This book contains a variety of information about how people (mostly Africans) without an extensive formal education view contagious disease. Green reports that traditional healers and their patients throughout Africa attribute diseases such as AIDs, diarrhea, and tuberculosis to such things as poor hygiene or promiscuity rather than to witchcraft or black magic. He goes on to argue that since traditional healers are so much more numerous, accessible, and approachable than medical practitioners, public health programs must include them rather than dismiss their work out of hand, noting that their theories of contagious disease aren't irreconcilable with medical accounts after all. As a general anthropological book, the coverage is a little disappointing since it focuses so closely on Africa- -I would have liked to have seen more comparisons of theories of disease held by people of other cultures with similar levels of education. Green tends to assume that readers have fairly extensive knowledge of both medical and anthropological terminology, since he uses words like "etiology" and "fontanel" without explanation. Overall, this book should be of interest to medical anthropologists, particularly those specializing in African cultures.

Green ranks among the foremost practitioners of applied medical anthropology who work in developing societies. His focused contract work and extensive published scholarship reflect a strong commitment to separating myth from reality in public health and medical pluralism. In this book, focused mainly on Subsaharan Africa, he exposes the practical and theoretical underpinnings of indigenous systems of medical knowledge, ignorance of which limits the value of biomedical treatment and stifles beneficial collaboration. Green argues that biomedicine has been handicapped and diminished by its failure to learn about and work with pre-exisiting, indigenous medicine. Many problems mirror this weakness, including child survival efforts and STD and HIV/AIDS control. Ironically, as 21st Century begins, biomedicine remains politically powerful, yet it is conceptually and therapeutically underdeveloped in its ability to advance human health in Africa and the developing world.
Green's careful, balanced analysis of indigenous theories of contagious disease is an antidote for ignorance. His book represents a crucial first step toward abandoning inter-cultural and professional prejudices that hinder best practices in healing, wellness, and community health. He argues that popularized theories of disease causation in Africa, including witchcraft, sorcery ,and magic, have fostered a "myth of excessive supernaturalism." This myth has evolved with little reference to ethnographic facts and is part of the belief system of Western-educated anthropologists and medical professionals. Acceptance of this particular "story" of disease causation has helped entrench a theoretically unsound basis for biomedical praxis in multicultural settings. Green asserts that indigenous African etiologic models reflect a high prevalence of ideas about naturalisitic and impersonal causes, much of which is linked to contagion and pollution. The models and evidence he discovered do not support the notion that supernatural forces reign paramount in African disease frameworks. Instead, Africans emphasize naturalistic and impersonal causes of illness, rather than human agency and unseen forces.
Green's aims to create a more balanced view of ethnomedicine and to make the case for an Indigenous Contagion Theory (ICT). This, he believes, can help to foster mutual awareness of common ground shared by the two systems. The etiologic overlap holds promise as a basis for cooperation between biomedicine and traditional healers.
Early chapters review a broad spectrum of African health beliefs and etiologies, Bantu ideas about pollution and other forms of contagion, and the relationship of disease resistance and the internal snake/equilibrium concept. These are followed mid-book by essays about notions of contagion in childhood diarrhea, STDs and AIDS (arguably the finest chapter) , and infectious diseases such as malaria, TB, Bilharzia, epilepsy, and other syndromes identified with specific ethnic groups in southern Africa.
In the penultimate chapter, Green places ICT in a broader, even global perspective and asks: "Does it matter if illness is thought of in natural or personalistic terms" (p. 217)? He connects this question to the issue of fostering a change in outlook and practice among health professionals who have carried "a negative, dismissive, etic mind-set." Green seeks common ground, identifying the elements of African ICT (naturalistic infection, mystical contagion (pollution), environmental hazards, and illness from taboo violations). He argues persuasively that public health initiatives will be more effective if those who design and implement them have "an empirically based understanding of existing ethnomedical beliefs" (pp. 217-18). In "Theoretical Implications," the final chapter, Green cites "archaic templates of contagion" as a basis for interpreting the similarity of models of contagious illnesses among Bantu societies. There is extensive discussion of hypotheses about and critiques of adaptive models of health beliefs.
Biomedicine has never, anywhere, at any time, been poured into "empty vessels." This is unfortunate myth is sustained by the professionalization of health care and biomedicine's presumed omnipotence. Further, there is the corollary that scientific medicine cannot be reconciled with indigenous therapy because the latter is believed to be too heavily invested in human agency and the supernatural. In Africa this has led to a situation in which doctors and clinical assistants, nurses and public health professionals, and Ministry of Health officials and international agencies operate in a landscape of de facto medical and public health "apartheid." Whereas biomedical resources remain thin, there is little reliable, useful information in circulation about the indigenous systems that serve the majority of the population. The latter are usually assumed to be either dangerous or irrelevant. Meanwhile, it remains well-established that most people do not choose between indigenous or modern practitioners, but rather seek help across the range of available alternatives for particular conditions. Professional myopia concerning the nature and health implications of this behavior inhibits good health care, prevention, and promotion. Green's effort to dig up the facts and stimulate professional action could lead to measurable benefits for the clients of the various indigenous and biomedical healing professions.
Green's case for ICT is compelling. This reviewer also believes that naturalistic and impersonal disease causation has long been underestimated. Also, few developments promise more positive health results than sustainable collaboration between traditional healers and biomedical sector. Yet, one cautions against allowing the pendulum of causation to swing so far as to unduly minimize supernatural and personalistic interpretations. Fieldwork by this reviewer in Kenya among rural and urban Akamba healers revealed, two decades ago, that 98 percent ranked 'God-given'/natural causes first. Yet witchcraft was the second most common cause of illness, reported by 86 percent of the healers. Not all diseases have mutually exclusive causes. Circumstances may allow for a naturalistic interpretation in one episode and a personalistic (witchcraft) explanation at another time or with a different patient. Furthermore, both interpretations may apply. Today, few Africans remain unaware that STDs and HIV primarily spread through sexual contact. However, human agency--manifested as a desire to send a harmful "message" to someone--may be the ultimate explanation of why the virus victimized a particular person.
Green writes well and provides a high standard of scholarship. The book should deservedly enjoy a broad readership among health workers, social scientists, and those in a position to influence health policies. (Adapted from C. Good, J. of Alternative and Complementary Medicine (2000).

