprehensive or definitive. So, know what you're getting if you purchase it: not a chronological, all encompassing collection of materials but rather a curious and enjoyable grouping of tales by some of the most prominent creators over the last 6 decades.

Even by the first story (or second) I know it's going to be a great book. I bought this book because I wanted to know what old Uncle Scrooge comics were like. And for some amazing coincidence, Uncle Scrooge's first dime is also my favorite coin of his collection and I've read about all his coins. I hope Walt Disney makes more "Walt Disney Treasures" books. And for all the people who like this book like me out there, I suggest you look for "The Life and Times of Scrooge McDuck" and "The Life and Times of Scrooge McDuck Companion". This review is written by Elias.

If Mickey Mouse embodies the Horatio Alger myth in animated cartoons, then Uncle Scrooge McDuck fulfills something of the same role in comic books, with a slight twist: McDuck is what becomes of the Alger character when he makes his fortune.

While Mickey became the trademark, and some would say the "lure," of the Disney empire, Uncle Scrooge became the delight of Disney comic book readers, his ever-growing and troublesome fortune taking readers to all corners of the world and mythology. It helped that McDuck was the creation of Carl Barks, whose stories had already become the favorites in the "Comics & Stories" and "Donald Duck" titles.

"Treasures" series editor David Gerstein has wisely chosen a Barks classic, the "Seven Cities of Cibola" story, to lead-off this collection. Barks defined the character and set the standard for both the stories and the artwork. The stories that follow provide an interesting and entertaining cross-section of American and European takes on the McDuck mythos. Readers who have been away from comics for awhile may be surprised that so thoroughly American a character (despite the Dickensian shadings)has taken on such epic popularity abroad. "The Money Ocean" is a beautifully realized story from Italy's Marco Rota, known only to a handful of American fans until a decade or so back.

Other worthy artists represented here include Tony Strobl (with Carl Fallberg), William Van Horn (with John Lustig), and modern maverick Don Rosa, who wrote and drew "disguised" Uncle Scrooge adventures before breaking into Disney comics in the '80s. One story, "Getting That Healthy, Wealthy Feeling," has been restored to its original length, an extra-mile effort to be expected of editor Gerstein, who has also had a hand in the Disney Treasures DVD series.

Having read through this volume, I'm still convinced that nobody has done a better job than Barks with his creation. But Scrooge McDuck has provided a wealth of inspiration for all the storytellers that have followed Barks, and the riches go to the readers.

Leave it to the bibble thumpers to say what is good and what is bad. This book serves no purpose.

Dad never taught me that the way man-woman relationships areportrayed on TV is unrealistic. No dad could know how to respond toall the temptations and thoughts that a young man faces, but this book tells more than the average dad knows. It exposes the sexual myths that are rampant in our country. It explains how our thought processes concerning unhealthy sexual activity can be reshaped with the help of the Word of God. There is a wonderful example of reprograming your thoughts: A cup of dark brown coffee represents your mind darkened by lustful, sinful, even criminal thoughts. But you can't empty your mind, so what can you do? The answer: Spoon in an ice cube, and then another, and another, and so on until the coffee has been diluted so much that it now looks almost clear. The ice cubes represent the good, pure, wholesome, kind, healthy thoughts which you can think daily and every time you are challenged by unhealthy thoughts. This book gives hope for freedom from sexual problems all the way from looking at pornography to rape,incest and even homosexuality. The steps to freedom in Christ are fully explained so that anyone can follow them. I recommend this book highly in my counseling practice.

This book was one of the first books I read on freedom from sexual sins through Christ. It is very helpful especially for young men who struggle with sexual temptations and those who aspire to be free. Dr. Armstrong should follow this with a more comprehensive book.

"If you saw only their behavior, you would never let your son or daughter marry one of them or let your children be around them. Ironically, they are your sons and daughters, other family members, friends, and coworkers." (Page 5, Acknowledgements)

Although this book is about "Freedom from Sexual Strongholds" in general, my review of this book will center primarily around a subject called Infantilism, to include ABDL (adult baby / diaper lover). This subject has, to my knowledge, received no coverage from any major Christian media. Hard to believe, since the only real prerequisite (for the most part) is to have worn a diaper as a baby. Infantilism is when an individual (almost always male) wishes to wear diapers (adult diapers, of course, i.e. Depend) again or to be treated as a baby. The problem may be psychological in origin, but after puberty, it becomes a sexual problem as well. Some want to wear a diaper every now and then, while others want to wear diapers 24/7. Some only want to wear diapers, while others want to eat baby food, drink from a bottle, etc. If you've never heard of this, then you probably think that nobody in their right minds could ever enjoy something like this. But make no mistake about it, they love it! They enjoy it just like an alcoholic enjoys another glass; just like a cocaine addict loves another "high"; just like you enjoy your secret sins.

