This is a good book! It has a lot of math problems including geometry and algebra. It is SAT level and has great explanations!

great Book! Kind of hard but has good explanations!

This SAT math workbook is the best. The problems are exactly like the real test and the solutions are clear,detailed, and very user-friendly.

This is an amazing account of the last few months of the Nixon presidency leading up to his eventual resignation. The first half of the book deals in larger chunks of time, but by the time the second half begins, each chapter encompasses a single day. As in ALL THE PRESIDENT'S MEN by the same authors, the reader may find the onslaught of different names to be intimidating; fortunately, the cast of characters list at the beginning of the book helps a lot. All the people involved are treated with a lot of respect, and their motivations are made very clear throughout with only a few exceptions.

Unlike ALL THE PRESIDENT'S MEN, this is not told from the viewpoint of the two authors. Through interviews and other methods, the two journalists have reconstructed what they believe those last few months to have been like. The result is an amazing and richly detailed look at the aftermath of one of the most important scandals in recent US history.

One of the real strengths of this book is that it allows the reader to see how the scandal affected many of the different people that were close to the President -- his aides, his family, the lawyers defending him, congressmen, fellow Republican leaders, etc. We see how his team tried (and eventually failed) to fight the accusations made at President and how his staff continued to get the work done even as he retreated farther and farther into himself.

Before I read ALL THE PRESIDENT'S MEN and THE FINAL DAYS, I really didn't know too many particulars about the whole Watergate scandal. I highly recommend this pair of books to anyone looking for detailed, yet highly readable sources of information.

Well, Bob Woodward has a bestseller again -- "Bush at War" debuted at #2 on the New York Times bestseller list today. What's Carl Bernstein up to? Never mind about that. "The Final Days" is still not to be missed, over 25 years since it, too, became a best-seller. The country has moved on to other pressing political matters, but interest in the unravelling of the Nixon Administration remains high. Books speculating about the identity of Deep Throat seem to come out annually.

"The Final Days" is marked departure from "All the President's Men", the first Woodward/Bernstein book and obviously the one that put them on the map. Whereas "President's" was the inside story of two journalists chasing down a story that led higher into the U.S. government than they ever dreamed imaginable, "Final Days" is a step back, since neither Woodward nor Bernstein (nor Deep Throat, for that matter) appear as characters. The focus turns to Nixon's family and close political advisers. Many of the oft-mentioned names remain relevant today: Pat Buchanan, Diane Sawyer, Henry Kissinger. It's also about twice as long as the earlier book, but reads just as quickly.

"Final Days" is divided into two parts. First is a general overview of the first two years of the Watergate Crisis, this time told from the view of all the President's men rather than from the Washington Post. Next is a dizzying chapter-a-day sequence of the final 17 days of the Nixon administration.

In the midst of the research are some surprisingly interesting detours. Nixon's final foreign journey as President is to the Middle East. A funny aside details how the White House press office had to avoid mentioning Israel on the same page of press releases naming other countries in the region, to avoid offending Islamic governments. Also amusing is the lengthy description of Nixon son-in-law David Eisenhower's obsession with fantasy baseball.

25 years, numerous Presidential scandals, and a war or two later, the undoing of Richard Nixon remains riveting and required reading. The Woodward/Bernstein books blaze with a you-are-there immediacy, and even the overuse of passive voice doesn't slow down the narrative. Every hour of mind-numbing research underpinning the book has paid off, because the story told is seamless. There's dramatic tension to every decision Nixon makes in his final month in office: to resign or stay in office? To surrender his private tapes, or continue the legal battle? Nixon himself even becomes a sympathetic figure, as the debilitating nature of his phlebitis is explored.

Perhaps you're busying reading Woodward's latest effort now. Perhaps you're numbed by his almost annual hardcover tomes about the private lives of American presidents, each less relevant than the last. At any rate, "The Final Days" is a detour well worth your time, whether you're on the left, the right, or above all that. It's surely no coincidence that Barbara Olson's excoriation of the Clinton White House bears the same title.

