This book could serve as either a textbook for a philosophy of mind class or as a tool with which one can teach oneself these concepts. The basic setup of the book is quite helpful and informative. Morton begins each section with a lengthy commentary on the readings that will follow; these typically involve a discussion of the historical background of a particular philosophy, key terms, and a detailed discussion of the excerpt or essay contained in the section. The book includes a glossary but suffers from a lack of an index; the process of locating a term mentioned in an introduction, for example, tends to be quite complicated. The text "begins at the beginning" with Plato, Aristotle, Galileo, and a great deal of information and readings about and by Descartes. The actual philosophies it covers are: dualism, monism (materialism and idealism), logical behaviorism, linguistic philosophy, mind-brain identity theory, artificial intelligence, functionalism, and eliminative materialism. Each of these typically has 2-3 thinkers represented in terms of essays and excerpts, and the sections vary from about 20 to 40 pages apiece. Morton almost always provides a large and well-excerpted chunk of reading, which, coupled with the detail he provides in his commentary, will help in making a person able to discuss and understand the positions detailed here. The book concludes with a lengthy section on consciousness (featuring Nagel's famous essay "What Is It Like to Be a Bat?" plus three other readings) and a somewhat confusing section on Intentionality (perhaps the most confusing section of the book). Morton's commentary, overall, is clear and helpful; the philosophies covered here are quite complex, but his writing and careful choosing of reading material makes them easier to grasp.

This shows evrything from, backround history, and family members. Where he lived, and all that godd stuff. It even shows most of the game score, and all the records of his game from High School till present, it has good details, and is not too long. Easy Books to read, and very interesting.

"Inquiry" is surprisingly easy reading on the difficult subject of Hua-yen Buddhism. Gregory shows lots of care in spreading out the details. Also a fine job of explaining the historical context of Tsung-mi's writing of the "Inquiry". Excellent preparation for Gregory's "Tsung-mi and the Sinification of Buddhism" or Cleary's "Flower Ornament Sutra".

Marsmanship with Rifles is appropriately subtitled. This slim (65 page) book is an excellent guide for the beginning shooter who wishes to learn more about rifles before making a purchase, or an intermediate rifleman who wants to learn more about the sport. The author has included sections on the different types of rifles, sighting systems, firing postions, and types and caliber of ammunition. His clear, concise explanations are accompanied by a number of black-and-white photographs. Unfortunately, while the photos are very helpful, they have a dark, grainy character that makes them look as though they were printed on a photocopier set to extra dark. Readers may find the two-page glossary helpful, although the four pages of study questions at the end did more to reinforce the feeling of the book as a primer than to reinforce the content. Perhaps the book is intended as material for an NRA class, since the last chapter is about that organization. While the book explains some choices of certain rifles for hunting, I as a nonhunter would have appreciated a discussion of competitions available to riflemen, a topic the author completely neglected.

Martin Scorsese is the greatest living film director. There is little doubt of that. Much can be gained by hearing what he has to say on the topic of film. He does provide a lot of it here. Scorsese divulges more about his films here than most might ever want to know. In one particularly dizzying section, he is asked questions about "Mean Streets" and "Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore" for fifty plus pages. The most intriguing thing is that all the interviews come from different eras, and it is quite interesting to see how he has changed throughout the years. I thought this was a great quick read and enjoyed it throughly. This book is essential reading for all Scorsese and cinema fans.

This is not a reference book on movement disorders. Instead it is a concise book that deals w/ most aspects of movemnt disorders (including pediatric) w/out getting too detailed. This makes it perfect for the resident in training who wants to learn more about this division of Neurology. By far the best thing about this book is the included CD-ROM of videos.

A good way to clear the table of unwanted guests is to mention the name Peter Greenaway. These five syllables are known to cause pink cheeks and raised voices in both lovers and haters of pretentiousness in cinema. I would then recommend the perfect gift to these "art lovers": Peter Greenaway: Interviews, edited by Vernon Gras and Marguerite Gras.

One of the many aspects of Greenaway's work that I admire is the way he always causes walkouts during screenings of his films, which include The Cook, the Thief, His Wife, and Her Lover; A Zed and Two Noughts; and The Belly of an Architect. At every Greenaway film I have seen there have been noisy exits by disgusted moviegoers. Not only that, but total strangers have come up to me in the theater lobby and said, "Isn't that the worst movie you have ever seen?" That alone makes me a Greenaway fan for life, aside from the fact that his work is completely involving, beautiful, and lots of fun. Especially fun is Greenaway's obsession with lists and numbers, as well as his witty commentary on nature and the way that systems control information -- and life itself. A far cry from minimalism, Greenaway's films are all works of excess. And this (very) British filmmaker knows how to use multimedia in his films -- which brings up the subject of pretentiousness.