And this isn't just the behavior and thoughts of some perverts in the bad part of town hanging out at the adult bookstores and porno-theaters. These are also born again Christian people (mostly young men) who serve in churches, sing in the choirs, and pay their tithe.

But most importantly, if you told them there was a way out of all this, they would jump at the opportunity in a heartbeat. "The Way of Escape" points to the way out and helps to guide the Christian (in this case, the Christian struggling with infantilism) to the exit door. In "The Way of Escape", Neil Anderson does a good job of pinpointing the thought patterns of a person trapped in sin. He sins (and enjoys it), feels bad about it, repents and gets right with the Lord (and purges his life of anything related to the sin), does well for a matters of weeks or even months, and goes right back to it again.

Mr. Anderson instead gives his readers a formula to help them better fight against these destructive cycles. For one thing he reminds us that we are DEAD TO SIN AND ALIVE IN CHRIST. An ABDL might say, "I am dead to infantilism and alive in Christ." Galatians 2:20 says that we have been crucified with Christ. Romans 6:7 says that we have died to sin. These are all past tense. Mr. Anderson asks the reader to put his feelings on hold for just one moment (since you may not feel dead to infantilism at this very moment) while considering what the Bible is commanding us to believe. For instance, some mornings you wake up and "feel dead". But you're obviously alive. In that instance, do you follow your feelings or your beliefs?

Mr. Anderson also asks the infantilist to practice something called he calls "Threshold Thinking". He says, "If we are going to take the way of escape from sexual bondage that God has provided for us, we must avail ourselves of God's provision and change how we respond at the threshold of every sexual temptation. We must take those first thoughts captive and make them obedient to Christ. If we allow ourselves to ruminate on tempting thoughts, we will eventually act on them." (Page 156)

At the end of the book, there is something Neil Anderson has put together called "the 7 Steps to Freedom". I won't go over them all, but just a few of them include,

- Renouncing (out loud) all non-Christian spiritual experiences. Fetishism is inlcuded in the "Non-Christian Spiritual Experience Inventory".

- Forgiving everyone who has ever hurt you, no matter how bad their deeds were. "By not forgiving them, you are still being hurt by them." (Pages 210-211)

- Getting a fellow believer to hold you up in prayer and keep you accountable. This means if you're in infantilism, you need to find another brother-in-Christ, make sure he has a good reputation and a consistent Christian walk, and confess this problem to him. The ideal person would be a minister, deacon, or Bible study leader.

"People who have been caught in the trap of sin-confess-sin-confess may need to follow the instructions of James 5:16: 'Confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective.' Seek out a righteous person who will hold you up in prayer and to whom you can be accountable." (Page 217)

These are just a few of the gems featured in this book. The book reads like the author knows exactly where you're at in your life, and just how desperate you are to break free.

Put this one on your cookbook shelf next to Fanny Farmer and The Joy of Cooking! Clear and easy-to-follow instructions guide you through the most complicated entrees to the simplest desserts. And I love the sidebars! All cookbooks should be so informative

The sidebar tips and hints are very informative and useful. I tried many of the recipes. Excellent! Very well written and the recipes are easy to follow. I recommend for everyone who likes good food and cooking

Need a great gift for a new bride? For a cookbook afficionado? For anyone who just plain likes to cook? What's Cooking America fits the bill. From its colorful cover, to the lovely illustrations and informative sidebars, this cookbook will satisfy the most discriminating cook. I especially liked the wealth of time-tested recipes that obviously had been passed down from generation to generation in the authors' families. Yet in many cases, they were updated to fit our tastes and current eating styles. This book would make a great gift-- at less than $20 for over 800 recipes, it's a wonderful value as well. Try it, you'll like it

