The book does give great interviews and words of Vonnegut, but there is no substantial whole. It is poorly laid out, and makes no concrete assertions or comments on Vonnegut's words.

I read only the part where one person interviewed Kirk in the persona of Kilgore Trout. This made a great addition to this book.

This compilation of interviews with Kurt Vonnegut covers 1969 through 1987. Vonnegut fans may recognize some of the conversations from amongst the known corpous (i.e. the Playboy interview from Foma, Wampeters, and Granfalloons) but by and large these come from quirky sources out of the main stream. The wonderfully casual Robert Scholes interview from 1973 is a delight. Also of interest is the 1974 Greg Mitchell piece written in the manner of Kilgore Trout. By all mean secure yourself a copy of this work. One flaw needs to be noted: With Vonnegut married to the skillful photographer Jill Kremetz, why put a pedestrian AP photo on the cover? Chris Huber

This book is as much about Marxist theory as it is about Rastafarianism, which isn't necessarily a bad thing unless you're not as interested in the former as in the latter. Rodney's objective is to couch the origins of the Rastafarian movement in that of proletariat class struggle. However, he provides little evidence to demonstrate a definitive link between the two. Rodney convincingly shows that Rasta developed as a means for the descendants of African slaves to positively identify with Africa and her people, as opposed to the white king of England. Insofar as this movement developed among blacks who constituted the mass of Jamaica's populace and who were working-farming poor - than Rasta may be considered a proletarian movement. However, Rodney provides no evidence that the early Rasta leaders consciously understood their struggle as a "class struggle" as that phrase is understood in the Marxist lexicon. The evidence suggests only that they sought to empower the mass of "sufferers" by seeking to positively identify with Africa and the African King - Haile Selassie I. The discussion of Rastafarianism in a political, social, economic and cultural context is so pervasive as to make one forget that practitioners consider Rastafari a religion. Indeed, Rodney provides no information on the central tenants, philosophy or rites of Rastafari as a religion. Rodney seeks to dismiss those Rasta who believe in the divinity of Selassie as misguided victims of Coptic propaganda. This conclusion reinforces Rodney's objective to posit Rastafari as a viable political movement for change and Rodney provides enough evidence to make this conclusion credible. Moreover, showing the political aspects of Rastafari allows those who may not necessarily believe in the divinity of Selassie to become involved in the movement. Despite the Marxist overtones and lack of religious information, the book still deserves a good rating. Independent of the Marxist analysis the book provides great factual and historical information about the resistance of Africans and their descendents against slavery, colonialism and neocolonialism in the Caribbean and credibly depicts Rasta as a form of resistance. Indeed, if you aren't seeking a better understanding of Rastafari as a religion than this book is well worth the money. In this vein of resistance Marcus Garvey is prominently featured. The book contains an excellent chapter on the role of reggae music in spreading the Rasta's culture of resistance and ends with a thought-provoking discussion of repatriation, ultimately concluding that Africans and their descendants must struggle to change their conditions wherever they find themselves.

History teaches a lot about the Black struggles here in the United States, but you hardly find any books about slavery and Black struggles in the Carribean and South America. Rasta and Resistance talks about the beginnings of the slave trade, slavery in Brazil, the Haitian Revolution and Toussaint L'Ouverture, Walter Rodney, Rastafarianism, ska and reggae music, and Black struggles in Great Britain. A great book for those wanting to learn more about the lost chapters of slavery and Black struggles.

I had the privilege of "awakening" under the masterful stewardship of Dr. Horace Campbell. He is no longer teaching in Tanzania, but spent many years cultivating and producing great thinkers in Zimbabwe, where I met him. Since then, he has continued his tenureship stateside returning to Syracuse University in 1996. Exposing yourself to an essay, article or book by Dr. Campbell will provide interesting and compelling realizations of African and Caribbean political histories.

I have been living in the States for some time know and of course think back a lot of The Netherlands. When I read this book it makes me laugh . It is very accurate and doesn't give you the avarage american impression. ( cool those hashbars and the redlightdistrict!!)The book made me very proud to de Dutch. I would recommend it to anyone interested in The netherlands !!

