Why would anyone want to read a book about psychology that was first published 113 years
ago? One answer is the rationale for reading any psychology book: that it
provides insights into psychological issues not available elsewhere. Although
many psychologists of the late 19th and early 20th century probably started their career by
reading this book, it is not appropriate today as an introduction to psychology. Too
many of James's viewpoints are antiquated, and his facts, outdated or incorrect. Neither
is it the book to read if you are looking for contemporary psychological views
or a compilation of psychological knowledge. Recent textbooks are better for these purposes.
Yet, the word most frequently used to describe James's Principles of Psychology
is probably 'monumental' and rightly so because not only is this a lengthy work (~1400pgs),
but it also is the culmination of a long line of philosophical thinking about the Soul,
Self, Mind, Matter, and related topics that began with the pre-Socratic Greeks
and continued through the 19th century, when positivist philosophers and experimentalists
began to explore psychologically relevant philosophical questions in more concrete terms,
invoking a scientific method and rejecting metaphysics. At the end of the 19th century, a
seeming riot of discussion about the meaning of life, the nature of consciousness, mind,
ego, evolution, and related subjects dominated the scientific and popular culture.

At this point in history, William James, an American trained as a physician and employed
as a Harvard professor, examines the various philosophies of the previous two millenia, picking
out those aspects relevant to psychology, comparing and sorting them to reveal their value
as unambiguous theories that might be tested by research, and reflecting on how the evidence
stacks up in their favor. He also advances his own, original conceptions on various issues.
His work is not the first to collect speculation and evidence into a coherent
psychology, and there are many previous works with "Psychology" in their titles,
but James's efforts would galvanize an American discipline of psychological science that
would eventually become a dominant intellectual force.

James defines psychology as the "Science of Mental Life" and describes the
stream of consciousness as "the ultimate fact for psychology." Out of his viewpoint,
the school of functionalism in psychology developed, where the mind is conceived as a
useful organ that evolves according to natural selection and grows according
to discoverable rules. His orientation towards physiological and behavioral data
eventually diminished the then dominant psychological
method of introspection that James himself uses so frequently with great effect.
Subsequent viewpoints in psychology, such as behaviorism, though taking part of their
inspiration from functionalism, reject James's definition of psychology, so that
by the end of the 20th century, most psychologists with an empirical orientation may
call themselves "behavioral scientists," but certainly not "mental scientists."

Reading this book can be disconcerting, perhaps because of his period style or
Victorian sensibilities, or the frequent, unglossed short quotes and phrases in German, French,
and Latin because he assumes the reader has at least these minimal language skills.
Perhaps also, it is because James is not only conversant with the giants of philosophy
and experimental technique who preceeded him, but seemingly, with virtually every
published sentence to date bearing on the subjects of concern, and in veritable fractal detail,
producing a tour de force in erudition. His is not the style of current psychology
journals and textbooks, but fortunately he does translate into English many long passages
he quotes from their original sources. Yet possibly the most disconcerting aspects
are the subjects that James raises in this book.

The new mainstream psychology after James rejects many topics as unsuitable - even for
discussion - that figure prominently in the intellectual history of philosophy
and psychology. James's view that the concept of Soul should be eliminated in
scientific works is one point on which later psychologists heartily agree, but they
also, to a large extent, throw out other concepts of central concern to James, such as
mind, emotion, will, and feeling. Rare pleas by scholars
with varying backgrounds (e.g., Ornstein, Tomkins) urge students of psychology to
revisit issues discussed by James and address the larger questions contained therein, but
such exhorations echo mostly in halls of learning emptied by Vita enhancement pressures.
Renewal of interest reappears lately for some of the suppressed topics, cast into such areas as
cognitive psychology or emotion theory, but James's idea that the mind is a core
concept remains foreign to virtually all contemporary psychologists, and much of his
emphasis seems uncomfortable from today's viewpoint.