What's Cooking America? Is it a question or a statement or an ecological question having something to do with the greenhouse effect or of course El Nino - It's actually the name of a cookbook by Linda Stradley and Andra Cook published by Book Partner, Inc. This cookbook is near perfection. All of the recipes are on one page, some pages actually have multiple recipes; there are helpful hints, histories or suggestions on every page; there are illustrations on every page; the book is filled with over 800 recipes; and almost all of the ingredients are readily available. There are a few downsides, but I'll save those for the end. The cookbook is broken down into many sections: Appetizers & Beverages, Breads & Sandwiches, Candies & Cookies, Desserts, Meatless Meals, Meats, Poultry, Salads & Salad Dressings, Seafood, Soups, and Vegetables. The recipes, that are mostly basic and easy to prepare include: Burgundy Mushrooms, Tequila Cider, Lemon Tea Bread, Date Drop Scones, Alaskan Sourdough Biscuits, Sugared Walnuts, Hazelnut Macaroons, Honeyed Apricot Biscotti, Baked Alaska, Florida Key Lime Pie, Vegetarian Meatballs, Broccoli Pasta in Sweet Tomato Sauce, Peppered Chutney Tenderloin, Orange Pork Chops, Chicken & Cashew Bake, Kiwi Fruit Salad, Baked Sole with Almonds, Southwestern Black bean Soup, Baby Carrots with Curry Sauce and Baked Squash with Blueberries. The only complaints that took of point for the book, are that number one the book is a misnomer. What's Cooking America is not a far title for this book, because it has recipes that not only are from other countries, but other countries would want to make some of these other recipes too. The other problem I had with this book is that, like fundraising book companies do, the sections were in alphabetical order instead of logical order. With a suggested retail of $21.95 however, this would be a great source of information for any kitchen. Overall rating: 4 pots out of 5

I have found the candidness in this wonderful book refreshing! I now know what to keep on hand, and mail at random to my friends and associates that need a good laugh, a subtle smile and something to relate to! Thank you for keeping us smiling B.J.!

This is a book that thoroughly enjoyed, and I want all my friends to enjoy it too. I keep finding reasons to give it to people. It is a very enjoyable read, plus it is beautifully presented. There are so many great quotes in it, many that I had never heard before. After reading it through, I have it on my desk, and I just keep picking it up, flipping through , reading a page, and laughing out loud. Very handy for those mid-afternoon lulls, when you need a little inspirational or humor pick-me-up. I highly recommend it!

Witty Words from wise Women, by B.J. Gallagher, is a treasure that women will want to buy for all their girlfriends-and themselves.

The book's 13 sections target topics such as:

o men ("The cock may crow, but it's the hen that lays the eggs." Margaret Thatcher)

o love and marriage ("Men who have a pierced ear are better prepared for marriage-they've experienced pain and bought jewelry." Rita Rudner)

o struggle and disappointment ("The hardest years in life are those between 10 and 70." Helen Hayes, spoken when she was 82)

o success ("They say getting thin is the best revenge. Success is much better." Oprah Winfrey)

o empowerment "(I'm tough, ambitious, and I know exactly what I want. If that makes me a bitch, okay." Madonna)

But some of the brightest diamonds in this slim book are the insightful, perceptive and witty words introducing each of the sections. Those are the words of its author--B.J. Gallagher.

This is the most fun, wise and enjoyable break during the day I have found in ages. It's small and packed with inspiration and so easy just to flip open anywhere for a giggle or a thought provoking moment. I have taken it on business and pleasure trips and shared it with associates, friends and strangers. Even my husband loves it. It has become my new perfect gift for my mom, sister and all my girl friends. I absolutely love it.

Too many of the newer X-Books deal too heavily with time travel & alternate futures and a lot of BS. This book, written before all of 'those' story lines is the staple of what Stan Lee & Jack Kirby set out to do since day one. The overall theme was that mutants are human too.

There is a dialog between the African-American dancer instructor Stevie Hunter & the youngster X-Men Kitty Pryde that hits home so hard that it made me cheer and cry at the same time.

If you're a original fan of the X-Men, you need this.

"Good Loves" tells a great story even if you've seen x-men 2. The story has it's own time and place while still having parallels to the film. The thing that surprised me a little was the art. It's not something I would call natural beauty. That being said it does have something to offer. Be sure to read the "making of" stuff at the end of the book. That's where I found most of my appreciation for the art and learned a bit about what it was like to make a graphic novel back then.

