Bernstein Books

in the spirit of "dealers of lightning", 3 degrees above zero tours a large corporate research laboratory with skill and clarity. by focusing on achievements and people, it navigates the large labs and really highlights interesting topics.

i'm a geek, but no engineer. however, i really found the writing to be clean and move along at a good pace. by talking to people who what got them into research, how they got to their topics, and why they do what they do, it's a fascinating look at a bright collection of minds and people.

written at the time that the labs were about to be spun off, everyone ends a chapter with comments on what they think will happen next. definitely interesting given the historical perspective you can now apply.

hunt this one down, i think you'll be pleased.

The book paints an impressionistic picture of AT&T Bell Labs (pre-breakup), as viewed through the stories of several key players in its illustrious history. Written more as a family portrait than a strict history per se, the author successfully captures the flavour and the culture of this remarkable American R & D institution. Having been written in the shadow of the AT&T breakup, there is an undercurrent of concern over changing a proven winner throughout the book. Managers of any R & D organization would do well to read this and see how closely they can emulate this example.

This is a good book...IF one is at least somewhat familiar with Adorno's aesthetic theory and current debates in art theory and criticism (in particular, the works of T.J. Clark, Michael Fried, and Rosalind Krauss) as well as the work of the philosophers Stanley Cavell and Immanuel Kant.

Definitely not the place to begin if you aren't.

In this collection of related essays, Bernstein examines the role of modern art as it relates to the modern predicament as diagnosed by Adorno (i.e. alienation from society and from nature through reification). Within this context, Bernstein analyzes the work of artists such as Soutine, Pollock, Cindy Sherman and Anthony Caro.

Another caveat: If you don't share buy the claims made by Adorno in works such as _Dialectic of Enlightenment_ or _Aesthetic Theory_, then this book may not be for you. Bernstein working within this context rather than attempting to defend it.

Like book one by this author, this book is great for adults who speak English as a Second or Other Language. The reading level is intermediate. The topics are not in depth but there are focus pages on historical people that are very valuable.

Paul Bernstein carefully examines the extremely slow and painful shifts in American work values taken from their European orgins to the present.

Generally speaking, the book describes how the individual has subscribed to the work ethic through the centuries under various types of conditions based on birth, education, skill, tenacity and pure luck.

The book also deals with "the debates related to work and welfare that has always been a controversy over public assistance to the deserving and undeserving poor."

One great theme that is illustrated quite well throughout the book is the persistent challenge for the individual, especially one taught to believe that hard work will be rewarded with opportunities, to delicately balance between work, pleasure, personal, and leisure activities. I keep asking myself (for the first time in my life) why can't people work smarter, not harder in America? Unfortunately, this issue must be resolved by reading other books since the author did not faithfully address this important topic.

This book has an incredible number of footnotes backed up with an exorbitant amount of pages pointing to other references. I found the book to be extremely difficult to read. I had to review chapters over and over again, to figure out what the author was trying to explain. Some very important parts were simply "glossed over." There are sections throughout the book that require proofreading for the next edition because it is repetitive and not carefully organized.

Credit must be given to the author for the extremely valuable gems that I did synthesize from the book. It was worth it. However, please condense it into fifty pages. This is a wonderful book!

If you are familiar with left terminology or if you ever wondered where the terms Blanquist or Blanquism came from Louis Auguste Blanqui is the 19th century man of revolutionary socialist action from which the terms derive. The terms connote a particular notion of revolutionary strategy- essentially the belief that a small cohesive vanguard of kindred revolutionary soldiers acting in a conspiracy was all that was necessary to overthrow the existing regime and usher in a better, more just society. Marxists basing themselves on historical materialism and massive transformations of classes to create historical change have always fought against such a strategy although admiring the fortitude of Blanqui as a revolutionary. Basically, Blanquism represents a pre-industrial theory more suitable to an artisan and peasant-based society. The theory's history stretches back to the defeat of the Conspiracy of Equals led by Babeuf after the Themidorian Reaction of 1794 had signaled the degeneration of the French Revolution. While rejecting Blanqui's theory one should note that such devoted militants are all too rare in the history of the left and therefore one must honor such an exemplary revolutionary.