Strangely, for a man who has made over 20 films, Greenaway seems to think that after a century, cinema is pretty much a dead medium. He feels that literature and especially painting are way ahead of film, that the one thing holding back cinema is the Hollywood narrative. The problem with cinema is that it relies on books or stories, when it should be more like a painting -- which, according to Greenaway, gives a more complete picture emotionally and intellectually than a standard narrative.

Peter Greenaway is a fascinating collection of interviews from various magazines and newspapers. In some of the interviews, Greenaway comes off as an English University professor; in others as an arrogant lecturer. Personally, I like this "arrogant" stance, because his anger and frustration is pretty much on the mark when it comes to what has become of commercial cinema: generic stories shown at the local mall. The only major problem with this volume is that it doesn't include a filmography or bibliography.

In addition to making movies, Greenaway is also a painter, novelist, and curator. His latest project is Tulse Luper's Suitcase, which is a combination of cinema, CD-ROM, and a website. One can view this project as it unfolds at www.tulseluper.net

I find this book highly intersting, perhaps because I can sympathize with the "hero" (?) Peter Ibbetson/Gogo Pasquier in his longing to regain the innocent pleasures of childhood, cought up in a world he cannot understand and suffering from "Weltschmerz". However the book does contain racist and antisemitic remarks of Ibbetson, so some people might feel offended. One should bear in mind though that Ibbetson - as alienazed as he may feel - is the product of the Victorian society - and not take his lack of understanding/tolerance/... too seriously. I only give the book 4 stars because ther is one ryther boring section: fter he has finall (re)found his true love, they go off on a number of bizzarre trips to past times. I just have the suspicion tht the author didn't know what to do with them after he had brought them together... But I would certainly reccomend this book - but not to lovers of logical murder mysteries or hopeless realists. You have to be a bit eccentric and crazy to enjoy this one....

The problem with books about history is that they are almost always an interpretation: the author's. At best the author is willing to share the conflicting evidence with his reader, at worst the author omits it and pretends it doesn't even exist. But even the most faithful author can't put everything in a book so a selection has to be made. That's why the critical reader ends up reading a lot of books about the same subject. To be able to grasp most of the material, evidence and theories that are circulating. That way he/she is able to form his/her own opinion about an issue. But if the issue is Thomas Jefferson & Sally Hemings the reader will likely end up digging through tons of material and will still be very confused and very indecisive. Until recently one of the only books on the topic worth reading was Anette Gordon-Reed's "Thomas Jefferson and Sally Heming: An American Controversy". Because of it's painstakingly revealing of the mistakes, omissions and lies that previous writers had committed and for it's refusal to take a final stand.

This book however was written after the 1999 DNA tests that revealed that Thomas Jefferson very likely fathered Sally's last child Eston. And that he didn't father Thomas C. Woodson. But one has to keep in mind that the recent testing still don't prove Jefferson's paternity exclusively. Another male relative from the Jefferson line could have fathered Sally's last child, since they share the same Y chromosome. The book offers a number of refreshing essays written by scholars. Each one of them looks at the relationship from his/her own field. Trying to describe and explain what this new evidence means to themselves and their previous writings and views on TJ. Sometimes describing how they fell into the trap that so many historians fell into when dealing with TJ. They also try to describe the way the American mind thought about TJ and how this new evidence will influence peoples views and opinions.

The strength of the book is that it has been written after the revealing DNA tests. It also presents a lot of authors, each with his/her specific knowledge, views and convictions. Rather than just one author. But the really weak point is that the book fails to give a clear outline and explanation of the recent DNA test. That's the chapter that it should have started with. Since that test is the core, the very foundation upon which all these "revisionist" writings build. And also because a test like this needs explanation: not everyone is familiar with cellular biology and what it really means.

Couldn't read the whole book (706 pages), but some sections were very interesting. The Laplace example about the probability of the sun not rising was amusing. Since the sun has risen 1 826 213 times the probability of it failing to rise the next day is 1/1826215. Using imprecise probabilities we would have chosen for the lower probabilities. As an applied statistician I would have hoped to see more real case studies. But the theory of imprecise probabilities is still in its "child shoes" and rather philosophical. Case studies might be expected in the coming years...