Thought provoking with interesting historical perspectives. Without a doubt, this book is the seminal work on the Millennium Round!

I read this book for a course on the sociology of deviance, andfound it a valuable resource. It traces the historical developement of deviant 'sicknesses' such as opiate addictions, mental illness, homosexuality, and attention deficit disorder. The book examines how these forms of deviance were understood historically, and how they came they came to be understood as forms of 'sickness.' Conrad and Schneider examine medical model of understanding deviance, which is currently standard, from a removed and critical perspective. In the forward (of my edition) Joseph Gusfield puts it thusly, "They treat the medical model as something strange, not as something that is 'taken for granted' as 'normal.' When a body a body of thought or phenomemon is taken as problematic, as something to be explained, its naturalness, its claim to 'reality,' is called to account." This book does an excellent job at calling the claims of the medical model into account. This book offers new perspectives on hot-topics, is well organized, and is extremely well-researched. I would warn people that it is dense reading, and some people may find it hard to get through. I would especially recommend this book to any who would form a stance on any of the following issues: drug use/abuse, mental illness, juvenile delinquency, homosexuality, and medicine as a means of social control.

This book, out now for almost nine years, has never received the attention it deserves. Bast, Hill and Rue survey the major tendencies among radical environmentalists--"greens"--and have produced the most objective evaluation I've yet to run across that ought to be accessible to the nonspecialist. In fact, considering the scope and complexity of their subject matter, it is amazing that they have produced so brilliantly written and accessible an account of where the human race really stands vis a vis the natural environment.

Guess what? We're not killing the planet!

Bast, Hill and Rue survey air and water quality, forests, global warming, ozone depletion, solid wastes and acid rain among other environmental topics. Bast, Hill and Rue succeed in showing that few if any of the hysterics coming from environmentalist circles are really warranted. The best scientific evidence we have tells us, for example, that our air and water supplies are getting cleaner, not dirtier. Total air pollution emissions in the U.S. today are much lower than they were in 1940, and lower than they were in the 1960s and 1970s. Water quality has shown equivalent improvements. Likewise, there are more acres of forest in the U.S. today than anytime since the 1950s. Regarding global warming, the evidence of a phenomenon that can be traced to human industrial activity is nowhere near as decisive as both the "greens" and the major media would have us believe. Average temperatures fluctuate across the globe for a variety of reasons, some of them too complex to determine exact causes, and we simply have not been keeping records for long enough to map out a direct cause-and-effect connection between warming temperatures and human industrial action. Certainly the science is not decisive enough for the massive changes in the whole economic order being demanded by many "green" activists (many of whom--let's just say it--are socialists who want a "new world order" they can control).

The authors present similar evidence regarding other environmentalist "issues." Consider ozone-layer depletion. Bast et al draw our attention to the fact that global ozone levels have *increased*, not decreased, since 1986. The "hole in the ozone layer" about which "greens" have obsessed was observed back in 1956, long before the man-made chlorofluorocarbons blamed for the phenomenon could have had this kind of effect. Again, real science does not support extravagent "green" claims.

In short, there is no "environmental crisis" in any large-scale sense. The planet is not dying. Nor are we overpopulating ourselves toward extinction. If anything, we are getting healthier because of increased levels of prosperity over the past half-century. Prosperity--created by market-driven and not-command-driven economic systems--leads to a healthier environment because it leads people to adopt more environmentally sound patterns of action. Worries over the depletion of nonrenewable natural resources are exaggerated, because the available reserves dwarf actual consumption. There would be more reserves available, moreover (e.g., in northeastern Alaska), if only the "greens" would let us drill for them. We have the technology to do so in ways that accommodate legitimate calls for environmental protection.

These revelations, important as they are, are not the major strength of this book. Its major strength is to offer a set of principles for *sound reasoning* about environmental issues. These principles do not simply brush the subject off. Obviously we don't want to foul our own nest. There have been environmental problems in the past, but the point is, the situation is under control. Improved technology, the product of human ingenuity that can never be predicted in advance, has consistently provided *solutions* whereas radical environmentalists have provided only prophesies of doom. The real issue, therefore, is "green" hysterics--especially since these hysterics are so often repeated mechanically, like mantras, in the major media.

ECO-SANITY thus offers 36 "rules for eco-sanity" that ought to lead us to a more informed view of how to protect the environment in ways that do not undermine necessary economic liberty. Here is a sampling:

-Correlation is not causation. In eco-systems, cause-and-effect is very complex, and we should never jump to conclusions (e.g., "industrial pollution" is a direct cause of "global warming"), particularly if these conclusions could impact on public policies in ways that could prove to be economically disastrous over the long run.
-We can never avoid risk completely.
-Risks, however, can be measured and ranked.
-It is impossible to prove that something does not exist. (This is that old adage about the logical impossibility of proving a negative.)
-Science is not immune to politics. (Note that the views of climatologists who object to the above global warming thesis are never reported by the major media, much of which is sold on the "green" agenda.)
-Ownership leads to better stewardship. (If land is owned as property, in other words, and protected by private property rights, it is likely to be better taken care of.
-Some environmental groups profit from false alarms.
-Don't react out of fear.

