George Books

a great deck of reminders of what is important in life. Learn to slow down, take proper breaths, relax, meditate, go out in nature and focus your thoughts and energies on the important blessings of silence and inner wisdom. This wonderful deck of cards can be a great gift to a friend in need of some inner peace, or for yourself. Set them on your bedside table and pick one each evening or morning to contemplate, and watch your life change in ways that are subtle, yet wondrous. Calm the body, mind and spirit with The Relax Deck and go on a soothing inner journey to happiness, joy and empowerment.

I received The Relax Deck as a gift from a young friend upon the death of my husband. The daily meditations are a wonderful aid in making it through what before were just daily tasks.

I found this deck of cards at the salon I go to, when browsing through the stack of books they have there for the clients, while waiting for my husband to pick me up. Each card has an image on one side and some words of wisdom and meditation technique on the other side. Whenever you are feeling down or depressed you should pick out a card and just follow the instructions on it. That day, following the meditation technique on the card helped me to gain inner peace, much needed at the time. In addition to being of emotional support, those cards contain excellent techniques used for meditation, to bring your mind, body, and spirit to a perfect balance. It's both entertaining and helpful. I am going to get a deck of those for myself to own.

I FOUND THIS DECK TO BE LOVELY. AND I FOUND THE IMAGES TO BE "DEEP" AND THOUGHT-PROVOKING. I USE THIS DECK AS FOLLOWS: I PICK A CARD FOR THE DAY AND CONCENTRATE ON ITS POSSIBLE MEANINGS TO ME. I CARRY IT AROUND, USE IT AS A BOOKMARK,ETC. I FIND THE CARDS TO BE DURABLE AND I FIND THAT I AM ABLE TO FIND MEANING IN THEM. THERE ARE DIRECTIONS AND DIFFERENT WAYS TO USE THIS DECK...THIS IS JUST THE METHOD I LIKE. ALSO THE PRICE IS REALLY REASONABLE COMPARED WITH OTHER LIKE PRODUCTS AND IT HAS MUCH LESS PACKAGING (I.E. WASTE) WHICH IS NICE. IF YOU LIKE THESE KIND OF "ITUITIVE" CARDS YOU WILL PROBABLY ENJOY THESE ALSO

These cards are wonderful. The art work is lovely and the
subjects for meditation are unique and varied. I strongly recommend this deck of cards

I saw this book at a small party and immediately orderd six copies. Christmas gifts for my folks and a hard-to-shop-for couple. The tins and packages are beautifully shot and reproduced. As a designer I actually am finding it to be a resource for great retro design and color combinations. There you have it... some really diverse reasons to purchase this wonderful book!!!

I could not believe the quality of this hardback book. Many pricing guide books for collectibles are printed on newsprint, and they are paperback as well. This book is top class all the way! I hope these guys keep coming up with revised additions, as new and yet undiscovered condom tins and boxes surface. Bravo!!!

When I received this book, I was thrilled to see that it was filled with full-color pictures of the condom packages. In fact, 90 percent of this book is pictures, with fascinating bits of history comprising the other 10 percent. It's very difficult to find much information on historical birth control, and this is the first book I've seen dedicated to condoms. It even includes information on "chemical prophylactics" (all I could think after reading this section was "ow, ow , ow"). A great book!

as you might guess i have nothing but good thing to say about our book. you can e- mail me any questions. we are allso looking for any information avaiable as we are thinking of starting a news letter. we might even autograph your copy!

Interesting to find that this is the first book of its kind on the history of condoms and their packaging. Not only does it contain information the average person would never have guessed, it is useful to those into the history of graphic design. The tins are miniatue works of art in themselves, regardless of what they contained! The down to earth style of the text is easy on the reader as well. All in all a great bargain - the hardcover of the book in itself is worth the price of admission!

I am surprised and pleased with this book, covers all the current technologies in use and in development for RBB, in a technical way and also in a commercial and marketing way, that combination result in a very complete and good book, I strongly recommend it

George's writing style is excellent. He merges concepts from broadcast, telephony, data, and video with ease. Although the topic can be quite technical, George's focus is on the basic engineering challenges to solved. Business types will love his economic and market analysis.

I have to thank my friend Paul at Cisco who gave this book to me as a token of our friendship. I enjoy the book's content and author's style of presentation very much. To investors interested in the high tech industry, this book offers a comprehensive view on the latest technology and development which will have profound impact on the outcome of voice, data and vedio delivery infrastructure and market in the future.