Americans might think the Xenophobe books to be "racist" as they try to sum up entire nations of people stereotypically. But, while it was often off the mark, it did help me to understand some things about my Dutch friend, and facilitated our communication. I've got to go clean the house before he comes to visit. :)

This guide to the Dutch is the best book I've read about us (yes, I'm Dutch) in many years. None of your clogs and windmills fairy tales, no boring statistics either, but a pretty accurate insight into the Dutch society and the Dutch ways. It's a funny and tongue-in-cheek book, that very often had me laughing out loud and saying things like "Come on, we don't do things like that!", only to realise a few seconds later that we do.

On page 19, under the heading of Selective Perception and Communication, the authors indicate that "research" has shown that grades received by teachers reveal bias of the teacher as opposed to the actual level of knowledge of the child. Two specific examples are provided but WITHOUT citation to the supposed research. Since the research material is so well documented in the rest of the book, I question why they did not make the citation available here. I would like to read this research but am left without the option to find it myself. Ironically, my view of everything that I read in this book from this point on will be tarnished by this experience.

The authors have been around for a long time, but they still have fresh ideas. Anyone interested in the complexity of groups, should read this book. It is wonderful.

I bought two books for my trip to the Smokies. This book and Johnny Molloy's "Day and Overnight Hikes in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park" I tried to use both books, but I consistently returned to Molloys. The Albrights book would be all right to use if you wanted to sit down and read it from cover to cover, or at least a section of the park you want to explore. It is nearly impossible to flip through and find any specific trail. Beside this, their tone especially in the introduction put me off from this book. I think its designed to encourage anyone to try hiking, which is good, but for someone that has hiked for years, it treats me, the reader, as a simpleton, who has never stepped off the pavement in my life. This book is useful, but not as useful or concise as Molloy's guidebook.

Forty-two walks are detailed in this guide to hiking the Great Smoky Mountains. Numerous other walks are briefly listed at the end of each chapter. Hikes are listed geographically in 11 areas, with two to six hikes per area.

The description for each hike includes the distance, difficulty (easy, moderate or strenuous), elevation (including elevation changes), location of the trailhead, and a description of the walk itself. The descriptions are sometimes rather wordy, but do often include interesting historical or natural information. A trail map is included for most of the walks. The appendix includes a thorough bird list.

We found many very interesting walks in this book. Some of the walks listed are the more popular ones, but there are enough of the infrequently visited trails for those who don't want a lot of company on their excursions.

As the book mentions, it frequently rains in the Smokys. We found ourselves in the rain on several of our walks. However, the book itself doesn't take getting damp as well as I'd like. Yet, even though it's been wet several times, the our copy is still very usable.

las ilustraciones de Rodney son estupendas, le contenido es un poco superficial, pero el arte de matthews es inigualable

Como siempre, las ilustraciones de Rodney son estupendas, el contenido es un poco superficial, pero la obra de matthews es inigualable

If this book had been available to me 3 years ago, my path to developing an automated test system would have been much smoother. It is a comprehensive coverage of all the aspects of a test system development program which I have recently undertaken, including some areas (such as upgrading obsolete systems) which were not relevant to my situation.

The book provides a one-stop reference for the essential information required in the development process for a test system, including choosing and setting up the most appropriate hardware. The book was technically accurate, and the content is an accurate reflection of the title. It is well laid out and easy to read and understand the principles being presented.

Clear emphasis was made of the planning and specification stage of the development. The book contains a wealth of practical information, ideal for the engineer working with ATE test systems.

Test System Design: A Systematic Approach is the only book that I have found that fully covers the subject of designing and assembling custom test systems. It is full of practical hints and tips and would be of practicular value to junior engineers. In summary I would highly recommend this book.