Anthropologist Edward Green once again has produced an important and highly readable contribution to the fields of medical anthropology and international development work. In his latest book based on decades of extensive fieldwork and development assistance in Africa, Southeast Asia, and elsewhere, the author of STD and AIDS in Africa and other pioneering works has deepened his examination of indigenous healing and disease prevention strategies. This innovative study models an effective bridge and integration between what Green terms "indigenous theories of contagious disease" (or "ITC"), with Western biomedical norms of disease etiology and treatment.

His thoughtful, measured analysis of ITC and its implications for public health arrives as a long-awaited and crucial response to the all-too-frequent dismissal of -- if not downright opposition to -- indigenous healing practices and belief systems on the part of foreign aid workers, development "experts" and often even by Western-educated nationals of African and other developing regions. Green's creative ideas for integrating ITC with biomedicine are of paramount and timely importance towards addressing a number of today's health plagues, from AIDS to TB, malaria and a host of other contagious scourges. As he reasons, "We do no injustice to science and medicine, and certainly not to public health, if we build on - rather than ignore or confront - indigenous contagion beliefs in our attempts to mitigate the ravages of infectious diseases" (p. 18).

The author clearly strives to avoid either/or polarizations in his analysis of ITC's potential - and above all fundamentally down-to-earth -- contributions to efficacious public health prevention and patient care. As one cogent example:

"Critics of the approach of this book might argue that it is impossible to separate ethnomedical beliefs that are traditional from those that have been influenced - perhaps heavily so - by Western biomedical ideas and education. My response is that African ethnomedicine, like African religion, seems always to have been an open, changing, adaptive system that incorporates new ideas and beliefs even if it reworks them to suit existing beliefs. And, from a practical viewpoint, it does not matter how much biomedical ideas about, for example, microbes has influenced indigenous "germ" theories of unseen insects. What is important is the nature and content of the present belief system, however blended and syncretistic it might be. The fact that some Swazi bogobela - master healers who train initiates - teach that bilharzia [Schistosomiasis] is caused by snail-contaminated water only proves that new, foreign ideas have been adapted and adopted into the present etiological system by its most conservative and influential participants. It is the present belief system - not an imagined pure system of the past - that needs to be understood by those in public health who would influence popular health beliefs and practices in ways deemed compatible with public health (p. 202)."

Anthropologists and other readers interested in the evolutionary and other bio-socio-cultural (pre)historical underpinnings to ITC will find the book's theoretical reflections, summarized in the final chapter, especially thought-provoking. Green argues for a more visible place at the table for his and similarly adaptive anthropological perspectives concerning the complex interface between environment, disease and population in human societies. His conclusion is that "Undue focus on witchcraft beliefs and practices by anthropologists and others has not contributed to the incorporation of ethnomedical findings in public health programs - something many anthropologists bemoan as a serious oversight. However, we are more likely to see health programs informed by ethnomedical research if we place more emphasis where it deserves to be: not on witchcraft beliefs - which is probably the area of least compatibility between indigenous medicine and Western public health - but instead on naturalistic understandings of contagious illnesses" (p. 269-70).