This book is very clearly written and a very good reference for anyone in the broadband arena.

The author does a great job of condensing everything to do with broadband while staying on track and not straying from the subject.

Great book.

An excellent summary of the several broadband technologies that are currently searching for a marketplace. This book is notable for it's strong sense of organization and it's consistent level of detail. If you're interested in broadband network technology this book is a good stepping off point for something more technical. If you're trying to learn enough to make a buck by betting on a winning technology, this book will give you the basic understanding of broadband networks that you will need to decipher the steady stream of press releases that are coming from the companies that are betting millions on the broadband marketplace. I liked the book.

I can't put this book down. It is meant to be a daily reading, but I can't stop at just one entry. I have to read on. I really enjoy reading this book. If you are looking for an inspirational book to help you with your faith, this is the one!!

Awesome book! I thoroughly enjoy reading this book after my daily Bible reading. Written so plainly that it is so easy to get captured by Saint Faustina's deepest feelings and the love between her and The Diviine Mercy are so captivating. But that we could all have that closeness to Him.

I had not even known the book exists, until Amazon suggested it. It is a wonderful, spiritual book of daily thoughts by Sister Faustina.

The spiritual content of this book I can only describe as awesome. For a simple human being to leave behind such a legacy is nothing short of a miracle. Its content raised my level of faith far beyond what I anticipated of myself as a result of reading this diary. If anyone doubts the mercy and love of God, then this book should settle the issue. It is a layman's assertion of the truth of the Scriptures...something needed for the skeptics of this day and age.

I purchase this book, at least 6 at a time, from Amazon on a regular basis and give it as gifts to others. I thought I knew what love was until I read the daily readings of St Faustina. Her love for God transformed her. Her message is powerful and all about God's mercy and love. You finally realize the power of the words "Jesus I trust in You".

A Great History Lesson!

The reviews by O'Hara (7/20/2003), Herrell (12/29/2007), Cohen (1/9/2007), and Margolis (3/24/2003) say it well.

"People always seemed to know half of history, and to get it confused with the other half" -- Jane Haddam

Rickover is a legend in the nuclear field, and this book fills in many of the details to illustrate that the legend was a person and was following a very logical progression in building the industry we enjoy (without fanfare!) today. The people engaged in any industry today, particularly those now in or thinking of entering the nuclear field, would do benefit by understanding the history described in this book. Very well done.

Many biographies have been written about Hyman Rickover, the father of the Nuclear Navy, which focus on his dictatorial idiosyncrasies and leave the reader wondering how anyone could have ever worked for him. In "The Rickover Effect: How One Man Made A Difference" author Ted Rockwell discusses how Rickover's leadership style created a paradigm shift among all of the organizations he came in contact with focusing away from the status quo and toward operational excellence and high-reliability. Rockwell, who worked for Rickover from 1949 to 1964 and served as the Technical Director of the U.S. Naval Reactors Program (NR) between 1954 and 1964 is certainly in one of the best positions to discuss his perceptions of Rickover's personality, work ethic, and style.

One of the quotes from the book that impressed me very much was that Rickover questioned how people who admitted they could never have accomplished what he had done -- building the first atomic submarine from abstract concept to reality in record time - could question his leadership and management style. Critics generally focus on Rickover's demanding style as ruthless and insensitive, when in reality he was building a committed organization and shaking out those that were not as dedicated as he was. It is quite obvious that Rickover would never had asked anyone to do anything he was not willing to do.

Rockwell's story encompasses his recruitment out of the post Manhattan Project at Oak Ridge until Rickover's death. While Rockwell left the Naval Reactors program 1964, he continues to write about how Rickover's influence shaped his management and technological paradigm and allowed he and two of his co-workers at NR to open an engineering firm delivering outside of the Navy the same operational excellence and high-reliability systems they had developed in NR. Rockwell also discusses how leaving Rickover's program changed their relationship.

Rockwell's book is a pleasant read, as his story is not overly technical and draws readers into an appreciation of how the Naval Reactors program influenced work systems and quality management. This book should be of interest not just to those interested in the life of Hyman Rickover and the Nuclear Navy, but persons studying leadership and culture management, technological advancement, and the career of Ted Rockwell - one of the unsung heroes of nuclear technology. I also encourage readers to check out Rockwell's new book, "Creating the New World: Stories and Images From the Dawn of the Atomic Age."

