Clarke Books

Richard Warner's book, All Hands on Deck, provides an easy to read, enjoyable opportunity to evaluate our own skills and those of our staff, in an effort to be sure that we have the right person in right job. This is a must read for everyone who has ever lived with a poor hiring decision and an absolute must for those mangers who aren't quite sure why their work group are not sailing smoothly.

The book, through a fun shipboard analogy, describes the various personnel needs of any size organization and the pitfalls managers fall into when we don't hire the right employees. I shared the book with a colleague as she had several good candidates for an open position and was trying to determine which candidate to hire. The next day, she returned the book and excitedly reported that she now knew she was looking for a First Mate to complement the other crewmembers on her staff.

For an insightful and amusing look at yourself and your crew, read this small, yet practical and thought provoking work from an author who uses his years of experience to shed light on ours.

A wonderfully well put together story about how to identify who will work in the environment we spend so much of our lives in - WORK! While there are TONS of employer and employee who to hire and how to get hired books, this one provides excellent real world examples and relatable experiences. I challenge anyone to pick up this book and not recognize your boss, your co-workers, your own employees-- AND YOU! The empowerment is to understand when to change and when to let go!

Enough of my words, read and enjoy!!!

This is one of the earlier Dalziel/Pascoe books and is devoted largely to Andy Dalziel's exploits while he is "on holiday" at the same time Peter and Ellie Pascoe are on their honeymoon. Reginald Hill's series does an excellent job both in plotting and in character development, and if you are intrigued by Fat Andy, then you really need to read this to see a side of his character you may not have seen before.

This book is a little different than most in this series because it focuses on Andy Dalziel on his own. It also shows a side of Andy that we have never seen before. We see him at his most vulnerable - in the middle of a love affair with a widow. It is also a story set in an old crumbling country house (a la Agatha Christie). But there the similarity ends. This book has more twists in it than a small English country road. It is filled with wonderful eccentric characters and Dalziel knows that at least one of them is a murderer. He sets out to find out, hoping that his paramour is not the one. The book is also very funny. This is a must-read for any Dalziel and Pascoe fans. It gives the best picture of Andy Dalziel that you'll find in any of these books. Hill is a master storyteller, and he has used his considerable skills to pen a nice country manor mystery that isn't like any English country manor mystery that you'll find anywhere else.

In this "gathering of fugitives"[1] David Clarke offers what might be viewed, superficially, as an eclectic set of critiques focused primarily on architectural education and practice. However, a discerning layman perusing these essays will slowly (and, for most, disconcertingly) recognize that Clarke's critique is not disjoint and eclectic but consistent and coherent and in its essentials applies to virtually the full panoply of the contemporary "literate professions"[2] and their related programs of higher schooling.[3]

While I hardly qualify for (or aspire to) status as a disciple of Jürgen Habermas, I have long been impressed by Habermas's distinction, in Toward a Rational Society,[4] between "theory" and "practice." Historically, Habermas argues, "theory" was concerned with the "immutable essence of things," while the conduct of practical affairs was "pragmatically practiced according to traditional patterns of skill." The chasm between theory and practice was indeed bridged, but only in an indirect manner: Theory "obtain[ed] practical validity only by molding the manner of life of men engaged in theory." The capacity to comprehend (and engage in) theory, to engage in the search for the "immutable essence of things," provided an ethical orientation to practical action and thus represented a sociocultural qualification required of those whose practical actions would have consequences for others. Knowledge of theory provided the moral sanction for practical action, while practical action itself relied primarily on pragmatic, instrumental, technical qualifications which were quite unrelated to theory.

The contemporary conception of the relationship between theory and practice is quite different. Theoretical knowledge as the prerequisite for the ethical exercise of practical power has been superceded by theoretical knowledge itself as practical power. Habermas characterizes this as "the overhasty subordination of theoretical work to the ad hoc requisites of practice." A principal consequence of this "overhasty subordination" is that theoretical knowledge can have practical consequence without having moral force or relevance.[5] At the risk of oversimplification, this issue impresses me as at the heart of Clarke's critiques of professional education and practice.