My only criticism of this consistently high-caliber work concerns a reference in Green's book to the frequently cited notion of "super-strains" or unusually virulent subtypes of HIV (p. 181). Max Essex, chair of the Harvard AIDS Institute, and some other researchers have speculated that certain strains, or "clades," of HIV may be more prevalent and hence more infectious among heterosexual populations - thereby explaining, at least in part, the striking discrepancies in HIV rates apparent between different world regions. However, the current consensus among most epidemiologists and virologists is that Essex's initial speculation was incorrect. Melissa Pope of Rockefeller University and Essex himself have tried and failed to reproduce his preliminary results in the laboratory. In Haiti and some other Caribbean and Latin American countries, there are heterosexual epidemics with predominately the same "clade B" virus found in the U.S. and Western Europe, and the Philippines and some other low-HIV countries have exposure to those clade C and E "superstrains" ravaging through such high-HIV areas as Thailand and the "AIDS Belt" of Eastern/Central and Southern Africa. Inspired by Green's own manner of thinking, should we not look primarily to different social environments and cultural-behavioral practices to account for such epidemiological phenomena?

This minor point aside, few readers will be disappointed by Edward's Green's latest and most incisive contribution to the evolving exploration into the multiplicity of human cultures and their rich and complex array of traditional (and modern) healing systems.

Anyone interested in learning string theory could perhaps start with the current formulation involving D-branes and M theories. This is certainly possible and will lead one to the frontiers of research. However, it would not perhaps give one an appreciation of string theory that would be obtained by persuing a study that explains how it arose in the study of the strong interaction . This book, written by three giants in string theory, will give the reader such a study, and was the first book to appear on the subject. The book is a monograph, and not a textbook, since no exercises appear, but it could still serve as a reference and "required reading" for courses in string theory.

The learning of string theory can be a formidable undertaking for those who lack the mathematical background. Indeed, a proper understanding of string theory, not just a forma one, will require a solid understanding of algebraic and differential geometry, algebraic topology, and complex manifolds. There are many books on these subjects, but I do not know of one what will give the student of string theory an in-depth understanding of the relevant mathematics. These two volumes include two rather lengthy chapters on mathematics, one on differential geometry and the other on algebraic geometry. The mastery of these two chapter will give readers a formal understanding of the mathematics, and will allow them to perform calculations in string theory efficiently, but do not give the insight needed for extending its frontiers. There have been a few books published on string theory since these two volumes appeared, but they too fail in this regard (and some even admit to doing so). To gain the necessary insight into the mathematics will entail a very time-consuming search of the early literature and many face-to-face conversations with mathematicians. The "oral tradition" in mathematics is real and one must embed onself in it if a real, in-depth understanding of mathematics is sought.

The physics of string theory though is brought out with incredible skill by the authors, and the historical motivation given in the introduction is the finest in the literature. Now legendary, the origin of string theories in the dual models of the strong interaction is discussed in detail. The Veneziano model, as discussed in this part, has recently become important in purely mathematical contexts, as has most every other construction in string theory. The mathematical results that have arisen from string theory involves some of the most fascinating constructions in all of mathematics, and mathematicians interested in these will themselves be interested in perusing these volumes, but will of course find the approach mathematically non-rigorous.

Some of the other discussions that stand out in the book include: 1. The global aspects of the string world sheet and the origin of the moduli space, along with its connection to Teichmuller space. 2. The world-sheet supersymmetry and the origin of the integers 10 and 26 as being a critical dimension. In this discussion, the authors give valuable insight on a number of matters, one in particular being why the introduction of an anticommuting field mapping bosons to bosons and fermions to fermions does not violate the spin-statistics theorem. 3. The light-cone gauge quantization for superstrings. The authors show that the manifestly covariant formalism is equivalent to the light-cone formalism and is ghost-free in dimension 10. The light-cone gauge is used to quantize a covariant world-sheet action with space-time supersymmetry, with this being Lorentz invariant in dimension 10. This allows, as the authors explain in lucid detail, the unification of bosonic and fermionic strings in a single Fock space. 4. Current algebra on the string world sheet and its origin in the need for distributing charge throughout the string, rather than just at the ends. The origin of heterotic string theory is explained in this context.

Why I still recommend this book rather than Polchinski's book is because this book presents more motivation and physics of string theory. In the 90s, there was string duality revolution, a side-effect of which is that string theorists neglect experiments.

