George Books

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".

This is a wonderful piece that is beautifully transcribed and professionally printed/presented. The pianist must have advanced technique and good reach to perform this piece. In addition, the rapidly repeated notes within crossed-handed playing positions make for a true challenge.

Once you have this one mastered, you'll be asked to perform it every time your "fans" visit. It's a spectacular performance piece that lets the pianist traverse the entire keyboard and produce magical sounds with wide ranging expressiveness.

Gershwin was a genius.

This two-piano version has been corrected and updated to reflect the original Gershwin "chamber" version, which is now commonly available for full orchestra. If you are listening to recordings, it is the version used by James Levine in his recording with the Chicago Symphony, as opposed to the old classic Bernstein/NY Phil. A great buy for the price, very accurate and easy to read, with a helpful analysis of the work at the beginning.

This is a great edition of this great piece of music. It one of the only full and true editions for the piano. It's a challenge that's for sure. But I'm very happy about my purchase.

Overall excellent. Deviates in some areas from traditional orchestral renditions -- leaves out a few minor portions and adds in others. Some sections very difficult (e.g. apparently carry-overs from 4-hand/2 piano version). But a great work nonetheless.

Simply said, I am using this as the feature of my senior piano performace recital at my college. This brilliant work is something to behold in its concerto form, something to enjoy it its orchestral form, and something that every one should study in its piano solo form.

Gershwin himself wrote this arrangement, so it can be safe to assume that everything in this piece is exactly how Gerswhin wanted it. I would imagine he would best realize what he original thought to be the important parts...

Ryan

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.

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!

In his day Byron was the rage of Europe. He was the romantic hero, wild, impulsive, able to indulge his lusts and loves to the end, revolutionary, tormented and tormenting, confined to no law but that of his own impulse and nature. And also a tremendously powerful and skilled writer in many different forms. His fluency and strength enabled him to produce the novel-like longer poems, "Don Juan" and "The Prisoner of Chillon" which outside the academic world are not much read today. Perhaps what readers today most know are some of the beautiful shorter lyrics in this anthology, "She walks in Beauty like the night" being the most famous of them.



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I am not a fan of the English Romantics but I will make a big exception for Lord Byron. He's wild! "Don Juan," parts of which are included in this book, is bawdy and hilarious. Keep in mind that the poem was not considered fit for young ladies to read when it came out...are you tempted yet?

The Dover Thrift Editions are surprisingly well-constructed - they'll outlast, say, your Oxford World Classics paperbacks - and the poems are usually well-chosen. And they're....cheap!

This is a great collection of thirty of Byron's short poems, arranged in chronological order. Everyone should own at least one collection of Byron's work, and at this price, why not make this the one?

Handsome, rich, titled, adventuresome, free-spirited, and even scandalous, Lord Byron was also the most prolific and versatile of the romantic poets. In this collection I was continually surprised as Byron excelled in one genre after another. I give a few examples:

I Would I Were A Careless Child recalls an idyllic life of childhood in Scotland. I wondered whether Lord Byron was truly sincere in his request to 'take back this name of splendid sound'.

Contrastingly, in the short poem Damaetas we encounter an untrustworthy, manipulative child 'versed in hypocrisy' who is soon 'old in the world though scarcely broke from school'.

Stanzas To A Lady On Leaving England tells of an enduring love: 'have loved so long, and loved but one'. Nonetheless, soon thereafter Byron playfully describes The Girl of Cadiz, a beautiful Spanish maiden. We also meet Maid of Athens, Ere We Part and the innocent She Walks in Beauty.

To my surprise, the love poem When We Two Parted devolves into betrayal, broken vows, and deceit.

The Prisoner of Chillon is a chilling fable, a narrative of three brothers, chained to dungeon pillars, and dying slowly. The horrific poem Darkness is imaginative terror worthy of Edgar Allan Poe. And don't be misled by the apparently peaceful beginning to the macabre When the Moon is on the Wave (from Act 1, Scene 1, of Manfred).

