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Book reviews for "Thompson,_David" sorted by average review score:

Dennett's Philosophy: A Comprehensive Assessment
Published in Hardcover by MIT Press (23 October, 2000)
Authors: Don Ross, Andrew Brook, and David Thompson
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A Stance for flexibility
Daniel Dennett has become the pivot point for all modern ideas in human cognition - philosophy's successor term. Unlike the classical philosophers, Dennett adheres to no "school" of philosophy. Indeed, one of the editors of this book attempts to coin the phrase "Dennettian" to establish a new such identity - an effort Dennett himself simply ignores. Dennett's many writings do not lend themselves to any rigid classification. Pinning him down is attempting to transfix the ultimate moving target. Dennett's tactics have led to criticism ranging from mild admonitions to scathing invective. This group of essays, resulting from a 1998 conference at Memorial University in Newfoundland, is a collection of advice, critique and demands for explanation from this innovative thinker . The book's tone is
perfectly captured in Dennett's response essay, "With A Little Help From My Friends." It is pure "Dennettian."

Don Ross' Introduction expresses the frustration many have felt about Dennett's writings: "Do Dennett's works 'come together' into a coherent view of the world?" The answer to that question must be sought in the essays as each author struggles to address it through various elements found in Dennett's writings. The first part takes up his views on evolution. This is right and proper, since his "Darwin's Dangerous Idea" [DDI] is easily the most important book published since Darwin's "Origin of Species." Timothy Crowe challenges various aspects of Dennett's view of how evolution works, falling, quite consciously, into Stephen Gould's assertions about "maladaptations." Paul Dumouchel's following essay on Dennett's use of Forced Moves and Good Tricks in DDI shows how a critic must demonstrate understanding before offering appraisal.

Following these openings, the essays move into a more "philosophical" vein. [Dennett would argue those "scare quotes" would deter some or mislead others!] Ruth Millikan, adhering to Dennett's stand that cognition is a human extension of the evolutionary processes, suggests modification to a fundamental of Dennett's thinking - the Intentional Stance. She wants better identification of "intentionality" of natural selection. Her unease is echoed in Tom Polger's essay on the use of "conceptual fictions" such as "zombies," artificial biological beings with no discernible intentionality, a concept Dennett has repeatedly rejected.

Other essays in this collection further attempt to fix Dennett's ideas within some identifiable framework. Christopher Viger, Timothy Kenyon and William Seager, particularly the latter, all seek Dennett's abandonment of a "purely naturalistic rule" for his thinking. These admonitions Dennett dismisses as a misunderstanding of how nature works. Flexibility is the key, and is Dennett's lodestone. Among the remaining essays, Andrew Brook's symbolizes the dichotomy faced by Dennett adherents: how to fix on that elusive object without eroding its valuable contents. Brook reminds us that Dennett has spent thirty years giving us an account of consciousness. In that time, Dennett has challenged long-standing concepts in philosophy. Brook implores Dennett to clarify several of his definitions, in particular the distinction between the "seeming" of an object and the actual "subject" under discussion. How do we distinguish between a thing and our idea of that thing? Brook disclaims any attempt to bring down Dennett's Multiple Drafts model of consciousness, but feels he has "domesticated it a bit." Reader unfamiliar with the Multiple Drafts model are urged to take up Dennett's "Consciousness Explained" for the most innovative idea of the mind's workings currently available.

Space limitations forbid a thorough recapitulation of all the essays. It goes without saying that Dennett directly addresses each essayist's points [where these are discernible, which isn't always the case]. He acknowledges where clarity in his work is required, but often finds the interpreter has missed his meaning. In philosophical writing, that is often a given. With most explanations of human reasoning being labelled with various "-isms," Dennett stresses his discomfort with such constraints. He's to be admired for resisting such limitations, and reading his responses, we are reminded again of why the conference was convened. Dennett is more than a square peg resisting a round hole. He's polygonal, reflecting the scope of his diversity of interests and abilities. He stands apart from "mainstream" concepts, remaining unique as the leading figure in cognitive studies.


