North America Books

It is no easy feat to define savages and civilisation literally. The author brought us back right to the origin, ie. the formation of continents, the climate changes, changes of food chain, the formation and usage of tools and fire which subsequently change homo sapien's nature to hunt and forage into farming. With gradual changes of homo sapien's tendency of mobilisation into stagnation, infrastructure is needed to sustain their activities and thus, the formation of cities. The author used examples from Australia, Russia, South America, Pacific Islands, et cetera to illustrate to us the points that he was making and I find those components to be of interesting read. He continued on to explain about what we have known all along about people from countryside that shifts in huge numbers to the cities for better opportunities to the extent that it overextends the infrastructure and thus, the destruction of the Great Nature. Subsequently, the original city slickers move further away from the degradation that has become of the city. With advent of sophisticated technology, those city slickers are not worse off as they can both play and work at the same place nowadays. What he found shocking was the so called "tribes" or gangs that formed themselves in cities to carve up their own territories. His example was relevant and notorious ie. Washington D.C. Continuing on, tribes no longer need to be held in one place as technology allows the tribes to continue embracing their own cultures no matter where they are. For example, Asians that are living in USA are still able to watch TV programs from China through sattelite TV these days. He striked to the heart of the matter when he said that indigenous people are viewed like curios nowadays where people visiting specially allotted reserves to view how they live their day to day lives. The answers are not found from there but rather, from the displaced indigenous people that are trying to sustain their livelihood in the big and hostile cities. To summarise the book, it is to say that the countryside people have an uneasy relationship with the city people and vice versa. It is no longer relevant to separate people through religious affiliations, cultural differences, national borders. With the emergence of globalisation, it is becoming clearer that we are neither countryside nor city people but simply people. And to ensure the survivor of our species, we simply need to respect one another. A simple lesson of live and let lived. Alas, very few people take heed of this lesson these days. Highly recommended.

I have taken one class from Prof. Weatherford, and plan on taking another this coming year. He is one of the most popular and well-liked professors at Macalester College because he is, in a word, fascinating. He combines an immense field of knowledge with an engrossing lecture and discussion style. He does the same in this book, penning a book that both broadens awareness and understanding, and entertains. I would often intend to read one chapter then go to bed, but would end up many chapters later wondering what happened to the time. If you want a book which is written for those not steeped in anthropology, and which contains a great amount of educational material of interest to people from all fields of study and interests, this is an excellent book to buy, read, and enjoy.

Educational and entertaining. If you love this, you will love his new book about "Genghis Khan". This complete and concise reintroduction of 850 years of glorified Mongol history will be shocking and eye opening experiences for you. According to his long journey of tireless research, Genghis Khan had established our modern civilization. What a history, what a extraordinary work.

I have taken one class from Prof. Weatherford, and plan on taking another this coming year. He is one of the most popular and well-liked professors at Macalester College because he is, in a word, fascinating. He combines an immense field of knowledge with an engrossing lecture and discussion style. He does the same in this book, penning a book that both broadens awareness and understanding, and entertains. I would often intend to read one chapter then go to bed, but would end up many chapters later wondering what happened to the time. If you want a book which is written for those not steeped in anthropology, and which contains a great amount of educational material of interest to people from all fields of study and interests, this is an excellent book to buy, read, and enjoy.

Jack Weatherford has written a wonderful book on the topic of tribal or "primitive" cultures, generally nomadic, often pastoral ones in world history and today, seeking to explore the relationship between tribal peoples and the people of cities and what is thought of as civilization. The fact that these people have gone by so many names throughout history, whether stigmatic names like barbarian, savage, pagan, or heathen or more modern less pejorative names like ethnic group, folk tradition, or national minority shows that urban cultures have generally had a difficult time coming to grips with those outside the mainstream of global civilization.

Weatherford covers a great deal of history in his discussion of tribal cultures. He visits with and discusses the Australian aborigines; those that still have their traditional hunting and gathering lifestyle, he writes, with slight modifications, could have lived almost any time in the last 200,000 years in the temperate and tropical zones of Africa, the Americas, Europe, Asia, and Australia (covering something like 99 percent of human history). The modern Aleuts and Inuit of North America, the Sami or Lapps of Scandinavia, and such northern Siberian peoples as the Yakut and Chuckhi represent remnants of the thousands of such groups from the last Ice Age, groups that had to give up foraging and worked in groups to hunt the massive megafauna of the Arctic regions, whether mammoths or whales.

