As a marketing consultant and someone who has personally had the privilege to meet and work with Dr. James Hutton, I give my glowing endorsement for a well written and useful marketing manuscript. Dr. Jim Hutton is a professor of Marketing Communications and this book is geared for the classroom. However, business owners and professionals in all industries would do themselves justice by buying and reading this book.

Well, the only reason anyone would need this book is if they were trying to understand the concepts of literature or if they were planning to write. AH, and if they are, this book is a CRUCIAL STUDY. As an English Major, I encountered WAY TOO MANY critiques that are based on absurd marxist theories. Remember, literature reflects a SPECIFIC TIME, PLACE, AND ERA! I am a devout Anglican and I DO NOT shun Hawthorne's work because much of it is Anti Anglican. I understand that Hawthorne was reflecting an Anti Anglican Period in America. It is absurd to judge literature harshly because it does not fall into contemporary political slots whatever they may be at the moment. This book by Aristotle is a concise, focused, and appropriate look at the concept of literature. He emphasizes the need of close conflicts as opposed to hero versus enemy. He also makes it clear that writing must have recognition and/or reversal at some point. Also, he states the need for surprise events. Another thing he does is he helps us see that some events may be important, but it is better to mention them instead of displaying them. He also stresses the need for characters to play on our fear or pity. While this is more of a reference book, it belongs in the library of any student of literature.

I loved this text! It is amazing and lyrical, an incomparable read! It now lives next to my bed, so that whenever I get the need I can read an extract (even at 2am) without having to search through the library for it.

This book (or perhaps just a portion of Aristotle's lecture notes) remains the acorn of an oak of subjects, from art criticism to writing screenplays. This is a clear, accurate translation (it helped me pass a test in Ancient Greek; and people who really know assure me). The text is no-frills and the introduction is brief but informative. This is probably not for scholars who will want to quibble over the meaning of 'phusis' and 'techne' but for the general reader who will be infinitely enriched by a philospical masterwork. If you have to read this for a class you will find it infinitely less punishing than Nietzsche, for example.

This is a memoir with chapters written in and after the 1880's.

An interesting positivist take on the war--also interesting how politically conscious Kidd appears to have been. My general observation is that the Northern accounts seem to be more politicized, more likely to talk about politicians and political beliefs, than Southern.

Kidd started the war as captain of Troop E, 6th Michigan Cavalry, and ended up in command of the regiment. He spends a lot of time discussing recruiting and training, details fighting at Gettysburg and Williamsport, Trevilian Station, Third Winchester, et cetera. Kidd's admiration for Custer, his brigadier, is clear.

A useful account, but not an especially anecdotal or vivid one.

This reprint of the classic "Recollections of a Cavalryman" is a valuable addition to the military history of the nation. It also offers a view of Custer by someone who actually served with him in combat -- extensive combat. The view of Custer that emerges is not that penned by a fawning subordinate; Colonel Kidd simply recounts the battles and activities of the Michigan Cavalry Brigade in a straightforward manner. His later controversy notwithstanding, Custer was an exemplary cavalry commander and arguably the most successful and brilliant cavalry officer on either side in the conflict. This book opens a window on the past and is an excellently written account of the brutal battles fought by our ancestors. The book also offers an unintentional balance to Custer's historical legacy. It's unintentional because at the time it was written, Custer was still considered a national hero. This book explains why he was. Read it.

Time's Arrow Time's Cycle written by Stephtn Jay Gould is a book that takes human thought to a new level in comprehending geology's vastness of history... the discovery of deep time. Gould works this book's major theme in the role of metaphor in the formulation and testing of scientific theories as the directionality (narrative history) of time's arrow or the immanence of time's cycle (immanent laws).

This book is both an account of geology's greatest discovery and philosophical commentary on the nature of scientific thought. As this thought takes us from thought of time in thousand of years to billions of years, inspired by empirical observation of rocks in the field.

Gould follows a single thread through three documents that mark the transition in our thinking: Thomas Burnet's four-volume "Sacred Theory of the Earth" (1680-1690), James Hutton's "Theory of the Earth (1795), and Charle Lyell's three-volume "Principle of Geology (1830-1833). Gould shifts through these writings giving the reader a history and background needed for a progressive march to the truth of the geological history through an enlightened observation.

Reading this book will captivate the curious reader and helps the human mind understand the vastness of time and the struggle to understand it.

The title of the review is an homage to Gould's oft mentioned love of baseball. This book is a cogent explanation of how European scientists (natural philosophers) recounciled the narrative tradition of history inherited from the Judeo-Christian template with the eternal return perspective of the Classical civilizations. Both view points-as-metaphors shed light on interpretation of the geological record. There are both serial and cyclic elements in the history of the earth, so the scientific community found truth in spite of the fact that individual scientists tended to emphasize one perspective over the other.

