Caldwell Books

The authors seem to out do themselves with each new edition that comes to press. Most text books are out of date before they go to press and certainly before the instructors can make their lesson plans for the students. By the instructor using the work book and the guide with this text you will have an unbeatable combination. Simple language and the technical blend and the student is able to comprehend with minimum difficulty. The previous editions have retired to become reference texts and so will the Third Edition when the Fourth Edition becomes available for this Instructor of a Certified Nursing Assistant Class at our local Technical College.

I am using this textbook for a CNA course. I looked it over before registering for the class and the textbook attracted me to the course. It is colorful, well-organized, and thorough. I was impressed with the range of topics covered and variety of ways material is presented and re-enforced. The study aides and headings are easy to use and it is easy to read. I would recommend this book to anyone who will be working with the elderly in a long-term care setting.

This is probably the best introduction and overview to a broad range of philosophical concerns within the discipline of economics. It is accessible to the lay reader but is not dumbed down in order to be popular. It does not require any particular knowledge of economic theory but instead deals with general philosohical and methodological issues in economics. Nonetheless, the reader is engaged with key methodological debates within the discipline of economics.

The book implicitly contains a number of critiques of the (neoclassical) economic orthodoxy, set in their historical perspective. The basic concern of the book is with the influence of logical positivism and its descendants on economic theorising and accepted methodologies, and the book concludes with Caldwell's suggesting an approach to resolving many of these issues, called "methodological pluralism".

If you are interested in examining the philosophical foundations of economics, this is probably the best book around. If you are interested in the philosophy of economics, there is also a reader entitled "The Philosophy of Economics" by Daniel Hausman which would make a good companion. "Why Economics is not yet a Science", Alfred Eichner, 1983 is an interesting questioning of approaches and methodologies in economics. If you are interested in alternatives to mainstream economic approaches, then "A Modern Guide to Economic Thought" by Maire and Miller, 1991 is a good introduction (aimed at an interested university undergraduate without necessarily having a strong current background in economics studies).

There is also a large literature on the sociology of economics, examining how the discipline of economics adapts to new ideas and criticisms. "Canonizing Economic Theory : How Theories and Ideas Are Selected in Economics", Christopher D. MacKie, ME Sharpe, 1998 is a good starting point for this.

The author had two broad objectives in this book. The first was to provide a critique of positivism, including logical positivism, logical empiricism, operationalism and falsificationism. The second was to identify the implications of this critique for economic methodology.

The first part of the book describes the role of the Vienna Circle in the rise of logical positivism during the 1920s and 1930s, followed by the maturation of the tradition in the form of logical empiricism, then the philosophical attack and the emergence of the "growth of knowledge" tradition with Popper, Kuhn, Lakatos and Feyerabend.

The second part of the book consists of essays on various aspects of positivism and alternative approaches including the "Austrian" approach of Robins and Machlup (each pitted against Hutchison), Friedman's instrumentalism and Samuelson's "descriptivism".

The third part provides some provisional answers, notably a case for methodological pluralism.

In view of the way that positivism dominated the philosophy of science during the 20th century this scholarly appraisal of the rise and fall of the movement is a valuable contribution to the history of ideas. However as a contribution to contemporary thinking on these matters it would have been a more original and challenging enterprise if positivism had not already been devastated by Popper, who replaced justificationism and inductivism with critical rationalism and the non-authoritarian theory of knowledge.

This is a new edition of Caldwell's 1982 book but it is not really revised and so it does not do justice to his "mature" thinking which can be found in an article "clarifying Popper" in the Journal of Economic Literature, March 1991. This article draws on Popper's theory of metaphysical research programs and shows that when he is depicted as a critical rationalist instead of a falsificationist, several pieces of the jigsaw fall into place, including Popper's re-invention of "Austrian" praxeology and Talcott Parsons' "action frame of reference" under the heading of "situational analysis".

It seems that the field of economic methodology has been unduly influenced by Mark "Bluster" Blaug's commitment to Lakatos rather than Popper, to "falsificationism" rather than critical rationalism and to the Kuhn/Lakatos notion of research programs with inviolable "hard cores" rather than the Popperian program which subjects "hard cores" to critical appraisal. Lakatos, as a Hegelian, attempted a synthesis of Popper and Kuhn, to capture the Spirit of the Age, as it was, becoming in the process a Historical Figure. This grand scheme did not work out and the tormented progress of the Lakatosian World Spirit continued to cause confusion on several continents (and in the isles of Greece) even after Lakatos himself had gone.