The fact that tribal peoples did not settle into the dense concentrations that urban peoples did and many tribal groups had relatively few domesticated animals would have a profound impact upon world history. An interesting point he makes involved pastoral people and disease; virtually every infectious or epidemic disease known among human has a close animal counterpart (smallpox is similar to cowpox in cattle and myxomatosis in rabbits, measles has similarities to distemper in dogs and rinderpest among bovines) and those cultures that did not have much in the way of domesticated animals (such as the Polynesians and Native Americans) were free of these epidemic diseases.

Weatherford wrote that the political and technological interaction between the wandering tribal peoples and civilized peoples for the three thousands years between 1600 B.C. and 1500 A.D. was the focal point of Eurasian civilization. Once indigenous people played a huge role in world history, one group occasionally assimilating the other or forcing millions to move in vast relocations. In some cases the nomads were technological innovators (inventing the horse-drawn chariot and the stirrup, for a time dominating urban peoples until they in turn assimilated these new inventions), in other cases acting as conduits for technological change (the Mongols for instance borrowed animals, ideas, and technology from all parts of their territories, spreading them from Europe to China). For centuries there was, despite the conflicts, a symbiotic relationship between farmers and nomads, as one helped the other (the former supplying cereals, tea, sugar, metal-working, and chemicals for leatherworking, the latter important in bringing in exotic items and introducing new products and ideas); this has been obscured by the fact that most written records about the nomads were left by the settled agricultural peoples and were often biased against the nomads. On occasion this was recognized; North African scholar Ab-ar-Rahman Ibn Khaldun (1332-1406) wrote the first historical analysis of the relationship between tribal and urban people; he said that the city people needed the tribal people because the latter reinvigorated the civilized world, bringing in new blood and new ideas (such as Islam and Judaism). They brought a simple, direct, honest way of dealing with the world, a strength that accounted for the success of the Hebrews against the Canaanite cities, the Arab Bedouins in the Middle East, and the Moors in Spain (among others). However, the longer tribal people associated with urban people, the weaker they became. Weatherford makes the point that this assertion of Ibn Khaldun's was predated by the Old Testament of the Bible (evident in how the Hebrews viewed the corrupt cities of Jericho, Sodom, and Gomorrah), unique in being one of the few texts by a nomadic group.

Weatherford definitely wrote what some might call a "big picture" analysis of world history. He devotes several chapters to how eventually the urban peoples of the world came to complete dominate tribal cultures. He wrote that it took roughly 8,000 years for a truly world economy to emerge, the time between the first agricultural village and the start of the first trans-Pacific route from Acapulco to Manila (via the famed Spanish Manila galleon). This process required three major technological and social breakthroughs; the unification of Asia and Europe via the horse (made possible by the invention of stirrups, bridles, and saddles), the connection of sub-Saharan Africa with the Mediterranean world via the camel, and the voyages connecting Europe and Asia across the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans (made possible by the mastery of celestial and compass navigation and by paper and the invention of the printing press and movable type to maintain contact over thousands of miles and to aid in the creation of modern nation states by standardizing language, culture, and national identity).

I can only give a very brief introduction to this book. Though a quick read, it is epic in scope. Later chapters are devoted to how tribal peoples were treated during the age of imperialism, the advent of anthropology (the "study of the exotic by the eccentric"), and the future of tribal peoples today (which ironically may be aided by technology as it has aided widely separated people to maintain touch with one another and facilitated broadcasting and printing in tribal languages).

I enjoyed how the author opened many chapters with personal experiences. They ranged from traveling by camel in the Sahara to drinking chicha (homemade corn beer) in the isolated town of Pocona, Bolivia, to recounting experiences with the Kuna of the San Blas Islands of Panama, the only Native Americans visited by Christopher Columbus that are still alive. A great book.

A great book about some common and uncommon plants you have admired, but didn't know the names.

I have thoroughly enjoyed this book. I photograph wildflowers, and reading these fun, little-known tidbits has been very informative in my research of the flowers.

This is an essential read for those that want to further explore in an in-depth manner wildflowers of all types. The story telling format blends science and folklore and flows in a pace that is most pleasing to the reader. Highly recommended for those that have any interest in this topic.