Most succinctly, what Clarke describes is a profession, architecture, which has become progressively more insulated from and independent of its sociocultural context. Having, by whatever means, succeeded in severing any organic links to the broader culture, it is left to its own devices. If there exist imperatives which contemporary architecture cannot evade, these are entirely internal to the profession, i.e., there exist no external, non- or extraarchitectural laws, standards or constraints to which architectural imperatives must conform.

What is not frequently recognized, however, is that the internal imperatives made possible by the "emancipation" of a profession, in this case architecture, are fundamentally arbitrary. In the absence of an external referent, any imperative is possible, and the choice of one over another (e.g., of one "school" of architecture over another) is correspondingly arbitrary. Architectural education, in consequence, becomes simply a process of inculcation of (or indoctrination into) one set or another of these arbitrary, decontextualized imperatives.

Thus, Clarke argues, convincingly and disturbingly, that the imperatives of contemporary architecture are impervious even to physical laws: A "design" can exemplify the internal imperatives of a school of architecture even if it cannot be built, if it cannot stand even if built, and if it cannot be lived or worked in even if it is built and stands.

These issues are more directly addressed in Clarke's Arguments in Favor of Sharpshooting.[6] The first two pages of that volume set the tone with a devastating opening salvo in which Clarke focuses his sights on Robert Venturi's house for his mother ["designed [...] to contain global rather than local meaning (oversolved)[,] [...] [t]hat error [...] compounded by using very cheap materials and construction (undersolved), the enormity of it all supposedly made inoffensive by a patina of wit. But the problems don't cancel, being in different categories, and instead accumulate. Mrs. Venturi has been as silent as one would hope a mother would be on such an issue [...]] and on Mies van der Rohe's house "for a hapless doctor named Farnsworth in Plano, Illinois" ["much the same thing in reverse, without the wit, [...] it ended up in court."]. Clarke summarizes his indictments in captions to illustrations of these two quintessential examples of contemporary architecture:

Architecture as angst: aged widow Vanna Venturi's 1962 house by her son. Cardboard zips and zaps reflect 20th century existential miasma, including tortured stairs, for a woman likely seeking peace, quiet, and no stairs at all.

Architecture as scientific reduction: Mies van der Rohe's glassy box with no screens or air conditioning in the land of brutal winters and torrid summers and many, many mosquitos. Client Farnsworth sued.

In this volume, Clarke's first essay, "Investment vs. Consumption Spending in U.S. Architectural Education," provides more than adequate evidence of the fundamental ignorance of a practitioner whose education has not extended beyond that of the "professional architect"; his second essay, "French Revolutions: Architecture and the Government," suggests that the situation in France is, if possible, even worse.

Stated somewhat differently, Clarke's study of architecture comes to conclusions very similar to those which I am reaching with reference to contemporary science. Operationally and symbolically, for the United States the Second World War marked a major change in the social, political and governmental perception of fundamental science.[7] From a highly decentralized and invisible activity, of at best secondary and indirect interest and concern to government, fundamental science emerged as a major force in its own right, one which, it was argued, could (and should) be channeled by government to achieve specific social (i.e., governmental) objectives. Ideologically, this fundamental change in the perception of science was forcefully enunciated by Vannevar Bush in Science: The Endless Frontier,[8] which might be characterized as contemporary scientism's counterpart to The Communist Manifesto[9] of Marx and Engels.[10]

Thus, in an unfinished essay[11] I argue that there is a direct parallel between the perceived roles of "communists," as articulated

Interestingly, while 70 years elapsed between the public promulgation of The Communist Manifesto in 1847 and the Bolshevik Revolution in Russia in 1917, The National Science Foundation Act of 1950 was passed only five years after the transmittal of Science: The Endless Frontier to President Truman. While reviewer Stephen P. Dresch hesitates to speculate on the significance of the more rapid institutionalization of the scientistic ideology, his more daring colleague Kenneth R. Janson has noted (in personal communication with Dresch) that "on an appropriately logged scale of compound growth of innovation, these gestations are equivalent [,and] indeed one could parameterize the process with just these data." Thus, Dresch offers, Janson's Law of Accelerating Institutional Realization of Ideological Potential: "The period required for institutional embodiment of a newly enunciated ideology is contracting over time (from seventy years in 1847 and five years in 1945) at a compound annual rate of 2.657 percent." This law implies that the time required for institutionalization of a newly enunciated ideology is halved every 25 years and 270 days; thus, an ideology propounded in the year 2000 will achieve institutional embodiment in one year and fifty days, and institutional realization will occur only one day after enunciation of an ideology on the 312th day of the year 2223. One can only speculate (indeed, hope) that the period required for the dissolution of an institutionalized ideology may be contracting at a comparable rate.