"All The President's Men" & "The Final Days" are an essential part of political history: They are also an essential part of journalism history. Watergate & the revealed power of the media to topple a president changed journalism -- and inspired a generation to enter the profession. ... Read "All The President's Men" first ... &, as you read it, know that the better book is still to come. "All ..." is vital to understanding what happened; "Final Days" is a far superior book. ... "All ..." reads as though the authors were still shell-shocked from what had happened & what they -- in their 20s -- had participated in. "Final Days" is a much more mature & calmer book. It offers a better understanding of what Nixon did wrong than the first book. Its portrait of Nixon is far superior ... even empathetic. ... I am a Republican (& a journalist) & someone who finds much to redeem Nixon ... & I thoroughly enjoyed this book, which is remarkably unbiased & deft at presenting even the least likeable participants as human. I also was jolted at some of Nixon's extremes, which I had prefered to forget because in some ways (i.e. foreign policy) he was a great president. ... Aspects of this story are remarkably dated ... would Nixon have fallen now? (Reagan didn't. Clinton didn't.) Are we as easily shocked? As naive about power? Do we even fantasize anymore that our leaders will be flawless? ... The comparisons with Bill Clinton are striking & obvious. Would Clinton's story have ended differently if he had been president 25 years earlier & before Watergate & Iran-Contra? ... For a real immersion in the story through popular culture, read the two books in order & see the movie of "All The President's Men" & see Sir Anthony Hopkins' brilliant performance in "Nixon." ... "Tragedy" is an abused word, but Nixon's story WAS a classic tragedy: Hero undone by fatal flaw.

Didn't anyone eddit this manuscript?

The first few errors I saw just made me cringe. But by the end of this book, I was ready to scream.

For starters, take the reference on page 131 to the two American embassies in Aden Harbor that were attacked, according to Mr. Bernstein. Obviously, he's mixing up the bombings in Kenya and Tanzania with the bombing of the USS Cole in Aden Harbor.

. . . but that's just the tip of the iceberg . . .

How about page 246, where he refers to the day after September 11 as Wednesday, September 3? There's a good one. I expect more from the New York Times.

. . . but that's just little stuff, right? . . .

Well, then check out pages 201 and 212. In one place, he says that 1,400 people died in Tower 1 of the World Trade Center. In another, he says that 1,600 died above the 91st floor alone in Tower 1. Now THIS ISN'T NITPICKING. These aren't just details; just numbers; they're lives. This is an inexcusable mistake. If you are going to take on a subject as important as this one, you had better get some facts straight, particularly this one.

I'm still waiting for the authoritative work on this subject to be published.

This is the story of the attack on our country on 9/11/01. The story goes all the way back to the late 1980's and originates in Afghanistan. Berstein does a good job of describing how bin Laden and his group of thugs got their grounding in the basics of terrorism. Not only bin Laden but some of the other members (Atta) are described in their early life.
Along with the story of the terrorists, there are stories of some of the victims of 09/11/01. Bernstein does a good job in describing their lives, so we know what America lost in this attack. Unlike other journalists, Berstein gives reasons why the FBI/CIA did not pick up on the attack.
This is a good summary of the attacks and the reasons they originated. The title sums up the surprise Americans felt when the attack came.

I work just a 10 minute walk from Ground Zero, and so, although I was not at work on 9/11/01, what I saw on the TV that entire day will affect me forever. This book deserves the highest rating because it goes far beyond the mere telling of what happened that infamous day. Out of the Blue informs the reader of the complete who, what, where, and why of the day's events, and literally takes the reader through that day as if the reader had been a survivor or a doomed passenger on one of the hijacked planes. One gets thoroughly familiar with the lives and mentality of all the heroes and villains. Contrary to other 9/11/01 books currently available, this is not a simple picture book, it is not just a regurgitation of what happened. It actually puts into perspective an event that just seems inexplicable. On the contrary to a prior review, this book does not rekindle the horror, pain, and hurt. It is not insensitive to the horror of that day. Instead, it makes it easier for the reader to overcome, and better deal with the horror and pain.

I have been reading this text for my clinical psych class, and it's really informative. the authors provide a really good overview of everything so you get breadth and depth. The only drawback is the book is pretty dry reading. Some authors have the talent of making the textbook interesting and informative, but this is not one of those textbooks.

This textbook can be used as an introduction as its name suggests, and it also can be used as a kind of reference book after you have learned some more stuff in clinical psychology. What is good about this text is that it talks about every aspect of clinical psychology, from assesment, testing, observation, to intervention, and it also talks about sub areas such as child clinical, health psychology, neuropsychology, and forensic psychology. It sites many famous studies in clinical psychology. Good examples and some accounts on history as well.