When the idea of Popper as a critical rationalist is taken on board, as Caldwell appeared to be doing in his "clarification" paper, then some really interesting results emerge, as indicated by Boland in 1982. It may be that the real impediment to progress in economics is not the failure to be serious about falsification (as Blaug has argued) but the failure to recognize that the real driving forces in methodology are Instrumentalism (as per Friedman) and Conventionalism (as per Samuelson). These need to be subjected to critical appraisal, in the context of ongoing research, not merely as a part of the history of ideas.

In this book Caldwell has shown a remarkable open-mindedness to the much-maligned ideas of the Austrians. This would have taken a deal of nerve in view of the hard things that are said about them by his peers and by luminaries such as Samuelson. (There again, it was Samuelson who, up to the Fall of the Wall, thought that the Soviet economy was doing well and catching up fast with the US). Similarly, it was bold to champion Popper's ideas on the metaphysical aspects of scientific research programs. This is exciting stuff and one hopes that Caldwell is prepared to continue the maturation process that was apparent in his article, even to the extent of producing a seriously revised edition of this book.

This particular volume of Hayek's collected works covers the very important exchanges between Hayek and Keynes over Keynes's theories of investment and capital originally put forth in 1930 in the Treatise on Money(two volumes).Keynes's General Theory(1936) approaches to investment and capital are the same as in the TM except for Keynes's decision to greatly emphasize the importance of the uncertainty of the information and knowledge base(or,in Ellsberg's terminology,the ambiguity of such information and knowledge) in economic decision making concerning future events(about investment in fixed capital subject to technological change and obsolescence) where the probabilities are both unreliable and unclear.Keynes and Hayek have completely opposite positions concerning the differences between fixed capital,subject to the impact of uncertainty in decision making,and circulating capital,subject to the impact of risk,but not uncertainty.Hayek is very clear-there is no fundamental difference between fixed capital and circulating capital:"To over-emphasize the distinction between fixed and circulating capital,which is, at best,merely one of degree,and not by any means of fundamental importance,is a common trait of English economic theory and has probably contributed more than any other cause to the unsatisfactory state of the English theory of capital at the present time".(Hayek,p.177;see also pp.86,99-100,103-108,168-170,etc.).Hayek's misbelief that he could present a theory of capital that abstracts from uncertainty is in direct contradiction to Keynes's theories that argue[for a modern ,mathematical treatment of Keynes's theories,see any article or book by Dixit and Pindyck on the "real options" approach to investment projects that are fixed(sunk ,durable capital)]that uncertainty and/or ambiguity is fundamental and any attempt to abstract from it can only result in a very special theory applicable in conditions where there is no uncertainty.This book shows the immense gulf that separated Keynes and Hayek intellectually.While Hayek would later acknowledge the importance of uncertainty after the appearance of the General Theory,uncertainty has NO impact at all in the final conclusions reached by Hayek concerning investment and the business cycle.Since uncertainty makes absolutely no difference in the final decision outcome,there is no difference at all between Hayek and a neoclassical economics based on the Ramsey,De Finetti,and Savage subjective approach to decision making.