The lessons, stories and themes within this book extend well beyond the nuclear navy and into many process oriented, high availability and quality sensitive disciplines - for me, that has included IT Service Management.

As a former nuclear submarine officer I both suffered under and learned from the practices set in place by this single individual. I later pulled from those methods to fill the voids largely missing in IT service operations - most notably: persistent quality management, continuous improvement philosophy and practices, process optimization, investing heavily in professional and team development, management by facts not beliefs, inherent risk controls, necessity for inspection and tailored metrics, standard procedures, focus on mission (business) performance and the overriding importance and constraints of an organization's culture. Interestingly the existing culture that Rickover set in motion does not view these qualities as unique or particularly rare as they have become common place and self sustaining. Every leader embarking on organizational transformation strategies can learn from the mistakes and successes of Rickover depicted within this book.

Explore for yourself and discover how many of the answers sought by today's IT leaders already exist only a couple hundred feet beneath the oceans.

This is an excellent insider account of Rickover's efforts and
accomplishments. Dr. Rockwell really makes the history come alive.

I happened upon my copy in an old book store several years ago (there is not even a date in it) and to this day my most treasured book. I have read this book to my children, family and friends. It speaks volumes about life and should be in every classroom in every school. Our lawmakers would also benifit from the pratical wisdom and respect the pages offer. It has become a gift from me to many.

I HAVE A 100 YR OLD COPY AND THE WISDOM IT CONTAINS ,THE WAY IT IS DECISEVLY ARTICULATED MAKES IT A NO-NONSCENSE GUIDE TO CUT THRU LIBERAL FOG OF WHATS RIGHT AND WRONG. IT CONSTANTLY REFERENCES CHRISTIAN VALUES AND DRAWS FROM CHRISTIAN HERITAGE A GREAT DEAL. NOTHING I HAVE READ TO THIS DATE DARES SAY THE THINGS IN SUCH A BLACK AND WHITE FASHION. IT IS REFRESHING TO READ AND VERY INTERTAINING. I AM NOT SURPRISED TO SEE IT STILL IN PRINT AFTER 120YRS, I WONDER HOW MANY BOOKS COULD MAKE THE SAME CLAIM.

Caught by suprise a simple chapter blew me away! ME being a young guy eager to take on life I was SHOCKED to see a NEW PERSPECTIVE from a voice in the wilderness. a voice through the ages TRANSFORMS LIFE afresh. I am now authoring a book "Peeking into heaven" thanks to the the ROYAL PATH OF LIFE...

Looking for a radical change in how you pursue relationships? Read what the "love critics" aren't telling you. Take a step into the spiritual, read the unbelievable, find a fantastic old reality about the finer points of life.

I recently came across the 1883 edition of this great book, and as I turn each page, I am thrilled by the warm and generous way the authors speak of the stages and values of life. There are thoughts and ideas that are at once Victorian and millenial. It is a throwback to simpler times and a relevent perspective on how little values change in 100 years.

The insanity of war is universal. Ask anyone who's been to Korea, Viet Nam or the Gulf. Runway 6 is a take on that whirlwind effect that anyone would experience when dropping into a war zone. It hedonistically portrays the skewed social vertigo of the men who've adapted and the incredulity of the newly arrived as well as the frustrated psyche trying to deal with the illogical. It grabs you by the collar and hits the ground running with faces and attitudes everyone who's been to war will know: The entrepreneurial opportunist, the wide eyed naïf, the arrogantly religious officer and the out of the loop politician. He will also know, given the inanity of war, that no matter how nicely Fleagle asks Reardon not to toke up at breakfast, he'll have to do it anyway.

Uses humor to knock the rough edges off the war experiences many of us went through.
The personalities are so familiar I could put my own names to them, but then again old friends and fellow vets may not appreciate that.
Overall a good read, but needs to be put on film.
RC

I do not enjoy reading books about war, however, this one speaks with an exclamation point!!! Most of the story is told with dialogue, which makes for a quick and easy read.

Many people I cared about were there. Runaway 6 shows a more humerous side of just how insane war truly is. Humor is healing so vets should enjoy this perspective. Other than the probable real-life obscenities, it is worth a read. It explains why so many come back with PTSD and other social ills. Families of today's soldiers will see a glimpse of what their sons and daughters may be experiencing today.

