The author has unusual credentials. A Ph.D., he teaches Technology Assessment at the University of Alaska in Juneau, and directs the University's Educational Technology Program. He is an original thinker with fresh views on how to be at peace while awash in Information Age: technology." He provides a thinking process that helps make it serve you rather than rule you. The impression one gets from the media often leaves a disturbing, hopeless feeling of being controlled by a technology. "Technology" though, is just a new way of labeling something that's been around forever; its called "change." Remember the old rag about change: "If you don't bend, you break." We must be in control and not allow technology to break us. Ohler has figured out many of the questions we need to ask about technology. He has put them down in a way you can understand and use, but he doesn't presume to know all the answers. This book deals with the grassroots problems of change. Uncertainty, unpredictability, uncontrollability. A sampling of the questions we must ask to maintain control of a technology. Three basics: (1) what is unique about it? (2) what is the real ultimate goal (any manipulation)? (3) how does it impact environment, the individual, institutions? Is it a tool or a machine? Tools are controlled by the user; machines force us to adapt ourselves to them which is a loss of control. Is the technology an information machine, or a work-producing machine? Ohler points out that tools and machines extend our senses, physical capabilities, our intelligence, and emotional experiences. In the wrong hands, they can be dangerous; properly used, they can improe our lives. Example: A microwave oven reduces the time spent cooking, increases the amount of time to do something else, but reduces family participation and interaction. Why it's important to ask questions about a technology. If you think about it, advertisers and lawyers don't particularly seek truth. They earn their keep trying to get others to adopt a particular point of view, using the tools of truth, as do their intentions, but we need to be aware of "presentation," versus "content." This is scary because of the persuasive power of information technology. Instead of "convince me" the operative words should be "inform me." This is a book with an important message for our times. We can expect that the pace of change will only increase and it's up to us to understand whether the changes are for the better or may destroy us. Ohler has set out a roadmap to enable us to evaluate the opportunities of anew technologies. Not an easy read, but this little book (141 pages) deserves a place on any thinking person's bookshelf.

I've known and learned from Jason for years and I appreciate him taking all of his brilliantly simple, yet practical suggestions and advice, and accumulating them into one good read. If you aren't fortunate enough to drink coffee with Jason and pick at all the wealth in his brain, this book is an excellent substitute. END

I have just finished Jason Ohler's book, Taming the Beast Choice and Control in the Electronic Jungle. It captured my interest immediately;I read it in three sittings. I found this book compelling. I am not a computer savvy techno. I work in the field of mental health. Personally, I have been wandering somewhat unconsciously through issues of relationship, community, culture, and technology and with Ohler's book it was as if I had been handed a map of the terrain. Ohler takes issues and ideas we "know" and presents them anew. Jason Ohler does what Robert Pirsig, author of Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintence,refers to in commenting on James P. Carse's book, Finite and Infinite Games,that is, "add new patterns to existing facts...things you've known for years suddenly stand up in a whole new dimension." Upon reading Jason Ohler's book I have contemplated my microwave oven for the first time. Through my use of the questions that Ohler proposes for a Science and Technology Agent, a fictitious FDA adptation, I recognize a greater sense of the trade offs, the choices, the impacts inherent in living with technology. My sense of being overwhelmed by the technology of the postmodern world has lifted some, as I apply the aspects of technological literacy Ohler puts forth. In the midst of all the proclamations of "good" and "bad" technology and what it will reap for us, it is important to become what Ohler refers to as, fourth stage literate. Fourth stage literacy is being skilled at seeing and evaluating. It is then that we realize our choice and control. I am reading this book again and proposing it be added to the cirriculum of high schools and university education departments.

its conviction that ADD/ADHD is a complex condition that can't be reduced to a single point of origin. Ken Vegotsky, one of the books contributors believes "It is unfortunate for children diagnosed with ADD/ADHD that the North American perspective tends to take a 'one-size-fits all' approach."