The long narrative Beppo is totally different, a playful and amusing story that is enjoyable to read again and again. Dear Doctor, I Have Read Your Play is a humorous, rambling rejection note from a publisher, addressed to John William Polidori, Byron's friend and fellow poet.

I especially liked the two short, sentimental poems So We'll Go No More A Roving and My Boat Is on the Shore.

The Vision of Judgment is a lengthy, humorous satire that is still fun to read today, even though some references to topical events and political personalities are now unfamiliar. (It was probably less amusing to those individuals targeted by Byron.). In contrast, the short poem, Who Killed John Keats?, is sharp satire, not at all amusing.

The thirty-one poems in this 100 page Dover Thrift Edition are quite enjoyable. After reading this short collection, apparently only a small fraction of Lord Byron's creative work, I suspect that you will have little choice but to become better acquainted with Byron's poetry.

This is a great collection of mostly short poems by one of the greatest poets in memory. beginning with "Damaetas" and ending with "On this Day I complete my Thirty-sixth year" these 30 poems, in chronological order, represent a great portion of Byron's work, including portions of Childe Herold's Pilgramage, hebrew melodies, don juan, and manfred. great as an introduction to byron.

Sgt. George Brummell has written a very special account of his life. We are presented a soldier's eye view from a veteran of both the Korean and the Vietnam conflicts. There is a great deal of irony in Mr. Brummell's examination because an exploding land mine ruined his eyesight. Like many who have been decorated with medals for their valor, George speaks of his fallen friends and acquaintances as the real heroes. Against the odds, Mr. Brummell transforms a life that could have easily descended into self-pity and bitterness into one of accomplishment, embellishment and leadership.
Mr. Brummell has faced some brutal challenges that to many of us might not seem natural--and yet his descriptive writing style is as deceptively easy and natural as the tumble of die. The ache of growing up poor and black, without a mother's tenderness, in rural Federalsburg, Maryland jumps to life for the reader. With Grandma, Uncle Noble, and other relatives, there is still plenty of love and family support to go around. The book has some wonderful moments of jubilation, wildness, humor, irony, and humility; these good existential moments are balanced with the shades of darkness that the book title promises: absurdity, awkwardness, shame, fear, despair, danger, and terror.
Writing a review of Mr. Brummell's very personal book is not any easy task because it is broad and eclectic--not to insinuate unorganized--in its depths. George is in the dark in only one sense of the word. His sources for learning and uplift include the lyrics of Marvin Gaye as well as the dialogues of Plato. The book ends but you exit knowing the story isn't over. There is nothing faked about George's account so relax Oprah--you can make Shades of Darkness a book club selection with complete confidence. We're talking raw, upfront, and funky.

Great read. The book is a frank and entertaining journey through a large part of a good man's life, warts (small surface blemishes) and all. Take a trip from Eastern Shore Maryland, to Korea, Germany, Vietnam, Ohio and throughout these United States with the author. This reader finds the author's strong positive spirit, as reflected in the book, a spirit worthy of respect and emulation. If you believe in doing the best you can with what you have, then you will be glad that you read this book.

This book was written from the heart - from love, from disappointment, from fear and from strength. The story barrels ahead like the rat tat tat of an M-16 and it is riveting. It reads like a movie and it would make a good one. In an instant author George Brummell goes from leader of men to a blinded casualty of war. I love his use of language. Describing his experience in Vietnam, where he lost his sight, Brummell says, "A chunk of Shark's left eye fell to the ground and lay there, staring at me." Speaking of his mother, who all but gave him away, he says, "Through a crack in the outhouse door frame I saw a woman squatting on top of the toilet seat, her apple-red dress up around her light brown rear."

He writes about his loves, and they are many, the unpopular war, the confrontation with his mother and the battle to make a life for himself as a blind man. Through it all, his "specialness" is recognized by all who knew him and by those who now have "read" him.