Paul Bernstein carefully examines the extremely slow and painful shifts in American work values taken from their European orgins to the present.

Generally speaking, the book describes how the individual has subscribed to the work ethic through the centuries under various types of conditions based on birth, education, skill, tenacity and pure luck.

The book also deals with "the debates related to work and welfare that has always been a controversy over public assistance to the deserving and undeserving poor."

One great theme that is illustrated quite well throughout the book is the persistent challenge for the individual, especially one taught to believe that hard work will be rewarded with opportunities, to delicately balance between work, pleasure, personal, and leisure activities. I keep asking myself (for the first time in my life) why can't people work smarter, not harder in America? Unfortunately, this issue must be resolved by reading other books since the author did not faithfully address this important topic.

This book has an incredible number of footnotes backed up with an exorbitant amount of pages pointing to other references. I found the book to be extremely difficult to read. I had to review chapters over and over again, to figure out what the author was trying to explain. Some very important parts were simply "glossed over." There are sections throughout the book that require proofreading for the next edition because it is repetitive and not carefully organized.

Credit must be given to the author for the extremely valuable gems that I did synthesize from the book. It was worth it. However, please condense it into fifty pages. This is a wonderful book!

Richard Bernstein's book suffers from one fault: he offers no answers. Moreover, he does not even try to offer answers.
Bernstein starts by saying "There has to be some way which is beyond objectivism and and relativism". Then he goes on to examine the works of other philosophers, saying what he is for and against. But then, in the end, he offers no solution. Not only does he NOT tell us what this way "which has got to be" is, but he never draws conclusions from his readings of other philosophers. Like a film, which does not want to tell the viewer what to think, Bernstein will not say much. The book, in the end, turns out to be a REVIEW of OTHER THINKERS on the subject of going beyond objectivism and relativism. So one gets some good summaries of other thinkers on a subject with little else. That is why other reviewers of his book, in no way, state what Bernstein believes.

As a book report, it gets 3 stars. As a book with an idea, it gets one.

His essays, in other books, seem to suffer from the same fault.

Equipped with a synoptic point of view, Bernstein has long worked the difficult terrain between continental philosophy and its more positivist Anglo-American counterpart. Here he traces what he believes is a key movement away from the broad modern tradition characterized by Descartes and the perennial search for philosophical foundations. Not always self-consciously, this emerging movement (Gadamer, Rorty, et. al.) rejects the Cartesian search for absolutes as ultimately futile; yet refuses to accept relativism as the only remaining recourse. The book's burden is to show how a viable 'third way' is in fact emerging from the overlaps in the movement. His discussion is stimulating, ranging from Aristotle to Kuhn to Habermas, Kant and Arendt. No doubt he has put his finger on an acutely felt issue of our skeptical age, one that lurks ubiquitously in the background of more narrowly framed topics. Yet, how effectively this third way manages to extricate itself from the either-or of objectivism vs. relativism is up to the individual reader to judge. Frankly, I was disappointed, feeling that the results were unduly vague and pointing in the direction of a sophisticated brand of sociological relativism. Be that as it may, the text includes not a single mention of post-modernism, which may date the work in the eyes of some. Still, the meta-philosophical issue Bernstein addresses can be discussed quite apart from those specific to post-moderns and their recourse to outright relativism. As always, Bernstein remains an important interpreter of international trends and is well worth the read.

Richard Bernstein is one of the most balanced and deeply thoughtful Americans doing philosophy today. Thoroughly at home in several different schools of contemporary thought, he writes with exceptional clarity and generosity of spirit. This book is one of his most important. At a time when most Americans seem convinced that objectivism and relativism are our only options and that if objectivism is ultimately incoherent nothing remains but a relativism that ultimately makes conversation impossible, this book can be a life-saver! Respectful of what the physical and life sciences can do and contribute, Bernstein makes clear the limits of their methods and the reasonableness of turning to alternative ways of knowing and thinking for other realms of meaning, value, and reality. A careful reading of this book could save everybody years of wandering up and down blind alleys. This is philosophy written to communicate with others and to be helpful, rather than to inflate the author's ego and display sophistication. It can change the way you inhabit the world and put your feet on a path that takes you in the direction of hope and solidarity.

