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Lampman also wrote several other books, Rusty's Spaceship, one other shy stegosaurus book, The Shy Stegosaurus of Indian Springs, and The World Under the Back Steps. Rusty's Spaceship was another one of my favorites. In this book, Rusty and his alien friend, Tipia, go gallivanting around the solar system, having various adventures, before returning to earth, where they have a few more in their invisible spaceship.
All these are great books for your kids. If you can find reasonably priced used copies, they're all worth picking up.
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Used price: $4.94
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Used price: $13.29
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List price: $16.95 (that's 30% off!)
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Take a look at the excerpts on this page to see a sample of the style. Nonetheless, this book is a must read for anyone seriously investigating What Is.
There are many diamonds here, but you will need a pick and shovel.
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Most Zen masters refuse to discuss the discipline or explain it. Hubert Benoit takes the opposite, and for intellectually-inclined Westerners, the more accessible path, and discusses Zen in exhaustive detail in terms of psychology and philosophy--especially phenomenology and existentialism. I was skeptical of this approach until I actually read this book. Benoit writes at an extremely high level of abstraction (something quite alien to traditional Zen, which deals mainly in parables) but any experienced meditator will concur that practically every word Benoit writes rings with utter truth and fidelty to the workings of consciousness. He is clearly a man who has absorbed the Zen teachings and then examined the workings of his own mind with unfailing rigor and perceptiveness; he has taken those findings and translated them into language with a care and accuracy that nobody else, to my knowledge, has ever matched. The results are utterly profound.
Indispensable for anybody interested in Zen or the expansion of consciousness.
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Few of us have the opportunity to retreat into an actual monastic way of life for years and years in order to sink into the nature of Zen experience. Therefore, many branches of Zen, with their emphasis on monastic methods, are often somewhat anachronistic amid the modern world of busyness, speed, information, and seemingly continual bombardment from every direction. Hubert Benoit's Zen and the Psychology of Transformation goes back to the impetus of Zen--a philosophy called Chan that derived in China in the 7th century from an illiterate philosopher named Hui Neng--in order to offer a form of Zen that is fully possible in the context of modern life. Chan is not centered in sitting meditation, or in traditional zazen techniques, but rather simply in a restful type of introspection that leads one directly to the core of Zen experience. Benoit details the mechanics of this introspective life in poetic and technical form, and in a way that leaves one with a clear and simple knowledge of how one is to live one's life according to the restful life of Zen.
Hubert Benoit, like the Greeks and other thinkers before him, was a philosopher dedicated to the study of nature-as-a-whole. Often such thinkers choose to conduct such an expansive study through a single, chosen aspect of nature. The Greeks used, among other things, Logos. Modern physicists often use atoms, as did the Greek Democritus. Modern biologists use such vehicles as the cell, the macromolecule, or evolutionary theory. For some modern mathematicians, the fractal or the topological structure is used. In many ways, these areas overlap one another. The mind is another instrument that can be adopted for this study. To Benoit, as to many modern thinkers, the mind is simply another aspect of nature, much like an insectile or anthropoid form, or much like a cause, an effect, a black-hole singularity, a volume of space, an atom of light, or a duration of time--all different aspects of nature. Benoit's vehicle for investigating the mind--and therefore morphology of reality--was not biology, math, or physics, but Chan Buddhism, the earliest form of Zen; however, he dabbled also with Western Philosophy, the Greeks, conceptual science, and other areas in order to carry out his very personal, rational-inquiry. Benoit has nearly nothing to do with the popular, degenerate form of Buddhism commonly known as "American Zen" or "Western Buddhism," which is one of the main engines of the New Age Movement. Chan, being the original form of Zen, is nearly unrecognizable to the rest of the modern, socially-oriented Buddhist forms. It is however, very much aligned with archaic Taoism, as invented by Lao tsu.
Chan, in its ancient form, is bent on enlightenment. Yet it simultaneously claims that enlightenment does not exist. Contradictions such as this abound in Chan, and to the outsider, initially Chan will appear to be a wholly nihilistic, anti-social philosophy replete with allegorical tales of violence and destructive insanity, self mutilation and self torment, and monks lambasting each other even to the point of death. These elements are of no consequence to the serious student of Chan.