I was there, this book does for Vietnam what MASH did for Korea. Buy it, love it, hope they make a movie of it.

I used this book for my biography book report. I also got books from the library, but this one helped me the most. All the information in it was really easy to use and understand. I'm in the [...]. If you need a book on Sacagawea this is the one you should get :)

Sacagawea by Judith St. Martin is a well written historical novel for older children and young adults filled with rich descriptions and characters. Judith St. Martin, a noted children's biographer, used Lewis and Clarks' journals and other original material to tell a good story. My eight and a half year-old daughter says the book really inspired her and made her think about what it would be like is she lived during Sacagewea's time and traveled with her companions. The book is informative and best of all it has the quality to lead kids to use their imagination to wonder and want to know more. We learned that Sacagewea means bird woman. Illustrated maps tracing the Lewis and Clark trail are helpful. My daughter adds that this book is an excellent choice for anybody who likes to stop and think about adventures and people who have made remarkable contributions to our world. This is the opening of a poem she wrote after reading the book. "One day in Shoshone land, an Indian girl was picking berries with her friend. Then a cloud of dust appeared, they knew what that meant. For they feared the white men would come after them." The poem concludes, "We still remember Sacagawea today. My heroine forever, forever and always." The book may inspire you to write about one of your heroes or heroines.

The reviews on this page appear to be based on another book, by Judith St. George; not on Peter and Connie Roop's book. I know them and their work, and neither one uses the "St. George" nom de plume!

I really enjoyed this book. I especially liked the exciting parts like when Sacagawea and Pomp almost died. I also liked the part when the bears attacked them. I hope I will find another book as exciting as this one!

Sacagawea by Judith St. Martin is a well-written historical novel for older children and young adults filled with rich descriptions and characters. Judith St. Martin, a noted children's biographer, used Lewis and Clarks' journals and other original material to tell a good story. My eight and a half year-old daughter says the book really inspired her. It made her think about what it would be like if she lived during Sacagewea's time and traveled with Lewis and Clark, who became her companions. The book is informative and best of all it has that 5 star quality: it makes you wonder and want to know more! We learned that Sacagewea means bird woman. Illustrated maps tracing the Lewis and Clark trail are helpful. My daughter adds that this book is an excellent choice for anybody who likes to stop and think about adventures and people who have made remarkable contributions to our world. This is the opening of a poem she wrote after reading the book. "One day in Shoshone land, an Indian girl was picking berries with her friend. Then a cloud of dust appeared, they knew what that meant. For they feared the white men would come after them." The poem concludes, "We still remember Sacagawea today. My heroine forever, forever and always." The book may inspire you to write about one of your heroes or heroines.

This book is somewhat obscure in the USA (look for it fetching a premium on Amazon.) It was originally published in Iceland in two parts (Þú vínviður hreini and Fuglinnn í fjörunni) in the early thirties. This is one of Laxness's earlier works, written before Independent People and covering some of the same territory, but focusing on life in a fishing village rather than on a sheep-farm.

The scene is set on the first page:

"When one goes by boat along these coasts on these freezing mid-winter nights, one can't help thinking that there can hardly be anything in the whole wide world so tiny and insignificant as a little town like that, glued to the foot of such immense mountains. God knows how people live in such a place! And God knows how they die! What can they say to each other of a morning when they wake? How do they look at one another of a Sunday? And how does the parson feel when he gets into the pulpit at Christmas and Easter? I don't mean what does he say, but, honestly, what can he think? Must he not see that nothing here matters a bit? And what does the merchant's daughter think about when she goes to bed of an evening? Indeed, what kind of joys and what kind of sorrows can there be around those dim little oil lamps?"



This is a novel about fish. And love. And, surprisingly, gender and feminism. Salka is an unlikely heroine, homely, coarse and ignorant- but not stupid- she is possessed of a vitality which cannot be defeated. Salka's struggle to find her place in a hostile world- a fickle mother, faithless lovers and lack of any real friends- is the common thread woven throughout the work. The book has a complicated mix of sub-themes: illegitimacy, class, domestic abuse, infant mortality, hypocrisy, poverty, Socialism, Capitalism, and Christianity. As a novel of Social Realism, it can be ranked with the finest of Dickens, or even Zola's Germinal. Sprinkled throughout is Icelandic folk wisdom, dark humor, fatalism and a strong sense of the absurd. A tremendous book- certainly worthy of a new translation- but considering that Laxness's great Iceland's Bell (Íslandsklukkan) wasn't translated into English at all until 2003, English readers may have to wait a while for the proper return of Salka Valka, or else trouble themselves to learn Icelandic!