This is simply a wonderful addition to any library. I was looking for a native wildflower handbook with a little extra, but this surpassed my expectations. You don't need to be a botanist or a naturalist to enjoy this offering. It has tidbits of fascinating information about native U.S. wildflowers, from its history to medicinal uses to mythological lore. The layout is nice and there are many additional artistic touches here and there to make it a pleasure to read.

I guarantee you'll never look at a wildflower the same way after reading this little gem.

"The Secrets of Wildflowers" by Sanders is phenomenal! I am a naturalist in training and this book has helped me tremendously to find interesting facts to share. I wish there were more out there like this one, but I have just not found them. "The Secrets of Wildflowers" talks about a lot of plants native to North America, which is why it is so special. I can't thank Jack Sanders enough for making my homework a thousand times easier.

Knowing the author, it took a bit to separate out my lifelong relationship with him to focus on the story, but once I did, I was hooked! There are wonderful detailed passages with unexpected endings which kept me coming back to see what happened next. If you have an interest in Native American history, and love of Florida, this book is definitely for you.

Tom Joseph writes beautifully. His descriptions of the natural world and the way the Calusa people lived in harmony with the land and sea is a pleasure to read. His extensive research of their civilization is evident as he convincingly theorizes and fictionalizes their relationships to each other, to their nearby enemies and allies, and to the looming invasion of the Spanish in their "wind ships." All of that in itself would make for a great read, but Mr. Joseph does something more. Through his strong characters he spins a story which leaves the reader feeling that, even in the Calusa diaspora, not all of them lost their pride. Aesha, their female leader, saw to it that her people claimed their power in an inventive way and were not ruled by fear. The story is a potent allegory for all humans who live and thrive in defiance of the odds.

I totally enjoyed this book. Not only appreciating all the historical research but the development of the various characters, as well.After the introduction to all specifics of the time and place,I found it to be a real page turner! Nadine Kovar

Combining first-rate scholarship with an almost lyrical prose style, Tom Joseph brings to life the long-vanished world of the Calusa tribe on Florida's Gulf coast in the sixteenth century. This complex society, living in harmony with the land and water, is thrown into turmoil over decades of contact and intermittent conflict with Spanish explorers and missionaries. Ultimately the Calusa disappear from history. Using contemporaneous Spanish accounts, other historical research, and his own knowledge of coastal Florida, Joseph offers a plausible vision of what could have happened, built around a compelling story of love, political intrigue, religious struggle, and power. His images of the islands, mangroves, plants and animals paint a beautiful picture, and his descriptions of the Calusas' and Spaniards' ways of life should fascinate students of history. Some of the characters are historic, others fictional, but all are well-developed and the reader comes to care what happens to them. This first novel thus combines the best qualities of history and fiction. Let's hope we will have more in the future from this gifted writer.

This was a very unusual, interesting book on a subject I knew very little about. The history of these Indian people is fascinating. The author's characterizations were unusually strong and carried throughout the book. The more I read the more I looked forward to getting back to it.

Mr. Virtue's book is well-researched and well-documented look at the early days of the Mexican League. There is a lot of historical data that I've never seen before, as well as interviews or quotes from players who played in the league, especially during its classic 1937-1946 period.

"South of the Color Barrier" is a wonderful book that shows the great influence of Jorge Pasquel in achieving racial integration in the United States, starting with Baseball. It is a book full of very interesting facts uncovered through a thorough and careful research by the author.

To me, as the daughter of the last Negro Leagues player brought to Mexico by Mr. Pasquel, this book has been a journey of discovery. "South of the Color Barrier" helps us to understand the entire picture about the hard times these players had to endure in the United States versus the many opportunities they found in Mexico and the rest of Latin America. It would be great if we could have another Jorge Pasquel in Mexico to boost baseball again.

Congratulations to John Virtue for such a work well done!

For the history buffs on Baseball's past a definite addition to your library. Jorge Pasquel's story concerns the last major threat on Major League Baseball. Like the others - Players League and Federal League it was a failure also. Unlike a prior book this tome paints a broader picture and more complete story of the life of Jorge Pasquel. For most American we did not know about him and his contributions to Mexico. A very good and plausable theory how Jorge Pasquel helped breakdown the color barrier in organized Baseball. A very good and easy read. Except for two minor errors Mr. Virtue has a very good well researched book. Some very good historical pictures also included.