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Anyone who attempts to study Heidegger's commentators will quickly discover that many of them can be even more difficult than Heidegger himself. One notable exception is George Steiner, whose 'Martin Heidegger' (1989) is such an interesting book that one wishes it had been two or three times longer. As a general introduction to Heidegger's life and thought, however, it can only take one so far, and those wishing for a fuller treatment would be well advised to take a look at the present equally lucid and stimulating study by Dreyfus.
He explains that he has limited detailed treatment of 'Being and Time' to Division I of Part One (i.e., the first half), because he considers this "the most original and important section of the work, for it is [here] that Heidegger works out his account of being-in-the-world and uses it to ground a profound critique of traditional ontology and epistemology" (p.vii). Division II, though containing important material, is marred by "some errors so serious as to block any consistent reading" (p.viii), though it is taken up in a 57-page Appendix.
In his brief but extremely interesting Introduction, Dreyfus sets out to answer the question, 'Why study Heidegger?' If I have understood Dreyfus correctly, what he seems to be saying is that Western thought has been fundamentally in error since the time of Plato : "Plato and our tradition got off on the wrong track by thinking that one could have a theory of everything.... Heidegger is not against theory. He thinks it powerful and important, but limited" (p.2).
Heidegger, in other words, although accepting a reasonable use of reason, has seen through the folly of that worship of reason which leads to its unreasonable and excessive use. Dreyfus tells us that Heidegger seeks to clear away five main false assumptions :
1. Explicitness. "Heidegger questions both the possibility and desirability of making our everyday understanding explicit" (p.4). There are and always will be many things in life that cannot be made explicit, that cannot be explained, that are not amenable to "critical reflection," things, for example, such as human skills.
2. Mental Representation. "Heidegger questions the view that experience is always and most basically a relation between a self-contained subject with mental content (the inner) and an independent object (the outer)." For him "there is a more fundamental way of being-in-the-world that cannot be understood in subject/object terms" (p.5).
3. Theoretical Holism. Heidegger "insists that we return to the phenomenon of everyday human activity and stop ringing the changes on the traditional oppositions of immanent/transcendent ... subject/ object ... explicit/tacit ... etc." (p.6).
4. Detachment and Objectivity. "From the Greeks we inherit not only our assumption that we can obtain theoretical knowledge of every domain, even human activities, but also our assumption that the detached theoretical viewpoint is superior to the involved practical viewpoint" (p.6). Heidegger, following the insights of Nietzsche, Peirce, James and Dewey, denies these assumptions.
5. Methodological Individualism. Heidegger, "in his emphasis on the social context as the ultimate foundation of intelligibility [shares with Wittgenstein] the view that most philosophical problems can be dis(solved) [sic] by a description of everyday social practices" (p.7). In other words, they are pseudo-problems.
If Heidegger were only clearing the ground of 2,500 years of sheer wrongheadedness, he would of course still be an extremely important and valuable thinker. But, as Dreyfus explains, he goes further, for "he has a positive account of authentic human being and a positive methodological proposal for how human being should be systematically studied" (p.8). His influence, which today extends into many areas, has been and continues to be enormous as more and more specialists and experts and technicians of every kind begin to appreciate the fruitfulness of his way of thinking in contrast to the often dismal results produced by their own.
Heidegger's 'Being and Time' is a notoriously difficult book, and Dreyfus' commentary is to be welcomed as the first study that succeeds in making it both intelligible and exciting, even to the non-specialist reader such as myself. As one of the clearest accounts of Heidegger's thought to date, it belongs in the library of anyone who is at all interested in this revolutionary and amazing thinker.
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Best thing is that Dreyfus provides life-examples that Heidegger would never trouble himself about. Also, he fills in the conceptual voids created and ignored in Heidegger's text.
Thanks to the other reviewers, I am going to check out Dreyfus' other books. Think about it: It does not necessarily follow that a brilliantly creative person (like Heidegger) is even a passable communicator of his own ideas.