I read this book as a part of a school project when i was in college. I didn't quite like the idea as i thought of Mr. Laxness to be quite.. "boring". Then when i started reading the book i found out how wrong i was. This book clearly showes how life used to be in Iceland during those rough years and you also get the feeling as if Mr. Laxness had once been to the future when he wrote this book because so much in it resembles our life in Iceland today. Salka Valka is a remarkable book and the main character, Salka, is so complex and interesting. I've read this book numerous times and i never get tired of it. To me it's a masterpiece

This book was one of several that earned the author the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1955. My father got it as a gift from some Swedes that he knows and I pulled it off his bookshelf. Gripping, enthralling story of life in the cod fishing villages of Iceland pre modern age. One of the most interesting and strong female heroines I've read about. The language is very descriptive and worthy of a Nobel Prize winner. I felt I was an Icelandic after reading this book. Highly recommended.

I really enjoyed this book it really makes you feel as one of these poor people living in the middle of nowere. How does it really feel not even to have propper clothes and live basicly by the artitic circle. I've been there and today people are very modern, but just before the WW2 it was like any other 3td world country except it is very cold! And the houses these poor people lived in, mud huts! Ok in Africa but over there where it basicly does not go over 0 in winter and 10 in summer. You have to read it its just so fullfilling, I read it in one night. How is seems as because the climate is so cold, peoples feelings mirror it.

The title of Bergman's film, "Through a Glass Darkly" comes to mind, not only because it, like this novel, is Scandinavian, but because I felt that I was reading SALKA VALKA through an encrusted window. My edition, first published in England before WW II, was translated from the Danish which in turn had been translated from the original Icelandic. The book certainly impressed me, but I wonder how much more vibrant and immediate it could have been if it were a) translated directly and b) not couched in prewar, middle class British idiom, which, whether you like it or not, is somewhat remote from Massachusetts some 65 years later. I was not enamoured of mistakes like the use of `commissary' for `commissar' either...perhaps Soviet terminology was exotic for English translators in those days (or perhaps it's another example of dialect differences.)

SALKA VALKA is much more than a character study of the woman whose nickname is the title of the novel. It is an attempt by Laxness to write a love story in the context of social revolution. That change, which rocked Iceland as deeply as any of the revolutions that took place elsewhere with more blood and drama, overthrew the centuries of grinding poverty that had oppressed the farmers and fishermen of that bleak but beautiful northern land. The end of the monopolistic merchants---who bought and exported all the fish, owned the only store, and paid no wages, only allowing workers to withdraw goods against accounts---ushered in modern Iceland, one of the healthiest, best educated, and well-housed nations of our times. Perhaps such books have been written with more outward drama---one thinks of Zola's "Germinal", Steinbeck's "The Grapes of Wrath", and Sholokhov's "And Quiet Flows the Don"---some with greater ideological content than others. This is a political novel as well as being a kind of documentation of `how the steel was tempered' in the Icelandic context. I may deliver myself of the comment that if Laxness had written in a Communist society, he never would have been allowed the shades of character, the wry humor, the outright political incorrectness (from a Marxist point of view) that we find in SALKA VALKA. Since he did not live in such a society, the characters are well drawn, (all are real human beings with frailties, contradictions, and abrupt turns of behavior; not at all like the cardboard heroes of the Social Realism novels) the harsh natural environment vivid, and the love story sensitive. Indeed, the last chapter is one of the most touching I have read in a long time. I recommend this novel whole-heartedly---it is down to earth and avoids maudlin scenes at all costs--- but I advise readers to see if they can get a better translation. Laxness won the Nobel Prize in 1955. Now I know why.

Karl Popper had one of the broadest ranges of any 20th Century philosopher. He wrote in Epistemology, Philosophy and History of Science, Logic, and Democratic Theory. In each area he wrote trenchantly and with great excellence and imagination. He was the greatest of 20th century philosophers. Why I feel this way can begin to be understood by reading Mark A. Notturno's "Science and the Open Society." Notturno's work is the most valuable gateway to Popper's yet. It is one of those very few books that serve as the core of one's library, that one returns to again and again.

