Bradford Books

What was so appealing about this read was that sprinkled throughout Kuan Yin's empowering spiritual teachings were also far-reaching prophecies, having a profound effect upon our world. While these are on a global scale, Kuan Yin also emphasizes individual thoughts and intentions can influence the outcome--that we are not helpless bystanders. Maintaining we create our reality with our thoughts, Kuan Yin explains there is a "collective agreement" steering us towards certain probable futures. Through healing limiting beliefs we can "correct" the course we are on. Therefore, things are not written in stone.

Recently, I've read of concerns that certain manifestation techniques can lead to an overly self-serving attitude--that the process of learning how to magnetize one's optimum reality can possibly evolve into a tendency to become too "me" oriented. Implimenting Kuan Yin's "Love and Foregiveness Principle" along with the goddesses unique prosperity meditations and visualizations, I came to understand one can have it both ways--that compassion need not be sacrificed for ones striving to positively direct the creative force within. In fact, according to Kuan Yin, such a balanced approach enhances one's ability to more effectively walk one's "path of liberation"--that prayer for others is "the most powerful thing a person can do".

Beautifully written and illustrated--espousing timeless truths, I believe this book is an essential addition to any spiritual library.

While the information contained in the book itself seems, at times, somewhat informal, it is what I would expect from a totally spontaneous and candid transmission of the Buddhist Goddess of Compassion's sacred teachings to a modern seeker. There is no doubt in my mind that this is an authentic channeling of God.

My interest was piqued by new spiritual terminologies and precepts presented herein--especially regarding reincarnation, free will and the afterlife. Even when chiding humanity for its "misguided" beliefs and deeds, Kuan Yin's signature lovingkindness and compassion are always apparent. Throughout the read, I experienced a warm and loving presence.

While the answers presented in this book may challenge some, this material is wonderfully refreshing and informative in a world seemingly dominated by over-simplification and reactionism. Those who are truly open to their own spiritual journey and willing to explore one's divine connection to the "Always Self" will discover the deep peace only truth can bring.

Hope and Lena's graciousness in creating this book offers deep insight into ourselves. I could journey with each chapter as a meditation for peace of mind. It is a constant comfort for all the sufferings going on globally as well as for me in my own personal life. In this way, the book spans the infinite and the microcosms that we touch in each our own perspectives. The wisdom included taps into the illusion of time and brings you into an intimate connection with the deity, Kuan Yin. She offers a gentle companionship and a vehicle for cultivating compassion for any situation or occasion. I feel so blessed and honored to be on the planet at this time. This book is a testament to how we can utilize this opportunity to bring in our gifts as individuals, participating in a more influential way. Assisted by the Goddess herself, if we are willing, She is there.

This well written book is a must read for anyone interested in the spiritual wisdom of world renown Eastern goddess of compassion, Kuan Yin. This goddess has a warm, loving and joyful personality and approach to spirituality, while being well aware of the challenges of daily living. I am convinced this goddess is very intent upon assisting us with her spiritual teachings. The appendices were very helpful in helping better understand the pertinent spiritual con

Family members and people close to MHE wrote this book.

It's about about their personal experiences, and the meaning and influence of those experiences, as well as stories about Erickson. This book is more about who he was than how he did what he did.

If you're like me, the further you get into this book, the more you might realise that Erickson was not as perfect as you might think. That's a good thing to know, to have a balanced perspective.

Milton H Erickson is well known as the inspiration for the Milton Model of communication in NLP which shows how you can use artfully vague and trance forming words, to effect lasting behavior change.

MHE, also loved the details, and would ask his children for very detailed feedback on their adventures, including how they felt, body sensations, etc. There is far more to his strategies than mere language, there is connection with people, rapport, delivery, sensory acuity, body language, noticing the most minor details.

Indeed, there is a principle known as entrainment, and with what we are now learning about mirror neurons seems to be something Erickson used intuitively. For example he would use his daughter as a trance subject to demonstrate hypnosis to patients. What implies trance causes trance, and so the non subject could find himself going into trance.

As you read this you may learn many things about his personal philosophy in treatment, the importance of tasking for patients.

I loved the collection of letters between he and his 2 year old granddaughter. The perceptual switching, having the mother write from the baby's perspective, must have produced great insights for the mother.

Steve Gilligan's contribution, I found particularly excellent, using the archetype of the wounded healer, sharing his own wounded journey, and how he was transformed by Erickson. What you may not know, is that Erickson had polio for almost all his adult life, had a near death experience when he was seventeen, had polio, was dyslexic, tone deaf and color blind (he could only see the color purple).