While the subject of string theory has undergone considerable and radical change since publication of this text and since Polchinski's recent texts takes some of the steam out of this title, overall it remains a relevant part of the literature for a number of reasons. First, vol I clearly serves a vital role as a secondary source to both of Polchinski's text and vice versa: Polchinski's vol's I&II update Green / Schwarz / Witten's (GSW) vol I. Whereas Polichinski's vol I focuses exclusively on the bosonic strings GSW vol I includes both supersymmetric & bosonic string theory. A reader can then go along way on joining vol I of Polchinski and vol I of GSW.

But probably the greatest reason to purchase this title is the insight into string theory that is offered by these particular authors --- individuals who have each served as principle architects of string theory since its inception and through its many revolutions.

In general, the prose is congenial as is the level of sophistication in physical and mathematical argument. The mathematical apparatus of string theory can become very heavy very quickly and these authors orient the reader in that difficult terrain in a truly adroit fashion.

"Blueprint for a green economy" is an excellent overveiw of the field of environmental economics. The author covers much hotly debated, technical (and now possibly dated) areas of environmental economics in a way that is easily accessable to the lay audience. The book explains efficient and affordable environmental policy at a national level(at a global level is explained in the sequel), and rejects the previous 'command and control' policies of the past.

However, what seperates this book from other books on the subject of economics, is its philosophical tint. In one of the most interesting chapters the author explains the "tyranny of discounting" and goes on to show that this may not always be a rational and equitable process for the valuation of future hapiness, or suffering. Indeed there are many forms of efficiency but these may not always be equitable. The implications being that current reduction of capital for future generations is not just.

Overall, although the book is over a decade old, it is still both interesting and relevent for anyone that cares about the future state of the world.

I am glad such a precious book of reference on how to manage the economies in a more socially and environmentally sustainable way, if that is ot a pleonasm, has had more recent editions. Its first edition became my general guide in the nine years I have served as the directing officer of the Bahia State Environmental Agency. The results from the ideas presented in the book were just very good. Hence, the book can be classified by me as "overwhelming". I could say much more, but let me stop here with the wishes that the authors continue researching ways to promote ecology and economy with hand-in -hand systems, as foreseen by the words of Franklin Roosevelt's, as shown in with bronze letters placed on beautiful and shiny red granite planes at the FDR Memorial, in Washington, D.C.. Best regards to all, Durval Olivieri.

Book was very factual. I do not recall the road to the "On Time" ferry having a 90 degree turn to the dock. It was more like an arc. The bridge road was at 100-115 degree right turn. The DA, my next door neighbor, needs further examination. The author should not assume she drowned. An autopsy would have painted a far different picture. Money buys many things.

Since the only other review of this book doesn't make any sense, I thought it necessary to write a coherent one. This book is truly incredible. It proves Ted Kennedy's guilt with clarity and integrity. The facts are simply undeniable - if it weren't for Ted, Mary Jo would be alive today. The Kennedy family has long been America's sweethearts. It is high time that they are revealed as murders, philanderers, cheaters, liars and losers. Sorry, but this is coming from an Irish Catholic who is ashamed to admit that the Kennedys claim some ties to the land of her origin! They are all bad but Ted Kennedy is the worst. He should be behind bars- this book will tell you why. Read it - it's a well done piece of detective work and it will hold your interest. It may also make your blood boil - but that's not the authors' fault! DOWN WITH THE KENNEDYS!

The soft-cover Wordsworth Classics edition of The Return of Sherlock Holmes reproduces The Hound of the Baskervilles and the short stories that make up The Return of Sherlock Holmes as they originally appeared in the Strand. It also contains the interesting, though poorly reproduced, illustrations that accompanied the stories. Because a page of the magazine is reduced to the size of a trade paperback page, typeface is very small.

As an Englishman. resident in the United States, what do I miss most? The BBC. As a little boy I looked forward to all the broadcast plays every week. The BBC cast performed about 6 hours of radio plays every week. They still do, haven't you also noticed the number of TV plays broadcast by A and E? Most of them originate in the United Kingdom, Hornblower, ETC.. Now we can enjoy the performances by means of these Bantam Double Day releases. Very well done, by a very experienced cast, you can let your imagination run riot as you picture the various scenes in your mind. These are the classic stories by Sir Arther Conan Doyle. They have been around for 100 years or so, and time has not diminished their appeal. On this Audio Book you have 4 stories, each about 45 minutes long. If you haven't heard these before, then I don't wish to spoil the story line. If you know the stories then you will not be disappointed. Each story is presented in the time period of around the 1900's, you can almost smell the gas lighting, not to mention the foggy november weather, the horses, and so on. Order these from Amazon, and search for more of the BBC plays, they are great.