The reluctance among psychologists to embrace such philosophical and scientific issues
concerning the mind is remarkably not shared by some physicists, mathematicians,
biologists, computer scientists, and other scientists who in recent works have implied
that psychologists may be irrelevant to elucidating such issues, if not muddle-headed,
scientific dwarfs. This twist is ironic because psychologists restrict their
vocabulary and investigations partly to ape their conception of these "hard-core" sciences.
It is not clear whether psychology will survive the choices that psychologists have
made about their subject matter, or whether psychology departments will inevitably be
diced and parsed into their appropriate slots in departments of computer science, biology,
medicine, statistics, and physics, but certainly, the end of psychology is nearer if
tomorrow's students of psychology fail to study James's Principles of Psychology.

James's work is the jumping off point for much of what forms 20th century psychology:
habit, association, attention, memory, imagination, object and space perception, etc.
His thoughts about emotion, feelings, the self, consciousness, and other topics remain important
for today's theoretical views. On the other hand, this work predates psychoanalysis
and does not include an organized account of abnormal psychology, human communication,
and other topics raised in most elementary surveys of psychology. The context in which
James puts scientific psychology is probably the most important lesson of this book.
The Dover edition is unabridged, the only form of this work that should be
considered by the serious reader.

James has been rightly credited as the father of Psychology, and this was the work that launched psychology into a field of its own. When it came out some 100 years ago, The Principles was criticized as "un-systematic." James would have taken this as a compliment. It is exactly because this book is not an elaborately contrived system that it remains fresh as a morning flower. Full of details and insight, it is perhaps the most epic and insightful psychological work every produced. That said, The Principles doesn't quite stay within the bounds of psychology. As you will see from the citations (which are voluminous), James was also well read in the humanities, from abstruse philosophy to literary fiction. But then, James was living in a time when Philosophy and Psychology were not distinct disciplines. Not a problem if you enjoy philosophizing. For its breadth, scope and penetrating insights, this book might never grow stale.

This is probably the most wide ranging and best book ever written about human psychology. Even though it is more than 100 years old, it still gives the best description of the width and range of human thinking and activities.

Roughly speaking, there are two main areas in psychology:

1. The clinical psychology, psychoanalysis and treatment. That area was to a large part shaped by Freud.

2. The cognitive psychology which describes how we think and experience the world. That area was founded by William James, and this book is his main work

The book was written before the separation of psychological science, philosophy and discussions about ethics and human values. It was also written before much of the cognitive psychology degenerated into investigations of white mice running through mazes. It can therefore give a wide ranging and consistent wiev of our thinking and experience.

Very well thought out information. I find sometimes, alternative medcial practitioners have an "axe" to grind or an anti establishment bias. I found none of that in this book. This was based on logic, studies, and experience. I have suffered from a "root canal gone bad" for over a year before I discovered this information. All the doctors and dentists just shook their collective heads while I was being poisoned by an infected root canal tooth. Even after I had it removed, the problem continued. It had tranferred to my jaw and other areas of my jaw. Without this info, I do not know where I would be at this point. I am seeking the proper care and expect a great improvement.

Drs. Kulacz and Levy paint a vivid, disheartening picture of medicine and dentistry today. They write in terms easy enough for any layperson to understand, but their technical abilities shine through. Drs. Kulacz and Levy are saving lives through the spread of information and their work. Everyone should read this book.

This book boldly explores the dangers of common dental procedures such as root canals that leave lingering infection in the jawbone and may cause a host of serious medical diseases. Clear explanation of the process as well as numerous old and new scientific references support the authors articulate description of this subject. The best book that I have read on dentistry. A must read for anyone that has had or is having dental work done!

Henry David Thoreau wrote, "It matters not how far you travel, but how much you are alive," and Jim LeMonds, a former English teacher of mine in the small "mill-town" city of Longview, WA embodies this phrase in his tight, solid prose and compassionate understanding of the area and it's people. For anybody to understand the psyche of this area, the Pacific Northwest, I recommend not only living here and listening, but also a cold plunge into the severely deprived art scene and it's few vibrant sectors. Jim LeMonds, in South of Seattle, provides us with one of these. My favorite essay was Scripture For The Land, for it's sheer intensity and truths.

