Nebraska Books

This book is not written in a particularly sprightly style and yet I found it a work fascinating in the extreme. It starts at the very beginning , and I am sorry it only goes up to 1966. The chapter on the Non-Partisan League (1915-1923) was the most interesting. And Bill Langer had a fascinating career, the account of which was made more attention-holding for me because I used to go to the Senate gallery when I was going to law school in Washington and listen to his orations. Unforgettable, since unique. This is a great and memorable book.

I found this book to be very informative. It gave great accounts from both sides (Indian and non-indian). It follows the Santee Sioux history starting with accounts from explorers who encountered these wonderful people, to the Sioux Uprising, to their exile from their land, to the present day. You will find yourself unable to put this book down.

The author challenges the reader to understand how environment and place shape who we are. After reading this book you will never again take the places in your life for granted. The author's poignant essays will touch your spirit and inspire you to explore the places which make you who you are.

How to Defend Humane Ideals is a powerful refutation of the amoral concept of nihilism, and shows that even if ethical objectivity is rejected, humane ideals are still supreme over anti-humane rationals, such as that of Nietzche. Flynn introduces the powerful tool of social-science to moral philosophy, and provides a thorough refutation of racism, even in the enlightened form of Jensen's thesis. A seminal work as well as an enjoyable read.

This is a valuable book (resource) for budding entrepreneurs. It seems to try to cover all the bases for starting a small business, but it can't do them all well in the space available between its covers. The book is only 288 pages long. If you are in the planning stages of starting a small business, then I highly recommend you get a copy of this book. Read it, study it, and outline it. There are helpful checklists to help you grasp the subjects. You will come up with a plethora of keywords and terms that you will want to google to find Web pages giving more detailed (and maybe more current) information.

I am a SCORE counselor (Senior Corps of Retired Executives) who typically does face-to-face counseling sessions three nights a month. It would really be neat if my clients would read this book BEFORE they came to their session with me because they would pretty much be "educated customers" ready to ask educated questions. Our sessions would be so much more beneficial.

My favorite chapters were:

1. Initial business concerns
2. Your business' structure
3. Business start-up details
5. Sources of business assistance (SCORE is mentioned here)
7. Your smart business plan (and a good sample plan is included)
8. Obtaining the financing you need

The book is weak when it comes to how the Internet can be used in corresponding, hiring, and marketing. But this is just one example of how googling keywords and concepts found in the book will make the book more complete. Don't treat the book as authoritative on the law. It isn't. Nor was it ever intended to be. It is light on tax information as it relates to small business.

I was particularly impressed with the material presented in Chapter 2: Choice of Legal Entity. That subject is sorely ignored in most small business books, and it is critically important. It is a subject I regularly must spend a great deal of time discussing at my SCORE sessions. This book does a pretty good job on the topic.

Chapters 4 and 9 through 12 are easy to find fault with. The topic of each could fill a book. But having these topics covered definitely will help a budding entrepreneur know some of the issues they raise.

I would have liked the book more if Chapter 6 (marketing) had been less superficial. When I read it I got the impression that the author was more a public relations expert than a marketing expert. I generally categorize public relations as a subset of marketing. Marketing includes advertising, public relations, and a whole host of other promotion techniques. I did not get this message when I read the book. I also would have liked the book better if the Internet, email, and Web sites had been discussed more. But there are many books on those subjects. Therefore, I can't complain too much about the limited discussion of computers.

When you read this book it may feel a little like it was produced on an assembly line. Maybe it was? There are 51 versions of this book sold; one for each state and the District of Columbia. Content is king, and this book has it. 5 stars!

Like Alcibiades arriving late and drunk to the Symposium, I seek not so much to offer a sober oration, but rather an impromptu and heartfelt encomium praising the life and works of Professor Hazel Barnes.

At the age of twenty-one, I first discovered a tattered 1959 edition of Hazel Barnes's Humanistic Existentialism: The Literature of Possibility in a small Connecticut bookstore. The binding was creased; the pages were already beginning to separate from the spine--but like Alcibiades comparing his homely master Socrates to a statue of Silenus, I glimpsed things inside the book's covers "so godlike--so bright and beautiful, so utterly amazing--that I no longer had a choice." Like Socrates' tragic student, I had no choice except to take up the moral, philosophical, and aesthetic challenges posed by Barnes's interpretation of the existential tradition.

And just what is existentialism? It is, as Walter Kaufmann points out in his own Existentialism from Dostoevsky to Sartre, "a label for several widely different revolts against traditional philosophy.... Existentialism is a timeless sensibility that can be discerned here and there in the past; but it is only in recent times that it has hardened into a sustained protest and preoccupation" (11-12). And in her Humanistic Existentialism, Hazel does a peerless job presenting the sustained protest of these often misunderstood philosophers, especially the post-WWII French existentialists Jean-Paul Sartre, Albert Camus, and Simone de Beauvior.

