General-Order

This is not exactly bed-time reading (I tried), but many of the articles are well written. Most of them contain useful stuff and I hope to get around to implementing and testing some of the ideas. If you are interested in computational aspects of Comparative Genomics, then this book is a must.

Patriarch Bortholomew I of Constantinople is a realist leader of the Orthodox Church (not to suggest that the other leaders are unrealistic.) He realizes that everything in the world doesn't fit into easy little boxes and that there are tough challenges facing humanity in general (regardless of religion) and he believes the Orthodox Church in some places can work together with other groups to address these challenges and at other times the Orthodox Church should be the leaders in addressing the challenges.

He speaks of while one doesn't have to agree with or believe what other religions believe that you must at least realize their right to believe and shelter and protect them from the persecution of others. He addresses fanaticism (both religious and secular nationalistic), drugs, AIDS, natural preservation, etc. Patriarch Bartholomew has revealed to the world that Orthodoxy is and has always been a very "eco-friendly" religion, one that has disdain for overdevelopment and the abuse of the planet and its natural resources.

The book covers a very wide array of topics, but shows a balanced, traditional, yet forward looking Orthodox Christian perspective on the challenges specific to the Orthodox Church and to the world in general.

Iriye has bravely gone beyond the realist notion of international relations to explore what all of us (or almost all?) instinctively find lacking in that notion: the ubiquitous cultural atmosphere in which all states and peoples interact. Precisely because it is an atmosphere, it is difficult to grasp, let alone explain cogently. Iriye does both, especially in the first two chapters charting the rise of intellectual movements across borders. That rise is also admirably quantified (e.g. the proliferation of international organizations), but ironically, the reader is left wondering just how vital conferences, declarations, and so forth have been and will be for cultural internationalism. Are these the catalysts or the results of globalism? And what are their respective weights in history? As revealing as, say, UNESCO's founding was after WWII, it is surely not the whole story.

That said, Iriye does not claim that this book is the final word on the subject, only the beginning of a new approach to modern history. His beginning is rewarding, and the approach overdue.

we came to expect from Joseph Rykwert works of great erudition, which incessantly delve into their subject matter to uncover its deepest folds and hidden meanings...[perhaps a "deconstruction" without the fancy of that attribute], and this work is no exception to this. This is a thick investigation into the meanings of the column, and from that into the associations of body and building, into the meanings of classical architecture. For the erudite, a pleasure; for the professional, a necessary though at times difficult read. Not a coffee table book, though...amateurs beware.

I liked this book very much. The plot flowed smoothly. It showed the reality and results of stress and dedication of doctors and their families. Matt's dedication and obligation to serve in his hometown and Cassie's dedication, obligation, and stress of carrying on the family business are two examples that build the plot and make it so rich. Very richly and deeply written. This book has a lot of depth. It would make a good movie.

Being an avid fan of the game, I thoroughly enjoyed reading this. It gives a little history of the game and it gets you through the whole game. The book also has cheats you can use. So, this book takes you through the game step by step. I wouldn't tell anyone to read this, though, before you can explore the territory a little because it's a really amazing land. Hope you have fun with this!

Dwight Judy takes a systematic, sensible approach to saint who took a sensible approach to the extraordinary topic of the interior life. His book gives an overview of Teresa's life and her relevance to our time, then shows the author's insight into the psychology of spiritual development. The types of Teresian prayer are covered, with exercises for reflection and prayer. Judy's exposition of discernment in the interior life is exceptionally well done. The book ends by pointing to the purpose of a lively interior life - to know and assent to God's will for our earthly, exterior life. This book is accessible for one who is new to Teresa, while also adding new insight and order to one more familiar with her works. Her writings are extensively and appropriately quoted.

Because he had so much to say about the crisis of the West and how to restore order, it is unfortunate that Voegelin's writings are so dense, owing both to his abstract thinking and his coining of new terms, often in Greek. However, Federici has written an excellent book that functions wonderfully as an introduction to Voegelin's thought and that would be an excellent companion to have by your side when reading Voegelin himself. (The glossary of Voegelinian terms is especially helpful in this regard.)

Even so, because Voegelin's work is so difficult, so loaded with new terms and complicated ideas, Federici's book also acquires an element of this density--probably unavoidable, but clarity does suffer somewhat at various points. Nevertheless, what emerges--even in the less clear parts--is a coherent picture of the corpus of Voegelin's work and thought. He sought to articulate a way out of a crisis that had been precipitated, by and large, by movements, particularly ideologies, that had distorted reality--for example, by immanentizing the transcendent. His solution, to put it extremely simply, was to revive Western tradition, largely through a greater openness of the soul to transcendent reality, to the past experiences of civilization.

Voegelin was not without his critics, but his influence is far-reaching. Anyone interested in the disease that afflicts the West would do well to turn to Voegelin. And thanks to Federici, we now have a great starting point to do just that.