Nevertheless, he trance ended his physical limitations, and his contribution to psychology and healing is enormous, and with the passing years his legacy continues to grow.

I highly recommend this book, although do not buy it for the dvd. Mine had no audio, and I hope you have a better experience with that. There is a transcript of the audio in the book, and as I write, it is possible to watch this on video.google.

Other books I recommend about Erickson are My voice will go with you by Sidney Rosen, which is about his teaching tales, and Therapeutic Metaphors by David Gordon.

If you were to find this review helpful, please click yes.

The product is what I expected. It arrived on time and in the condition advertised.

Well written, new information, a DVD with a great clinical consultation as a special bonus.
Paulo Evangelista

A very good book with a plus on DVD, a rare MHE film demostrating an induction!.Very touching.Good price.
My only complaint is about an erroneous fact: The first Milton H Erickson
Institute in México was founded in the city of Guadalajara, Jalisco in 1982 by the eminent Ericksonian therapist Ricardo Figueroa-Quiróga and not for the group in Mexico City.
This mistake could be fixed on time but the person which could fix this error allow it.
Of course this was not a fault of the Erickson's family.
In spite of this mistake you must have this book!
Dr. David Guzmán. President of the Milton H Erickson Institute of San Luis Potosí, México.

This is a rich story and just adds to the deep collection of wonderful stories by and about Milton H. Erickson. The section containing Erickson's diary during his summer river trip as a young man is worth the price of the book alone: what a revealing view into Erickson's process, values and character.
This book would be a bargain and three times the price and includes a nice DVD of an Erickson hypnotherapy session.

The author does better on attack than defense. On attack in his previous books he has been incisive and clear. He could clearly state why he finds the apparatus of the conscious self unnecessary and he could be outraged that fellow profesionals might accept determinism in the psychology lab but abandon it at home.

Here, trying to defend the application of determinism to the self "at home," he runs straight into the logical conundrums this involves. His strategy is to try to wind us all together in strings of wispy theory that he hopes, like a spider's web, will entangle us and render us defenceless. No such luck.

Reason either is or is not subject to determinism. If it isn't, then no product of the human mind need be. If it is, it isn't qualified to consider the alternatives of everything being--not being--determined. The existence of science predicated on the demand that all hypotheses be capable of disproof demands that the process not be determined. The methodology of science guarantees that the self is not determined.

To me, this sad book reveals the vacuity at the core of the supposedly-determined self. Read it as a warning of what is happening to students fed on a diet of physicalism and natural selection.

Take me for a Christian, a creationist? Think again. There's a growing tide of resistance among scientists (I'm a science writer) to physicalism's implications.

Owen Flanagan's new book, The Really Hard Problem: Meaning in a Material World, offers a synthesis of ancient wisdom traditions with the best of contemporary science, ethics, and epistemology. The amalgamation is a delightful and thought-provoking survey of what it means for humans to flourish. Flanagan explains why what we know from today's best science should leave us genuinely hopeful for a sketch of best-practices for living full, ethically committed lives. Written in a clear, dryly witty style, The Really Hard Problem speaks to lay readers and theorists alike. I worked through the book over the course over three days, often stopping to read passages aloud to my partner and take notes about how humans should understand themselves in the world. If you're interested in a fruitful, spiritually-expansive dialogue between science and wisdom traditions, then I recommend this book highly. It's simply terrific.

This is a remarkably brilliant book that I found tremendously thought provoking. I'm not a philosopher, although I did study some in undergrad and grad school, so I am woefully unqualified to comment on the more technical portions of the work. But I admired the way the author tackled some 'really hard problems' that often get overlooked by those who adhere to 'logic' and 'science' rather than 'religion' (all of which are ultimately 'faith-based', but that's another issue). For instance, the whole question of 'why is there something rather than nothing' is something that he takes on quite seriously from a non-religious perspective, and while I found his argument to be somewhat less than satisfying I really have to give him credit for trying.

There are quite a few typos, grammatical errors, etc. that caught me by surprise, given the learned nature of the work - some more detailed editing would have helped. And I couldn't help but note the culturally chauvinistic allusion to the 'odd' hindu beliefs associated with marriage and a few other condescending remarks toward the great unwashed masses - a fairly common thing among philosphers sometimes I'm afraid. And while I recognize he couldn't attack every 'really hard problem' there was an occasional lapse into the assertion of unexamined (at least in this book) assumptions that felt kind of weak to me. But on the whole, an excellent book!