There was a time when Chris Claremont could do no wrong during his legendary run on X-Men, and this is a prime example. X-Men: God Loves, Man Kills finds Professor Xavier and his team (Wolverine, Cyclops, Storm, Colossus, Nightcrawler, and Kitty Pryde) beseiged by William Stryker: a religious zealot who believes that mutants are created by the devil himself. What really helps God Loves, Man Kills take off even more, is that Claremont humanizes Stryker to a point, as we the reader see his point of view and even begin to sympathize with him as it is revealed why he is doing what it is that he does. Without giving too much away, Claremont crafts one of the most socially relevant cautionary tales that underlines the overall story in which Xavier and his X-Men face prejudice, fear, and hatred from a differing point of view. Combined with the stark and excellent artwork of Brent Anderson, God Loves, Man Kills remains a landmark of the X-Men mythos, which is only furthered by the fact that the story would be derived by director Bryan Singer and his crew for X2: X-Men United; which remains one of, if not the, best superhero films ever made, and the best Marvel film to date. All in all, saying that God Loves, Man Kills is an essential pick up is saying it lightly if you're an X-Men fan, Marvel fan, or just classic comic fan; any way you slice it this is more than worth your time.

There are items in the media that everyone should read/see/listen experience in their lifetime. Listening to U2's Joshua Tree, reading Harper Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird, watching Ridley Scott's Blade Runner, or read Art Spiegelman's Maus. These items, are, in my opinion, essential to opening ones mind to a richer life and experiences. If you want to drill down in one particular category, go ahead, be my guest. Not everyone enjoys music or films or even (heaven forbid) graphic novels. If someone liked Maus and they wanted to read more, the next graphic novel I would suggest you pick up the classic and highly influential X-Men story God Loves, Man Kills by Chris Claremont and Brent Eric Anderson.

The graphic novel is a stand alone in the X-Men universe and really doesn't have anything that happens before it or after it that you need to know going into reading it. The story follows the beginning of a genocide of mutants, lead by fanatical religious leader William Stryker. Stryker is leading a fanatical group of people who kill without sympathy anyone, man, woman and child, for being a mutant. After we see a brutal killing in the opening panels, Magneto, leader of a mutant resistance group in the regular comic series, decides it is best to join forces with his nemesis, Charles Xavier and his X-Men, in order to stop this burgeoning holocaust. After Stryker kidnaps the two of the X-Men and Xavier, the rest of the team follows Magneto to stop this bandwagon's momentum in its tracks by any means necessary.

Many people will probably recognize this story line and characters from the movie X2. This story has been admitted favorite of Director Bryan Singer who directed the first two X-men films. This story is a classic tale of one group trying to enforce its will on another group of people and the consequences of that action. Really to read this story, you can easily substitute any real group of people the role of the mutants in this graphic novel and see similarities in their struggles. In fact, Magnetos driving force for being who he is and what he stands for is the Nazi atrocities the holocaust, and this new holocaust, is something that Magneto will not stand by and let happen again.

The graphic novel by itself is powerful without the lighting rod story by Chris Claremont. The art in this graphic are some of the most surprising of a graphic novel containing popular characters in a while. The one series of images that could easily shake anyone is the pictures of Xavier being crucified on the roof of one of the World Trade Center towers by his own students, or the murder of and lynching of two young black children who are supposedly mutants.

As I mentioned before, this graphic novel is the basis of X2, which is easily one of the top comic book and/or action movie in the past 8 years. The story telling is tight and well done and it only borrows loosely from the Claremont story. Singer, an openly gay director in Hollywood, has succeeded in the mutant saga by associating their persecution with the ones done by the homosexual community here in America. To anyone who knows about the X-Men and their trials and tribulations, know that mutants are heavily persecuted and targets in the Marvel Universe. Their trials extended to near extinction on several occasions and massacres on truly unprecedented scales, are all set up by the story in God Loves, Man Kills.

This graphic novel is not only a read, but a 100% buy and to treasure it often. Once you read this graphic, you will never look at comics the same way again.

Wow! For someone like me who could never get into technical articles and books about the Internet, Ralf Hirt's 8W8 Global Space Tribes is as refreshing as a cool breeze in Death Valley.

I found myself thinking I was one of the characters in the novel waking up in EA-RA and sitting down for breakfast wondering what new insights, digital or otherwise, waited to be revealed to me that day. It made me think what different ideas I might have come up with if I had been sitting down at the table with the Golden Skyers.