Although the Marxist movement, beginning with Marx himself, has mercilessly fought against the substitutionalist notion that a small band of well-armed revolutionaries can overturn the old regime and bring a more just society the charge of Blanquism has always hovered around the surface of the Bolshevik Revolution of 1917. Many historians and political commentators have declared the Bolshevik seizure of power in October a coup d'etat. That is facile commentary. If one wants to do harm to the notion of a coup d'etat in the classic sense of a closed military conspiracy a la Blanqui this cannot stand up to examination.

First, the Bolsheviks were an urban civilian party with at best tenuous ties to military knowledge and resources. Even simple military operations like the famous bank expropriations after the 1905 Revolution were mainly botched and gave them nothing but headaches with the leadership of pre-World War I international social democracy. Secondly, and decisively, Bolshevik influence over the garrison in Petrograd and eventually elsewhere precluded such a necessity. Although, as Trotsky noted, conspiracy is an element of any insurrection this was in fact an `open' conspiracy that even the Kerensky government had to realize was taking place. The Bosheviks relied on the masses just as we should.


The following is a thumbnail sketch of the trials and tribulations of Blanqui throughout his revolutionary career. Just to detail the number of insurrections and revolutionary actions Blanqui was involved in, as well as the amount of time he spent in prison shows why he, justifiably, was considered a dangerous man when on the loose by every bourgeois government.

Louis Auguste Blanqui (1805-1881) was a French revolutionary socialist famous for his devotion to the cause despite repeated imprisonments and for his tactic of the revolutionary seizure of power by a well-trained body of armed men. He joined an unsuccessful Paris insurrection in 1827 and was thereafter connected with every revolutionary attempt until his death. He played an active role in the July Revolution of 1830; he was sentenced to prison for articles in the paper he edited; he was sentenced again in 1836, but pardoned in 1837.

He was condemned to death for leading an unsuccessful insurrection in 1839, but his sentence was commuted to life imprisonment; he was freed by the February Revolution of 1848, but given a ten-year sentence in 1849 as reaction gained the upper hand. Amnestied in 1859, he was reimprisoned in 1861 but escaped in 1865 and continued his propaganda against the Second Empire government from exile. Returning to France under the general amnesty of 1869, he led two armed demonstrations against the government of Louis Napoleon in Paris in 1870 and temporarily seized power on October 31, 1870. He was condemned to death on March 17, 1871.

The Paris Commune broke out a few days later. Blanqui was elected a member of the revolutionary government, but he was unable to take his seat since he was in the prison of the counterrevolutionary Versailles regime, which had a well-grounded fear that, with his energy and military ability, he might lead the Commune to military victory. He was kept in prison until 1879, when he was elected to the Chamber of Deputies by the workers of Bordeaux. Although the government declared his election invalid, it released him from prison, broken in health. He immediately resumed his agitation. At the end of 1880, he had a stroke after giving a speech at a meeting in Paris, and he died New Year's Day, 1881.

At first I didn't think I would enjoy this book. I thought it was just gong to be another boring book that I would have to read because my teacher wanted our class to. As I went, on and opened up the first page it was great from there on. I never wanted to put it down. It really made me feel as if i were living the writer of the pomes life for a moment. The poems weren't fake or saying a monster was going to come and eat you. I really liked how they were realistic.

Also it kept my interest. I always wanted to read it. When my mom told me it was time to put it down, I didn't want to listen to her. I really recommend this book, if you want a quick and enjoyable read. I'm pretty sure anyone who reads this book will like it very much. This book is a Novel in verse, so it wont take very long to read it. Most of all i truly recommend this book to everybody.