Existentialism is not synonymous with radical nihilism or immature hedonism. Rather, existentialism is in fact a deeply ethical philosophy that demands extreme personal responsibility. If according to Sartre "existence" does indeed "precede essence," then you as a conscious individual are free to decide what it means to exist and be human. Because an essential self is an illusion, an existentialist cannot make excuses for his or her behavior by saying, "I can't help it. It is in my nature to lie, cheat, steal, kill, etc." According to this philosophical system, a person's self is the sum of his or her actions. You are what you do. You exist in this world as a conscious individual, and it is your free will that will choose at each moment how to act or not to act without resorting to someone else's standards. However, this does not give you license for narcissism or criminality. Just as you value your free will, you must also value and protect the free will of other conscious minds. To treat someone as an object (being-in-itself) rather than a free, willing human being (being-for-itself) is to live in existential Bad Faith.

Some existentialists were atheists; some were believers--but all were so overwhelmed by the horror of human suffering that they had no choice but to rebel against this metaphysical injustice. Existentialism is frightening, heady stuff. It asks hard questions of both man and God, questions few have ever dared to ask.

When I discovered the works of Hazel Barnes, I was in a deep crisis of faith--a true existential crisis. If everything happens for a reason, how can a supposedly rational and benevolent universe allow so much suffering, especially the suffering of innocent children? Even though Ms. Barnes draws much of her interpretation of existentialism from Sartrean ethics (indeed, she was the first English translator of Being and Nothingness), she also has a deep understanding of existentialism's roots in Nietzsche, Kierkegaard, and Fyodor Dostoevsky, author of the most important novel ever written: The Brothers Karamazov. (Don't believe me? I dare any great-souled man or women to read The Brothers Karamazov and not come away profoundly changed and shaken.) In truth, Hazel Barnes was the first person to guide me toward the peerless Dostoevsky, who to this day stands as my spiritual guide and master.

Professor Barnes, you opened the doorways of the philosophic life for me, and I owe you a great debt. I have never sat in your classroom, but I consider myself one of your students. Your life's work serves as an inspiration to us all--a life lived with integrity and courage. A life lived in existential Good Faith.

With respect,
James B. Pepe

References:

Kaufmann, Walter. Existentialism from Dostoevsky to Sartre. Cleveland: World Publishing, 1956.

For fourteen years Dan Beckett has been living a lie. Everyone around him has known him as Tom Beckett, his twin brother. Even his wife, Lorraine has believed she had married the elder twin, Tom. She is very much in love with "Tom" and has given him 3 sons and a daughter.

Thad is the oldest at thirteen and then the eight year old twins, Bram and Jori and four year old daughter, Autumn. Gil Beckett, father of Dan and Tom and grandfather to the four children also lives with "Tom" and Lorrie at the Beckett Orchards.

Now "Tom's" greatest fear is realized, his brother has been found [with amnesia] and he needs to bring him home.

I am guessing that the brothers, Dan and Tom are around 36 years old. What a midlife crisis.

Oh, Oh, enter Cedra [who kisses Lorrie's husband in fron of the whole family]she knows Tom as Buzz Turner.

You should love this story -- find out what kept Buzz away from home and family for 14 years and how they finally resolve the identity mix-up [and also what led to it]. Work through the near lose of Autumn and Gil and how the family becomes a stronger unit.

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED - a little hanky-panky between Buzz and Cedra [grin] but what can you expect? -- Most fascinating story with such a great twist -- will you want to keep this one? definitely worth reading more than once.

Huskers Handbook: Stories, Stats and Stuff About Nebraska Football By Eric Nelson, Chris Jenson

In the interest of full disclosure, I have a couple of fan stories in the book, and I'm referenced as one of the many fans who were interviewed. The author is a friend and former roommate.

"Huskerville" asks the questions pondered by many Nebraskan fans, particularly those of us who've left the state but still call it home. Why does Husker football mean so much to Nebraskans? Why is the connection between Nebraskans and Husker football so strong? Is this connection unique?

Aden provides the answers, referencing countless Husker fans, and a fair amount of Nebraska history along the way. It's a good read. It's heavier than your average sports book, but Aden treats the subject seriously while throwing in some fun.

This book is a must for naval historians and historians in general. The author's account of the voyage of Teddy Roosevelt's "Great White Fleet" is fascinating. Besides the several ships that were named Nebraska, the author has included histories of several other ships that were named for Nebraskans. Photos add greatly to the interest of the book.