I read 8W8 on a flight from New York City to LA. I was doing the Okay Fellow trip in reverse. It was almost spooky as when I began looking down and trying to put myself in his position. I began wondering what it was that I was seeing. All of a sudden, I realized that I had always had a nagging feeling that what I had been seeing wasn't really what it appeared to be. By the time we circled in from the ocean into LAX, I had stopped thinking LA as a basin and, instead, I was seeing it as a huge mountain with a large base rising higher than Everest. I remember thinking it was a good thing that the pilot was back in Web 2, because we might have crashed right into that mountain.

Before 8W8, I had never understood the future of the Internet so clearly and what it meant to me personally or the world in particular.

R. Arnold

"8W8 Global Space Tribes" leads us trough a flattened pre-Columbian InterWorld which defines the next metamorphosis of the Internet Web 3, and perhaps beyond. Rather than following a convoluted trail through a multidimensional world, the writer brings us to one spot, a vortex where all aspects of our physical world come together; where each individual identifies her or himself as a member of a tribe. Members of these tribes can be living in the Amazon, the Urals or Nebraska, however, more than a common mindset knits these tribes together: they share a common weltanschauung.

Using the clever device of a helicopter (8W8 Heli), resources, markets and capital flow can be mapped like rain water forming rivulets; then streams, rivers and, ultimately oceans. For me as a businessperson and a fan of new technologies, this book has been awesome since it reveals what, hithertofore, had been invisible... the "Golden" flow.

Ralf Hirt's 8W8 Global Space Tribes goes beyond the concept of a flat
world, it draws the reader into a virtual "What if?" reality. What if
the Internet could be used to erase national borders and
ethno-cultural divides creating entirely new social systems... global
space tribes!

Taking a ride in Hirt's 8W8 Global Space Tribes' Helicopter is more
than experiencing the Web 3.0 envisioned by Tim Berners-Lee as "an
overlay of scalable vector graphics (with) everything rippling and
folding and looking misty:" it's entering a 5-D world where Time and
Space serve as connective tissue further compressing an already
flattened world.

Eschewing technical jargon that could alienate the average
non-techgeek, Hirt, instead, introduces the reader to 15 individuals
who call themselves the Golden Sky. They are an IT think tank composed
of international business people, lawyers, politicians,
environmentalists, a musician, a doctor and a philosopher, all of whom
share one thing in common--a futuristic vision of the future. They come
together on the Big Island of Hawaii, in the home of one of their
members, Winston Chee, an IT entrepreneur, for a week-long break out
in which they intend to focus on an IT conundrum: how to make the
invisible, visible.

The author cleverly uses the house, itself, as a living entity that,
in many ways, embodies many of the same elements as their quest.
Called EA-RA, it is a six-story mansion built into the side of a
mountain. It's exterior is a semicircular sheet of black glass infused
with golden fiber which faces south and stretches in a semicircle 180
degrees from east to west. The effect is that it not only catches the
sunrise but the setting sun as well, all the while reflecting the
sun's rays like a golden mirror. Unseen and undetected from outside is
the vast interior which encloses a self-sustaining environment
including a farm on its ground floor, the entire panoply and
requisites of a modern spa and convention center on the the five top
floors, all of which are hidden from view to the outside observer.

The hero of the piece is a San Francisco based IT journalist called
Oskar Kiernan Feller, or more commonly called by his friends, O.K.
Fellow. He is probably a manifestation of the author, himself,
conflicted and driven. It is O.K. Fellow whom we first meet as he sits
in an airplane flying from San Francisco to an IT conference in
Berlin. It is a trip he has made many times in the past, but on this
trip he is gripped with a sense of anxiety. He has flown millions of
miles without an incident, but his mind has made a calculation that at
some point there had to be a "statistical fluctuation" which might
result in...? He tries to stop thinking about it by repeating a mantra
silently to himself.

Ultimately, somewhere over St. Louis he experiences an existential
moment when he begins to question what he is seeing. That results in a
dialectical switch where, for a moment, he is watching himself trying
to find like-minded individuals among the houses and buildings below.
We are introduced to all the main characters in the first two
chapters. Except for their different vocations, they all share the
same uneasiness as O.K. Fellow. They want to see the unseen elements
of their world. For some, it's a search to find people as
themselves,for the others, it is to be able to see the actual flow of
elements into streams and rivers which make up what they call "Global
Space Tribes."

