effect

Ronald Goldman's book Circumcision: The Hidden Trauma is such a book. Opening with a compelling forward by famed anthropologist Ashley Montagu, Circumcision: The Hidden Trauma leaps headfirst into some controversial questions in the introduction and does not let up until it ends more than 200 pages later with a stirring series of closing meditations.

Any reader may expect to be struck in the early pages by Goldman's effective blend of emotional insight and objective fact, the latter documented throughout the book by hundreds of footnotes. As Goldman continues, he effortlessly distills and integrates decades of research on infants and children. I appreciated his excellent summaries at the end of each chapter. Particularly valuable was the list on page 74 of the many similarities and the few differences between circumcision and female genital mutilation.

Have you ever wondered whether America's high rates of violence may be related to our high circumcision rates? Goldman has done more than wonder; he has extensively researched the possibility, although he is always careful to add cautionary statements that at most, circumcision is one of several factors affecting American men's (and women's) lives.

Goldman has an impressive ability to continue to generate and synthesize new insights and questions throughout the book. Although circumcision is often done so that the child does not have a different genital status from his father, is it actually the PARENT'S fear of difference which is apparent here. Is it possible that sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS) is actually infant suicide? Goldman relates circumcision to other problematic American birth practices such as birth with the mother on her back, use of drugs, forceps deliveries, routine episiotomy, and cesarian births. He includes an admirable short section addressing the interrelationship of social problems and noting the possible connection of circumcision trauma to the epidemic divorce rates. Equally unforgettable are sections in which men circumcised as adults speak about their incalculable loss and in which Goldman addresses the disruption of the infant/mother bond.

Goldman concludes his masterful work with a truly stunning series of innovative meditations, each three or four insight-filled pages long. These address 1) the American motivation to circumcise (our lack of awareness is alarming; the use and exclusion of certain words helps to maintain support for circumcision); 2) science and medicine (flawed studies are the rule not the exception, and doctors tend to MEASURE rather than to FEEL pain); 3) ethics and medicine (isn't it the medical profession's responsibility to LEAD rather than FOLLOW community health care standards?; since when does a trained surgeon take the advice of laypeople as to whether he or she should operate?); 4) cultural and social perspectives (we can circumcise our sons because we are so alienated from each other); 5) hope for healing (no matter how "bad" our feelings are, expressing them feels good); 6) preventing future harm (taking action to prevent others from being victimized aids one's own recovery). Goldman closes his book by reminding us that to think that newborn infants can be subjected to circumcision without an impact on them or others ignores the interconnnectedness of all life. When a baby's sexuality is not safe, no one's sexuality is safe.

Goldman's conclusions and speculations regarding the possible connection of circumcision to high levels of American violence remain compellingly plausible.

Small publisher Vanguard Publications has done a beautiful job with the physical layout of the book. Wide margins, attractive typeface, high quality paper, and readily usable supplementary matter all combine in an extremely appealing package.

Ronald Goldman's book is certain to become an instant classic in the growing field of books about male circumcision. By the very depth of its commitment to the truth about this issue, and the logic and poetry of its presentation, it should appeal to anyone with any interest in children, men, or American society.

Frankly, what "the Lady" with the goods on Tim Flannery had to say about the author is irrelevant to the book and a nasty way of going about discrediting a man who has solid claims to the field he is writing about. It says more about the woman than it does about Mr Flannery. That envy and backbiting is a seemingly inevitable consequence of competition among researchers (whether in the sciences or the humanities) is bad enough; that it gets passed on by readers who take vicious gossip at face value just shows how ideas are less important than the "dirt" one can spread.

Perhaps the previous reader can take the time to look up "ad hominem" and then consider the motives of the lady who claimed special privileged knowledge. The consider his own standards of judgment.

As for the book itself, the reviews already written give a good indication of what you get.

Despite this mind-blowing multimillion-year scope of a territory covering an enormous area, the book never falters in its readability or interest. Much of it is highly speculative (as even the author occasionally admits), but Flannery presents enough evidence to make his hypotheses almost always seem plausible. I most enjoyed the comparison of the ecologies of New Caledonia, New Zealand, New Guinea, and Australia -- despite their proximity, they are entirely different places, and those differences are reflected in their histories. Flannery's account of the destruction of megafauna in Australia and New Zealand is also well-told.

There should be more of these kinds of books: "biographies" of not just a land, but an entire continent (and its neighbors). Flannery has also written a similar book on North America, called "The Eternal Frontier", that rivals this book in its scope and excellence, but with that single exception, I can't think of any other ecological history that does such a fine job over so wide a range.

