I enjoy reading Kurzweil because he's an adventurous thinker. This book is particularly fun because some other fine minds take him to task. Ray holds up well because he's a reasonable thinker. Although some of his predicitions seem outlandish, they may not be. You can't read this book without engaging in a lot of interesting visualization about the future. Some of it is frightening, but there is hope as well. Will the future runaway on it's own or will we be in charge? I don't know, but I'm sure thinking about it, now.

This is Ray Kurzweil's third book concerning the future of reductionist artificial intelligence design and it's possible effects on us in the decades yet to come. In THE AGE OF SPIRITUAL MACHINES, Kurzweil's previous book, which I enjoyed also, and this volume, he uses technological trends, including Moore's law and other tools, to show that a desktop computer will have achieved human level computational ability around the year 2020. Also, Kurzweil envisions that we will be able, sometime in the next few decades, to scan human brains and download that 'software' into these advanced computers to give them human level reasoning abilities, with the speed of computer neural nets, leaving humans behind, so to speak. Accordingly, it may also be possible to scan individual brains and load that information into an advanced computer (attached to a body of some kind), giving that person a sort of immortality. This is the gist of Kurzweil's argument, I hope I got it essentially correct.

What Kuzweil means by computers someday becoming 'spiritual' is that they may become conscious, and 'strong A.I.' is the view that "any computational process sufficiently capable of altering or organizing itself can produce consciousness." The first part of this book is an introduction to all of the above views by Kurzweil, followed by criticisms by four authors, followed in turn by Kurzweil as he refutes these criticisms.

Personally, I found most of the views expounded by the critics here to be either non-sensical, or 'beside the point'. One critic says that the life support functions of the brain cannot be separated from it's information processing function. Of course it can be, even the effects of hormones can be programmed into a downloaded brain, as well as other chemicals used by brains. Another critic states that possibly evolution is in error, and yet another criticism is that our machines will not be able to contact a divine entity and would thus be inferior.... give me a break, well...perhaps this is all true and maybe pigs will one day fly over the moon unassisted. I could go on and on, but this is the job of Ray Kurzweil and he defends himself admirably in the final chapters of this volume. Kurzweil does mention in this book that brain scanning machines are improving their resolution with each new generation, and eventually will reach a point where they should be able to image individual neurons and synapses in large areas, and allow the brain 'software' to be transferred to a suitable non-biological computing medium, my only criticism of Kurzweil here is that I think he should discuss this technology more, and where it is headed, his next book would be a great place for this.

One final point, it seems to me that when a new idea appears to be difficult and complicated to achieve, the pessimist says: "This is difficult and complicated, and may not work", whereas the optimist says: "This is difficult and complicated, but may work". Only time will tell for sure.

The work, inventions, and opinions of Ray Kurzweil in the field of artificial intelligence have captured media attention and the attention of philosophers and researchers in artificial intelligence. But not only is Kurzweil one of the most brilliant and controversial of all the individuals working in artificial intelligence, he is also the most optimistic. This optimism holds not only for the future technology of artificial intelligence, predicted by Kurzweil to give independent thinking machines in the next three decades, but also for its social impact. Kurzweil believes that artificial intelligence will work for the benefit of humankind, but that this benefit will depend to a great degree on his belief that humans will take on technology that will effectively make them cybernetic.

The controversy behind Kurzweil stems from his recent book "The Age of Spirtual Machines", which is a detailed accounting of his predictions and beliefs regarding artificial intelligence. Many individuals objected to his visions and predictions, and he answers a few of them in this book. In particular, he attempts to counter the arguments against him by the philosopher John Searle, the molecular biologist Michael Denton, the philosopher William A. Dembski, and zoologist Thomas Ray. With only a few minor exceptions, Kurzweil is successful in his refutation of their assertions.

But even if Kurzweil completely refutes the arguments of these individuals, and possibly many more against him, the countering of arguments will not by itself solve the problems in artificial intelligence research. The fact remains that much work still needs to be done before we are priveleged to see the rise of intelligent machines. Kurzweil is well-aware of this, for he acknowledges this many times in this book. He points to reverse engineering of the human brain as one of the most promising strategies to bring in the robotic presence. The success or failure of this strategy will take the mind-body problem out of purely academic circles and bring it to the forefront of practical research in artificial intelligence. The 21st century will thus see the rise of the "industrial philosopher", who works in the laboratory beside the programmers, cognitive scientists, robot engineers, and neurologists.