Jim has captured the life of small town America. More precisely small town Pacific Northwest where the largest employer is the lumber companies and the county fair still attracks the whole town. Jim brings to light some of the hardships and personal obstacles that impede the daily lives of even the most simple lives. The memories that Jim shares will most definitely make you laugh and may even bring you to tears. An intimate exploration of a great geographical area.

I am a former English student of the author of "South of Seattle," and not only is this man an exceptional teacher, but he is the only writer of my acquaintance to so vibrantly capture the spirit of life in the ever-growing Pacific Northwest--roots, leaves, rain, et al. If you want to experience a small lumber town and are unfourtunate enough not to have been born and raised there, then take your next best option as an outsider and read this book. This journey through time and terrain is all the more meaningful due to the obvious love the author feels for his topic. Don't miss this one...

McIntosh has done it again! This time, he takes on the sometimes complex human relationships encountered by people managers in today's workplace. He presents clear approaches and stratagies to create the team spirit and cooperation necessary to survive in today's competitive marketplace.
I recommend this book to anyone who wants to learn more about team-building or to become eligible for that next promotion.

I thoroughly enjoyed Mr. McIntosh's book. As a CEO of a large organization, I am particularly interested in learning about how to motivate and inspire my employees.

Mr. McIntosh's work not only provides concise, principle centered ideas, but he writes the book in a readable and entertaining style.

I would recommend the book to my colleagues or anyone who is serious about setting vision and inspiring workers to achieve the next level of success.

Howard M. Hamilton, Ph.D.

Superintendent, Pleasant Valley School District

A great source for useful information for the small business owner. Great insights into the psyche of the wage earner today. Best of all, practical tactics that I can use today, tomorrow and next week.

As far as I know, this is the only book of its kind, and it is superb. Essential for those involved in the architectural or interior design profession, but also excellent for those that are fans of architecture. Enjoyable to read (or browse) cover to cover, but also useful as a very complete reference. My only wish is that I could visit more of the places I have read about in this book!

A most interesting and even exhilarating educational resource...clearly the essential and definitive tool for architecture and design facts.

Used successfully to re-work many of the operations of a small company.

AAA provides not only an analytical framework for organisational change, but - more importantly - an extensive and concrete manual for implementation.

When you've done enough reading on the subject and have to actually DO something, get this book.

This book's theme is developing a workforce that is aligned to overall organizational mission and goals, is accountable for performing to established metrics and focused on meeting customer expectations. The workforce is broken into "natural work teams" are service-oriented as opposed to function- or task-oriented. Without a methodical approach, such as the one set forth in this book, developing such a workforce is a near-impossible task. However, the authors lay out a clear path to achieving just such a workforce.

The expected outcome of area activity analysis is cultural change (starting with renaming teams to reflect their real roles as service providers), focusing the mission on service, defining clear activity descriptions for which the teams are responsible, determining how to measure team effectiveness, establishing service-related performance standards and restructuring reward systems.

Using a seven phase approach, the book leads you through the entire process of transforming to "natural work teams". The first three phases are foundational, and consist of (I) preparations for the activity analysis, (II) developing service-oriented mission statements for the functional areas (not easily done), (III) defining the activities for each area.

Phase IV is the pivot point during which you develop customer relationships. Customers can be internal customers of the activity or external customers. In this respect there is a set of classifications that need to be performed for the activities themselves, which are: Real-Value-Added (RVA), which provide value as seen through the eyes of the activity's customer; Business-Value-Added (BVA), which may be necessary to support internal business functions, but provide no direct benefit to the activity's customer, and No-Value-Added (NVA), which are not essential to business functions, nor do they add any perceivable value to customers. This information is used in Phase V to determine the efficiency of the activity. It is also worth noting at this point that the what authors call "activities" are processes and process chains, so you may have to either adopt his vocabulary or mentally translate as you read. This is not a criticism of the book, however, because the approach is valuable and will enable you to classify activities in accordance with their value characteristics and determine if they are optimum for their intended use. Phase VI entails developing supplier partnerships. This is applicable to both external supply chain partners as well as internal activities. An example of an internal supplier partnership, taken from my profession, is services provided by IT to end users (usually codified in service level agreements and comprised of service level objectives). The final phase, VII, addresses continuous improvement. An added bonus is the CD ROM that comes with the book contains an application called WorkDraw, which is a process modeling tool with many of the same features as Micrografx iGrafx Process.