One particular feature of the book worth emphasising is just how different these lands really are in terms of ecology, compared to most of the rest of the world. Not only is the flora and fauna, both extinct and living, somewhat unusual, but in, for example Australia, the climate, the influence of fire, the poor fertility or soils, and the part these factors have played in shaping the ecological past is rather surprising at times. Maladaptation of modern culture to these sorts of things is also particularly striking (for example seasonal agriculture in non-seasonal climate-early Australian colonisers, tropical agriculture in cold temperate climate-early polynesians in New Zealand). Of course early colonisers wanted, in the case of Australia, to create a 'little Britain', so to speak, except that it is obvious after 200-odd years of settlement (and some of this has been rather odd), it isn't western Europe. Later idealists wanted another North America-Australia is similar in size to the USA, but it isn't in natural ecology.

The book is very detailed and quite complex to describe in short review. It includes chapters on early megafaunal and other extinctions from the arrival of early man in all locales, through to the present. It speculates about early human migrations to Australia, backed up for example by sediment cores from three interesting locales in Australia (Lake George particularly interesting). Discussions of diprotodon, megalania (an extinct 7m long lizard), giant moa, an extinct New Caledonian land crocodile, and 3m high kangaroos are some highlights. It is a complex story, but readers will be delighted in the unusual flora and fauna, the misguided 'invasions', the arrogance, the trials, the failures and the astounding successes alike. Some particularly interesting parts for me was the demise of the New Zealand Moa-the worlds largest extinct bird, the story of virgin Lord How Island- first seen by humans of any kind in 1788, the discovery that many of Australia's marsupials descended from South America (ancient Gondwana in origin), the extraordinary array of New Zealands birds in the absence of evolving mammals, the degree of evolved co-operation amongst Australia's biota (for example self-sacrifice, and strange examples of symbiosis), and the story of Easter Island and its human contact.

There is a lot of controversial and complex stuff here, but it is well argued. Flannery speculates for example that Wallace's line played an important part in the 'great leap forward', which I admit I didn't quite follow, with early agriculture in the New Guinea area, which spread outwards. I didn't agree with his assessment of firestick farming and agriculture in prehistoric Australia, and in this he differs from Diamond (The Third Chimpanzee/Guns Germs and Steel) in the reasons agriculture never developed in prehistoric Australia. He asserts that the reason agriculture didn't kick start in early Australia is due to poor soils, unpredictable climate (ENSO), and the prevalence of natural fire, not the lack of available biota. I don't think he is quite correct here, it is more likely competitive selection pressures, both *cultural* and ecological, in addition to isolation, did not facilitate development of the varities found in Australia, as compared to Eurasia. I also don't think his description of Australia's mineral wealth as a 'one-off', is quite correct. 'Mineral wealth' changes with technology, market and cultural factors. He also seems to miss evidence of some megafauna existing well after the arrival of aborigines in Australia, (it is a large and scattered ecological landmass) which I have come across elsewhere (eg Coonabarabran). I am also not sure of his view that high urbanisation in Australia is a modern maladaptation to the ENSO climate. He emphasises the influence of fire in Australian ecology, but perhaps over-emphasises in parts (his house was burnt down in a bushfire whilst writing the book, which may explain this!)

Nevertheless it is well argued and quite astutely written. The 'Future Eaters' refers to homo sapien tending to eat his future resources and overpopulating-as occurred in New Zealand, Easter Island, and parts of colonial Australia-for example-and the human disasters which resulted form this tendency. He has a wide knowledge of the material, and certainly there are many original ideas worth thinking about. Some of the arguments will surprise readers, particularly from northern hemisphere countries, primarily because southern land masses have been, and also will be, rather different ecologically from their northern counterparts.

Having now read the book, I probably would have shelled out for it new or used at the 10+ bucks it commands here on Amazon. The 18 reviews below indicates that this is a fairly popular work. That's more then three times the reviews of the other history books I've checked out on Amazon.

Since the other reviews are substantial, I won't comment much, except to say that while several reviewers have commented on the role of "first" and "second" nature in this book, I didn't see anybody mentioning his use of "Central Place Theory", which was apparently developed by German theorists in the 1800's. He also doesn't discuss Lewis Mumford at all, even though he cites to that author in the bibliography.

I thought this book made an interesting contrast with "Imperial San Francisco", another book about the development of a western city. I was hoping Cronon would include more information about the "flow of capital" between Chicago and the FAR west, rather then focusing so intently on Chicago's immediate hinterland.

Cronon chose to focus on a description of the processes which led to the creation of Chicago. It might have been interesting to look at the ways in which the interests of wealthy individuals tracked across various industries and time. A point made in "Industrial San Francisco" was that the oligarch's who made money in mining gradually "cleansed" their money through the purchase of utilities and media firms(newspapers). Did something similar occur in Chicago? I suspect so, but Cronon's treatment of the newspaper/media industry is largely descriptive.