Most of the focus is on natural choices and options that are less intrusive than Ritalin, dextroamphetamine, bupopropin, and other drugs used to treat these learning disabilities. There is an impressive amount of information about the ten major drugs currently used, and their potential side effects. This includes an 'At-a-Glance Quick Reference(TM) Interaction Chart and Side Effects Reference Chart. In addition...

A preliminary study by doctors from Lincoln Memorial Hospital, Bronx, NY use of acupressure to reduce drug use, and even get children on Ritalin and dextroamphetamine completely free of these drugs - plus over 30 more chapters with powerful information from health care professionals on the inner ear/cerebellar-vestibular origins, healing the hyperactive brain through the science of functional medicine, essential fatty acids, thyroid gland and hyperactivity, environmental factors and organic acids, Chinese medicine, diet and nutrition, herbs, parasites and detoxification, mercury poisoning and chelation, homeopathy, Bach Flower Remedies, neurofeedback, music and guided imagery, exercise, tools to empower teachers and parents, plus more, including an overview chapter with an easy to use plan of action...

I discovered the full range of choices for dealing with ADD and hyperactivity and the first documented cure for autism and how it is linked to some cases of hyperactivity. From natural remedies and diet, to drug options and treatment plans, it is clearly and easily spelled out for your use.

Top experts from around the world include doctors from Lincoln Memorial Hospital, Bronx, N.Y. use of acupressure beads to reduce Ritalin use; Harold Levinson, M.D., successful treatment of 35,000 patients; Mike Lyon, M.D. protocols for the new science of Functional Medicine; the Feingold diet contributed by Jane Hersey, President of the Feingold Association, pharmacists clear explanation of the top 10 pharmaceutical drugs used by doctors, with easy-to-use-lists for side-effects and warnings, plus a quick reference drug-interaction chart, and top experts in the areas of herbs, essential fatty acids, parasites and detoxification, Chinese Medicine, pharmaceutical drugs, homeopathy, social and psychological tools, and much more are all tied together in the overview chapter on how to use this unique book.

Book includes a clear explanation of the top 10 pharmaceutical drugs used by doctors, with easy-to-use-lists for side-effects and warnings, plus a quick reference drug-interaction chart.

Social and psychological tools that empower parents, teachers, and ADD/Hyperactive children and adults.

An overview on how to effectively use the information in this book. Extensive listings of complementary and traditional support groups, resources for finding trained professionals, legal rights sources, books, music CDs, supplements, At-a-Glance Quick Reference™ charts, and more.

If you are starting to look for information or have already read several books on learning disabilities, this book is for you! Authors of numerous books in this area contributed clear and concise information in their own chapters. Each chapter is a solid description of what they use successfully for dealing with these learning disabilities.

A must have for anyone interested in successfully choosing those options which they are most comfortable with!

Arithmetic Made Simple has really helped our family. It contains easy-to-understand mathematics concepts from 4th grade level up to 9th grade. Each math topic is organized in a way to allow step-by-step learning. The sections on use of percentages has been extremely helpful - even to our 9th grader. This book would be extremely useful for an adult that is persuing their GED. After the explaination of each topic there are sample problems and practice problems. Even the answers in the back have explainations of how many of the problems were worked. I highly recommend this book for every parent that has school-aged kids.

The Consciousness Plague is Levinson's best novel
so far. Like all of his stories featuring New
York forensic detective Doctor Phil D'Amato, this
science fiction novel is so close to fact that
sometimes you can't recall if you actually read a news
story talked about in the novel or not. This time,
D'Amato investigates the possibility that our brains
work the way they do because of bacteria communicating
between themselves in our brain -- because of this, a
new kind of antibiotic begins to make people lose their
memories. And the loss of memory messes up an ongoing
investigation of a series of stranglings in Riverside
Park in New York City. The result is a bio-thriller,
police mystery, science fiction story all rolled into
one. I've been a fan of D'Amato since the beginning.
In fact, I heard that a movie was made of "The Chronology
Protection Case" -- a short story -- and I can't wait to
see it. In the meantime, I've got The Consciousness Plague.