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Reading Being-in-the-World has had a great impact on the way I now understand our everyday life in terms of the practices that we pick up -as Heidegger puts it- from the society we are brought up in and not in terms of abstract theories that try to relate our specific actions to mental states. As a management consultant, it guides me away from trying to specify precisely, say, the 'things' a salesman should say and do in a conversation with a client. I'd be better off if I can find another salesman that exhibits the results I'm interested in, and managing a "learning-in-action" program, so that the first salesman learns from the more experienced salesman. As a father, it guides me away from getting my son to hold on to vast amounts of information -the purpose of our modern educational system- but to situating him in an environment where he can pickup successful practices for dealing with diverse situations- including technical and interpersonal problems.
Being-in-the-World was not an easy read for me, since my background is in Computer Science and Management (I had to do some research in the philosophical traditions and problemas that Heidegger was attacking). However, Dreyfus' commentary is most relevant to people in Computer Science and Management - guiding them away from the utopias of Artificial Intelligence and Decision Support Systems.
I recommend this book to anyone willing to make an effort in understanding one of the deepest thinkers on what it means to be a human being "living life at its best."
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Used price: $28.92
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At that time I was thirsty for "true" knowledge about engines, especially high-performance engines, and quickly came to the conclusion I wasn't going to get that from my buddies who inanely swore that their 2-barrel 350 Novas were turning 10-second 1/4-miles ("I'm certain of it man, I clocked it myself"). This book was reviewed in a Road & Track issue, I picked it up, and became truly educated about all facets of basic engine design and the physics and principles behind true horsepower production.
I found the text easy to read and understand, and the delivery of information, although technical, certainly not above anyone's understanding. This is not a "get out your slide rule" type of book; but it does lay things out in a clear, direct manner, making it easy to absorb and understand, even as a newby 17 year-old gearhead.
Even though we've seen a tremendous advance in engineering regarding the internal combustion engine since 1979, to this day the principles delivered in this book ring true. You cannot go wrong, nor do I think you can do better, than starting here on your quest for horsepower knowledge--learn the basics first, and go from there. (For real slide-rule stuff, consult the book Scientific Design of Exhaust and Intake Systems, to learn where the heart of any internal combustion engine resides.)
I still have guys my age swearing that they're doing truly unbelievable things with a certain engine and car; the crazy stories never fade, but you'll do better than tell stories after learning what this book has to say.
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Used price: $14.49
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Benoit created with this book a western scientific basis of Zen. Carlotte Joko Beck and her students have created a new Zen called "Ordinary Mind Zen" from a synthesis of Benoit's work and Japanese formal Zen practice.
This is a very difficult book to read. The book was translated from the French. Long paragraphs are one sentence. The book is also written in a dry academic style. The translator was must not have been able to understand what Hubert Benoit wrote, except in a literal sense. I was only able to read it by reading a couple of pages at a time each morning as I took a tub bath. I have read it several times that way. It does get easier the third or fourth time. Unfortunately, formal mediation practice over years would be necessary for a practical usage of this material. The book does have great academic value for people who are interested in the real thing.
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List price: $14.95 (that's 30% off!)
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These characters come to life in the readers imagination, and it is hard to believe that such powerful writing is possible from the human mind. This novel is harrowing to read, and while you hope for things to get better for the people inside these pages, it is simply not to be. Completely devoid of cliches, there is not one phony moment in the entire read. The movie really did an admirable job of recreating the story, yet it is when Selby gets into the characters heads that we experience emotions that no movie can really create. It is disturbing and heartbreaking to travel down the dark path of addiction with Sara, Marion, Tyrone and Harry. One can only assume that Selby had some kind of personal experience with addiction, as the writing seems to come from a place of deep understanding and empathy. I have no idea what to read now, as I can't imagine I will ever read anything again in my life that pulls me in so far emotionally. I will absolutely never forget this book, and as someone who also has been through the hell of addiction, I can honestly say that this book pulls no punches, and truly manages to avoid glamorizing drug addiction, while avoiding pedantic or trite exploration of the subject. There is nothing preachy about the book - just brutal brutal honesty and complete tragedy. I cared about these people, and wanted so badly for them to find a way out of their pain. It will be a while before I recover from this one.