Some will dismiss this book as "right wing extremism," but much of what left wing extremists tiresomely brand with that distinction is in fact mainstream conservatism, common sense moderation, and a great deal of old fashioned liberalism. In fact, a few of the brave souls cited by Bernstein for their unpopularly heroic stands against multi-cultural mumbo-jumbo have impeccably liberal resumes.

Bernstein himself is not someone who falls into the ultra right wing category. A former journalist for publications not known as sympathetic to conservatives," he occasionally mentions that he favors multi-culturalism but obviously worries about what happens when it is taken to the extreme levels he documents as being the norm in many educational institutions from grammar schools up through colleges.

Bernstein offers a broad summary on the diversity craze that has engulfed much of academia, government, and corporate America. Through the examples he cites, he astutely reveals one of the fads' practitioners' most punitive pursuits--their unabashed willingness to smear anyone who merely questions any segment of this shaky doctrine. Proponents of this brainwashing technique never catch the irony that they are squashing all diverse opinions in favor of one tolerable mindset. That this is all done in the name of tolerance and diversity would be amusing were the stakes not so high.

The book's highlight and one of the most significant assaults on the diversity warfare is the detailed effort against New York City's planned rainbow curriculum close to a decade ago. An uncoordinated effort of multi-racial voices valiantly fought and successfully defeated the city's wacky plan to teach alternate sexual practices beginning with books like "Heather has two Mommies" in kindergarten.

Richard Bernstein, as he self-professed at a small lecture of his I attended a few years ago, is no conservative. Indeed, his politics are almost the exact opposite. That's what this book all the more an eye-opener -- a devastating critique of radical multiculturalism by a liberal. Bernstein travels the country examining the topic, and his writing style keeps you focused on his journey. As a teacher, I found the story of Brookline, Mass. quite interesting; indeed, I have encountered similar aspects of that vignette around my own district, unfortunately.

Contrary to what one reviewer here claims, Richard Bernstein's analysis of political correctness is trenchant and scrupulously fair to all concerned. What may be especially disconcerting for the ideologically-committed leftist reader is that Bernstein's critique comes not from a right-wing mindset, but from a traditional liberal, pragmatic point of view. What Bernstein nails so accurately is how utterly anti-intellectual political correctness is. He also takes some of his examples from outside the academy, something sure to rile PC cultists who know full well how ridiculous their views are when exposed to the daylight outside a college classroom. History teachers should pair this book up with Richard Hofstadter's "Anti-Intellectualism in American Life" for a lively discussion of how American culture acts instinctively to repress original thought.

Writing books is harder than reviewing them. Richard Bernstein is a book reviewer for the New York Times, and with "Ultimate Journey," he tries to write a book about a journey he took in Asia retracing the steps of Xuanzang (Hsuan Tsang). A Chinese Buddhist monk who was one of the world's greatest explorers, Xuanzang travelled over 16 years in the 7th century A.D. from China through Central Asia to India and back to China to bring back numerous Buddhist scriptures. Bernstein, a China "scholar" in his graduate student days and former New York Times correspondent in China, tried to recreate that journey in 1999. However, the book is a major disappointment, as it is MORE about Bernstein's own Manhattan-aging-yuppie-midlife crisis than about Buddhism, Xuanzang or Asian travels. To start with, he mixes transliteration systems (pinyin and Wades-Giles, and even Grousset's unorthodox system, i.e., Hiouan-Tsang), going back and forth among all three with no consistency. He is careless about spelling, using Urumqi and Urumchi alternatively, and careless with people's names and places. The whole book, although chronological, is disjointed, as it digresses about his childhood, his current life in Manhattan, his love life (or lack of), spiritual and philosophical musings, and other assorted subjects. One comes away with very little understanding of Xuanzang's life or what was the importance of his travels. It works better as a travelogue, but ultimately all those digressions about Bernstein's life, rather than the places he's visiting, make this a very unsatisfying and annoying read.

For more on the life of Xuanzang, Sally Hovey Wriggins' "Xuanzang: A Buddhist Pilgrim on the Silk Road" is a far superior book.

