Jackson Books

This book is more than just veneer. It has the look and feel of a coffee table book. There are glossy pictures and plenty of diagrams. However after the shock and awe, you will find this a great overview of many wood working disciplines. This book has information on everything from the history and makeup of various woods to tools used in various types of wood working.
My interest is mostly in turning and turning tools. There a tab in the margin of the book page that leads you to similar information on the subject. This is the in print version of a Hyper Link.

After absorbing this book you will have a better feel for what how you want to proceed. Then the book is still useful for a reference. If you do not actually indulge, at lease you can hold an intelligent conversation.

This book is more than just veneer. It has the look and feel of a coffee table book. There are glossy pictures and plenty of diagrams. However after the shock and awe, you will find this a great overview of many wood working disciplines. This book has information on everything from the history and makeup of various woods to tools used in various types of wood working.

My interest is mostly in turning and turning tools. There a tab in the margin of the book page that leads you to similar information on the subject. This is the in print version of a Hyper Link.

After absorbing this book you will have a better feel for what how you want to proceed. Then the book is still useful for a reference. If you do not actually indulge, at lease you can hold an intelligent conversation.

Mark Neely, Harold Holzer, and Gabor S. Boritt effectively collaborate to present a pioneering and seminal examination of the popular lithographs and engravings cherished by Southerners during and after the Civil War in The Confederate Image: Prints Of A Lost Cause. These were the images in southern popular culture that helped to sustain and revive a post-confederacy identity following the collapse of the Confederacy at the end of the war. It is one of history's ironies that these images were actually crafted by Northern artisans. The principle focus of The Confederate Image is on the prints of three prominent southern Civil War figures (Robert E. Lee, Jefferson Davis, Stonewall Jackson) as well as offering informative discussions on prints of other significant Confederates as well as the contributions of the short-lived "Southern Illustrated News". The Confederate Image is a highly recommended and unique addition to Civil War studies and of considerable interest to students of American popular culture and art history.

Before I make any comments about the book, I must first declare that my review is highly biased towards Dr. Palais and his work--I had studied under his guidance for several years at the Henry M. Jackson School, University of Washington. The score for the book, which I had rated "5," is based totally on the academic value, i.e. the excellence of scholarship in one of the more obscure, yet, important fields of Korean studies.

Put simply, the book explores the state of 16th century Chosun Dynasty through the eyes of a Neo-Confucian scholar, Yu Hyongwon. The traditional and prevalent views of Yu have been that Yu was the forerunner of Sirhak or "practical learning" school of Korean Neo-Confucianism. However, Palais disputes this long-standing notion of Yu and, rather, asserts that Yu's ideas about statescraft was rather limited in ambition--Yu was searching for ways to revitalize the Choson Dynasty well within the traditions of Confucianism. This key thesis is and will be, for sometime to come, remain a contested issue among students of Korean history.

I believe the contribution of Palais' work lie in his pain-stakingly thorough exploration into Neo-Confucian traditions extant in the 17th century Korea. Fujiya Kawashima of Bowling Green State University notes "the book will remain for decades to come a cornerstone of KOrean Studies and required reading for specialists and students alike who are intersted in Confucian statecraft and institutions in East Asia" in his review of the Palais' work in the Journal of Asian Studies. I could not agree more.

I do have a couple of reservations, however. This book is not a light reading. The sheer length of the book is enormous--totallying 1019 pages. Substance-wise, readers should have a fairly good handle on the history of Chosun Dynasty, (Neo) Confucian traditions, and the debate over Sirhak to fully appreciate Palais' work. It is a truly daulting task to actually read this book from cover to cover, but the reader will be rewarded handsomely for his effort.

I've not read all of it; I'm behind on my reading, but so far I like it. I read the outline of the book, and that's how I formed my opinion.

I have been going to meetings, workshops and seminars about consciousness since I was knee high to a puppy, and after a few years when it was a minority interest, it is very noticeable that consciousness is currently back in favor, with new books, journals and research appearing extremely rapidly.

The interdisciplinary conferences are always fun, though they tend to be populated by an extraordinary array of people, many of whom are convinced that they have The Answer, and nothing will ever dissuade them. I have met mystics, philosophers, psychologists, brain scientists and a lot of people who used to do physics. Several Nobel laureates have written books purporting to explain the connections between consciousness and their primary area of expertise.

Yet for all this activity, we are still left with the central problem that philosophers call `the hard problem:" if, as most materialists believe, the world is made entirely of physical matter, how can matter be conscious? How could three pounds of material inside the skull have experiences?