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What struck me most of all was the light/darkness aspect of the storyline which pretty much mirrors the experience of using drugs or other stimulants. The first part of the book is generally upbeat with only some hints as to what beckons for our protagonists in the future. Indeed there are many moments of humour and Selby seems to promise some hope and happiness for Harry, Marion, Tyrone and Sarah which is partly why what eventually ensues is so utterly gut-wrenching. I was also struck by the religious overtones to this story, there are a couple of verses from scripture at the start of the book which I read and re-read trying to extract the real meaning, but I think now think are quite straightforward. The message seems to be that simple faith in God is a surer compass than any attempt by human beings to create Heaven on Earth or in Harry's case the quest for a pound of pure. I kept thinking over and over again of the commandment 'Thou shalt not have False Gods before me' while reading this book, is Heroin not unlike the Golden Calf from the Old Testament? With all it's allure and false promises it seems to be just as appealing to mankind and equally as destructive.
I found myself on the point of tears on many occasions during the final odyssey into hell but was particularly moved by the passage where Marion prostitutes herself in return for drug-money. Arnold her shrink, is concerned by the tracks on her arms and scarcely wants to believe the reality of her condition.
She responds to his protests in a way that chills the blood, "Because it makes me feel whole...satisfied.".
This is all the more disturbing because she has already been presented as such an intelligent self-confident young woman who lacks for nothing. You realise that she has crossed that magic boundary into the world of self-delusion.
There is no brighter tomorrow for these characters, just the constant spiral towards destruction. This book will drive an icicle into your spine - I definitely recommend it.
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A chivalrous elephant comes to his rescue by setting out on a difficult journey to retrieve the hair tonic that the Lion needs.
But the fun just begins.
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"You can search every jungle, each circus and zoo, From San Francisco to Timbuctoo But I doubt that you'll find though you look everywhere A lion whose main is so perfectly square ............So there!"
The rhymes are delightful and the pictures are fun, relaxed, and absorbing! Peet worked as an illustrator, scriptwriter, and producer for Walt Disney, so you may see some Disney-esque touches in the expressive animal drawings. It's a great children's book (38 pages long). Recommended!
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The questions raised by hermeneutics and structuralism converges into the question, ¡®What lies beyond discourse?¡¯ structuralism answers ¡®it¡¯s the structure.¡¯ In the world of structuralism, the concept of meaning is altogether eliminated. Hermeneutics, according to Gadamer, answers ¡®it¡¯s the profound understanding of Being embedded in traditional linguistic practices.¡¯ They all focus on linguistic practices, the discourse. It seems that in the early works, ¡®The Archaeology of Knowledge¡¯ and ¡®The Order of things¡¯, Foucault followed the structuralist doctrines: the discourse appears as self-regulating and autonomous. The methodology he hired, archaeology is indifferent to the meaning in the discourse, just as ethnologists methodically distantiate themselves both from one¡¯s own culture and from the culture under investigation. With the method of structuralist archaeology, Foucault could achieve such a distanciation. Discourse in mere object to be dissected. But the influences from social institution, which is the essential to Foucualt¡¯s conception of discourse, couldn¡¯t be seen. According to Giddens, discourse has always some intended effect to bring about. So it plays some role in social life. As demonstrated in vivid manner on ¡®Madness and Civilization¡¯, discourse not only talks about object-being-there, but also makes it. Madness emerged as the effect of discourse. It was not naturally there. Here comes the conception of power. Early method of archaeology serves to isolate and analyze discourse. But it doesn¡¯t mean that Foucault turned to hermeneutics. Actually, he denied the meaning-giving subject with advocating the disappearance of the subject. Unlike Wittgenstein or Giddens, power is the attribute not of individual social actors but of dominating system. So discourse is not the business of individuals. In the ¡®History of Sexuality¡¯, he showed how the deep meaning like identity is related to social dominance, in other word practices of power. The subject speaking deep truth or meaning is actually the product of power. But it makes it the elusive question, where the power resides in or what the power is at all. The authors are right when saying Foucault is neither structuralist nor hermeneutist. But Foucault¡¯s position is inherently ambiguous: he seems stuck in middle, I think.
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