Virtue has woven the facts and faces of historical figures from Mexican and American baseball of the 1930s and 1940s into dynamite read. In the process, he's uncovered a character that few people know about -- Mexican multimillionaire businessman Jorge Pasquel. Described as a Mexican George Steinbrenner, Pasquel raided the US Negro Leagues to strengthen the Mexican League.

"A man's man," Pasquel is compelling to watch. His drive to create a Mexican team that could bring about a real World Series, coincidentally brought light on racial inequalities in the US. Virtue puts us in the shoes of these great African-American players, who at one time couldn't get served in a dingy Texas diner, but across the boarder were treated liked gods. Willie Wells exclaims: "Here in Mexico I am a man. I can go as far in baseball as I am capable of going. I can live where I please."

Virtue has put Wells back on the field - along with other future members of the Hall of Fame like Monte Irvin, Roy Campanella, Satchel Paige, Josh Gibson, Ray Dandridge, Cool Papa Bell, Leon Day, Hilton Smith, Willard Brown and Cuba's Martín Dihigo -- and we get to be in the bleachers. Enjoy!

Mr. Virtue has added treasure to the chest of baseball history with this rich, detailed study of baseball in a place and time when skin color blocked great players north of the Rio Grande. "South of the Color Barrier" introduces us to Jorge Pasquel, a baseball visionary who showed that whites and blacks could be teammates and managers at a time when major league owners in the United States absolutely refused to admit such a possibility.

The author ties good baseball history into the history of U.S.-Mexico relations while painting a word picture of Pasquel -- one of Mexico's great characters. This book makes a good case for including Pasquel in some form in baseball's Hall of Fame for what he did to prepare baseball for integration.

"South of the Color Barrier" deserves a space in the library of any serioius baseball fan.

Mr. Bennett has penned a work of spiritual fiction that follows the Native American Shamanic revelations to guide the main character from the rational world to the invisible realty of the dream world.
The story is full of intrigue, tension, and characters that hold your interest from the first page to the last.
"Spirit Circle" is a well-written, thoughtful, informative book of ideas and information on how you can find peace, strength, or power through dreaming. It teaches you how to see beyond our own conflicts and passion to find universal wisdom that helps transcent self-involvement. "The shaman's stories remind us to look and listen through the eyes and ears of other people."
This is a beautiful bookk that lingers with you long after you finish reading it. It allows you to open your mind and heart to the people and world beyond us. Spirit Circle is a book that you will read many times to find more nuggest of information that will help you enrich your life.

Spirit Circle demonstrates the power of storytelling to weave a tale that both teaches and entertains. Ancient and modern shamans dare to journey into the vastness of the unseen realms and come back to the world of five senses to report on that which they have seen. The shaman is the messenger but the truth is for all of us. Spirit Circle is a shaman's tale written by one who knows the path. At once fun and believable. A great read.

Ancient ruin -- ragged rock wall, wide window into the shamans' realm. Step through the window -- they're waiting. Waiting to show you luminous landscapes, ephemeral as adobe. Waiting to suspend your book-learned sense of space and time in ceremonial smoke. Waiting to introduce you to someone -- your self.

All the voices ring true, the surroundings are painted with a knowing and loving brush, and a shaman likely breathed the life into each character.

The story and the teller move me deeply. I read of the gateway to the shamans' gathering ground and I'm swiftly swept out to the ruin on the western ridge at Chaco Canyon, to a wide window filled with brilliant December morning light. I could have stepped through...