The reviewer Mr. Brady attempts to dismiss the work of Hayek because of his failure to adequately distinguish between fixed and circulating capital, in addition to paying insufficient attention to the role of uncertainty.
This observation is admittedly partly true. When Hayek began his work on business cycle theory, he paid very close attention to equilibrium analysis, believing that any explanation of downturns would have to include equilibrium statics if it hoped at all to be tenable. Hayek brought this belief over with him to the LSE and used it to criticize the theories of Maynard Keynes, who failed to incorporate a robust theory of capital structure into his account of economic disruption(according to Hayek). But if Mr. Brady bothered at all to read the excellent introduction to this volume by Bruce Caldwell, all of this would be clear. Hayek increasingly came to abandon equilibrium analysis in favor of a theoretical view that consistently embraced subjectivism and uncertainty. It is on this point that I wish Mr. Brady would have extended his last sentence into a fuller discussion of the fundamental differences of Mr. Keynes and Mr. Hayek with respect to their overall economic outlook given their beliefs in ineradicale uncertainty. Hayek does seem to place excessive faith in the capabilities of the market system, but Keynes, while justifiably remaining sceptical, demands repeated acts of government intervention as the means of avoiding the errors that attend the arena of uncertainty. These two positions are interesting, if only because their discovery of the uncertainty principle led them to adopt positions that occupied two extremes. I believe Keynes was right in attacking neoclassical economics and its program of economic efficiency in the absence of government regulation. But it in no way follows that a theory of chaos and confusion (uncertainty) should commit us to a position or policy of rigid rule-making. Such activity may very well exacerbate this perpetual state of ignorance that we find ourselves in daily. Keynes, with his emphasis on uncertainty, cannot have his cake and eat it too. A consistent application of uncertainty would, in my view, seem to distance us from both a commitment to laissez-faire and government regulation.


Anyway, if the above paragraph interests anyone, then this is a book that is worth reading. The debates between Hayek, Keynes and Sraffa are fascinating, and shed considerable light on some of the most fundamental questions of economic theory. Bruce Caldwell's introduction is worth the price of the book alone.

I randomly came accross this book when gaining some interest in history's true barbarians. I decided to give it a try and was pleased I did so. The book covers the earlier part of Genghis Khan's life, tracing many events and relationships that help the reader understand how Genghis Kahn came to rule and terrorize most of Asia. The book also provides interesting insight into the nomadic lifestyle during that time. Caldwell does a great job of mixing in spirituality into the story, which also contains plenty of action. I flew through this book.......

For Taylor Caldwell's legions of fans, this novel provides her usual wealth of historical detail and finely drawn characters. The book covers the early life of the great conqueror, focusing primarily on characters: his stern and indomitable mother, the cynical and outcast uncle who educates him, his manipulative wife Bortei, the boyhood friends who become his generals and paladins, and his blood brother Jamuga, who is both his dearest friend and bitterest enemy. Caldwell provides considerable rationale for the Genghis Khan's later spectacular career of conquest, which is not covered in the book. The novel draws a hugely colorful and very detailed portrait of life in Central Asia during the Middle Ages: from nomadic desert tribes, to wealthy and decadent cities like Samarkand, to the decaying empires of China. For lovers of colorful historical fiction, this book is quite a treat!

This review is specifically about the Elibron Classics edition of this work. (ISBN 0-543-93159-5) The font is so small that it is almost unreadable. I would seriously recommend buying a different edition. I personally am planning on doing just that.

This volume concerns education of the physical, moral and spiritual nature, in addition to contemplating what knowledge is worth. Herbert Spencer was the pre-eminent philosopher and sociologist of the Victorian era in Britain; his views on "social Darwinism" are largely discredited today, but still latent. In his book SOCIAL STATICS, Spencer stressed the importance of individual freedom and the inevitability of human progress - with white males at the forefront of the vanguard of progress.

I like in Florida and I bought this book to help me find the cool spots to take my friends when they visit. The "super cheap eats" and "cheap sleeps" sections have wonderful recommendations for delicious food and more than comfortable accommadations. There are also "worth a splurge" sections so you know if you want to spend a lot you'll get your money's worth, not some overpriced stuck up establishment with bad service. The guide gives you the inside scoop on hiddle local favorite hangouts and eateries and where to find the most authentic ethnic food at the cheapest price. Each location described even has a section where the book details "Fun Things to do for free (or almost) in " I use this book constantly and LOVE it 100%!

Don't be fooled into thinking this is a really budget book. It's definitely not. In fact, the $70 is really $140 per day PER COUPLE, since they're assuming you're travelling with somebody else. If you're looking for BARGAIN BASEMENT prices, go with another book. However, if you're looking for reasonable though still up-to-par (a huge step above rock-bottom) accommodations and dining, this is a great book to use in Florida. The chapters written by Lesley Abravanel are particularly well-written and fun. The ones by Bill Goodwin are really great on budget options and suggestions, but are lacking personality. The third authors are for Disney. Overall, I'd recommend this book.

