1990 Books

This was one of the most fascinating books I have ever read, and I've read thousands. The author wrote beautifully, with such vibrant descriptions it was almost like being there. I've often wondered what it would be like to have lived in a village in Punjab during that period of time. I would strongly recommend this book for anyone interested in rural Indian lifestyles.

I read it about 12 years ago so I'm kind of rusty about it but I recall it was a super book. The true story of an amazing gutsy British lady who gets involved with a Sikh Nihang (temple guard) in India and their subsequent adventures. This book is a real sleeper for those of us who enjoy cross-cultural and travel writing. Highly recommended. I wonder what the author is doing now?

The Indonesian Politics and Society Reader is the best collection of English translations of some of Indonesia's most formative documents, speeches, and essays written during and after the Soeharto years. It includes speeches and essays from Soeharto as well as from the opposition movement. The selection is well chosen and accessible. If you want to understand the philosophical underpinnings of the New Order, this book is essential.

This book provides excellent translations of key primary source materials relating to the New Order period. The book is divided thematically and has a good balance of political opinion. The translations are given excellent short introductions.
The book is newer than the 2001 date given by Amazon. It came out in 03, I think. And the cover is different.

Inside Lebanon: Journey to a Shattered Land with Noam and Carol Chomsky collects the gathered insights of Noam and Carol Chomsky during the course of their visit to Lebanon in May 2006 - only two months before Israel initiated a new military campaign against Lebanon and Palestine. Other experts such as Assaf Kfoury, Irene Gendzier, Hanaday Salman, Rasha Salti, and more also contribute their insights into the troubled region in separate essays. Context from both before and after the 2006 war, as well as background and framework information surround this harsh yet illuminating criticism that denounces cruelties committed by the United States and Israel as thoroughly as it condemns terrorist acts such as the September 11th attacks. "According to Bush, any state that harbors terrorists is a terrorist state and must be treated accordingly. It must be bombed and invaded. It seems to me that Bush is calling for the bombing of the United States. The United States harbors terrorists who are regarded as such by the FBI and the Justice Department. One of the worst is Orlando Bosch, the anti-Castro terrorist accused of about thirty terrorist acts by the FBI, among them the crash of a Cubana Airline plane killing seventy-three people. Bush's father, George Herbert Walker Bush, gave Bosch a presidential pardon. Bosch remained in the United States against the objections of the Justice Department, which regarded him as a national security threat." A sober, serious-minded critique, worthy as the spiritual successor to Thomas Friedman's classic "From Beirut to Jerusalem" (though the political viewpoints of the respective authors are not necessarily congruent). Highly recommended.

This is a valuable and timely book, in two parts. The first part contains lectures given in Lebanon by Noam Chomsky in May 2006, and essays and interviews from that time. Contributors include a number of respected academics, journalists and community workers from Lebanon and the United States. The second part consists of essays and other materials discussing Israel's incursion into Lebanon in July and August 2006. In this section, there is are moving excerpts from a diary kept by a prominent Lebanese journalist, and dispatches written at the time by a journalist who reported on the conflict. The Israeli bombings killed tens of thousands of civilians, and provoked a debate within Israel as well as in the international community. I will recommend this book to my students and to colleagues and friends. It not only chronicles important events in Lebanon. Its authors help us see the relationship between the conflict in Lebanon, the war in Iraq and the long-term crisis in the Middle East.
Michael E. Tigar, law professor, lawyer, author

I Have to find my name and my biogr. befor bying this boo

Time to replace these kilogrammes of paper with a small CD Rom.. Anemone Samson

I really like the authors, they seem very well informed. I'd like to meet them sometime and discuss their thoughts! ;-)
-Matthew Best

The single most important reference in the electrical industry, the National Electrical Code (NEC), is updated every three years and outlines minimum standards for all types of electrical installations. Each time the National Electrical Code® is significantly revised to keep pace with technology and enhance protection against electrical fire and shock hazards. This is a valuable reference to help you get in position to advance your knowledge and be prepared with the newest codes.

This book is like an annotated version of the NEC 2005, explaining in a clear and understandable language that is additionally supported by clear to follow diagrams every important aspect covered by the NEC.

This book is loaded with solutions designed to provide better safeguards, add greater usability, and bring provisions in line with technology trends. Absolutely a must for anyone involved in electrical design, installation, or inspection, the 2005 NEC provides 100% of the information needed to meet Code® and avoid costly errors in electrical installations of all types.

This is a superbly written account and an important work on the subject of The Troubles in Northern Ireland. This is a detailed account of Johnston Brown, a career police officer who served with the Royal Ulster Constabulary throughout the war years. I commend Mr. Brown for his integrity, honesty, and professionalism on his job in a very difficult period of time in Ireland. This is essentially the story of an honest cop who tried to police a war torn area while making enemies on all sides.

While I appreciate Mr. Brown and his unflinching impartialism as an officer, he reveals much about a police force that was institutionally biased towards the Protestant system of government. While most RUC officers were hardworking men, some were prejudiced militants who abused their trusted positions to influence political events to the detriment of the Catholic population. While only a minority actively colluded with Loyalist terrorist groups, it appears that the majority of the RUC turned a blind eye to it and did nothing to stop it - which means they aided in its advancement.

This book helps us understand why the Catholic population saw the RUC as an extension of armed Loyalism. Most cops may have been honest, but enough of them knowingly promoted the murder of innocent civilians that it was easy for Sinn Fein and the IRA to tar them all with the same bloody brush. This in turn helps explain why the RUC was eventually disbanded and why the British counter-insurgency efforts were largely self-defeating. Bravo to Mr. Brown, a brave, uncompromising representative of the law who is probably still on several IRA and loyalist death lists.