A few months ago and quite by chance, I ran onto this author/writing instructor in the strangest way. I was surfing the Internet and happened to find this website for writers. It's a very informative website with a little bit of everything for everyone in the literary world. I clicked on the discussion board to see what was happening. I'm not one to join a discussion group because I don't have the time, but like I said, the website is full of writing information. The discussion group actually has comments posted by published authors, giving helpful information to the fledgling writers. In so doing, these published authors not only have my respect, they have my attention. After reading some of the informative posts by Hal Bennett, I was impressed with what he had to say. I sent him an e-mail conveying my compliments. Being a man of intelligence and good manners, Bennett thanked me via an e-mail, thus allowing me access to his website by his reply. I think I would have eventually found it anyway, but it saved me a lot of time. Bennett's book on "Write From The Heart" took my attention first and I ordered it. Very impressive. I concluded the man knew how to write a non-fiction book on the subject of writing. I rated him as being in the caliber of Brande, another great one. So, figuring he knew how to write non-fiction and hold my interest, I'd find out if he could write fiction and still hold my interest. I'm a romantic by nature, always have been, but I'll read anything that's well written, whether it's mystery, suspense, self-help, non-fiction, etc. For a long time, I've stuck with the really big name authors, but eventually I think we all live and learn. I'm pretty gutsy and I'll venture spending the price of a book by any author who has my attention and interest. I don't know if you'd call it cheating when you open a book to the center or the end and read a few excerpts to determine whether it's a good book or not, but I'm famous for doing this. I DIDN'T DO THIS WITH "SPIRIT CIRCLE". I started on page one and read through to the end. I hardly put the book down until I finished reading it. The story was very different and touched me deeply. Bennett writes a book like I would venture to say he teaches writing, straight from his heart. The story plot, the characters, the vivid description of beautiful setting, his vast knowledge of Native American culture and last, but not least, the superb editing of this book, makes it an excellent read. Bennett is very gifted and well-educated, and quite obviously in good standing with his Muse. I do highly recommend this book to anyone.

Dr. Tara Fairfield, a young anthropologist, is on a quest to find her father, renegade tabloid journalist, Drew Fairfield, who has missed most of her life, but most notably has been missing for the last two years. Tara has received a letter from Drew containing photos and artifacts which she believes might be proof of the existence of a secret society of shamans hidden deep in the New Mexico desert. Either this, or it is an elaborate hoax, perpetuated by her father, who is not above foregoing integrity for a good story. To uncover the truth, she leaves her young daughter and travels to New Mexico, where her search leads her through a shamnic journey to find her own soul. She meets spirit guides who shape-shift and take her to places beyond the tangible world she knows. An old friend of her father's who has returned to his Zuni childhood origins, teaches her the way of the Medicine Wheel. She is at once the teacher and the taught as she takes the reader on a magical voyage between worlds, all the while tripping over her own skepticism. With an old shaman, she journeys to meet the crone, Mongwa, who tells her "You are a messenger. You have no choice." Tara's mission is to bring back to her world the teachings of the "fifth world," where understanding the Spiritual Source eliminates all appearance of separation between time, place, and physical identity. Bennett's writing is visually stunning, taking the reader into the quiet beauty of the desert mesa and deep into the caves hidden high on the cliffs. A masterful storyteller, he weaves spell-binding adventure and spiritual revelation. This book begs for a sequel.

This is such a well-done book on so many levels. From the recipes and the ancillary information to the fine photography. The recipes are great. I own a number of books on Native American cooking and while the others are good in their own right, they just pale in comparison to the scope and the craft present in this one. If you are going to buy one book on Native American cooking, be sure it is this one. Very, very well done.

I purchased this cookbook so I could cook something for a Native American presentation in my sociology college course. This book is great because it has lots of pictures and info about where the recipe came from or something else interesting about it. I haven't cooked anything from it yet, but I look foward to using the recipes for everyday cooking in adition to my presentation.

This is a "must have" cookbook if you'd like to prepare authentic Native American food. The ingredients are easy to find in any well stocked grocery store, and the recipes are not difficult. No "weird" ethnic foods here- just good meals made with what's available. The historical background for the foods of different tribes is an interesting read. The photographs and drawings are absolutely beautiful- those alone are good reasons to purchase this book!

i loved the book it gives you many different ideas to make things out of the ordinary

Great recipes...I orignally bought a copy of this book in 1994 and have tried virtually every recipe in the book. I subsequently purchased a copy in 2006 as a gift for a family member. I asked my family to consider a new tradition in 2006; replacing the standard Christmas dinner with a "Native Harvest" the outcome was brilliant. Consequently my entire family agreed to embrace this concept and pass it along to the children. We found inspiration in the recipes from this truly amazing cook book and an opportunity to honor our ancesters and Native American culture as a whole.

