Students enter the study of psychology with the belief that psychology is a discipline that can contribute to the benefit of humanity and the betterment of society. They expect to find the accumulated wisdom of thousands of investigators working for over a hundred years of effort to answer the questions and solve the problems of everyday living that burden their existence. They usually come away from their studies sadly disappointed that there were no real answers and that their only hope is a faint promise that a scientific psychology will some day in the distant future have the answers for which they seek. They then turn or return to pop psychology where at least the authors attempt to give answers (superficial as these may be) to the pressing problems that trouble them. If we as a discipline have the courage and vision to go down the path that Daniel Fishman has charted for our profession in his Case for a Pragmatic Psychology, we will finally be able to face our students with integrity, and ultimately with the real answers to the problems they seek assistance in understanding and solving. In this monumental undertaking, Fishman has challenged the myths and self-serving presumptions of the entire discipline of basic and applied psychology, and he has done so with an argument that is both historically and philosophically cogent, and that articulates a concrete alternative research paradigm -- the pragmatic case study. He offers us a vision of a discipline of psychology that is relevant, meaningful, practical, and theoretically sound, and that contributes to the public well-being and interest in the manner in which we have long promised to do, but have rarely actually done. This book will threaten those who are entrenched in the academic-scientific power structure and bureaucracy, and is sure to earn their wrath. The public and professional debate that will ensue is exactly what the field needs to arouse itself from its auto-hypnotic, self-satisfied, scientistic slumber. If the public interest, and the well-being of the individuals in our society are the criteria against which his proposal is evaluated, the outcome of the debate is assured; and the 21st century will be the century of a pragmatic psychology. Of course, only time will tell if that will be the case. In the meantime, the discipline of psychology is indebted to Daniel Fishman for tackling this monumental endeavor, and for having charted a course for all of us to work together to see the promise of psychology is ultimately realized. --Ronald B. Miller, author of The Restoration of Dialogue: Readings in the Philosophy of Clinical Psychology.

This is an excellent historical review of the events that surround the most important day in American History. July 2, 1863 in Gettysburg, PA. Mr. Sauer's concise history is a good beginning although many of the questions will never be answered. The Sickles-Meade Controversy is still vigorusly debated 130 years after the event. Most events are long out of the public memory by then but, I feel this one will last as long as there is an United States of America.

Although, I do not typically read science fiction, this book grapped my attention from the very beginning. My interest continued to the end of the book. I felt the author did an amazing job of taking a real life struggle that many people face and incorporating the possiblity of extraterrestrial life on earth. The story felt "believeable" to me and would make a good movie.

Catchin' the Drift o' the Draft is a collection of 41 original, satirical, and thoroughly entertaining short stories by the prolific writer, poet, and biographer Louis Daniel Brodsky, one of the ablest and most memorable literary figures of our day. These stories present a fast-paced journey through a literary cast of characters that reflect a full spectrum of the human experience. Also highly recommended are Brodsky's earlier works Yellow Bricks (1999) and This Here's a Merica (1999).

I own the French version of this book and I must say that it is exceptional. It's like a small encyclopeadia about Chagall, but in a convenient and light format (although there are A LOT of informations in the book)! I'm currently reading it and it offers an excellent trip into the world of Chagall: not only his art, but also his life. Some of the pictures (like the ones on the first pages, showing Chagall while he is painting) are stunning. If one word could describe this book, it would be: "complete". I recommend it to those who do not want to pay millions of bucks to have a book on Chagall, but who want to have a good view of who is the best artist that existed... and who want to be able to read the book in the bus, for example!

Traditional critical studies of the Bible have been focused on studying the text. Patte, in "Challenge..." focuses on studying readings of the text. And he does this by offering a system (he calls them frames--contextual, hermeneutical, and analytical) that helps us analyze how, what, and why real, flesh and blood readers (ordinary and informed)read!

