This is a book that should be bought two at a time (one to lend to friends). Serious students should return to it every few years along with George Orwell's essay on politics and the English language and C Wright Mills' appendix on intellectual craftsmanship in "The Sociological Imagination".

Barzun approached his special field of cultural history in a refreshingly irreverent manner. "You may like to think of culture - I often do - as an enormous pumpkin, hard to penetrate, full of uncharted hollows and recesses for cultural critics to get lost in, and stuffed with seeds of uncertain contents and destiny."

Early in his career he produced a connected series of books, starting with 'The French Race" (1932) and 'Race: A Study in Superstition" (1937 and 1965), moving on to "Darwin, Marx, Wagner" (1941) and "Romanticism and the Modern Ego" (1943). The major themes that connect these studies are (a) the appeal to race, class or nation to supply a new motive power for social change and (b) the an attempt to inject new life into the idols of Progress and Fatalism.

A subsequent theme in his work is the parlous state of learning and especially the widespread lack of understanding of the "house rules" for productive intellectual activity. The relevant books here are "The House of Intellect" (1959), "Science: The Glorious Entertainment"(1964) and "The American University" (1968).

The message of "The House of Intellect" is that its inhabitants, the intellectuals themselves, have trashed the house. The blame cannot be placed with the crassness or greed of big business, the shallowness of a consumer society, or the ignorance of the uneducated. The major malign influences are distorted perceptions of the nature and function of Art, Science and Philanthropy. These things have their value and their place, but Barzun shows how they have become diverted from their proper ends to impose in a destructive manner upon the conditions of scholarship and the life of the mind.

His comments on art later grew into a whole volume, "The Uses and Abuses of Art" and his views on the uses and abuses of science expanded into a whole book as well. The spirit of Philanthropy is expressed though the well-meant allocations of funds from the great foundations. However Barzun details how the net effect of this funding, especially that provided for conferences, is to dissipate rather than to concentrate thought, to take up time and effort on apparent novelties at the expense of solid and genuine but not superficially exciting or "relevant" work. A whole "grant application" industry emerged, engaging time and talents for trivial purposes, often enough dedicated to outright hokum, to the detriment of the proper function of intellectuals and intellect.

This book has "white dwarf" status because there is more in it each time it is re-read.

This is a very fair and balanced account of the history, beliefs, and practices of Islam. It does not glorify Islam, does not criticize it, nor is there a whitewash of the violence that has occured in its name.

Islam is the second-largest religion in the world and the fastest-growing religion in the U.S. and worldwide, yet Westerners and especially Americans are appallingly ignorant of this major force in today's world. There has been a sustained disinformation campaign by the Christian Church against Islam for over a thousand years, and this prejudice has worked its way invisibly into Western culture. It is imperceptible to most Westerners and is felt intensely by Muslims.

This book does much to inform and to clarify. It is doubly surprising, then, that it was written for Christian missionaries working in Islamic countries. Christians will find useful sidebars comparing and contrasting Christian and Islamic beliefs on several topics. Highly recommended.

indicaciones practicasparainiciar la histeroscopia,sus indicaciones y complicaciones

I am a dance from the Nation Dance Institute, more commonly know to us as NDI. I have met Jacques' d'Amboise and I have also been in the program for two years. This is my second year. This books really tells the truth, you would really feel like dancing :).

Martin Srjak provides a new and intriguing means of conceptualizing Derrida's project of deconstructionism. This book is a positive and articulate discussion of postmodernist ideas, and it will serve as a means for de-simplifying many of the overly simplistic ideas about poststructuralist discourse.

Slaver

I read this book from cover to cover. It was writen for the neurosugeon, but with the help of a dictionary and a desire to learn I found out so much about my preoperational problem. My doctor found a Intramedullary Ependymoma at T-6 and I wanted to learn all I could. This book was a great help to me in understanding what I could expect dearing the surgery and after. I let my Doctor see it before the surgury and gave it to him after I was out of surgery and in NICU. The book is first rate with lots of pictures and examples of what these spinal cord tumors look like and how they respond to surgery. As I said it was not an easy book to read, but its very readable for the person who wants to resurch their needs or the needs of a loved one that is facing "Intramedullary Spinal Cord Surgery. Two years ago there was very little information out about this rare tumor group. This was the best book that dealt with just the spinal cord and the tumors that find themselves within. I would highly recommend it to patients and doctors. I think doctors could use this as a teachin tool for their patients and show them what they are facing. After giving my copy to my neurosurgen I wanted my own copy, because I've wanted to refer back to it so many times. It's expensive, but relize who it was writen for. Its more like a medical text book. I'm glad I read it and glad I have it in my library.

An excellent read for somone with PCOS or a profesional. Hard to follow for the lay person.

...for any beginner in the field of psychology and Lacanían studies. The best available Lacan dictionary up to date.