In building his case Cronon presents some excellent case studies of the Rail+Canal, wheat, forestry and meat packing industries in Chicago, and how they helped to turn the city into a first-rank metropolitan centre. Chapter #3 on wheat is especially interesting as Cronon describes how the Board of Trade revolutionized the exchange of grain by turning the physical crop into an abstract commodity that could be easily traded amongst merchants, traders and farmers. Central to this was of course the implementation of a standardized grading system.

A final note, one of the more intriguing aspects of the book was Cronon's use of the terms "first" and "second nature". These are two concepts which he explains in the preface are derived from Hegelian and Marxist interpretations of nature - yet he does not give the reader too much more of an insight. Essentially, "first nature" is a realm where species (be they plant, animal, human) succeeded and failed mainly because of circumstances encountered within their immediate habitats. "Second nature" (such as a city like Chicago and all of its built-up environs) would put economic pressures on species hundreds of miles away - effectively altering the landscapes of these places. Unfortunately, in discussions about Cronon's book these two concepts do not really generate much debate. I find them to be very fascinating and wish they had been better explained in the book. If you too are intersted in these concepts of "first" and "second nature" I think the recent book by Steven Stoll "The Fruits of Natural Advantage" (1998) would be a good place to start - it is next up on my reading list!

Does that mean you're stuck? Have you reached the absolute limits of iMovie? Are you forever wondering in a morass of lifeless titling and yearnings for a few special effects? Heck no, if you're willing to mess around with a couple other programs for a bit. Of course saying you're not stuck and showing you how to unstick yourself are two different things. So, you'll have to trust me, you're not stuck. That tidbit should be worth a nickel. To actually get unstuck you'll have to pony up $40.00 for iMovie 2 Solutions . With this handy offering by Erica Sadun you'll be pleasantly surprised at just how much you can get out of iMovie if don't mind mixing in a few other apps.

iMovie 2 Solutions is not really so much about iMovie, it's more about extending iMovie with the careful use of a few programs. That is not to say iMovie 2 Solutions doesn't have iMovie specific info, it does in spades (want to change the default "My Great Movie Title"? See page 4). Most of the iMovie specific tips are redundant or of little value. The value lies in combining iMovie with programs such as QuicktimePro, Adobe Photoshop Elements (nee Photoshop LE, I suspect if you have a copy of Photoshop LE most of the tricks will still work) and a few other assorted programs. It might seem strange to buy a book ostensibly about iMovie that focuses so heavily on other programs. Trust me again when I say it's money well spent as long as you realize iMovie 2 Solutions is in no way an iMovie tutorial or reference but indispensable if you want to trick out your movies to the maximum level of Jurassic Parkness..

By now the interested reader will begin wondering: "Just what kind of stuff will this book show me how to do?" I can't list all the tricks iMovie 2 Solutions covers (that's a lie, I could actually list all the tricks, but this is a review not an index) but I can point out a few that seemed particularly cool to me. Ones I particularly include: the "Big Titles" trick, See through Big Title trick, Movie in Movie trick and customized QuickTime skin playback tip. and, my uber fave, use iMovie to work on a silver screen sized movie instead of the default TV sized screen (a tip worth $999 clams for those who posses nice cameras but not Final Cut Pro). The aforementioned tips just scratch the surface of iMovie 2 Solutions there is plenty more movie making goodness contained within the wraparound softcover.

So we have established the book contains useful tips and/or tricks. Hence it's time to get down to style and presentation. After all, the world's most clever tip isn't worth much if it is presented in an obscure incomprehensible format. This is not a problem with iMovie 2 Solutions. The tips are presented in easy to follow steps illustrated with small thumbnail sized photos. The average number of steps seems to be about ten but range up to a still manageable twenty actions to get the desired effect. The writing is fairly comprehensible providing you know a bit about iMovie a little about Photoshop and a smidgen of QuicktimePro. If you don't know much about those programs I strongly suggest you read the book from the very beginning, it makes the going much easier.

iMovie 2 Solutions also comes with a super nifty CD that contains every program the author asks you to use to augment iMovie and a visual tutorial of each chapter. If you're on a 56k connection the 40-dollar price tag is worth the disc alone. If you're a Mac user from way back the disc is reminiscent of the floppies that came with the earliest Mac Bibles. By that I mean the disc is chock full of nifty utilities and such. You can have plenty of fun with the stuff on the disc without bothering to read the book.

Summation time: This book shows you plenty of stuff you never thought you could with iMovie at a reasonable price and gives you the tools to follow through.

MacMice Rating: 5 out of 5 *Power iMovie Users MacMice Rating: 3.5 out of 5 *Average iMovie Users