Gould exposes the 'cardboard cut-out' Whig version of history that most working scientists have received uncritically as hurried historical preambles to their study of geology per se. James Hutton, for example, is held up as a paragon of the field geologist who supposedly preceded his assertion of the existence of 'deep time' with countless hours in the field. Not so, says Gould. In fact, Hutton did his field work after he conceived the idea of a lengthy earth history and merely used his field observations to bolster his claim. Thomas Burnet, author of the much made-fun-of Sacred Theory of the Earth, is revealed to have been a champion of uniformitarianism before Hutton even conceived of it. Burnet refused to advance causes for events described in the Bible that could not be explained by the laws of physics as advanced by Isaac Newton. Finally, Charles Lyell is exposed as a master of rhetoric who conflated methodological and substantive aspects of uniformitarianism in order to sway his audience. No member of the scientific community contemporary to Lyell clung to the Mosaic timescale. He merely used it as a strawman. It was Lyell who managed to mate the narrative and eternal return perspectives into a coherent view of Earth history. First he did so by insisting the apparent progress observed in the fossil record was caused by the immense scale of the cycles of Earth history. Eventually he conceded the reality of evolution and allowed for the existence of an arrow of time whose path did not curve.

Gould's book is modified from a series of lectures, which is probably why there is so much uncharacteristic repetition of themes and ideas in this book. It was the only aspect of this book that I found irritating. Gould is also candid about his pride at uncovering various inaccuracies in the received wisdom and unearthing original themes to explain patterns in the history of geology. I have heard other people complain about this personality trait. I have no problem with it and believe that his satisfaction with his own cleverness is quite justifiable.

Stephen Jay Gould's love of science history really shows through in this work, which focuses on changing ideas about time and geology. It's well-researched and makes some very intriguing points about science in general, but if you have no patience for geology you probably won't get that far - it's nowhere near as accessible as his essay collections, but that's only to be expected. Every science major should read this book, and so should anyone who likes to think of themselves as well-informed about history and science.

You might enjoy reading this book but, believe me, it is not an accurate account at all of how James Hutton worked at all. Clearly, the author has tried just a bit too hard to get a popular handle on the subject, and has thrown all objectivity out of the window in the process. Just one example (a BIG one) -- Hutton already discovered an unconformity (at Jedburgh) that satisfied him before he came across Siccar Point -- of Jedburgh he wrote, "I rejoiced at finding what I had so long sought" -- so much for Repcheck's "Eureka moment" at Siccar! Oh, and long before finding his own unconformity, Hutton knew such things existed from French accounts of Alpine geology. So, "enjoy", but this is not an accurate account of how Hutton worked.

This is a difficult book to classify and to rate, because it is "all over the place." I can see some people giving it four stars and some people giving it two stars- it depends on your expectations. If you are looking, pretty much, for a "pure" science book you are going to be disappointed- you might only enjoy the last 60 pages or so. This is where the author delves into Hutton's conclusions and what happened after his death (i.e.- the academic battles between his supporters and detractors, and his influence on later geologists...specifically Charles Lyell). On the other hand, if your tastes are more catholic, you might enjoy the book a great deal. This is because for the first 140 pages of the book the author widens his scope and discusses lots of peripheral things- such as: the Scottish Enlightenment, with biographical interludes featuring such people as the philosopher David Hume, the economist Adam Smith, the inventor James Watt, and the chemist Joseph Black. Their work as well as their lives is discussed. There is even a pretty extensive detour into military history- exploring Bonnie Prince Charlie's efforts to reclaim the thrones of Scotland and England for the Stuart line. You certainly can't fault the style- the book is lively and well-written- but, again, you need to know that this isn't just a science book. If you just want to know about James Hutton and his theories, this book isn't for you. Conversely, if you enjoy meandering and exploring all sorts of "sidepaths," you'll find this book to be very satisfying.

This books makes a powerfully convincing case that James Hutton was a revolutionary scientist who literally gave us our modern conception of the world. The planet earth is over 4 billion years old and it is Hutton who first rigorously refuted the dogma that the world was created a mere 6,000 years ago. More importantly, he saw that currently active physical processes were responsible for the world's present shape and history, that these processes acted slowly but over vast periods of time. To understand our world is to see it as James Hutton did.

Repcheck beautifully presents the social context in which Hutton lived, with a lively and fascinating account of the Scottish Enlightenment and Hutton's relations with the leading figures of his day, a remarkable period of human intellectual development. The social history is the greatest strength of the book. But one also walks away with an appreciation for the enormity of Hutton's contribution and a great fondness for this loveable and remarkable man.

for those of you who enjoy the foibles and faults of corporations, this is a fun read (i haven't heard the tape). ef hutton continuously trips over its immense feet due to greed and winds up a loser.