This book is the most exciting book that I have read in a long time. Prime virtues of the book are clarity of exposition, and breath of topics covered. Smith shows how many controversial issues in contemporary meta-ethics come together in what he calls 'the Moral Problem': three of our intuitions - three plattitudes about moral judgement and human action - seem to be inconsistent. Most current ethical theories deal with this apparent inconsistency by rejecting one of the three plattitudes. Smith, on the other hand, provides a very elegant solution to this moral paradox by showing how the three plattitudes are both consistent and true.

Plattitude 1: moral judgements have a truth value (objectivity of moral judgements). Plattitude 2: moral judgements consitute reasons for action (practicality of moral judgements). Plattitude 3: desires are constitutive of reasons for action (folk psychology).

1 and 2 entail that beliefs - states that have a truth value - constitute reasons for action, contrary to 3. 2 and 3 imply that moral judgements are (or express) desires - states that do not have a truth value - contrary to 1. 1 and 3 result in the conclusion that desires have truth values, contrary to 2 - as reasons for action are constituted by non-cognitive states, i.e. states without a truth value.

As will be clear to those familiar with contemporary meta-ethics, proposing a solution to this problem requires an analysis of rival solutions as given by for example expressivism, cognitivism, and error theory. Smith gives such an analysis and forcefully argues that these solutions are flawed. His own solution starts by pointing out that - although plattitude 3 is indeed a plattitude and should be retained - it is not the whole story about human motivation. If you want to find out more about these issues, this is the book to read.

An excellent comprehensive introduction. Very good index and usefull references for deeper study. This book will serve as handy general reference.

Nature Art with Chiura Obata describes not only the life of a contemporary Japanese artist, but also depicts a man who maintained his spirit and dignity when he was interned with fellow Japanese Americans during World War II.

Chiura Obata was born in Japan in 1885. His older brother and wife were unable to bear children of their own, so they adopted Obata when he was five years old. Obata showed a talent for art at any early age, and his rigorous training began immediately in his new home.

Most interesting to Obata was the nature around him. He studied plants, birds and animals. He learned to make his mind calm and to use all his senses, not just his eyesight, when he was observing his subject.

In 1903, at the age of 17, Obata set sail for California, where he fell in love with the Pacific Ocean, the mountains, the redwood trees and Yosemite National Park. He also encountered prejudice and survived the earthquake of 1906. Through it all, Obata ultimately became a teacher at the University of California in Berkeley.

This book is filled with fascinating old photographs, reproductions of Obata's beautiful sketches and paintings, along with art exercises for budding artists who want to try out some of Obata's techniques. The exercises encourage readers to follow their feelings and draw nature as they see it. I found this book perfect for a presentation on Japanese Art to a second grade class.

When Obata and his family became internees in 1942, he recorded the story of their imprisonment through art. Even though their accommodations were dirty and depressing, Obata encouraged his people to see the beauty of nature in order to survive. He organized an art school and students would carve sculpture from tree stumps and build lamps from old car parts.

Obata became an American citizen in 1952 and lived to a ripe old age.

This is a story told in modern day happenings. It's full of the complex joys and happenings of real people. Never have I seen such a dramatic story line. Two people in love, with each one willing to do whatever it takes to stay together. However, he is taken into custody and about to be sent to Prison. She does not believe his guilt but what about him? What does he know that he's hiding? Only one other person knows the truth. Yes, this book will keep you guessing right up to the last moment. Enjoy.

I had a fantastic time reading this book, I couldn't put it down, infact I stayed up all night. This book gives a splendid overview of Michael Smith's experience as of the time he wrote the book, using articles he had previously written as well as new text. At the same time the book also gives very good detailed accounts which flesh out the book and make it a narrative. If you want to know about the social movements of the 60's in a very real and upfront way, really gain an understanding of that time, I recommend this book.

I have used many Bible Study Books in the past with groups, usually frustrated by the trite questions and the lack of digging into God's Word. This year we used this book and the whole group has loved it. It really makes us read the Word and the quotations from Discipleship Journal are fantastic. This is a very "meaty" study which I would highly recommend to anyone wanting to develop their prayer lives.

I have experience of teaching C++ to beginners and advanced users. I have gone through many books on this subject but I found only few of them as good . This book is one of them , the way author explains the intricate concepts ,lucid language he used along with self assesment exercises makes it worth to recommend .

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How else could anyone get so carried away with this work.

DataCAD is the greatest cad tool you will find for Architectural work and I outa know, I have TurboCad, Intellicad, Vector Works, and AutoCad, but 99% of my work is with DataCAD.

This book is NOT the manual that comes with the software, but I'm betting that it soon will be the OFFICIAL Official DataCAD manual.

Buy this book now, I have purchased two copies that have dissappeared ( well I loaned them out and can't seem to get them back ) so, looks like I'm gonna make a repeat-repeat purchase.

This book gives you excellent advice on teen problems in today's world we live in. He provides answers to the most common questions teens face today: peer pressure, faith, morality (he himself had these same questions).

Although this book is aimed at teen-agers, adults will like reading this book to help their teen-agers through some of tough times teens face.