Difficult Lives: Jim Thompson-David Goodis-Chester Hines
Published in Paperback by Gryphon Pubns (1993)
Author: James Sallis
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Polished and beautiful, and rare!
Sallis has written a beautiful concentrated gem of a book, no doubt hard to get by now. Unique and insightful, and really essential for anyone who wants to understand how and why these noir masters were able to create and produce what they did. If you are intrigued by any of them, don't miss it; and if you are as mesmerized by Jim Thompson as I am, you can't live without this jewel. (And don't even think about asking for my 'signed edition'...its staying with the first edition Thompson paperbacks that surround it.)


Early Fur Trade on the Northern Plains: Canadian Traders Among the Mandan and Hidatsa Indians, 1738-1818
Published in Paperback by Univ of Oklahoma Pr (Trd) (1999)
Authors: David Thompson, John Macdonell, Charles W. McKenzie, Franaois-Antoine Larocque, W. Raymond Wood, and Thomas D. Thiessen
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Excellent
This is a well written and engaging look into the importance of the Mandan and Hidatsa Indian villages as a pivotal point in trade systems during the late 1700's through early 1800's. Being located along the Missouri River in present day North Dakota, the Mandan/Hidatsa Indians traded horses, robes and furs to Canadian Fur Companies in return for guns and ammunition. They would then trade these goods for other commodities from various Northern Plains Indian Tribes, who previously may have traded with other tribes or the Spaniards further south. In part one, the authors give a lengthy but excellent and relevant chronological introduction as to the fur trade history of this geographical area. Part two includes five journals (or excerpts) of some of these Northwest Fur Company traders' first hand accounts depicting life as it was: John Macdonell's descriptions of the Indians, geography and trade in the 1790's; David Thompson's narrative describing his harrowing 1797 journey from Fort Assiniboine to the Mandan villages in the dead of winter; Larocque's two narratives, the "Missouri (1804)" and "Yellowstone (1805)" Journals, the latter of which, in the company with Crow Indians, he may possibly have been the first white man to descend the Yellowstone River, pre-dating William Clark by more than a year. The final narrative is of Charles McKenzie's four journeys to the Mandan villages (1804-1806), the first two in company with Larocque's expeditions. This is a fascinating read for fur trade enthusiasts and/or those whose interests are in early western exploration.


The End of Time: Faith and Fear in the Shadow of the Millennium
Published in Paperback by University Press of New England (1999)
Authors: Damian Thompson and David, Md. Loxterkamp
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A global survey of Pre Millenial Tension (PMT)
Taking in the vast cultic mileu - doomsdayers, new agers, evangelicals, pentecostalists, fundamentalists (both Christian and Muslim), liberal democrats and, naturally, millennialists (technically, those who await the thousand year reign of Christ prophesied in the book of Revelation) - Thompson's treatise uncovers the historical and sociological motives we have for putting ourselves near the end of history rather than at its beginning. The approach of the calendar millennium has been a catalyst for the current wave of Pre Millennial Tension sweeping the globe but there are much larger issues at stake. Thompson argues that there is a powerful confluence between apocalyptic belief and the universal human experience which allows that belief to fit within the personal horizon of the individual. Our urge to celebrate the passing of time fails to conceal an even deeper urge to escape from it, which is why our celebration of 2000 is set to have a bittersweet edge and a tinge of desperation.


Film Art
Published in Paperback by McGraw-Hill Humanities/Social Sciences/Languages (2000)
Authors: David Bordwell and Kristen Thompson
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Excellent Book for Beginning Media/Cinema Studies Students
Having read other articles and books by Bordwell in the past, I was not quite sure I even wanted to read the fifth edition I received a few years ago. Bordwell and Thompson are a great team, and they provide plenty of examples for each concept with a writing style which is informative without being dense.

This sixth edition improves upon the fifth edition, primarily by updating many examples to reflect more recent films. Especially interesting is the array of color plates at the center of the book, which helps to make related examples even more vivid.

I am currently using the sixth edition of Film Art in an online class, and the students also seem to really appreciate it - moreso than when I was teaching with the fifth edition several years ago. I am actually looking forward to a seventh edition in the future.