Well, Phil D'Amato and Paul Levinson have done it again. I was a big fan of Levinson's first novel, The Silk Code, which introduced NYPD investigator D'Amato - a sharp forensic detective who always seems to get involved with cases a little out of the ordinary... There Phil pursued the hidden truth about the last of the Neanderthals and about modern-day Amish who might be more than they seem, and Levinson deftly distributed his fast-paced action over rural contemporary Pennsylvania, the streets of New York, and ancient Central Asia, addressing some pretty deep issues along the way. In The Consciousness Plague we get an even more immediate and unrelenting tale, as the novel follows D'Amato through a crazy six months trying to track down a serial killer on New York's Upper West Side and simultaneously get to the bottom of a peculiar memory loss syndrome which crops up everywhere he looks. As usual Levinson balances the hardboiled, action-packed mystery side of his creation with the thought-provoking speculative science fiction part, all the while keeping his story just within the realm of plausibility and perhaps even probability; he has a rare talent for crafting an exciting potboiler that really stimulates the mind. The subject of memory loss has become something of a popular one lately, what with excellent films like Memento and novels like Jonathan Lethem's Amnesia Moon; it's a phenomenon that never fails to intrigue the imagination, and I heartily recommend The Consciousness Plague for anyone who's enjoyed those explorations as well as anyone looking for a tense, intelligent bit of suspense.

Even if you're like me and you've never read the previous Phil D'Amato stories, The Consciousness Plague will draw you in. It's an engaging, intellectually thrilling novel.

The basic plot is this: a new antibiotic wreaks havoc with the brain's ability to remember, thus hampering a complex murder investigation. But to summarize it like that is to do the book an injustice. It's a story torn from the headlines and balanced on the cutting edge of modern memory science.

Levinson mixes disparate items into a seamless plot. Things like a police investigation into a serial strangler, copy-cat murders and the fascinating theory that a bacteria-like organism in our brains has given rise to our consciousness form a compelling, exciting yarn that stretches from the ancient Phoenicians in England (and possibly America!?) to modern-day New York, Chicago and Los Angeles.

Levinson's writing is easy and thought-provoking - his character, D'Amato, speaks directly to the reader, as in the best noir tales - drawing on all aspects of Western culture, from Beach Boy songs to medieval monks, with discussions of the blood-brain barrier and northern Italian cuisine thrown in for good measure. Yet he somehow ties it all together with a satisfying conclusion that leaves you hungry for more.

By the end of The Consciousness Plague, you'll want to catch up on all the Phil D'Amato you may have missed!

Alpha Strike Vietnam was a great collection of stories from pilots who were living the Vietnam War from 1964-1975. The book is fairly technical but if you use the attached definitions of acrynyms and pilots vernacular it makes it a bit easier.

You certainly have a different idea of the Vietnam War after reading the book no matter what ideology you carried before you read the book. Understanding the feelings, thoughts and actions of people who experienced the war first hand gives you insight to their frustrations regarding a limited war managed by politicians. You also get a feel for why the politicians and military brass so valued the statistics collected from the War.

Alpha Strike Vietnam is a great technical book about pilots living in combat. The stories are frank flashbacks of pilots while flying and dying in combat or in prison. The verbage is military technical and can get burdensome at times. However, as you read through the book you become accustomed to the vernacular and eventually fell comfortable with it. The book gives you a different perspective on the Vietnam War from guys who did not have the luxury of caring about the politics of the war. They were simply there to fulfill their duty or get their time in. It is also apparent that given an all out green to wage full scale war on the North Vietnamese, the war would have been shorter and the US would have subdued the NVA and Kong. That of couse is if China and Russia would have let that happen or would they have escalated into full scale global war. Still, you can feel the frustrations of the limitations on the war apparatus from both the military and executive sides as they both navigate the hottest parts of the war from 64 to 75. Very interesting and informative.