Each reader of this book will of course have their own opinions on Kurzweil's degree of success in countering the arguments of Searle, Denton, Dembski, and Ray. But one thing is very clear: Kurzweil is no arm-chair philosopher engaging in purely academic debates on the mind-body problem. He is right in the thick of the research and development of artificial intelligence, and if the future turns out as he predicts, he will certainly be one of the individuals contributing to it. He and many others currently working in artificial intelligence are responsible for major advances in this field in just the last few years. Their ingenuity and discipline is admirable in a field that has experienced a roller coaster ride of confidence and disappointment in the preceding decades. All of these individuals have proved themselves to be superb thinking machines.

Born Free And Equal: The Story Of Loyal Japanese Americans is an impressive combination of historic photographs and writings about the Japanese-Americans who were imprisoned in Manzanar, one of ten such relocation camps, as a result of wartime fears regarding possible sabotage by members of the Japanese and Nisei (American-born men and women of Japanese ancestry) living along the American west coast. During the era of World War II, virtually all the American people of Japanese descent in the states of California, Oregon and Washington (most of them citizens), were interned in relocation camps scattered through the Midwest. Born Free And Equal captures memories of this prison community and how the families in it lived in broad, sweeping, black-and-white photographs. Born Free And Equal is a powerful, highly recommended, historically factual book, accurately capturing with poetic realism a dark and controversial aspect of America's WW II effort, which, along with such horrors as the European Holocaust and the Japanese atrocities in the Far East, must never be forgotten.

In the autumn of 1943, the eminently talented photographer Ansel Adams traveled to the Relocation Center at Manzanar, California. This was one of the camps where the United States government relocated (some would say "imprisoned") the many people of Japanese descent who lived in the western, Military Zone 1, so that they could not assist Imperial Japan in its war against the United States. Among the many people sent to this camp were men, women, children and the elderly; immigrants from Japan, the children (born in the U.S.) of Japanese immigrants, and the those even farther removed from Japan; not to mention a decorated veteran of the Spanish-American War (Seaman 1st Class Harry Sumida of the U.S.S. Indiana).

It was here that Ansel Adams set up his camera, and put a human face on this tragedy. This is his book; the pictures he took, and the text he wrote. Originally published in 1944, this newer edition (published in 2001) contains all of the original photos, several additional photos that Mr. Adams took but didn't include in the original, and several fascinating introductions written by Japanese-Americans.

Considering the topic of this book is something of a cause celebre, one might imagine that this book was something of an anti-American screed. Well, if you thought that, you would be wrong. This book is a very balanced look at what happened, and the people who were caught up in it. Mr. Adams wanted the book to be factual, so both the good aspects and bad aspects are covered. That said, though, the book was something of an expose of what happened, and is not a whitewash. Therefore, if you are looking for a book that will tell you about this historical tragedy, then I highly recommend this book.

Finally, I was able to pick up a copy of this long-awaited book. The original is extremely expensive to pick up, and with the additional introductory information, this is an improvement. A fascinating read, fantastic print quality... A must have!

"Clinical Anesthesia Procedures of the Massuchussets General Hospital" offers concise yet thorough coverage on all aspects of anesthesia. From preoperative visit to basic airway management, from fluid requirements of the surgical patient to specific considerations on cardiac, respiratory and liver diseases, this book has it all in an easily accesible way, especially when your above the "blood-brain barrier". I would especially recomend the chapter on resuscitation of trauma and burns victims, because of the thorough coverage of the subject, better than in many surgical textbooks I have read.

I have over 15 years of experience as an anesthesiologist at the prestigious Yale-New Haven Hospital in Connecticut. I've seen it all; however, this text challenged me. I highly recommend it, and every practicing MD and CRNA should have a copy to review and use as a teaching tool and guide.

This book encapsulates all the necessary information for clinical practice of anesthesia. It also includes MANY charts and protocols for drugs, malignant hypothermia, ACLS, etc. I can't enter the OR without it.

I found this book to provide excellent supplemental info to the "DSM-IV-TR" itself. Written case studies, though no substitute for living, breathing subjects, actually provide a good deal of help in learning to apply the diagnoses in the "DSM-IV-TR". Highly recommended for anyone who wants to learn how to properly apply these diagnoses or learn more about psychiatry in general. I found it actually kind of fun. Avery Z. Conner, author of "Fevers of the Mind".

Well, never thought I would recommend a book like this one, but there has never BEEN a book quite like it. Recall once seeing a renowned Rorschacer examine vignettes like this manual does, and it was great. We enjoyed it, and learned from it.