It is one of the best books on SQL I have read. This is a good book not only for those who want to use SQL Anywhere but for all SQL Afficianodos. It is both comprehensive and compact. I found this book useful while trying to understand Mobilink. I recommend this book without any hesitation to anyone who wants to understand how everything works in SQL Anywhere.

In a word: Awesome! This is the definitive book on Sybase SQL Anywhere 9. If you use this at work, especially in a replicated environment, then you MUST have this on your shelf.

This is a down-to-earth, no-holds barred approach to dealing with the good/bad/indifferent aspects of SQL Anywhere Studio 9. I am a data architect for a company that manages over 4,600 remote databases and this book has single-handedly helped me solve issues we have been having for months.

The author, Breck Carter, is a man who has been in the trenches with "the rest of us" to solve some of the most vexing data management problems. The solutions are as simple as they are elegant.

Written in a "real-world" tone, this book gets to the nitty-gritty of 99% of problems. The chapter on Mobilink replication is worth the price of the book alone as it goes into extreme detail on the how/whens/whys of moving data around and how to best utilize this impressive feature.

Highly Recommend!

Some of the documentation in this book is included no were else besides Sybase official docs. Given that "official docs" have such a dry reputation, I was happy to find this book. Indeed it is much easier to read, and contains lots of important information for configuring and programming in your SQL environment.

This book is packed with pertinant, in-depth info. The author does not have an overly-wordy style, so there is no inflated page-count.

This book is simply a must-to-have for db-developers; it presents a complete and compact reference for experienced developers as well as it offers a comprehensive immersion in SQL Anywhere to beginners and less experienced ones.

If I had to use only one word to express my opinion about this book I would just say: RELIEF. Relief of not getting drowned again in hundred of pages of irrelevant topics, misleading information, decorative pictures and tools descriptions.

I highly recommend this book to application programmers, as myself, accustomed to flirting with different db-engines but still seeking a solid understanding relational db paradigms.

I started using Sybase SQL Anywhere before Sybase owned it--when it was called The "Watcom" Database Engine. "SQL Anywhere Studio 9 Developer's Guide" is an outstanding reference. The book was written by someone who obviously has a great deal of experience using SQL Anywhere Studio to build real-world software solutions. Highly recommended.

I loved this book! A great resource for horse lovers, this book features all the expected popular breeds as well as several wonderful but rare breeds that I've never seen mentioned in any other book of horses. And the photography is simply glorious. Bravo!

This book was just what we were looking for. The photographs are gorgeous, and the text is informational, including topics such as breed characteristics, conformation, gait, color, breed registry, history of the breed, and additional interesting facts about each breed. This book is a "must-have" for anyone's equine book collection.

Judith Dutson's 96 Horse Breeds Of North America pairs stunning color photos by Bob Langrish with a fine survey of each of the 96 horse breeds of North America. Sidebars of information include height, place of original and special qualities for at-a-glance reference, while more extensive paragraphs on breed characteristics, history, conformation and color provide in-depth details. Perfect for any with an affection for horses and an interest in the breeds.

I agree with the reviewer who said that this is not a very good title. A better title would be Horses of NA or American Horses, or some such. But a great book with a bad title is still a great book, and THIS is a great book. The photographs are marvelous -- a word I rarely use. They're National Geographic quality. And the price! I would have guessed a hardback would be $60 at least. I don't know how they can sell it for so little. If you're a horse buff, you'll want this book.

This is overall a great book, with a really stupid title, don't let it deceive you if you are looking for a great book on horse breeds. Without seeing the book, I even thought to myself, "How did they ever come up with 96 breeds from North America!? I can't think of that many." As it turns out, the book is filled with breeds, the majority of which DO NOT originate from North America at all...strange. For example, Dutch Warmbloods, Halflingers, even Arabians, you get the idea. I suppose they really mean 96 breeds which are popular among horse owners in North America, but that doesn't make a really good title. The book contains a great deal of lovely photographs, but the format is nothing exceptional compared to breed books I have seen before. However, it's merit is featuring many breeds, exclusive to North America, which are often excluded from the books, such as the Shackleford, Sulphur, Pryor Mountain, Nokota and more.

Long overdue, this comprehensive description of an effective proven teaching approach warrants the attention of all interested in education today - authored by one of Canada's most experienced teachers of Direct Instruction.