Flanagan's knack for addressing issues that have real stakes outside the academy--issues concerning the meaning of life, human nature and flourishing, and the clash of humanism and scientism--is on brilliant display in this book. Among the book's virtues are Flangan's careful engagement with the brain sciences and his ability to draw from diverse traditions of philosophy.

This is philosophical writing at its finest.

Flanagan fills some very large gaps in this short compendium. He offers a view of conscious experience in a material world that allows for beauty and quiet awe all the while breaking none of the laws of natural science. Attempting to synthesize the wisdom of the Buddhist and Taoist (and other Eastern spiritual traditions) with the latests findings in the physical and social sciences is nothing to sneeze at, but Flanagan weaves a beautiful tapestry of a non-reductive material mind that has free-will and causality and is integrated with the physical world and body. The aim of the mind-body, he explains is to achieve Eudaimonia, or flourishing/well-being. He draws upon a strong knowledge of brain imaging in experienced meditating monks, the positive psychology movement, philosophy of mind, metaphysics, and evolutionary theory to solidify his main points. Flanagan provides a compelling argument that we can determine objectively (relative to current situations) the best way to going about living the "good life" without appealing to anything super-natural.

COCOMO represents a unique and applicable methodology for process estimates. A goal-driven approach with realistic progress indicators to conducting software estimates represent the way processes must be managed.

The continuity between COCOMOI and COCOMOII is far from being evident. My prime interest is the indentification of the impacts of the Economic Adjustment Factors (EAF) on the economic evolution of a project. An attempt is made to complement COCOMOII with additional tools. There is however an impression of a lack of a common vision.

The book is a major reference in my business development approach. I was privileged to deal with Amazon.com for a fast turn around for the timely delivery of the book at my door.

Bernard Carrier P.Eng.
President OpsPro Inc.

If you not in Dr. Boehm's class at USC, then more than likely your a project manager for a software engineering firm trying to better estimate how much your next project is going to cost.

Either way the book is dry, but the informaiton is great. Its given me insight to CMM and other Software Engineering models.

The COCOMO tool has merit, so does CSCI 577a.

The latest revision of the well known COCOMO constructive cost model is calibrated with a Bayesian approach that balances 161 industry reference points with the determination of software development experts. Software engineers use the COCOMO model to make financial decisions, set project budgets and schedules, negotiate tradeoffs, plan to maintain or upgrade legacy products, and decide where to implement process improvement. The model equations are provided including normative calibration using 5 scale factors and 17post-architecture effort multipliers. The criteria described for assessing your project for scale factors and effort multipliers are fuzzy in some cases (Default to the nominal level when in doubt). The model can accept estimates of either logical lines of code or function points as the primary input parameter. The book is accompanied with a CD that contains the USC implementation of the COCOMO model and some instructional videos. The final 2/3 of the text covers emerging extensions such as object point data, application point data, phase schedule and effort model (COPSEMO), dynamic COCOMO, RAD schedule estimation model (CORADMO), commercial-off-the-shelf integration model (COCOTS), quality estimation (COQUALMO), and productivity estimation (COPROMO). Read "Software Engineering Economics" published in 1981 for additional background information on the COCOMO model.

We are attempting to use this methodology for planning and review of onboard Aerospace Software, will give an update when we have actually used it in anger!

I was first introduced to the precursor of CoCoMo II when I ftp'd a whitepaper on estimating from the old decwrl site maintained by DEC in the mid 1980s. That led me to Boehm's seminal book, "Software Engineering Economics", ISBN 0138221227. Over time CoCoMo started to show its age, especially in environments with heavy GUI development, so I opted for function points as my sole estimating technique. With experience I discovered that technique alone was useful for estimating scale, but was weak on sizing estimates. Version II of CoCoMo rectifies this, and this book is an exhaustive description of software cost estimating in general and CoCoMo version II in particular.

The contributing authors to this book read like who's who in software estimating, and the contents of this book will not only get you up-to-speed on using CoCoMo II as an estimating tool, but will also explain its inner workings, how to calibrate it, and its inherent strengths and weaknesses. Among the parts of this book that I found especially useful are Chapters 2, Model Definition, and 4, Calibration. These are the keys to understanding and using CoCoMo II to its best advantage. Real world examples are given in Chapter 3, and emerging extensions and future trends provided in chapter 5 and 6 round out the body of this book.

Significant added value is provided in the appendices and on the accompanying CD ROM. The appendices include how to use CoCoMo II in environments ranging from the older waterfall SDLC, RUP, incremental and iterative development, and give project planning considerations and data collection templates. The CD ROM itself contains a full working copy of the 2000 version of USC COCOMO II, complete documentation, and data collection forms, and trial copies of commercial versions of the application.