Even now, after his death, Leonard Bernstein remains, at least in my estimation, one of American Musical Theatre's most underappreciated masters. The Three Dance Episodes from On The Town, and the Symphonic Dances from West Side Story provide ample evidence that there's much to appreciate. On The Town tells about three navy GIs on liberty in New York during World War Two. West Side Story, of course, is Bernstein's megahit about a Romeo and Juliet among Hell's Kitchen street gangs in the 1950s. Both scores create an engaging blend of Musical Comedy, Jazz, and dance music inspired by Stravinsky and Copland. These selections amply demonstrate both this music's complexity and popular appeal. Please don't misunderstand; these dance selections are no more muzak Bernstein than the Carmen suites are muzak Bizet. Anyone who buys sheet music regularly nowadays knows that music can be pricey. Boosey and Hawkes editions aren't exceptional in that regard. For approximately the same price, the Norton Scores anthology contains, among all its treasures, the West Side Story Dances. The trouble is, Norton doesn't have the On The Town dances. The Boosey and Hawkes scores were re-edited prior to the composer's death. The pages are easy to read, the paper's acid free, the softcover is durable. So, if you're a Bernstein freak, like me, perhaps you should bite the bullet.

This is a nice book to have when hiking the Marbles or Russians. If you're not a local, you will never find your way around out there. The USFS is so lax in this particular area about keeping up with Forest Service Road Signs, much less trailhead signs and directional markers, that if you don't have this guidebook, you'll likely be looking around for awhile trying to find your jump-off point. Also, because so much of this property borders private timber and cattle holdings, roads and trailheads are shifting constantly. Art does a pretty fine job of getting you there, and he doesn't expect you to be outfitted with a HumVee to do so. I have personally hiked every trail in the Russians and a few in the Trinitys and Marbles as well, and have found all of his descriptions and ratings accurate for the most part (except for Big Bear Lake in the Trinitys, which he missed). My beef is that it would benefit the reader greatly if there were topographical maps included with accurate trail markings. His trail maps are badly distorted, the typeset didn't copy dark enough in either book (I own the Trinity guidebook as well), and his maps are generally worthless because of it. Overall, both are honest books and well-written - I would highly recommend them. Also, a pictorial guide of the trees Art mentions in the book would be fantastic!!! I'm always looking, but don't always know what I'm looking for. (And Art, I made it to Big Blue Lake in the Russians by hiking out of the Hogan Lake Cirque - and I lived to tell about it - YIKES! Brad Rowe

"What we are arguing is not that democracy is the inevitable outcome of successful capitalist development, but that such development is a necessary prerequisite of democracy..... We are also saying that authoritative regimes rarely meet the conditions under which business can optimally flourish." In the book, Business and Democracy, Cohabitation or Contradiction?, edited by Ann Bernstein and Peter L. Berger, this statement is well proven: business and democracy do not work to promote one another. Rather, the externalities/pressures of one are a benefit to the other. The editors pull numerous short articles together to support their thesis and then use examples of several developing or transitioning countries in the last half century. In the short term, business can thrive in an authoritative regime but will inevitably lead to "Crony Capitalism". However, eventually pressures for reform and independence will weaken the state ruling institution. In contrast, democracies have continued to be successful when a free market system was already established. The editors have made an excellent case for the cohabitation of Business and Democracy. Business Associations and the thickening of civil society are in the best interests of democracy and visa versa. It allows for a reduced size of government, eliminates excessive taxes that discourage investment, and creates stability. Government still has control with the ability to take power away from the association, but the alternative would be a large expensive government and "Crony Capitalism." It is in the best interest of all society for government and business to work together. The increase of civil liberties and the standard of living are the externalities we all gain from the cohabitation of Business and Democracy.
This book is a must read for those who wish to better understand the role of business and the development of the third world. I would also recommend this book to anyone who wishes to discourage a capitalist system.

The book has many chapters, written both by professionals who work with burn survivors and by the burn survivors themselves. The chapters written by the burn survivors were the best, and I hate to admit it, but about halfway through the book I (who am a professional therapist myself) quit reading the professionals' chapters. They just weren't interesting or immediate enough, and also the book is a bit dated. But the burn survivors' chapters: wow, amazing. Most of them were so personal, so intense, and so real - giving insights into their lives, their struggles, and their psyches - that I couldn't put it down.

Kudos to them: they have so much courage, not just for what they've been through, but to share their expereince (even about sex) with the world. They are true role models, not just to burn surivors, but to everyone.