Anthony Clarke takes his readers into a rabbit hole for the new millennium in Baker Dreams From the Death Age. His novel is a literary Pandora's Box filled with frightening, funny, sexy and unforgettable characters all flesh and blood products if his insightful and completely original take on contemporary religion, politics and mass media.

Fans of Carl Hiaasen and Elmore Leonard fasten your strait jackets and prepare to meet "Sean Baker" the first "science friction" guru of the new age. You will all thank Anthony Clarke for the introduction.

An extremely funny yet thought provoking book that presents a glimpse of what 2012 may look like if we keep moving in the direction we seem to be headed. I loved the zany, larger-than-life characters and crazy situations they created but in that laughter was a nervous ring of recognition of how politicians, the media, spiritual gurus and people in a position of influence can step over the lines of common decency and plummet our world into chaos. The clever use of humor makes us think deeper and makes us ask - do we let ourselves be dragged down with it or do we choose to act differently and create a better world? The use of humor, wit and fantasy take us lightly through the most important considerations we face today regarding our children's futures. I read it in a day and couldn't put it down - a fun read and good 'meat' for thought as well - a perfect combination! And definitely great movie material!' Marina Martins, filmmaker; president of a Los Angeles based entertainment company.

Bashin' Bob Clarke takes loving care of his Heartache and Hunger Creek Baptist Church congregation while he coaches them toward their black belts in devil stomping. These delightful stories defy the choosing of a favorite, and McLemore's cartoon illustrations pack just the right punch to enliven them. Most of all, while you are laughing, you will acknowledge and appreciate God's gift of friendship, community, parenthood, eagle-eyed newspaper editors, and hard-working preachers.

What a fun book for the whole family! The 43 short stories are quick and easy to read and loaded with slapstick humor. The stories are centered around an imaginary town in rural Georgia and all the folks who live there. There's Bashin' Bob, he's the preacher, Goat Herder (he's the newspaper editor who writes down all the shenannigans around town), Camouflage Clark (the town's best hunter), Miss Dreama and a whole passle of other hilarious characters.
I particularly liked the story of the 14 year old girl who wanted to marry the 15 year old boy. After a chat with Bashin' Bob, she decided it wasn't such a good idea after all, but you'll have to read the story to know why. Many of the stories have a life lesson to them, but they are all fun and funny and a delicious look at some typical Southern personalities.
This book is great for reading together with the family, or just on your own. But don't be surprised if you find your self laughing out loud. Bashin' Bob is whopping great fun.

This is a great first book on the Battle of Britain. I have enjoyed many Max Hastings and Len Deighton history books because of their ability to make these subjects very readable. The book includes sections on the equipment of both sides of the Battle and keeps the book personal and interesting. The die hard history buffs will probably not care for this book as much as some because it lacks the thoroughness of an in-depth account. This book is excellent as an introduction to the Battle or military history in general.

This book provides an excellent overview of the the Battle of Britain. One gets the impression that this book was intended to be the pictorial compliment to the author's more in depth account of the battle 'Fighter'. Included are many photographs, drawings, charts and maps which help explain the battle on a day by day basis. The book also looks at air power and technology from 1918-1939, the rise of the Luftwaffe, aircraft designs and radar and some of the personalities involved with the battle. Included are many personal accounts from the combatants themselves that along with the pictorial content bring the battle to life. Some brief analysis is provided on where the RAF got it right and where the Luftwaffe got it wrong. Overall a delightful book which is an easy read and an excellent starting point of reference.

If you want to read about a quiet hero this book is a must read hard to put down after you start it...

This is a great biography of a Maine Doctor during his years of practice in the remote area around Moosehead Lake. If you are looking for adventure through hunting, fishing and medical exploits then this is the book for you. Doc Pritham was unique and certainly a forward thinker. I had a difficult time putting this book down.