I've read several books by and about physicist David Bohm including "Wholeness and the Implicate Order", but it wasn't until I read "The Essential David Bohm" that I began to comprehend Bohm's philosophy.

If I were to attempt a one-line summary of his philosophy it would be that nature is an undivided whole. This is not a new idea as it has its roots in monistic traditions, but it has always been difficult for me to understand just how we, as individual observers, fit into the wholenss of the universe. How is it, as Einstein himself wondered, that we are able to make the universe comprehensible by doing objective science if we are a part of what we are studying? And if matter and energy scurry around in a cold, purposeless fashion as most modern orthodox physicists proclaim, why do we, as one of the most complex inhabitants of this universe, seem to aspire to creativity and purpose?

The answer according to David Bohm, is that the universe is organized at all levels of complexity according to "meaning", and this includes life itself. If "meaning" is enfolded within all matter and energy, in what Bohm calls the implicate order, then there is no separation of mind and matter. Nor, can objectivity and subjectivity be discrete. If the entire universe is organized according to meaning then the universe is contextual and therefore subjective at all levels. Objectivity becomes a false endeavor.

Yet, it is undeniable that "objective" science has taken us a long way in the twentieth century, from an understanding of the workings of the atom to the marvels of DNA. There is a limit to this kind of approach, however. There is a growing realization in many scientific disciplines that the ultimate building blocks of nature are unattainable. The philosophy of reductionism has by definition a major flaw. The part can never abstract the whole. Therefore, a new holistic aproach must be adapted in which "meaning" is considerd at all levels of complexity.

How is it possible for us to observe nature if all is subjective? Bohm explanation is that "meaning" is self-referential allowing consciousness to observe itself. And contrary to what most of us intuitively believe, the process of observation is not passive. Similar to the scientific method, experimentation between our brain and the environment are constantly taking place in a process of active "attunement".

Such attunement is a skill that requires practive. For example, visual observation requires a subtle unconscious movement of the eyeball itself. When subjects are placed in sensory depravation where practice of these skills cease, perception can completely break down. Taking a Kantian viewpoint, Bohm says that observation allows us only an abstraction of the universe filtered through our senses. We are not creating reality through this continual interplay between our nervous systems and nature. We are only creating an "inner show" which allows us a subjective insight into the universe. Therefore, an abstract comprehension of nature is possible due to the constant interplay between nature and ourselves, and because the universe is subjective and contextual.

The idea of a contextual universe is not such a radical step for two reasons: First, Niels Bohr himself made the position and momentum of particles context dependent by bringing in the measuring device (the observer) as the determining factor for the outcome of the experiment. An "observation" is required in quantum experiments to make the particle determinate. And second, Bohr realized that there could be no division between the classical and quantum worlds. In fact, in his later years Bohr proclaimed: "There is no quantum world." And yet, there seems to be a dichotomy. Classical physics is supposed to be causal, objective, and deterministic, while quantum physics is non-local, acausal, and indeterministic.

For example, two similar processes exemplify one of the most mysterious aspects of quantum theory: The acausal jump of the electron from one orbit to another around the nucleus of an atom, and the acausal process of nuclear decay. Both processes are indeterministic in that there is no cause for an individual electron to make a jump, nor an unstable atom to decay. Only a statistical average can be determined. But if, as Bohm claims, the universe is context driven then "meaning" can be the unifying factor of the quantum and classical worlds. For if we realize that the original source of all cause and effect is "meaning", then both classical and quantum physics would be contextual, and therefore no division would exist.

One of David Bohm's colleagues once said of Bohm's ideas: Some are brilliant, many are obscure, and some are just plain nonsense." In reading this book I discovered much of the brilliance as well as some of the obscurity of David Bohm. And though I found his description of physic's famous double-slit experiment, as well as his "pilot-wave" idea unsatisfying, I would not want to proclaim it "nonsense". This book was truly mind-expanding and I highly recommend it for the contemplative individual.

This book review by David Kreiter, author of "Quantum Reality: A New Philosophical Perspective."

As Powers states in her introduction, much of the historical literature dealing with drinking and saloon culture in the late 19th and early 20th centuries has been drawn from the reports of temperance advocates and middle-class progressives, who had a decidily negative view of the "poor man's club" and the activities that went on within them. In Faces Along the Bar, Madelon Powers turns this narrative around by allowing the workingmen to speak for themselves. Through the careful analysis of popular literature, songs, and traditional sources, the author has crafted a solid work of social and cultural history that places saloons and drinking in the proper context of the everyday lives of the urban working class. Her examinations of the origins of the "free lunch," "treating," and "clubbing" are insightful, and should challenge each and everyone of us who takes the many facets of our collective culture for granted. Highly recommeded.