Eventually, they develop the concept of a virtual helicopter which
they imagine could hover above the earth with an instrument panel.
This tool could discern hidden values from single elements to
concentrations of elements, "mountains," as they eventually see them.

This is a fast and enjoyable read for both the lay reader as well as
the technophile.

This book is no longer in print but is available directly from the authors in electronic form (PDF file). See their web site and contact them via email.

This book provides many excellent C examples and techniques in array manipulation, pointers and some other techniques. Very good reference for professional programmer.

It takes you through the rough edges of C in great detail unlike other "highly rated" books which merely presents concepts. Discussion on RTE, compact pointer experessions are a special treat. It makes you look at C with a "compiler perspective", a must for an advanced background. Recommended for everyone who likes C and wants to get serious!!

I have software that uses the Advantage database and I needed ADS specific information to write a front end for customized data access. This book really delivered for me. The authors seem to have a real passion for ADS and, like most things in life, this results in a high-quality product.

There is concise but informative stuff about general database structure that quickly progresses on to ADS-specific structure and great ADO.NET information. I learned more about real life ADO.NET from this book than I did from trudging through Visual Studio's help.

It's one of those books that just left me feeling extremely good about my decision to buy.

If you're looking for a definitive resource for Advantage, look no further. This book covers everything in great detail- with some very detailed examples.

The Advantage Database Server (ADS) is a relational database system now owned by Sybase. It's a rather interesting database in that it uses an ISAM (Indexed Sequential Access Method) structure rather than the now more traditional SQL structure. In my opinion it is a system suitable for applications that have outgrown Microsoft Access, but which do not need the full power (and complexity) of the big databases such as Oracle, DB2 or SQL Server.

This book is written by two ADS pros that have an almost missionary zeal in promoting ADS. Still they have done a pretty good job of describing the various ways of getting data into and out of ADS. This includes the ADS GUI, using QBuilder (like the MS Access QBE), and of course writing in SQL itself. The ADS SQL is more advanced than the Jet engine in Access incorporating things like logic that are not supported in Jet. Finally there is a section on using ADS with various languages such as PHP, Delphi, .NET and more.

All in all, this is a complete and well written book on ADS that gives a good introduction to ADS.

This book is cutting edge material and deals with real up to date issues. It gives you a womans' perspective on the emotional stress that they must endor dealing with their outlook on society, their standards, their security, and the social status of the men in their lives. Renay keeps it real on this one. As a man, you can finally understand a womans point of view. This could be a great film production.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book! It was entertaining, real-to-life, and emotionally satisfying. I was able to identify with these two women, and I think a lot of others will do so as well. I was actually sad when there was no more to read! Sequel! Sequel!

This is book is fun, fresh, and full of excitement. I read the whole thing the first day I got it! I could'nt put it down! One of my friends told me about Renay's book and I figured I would support her, but I had no idea the book would be this entertaining. Good job Renay! I look forward to reading more books from you. thanks Gina for telling me about the book, now i'm going to tell all of my friends.

Anderson provides an enlightening and accessible look at the multitude of changes taking place today that are usually characterized by the word 'globalization'. As he so clearly points out, these changes are not merely economic, although such changes are important, but also political, cultural and biological. This broader framework is likely to be important to those who would better understand (and perhaps alter) the course of globalization.

Anderson notes that nations are increasingly losing their closed character (and becoming more open), a development exemplified by the demolition of the Berlin Wall in 1989. In consequence of this, individual nations have less control over their economic, political, cultural and biological dimensions, and there is an increased need for associations of nations. It should be noted, however, that Anderson is skeptical about the likelihood of the emergence of global government.

A particularly useful part of Anderson's book is the classification of attitudes toward globalization that he presents in Chapter 12 ("Global Visions and Divisions"). They are: the globalist right; the globalist left; the antiglobalist right; and the antiglobalist left. With this classification in hand, one can better grasp the discomfort many people feel with the process of globalization, as well as why some people are working so hard to advance it.

What Anderson does, therefore, is develop a more nuanced view of what globalization is and a more nuanced view of individual responses to globalization. He makes globalization more complex, but it is surely not something to be addressed in a simple-minded fashion.

Walter Anderson's gift is to synthesize and explicate complex social issues in an intelligible, readable, and coherent manner. There is not a lot of news in this book. It is a fine overview of the complexities of globalization and all the different ways it manifests itself in our lives. It pulls together a lot of information on the ways in which our world is changing, how this change effects us, and how we effect the process of change.