Most people who have done philosophy 101 will have learned that there are two main schools of thought about the "hard problem." The first says that the hard problem is easy: consciousness `emerges' from neural processes. This succeeds in replacing the question, "what is consciousness and how is it possible?" with a similar one: "what is emergence and how is that possible?" In effect "explaining" one mystery with another one.

Option two is to say that the hard problem is so hard that it is insoluble: consciousness must be some sort of illusion. Some serious writers, including the editor of a popular magazine on psychology, have claimed that all of human experience can be reduced to reflexes, and if we believe in consciousness, love and faith, these are all programs, because we are, in fact, not conscious at all. Though I know, like and respect many of them, they remind me of some of the members of the Flat Earth Society who continued their activities for almost twenty years after the moon landings. I remember hearing the announcement that the final thirteen members of the British branch of the society decided to call it a day.

There is a third alternative that proposes that the universe is not made only of matter, but that it also composed of another material, mind, perhaps, that is the home of consciousness. We then have another problem: if matter and mind are fundamentally different, how can they interact? How can one cause another to change? This is far form being an academic exercise: if you feel that you would really like some chocolate, how does that cause a change in your physiology and behavior? We all know that the desire can change your body and behavior, but how?

A fourth approach, the non-dual, says that everything is Mind and that matter is but one of its manifestations. This is a fundamental tenet of Hindu, Buddhist and Taoist traditions, and beloved in the New Age movement. There are, though, a number of technical snags with this very attractive idea.

So we clearly need to find some way to square the circle.

So this is the background to Galen Strawson's new book. It begins with a lead essay by Strawson, commentaries by 18 other philosophers, and then Strawson's extensive comments on the comments.

The book is a goldmine of valuable insights. Strawson is imaginative and the commentaries are insightful, informative and very well argued. Unlike many books on philosophy, it is fun to read.

There is no question that Strawson's fascinating model is at odds with most mainline thinking in science, psychology and philosophy.

Strawson's three main principles are first that the existence of consciousness is undeniable; second is the principle of monism: that everything that exists is made of the same material. Third is the notion that emergence is not possible: a mind could not spring out of the activity of material cells in the brain. He argues that although water can emerge form the combination of one oxygen and two hydrogen atoms, the same trick could not happen with consciousness. There is no way of organizing matter that is not conscious, so that it produces something that is.

This leads to a philosophical position that could have straight out of the mouth of an Advaita Vedantist at any time over the last thirteen centuries.

If everything is made of the same sort of stuff as tables and chairs, cats and dogs, and if at least some of the things made of that sort of stuff are conscious and if there is no emergence, it follows that the stuff that those tables and chairs and cats and dogs are made of, must itself be conscious. This is the central core of the "panpsychist" philosophy that views all matter as involving consciousness. Even an atom is sentient.

He goes on to say that there are no experiences without subjects of experience; if there is a pain, it must belong to and be experienced by someone. The trouble with that is the experience of meditators and mystics who report pure egoless experience.

I normally like books that give me answers. This one does not, but I have a strong intuition that the debates in this book are going to generate more and unexpected answers.

I am going to leave the last word to Galen Strawson,
"There is, I feel sure, a fundamental sense in which monism is true, a fundamental sense in which there is only one kind of stuff in the universe. Plainly, though, we don't fully understand the nature of this stuff, and I don't suppose we ever will - even if we can develop a way of apprehending things that transcends discursive forms of thought."

An excellent mental work out, so it is warmly recommended!

This is an interesting book and it covers a lot of the theory aspects of nursing. The chapters are well set out and all the chapters have objectives and questions. There is a list of further readings given for each of the main topics, and so the chapters are ideal for basing assignments on. This book is ideal for anyone doing a Masters course or other course in nursing.

This is a simple and to the point story of how a girl was tricked and manipulated by authority in the name of religion. She tells the story without repition and with a matter of fact voice. All the while you read these awful truths, she is steadfast in her mind and heart. It is a nice story where the good reigns in the end.

Not only is this book out of print but Dick Jackson is no longer with us. This book is a classic regarding the copperplate alphabet. It is written clearly with excellent examples of the letters. One of the secrets to the lettering is a light touch to the up strokes. The other is the down strokes - none of us who were fortunate to have taken one of his workshops will ever forget his voice - MASH ON IT - as we created the downstrokes with the pen. He always wanted to see a contrast to the thick/thin lines. This book is worth searching for.

Costumes For The Stage appears in its second edition to provide a range of actors and students with clear designs for producing costumes on a small budget. From an introduction to clothing styles and history to practical advice for putting together costumes matching different eras, Costumes For The Stage is packed with practical examples and tips on how to adapt and simplify period clothing.