George's book is well written, funny, and at times very emotional. Shades of Darkness is the best memoir I've read this year, by far. And this thing's got it all -- growing up in the segregated South, the jungle combat of Vietnam, surviving as a blinded Veteran, overcoming one's hardships through sheer determination, and above all, hope.

This is a marvelous book. Since other reviewers have described the gist of the story, I will add only that throughout it has the ring of truth. I lived in Federalsburg, where Brummel grew up, for 10 years in the 1980s, and everything he says about life there is entirely credible. (Even in the 80s, racism was strong.) I served in the Navy at about the same time Brummel was in the Army, and though I was never anywhere near Viet Nam, the stories I heard from combat vets give me no cause to doubt anything Brummel says about his experiences there.

It should be said that the book has its flaws. There are a number of minor errors that a good copy editor would have picked up, for example. There is also a tendency to give minor incidences the same attention as more important ones; this leaves the reader feeling that he is periodically led down a cul-de-sack. Nor is Brummel himself a model of perfection. He did many things most people would not want to admit publicly. And THAT is the beauty of this book, for Brummel DOES make those things public. This book presents George Brummel, warts and all. You may not find him altogether likable, but you find him believable and interesting, and (in the strictest sense of the word) admirable.

I know that some writers get their friends to write reviews of their book, and some reviews that appear here may have been written as favors. Mine was not. I met Brummel briefly at a book signing, but everything I know about him I learned from his book. I don't owe him anything. I recommend this book because it deserves serious attention -- not because Brummel is black, not because he is blind, but because he tells an extraordinary story extraordinarily well. This is a book that Oprah could recommend, and should recommend, without hesitation.

Perfect book to parallel a unit of oral histories. Rock and roll-everyone has something to say about it. Students will get into the originality of the pictures. Parents and children can read together the well-written material about the hottest names in music history. It has everything to get students to the top of the new standards while connecting with their families and friends!

A really fun book to read to kids--I learned a lot too!

This is an extremely cool book, designed to introduce young readers to some of the founding artists of rock and roll.

Holly George-Warren is one of my favorite rock writers (and also previously fronted the punk/polka Das Furlines), so I know I'm in good hands with HER.

The illustrations by Laura Levine are brilliant and simple, in an "outsider art" style, depicting each artist (Chuck Berry, LIttle Richard, Wanda Jackson, Bill Haley) performing, and surrounded by symbols (and cymbals) of their careers, including famous song titles. The Jerry Lee Lewis picture has a piano keyboard as a frame.

Kids will love it, and adults will enjoy the subtleties of the art. I'm probably going to keep one for myself, and give another to my young godson on his upcoming birthday.

This is a cool and funky book, well worth it to the parent of preschool rockers or aging rockers with kids. In fact, you don't need kids or to be a kid to love this book. If you know "poodle with a mohawk" and other Linda Barry hoozzaas, and you know who you are, then you will love this book. And you will look marrrveloouus reading it.

"Back in the 1950s, there was a musical earthquake called rock & roll that shook everything up." So begins Holly George-Warren's introduction to Shake, Rattle & Roll, and after detailing the origins of "the new sound", she goes on to profile fourteen artists who were instrumental in making it happen. From Bill Haley, Wanda Jackson and Fats Domino, to Elvis Presley, Chuck Berry, Buddy Holly and James Brown, kids will be fascinated as they read about the lives and careers of the musicians who helped start the rock and roll craze. Each short biography is full of historical information, fun facts and trivia, and written in a hip, easy to read, conversational style. Award winning artist, Laura Levine's marvelously bold and bright, folk-art style illustrations, complement Ms George-Warren's text, and show each artist surrounded by words and pictures from his/her best known hits. Together they've authored an engaging and entertaining book that will peak the interest and whet the appetite of young music lovers, everywhere. Perfect for youngsters 9-12, Shake, Rattle & Roll is a joyous, fact filled treasure, and an introduction to rock and roll that shouldn't be missed.