"'Form is emptiness and emptiness is form' we can imagine Hsuan
Tsang chanting to himself as he was wandering, small and alone, under
the yellowing sky" (p. 69), Richard Bernstein writes. His
ULTIMATE JOURNEY is actually about three journeys. It is about the
seventh-century pilgrimage of Hsuang Tsang, a Chinese Buddhist monk,
"over icy mountains and through scorched deserts" (p. 6), on
horseback, camel-back, elephant-back and on foot (p. 5), in search for
"the ultimate truth, the truth beyond truth" that will
enable him to become a bodhisattva, an enlightened being (p. 243). It
is about Bernstein's middle-aged attempt escape his "quarrel with
bourgeois life" (p. 7), and "to make some kind of
connection" (p. 86) with the ancient monk by travelling to China
to retrace Hsuan Tsang's 10,000-mile journey from China to India. It
is also about Bernstein's own search for meaning in his life as an
unmarried, Jewish, New York Times' book critic.

This is not your
typical religious travelogue. For one thing, Bernstein is not an
especially religious person, and admits he is "skeptical"
(p. 244) of Buddhism. However, in retracing the footsteps of Hsuan
Tsang to Lumbini, the birthplace of the Buddha (p. 204), to Sarnath,
where the Buddha delivered his first teachings (p. 219), and to the
Bodhi Tree in Bodhgaya, where the Buddha found enlightenment (p. 234),
Berenstein develops a reverence for Buddhism--which he considers
"an intellectual religion" (p. 33)--"as a manner of
sifting the glitter from the substance, as a means of overcoming the
shallowness of the self and of reaching for the tranquil power of the
mind" (p. 33). Still, Bernstein finds no answers in Buddhism.
Travelling "The Road of Great Events," however, he seems to
discover the goal of man is to know himself (p. 273).

This is a
fascinating book, and a 352-page JOURNEY worth travelling. In the
same genre--and if you missed it last year, I also recommend George
Crane's, BONES OF THE MASTER (2000).

G. Merritt

As Bernstein quotes in the book, "No ship ever takes you away from yourself." And just as Conrad's journeys in the Congo were deeper than just a boat ride, Bernstein's travels through China, Tajikistan, Pakistan, Kazakhstan and India are not only a travelogue, but a personal journey at age 50. Most American school children are familiar with Marco Polo, who traveled from Europe to Asia. Some Jewish children are familiar with Benjamin of Tudela, a Jewish explorer. But nearly none are familiar with Hsuan Tsang, a Monk who lived in 603-664, who was the greatest land traveler in history. Nearly all Asian children know of his esteemed adventures. Hsuan Tsang wrote "The Great Tang Chronicles of The Western World", based on his over fifteen years and 10,000 miles of journeys, journeys made by foot, horse, camel, and elephant. While Marco Polo sought riches, Monk Hsuan Tsang sought the source of reality and Buddhist Wisdom (although his emperor sought details to help craft military and political policies). Fast forward over 1,300 years. The author, raised on a chicken farm, is a book critic for The New York Times. He is a former Harvard Chinese History student, was a Peace Corps volunteer (in China), and was Time Magazine's Beijing bureau chief. When he turned fifty years of age, Bernstein, unmarried (half a man as the Talmud wrote) and antsy, moody and difficult to please, decided to fulfill some promises that he made to himself. These included sailing to Tahiti, reading Proust, writing a novel, making furniture, and, oh, yes, following the 5,000 mile route of Hsuan Tsang from China to Southern India. And so, Bernstein gets some time off from The Times, packs a bag, flies to Hong Kong and Xian China, and embarks on Hsuan Tsang's trek (although his Chinese American girlfriend does join this commitment-phobe for part of the trip). A great read for 2001.

[Jewish readers will especially want to read Chapter 16, in which Bernstein, arriving in West Bengal on a Friday afternoon, seeks out the Calcutta synagogue he had noted on an earlier visit in 1970. Seeking to satiate a desire for tribal attachment, he finds the Sephardic services at the Canning Street shul (no longer on Synagogue Street), and is the tenth man for the Shabbat minyan]