Judging from the previous reviews, this is a book you either love or hate. I happened to like it very much, although I can understand why others might not. The book has its flaws (what do you expect from a first novel?), but its intellectual strength carries the narrative.

The Silk Code" is a novel of ideas masquerading as a cross between science fiction and police procedural. Levinson takes current thinking on genetics, speculation on the relationship between homo sapiens and Neanderthals, and archaeologic discoveries on the Tarim Basin in China and then mixes them with a little bit of Amish culture, virology, and Basque history. At times the mix gets a bit out of control, but overall it coheres fairly well, certainly better than some conspiracy theory novels I've read. The idea of moth genes in the human genome is not as far-fetched as some readers have suggested--it's already known that viral and bacterial sequences make up part of our genome and that we share some genes with other animals.

The weaknesses in "The Silk Code" are a direct result of the book's focus on ideas and its origin as a short story. The characters are wooden, especially in the modern sections of the book. They have a tendency to make brief appearances and then vanish. There were times when the narrative was too sketchy, and I wished that Levinson had gone into more detail. Who, for example, was Amanda really? How did the Amish get involved in an ancient conspiracy? There are enough loose ends and unexplored backstory here for a sequel, although I don't know if Levinson intends to write one.

At any rate, if you're looking for a novel heavy on character development and world building, this probably isn't the book for you. However, if you care more about the speculative elements of the plot, it might be more to your liking.

The Silk Code is a great book -- an intricate plot, with wonderful descriptions of Amish country and a voyage from China to Spain via Madagascar in 750 AD., ending up with a fast-paced mystery about Neanderthals today. The book has very life-like, well-written characters, most especially Phil D'amato, a New York detective who is faced with very weird cases that aren't at all easy to solve. I couldn't decide if this book was more science fiction or mystery -- it's both, and keeps you on the edge of your seat. I highly recommend it!

I think The Silk Code is really two books in one. One story is about a detective -- Phil D'Amato -- with a lot of heart and a great sense of humor. The other story is about a strange people who lived along the Silk Road over a thousand years ago. Paul Levinson weaves the two together in a very captivating way -- he goes so deeply into the Silk Road people that we almost forget about D'Amato, but then we're suddenly back in the present and it all ties together in a way at the end. As a graduate student in anthropology, I especially enjoyed the 750 AD part -- the thinking of the characters in that section seemed very real to me, and that's hard to do for an ancient culture. All in all, a *very* enjoyable book -- almost a new kind of science fiction.

Ok, my background (recently) is CJ Cherryh and Iain M Banks. Both very hard-sf type people, with exceptionally deep characters and far flung plots that are complex on a macro and micro level.

This is not that kind of book. The story is told in the same sort of way that Joe Haldemann wrote _The Forever War_. The story is intriguing, but the author is trying to tell it in far too little space. At only 258 pages, it is a very short read. However, the 258 pages encompass 16 years of time. There are jumps in the book that literally gloss over 3-4 years at a time.

The people in the book are not very fully developed. In fact, they are developed to a level I'd expect from Dean Koontz or some other pulp author. There really is only one main character, and you couldn't really call him a protagonist. The story meanders on, holding up this character as some moral lighthouse, some metaphor for humanities need to "explore the stars," as it were.

It is a very cheery novel, with the darkest parts of the book passing in what could be just a flicker of dark compared to what you'd see in Banks' _Against a Dark Background_, or even Cherryh's _Downbelow Station_.

I guess where I'm going with this is the book is as shallow as the characters. It tells a fun, Buck Rogers kind of story, and I'll admit I got attached to it the same way I might get attached to a channel on TV I mistakenly flipped to (and felt compelled to finish the show).

Not an excellent book. A fun (and thankfully short) read. Good plane or car material.