All of the Chapters in "Science and the Open Society" are striking and contain worthwhile insights. As a whole they allow one to think about the corpus of Popper's work and the major themes he developed over the course of 60 years. In fact, Popper himself wrote no single work that would allow us to do that. Notturno, in providing that perspective here, gives us a bird's eye view that we must work much harder to get from Popper's work. If you seek an understanding of Popper, start with Notturno and then read Popper for yourself, with the context you need to actively grasp what Popper presents.

All of the book is valuable, but there are a few Chapters that stand out from my own perspective as a Knowledge Management practitioner. These are Chapter 10 on the choice between Popper and Kuhn, Chapter 7 on the meaning of world 3, Chapter 5, a brilliant account of the breakdown of foundationalism and justificationism and of how Popper's critical rationalism escapes from the problems inherent in these views and provides a basis for solving the problems of induction and demarcation, and Chapter 3 on the significance of critical rationalism for education in open societies. Here is a more detailed review of Chapters 10 and 7.

Chapter 10, "The Choice Between Popper and Kuhn: Truth, Criticism, and the Legacy of Logical Positivism," takes up again the task of proper reconstruction of the nature of science following the breakdown of logical positivism. Notturno shows that Popper and Kuhn took two contrasting roads in journeying from this crossroads of 20th century philosophy. He traces how Kuhn and the many who followed him took the road to relativism, institutionalism, and "political" science, while denying the possibility of external rational critques of governing paradigms. Popper, on the other hand, took the road to thoroughgoing fallibilistic truth-seeking, a path which rejected foundationalism and justificationism, and offered a view of scientific objectivity attained through shared criticism of alternative knowledge claims conjectured as solutions to problems. As Notturno puts it (P. 230): "The issue at base is whether science should be an open or a closed society." Notturno shows that its is Kuhn's choice that leads to the closed society, and Popper's that supports the idea that (P. 248) ". . . our scientific institutions should exist for the sake of the individual - for the sake of our freedom of thought and our right to express it - and not the other way around."

Chapter 7 is a careful account of Popper's controversial notion that there are at least three "worlds" or realms of ontological significance: (1) the material world of tables, atoms, buildings, lamps, etc., (2) the mental world of thoughts, beliefs, emotions, etc. and (3) the "world" of words and language, art, mathematics, music, and other human, non-material, but sharable and autonomous creations. Popper criticized monism, the doctrine that only the physical world exists, and dualism, the idea that there is only mind, matter, and the interaction between them, in favor of a broader interactionism among three realms. This idea has been among the most difficult of notions for people to accept.

To many (including Feyerabend and Lakatos who ridiculed it), it smacks of Platonism, even though Popper clearly distinguished his own world 3 ideas from platonic forms. But Popper's world 3 notions are critical to his ideas about the pursuit of truth, criticism and trial and error as the method of science and problem-solving, the growth of knowledge, and evolutionary epistemology. Popper's world 3 is also critical to knowledge management, because without it we can't sensibly talk about managing the interaction between subjective mental knowledge (world 2) and objective linguistic knowledge (world 3), and, one can argue, it is managing this interaction to enhance the growth of relevant knowledge that is knowledge management's greatest challenge and major preoccupation.

Of all the commentary I have seen on world 3 Chapter 7 is the best at simply stating what Popper meant by it, why the notion is important to critical rationalism and the growth of knowledge, why people have denied its importance, why world 3 is consistent with a thoroughgoing fallibilism, why world 3 is a denial of empiricist epistemology, why the notion of world 3 is not invalidated by the greatly over-rated "Ockham's Razor," why world 3 doesn't violate the principle of causality, and finally why world 3 is important in spite of the view of the Wittgensteinians that solutions to philosophical problems which world 3 is an instance of, are meaningless because such problems are themselves meaningless. And in the process of doing this commentary, Notturno presents and analyzes for us a wonderful story of an encounter between Popper and Wittgenstein (mediated by Bertrand Russell) at Cambridge on October 26, 1946, which in microcosm, illustrates the conflict between reason and authority, and the open society and the closed society. It was an encounter in which the master of the cold stare, the mystique of genius, and the pithy aphorism, found himself so frustrated by the master of critque and dialogue that he left the field of open debate in anger and disgust.