The central premise of Richard Bernstein and Ross Munro's "The Coming Conflict With China" is that China's rise to power necessarily puts it on a collision course with the United States. Needless to say, there is absolutely no evidence that this premise is true. Three developments that have occurred during the year since the book's publication demonstrate its inaccuracy. First, relations between the U.S. and China have warmed considerably, and indications are that this trend will continue. Second, since its reunification with China, Hong Kong has not experienced the grim "crackdown on human rights" that Bernstein and Munro so confidently predict. And third, relations between China and Taiwan are slowly but surely thawing, and will likely lead to resumed negotiations before the end of the year, despite the authors' claim that war between China and Taiwan is fairly likely. Furthermore, Bernstein and Munro's argument is patchy and unconvincing, at best. For example, one of their main theses is that Beijing has officially identified the U.S. as China's main enemy; in order to prove this, the authors provide a list of anti-American quotations from various Chinese officials, generals, and intellectuals. However, this proves only that there are anti-American voices in China (is this a surprise?), NOT that this is Beijing's official policy. It would be just as easy to compile a list of anti-China quotations from American sources, but this would prove nothing. Amusingly, Bernstein and Munro assume with unusual arrogance and Eurocentric conceit that American hegemony in Asia is the only natural and viable option for world order. Apparently, it has never occurred to the authors that it might actually make more sense for China to be the dominant influence of Asia than for the U.S. to be so. But the worst aspect of "The Coming Conflict With China" is its repetitiveness. Chapter after chapter, the authors restate their thesis, adding semi-relevant tidbits of data, as though each reprise contributes to the argument's validity. The Taiwan Strait incident of 1996 is mentioned at least a dozen times, always with the same ominous tone of foreboding signficance. Nevertheless, the book's arguments finally fall apart; the authors are unable to build a solid framework of concepts on given data. Rather, they attempt to alarm and distract and provoke the reader until their arguments take root. It's an interesting technique executed with moderate competence, but for people who are acquainted with the realities of the situation, it just doesn't work.

This is not the most scholarly book you will ever read. Let that be said right away. Also, as has been mentioned before, this book takes all of its cues from Huntington's "Clash of Civilizations." However, for any devotees of Huntington's theories (of which I am one) this is an interesting investigation of the one area of the world where the U.S. has the greatest potential for conflict in the near future.

Bernstein and Munro write each chapter about what they feel is a potentially important issue concerning U.S.-China relations. However the best, most interesting ones are those regarding Taiwan and the "New China Lobby." Most of you have probabaly never heard of the New China Lobby before and they are undoubtedly happy to hear that. The New China Lobby is in effect an organization of American and Chinese businesses which use their money and power to influence political decisions in the United States and to a much lesser extent in China. The number of despicable actions which have been instigated by this lobby is staggering and you will inevitably shake your head in disgust as you read how spineless many of our politicians are, and how ruthless businesses in both countries are. Many of the actions taken by the U.S. government were done in order to protect American business in China, the best example given by the authors is in regards to the Boeing/Airbus struggle for the Chinese market. Yet there are numerous others which simply smack of greed. If you are interested in reading more evidence of how big business has hijacked American politics the New China Lobby chapter of this book will be of particular interest.

The rest of the book is well informed and clearly written. It does not, as other reviewers have implied, treat the Chinese strictly in a stereotypically racist manner. What it does do is attempt to talk about the issues rather than around them. It is also worth mentioning that the chapter on Taiwan is written mostly in a narrative format detailing a possible sequence of events which could lead to American involvement in a conflict in the Taiwan Strait. Lastly, lest you fear that this book is all doom and gloom... fear not. Bernstein and Munro have a mostly positive outlook for the future and sincerely believe that it is more likely we will continue on without any armed conflict, they merely point out the circumstances that might lead to it.

A well-written and researched book. The authors take a realistic geo-political view of the relationship between China and the United States. Their focus on the regional hegemony that drives China's foreign policy is eye opening. There are definitely problems ahead for the U.S., if for no other reason than this nation's economic investment in the Pacific Rim. But obviously there are other reasons, not the least of which are our security interest with Japan and Taiwan.

Perhaps the most intriguing and, clearly, the most troubling assertions from the authors are their detailed explorations of the China Lobby. If true, it is a disaster in the making. The highlights of which can be glimpsed in the Clinton administrations potential betrayal of this nation's security interest. The careless and cavalier manner in which technology has been transferred to the Chinese reflects the unrealistic representation of the Chinese government, their goals, and their interest, as portrayed by this country's most distinguished statesmen acting as a China Lobby.

A must read to understand the 21st century's geo-political world.