Ah, one final note. The subtle little pokes at society (such as mentioning "Lawrence Livermore/Microsoft Labs" in the beginning of the book) really ruffled my feathers. They come out of nowhere, they're not justified, and they just serve to irritate the reader.

Buy used.

Paul Levinson has a gift for turning the genre coin on its edge and giving us something new and unexpected. In BORROWED TIDES what looks at the beginning to be a somewhat typical space exploration adventure is quickly transformed into a thought provoking discussion of time and the nature of reality.

Upon reading the book flap I thought that I had figured out the entire story, but as I began to realize how wrong I was and began to glimpse the directions Levinson was taking his novel, I found myself truly captivated.

I won't pretend that the ending is fully satisfying. But then, I don't believe Levinson wanted it to be. He sprinkles the whole novel with the "helpless" flavor of the horror genre, and the ending capitalizes on that ambience quite successfully. There is a lot of angst and frustration in that ending which I, as the reader, shared fully with the cast of the novel.

I'm looking forward to Levinson's next work.

Levinson's second novel is so different from his first, that I had no idea what to expect. I was surprised and delighted. Borrowed Tides starts off as an old-fashioned, cosy, first flight to the nearest star. But there are oddities at the beginning -- the flight is based, implausibly (yet Levinson pulls it off) on a combination of the boomerang effect (as in Apollo 13) and a Native American legend about star currents. As the novel progresses, the very fabric of space and time unwinds. One of my favorite themes -- not often explored this well or as cosmically -- is art as a best hedge against dissolution of memory. It's hard to explain in a little review -- read the book (the art part is near the end) and see if you agree. The themes and fascinations of this novel will stay with you for a very long time.

This book asks many interesting questions about the history and future of media. Examples include:

1. Why did the sight-only medium of silent movies get wiped out completely by "talkies" while the sound-only medium of radio survived television?

2. The most powerful leaders of the past 150 years were Churchill, Roosevelt, Hitler, and Stalin. Was this power due to the nature of radio as a medium, and the fact that radio flowered when they were prominent?

3. Is centralized authority in media necessary (because people need "gatekeepers" to filter information for them) or a result of the economics of mass media (the high cost of sending radio signals compared to the low cost of receiving them)?

4. Does information want to be free?

Levinson's answers are not always as good as his questions. His explanation for the survival of radio (as a medium you can use while doing something else) was persuasive. His view that the leaders of WWII drew their power from radio was less compelling.

Levinson's view of the decentralization effects of computers is valid. The opposite view, which is widely held, is a serious misconception.

Otherwise, when discussing the future, Levinson is disappointing. He says less than what can be found in other work that predates his book. The issue of the future of paper is discussed better in some of George Gilder's articles in Forbes ASAP, going back to 1994. The issue of how to pay for information is discussed better in Brad Cox's work on what he calls "superdistribution." The issue of the status of artificial life is discussed better in Steven Levy's book on that subject.

If I were teaching a course on the Internet, I would include "The Soft Edge" as background reading early in the course. It would help students start to think about the evolution of media.

Paul Levinson asks interesting questions about the history and future of media. Examples include:

Was the invention of alphabetic writing necessary before an abstract religion of monotheism could take root?

Was a printing press needed to make public education economical?

Why did radio (sound with images) survive TV, while silent movies were obliterated by movies with sound?

The most powerful leaders in this century were Hitler, Stalin, Churchill, and Roosevelt. Was it a coincidence that they came to power in the age of radio?

As other amazon reviewers have noted, Levinson's analysis of the future seems less compelling. For me, part of the problem is that he seems to be unaware of some previous writing on critical topics. For example, Levinson's discussion of intellectual property and ownership could have benefitied from familiarity with Brad Cox's work on Superdistribution or Varian and Shapiro's book "Information Rules." And the issue of artificial life is discussed more fully in the book with that title by Steven Levy.

Overall, I think this book provides a solid background in media for a course on the Internet.