This is a strong compilation of bodywork techniques written by the founders of each technique. Accessible and thought-provoking, it provides theoretical as well as practical bases for each type of therapy. The book presents a wide range of options in a non-judgmental way, neither endorsing nor discounting them. This allows the reader to choose the method most appropriate for his or her needs. It is excellent for trauma survivors who wish to reclaim ownership of their bodies, either in conjunction with or separate from talk therapy. However, one does not need to have experienced trauma to benefit from bodywork. Therefore, I strongly recommend it to all audiences.

As we are learning rather slowly, the mind-body separation is largely an idea whose time has passed. Even consciousness and thinking are linked to the body more than anyone has ever imagined. Authors like Damasio write extensively on this and Candice Perk has also pushed this frontier forward as well. It is not an area a lot of people have heard about, but the techniques are powerful and I have experienced them first hand as well as using some of them in my own psychological practice.

This book contains individual chapters written by the founders of various popular movements within this rapidly evolving field. Almost all of the techniques are based on the principle "you can heal what you feel" and getting in touch with the body is the royal road to fully experiencing your feelings.

These techniques are powerful and they are probably not used more because they just haven't caught on. Christine Caldwell's essay at the beginning does a good job of explaining this movement toward body-centered therapies and positioning the various schools within an overall context.

This is a good introduction to this area of study and contains essays from the major writers. If you are interested in the mind-body connection, you will enjoy this book and learn a lot about how we disown the body, how to use the body for emotional healing and how to reconnect with feeling.

The muse, the inspiration for the great Athenian Pericles is
his female companion Aspasia. How did she learn to enchant and enrich the intellectual and creative men of her time? Taylor Caldwell delivers a rich and powerful study of one of the most fascinating women in history. This book would make a terrific gift to teenagers interested in intelligent role models. Recommended. In fact, I think it is Taylor Caldwell's best piece of writing.

This book takes you there! Having read this book 3 dozen times, I just shared it again with my friend, by reading it aloud. I don't read it the way it's bound because I've read it so many times. The book is in 3 parts; I read aloud the first 8 chapters of the first part of the book. This introduces the reader to one of the two main characters (Aspasia). Because the first part of the book is so intense, it's a natural place to pause. Aspasia's life changes drastically. To go to the second part of the book and read 8 chapters, the reader is introduced to Pericles. At the end of the 8th chapter, there's a natural break in his life. Upon resuming your reading at chapter 9, (Aspasia's section), the reader then continues to the end of part 1, then reads chaper 9 in the second section of the book (Pericles section), completing part 2 of the book. The reader then reads part 3 in its entirety. It this sounds too complicated, be assured that any way you decide to read the book, it's an incredible learning experience. Taylor Caldwell brings it all to life.

Educators may be dismayed and disturbed by Instead of Education. John Holt wastes few words in denouncing S-chools and T-eachers (with a capital "S" and "T," respectively) and in calling for swift abolition of compulsory education as we know it today. Central to Holt's denunciation is that forced learning is "cut off from active life and done under pressure of bribe, threat, greed and fear."

A liberal reformer of the 60s, the author has written and lectured extensively on education. His previous works, especially How Children Fail (1962) and Freedom and Beyond (1972), unequivocally document the connection between effective teaching and student success. However, his newest book abandons the hope of improving teacher strategies to spawn student success. He now believes schools are prisons bereft of any significant chance for real creativity and learning. Such a belief echoes persuasive educationists such as Ivan Illich (De-Schooling Society) and Paul Goodman (Growing Up Absurd) who also lament that school learning is too often separated from the rest of life.

In a well-paced and colloquial style, Holt argues eloquently that in place of compulsory education children will learn to become unhampered "do-ers"--free to learn where, when, what and how they see fit. He explains the success of alternative models like the Beacon Hill Free School in Boston (serving adults mostly); the Learning Exchange in Evanston, IL (rekindling the John Dewey spirit of the wholeness of learning); the Children's Community in Ann Arbor (emphasizing entirely unstructured and undefined learning); and the Ny Lilleskole (responding to Denmark's large, conventional schools in which teachers and students coexist in a formalized relationship).