For those students that are failing to accomplish the skill levels required to occupy a productive role in modern society, Michael Moloney has solutions. He describes these solutions in some depth, and gives you directions where to go to get help. He also describes why these solutions are not available in public school systems. Maybe we can change the school system in time, but meanwhile you may need to get direct help for your loved ones who are not being served in the present system. Unfortunately you have to forsake your tax dollars and find something in the private sector, but the productivity of your loved ones is at stake. All of this is detailed in the book, Teach Your Children Well.

Long overview, this comprehensive description of an effective proven teaching approach warrants the attention of all interested in education today - authored by one of Canada's most experienced teachers of Direct Instruction.

Finally, an up to date documentaion of the research that proves the parallel shortcomings of the public education system in both Canada and the United States, AND the little known proven methods of reform. Parents learn that their children are failing because of the ineffective classroom methods used, not their child's 'learning disabilities'. More, parents are assured that their children CAN learn to read fluently given proper instruction and practice time. Research proves there is a better way and I thank Michael Maloney for compiling that truth into a book that will bring hope and help to the parents and children who know the despair of failing to learn.

It is hard to imagine how such a large segment of our society with such an important task could have strayed so far from its central purpose. Our schools are failing our children to an alarming degree. In the major city in which I live, in nineteen of ninety schools second graders score below the 25th percentile in reading comprehension. Forty-two of the ninety score below the 35th percentile. How do you spell "disaster?" We have a good superintendent who had been on the job for two years, and has done some courageous things to stem the tide. But it might be too late. Providing some hope, the superintendent has looked closely at one of the programs Michael Maloney advocates for in this book, Direct Instruction, and has included it as one of three programs schools have to choose as their reading program. Alas, only ten schools out of ninety chose Direct Instruction. The overwhelming majority chose a somewhat nebulously defined literature approach to reading--whole language all over again, which has gotten the second graders to the achievement I noted above. Where are the credentials of these programs, besides monumental failure as in California? Why are teachers allowed to use faulty tools for learning? Where are the child advocates? This book names a few, and that is why all teachers should read it. Maloney describes educational powerhouses based on strong research that proves without a doubt that the programs work. Take Direct Instruction. It is crafted so carefully that only teacher faulty implementation can cause learning to misfire. Many criticize DI as too restrictive. We wouldn't send a heart surgeon into an operation without an explicit script to follow, with rules and experience to dictate just how to proceed in a particular case. Is a pilot unable to function with detailed checklists, mandatory procedures, exhaustive training for situations that may never occur? But we will send a teacher into a classroom with the most meager of tools, scanty directions and a "wing-it, don't measure it" attitude. Can we expect anything else but a nation at risk? The programs and techniques Maloney describes share the theme, "learning is behavior change." If not all of the programs are based entirely on behavioral technology or applied behavior analysis, they include and are compatible with behavioral principals. Just as Skinner reminded groups of psychologists of the error of their ways, even as they were awarding him their highest honors, behavior analysis varies with the educational mainstream. Even seven years of data which provided clear evidence that Direct Instruction taught children much more effectively than the eight other paradigms studied, could not turn the heads of the educational zeitgeist. Programs proven to retard the academic growth of young children were funded more readily than Direct Instruction. If children had an adequate lobby, they wouldn't be so easily taken advantage of. It is hard to understand what is happening in education without invoking the concept of an evil empire calling the shots. Proficiency tests and charter schools indicate that the public may finally get serious about education reform. When they do, they will find themselves ready to align with the programs in Maloney's report. Precision Teaching, a much under-noticed technique, could solve the testing disputes. Based on timing correct and incorrect responding, it removes all ambiguity from testing. That should have happened when Chester Finn noted that in every state in the union over half the children scored above the fiftieth percentile on standardized tests. In Ohio, the state decided to reduce the required score on the fourth grade proficiency test, because so many fourth graders were failing the test. It was also revealed that the standard for passing was based on nothing in particular anyway. Back to Precision Teaching. Building fluency in skills has been ignored by education and training, when it is the most powerful concept to ever be introduced by Skinnerian behaviorism. Ogden Lindsley seized this notion of his mentor, Skinner, and honed it into a sophisticated technique for building learning and measuring it explicitly. We can easily observe the rate at which third graders can compute various kinds of math problems. We can average the score of thousands of them, if that suits. Then all we have to do is give your favorite third grader a page of similar problems, tell her to "go", and see how many she can do. Why do we have to order sacred test booklets, enflame the fears of the most confident students, send the tests off to the sponsor and get back data that are of limited use, since they are based on mysterious "norms." Again, we seem to have lost the student in the shuffle. The more we can keep the student's actual behavior in focus, the better off we are. That is Maloney's message. Teach Your Children Well was written by a man who has done it himself. We should listen to him WELL