Anderson also provides an overview of how people are thinking about and conceptualizing our changing, globalizing world. In short, it is an excellent primer or introduction to the processes of globalization and how people are responding to it. It is not a ponderous academic tome, but it does have a bibliography that you can use as a springboard for further explorations.

It helped me to get a handle on a lot of materials and information I was familiar with, but never had the time to read, study, and think about systematically.

One thing which I found helpful was the symbolic references to the Treaty of Wesphalia which ended the 30 years war in the 17th Century. It marks the transition from the world of the Holy Roman Empire to the world of the sovereign nation state. The current era is post-Wesphalian in that the boundaries that defined nation states are becoming more permeable and oftentimes irrelevant. Environmental, medical, economic, political and social problems do not begin and end at national borders, hence new ways of thinking and new forms of global governance are emerging to deal with these problems. Our post 9-11 world has seen efforts to strengthen national boundaries in response to a globalized threat, but it only affects a small part of the globalization process.

Another thing is the intersecting dimensions of Globalist-antiglobalist and political left-political right continuums. This could be conceived as a four fold table: globalist-left, globalist-right, antiglobalist-left, antiglobalist-right. I prefer to think of it as an x-y axis that defines a two dimensional grid.

This categorization scheme captures some of the ambiguities and paradoxes of responses to globalism. Anderson uses it to explain different perspectives offered by various writers and actions by various activists. It also helps me understand my own conflicted feelings about globalization (free markets, immigration, multi-culturalism, global warming, the aids epidemic, etc.)

Ultimately All Connected Now is a good place to start thinking about globalization. If you have already been thinking about globalization, this is a good place to pause and review your thinking, and the thoughts other's have had, about globalization.

The day I read the title of this book, my fears of the last 30 years were gone. It was stating the obvious, so obvious that not many managed to grasp it. Since humankind started to record history 5500 years ago and maybe long before, we are living in the First Global Civilisation. A civilisation that spans the planet and already goes beyond with human space missions, satellites, probes and robots.

It started with Columbus and global travel. Then this new civilisation which was born thanks to long distance communication (telegraph in the 19th century, later phone, telex, fax, internet) is reshaping our lives in different ways: at home, in cities, in our workplace, in our environment, in our information, in our bio-information, in the perception we have from ourselves.

In this perspective one understands the meaning of the 20th century, a transition between a set of civilisations gradually conquered by the West that took their independance but that remained connected into a global civilisation with multiple centers influencing each other.

We are a sentient specie (author calls us a global animal) rather than an American, an European, a Japanese and our problems are not national problems but global or human problems.

Global civilisation because it allows us to have a global vision of our planet (remember this picture taken from the Moon in 1969 showing Earth as a blue oasis in the middle of nowhere), to realize we have an ecosystem to which our survival is attached, to see the multiplicity of our beliefs and religions, the interraction of cultures, those who accept an open society and take ideas from abroad and those who refuse and fight against it. Sometimes the same people but on different subjects.

Global civilisation does not only have states (more than 200 ranging from tiny Monaco or Vatican to US, Canada, Russia, India and China), NGOs (US Aid, Red Cross, ... ) but 400 international organisations including the UN, NATO, ASEAN, the Arab League and the European Union, 38,000 transnational or global corporations (global because because they adapted to the environment faster than others), non-state actors (billionaires, drugs lords, terrorists), religions (many with the biggest being Christianity, Islam, Hinduism, Taoism all calling for more than 1 billion members), citizens as individuals or organised in communities and organisations. All those interract to form our present world.

It does have an informal governance, a reunion of different spheres of the global civilisation but no global government (note: civilisations with multiple polities and no centralized government are numerous in the past: Mesopotamia, Greece, Mayan civilisation, Western Europe, India and China for some periods of their history).

This global civilisation triggers reactions, vision and divisions: anti-globalization, environment movements, labour movements, etc...

Although some author opinions will not be shared by everybody, it is concise, clear, well-written, easy to understand and easy to make its own opinion about the event we are all living today. Vision about life, job, travel, environment, foreign relations will be changed for ever. A true paradigm shift that makes sense of the last decades and removes the anguish felt by many in front of this changing and sometimes crual society. Once read, you feel just like a kid which became familiar to his new house. And more, you are astonished you did not realize it earlier while it was so obvious.