My recent books read include "Exploration & Empire" by Goetzmann, a history of topography, so you know I enoy plain stuff.

Many of the sympton analyses in this book surprised me, but after careful thought, realized they were beneficial.

Was especially interested in "borderline" type stuff and the OCD sections which showed how OCD can be on both axis I and II.

This book taught me once again that while we all have personality "traits" only the mentally have a DSM number assigned to our excesses.

Was especially inspired by parts about "organic" dysfunctions, so you know it was inspirational. Have a friend with OPD (310.10 explosice type) and became more sensitive to the difficulty adjusting when you are not maladaptive to begin with.

Love to complain, but can't find anything to fault this book. Buy it, read it and if you don't have a place for it in your library, pass it on.

The Case Book was an optional selection for a psychopathology course I am currently enrolled in. I am glad I spent the money to get it because to a novice like myself, the vignettes are very helpful in understanding the arcane world of DSM IV-TR diagnosis.

This book is truly a "learning companion." Concepts and terminology are illustrated by real-life clinical situations, which can be enormously helpful for clinician and student alike to see how the DSM IV-TR plays out in the real world.

The New England Journal of Medicine said that this book is "educational and fun to read," and I would have to agree on both counts.

Fantastic. Wonderful reference for the professional and student

This book is an indespensable tool for the community design professional - don't leave home without it! Hundreds of color photos of well-designed multi-family housing in 85 case studies from around the US.

This book provides an excellent summary of the architecture of affordable housing and the best way to design and develop it. It is particularly useful for architects, planners, city staff and developers interested in improving their communities.

This is one of the best books ever written on the performing arts. By focusing in on Barrymore's Shakespearean acting only, Morrison manages to show how a second-rate light comedian turned himself into a great artist by sheer hard work -- and then, horrifyingly, how an artist transformed himself into a clown through laziness and dissipation. Through the use of the actor's playbooks and impressive research, Morrison does the impossible and brings Barrymore's stage performances as Richard III and Hamlet so vividly alive you'll swear you're in the theater watching them (I was holding my breath at the end of "Hamlet"). Along the way there are vivid portraits of the idealistic, progressive theater in the 1920's and, a decade later, the ancestry of today's poisonous and envious celebrity culture. Once you read this book you'll never look at Barrymore the same way again.

Michael Morrison's book fills a much needed gap in the large Barrymore biographical canon: it tells the story of Barrymore the artist. Many of the other great biographies of the man and family (Margot Peter's THE HOUSE OF BARRYMORE, anything by James Kotsilibas-Davis, to name only two of many excellent others) understandably short-shrift the details found here, in favor of the fabulous "bon mots" and the large tragic arc of his life. Morrison, if it's possible to believe, makes that tragedy all the more heartbreaking by detailing the hard work that Barrymore put himself through to transform himself from a light comedian into the greatest tragic actor of his generation - and arguably the last great tragic actor of the American theatre.

The detailed recreations of Barrymore's acting in RICHARD III and HAMLET are facinating. They provide all of us who have come after some small picture of what it must have been like to actually see him on stage. It helps, I suppose, to be familiar with his film work, to have heard at least some of his Shakespearean recordings, in order to fully visualize Barrymore's "flashing, rapier" genius at work - but it's probably not necessary. A must for all Barrymore fans, actors, and theatre lovers, this book is a treasure. But beware, its story could break your heart.

Michael Morrison has provided us with a stirring portrait of one of America's greatest actors, John Barrymore. His book is a vivid account of Barrymore's innovative approach to Shakespearean acting and subsequent rise to fame. This book is required reading for Shakespearean scholars and Barrymore enthusiasts alike.

Mesozoic Vertebrate Life Edited By Darren H. Tanke and Kenneth Carpenter with Michael W. Skrepnick as the art editor is a new research inspired by the paleontology of Philip J. Currie is an excellent book... a book for the advanced dinosaur enthusiast. This book goes into detail about Theropods, Sauropods, Ornithischians, Dinosaurian Faunas, Paleopathologies, Ichnology, and Dinosaurs and Human History.

This book has a whole host of contributors(46 to be exact). All of the men and women are tops in their respective fields, so this book is like reading a medical book with all of the resplendent medical terms. Ah, but doen't give up, there are some very excellent drawings that help explain what the author is talking about, so your not left in the dust choking on the dust. I've noticed that the best dinosaur book on detail are written in this style where a collaboration of many authors that are expert and on the cutting edge with break throughs are written this way.