An enormously insightful panorama and investigation into the past, present and future evolution of information technology. The author looks at the impact of IT on society and the history of media of all types, from the introduction of the alphabet over hieroglyphics, to the photo-electronic revolution, to the age of computers and creation of the Web. The book concludes with ideas for the future, including ways to protect intellectual property, ethics, and ultimate possibilities for artificial intelligence. This is a work of both depth and breadth. For those who crave the macro/global perspective of the world, this book will be a fascinating find. Bibliography. HIGHLY recommended. Reviewed with great interest by Gerry Stern, founding partner, Stern & Associates and HRconsultant.com.

This is a terribly disappointing book. After reading and hating MacLuhan's "Understanding Media", I was hoping his disciple would straighten at least some of the intellectual abuses committed by his master. Not so in the least. The disciple, still overwhelmed by the friendship granted him when he was a young graduate student, by the great guru, seems incapable of objective thinking. Is this a case of puppy love? But, more concretely, I would like to know what is NOT a medium in this bizarre quasi-religion of the digital. Even windows fall under this category(Cf. p. 179: "We invented windows...as an improvement upon the poor choice of walls with no vision or walls with holes and no warmth..."). It is this pseudo-analysis that plagues this book, as well as the books of the great white chief. And, if you happen to reject all these facile generalizations, then you are a fool, or you haven't understood the "profundities" in question. In the same way, Marxists accuse their critics of suffering from false consciousness due to their class origin, and Freudian affirm that the rejection is caused by repressed emotions. One has to be a Marxist to understand Marx, and a psychoanalyst to understand Freud. In the same way, only people who are convinced of the truth in MacLuhan's all-explaining ideas to be able to truly understand the genius. And when the author of the present books affirms that "Tom Wolfe...'aptly' compared (MacLuhan) to Darwin, Einstein and Freud", the expression that comes to mind is "Cult of Personality". Why argue with true believers?

inherent to the impact of mcluhan's metaphors, which explore more so than explain, a generation of academics found it necessary to use them as a vehicle for their own opinions. levinson practices the same. in an attempt to validate his own theories he continuously disgresses with anecdotes about how great mcluhan was in all his aspects. with this i do not criticize mcluhan's theories but aim my arrows at the banality of levinson's book. in the midst of what could possibly considered academic discourse he bothers with: "marshall and eric had been at our home for dinner 1978 - tina afterwards named that pot roast recipe the "mcluhan pot roast" - and tina and i had wonderful dinners with corinne and marshall at their home in wychwood park several times. we always keenly regretted - and still do - that marshall did not live to meet our children. (pg 137) it is exactly this kind of utter nonsense that annoyed me most. i understand that scientific output has to be validated to a certain extent by building upon the theories of others, but i don't think this mcluhan-mania is relevant. since levinson has no scrupules about this technique the book is distracting throughout. it is his style that tries to invite you to the cosy comfortable good old days when mcluhan was having dinner with the author that should not have made it past its final edit. as for the rudiments of the content it provides an interesting point of view of looking at new (digital) media. other than that it is one of the worst books i have ever read (seldom have i seen someone refer to his previous works as much as this fellow). knowing postman and the larger part of the nyu media ecology department i am afraid that this book might be indicative of academic in-breed. everyone is so busy liking everybody else that there seems no room for genuine criticism. levinson tries to falsify some of mcluhan's critics by saying that they "didn't understand". this is testimony to a state of mind that, apart from being arrogant, will not provide you with more nore refreshing insights, as much as it provides more of the same. and here i sit thinking that academic discourse was suppposed to be dynamic and not static. silly me, it seems.

The author worked with McLuhan at the end of the 1970s and here explains the public's fascination with and perceptions of McLuhan and his theories. Chapters provide modern links between these theories and the experiences of the computer world in modern times, developed after he died in 1980. Essential for any who would apply McLuhan's perspective to modern times.