Of course, deep in the dustbin of educational reform lie proposals similar to Holt's. How does he himself hope to change "the system" or, rather, to eliminate it? A realist, he acknowledges that his suggestions will indeed seem impractical and improbable--but not impossible--for at least another generation. That generation is now, in Year 2004.

Yet he solicits the immediate help of parents discouraged by the presumably deleterious effects of education on their children. Parents are in the best position to help youngsters, he says, "play the education game better." As a first step in abolishing compulsory education itself, he asks educators and parents (t-eachers) to reaffirm the ideal of freedom and to permit learners the sacred right to control their own minds and thoughts and feelings.

In fact, "freedom" is a key word in this compelling book, otherwise given to numerous facile and strained generalizations. Holt says: "Education, with its supporting system of compulsory and competitive schooling, all its carrots and sticks, its grades, diplomas. credentials, now seems to me perhaps the most authoritarian and dangerous of all social inventions of mankind." Elsewhere he states: "...schools for educators . . . get and hold their students by the threat of jail or uselessness or poverty. There is very little we can do to make these 5-chools better, and they are almost certain to get worse." Such statements are plentiful.

A serious flaw in in fervent call for freedom and for learning related to real life is that, despite this most profound plea, his arguments are often contradictory and diffuse. His "either-or" assertions miss the point that many classroom teachers are already successfully employing methods he espouses in terms of compulsory education's demise.

Some of his theories, however, deserve serious consideration, especially his discussion of the important role of parents in a child's learning. He recommends that educators reemphasize the value and necessity of energetic cooperation with parents as teachers. But even here he warns against a natural tendency to overprotect children. To intervene--however intelligently, gently, creatively--is to risk either squashing initiative or allowing learners less time for discovering and developing felt needs.

Another theory he supports is that children possess much more power than we think to grasp and master typical problems if youngsters are given time and space to solve them. Both parent and teacher need to observe how children themselves learn, but adults must relinquish not only their power of coercion but a propensity for verbal commentary as well.

The overriding issue for Holt is choice-the freedom to choose without fear of reaction, reprisal,restriction. He does not recommend that children be allowed to roam completely unfettered; he does understand that parents and teachers need to guard learners against obvious, as opposed to presumed, harm and danger.

Yet frequent and unnecessary intrusions in the daily routine of youngsters engender distrust and fear rather than self-confidence and openness. In the author's view, knowing when and how to intrude, without jeopardizing the child's right to choose for him/herself, is the mark of a positive and humane t-eacher.

John Holt does not apologize for repudiating compulsory education. Gripping is the urgency with which he calls for the abolition of forced learning, itself not a novel revolutionary proposal. Once overcoming the book's emotionalism and exaggerations, educators will find much to consider. One need not be a disciple of Holt to appreciate many of his forceful remarks about helping children become "do-ers."

The message of this book, stated concisely, is that the world needs more and better scout troops, community music groups, Little League teams, karate academies, and other informal educational organizations. He would like to see such organizations grow to the point that they replace full-time schools with mandatory attendance. I'm not saying whether I agree or disagree, but I am saying that his opinion is worth thinking about.

If Holt never visited South Korea, I wish he could have. His dream is closer to realization here than it is in the United States. You can't walk a block without seeing a karate school, a music school, an art school, or a music school. Some of these schools hold class all day, some serve as after-school clubs, and some do both.

I have both the JG26 War Diaries written also by Donald Caldwell. This Photographic reference is an excellent supplement to these volumes with very little duplication of photographs. It is well laid out with each chapter describing a set time during JG26's existence. A useful extra is the extensive colour plates of each major version of aircraft flown by the Geschwader and the closing chapter that covers paint schemes and markings that tie back to the colour plates. Very recommended.

This is a must-have book for anyone interested in modelling the aircraft of the Luftwaffe's Jadgeschwader 26. Packed with black and white photos of the aircraft and crews in combat and at rest, it provides the details one is looking for when attempting to accurately model a specific aircraft. It contains interesting, if breif, text passages about JG26, along with (24) color profile plates. Chapter 10 is dedicated entirely to textual descriptions of camoflage and markings used by the Gruppe throughout the war. Also of interest are humerous photographs found throughout the book proving that while war is indeed hell, it has it's lighter moments too!