For those of you that are either aware of, or are familiar with the troubles in the North of Ireland & would like to read about things from an RUC (Now PSNI) perspective, then I would recommend this book. There has been for years many things both written & spoke about that conflict each other, with regard to this issue, because 2 sides were at war. Finally, we have come across a book that is written oh so honestly, & I really mean that. Jonty Brown speaks about his life (Now Retired) during the troubles & tells us that yes, there was collusion between terrorists & the RUC. Because of what has been written & said down the years, I too was under the impression that all of the RUC are corrupt & anti-Catholic, rightly or wrongly some may say. Jonty Brown explains very well that this is not the case & that there are good & honest law enforcing officers in the RUC. There might not be a lot of them, but Jonty Brown was definitely one of them. Jonty Brown speaks the truth in this book & personally, the man has my respect for writing this book as it could not have been an easy decision to make. It is enjoyable, sometimes troubling but most importantly, Honest !!

I do strongly recommend this book for S&T poliymakers and all people working on Strategic Policy on Science, Technology and Innovation.

Although focused on the American experience, the authors present us with a nice-to-read guide for policy action and decision-making on scientific and technological issues.

I call for a special attention to the text of JaneE. Fountain about Social Capital - in today's society the main issue for innovation. Specially in countries like Brazil we do have to enhance actions and activities that improve and enable the creation of a great social capital in order to accelerate innovation processes in the country.

It is a book that you must have in your work desk !

Unlike the other three books I recommend below, this book assumes an honest process and strives to recommend the best possible approach to government policy toward science. It was put together during the Clinton years, and its prescriptions have been largely ignored by both the public and the current (Bush) Administration. Of the four, it is the most practical and least controversial.

It does not, however, provide a complete picture. Three other books are helpful:

Science, Money, and Politics: Political Triumph and Ethical Erosion by Daniel Greenberg is by far the best, the standard in the field, the book to buy if you buy only one. The overall picture is ugly: corruption in politics, corruption in the universities, corruption in the corporations, and the public pays in both excessive costs and lost opportunities for advancement.

The Republican War on Science by Chris Mooney is the book that is the most compelling on the perversions of the extremist Republicans (I am a moderate Republican). Read this first or last, depending on your disposition.

Finaly, Frontiers of Illusion: Science, Technology, and the Politics of Progress by Daniel Sarewitz, is an excellent counterpart to Greenberg as well as the other two books If science is corrupt on the one hand, it is also over-sold on the other, a point that Sarewitz addresses very methodically.

I take three bottom lines from these four books together:

1) We are spending too much on military science & research.

2) Neither Congress nor the Executive have a serious strategy for prioritizing problems, finding private sector partners, and providing seed money for innovative solutions.

3) Both Congress and the Executive, as well as the public and the media, are incredibly ignorant about what science can and cannot do, and where all the money is going to generally poor effect.

4) This is all so important that Science, like Intelligence, needs its own Supreme Court. I am persuaded we need a new form of hybid public agency that is fully independent of the Executive, receiving a percentage of the total disposable budget (say 3%) and hence not subject to Congression pressures.

Inspired by one of the other reviews, I would second the view that all these books are US-centric, and that we are missing a huge opportunity for multinational consortiums that might dramatically diversity and accelerate scientific progress, within agreed-upon ethical and cultural parameters, if separated from the ideology of government and the corruption of the private sector.

Once again, Margie Shulz has provided an outstanding record of a masterly lady with an extensive and impressive career. Irene Dunne was the complete lady. She combined a very successful film career with a happy and rewarding personal life and when she retired from the screen, she devoted much time to charitable works. All of this has been extensively recorded in an excellent essay which begins the book. In fact, the essay is more enlightening than the biography of Dunne which appeared a few years ago and much easier to read. These bio-bibliographies are very expensive but this is one of the best.

These Greenwood books are a mixed bag but this is one of the best I've seen, thoroughly researched with a lot of rare information.

For many years now Jane's has been the leader in defense related material particularly in the area of world navies. This edtion is no different. Though it is somewhat dated, the information is still better than most. In it you will find in it all ships available in the word that the time of publication from United States' supercarriers to Uganda's lake and river patrol boats.
It lists naval ranks, building programs, bases, aircraft, flags and ensigns (but no jacks), ship transfers, and data. If used properly this can be a great source for any one wanting naval information.
New copies are very expensive, but
used ones can come cheap for those of us like me who want good reference books but cannot afford $700 a pop.

This book is an extremely complete guide to the current navies in the world. If you want to know every detail about the ships of Brunei, you can find them in this book. There is a comprehensive summary of the world naval situation by Richard Sharpe of the Royal Navy which is very informative. If you can afford this book and are a hardcore naval hobbyist, by all means buy it.

The book itself is wonderful but it was given as a gift and the front cover was damaged which I didn't realize until it was opened. That bothered me because the book should be out in the open for everyone to enjoy and it's damage is noticeable. If that hadn't happened, this would definitely be given 5 stars!!

This book satisfies a great need for an authentic, raw, yet sensitive collection about Jean Michel Basquiat, as a person and an artist. I value this book for more than its appearance, which is so well done. It's quality helps to preserve the legacy of his life and work. The collaborators did a fantastic job.

Watch Video Here: http://www.amazon.com/review/R1CJV6NOBNMIXF Flipping through Basquiat 1981: The Studio of the Streets