I would say this, the fossil record is telling the finder something... the finder has to study what he has found and make a determination and conclusion as to what he has found. All of this takes education, trial and error, and luck. So, you have the best guesses written here... things may stay as they were presented or they may change with insight, only time will tell.

If you are more than just a casual dinosaur devotee, than this is the book for you. It is light on the early Mesozoic, but it makes up for it in the late Mesozoic. The book is mainly composed of North American Mesozoic, but there is representation in China, and South America included.

There are excellent references included with there abstracts. This s not a book for children, this is an advanced case study of the dinosaura of the Mesozoic time. Those wishing for a book that compares jaws and endocarnial anatomy will relish this book. There is even an abstract on "The Impact of Sedimentology on Vertebrate Track Studies" which I found fascinating. I didn't know they went to that much detail, in models of track formation show clearly that the layer upon which the foot descends retains the most information of the impactor. Stresses are distributed radially away from the impact site and decrease exponentially with distance.

If you want detail this book has it. There are seven sections as I mentioned above, and they are divided into 33 chapters. This took a while to read and digest the information. This would make an interesting additions to a home library.

Research papers on dinosaurs continue to increase in number, and many bring readers new and thoughtful ideas about the biology of these ancient, dramatic animals. A growing number of books for public and professionals focus on Mesozoic animals, dinosaurs in particular; this one is for professionals. The 33 papers essentially cover dinosaurs of North America, but there are papers on Chinese and Patagonian dinosaurs. Most papers are systematic studies, and some include descriptions of new taxa, but there are also useful studies on dinosaur anatomy, biomechanics, gastroliths, and even sociobiology. A section on ichnology (footprints) examines traces of other animals than dinosaurs; four papers discuss paleopathologies, showing how much about extinct animals can be gleaned from the condition of preserved bones, and another treats dinosaurs in fiction, with many illustrations derived from novels, comics, and other literature sources. About 20 color paintings, restorations of important dinosaurs in lifelike settings, are included along with photographs of the critical feather-like features on some recently discovered Chinese dinosaur fossils. Unfortunately, many of the black-and-white photographs are rather muddy. A useful book for many paleontologists, at a reasonable price. Upper-division undergraduates and up

The title is misleading. If you're looking for information on pterosaurs, plesiosaurs, or Mesozoic crocs, this book probably isn't for you. However, if you want to get the skinny on Tyrannosaurus arm movement and what they were used for (yeah, amazing, eh?), new dinosaurs, and generally good information on dinosaurs, this is a good book to consider. Heavy on the second half of the Mesozoic, the book none the less manages to have a good variety of papers about various aspects of dinosaurian paleobiology, phylogeny, and behavior. A great volume.

NeuroTheology is an excellent, comprehensive, scholarly text which begins at the beginning (the Creation) and ends at the end (Armageddon). Some of the best, most daring minds in the science of religious experience, have chapters included in this book, including Newberg, Persinger, Alper, Albright, d'Aquili, Bruce MacLennan, and Fraser Watts of the University of Cambridge. ... this is otherwise an excellent, comprehensive text which deserves a place on the bookshelf of any serious scientist.

This is a provocative and ground breaking book. NeuroTheology contains 34 chapters written by 20 different experts, including Michael Persinger (who many consider the father of the field), Rhawn Joseph (who Newberg refers to as one of the founders of the field), Dr. Paloutzian (the editor of the International Journal of the Psychology of Religion), Dr. Albright (the former Executive Editor of Zygon the Journal of Science & Religion), and a host of others including those who do not believe in NeuroTheology. The value of this book is that it offers so many different perspectives. It is 644 pages in length, contains over 100 pictures, and addresses and answers many provocative questions regarding the nature, origin, and scientific basis of spirituality and religious belief.

This is a great and wonderful, sometimes disturbing book. It is clearly ahead of its time. The chapters range from discussions of the big bang and the origin of life to the coming of the "anti-Christ" --an astronomical event which, according to the author, has to do with "precession" and the slow progression of the equinox from "house to house" i.e. the Age of Pieces (the Fish) and the Virgo (Virgin) being replaced by the Age of Acqurious and Leo (the Beast). I also enjoyed the chapters by Newberg and Persinger which provide an overview of the neuroanatomy and neurochemistry of religious experience. The chapters by Alper were also very interesting. I guess what I liked best about this book is that it is very scientific yet offers a variety of opinions from a number of different scientists. There are over 30 chapters. The only major flaw in this book, were the rather superficial and boring chapters by "pop" writer Susan Blackmore. Why anyone takes her serious is beyond me. I highly recommend this book. It has something for everybody.

