That said, Bonjour is one of the clearest writers in epistemology, and I am comfortable recommending this book to anyone interested in the field. The negative arguments about induction, particularly, are very well presented.

What is rational insight? One of the simplest examples is the syllogism: "All men are mortal. Socrates is a man. Socrates is mortal." Another example is the statement: "Something cannot be both green all over and red all over." I think that only the hardcore skeptic would deny the certainty of such insights. How do we justify/explain such insights? Here comes the rub - to justify such insights, the ability to grasp them must already be possessed by those who are justifying them and those to whom they must be justified. A point later defended by the author, and which has been defended by many rationalists, is that the structure of the world must such that these relationships are given in reality in some form.

Rather than list and categorize these insights, Bonjour mounts a wonderful defence for these insights, which he categorizes, like other rationalist philosophers, as "apriori" knowledge, or in his better term, "apriori justification". He, like other rationalists, describes them as a grasp of necessity: once thier nature is grasped and understood, people defend them by thinking and reasoning, rather than pointing to specific data given in experience.

The book has many wonderful points: a careful and reasoned exposition of why Kant was not a rationalist in the true sense of the word (this has been known to quite a few rationalists in the Aristotleian tradition, but Bonjour's criticism leaves little to the imagination), a defence of view of a priori knowledge as fallible, but fallible only in the sense that it answers to new and better apriori insights when found to be mistaken, and a nice and careful discussion of the major analytic school's objections against a priori knowledge.

A great part of this book is well made and much needed distinctions between the a priori and the a posteriori, the analytic and the synthetic, and the necessary and the contingent. His defence and qualification of these terms are worth the cost of the book alone, and he shows how misrepresentaions of these terms, and thier implications are, have led to the acceptance of weak arguments against them being considered conclusive rejections of them.

Finally, the author gives both the nice defence and the beginnings of an a priori theory of induction. The good thing about his defence is that it validates induction, and it will probably be easy to incorporate the best work that has been done into this field since I believe that Bonjour has silenced the greatest oppositions to induction as a source of knowledge.

It is a short book, and is quite limited in scope, but it was a page turner for me. I believe the influence of this book's arguments will be far reaching, once the required critical mass of intellectuals inculcate the ideas contained within this book.

I think my review is understated, so I will only say this: get the book if you have the philiosophical background, and be prepared for one of the best defences of Reason in philosophical history.

The most interesting is his conviction that no money is untainted. That's interesting because it means the donations and public fundings the environmentalists take in come from no less than the evil polluters themselves, perhaps feeling, which GBS rightly agreed, as the Salvation Army would that they "...will take money from the Devil himself sooner than abandon the work of Salvation." But GBS also wrote in the preface that while he is okay to accept tainted money, "He must either share the world's guilt or go to another planet." From what I can gather from the preface and play, GBS believed money is the key to solve all the problems we have, hence his mentioning of Samuel Butler and his "constant sense of the importance of money," and his low opinion of Ruskin and Kroptokin, for whom, "law is consequence of the tendency of human beings to oppress fellow humans; it is reinforced by violence." Kropotkin also "provides evidence from the animal kingdom to prove that species which practices mutual aid multiply faster than others. Opposing all State power, he advocates the abolition of states, and of private property, and the transforming of humankind into a federation of mutual aid communities. According to him, capitalism cannot achieve full productivity, for it amis at maximum profits instead of production for human needs. All persons, including intellectuals, should practice manual labor. Goods should be distributed according to individual needs." (Guy de Mallac, The Widsom of Humankind by Leo Tolstoy.)

If GBS wasn't joking, then the following should be one of the most controversial ideas he raised in the preface to the play. I quote: "It would be far more sensible to put up with their vices...until they give more trouble than they are worth, at which point we should, with many apologies and expressions of sympathy and some generosity in complying with their last wishes, place them in the lethal chamber and get rid of them." Did he really mean that if you are a rapist once, you can be free and "put up with," but if you keep getting drunk (a vice), or slightly more seriously, stealing, you should be beheaded?

This is not a literary masterpiece, but is accessible, thought provoking science fiction that should appeal to a wide audience. Go to your favorite used bookstore and pickup a copy. It won't take you more than half of a day to finish.

He has covered most elements of Bean development from a programmer's perspective, which is what Beans developers need. If you are going to make beans, go ahead and pick this one as your first book.

It's a shame that this book has been out of print for so long -- any publisher who would buy the title and pay for an update would do a great service to gay travellers. Despite the fact that some of the information in the book is out of date, I still rely on it each time I go to Paris.

A slew of pages is devoted to theorizing about these brands' narrative structure and occasionally the pseudo-scientific verbiage is a little distracting (e.g., "Brand mythology acts upon the cognitive orientation centers of the brain in much the same way that religion and other deeply held philosophical beliefs do").

Yet, all this could have been easily overlooked by the fastidious reader, but without a more organized analysis of how these seemingly facile narratives were conceived, attained, and then maintained by our "legendary" brands, the book falls short of its expectations. Some discussion of the evidence, even anecdotal, would have made this 5 star material although it may still be an interesting collectible for the insightful magazine style discussions of successful branding endeavours.

Vincent introduces and then explains what he calls a Brand Mythology System. It has four components: a worldview comprised of a set of sacred beliefs, a brand agent, brand narrative (or "story"), and consumer participation through a special set of of consumer feedback activities. Frequent patrons of a local Starbucks, for example, have the same shared values as those who belong to a private club.

Some of the most interesting ideas are provided in Chapter 10 as Vincent examines different types of brand agents which can be persons (e.g. Hugh Hefner, Martha Stewart, and Colonel Sanders), places (e.g. Disney theme park, Sesame Street, and Augusta National Golf Club), or things (e.g. Kate Spade handbag, Mont Blanc pen, and Rolex timepiece). In each instance, the agent connects the brand with the consumer through the power of positive association: wearing Michael Jordan's brand of basketball footwear, entering the Magic Kingdom, or wearing golfwear bearing the Masters logo. Obviously, there are few Legendary Brands. However, those responsible for managing new or emerging brands as well as those attempting to revitalize established brands can learn much of value from Vincent's book by understanding his various concepts and then following the guidelines he suggests.

Those who share my high regard for Vincent's book are urged to check out Stephen Denning's Springboard: How Storytelling Ignites Action in Knowledge-Era Organizations, Brands: The New Wealth Creators co-edited by Susannah Hart and John Murphy, and Bernd Schmitt Experiential Marketing: How to Get Customers to Sense, Feel, Think, Act, and Relate to Your Company and Brands.

Two fun monkeys, Chimp and Zee, make another appearance in the Anholt's popular series. Chimp and Zee "monkey around" in this brightly illustrated board book, and encourage young readers to join in. The simple rhyming text prompts children to interact on each page, asking them if they would "like a little lick" of a large purple popsicle, to find Chimp and Zee hiding in a tree, and on the last page, to give them a good night kiss. This book will appeal to the youngest audience, and its sturdy construction will hold up for lots of monkey fun.

This book is a good read and I highly recommend it.