This book is one that every serious project manager, software engineer and cost estimator should read and keep in their work area.

I didn't like this book at all. I find Bradford's writing style far too wordy and she tries too hard to be cute in her observations. She really just comes off as cloying and out of touch. The stories and writings in this aren't witty at all, and only amusing at times in a sort of 1950's-era Reader's Digest sort of way. Not recommended. In fact, stay away.

This author has put together many points of view with heartfelt humor and insight. The poetry is a rich kaleidoscope of experiences, happy and sad. The article named "All about Eve" (...) is great and there are some very fine onservations being made. A story from Germany "Once I met a King - A True Vignette", is a real experience, even from here.

It was great fun reading this book. I have seldom seen essays and poetry mixed so appropriately and the subjects covered are unique and present a wonderful variety. Especially the essays on "All about Eve" and "Penis Envy" deserve a re-read. And if the concluding article on "Once I met a King - A True Vignette" doesn't touch you, you need help! This book will make a great present to many of my friends.

All About Eve and Other Things is for sure a delightful and thought inspiring. Ms. Bradford surely makes a person laugh and stop and think about the world around them. I am still laughing about the Dragon Known as Dark. I will recommend this book to all my friends.

Adelle Bradford is a true word artist, with the ability to paint vivid, clear, and distinct pictures on the canvas of our minds. In "All About Eve and Other Things" Adelle uses these illustrations to stretch our minds and make us think about things as we peer through lenses, ground with clever wit and hard facts, that correct for the stigmatism of life's influences. The moment I set this book down, I took a deep cleansing breath; rose; took a step; performed a classic double take and swiftly moved to pick it up again. Ms. Bradford's writing is truly a waft of fresh new air, in a world desperate for new perspectives.

Empower the special woman in your life with this gorgeous book full of romantic ideas. The photography is exquisite!

Everything about this book is beautiful. The cover is beautiful. The interior design, layout, and color photography is stunningly beautiful. The content is beautifully organized, and it overflows with practical and fun ideas. The recipes and little-known facts of trivia are beautiful. And most importantly, Barbara Taylor Bradford hersef is beautiful.

Bradford is to romance what Martha Stewart is to homemaking. She effortlessly elevates romantic living to a doable, exciting, and artful lifestyle. Even the most hard core, cynical, and disillusioned woman will find something useful and appealing here.

This is definitely not a spiritual approach to love, but women are truly empowered by Bradford's advice because she puts them squarely in charge of getting what they want. Bradford gives practical, positive, powerful directions for creating a romantic ambiance with a significant other. If you are determined to have a "special love relationship," then it is well worth you while to read from a woman who has a 35-year track record of success.

The Spiritual Reviewer gives this book a score of 6.750 on a scale of 1 (low) to 10 (high).

I bought a copy of this book for my wife and find myself enjoying it as much as she does.

This book is loaded with great ideas about how to plan a romantic evening, vacation or dining experience.

It's amazing how creative an author like Barbara Taylor Bradford can be, even when not writing novels. I am certain that this book will become a holiday bestseller. It's really attractive and makes a great gift.

As someone who has only read one of Barbara's books to date, I didn't have any particular expectations for 'Living Romantically'. But all I can say is WOW!

This is the perfect book for the holidays or a gift book for anyone about to get married. It is loaded with great advice about how couples can enhance their relationships. From the simple to the extraordinary, there are so many clever ideas here to select from (for guys and girls).

And it is so beautifully presented with great color photos and romantic scenes.

I know I'll be certain to give at least 4 of these to friends for Christmas or Valentines Day!!

This book is a beautifully illustrated and well thought out display of some wonderful romantic ideas. Who better than Barbara Taylor Bradford to share her little romantic secrets on how to add romance to your life everyday.

The photos and illustrations are really attractive and both men and women will find some great ideas here. Some of my favorites include the romantic recipes, romantic destinations and the section on great romantic couples in history.

It makes a great coffee table conversation piece!

Profound piece of work. I am not a cognitive scientist, and this book is a bit technical, but it is still within reach of the motivated lay person.

Gardenfors puts forward a a model to explain cognition that he calls "conceptual spaces." These conceptual spaces are at a level of abstraction in between the symbolic (used by AI types) and connectionist (Neural Nets). But what makes his conceptual spaces interesting and plausible is the position he takes that in this conceptual space, most reasoning is done by evaluating the analog of a distance between two aspects of a perception. Or, we find things to be similar if they are "geometrically" (measurably) closer on some limited number of dimensional scales.