A Tale of Troy is the easy way of reading Homer's Iliad. It's the same story, but under 300 pages and is more user friendly. A Tale of Troy describes the beginning and end of the Trojan War. It retells from the Iliad the stories of Achilles, Hector, Odysseus and his later adventures home, and many other fascinating stories. The only downside to this book is that since it is a simplified version of The Iliad, to fully understand some of the dialoue and references a reader mus know some backround of Greeks and Roman mythology(You can still enjoy the book without even heard of Zeus before, but the story goes better when you know about The Olympian War etc.)This book is great for any young teen between 13-15 who likes adventure and action.

In this fantastic, beautifully-crafted story, mythology expert Roger Lancelyn Green weaves the tale of the last big "Hoorah" of the Heroic age. Green's colorfully-written portrayal of the fantastic battles fought by Greece against the wicked Troy is a must-have for any avid reader! He describes in vivid detail the bravest heroes of the age, from clever and cunning Odysseus to brave and strong Achilles, who fight zealously to win back the tender Helen, told to be the most beautiful woman in the world, but stolen by the evil city of Troy. Sit back and marvel as you witness the ongoing struggle between cities, each fight sequence written to put you right in the action in this absolutely fabulous book that will keep you on the edge of your seat!

I'm sure every recipe in this cookbook is delicious, but I seldom use it and regret buying it. This would be a good book for people who see cooking as a hobby: something they do occasionally, for fun, without worrying about time, convenience, health or expense. For everyday cooking, it's pretty much useless. The recipes are all quite time-consuming and complicated, requiring, for instance, special stock which must be homemade and for which store-bought substitutes would be unacceptable. Lots of the recipes are heavy on the butter and cream, which is fine for special occasions but not the way I want to cook on a regular basis.

I would recommend this book to anyone looking for special-occasion recipes. Everything I've cooked out of it has turned out great, and I would definately consult it for dinner parties or similar occasions. But I don't think it will be a particularly useful cookbook for busy people trying to eat in a reasonably healthy manner.

This, together with Yamuna Devi's "The Art of Indian Vegetarian Cooking," is my favorite cookbook.

As has been mentioned in other reviews here, the recipes are somewhat complicated. I am slowly working my way through the book and have already attempted almost 50 of the recipes.

The first few recipes were daunting and I was tempted to give up on the book, but the more recipes I tried, the easier it got. I found that I was learning something.

As others have mentioned, I also don't have all day to prepare a meal, and more often than not, I will only cook from this book on weekends, though to be fair, not all of the recipes are as time-consuming as they seem.

I highly recommend this book to anyone who also considers cooking a hobby and not just a means to an end.

I have been to The Greens Restaurant in San Francisco a number of times since 1991, including one special occasion: my best friend's wedding reception in 1996. The restaurant is superb, one of the best in SF and in any city! My husband turned me on to the cook book back in 1992, and since then we refer to it more often than The Joy of Cooking. Our favorite recipes include the mushroom pizza with jack and dry jack cheese, and the mushroom lazagne. These are not beginner's recipes, but the directions are easy to follow if you're familiar with all the standard cooking techniques. The recipes are out of this world!

I personally am not a vegetarian, but these recipes take your vegetables and taste buds beyond your wildest dreams. I would recommend this cook book to anyone who likes cooking and eating fine food. If you're looking for easy recipes that take 10 minutes, you'll have to settle for hamburger helper or kraft macaroni and cheese... this is not the place for you! But if you love cooking and love trying new recipes, this is one to add to your collection.

I found this book interesting, but no more than that.
If have lack of experience and don't know basic procedures, you will find it able to solve your problems.

I went hunting for a book that had all or a good amount of the mathematical formulas/procedures explained in an easy to understand format. This is the book. I needed to brush up on my math from basics to calculus and this book has made the task easy. It's the type of book I would keep next to the encyclopedias in my library but I carry it with me every where I go. An electronic version of this reference would be a nice addition.

I though Anne of Green Gables and Anne of avonlea was a book that brings alot of joy and Anne, with all her imagination, is the best fictionnal character an author could imagine. I could read and re-read this book. I couldn't let it down

4 stars because only God gets 5 stars. This is the quintessential reference for native Hawaiian history, ethnobotany, culture, language, and lifestyle. It doesn't just cover what is what. It covers the who, what, when, where, why, and how. The depth of the coverage goes all the way to the migration routes. Unfortunately, a hard-back edition was never made. The book is worth every penny and is guaranteed to go up in value - CK