There are many excellent critiques of contemporary discourse, but few disclose the problem in its broader range. Of those that do, fewer still identify principles by which we could extricate ourselves. Popper would seem an unlikely starting point. In the opinion of many, Popper had his day along with the authoritarianism he opposed. Indeed, the main impetus for revival of Popper's open society concept has been George Soros's effort to help polities in the former Soviet block rid themselves of the vestiges of communism. What worries Soros is that former Soviet citizens will retain a utopian thought structure and simply plug in different parts, notably markets and democracy. Visiting Americans don't always help. Russians who receive lectures from Americans complain of condescension, but it is often worse than that -- the lecturers don't understand the underpinnings of the institutions they recommend. The lecturer may assume that markets and democracy will, by themselves and of necessity, create a non-authoritarian social field. They don't. It is one of Notturno's aims to explain this disturbing possibility that many Western elites fail to grasp.

The author has applied remarkable energy to running open society seminars through the post-Soviet world. Some of the chapters of the book are based on these seminars, and the talks are honed through frequent delivery before groups that are receptive yet skeptical. It would be a terrible mistake to assume that the presence of this audience means that the book is not relevant to the American experience. Notturno understands that Popper's intention was to promote openness in all modern societies, not just Communist ones, and he has admirably brought Popper's program up to date. He efficiently critiques the primacy given to consensus in science. He also addresses dangers outside the scientific institution proper by taking on tolerance, relativism, therapy, and bureaucracy.

In several cases his starting point is biographical, and he offers some revealing letters and contemporary accounts that most of us will not be familiar with. These materials give his philosophical arguments freshness and motivation not often found in academic works. Wittgenstein, Carnap, Freud, Bohr, Kuhn, and several other heroes are indicted for various offenses against open science. Popper isn't spared either, though he certainly comes out ahead on crucial matters.

The best feature of the book is that the reader has a sense of where to begin and what to do. I found myself wanting to stand up, ask a question, and engage somebody in authentic discussion. You are propelled forward toward problems, in your own voice, not backward toward anything that Popper might have said. I can image that this would be a very useful book in almost any public affairs course that reflects on ground rules for debate and investigation. Better yet, the book can help adult learners free themselves from the stifling rhetoric of ideologists.

I was curious and asked Notturno where his program is headed. I was pleased to find that he has plans for workshops, international academic contacts, dissertation support, and other collaborations that offer practical results, or at least a fuller sense of what rational discussion entails. I recommend that you get in touch with him, especially if you have ideas on how to institutionalize these activities. ......................

Disputing disputation. I accept what Notturno extracts from Popper as good logic, but I wonder whether something more needs to be said about the social side of argument. Popper was relentless in finding the contradictions in others. Students who tried to fend him off using self-protective rhetoric often felt ridiculed when his persistent questions eventually forced them to admit their errors. But it is probably the case that students who adhered to good logic were also humiliated. The assumption behind such intellectual conflict is that contradictions are not voluntarily displayed. More generally, one defends tidy statements that brook no problem. Is that the kind of statement we must have at the ready before speaking to each other, and is that process ideal?

I wonder about such things, and suffer for it. Last week, I drafted a report and offered examples of how software could be used. I mentioned an operation that would be useful to execute in the software, but cautioned that the operation might be too difficult to implement. I figured that it would be useful to retain the idea as a possibility rather than to discard it. The project manager, adhering to conventional practice, did not want this or any problem mentioned in our report, and the idea was discarded. The motivation, I suppose, is to give the client nothing that can be questioned, nothing incomplete. Is that good?

The same sort of thing happens when writing definitions. The definition and examples stay well within what is safe to say, and no guidance is offered that would help decide hard cases, which is exactly when definitions are needed.

We challenge each other to find weaknesses that we are reluctant to disclose and may actually be hiding. It is a cat and mouse game, not a mutual exploration with a common object. To explore together would require a kind of trust between partners that doesn't often exist. One approach to building that trust is to create a space for imaginative thought in which a different set of rules is enforced.

DeBono has argued well for a separate imaginative effort prior the critical effort, symbolized as green hat versus black hat thinking. But consider how things actually play out in an organization that sequesters thinking in this way. 3M requires that people work on secret projects for a significant percentage of their time, and they are expected to bring a project forward when it is ready to be criticized. Whenever anything is brought before an "outsider", the presumption is that it is offered as something to be attacked. There is no possibility of wider collaboration beyond a secret cell of partners.