This is easy to follow for things like colors, but he doesn't stop there. He goes on to describe how this explains a wide variety of perceptions, as well as how we form and reform categories and concepts, and shows how this informs semantics and the process of induction.

My only criticism is that some of the illustratios would have been more powerful in color.

If one is to design a machine that can formulate concepts and engage in such things as inductive inference and its corollary scientific discovery, then one must be able to quantify the notion of a concept in such a way that it can be implemented into the cognitive structure of the machine. One must be able to distinguish one concept from another, be able to tell when one concept is similar to another, and understand in detail how concepts are related across domains. It would not be enough to have qualitative notions of these distinctions or similarities, since they must be able to be formatted in such a way, either via coding, language, or electronically, so as to be used by the machine.

This book gives an interesting approach to the problem of concept classification, but it does so only from a qualitative point of view. It is a good start in this regard, and readers will gain a lot of insight into the problems that it addresses. It does not however give any advice on how to implement its ideas into a real thinking machine. Mathematical concepts are brought in order to talk more meaningfully about spaces of concepts, but they are really restricted to metric spaces and not general enough to deal with the plethora of concepts that could present themselves in typical environments. The book should be considered more as a work in philosophy, so those interested in this field might enjoy the book more than those who were expecting a book more geared towards artificial intelligence and computer science. Those readers interested in automated theorem proving or automated mathematical discovery might find the discussion on geometric categorization models of interest, and will find an interesting application of Voronoi tessellations, namely that of accounting for the varying sizes of concepts in a categorization.

By far the most interesting chapter in the book is chapter 6, wherein the author gives a highly original discussion of inductive inference. The ability of human cognition to generalize from a limited number of observations is viewed (correctly) by the author as very impressive, but he is careful to note that inductive inference cannot be done free of side constraints. Quoting the philosopher J.S. Peirce and his evolutionary explanation of why induction is so effective, the author uses his theory of conceptual spaces to develop a theory of constraints for inductive inferences. The main notion in this theory is that of "projectability", which attempts to delineate the properties and concepts that are may be used in inductive inference. The author wants to arrive at a computational model of induction, and he offers interesting proposals for doing so, even if they lack immediate empirical justification.

Central to the problem of induction the author argues is how observations are to be represented. This has been neglected in the history of philosophy he says, and so he then proceeds to outline his ideas on how to represent observations, distinguishing three levels, namely the `symbolic', the `conceptual', and the `subconceptual.' At the symbolic level, observations are represented by describing them in a specified language. At the conceptual level, observations are characterized relative to a conceptual space. At this level induction is viewed as concept formation. At the subconceptual level observations are characterized by inputs from sensory receptors. Induction is then viewed as the attaining of connections between various inputs. The author views the processing taking place in artificial neural networks as an example of modeling at the subconceptual level.

The problem of induction is more complicated than is typically presented in the literature, the author argues. Inductive inference will look different depending on which approach to observations is taken. In his elaborations on the processes of induction, one of the key issues that arises is the how discovery takes place across different domains. The process of conceptualizing across different domains takes place, as expected, at the subconceptual and conceptual levels. The symbolic level is delegated to formulating laws.

The essence of conceptual spaces, as I understand it, is that we can define concepts as regions in conceptual spaces. A conceptual space is defined by axes representing qualities. For example, color spaces are conceptual spaces, as is the tasting combos of sweet, bitter, salty.

Your choice of qualitative measures deeply affects how you understand the world. 'Spose reality is an infinitely dimensional, then we have lots of choices for axes. We simplify and correlate by using all that coordinate transformation and axis projection stuff from 3D graphics! Heck Gardenfors even uses Delauney Triangulation (or polyhedralization).

Criterion P, page 71

A natural property is a convex region of a domain in a conceptual space.

Criterion C, page 105

A natural concept is represented as a set of regions in a number of domains together with an assignments of salience weights to the domains and information about how the regions in the different domains are correlated.

Concept Combination, page 122

The combination CD of two concepts C and D is determined by letting the regions for the domains of C, confined by D replace the values of the corresponding regions for D. (contrast class p. 119), for example the "stone lions" outside the NYC library.

Six Tenets of Cognitive Semantics, page 160

i) Meaning is a conceptual structure in a cognitive system (not truth conditions in possible worlds)
ii) Conceptual Structure are embodied (meaning is not independent of perception or of bodily experience).
iii) Semantic elements are constructed from geometrical or topological structures (not symbols that can be composed according to some system of rules).
iv) Cognitive models are primarily image-schematic (not propositional). Image-schemas are transformed by metaphoric and metonymic operations (which are treated as exceptional features on the traditional views).
v) Semantics is primary to syntax and partly determines it (syntax cannot be described independently of semantics).
vi) Concepts show prototype effects (instead of showing the Aristotelian paradigm based on necessary and sufficient conditions).