Frontier Fury (Wilderness, 35)
Published in Mass Market Paperback by Leisure Books (2001)
Author: David Thompson
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NATE KING WILL GIVE YOU FRONTIER FURY!!!!
I have read this all of this series up through thiry five. I think the earlier ones were better but they all have been very good. This one is about Nate King and his family trying to get back home. They come across a man named Colonel William Proctor. The Colonel is setting up a town to call his own. He plans to be the head man and even go so far as to get it to be a statehood. He holds Nate and his family captive to try to get them to do what he wants. The King family is joined by Ezriah Hampton, who was in the last book. Can Nate stop the Colonel from hurting innocent people or will they be taken down by the Indians? Will Nate and his family ever be allowed to continue on toward their on cabin? This will hold you attention if you like books about early mountain men and the Indians of the Rockies.


Holiness For Hurting People: Discipleship as Recovery
Published in Textbook Binding by Wesleyan Publishing House (1998)
Authors: David L. Thompson, David Thompson, and Gina Thompson Eickhoff
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Insightful look at the Biblical view of recovery.
I found this book to be both insightful and challenging. Dr. Thompson takes Paul's letter to the Ephesians and shows how recovery was very much a first-century church issue. He bridges the gap to show that Christian recovery is actually the process of Christian dicipleship and a path that all followers of Christ should be walking. I highly recommend this work.


Lure of the Wild
Published in Paperback by Leisure Books (1990)
Author: David Thompson
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A great book, by a great auther
Nathaniel King has two very important decions to make. Should he go back to the states and be a slave to society? Or should he stay in the untamed Rocky Mountains and live as he darn well pleases? And if that isn't enough, he also has to decied wheather or not to grant a dieing Shoshone warrior's request for him to court his doughter. And while trying to decied what he should do, he has to fight of a bloodthirsty Blackfoot war party. This book mixes romance, and the epic struggle for survival all into one great book. I recemend this book to anyone.


MiG Alley: Sabres Vs. MiGs Over Korea
Published in Hardcover by Specialty Press/Midland (2002)
Authors: David McLaren and Warren Thompson
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Sabres Vs MiGs-Aviation History at its Best!
This is the best aviation war fighting book this reviewer has ever read. It grabs the reader's interest from the flyleaf and doesn't let go until the last word. Authors have put together a comprehensive history of the F-86 Sabre jet and its pilots and ground crews through the words and photographs of the men who flew and maintained this great jet throughout the Korean War. This uniquely crafted history is made up of individual short stories, primarily by the pilots, which describe every aspect of fighting against the mysterious and capable MiG-15. The book essentially follows the chronology of the war, focusing on the evolution of the Sabre, the refinement of tactics against the MiG-15 and the molding of the airmen into effective teams to overcome the significant advantages of the MiG-15 in certain flight regimes. The personal, honest and exciting stories the pilots tell of combats, both successful and sometimes not, are so compelling the reader feels as if they are witnessing the event. There is humor, heroism and tragedy in these stories, many gleaned from these Sabre drivers in recent interviews, yet clear and compelling despite the passage of fifty years. These memories are related by not only the "aces," but also by many of the younger pilots who earned the everlasting affection of their Element and Flight Leads by "covering their six" and allowing them to engage the MiGs without fear of being shot down in turn. The book is rich with color photographs, many published for the first time, of Sabres, airfields, ground crews and aviators which give the book a vibrancy which perfectly compliments its text. Appendixes show the ultimate disposition of every Sabre that served in Korea; list the case of every Sabre loss during the war; list every confirmed F-86 kill; and name all of the U. S. aces during the war. These appendixes add a very nice compendium for those who wish greater detail. This is a wonderfully written, professionally composed and thoroughly enjoyable book which is a MUST READ for anyone interested in combat aviation.


Mountain Cat (Wilderness, No 18)
Published in Paperback by Leisure Books (1994)
Author: David Thompson
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THis book was very action packed and very very exciting!!
I really enjoyed this book and could not put it down


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