To put it bluntly, I'm wondering whether loose thinking should be an element of openness. The idea is not to avoid critical thinking, but to neither elevate nor extend it to the point that it suppresses options, rewards timidity, and encourages unproductive conflict. [1] In both science and business, new approaches that eventually prove to be better usually perform poorly at the beginning. An idea gains a following on an intuitive, theoretical, or emotional basis before it reaches final form. [2] Without these non-rational appeals, which are very similar to the "communal" appeals that Notturno counts as a danger, the innovation pipeline could dry up. [3] Notturno says that false theories are a dime a dozen, which is true, but new theories are in the same stack.

An open attitude, I feel, is something different from the critical attitude that is admittedly necessary to sustain both open science and an open society. An open attitude can tolerate indecision, incompleteness, and even contradiction. (Someone said that the test of a good mind is that it can hold contradictory thoughts simultaneously.) [4] The open attitude moves toward clarity, but not prematurely and not toward complete closure. That may be too much forbearance to ask for some, and offer too easy a ride for others. Yet, in our atmosphere of both heavy criticism and a communal science that avoids criticism, we tend to confine ourselves to safe science. Those who can't stand this situation may exile themselves, or claim outlandish revolutions, neither of which gains any traction. .................................

I'm not sure if this book is out of print -save for the hardcover - or just unavailable but it is well worth getting (even supposing you have to go elsewhere).

Why? First off, anyone who's read Karl Popper knows that he was a phenomenal writer who could pack much content into any one sentence. Mark Notturno is not only that good, dare I say it, he may be better at it than Popper?! Whereas Popper's terseness occasionally led him to vagueries, Notturno is always crisp.

Second, books on Popper tend to rehash his views (which the authors either understand or not - 50/50). Notturno extends Popper's thought. Never quite disagreeing with any of it, Notturno does find fault with a few of Poppers vagueries and corrects them. The essay herein - "induction and demarcation" is notable as it focuses on Poppers tendency to mislead on certain views he held. The distinction between falsification and falsifiability, the problem not being of induction altogether but the fact that bad inductive conclusions, unlike deduction, will not point to a false premise, and from it the fact that Popper did not quite believe all induction to be invalid.

Some other good essays to note (in addition to the ones listed two reviews below) are "education and the open society" which is a good essay on why current education methods might fail (his similarity to John Dewey in this, and other, regards always amazes me). Also 'inference and deference' is a great article exposing the failure of logic to justify, contra popular philosophic practice, deference to authority. Not barring it outright, Notturno highlights two errors of thought that lead us to defer abdicatingly to authority: defensive thinking and poitical thinking. If there was an essay focusing solely on these two concepts (this one only devotes a few paragraphs) then I would've had to give the book seven stars. Also worthy of mention is the afterword "what is to be done" about post-communism and how a proper trainsitiion to a truly open-society can take place. In short, very good book. If you are a Popper fan and are tired of reading secondary books that only rehash, never expand, this is the best book I can think of.

Wow! Easily one of the best reads I've had in years. Not only is it an insightful source of understanding for those interested in Karl Popper's philosophy, but Notturno, himself, emerges as a powerful player in the field of critical reasoning and the politics of knowledge. A devastatingly effective thinker and writer in his own right. It will change your view of the world and the role of reasoning and politics in the conduct of human affairs. Awesome!

For about thirty years I have been a fan of Karl Popper's writings. This recent book on Popper's philosophy (of science and of politics) is most excellent. It presents Popper's ideas more clearly than Popper himself, in my opinion. So readers can get a quick taste of this work I refer them to two pages: On p88 Notturno argues that "institutiomalism and inductivism are more closely related than one might think." Inductive conclusions do not follow from their premises. Group solidarity is used to close the gap. On p142 Notturno clarifies: Popper posited World 1 as the world of physical objects, World 2 as the world of thoughts (feelings and imagination), and World 3 as the world of imaginative artifacts (songs, theorems, laws, etc.). The creative act corresponds to taking an insight from World 2 into World 3, from where it can be shared (I have a theorem in mathematical physics named for me internationally so I know this process first hand.). IT'S A FINE READ!