Process of Abstraction, page 191 - Start with a collection of things. Identify and quantify individual objects. The determine the clusters. Step three: abstract the clusters into dimensions. Simple!

I especially liked the notion that a metaphor is taking the spatial relationship of a cluster of concepts in one domain and using them in a new domain to help understand the new domain.

Gardenfors introduces his theory of concept-formation, and at the same time presents a survey of the competing theories and research. He shows a high level of professionalism by accepting that the theories can coexist, presenting the competing theories in their strongest light and letting you decide where to apply each theory. This book is not only a good argument for why his theory deserves a permanent place in your toolbox, but also a good education for anyone wanting to know the tradeoffs in representing concepts -- especially for knowledge representation or machine learning systems. He presents the material in a very logical order so that the subtopics can be consumed individually. And although some of the material is well-known, each chapter presents a series of contrasting pros and cons and synthesizes the information in ways that are thought-provoking and novel. It was well worth the time and money.

For anyone interested in the cognitive topics, machine learning and artificial intelligence, this book is an eye opener. The point of view it presents attempts to put an order in what "meaning" really means.

Drawbacks of the book? The lack of conceptualization when it comes to dynamic concepts (treated very superficially). Also, the theory is deficient when modeling the functional aspects of concepts (a "sin" already recognized by the author).

But considering the pioneering character of this piece of art, these drawbacks are just compelling invitations for further research in the field.

owen flanagan is a masterful scholar that leaves hope for a concept alot of contemporary scientists have given up on and tried to quine. His naturalistic debates are wonderful and illuminating and he criticizes other scientists and philosophic work. All his points are logical and have proof with citations and selections from other works. For the best naturalistic and contemporary philosophic arguments theres no one else to go to other than owen flanagan.

This is one of the early philosophy books that started to make sense on the issue of consciousness. Comming from a decade where Joe Levine told us there was a gap, Frank Jackson that materialism left something out, McGuinn told us we could not understand it, the Churchlands wanted to get rid of the thing, this book is a great relief. Consciousness, according to Flanagan, is a natural phenomenon, rooted in the brain. IT is real, capable of being defined, it evolved, and tractable scientifically. We need not despair, nor look in wrong and exotic places like quantum mechanics. Psychology, phenomenology, neurobiology and cognitive science will do. This is useful philosophy.

In the first chapter, Flanagan sketches the field of philosophy of consicousness. He defines the different positions (consicousness is mysterious, consciousness does not exist, consciousness does not matter, consciousness is unintelligeble, consciousness is miracolous, etc..) and argues for naturalism and the adequacy of science to take on the job. In chapter 2, he shows why elimination of the concept of consicousness will not do. Surely, the concept is ot clear, but it points to a real phenomenon in need of explanation. In chapter 3, Flanagan talks about consciousness and the brain, how and why it evolved, and tries to make clear that there is nothing strange about the idea that cosnciousness might just be the brain itself.

IN chapter 4, Flanagan discusses qualia. He concentrates on Dennetss position that qualia should be eliminated scince nothing could have the properties philosophers claim qualia has. Flanagan agrees, but rightly notices that quala need not refer to that which philosophers talk about. Qualia are real, and there is something like to be in a phenomenal state. In chapter 5, Flanagan chalenges the inteligibility gap and the knowledge argument. Consicousness is the brain, but understanding the brain will not cause you to experience somebody elses consciousness. The gap is epistemological not ontological.

In chapter 6 Flanagan discusses the new mysterianism, the view that consicousness is a netural explanation, but beyond our cognitive abilities to explain or understand. He points out that most arguments for this position are invalid. The standards set in this view for explanation are unrealistically high, and progress has been done in understanding consciousness, regardless of what mysterians may say. Chapter 7 takes on epiphenomenalism, the view that consicousness serves no function and no casual role. This view in coeherent and should be taken reasonable. Indeed sometimes consiousness seems to be a bystander. But others, it is essential for initiating behaviour, functioning cognitively correctly and develop the self.

Chapter 8 is about phenomenology and how the stram of consicousness, although not quite real, is an accurate description of the first person prespective. Chapter 9 is about the illusion of a cartesian I or ego that rules mental life. As chapter 10 makes clear there is a self that is a center of a narrative, it emerges from the brain, but it does not have cartesian properties. The book concludes with the idea that consicousnes can be explained, that a scientific theory is possible and that cognitive science, psychology and neurscience will succeed.