Like Shakespeare, this book is as strong on comedy as it is on the serious stuff, and like Shakespeare it's very rarely dull. The American Library Association have awarded it a prize as one of the best reference books of the year, and you can see why -- it's very up to date, very handsome, very easy to use and has lots and lots of really unusual and enlightening pictures. It's particularly good on Shakespeare movies, and is really international -- lively North American scholars cover Shakespeare's presence in Canada and the US beautifully, and it's really bright and surprising about Russia and China and about everywhere else. It's a book that will help explain to high school students why Shakespeare matters and that actually shows how much fun can be had around the plays and poems in so many different ways -- quite apart from telling college students all sorts of things that their professors had better be up on too. I didn't agree with everything it said about the shows at the rebuilt Globe, sure, but then I like seeing guys in tights.

This guide is beautifully illustrated and carefully written by many of the finest Shakespeare scholars alive (there are entries by Helen Vendler, Park Honan, Jonathan Bate, Stephen Orgel, and many others). It is a joy to simply open it to a random page and read. There is an admitted and fairly strong bias toward British Shakespearians and productions, but this helps focus the book and give it a depth many similar guides lack. That doesn't mean it's a provincial book, however, for there are numerous entries surveying Shakespeare across the world and in a variety of contexts. One of the most helpful aspects of the book is an outline of categories and entries at the beginning, a remarkably useful aid when terminology or names slip your mind. It is helpful, but not necessary, to have a copy of the Oxford Shakespeare to refer to, since titles, chronologies, and line references are all keyed to it.

Here's a book about Shakespeare that isn't written as if the only people who had ever cared about him were graduate students -- not that graduate students won't use it all the time, or that it isn't written by the top Shakespeare experts in the world (the contributors include the likes of Stephen Orgel and Helen Vendler), but unforced, unpretentious enthusiasm for Shakespeare and all sorts of things done in his name breathes from every page. It's beautifully illustrated and what's more the research is all fresh -- there's lots of stuff in here that has never been in a Shakespeare reference book before (eg some of the images, lots of stuff about Shakespeare on recent film and TV and radio and in popular culture, newest finds in textual studies and biography). You can read it from A to Z and it's a good read. Fabulous present for anyone studying Shakespeare at any level and especially for anyone who just likes reading the stuff or seeing it acted. It'll help you fall in love with Shakespeare all over again.

These are stunningly well told versions of the plays.

They give not only the story, but a wonderful sense of the theatrical - you read and enjoy a visual sensation as well as the speech of Shakespeare (all the words 'spoken' are taken directly from Shakespeare's scripts).

Romeo and Juliet, for example, sweats in the heat of Verona. There is a fantastic image of wasps fighting! You go directly into the story - and moral considerations are there.

The pictures support the text well- giving yet another dimension to the book.

Forget Lamb!

I've used these stories in the classroom for many years now - partly because young people (11 through to much older!) relate to them -but also because I really enjoy re-reading them.

(There is a whole set of Abridged Shakspeare by Garfield too - and wonderful Animations done with Russian animators!)

When I took my long service leave, I bought Garfield's books of Shakespeare's Stories (both volumes) and I hired videos of Shakespeare's plays. Working with these and the texts of the plays, I gave myself a course in Shakespeare's plays. It was one of the highlights of my life.

I had supposed the Laurence Olivier was some pompous old fart with a plum in his mouth. He is ELECTRIC. His Hamlet is a study in depression. His voice in "To be or not to be" is scarcely audible but carries so much emotion.

In all, I watched 22 different plays - my favourites, Richard 11 and Hamlet, in several different versions. I followed the BBC series which uses the same actors from one play to the next so that the Duke of Gloucester in one play is played by the same actor who later becomes Richard 11 in the next play.

Leon Garfield's story-telling with its light touch of irony and its perfect choice of words opened a door that I had assumed was marked "Other people only". Garfield wrote marvellous children's book and I've read them all but these books are the best of his achievements and they've made a big difference to my life.

Excellent choice for English teachers who want to review Shakespeare's classics with students. I have also used this with my middle school students to introduce them to Shakespeare. The stories are written in clear language so that students will be able to understand the wonderful stories of the bard without being intimidated by Shakespearean language A must for all English teachers!