This, as I observed, is only a sampling. For the rest, I recommend getting the book. The point is, we should stop reacting to hysterical claims about a global environmental crisis for which "American capitalism" is almost invariably blamed. And though Bast, Hill and Rue don't dwell on it as much as I would have, we need to question the motives of the "green" movement, especially since this movement now operates at an international level, very well organized, and bankrolled by people with very deep pockets (think of the Rockefellers, for example). There is pretty good evidence that this movement is motivated more by a desire for global power than a sincere belief in protecting the environment. Part of this effort consists of the above-mentioned media blackout on the views of scientists who question the global warming thesis, for example, as well as more recent efforts to destroy the reputations of dissident scientists such as Bjorn Lomborg (author of THE SKEPTICAL ENVIRONMENTALIST) who have presented direct scientific evidence of the flimsiness of the science behind the "green" movement. When efforts are made to ruin dissidents instead of answer them with responsible arguments, watch out! You're dealing with people more interested in an agenda than the truth.

The second edition of this important title on locating information, people and software on the net provides a host of tools for accessing and locating online communities, from building web tools for using the Internet for research to locating virtual libraries of information. An excellent handbook reflects the latest in Internet strategies.

This is an excellent book out of the 12 I've consulted for my final year dissertation, when I ordered if from Amazon I was torn between this one and the Adriana "felt hat: A life told" but the costumer reviews put me off. Having read Adrianas "JB the art of cooking" from the library, buying this book from editor Gene Ray was certainly the best way to go. The book is similar to, but more accessible than, the Critique of Beuys from the tate series. It contains however, the vital "Twilight of the Idols" by benjamin Buchloh which, if nothing else reveals some of the misconceptions and horrors that beuys provoked...but it offers another article by Buchloh, written 20 years later that acts almost as a retraction. the presentation and the much needed balance of argument makes this book an absolute must for anyone, from any level of understanding to purchase. A great, essential read on Joseph Beuys.

British industrialists were never considered "parliamentary material" prior to Joseph Chamberlain's election to Parliament from Birmingham. His years as Mayor, town councillor, and school board trustee were marked by tremendous reforms of all aspects of Birmingham: the schools, the workplace, sanitation, the local economy & government, and the town infrastructure all benefited from his business know-how and political skill. He built what was in fact the first political machine, the National Liberal Federation, in British history, and which delivered first Gladstone than Salisbury the Prime Ministry. A master of coalition politics, Chamberlain was also a destructive force. He shattered the Conservative & Liberal Parties, and never achieved his dream of becoming Prime Minister. However, serious legislation addressing land reform, the introduction of social insurance, the extension of the franchise, the rights of labor, and industrial welfare, all bore his mark, and might have taken longer to bring about had it not been for him. Initially a Liberal, he split with Gladstone over Irish Home Rule, formed the Liberal Unionist party, and from then until his death supported the Conservatives. This biography is unsurpassed in it's detail and impartiality. All aspects of Chamberlain's life are addressed: his family history; his marriages; his religious views; his gradual conversion from Liberal to Conservative, all are given considerable detail without sacrificing the joy of reading. This is biography at its best!

The hardest part about writing any scientific textbook is balancing readability with volume of content. Generally, authors fall into two categories: those including far too much material and those presuming too much prior knowledge on the part of the reader. Milonni and Eberly have found the perfect compromise in LASERS. While an excellent advanced undergrad or intermediate grad. text, it isn't as exhaustive as Siegman's LASERS. On the other hand, it contains peripheral material about non-linear optics which many texts on lasers should include, but don't. LASERS is perfect for proceeding further with more in depth studies of advanced topics in lasers (as treated in Siegman). There are only 2 faults I can find with the book: one is technical, the other editorial. In the technical area, its discussion of Q-switching is a bit trite and shallow. A topic as important as this should receive a little more attention. It would be nice to see an updated volume reflecting recent advances in technology. The authors did such a nice job the first time around, it shouldn't take alot of effort to include perhaps one more chapter on current trends in lasers.

This book is the third in the author's arsenal, and it is just as useful as the other two. The author is a wonderful photographer, just the images in the book would be worth the price, but the reader gets a lot more:
Detailed descriptions of where to go for the best shots, and the best times to go there. For some of the areas, you get a mile-by-mile log, and even some compositional suggestions. Even if one has been to these places previously, this book contains extremely valuable information for the serious photographer.

Joseph Priestley is one of the greatest intellectual figures of modern times. However, he should be remembered for more than just his great discoveries in the realm of science. His "Essay on the First Principles of Government" is a brilliant libertarian piece based on natural rights philosophy. He is a strong enemy of both established religion and public schooling. His eloquent advocacy of these positions as well as "freedom of thought" as a whole is still very much relevant today. It is a shame that his works have been so overlooked in recent times. This work is yet another example of how the wisdom of the 18th century is far greater than that of the 20th in many fields, most importantly political philosophy.

Excellent book. Easy to read. Helped my husband and me to have a starting point to discuss our intimacy issues. Also, it gave us hope that we can work through the physical and emotional problems surrounding impotence. I highly recommend this book.