This is good philosophy indeed. Consicousness is portrayed simply, as a natural phenomentol being understood through science. There are some objections one could make, but in all, considering the philosophical views of consicousness, this one is science friendly and informative. THis is the kind of constructivism that one should expect form philosophers.

Owen Flanagan's statement of his approach to consciousness makes more sense than those of the Nagels, Jacksons, and Rosenthals of the world. While I tend to find materialist approaches most convincing, I'm often left wanting with respect to those materialists' understandings of real neuroscience.

What I liked about Flanagan's view is that he doesn't necessarily try to show off any sort of advanced knowledge of neuroscience because he doesn't have it, and realizes it. Instead, he emphasizes a multidisciplinary, practical approach to understanding consciousness.

However, I think he overestimates the importance of psychology -- this is, of course, probably based entirely on my bias as a student of neurobiology and reductionism, which purports someday to reduce psychology to neuroscience. But still, I give him credit for a solid theory that makes intuitive sense.

I really shouldn't be giving stars to my own book, but it seems to be a requirement here.

Two clarifications:

1. It is true that I don't engage Dave Chalmers views in the book. Dave's book appeared about 5 years after mine.
2. The title *Consciousness Reconsidered* has understandably led some to think that it is primarily a response to Dennett's *Consciousness Explained.* It isn't, altho. I do engage some of Dan's arguments. My book was published soon after Dan's & most of my issues w/Dan relate to papers (alto. along w/Ned Block, I discussed Dan's forthcoming book w/him and others on a regular basis. But responding to and/or offering an alternative view to Dennett was not my aim. In fact my view on *consciousness* was sketched out in the long new chapter in *The Science of the Mind* published in 1991.

This book offers an interesting perspective on the topic of consciousness for someone who understands the basics but does not have a sustained, in-depth knowledge of the various theories. It does a good job of presenting Flanagan's own neurophilosophical theory while offering discussion of the competition.

Flanagan does not answer his dualist critics, such as David Chalmers, at great length. He focuses more on other naturalists.

This book is generally a good overview of the topic, though a great deal of the content of this book is contained in Chapter 8 of Flanagan's work "The Science of the Mind." That was a disappointment, and due to that and the fact that the discussion could have been a bit more in-depth, the book gets 4 stars and not 5. I highly recommend this book to anyone interested in modern theories of consciousness.

If you're looking for a book to curl up with on a cold night, this Jenkins & Burns mystery is perfect. Ms. Bradford's descriptions of the scenery pull you into the swirling blizzard, and hold you as snowbound as her characters. Her ability to give you a window into her characters wraps you up in the story, until you're in so deep, you can't put the book down.

In this second Jenkins & Burns mystery, Laura Bradford revisits Elise Jenkins and her boyfriend, Mitch Burns as they take a much needed vacation on Mackinaw Island, Michigan. Unfortunately for them, their plans for relaxation disappear after a fellow vacationer's disappearance turns into murder. The culprit could be anyone--from the retired cop to the drifter kid to the town's `freaky hermit'--and Ms. Bradford works to keep her readers on their toes until the very end.

By weaving her story with everyday characters you can connect with and an intriguing plot you can lose yourself in, Ms. Bradford does an excellent job of entrancing her readers without muddying the waters with unnecessary elements. I won't spoil the plot for you here--what would be the fun in that?--but I will recommend this book for anyone who enjoys a good down-to-earth mystery.

Reporter Elise Jenkins and police detective Mitch Burns continue to develop their relationship during a winter trip. The trip becomes more eventful than they planned as Mitch is pressed into service to solve a series of crimes during a huge snowstorm. There are a few too many coincidences for my taste, and sometimes I am not sure why Elise and Mitch trust the people they do, but it is still a good story with likeable characters.

Laura Bradford's Forecast of Evil is a chilling fast-paced mystery filled with a serial killer, trapped guests, and past secrets waiting to be revealed. Lighter than the typical serial killer thriller, this mystery provides enough details and clues to keep readers on the edge but not too many to blunt the fun hunt for the perpetrator with too much gore and violence.

Pete Garner joined the men's outdoors group upon the advice of his doctor for his cardiac health. When he discovered the hobby of orienteering, however, his competitive nature took over. He had to win. Detective Mitch Burns and reporter Elise Jenkins have come to this winter wonderland hideaway to forget the past --- only the wonderland aspect is quickly becoming a nightmare when Pete's body is discovered. A blizzard is brewing on the remote Michigan island and suddenly a phone call --- a serial killer might be hiding on the island. All lines of communication and transportation are failing....somewhere among new and familiar faces, a psychopath is hiding and seeking out his prey.