I originally became interested in reading this book after my friend's professor mentioned some pieces in it. So as soon as I thought about it again and had a little extra money I went ahead and ordered it, my first exposure to something more than an article of Nibley's.

I feel shallow for saying this, but my favorite aspect of this book was that it was simply fun to read. I'm sort of a geek in the way that I like learning, and this is it. Nibley writes simpler than I would expected and as many pieces in here seem to have been speeches, the style is very conversational and I would almost say rambling--which only makes me respect the man even more. There is just something nice about a scholar who likes to reveal information rather than making a stiff report.

The work is literally divided into two pieces: specifics of the temple concept, modern and ancient; and temple themes of the gospel. Some chapters are more random than others, but all are fascinating due to Nibley's thorought research and sharp mind.

Nibley is indeed a scholar, but that does not mean there isn't a healthy dose of faith in here--which probably makes this more applicable to the LDS folk. Rather than a dump of research, I would say this is more to the respect of educated observations.

All in all, a great, fascinating read.

I have loved this book for years. Hugh Nibley was not only a brilliant man, a great scholar, and a dedicated teacher; he also had the gift of being able to cut past all the endless intellectual distractions to focus on what is important. When I first read this book, frankly, I was blown away. There was so much richness about the temple that I did not know. However, more than all that are the essays and talks on what the implications of all this are for the way should live our life here with regard to what comes hereafter.

A temple is the House of the Lord and God uses it to teach, enrich, and endow the lives of his children. Brother Nibley is right that the temple is a scale model of the universe. It shows not only our place and purpose, but sets us on the correct path through teaching, covenants, and ordinances. Temples make eternity understandable and unite all ages of time in one eternal present with our Father. In this book we not only see what was restored with the Church through revelation, the author also shows us echoes (not sources) of the true teachings in ancient and pagan temples and ceremonies.

There are a wide range of essays on various aspects of the theme of the temple and the cosmos (the everything). In one of them, Brother Nibley even talks about science fiction and the gospel! It is full of interesting illustrations.

Hugh Nibley enriched my own appreciation of the temple through the essays and talks collected in this wonderful book. If you are interested in what he had to say on this important gospel topic, I recommend it to you. The author makes so many great points of so many details that are easy to miss that you will never be able to look at the temple the same way again. And opening your vision to seeing the world anew is what a great teacher does.

I'm no scholar, but I foind this book to be very readable and extremely stimulating. Nibley's thought is astounding. While a couple of his statements on science are now a tad dated, the thought itself is as sound as ever. The coverage of the essays in this volume is astounding--you name it. Nibley's thought is very helpful to all who wish to supplement faith with intellect

This book is amazing. Nibley's grasp of the subject matter is truly astounding. While it is true that Nibley is a mormon apologist, this work is not skewed like many of his other works. This is his best effort. Whether you are mormon or not this book brings up a lot of intersting similarities with almost every ancient religion and their temple type. Zoroastrian fire temples being the most notable exception. a pure joy to read.

Nibley does not go into depth concerning mormon temple ceremonies but many of the things he discuss will still be easily understood by the non-mormon reader. In addition, a large portion of the book is devoted to the actual structure of the temple as a microcosm of the universe. Also of note is his discusion of sacred vestments through the ages.

Often the scholarly become so involved in proving their thesis that they lose sight of where they are going. In other words they can't see the forest for the trees! Such is the case with Nibley's Temple and Cosmos. Although very informative and well documented, in his zeal to justify the existence of Mormon temples by showing many amazing similarities to temples and temple rituals of the past, he fails to notice that nearly all of his examples are from pagan cultures. Nibley proves well that the origin of Mormon temples is paganism. While the Mormon Church claims its origins stem from ancient Hebrew culture, any real evidence supporting such a claim is conspicuously absent from Nibley's book. ...Go figure!