Most of the recipes have ingredients that I don't even know what it is and some things a little weird for me but the information through out the book is so great. It gets me excited to eat more healthy and that is needed!

Nutritionist and Cordon Bleu trained chef Jane Clarke uses a particularly 'reader friendly' approach to providing information for the time stressed as to what they can eat to best fuel their bodies to life a hectic lifestyle. Included are savory recommendations for 10-minute emergency suppers and energy-boosting snacks; instructions on the healthiest ways to eat out in upscale, family, and fast-food restaurants; effective travel snacks; ideal lunches; and even 'late-night soothers'. "Best Foods For Busy People" also addresses such issues as using food to treat ailments ranging from head aches, hangovers, fatigue, bad complexions, and weight problems. Enhanced with "kitchen cook friendly" recipes, color photography, and such specialized advice as 'Bodyfoods Solutions for Preventing Cancer', 'Combating the Symptoms of Stress', and 'Bodyfoods Solutions for Mothers-To-Be', "Body Foods For Busy People' is highly informative and strongly recommended for non-specialist general readers with an interest in creating and maintaining good health for themselves and their loved ones.

Judith Roycroft New Zealand

Earth is a broken planet. One thousand of Earth's finest minds must leave the dying embers of their planet behind to seek a new future for humankind. Most of the human refugees make a new home on Luna Base. A handful choose to join their alien brothers on Argo, one of three Foundation starships and set sail for the stars where they meet up with the enemy that destroyed Earth. Attempting to break the Drog blockade, Argo gets separated from her two sister ships. With communication down and a deviation from its programmed flight path, it's discovered that Argo is headed for a cosmic drain. Millions of years have passed since the mass of intense density last embraced anything larger than a few random atoms. With Argo in its web, its patience is about to be rewarded. Beyond the dying embers of Earth, beyond the deepest reaches of the galaxy, beyond the most vaulting of imagination, the handful of refugees, along with their alien brothers meet up with a strange entity at the very edge of the black hole's event horizon.
Broken Planet is a very worthy sequel to Footprints in the Dust, and like its predecessor it is fast paced and woven with real science. A strong and exciting tale that will leave you breathless. It has all the ingredients of good science fiction. Great concepts, unpredictability,, strong characterization, space battle and romance as the crew of Argo journey into the unknown.

Planet Earth was still resolutely orbiting the sun in the outskirts of the Sagittarius spiral arm, halfway from the galactic centre, just as it had done for four and a half billion years. In the Northern Hemisphere it should have been a vibrant autumn, in the Southern Hemisphere an awakening spring.
Revolving on its axis, turning from west to east, should have resulted in day and night. But now there was only cold, eternal darkness. A world without seasons. A world without life. A broken planet ... So begins John Otto's eagerly awaited sequel to Footprints in the Dust.

Leaving uninhabitable Earth, the Foundation's starships, Argo, Orion and Vela, set off on a mission to find a planet that will sustain human life and once again meet up with their old enemy, the Drogs. Intent on becoming the masters of the cosmos, this supremely arrogant and cruel race is determined to learn the secrets of the genetically enhanced humans' longevity and engage them in battle. The Argo succeeds in breaking their blockade, but in doing so, is separated from its sister ships and seems destined to fall prey to a far worse fate when caught in the magnetic pull of a black hole.

John Otto's expertise in this genre shines through as he skilfully mingles fact with fiction and feeds the reader intriguing snippets of information about our galaxies. Poignant at times, liberally sprinkled with surprises, Broken Planet is an absorbing read.

My son does not particularly enjoy reading himself, but this book series is one that he happily read. I highly recommend for any child that is interested in animals and some of the gross and interesting things that they do. We went to the zoo after reading this series too and my son had a ball seeing some of the animals from this series. He thinks these books are cool.

Bug Out! brings bugs to life as Mrs.Clarke writes about these fascinating
creatures. It is a fantastic mix between scientific facts and a clear, easy-to-read text, giving you a book full of cool, disgusting, and intriguing bugs - just right for young readers. - Andrew Age 8TURBO BUG VACBackyard Safari Bug VacuumButterfly House (Bug Cage)Backyard Safari Butterfly Habitat