Forecast of Evil had a few more thrills and a nice romance subplot than a typical mystery read. Readers will enjoy the information about orienteering, gaining a little knowledge of this hobby without resorting to a bulky dry book on the subject. The author gives a strong hint as to the identity of the perpetrator at one moment, on purpose I believe, because it actually heightened the thrills and the hunt --- even so, there were definitely some unexpected twists as well. Very nice!

One word of advice...this may not be the book to start in the wee hours of the night. Reading it with a book light increases the chilling effect for this reader. Of course, if you want to heighten the chilling effect of this book, read it with a book light or beside a fireplace in a darkened room.

Laura Bradford's Forecast of Evil is a chilling fast-paced mystery filled with a serial killer, trapped guests, and past secrets waiting to be revealed. Lighter than the typical serial killer thriller, this mystery provides enough details and clues to keep readers on the edge but not too many to blunt the fun hunt for the perpetrator with too much gore and violence.

Pete Garner joined the men's outdoors group upon the advice of his doctor for his cardiac health. When he discovered the hobby of orienteering, however, his competitive nature took over. He had to win. Detective Mitch Burns and reporter Elise Jenkins have come to this winter wonderland hideaway to forget the past --- only the wonderland aspect is quickly becoming a nightmare when Pete's body is discovered. A blizzard is brewing on the remote Michigan island and suddenly a phone call --- a serial killer might be hiding on the island. All lines of communication and transportation are failing....somewhere among new and familiar faces, a psychopath is hiding and seeking out his prey.

Forecast of Evil had a few more thrills and a nice romance subplot than a typical mystery read. Readers will enjoy the information about orienteering, gaining a little knowledge of this hobby without resorting to a bulky dry book on the subject. The author gives a strong hint as to the identity of the perpetrator at one moment, on purpose I believe, because it actually heightened the thrills and the hunt --- even so, there were definitely some unexpected twists as well. Very nice!

One word of advice...this may not be the book to start in the wee hours of the night. Reading it with a book light increases the chilling effect for this reader. Of course, if you want to heighten the chilling effect of this book, read it with a book light or beside a fireplace in a darkened room.

Move over Mary Higgins Clark, Laura Bradford is on the scene! In Forecast of Evil, she even tops her previous book, Jury of One, which was nominated for an Agatha best first novel. A tough heroine and her love interest match wits with a devious murderer while battling a blizzard and some demons from the past to succeed in the end. A story with turns and twists on every page. If you love Mary Higgins Clark, you'll doubly love Laura Bradford's fresh new series. And be sure to read Jury of One, too.

The book is too "academic" for the average reader. It feels like I am reading college research papers. Obviously, these articles are for academic purposes, but I was expecting more field-related stuff like front-line espionage stuff. Maybe I watched too much 007, but this was too slow of a read for me.

Brad, a respected scholar in his own right, was given unique access to all past publications of the CIA's internal journal, Studies in Intelligence, and has produced an absolutely lovely collection of the best thoughts inside CIA from 1955-1992, organized into sections for imagery intelligence collection, overt human intelligence collection, clandestine human intelligence collection, human intelligence and its consumers, the analysis function, analysis and its consumers, and counterespionage. I regard this book as an essential supplementary reading for teaching both students and practitioners.

A fascinating piece of history. It's not that we read important secrets, or even that the topics of these journal articles are current and relevant, but from a historical perspective, the insights and conclusions are a fun window into the CIA's world over the years.

This is simply a collection of declassified articles from the CIA's in house quarterly journal "Studies In Intelligence". Many more articles have been declaasifed since the book came out and all are on the Center for the Study of Intelligence page at the CIA site. The author adds very little to the articles and you are better off just going and reading the ones that interest you yourself. They are organized by subject (i.e. analysis, Covert Action) at the Agency's website. The unclassifed "Studies In Intelligence" is also at the same place. I heard the author interviewed by G. Gordon Liddy when the book came out and as usual the "G man" was a fount of mis-information on intelligence matters.

This Yale University Press publication is an insiders scorecard on how to collect information. Techniques for clandestine human intelligence gathering are reviewed in detail. The text even explores how internal CIA squabbling hurts U.S. intelligence gathering. The declassified articles from the agency's internal journal from 1955-1992 is mostly insider shop talk. My favorite chapter is VII, Counterespionage. Section eight of chapter three, psychology of treason is an ice-cold analysis.