So much have been written on locating meaning behind and within the text. Feminists, womanists, Third World, and other cultural critics of the Euro-American androcentric readings have privileged the world in front of the text. But only a few have seriously addressed the need to come up with a paradigm that enables us to understand or make sense of how readers actually read. Patte offers a groundbreaking contribution. Christian believers read the text as Scripture. What does that mean? He suggests seven metaphors that represent how most believers understand Scripture's role or function. Believers engage the text from specific contexts/problems/needs. Patte offers categories that frame their situation. Believers focus on specific dimensions of the text and he suggests six metaphors to represent this framing, this wandering viewpoint. Many will find his book disconcerting. It definitely is. But for those who take the ethics of interpretation seriously, this is a must read!

As stated by series editor Sheldon Zedek,"the general purpose of this volume is to provide a discussion of the relationship between the changing nature of work and the understanding, measurement, and influence of human performance. More specifically, the volume addresses how seven key changes in the nature of work-changes in technology, job design, type of workforce, training methodology, external control, leadership, and work structure-affect how job performance is viewed and measured. Three HR domains are emphasized: staffing, motivation, and training and development...The goal of the volume is not only to present greater understanding of the changing nature of performance but also to offer concrete ways in which to deal with the change."

In this context, in Chapter Seven - 'Leadership and the Nature of Performance', Robert G. Lord and Wendy Gradwohl Smith argue that the relation between leadership and performance is likely to increase while at the same time exercising effective leadership may become more difficult because of: (1). increased diversity in experience and technical training will reduce the degree to which organizational members share common performance standards, (2). greater ethnic, racial, and gender diversiy will increase the potential tensions among team members due to less homogeneous values and beliefs.Thus, they argue that this increased diversity creates greater need for leaders to define performance and manage group conflict effectively, and hence they construct a leadership model. On the other side, they summarize some of the important trends noted by other authors of this book that will affect the relationship of leadership to performance as follows:

I. In the Past:

1. Work organization: (a). Map job onto employee, (b). Relative ease in identifying KSAOs.

2. Design of jobs: (a). Stable jobs, (b). Common elements of jobs shared among a number of people.

3. Technology: (a). Relative ease in identifying individual and technological contributions to performance, (b). Little performance monitoring using technology.

4. Control of performance: Internal sources used for performance standards.

5. Meaning of performance: Performance defined by past behavior.

6. Leadership and supervision: Traditional leadership and supervision.

7. Part-time and temporary workers: Minimal concern for commitment to organization, learning, and development due to the stability and structure of jobs.

II. Current Trend:

1. Work organization: (a). Map job onto team, (b). More or different KSAOs and greater difficulty identifying KSAOs.

2. Design of jobs: (a). Less stable jobs, (b). Common elements of jobs shared among fewer people.

3. Technology: (a). Confounding individual and technological contributions to performance, (b). Greater performance monitoring using technology.

4. Control of performance: External sources used for performance standards.

5. Meaning of performance: (a). Performance defined by future behavior, continuous learning, (b). Different cultural views of good performance.

6. Leadership and supervision: Leadership that emphasizes skill development, teams, and identities.

7. Part-time and temporary workers: Greater concern for commitment to organization, learning, and development due to the instability and team-based nature of jobs.

I higly recommend this book as a whole for HR professionals.

I found the book to be educational as well as interesting i was glad i chose to do my assignment on this book

This well-written, beautifully illustrated book captures Boston University the way it was in 1950: a quiet, determined force for social change. No one needed to burn any buildings there. Peace, brotherhood, equality and self-reliance were already being taught in the very capital of abolitionism and hope for the ordinary man. Out of this loving humility somehow rises the heroic, captured in the stained glass windows and other monuments of the chapel, and written about so well by president Daniel L. Marsh. For example, we see, in full color, the window of the four chaplains, who died when the Dorset went down, after giving away their life jackets. One was a BU grad. These and the others depicted in the chapel were the true champions of freedom. Charm? Certainly, and more than that.

I admit I enjoyed a voyeuristic pleasure from the behind the scenes peek the book offers of daily life at Boulud's restaurant.
The chef seems so fun and fast moving and like he's actually daring you to read on and try a recipe. In the very least, I know I'll try to recreate one of the yummy sounding staff meal dishes. As for the beautifully illustrated eight course tasting menu I guess I'll just read longingly - or - go ahead and make reservations.