The author, a long-time student of occult master Ouspensky, states: "despite its scientific appearance, it [this book] has no importance whatsoever as a compendium of scientific facts or even as a new way of presenting these facts...[but] in its being derived from the actual perception of higher consciousness and in its indicating a path by which such consciousness may be again approached [xxi]." Thus its value lies not in the sight, but in the seeing. But that is just the problem. This book is neither a guide to higher consciousness nor a work on fringe/occult science. Instead, it presents a decidedly scientific "New View" of the universe, and never mind about either facts or practices. It's not that this is pseudoscience (science is, after all, a metaphysical research program). And it does include some tantalizing glimpses of a new worldview. But it is weak in content and failed to generate either productive research or spiritual discipline. An example: "We have reason to believe that our sun does circle about Sirius" [15] in a 800,000 year period. Why? Precessional differences in the annual rising of Sirius relative to its starry background are consistent with the Sun's movement around a circle centered on Sirius. So it *could* be true. And it would certainly be fascinating. And it might explain "Nemesis: the Death Star" thought to periodically attract comets (like the one the killed off the dinosaurs) toward Earth. But nobody every bothered to find out. As it turns out, Ouspensky himself "abandoned the system" at the end of his life, telling his students that they must start over [xx-xxi]. This recalls St. Thomas Aquinas who, at the end of his life, received a vision of the Divine Mother (described in his "Aurora Consurgens") and, in a Zen-like fit of satori, rejected his own earlier intellectual Aristotelian system of theology. Unfortunately, almost nobody knows this; instead the West was stuck with the Thomistic debris of the Catholic Church, rather than elevated by the beatitude of Thomas' final vision of alchemical gnosis and the Divine Mother. So, if you enjoy extended "as above, so below" analogies lacking both empirical content and spiritual interiority , this book is for you. If you had hoped to find a work on spiritual/occult science here (a la Grossinger's "The Night Sky," Gauquelin's "Cosmic Clocks," Seymour's "Astrology: The Evidence of Science,") your disappointment may reach cosmic proportions.

If you wish to bring clarity and meaning to your search then sit and read this thought as well as emotion provoking book. Connects your existence with the universe in a way which creates wonder, awe, meaning, and if you are lucky, purpose. Definitely a tool which enables one to get a different sense of one's self as it did for me. If you also had the same experience, I would love to hear from you. Be advised though, the book and it's content is "not for everybody".

Glock reveals one portion (of three) of a study designed to evaluate/describe the type and degree of commitment American Christians have toward their religion.

Three thousand people were randomly selected from churches in California to answer a 500-item questionnaire. Through the analysis of responses, Glock is able to discern that religiosity relates to different things: membership, belief, ethics, attendance, outlooks, practices, knowledge, experience, faith, baptism, communion, prayer, good works, etc.

Glock created several indices by which he could measure these characterisitcs. The Orthodoxy Index is based on the belief in life after death, Jesus's birth to a virgin, Jesus's miracles, original sin, the existence of Devil, and other traditionally held Christian beliefs.

The Index of Ritual Involvement considers church attendance, saying grace, tithing, and importance of church membersihp.

The Devotionalism Index, a person's private actions of worship, ! ! is based on Bible reading, importance of prayer, belief in prayer, and inclusion of prayers of forgiveness.

The Index of Religious Experience postulates four general types of group members: confirming, responsive, ecstatic, revelational.

Knowledge is assessed through recognition of Bible verses and of OT prophets and ranked through a scale on the Knowledge Index.

Using data based on his indices and comparisons between them, Glock reaches several conclusions. One of the most interesting conclusions is that there are two kinds of church memberships--religious audiences and religious communities. According to the data, conservative groups tend to develop religious communities, with their bonds and activities spilling over into daily life and including best friends. Less conservative, more liberal groups, develop religious audiences; their friends and weekly activities do not overlap with their church participation.

Another interesting conclusion is that, overall, cons! ! ervative bodies are declining in membership and liberal gro! ups are attracting those who are moving from the conservative groups.

Glock's use of numerous charts and "layman" language makes this book an easy read as well as a unique eye-opening experience. Anyone really interested in research-based information about American religiosity should read this book.

This little book is loaded with images from books of different ages, all about cats. As I turned the pages, it was as if I was strolling through the history of art and literature. I found very interesting how different artists chose to depict felines through the ages, and how this changes according to each artist's backgroung and time.