As an IT professional who works extensively on projects for service level management and IT-Business alignment I found this book to be a gem. In fact, the service-orientation of the "natural work teams" has changed my thinking about how to structure an ideal IT organization, and has also greatly influenced my thinking about how to manage service delivery. The book earns 5 solid stars and my highest recommendation.

This review is of James L. Roberts' Cliffs Notes for Samuel Beckett's "Waiting for Godot & Other Plays," and not the plays themselves. Following a Brief Life of Samuel Beckett, Roberts provides an excellent essay on Samuel Beckett and the Theater of the Absurd, which talks about the impact on modern theater of Godot's "En Attendant Godot" in 1953. Roberts draws some significant contrasts, as well as finding fundamental similarities, between the works of Beckett and those of Eugene Ionesco, Jean Genet, and Arthur Adamov. This essay is useful for anyone teaching/reading any of these dramatists. Roberts examines "Waiting for Godot," creating five dramatic divisions for each act and then offering a Critical Analysis of each section. Although coming up with definite conclusions about "Godot" is impossible, Roberts does present a consideration of the Play's Circular Structure as well as Character Analyses of the plays two sets of characters, Vladimir and Estragon, Pozzo and Lucky, both as pairs and as individuals. This little yellow book with the black stripes concludes with brief Critical Analyses of "Endame," "All That Fall," "Act Without Words I," and "Krapp's Last Tape." Certainly this volume helps with understanding some of the complexities of Beckett's famous play, but the background on the Theater of the Absurd has obviously applications beyond the plays considered here, which will prove quite useful to teachers who are doing expanded units on this genre of drama.

When the play begins great is our hope to see Godot appearing on the satge.The latter never comes.Not only Vladimir and Estragon are trapped by the process of waiting but we also we are equally trapped for nearly three hours.Nevertheless we leave the theatre wiser.Waiting contitutes an important part of our existence-at all times we are waiting for somet1hing or somebody.At different times we are waiting for something different-sometimes waiting is pleasurable but often it is painful.We can empathise with the two tramps who have nothing else to do than wait for a certain Godot who keeps postponing his arrival.Waiting becomes an important metaphor of life in the play-to wait is to exist and to exist means to wait.In post second world war Europe life is less attractive than ever-the two tramps will never go up the eiffel tower,they have been marginalised by a cruel and inhumane society.Centuries of European cultural, economic and scientific developments have produced a void in man's life.The two tramps have to live by the side of a country road or in a ditch or eat the bone thrown away by an arrogant Pozzo. What is Lucky waiting for-why doesn't he leave his master?Why don't we leave the theatre after the first act-aren't we bored enough? The play is an introspection in the remote corners of our subconsciousness-we are waiting for something-you are waiting for this essay to end to think about it.Beckett superbly got all of us into the formidable act of thinking but we do not think like the hog or pig Known as LUCKY.The play may be regarded as absurd-well it hardly matters because our own existence is absurd-unknowingly we are all waiting for something in common-it is our death.It is a harsh reality to swallow,yet this is the truth-some expect the Santa claus will come others expect Jesus will come as a messiah-well nobody comes, we have been too busy waiting that we have forgotten what we are actually waiting for.

I have a 1997 version of this textbook. It is really wonderful for reference even after finishing the course that required it. My husband and son are using it also. It has answers in the back so you can check yourself. If you don't tear out the work sheets and just copy them, other members of you family or friends can use the book to improve their English also. It is really worth the money.

I am just completing a required class using this book. It takes you through our written English language by teaching how to identify each part of speech. This book also teaches correct punctuation, different kinds of phrases, and really makes you dig deep in your subconcious to remember nominative phrases, plurals, numbers used in sentences, etc... It's all the basic English in one book that a person needs for brushing up!