effect

The book is well-written and provides an effective critique of some ambitious contemporary claims that the spread of democracy will in itself end all war. Still, one wonders how powerful the author's central claim - that peace is a major factor in facilitating democracy - holds across the universe of cases in international politics. The author admits that the modern state of Israel is a significant exception to the rule, and there is little in the way of detailed examination of developing states and how they effect the thesis.

Overall, the book is very interesting, though possibly too ambitious. There is a chapter posted on the book's official website, if you'd like a sample before you buy it.

If nothing else, this book allows one to think about our perceptions of nature and our influence on the environment. Even though it can be a difficult read at times, I have my seniors in high school (I am a teacher) read this book, and it serves as an excellent tool to get them to think critically.

This edition is important on the themes of environmental economy and the underestimation of the health of ecosystems, for humanity surges to break the little known of the ecosystems, of the synergies, and the diverse benefits they bring, much of which we don't know.
So, this book approaches the important elements, for the process of optimizing the utilization of the ecosystems, from philosophic, environmental, and economic perspectives.

I made it sound like stereo instrucions, sigh.

The material covered has more of a Gen-X flavor than that of Kelby or Davis. But it is explained in the same easy-to-follow way. It's definitely worth picking up. It adds an outside-the-box method of design to Photoshop work.

The biggest drawback of this book may also be it's most interesting aspect - the sheer quantity of the material Gallagher must condensed into 228 pages of text. Thus, in less than 100 pages, she discusses seasonal affective disorder, light deprivation, effects of temperature and altitude and geomagnetic phenomena. With this constraint, Gallagher's prose in necessarily tight, her interviews brief, and each chapter ends before you've had your fill of the effect she's discussing.

A good book for plane-hopping business sorts - not only can it be read on the flight, the effects of time zone changes, sleep deprivation, and fluorescent lights can be recorded as they are taking place.

My reason is that the book is imbued with a traditional Freudian understanding of the mind. A central statement of the author's view in this matter can be found on page 33, where Schengold refers to the "pathogenic power of fantasy." What a concept! The idea that one's imagination can make one sick! Such ideas have, in my opinion, no basis in fact and no place in a modern work on trauma.

Schengold certainly does not deny the pathogenic power of concrete childhood realities--in fact, that is his emphasis throughout the book and he has much of importance to say about it--but the Freudian taint could still, I think, mislead those who have not thoroughly thought through the issue. For this reason, I recommend this book only to those who are already well-read and well-thought in the area, and can therefore identify and disregard such notions; for such readers, the work is a stimulating gem. (I do not mean this to disparage Freud's contribution to the field of trauma, which was huge--see, especially, Beyond the Pleasure Principle, disregarding his notion of the Death Wish, for a brilliant anticipation of modern concepts of post-traumatic repetition--but other dimensions of Freud's undestanding are insupportable and should be discarded, including some contained in Schengold's book.)

Also, for persons looking for clear and unencumbered penetration into their problems, or for therapists working to devlop a clear and cohesive understanding of the impact of childhood trauma, I consider this work too literary and too abstruse, even aside from it's unsupportable Freudian overtones.

Books that I consider essential works on trauma include: those of Alice Miller (Banished Knowledge and others); J. Konrad Stettbacher (Making Sense of Suffering; don't be put off by the inelegant style, and pay close attention to his ideas on the the notion of a child learning to "fear his own needs"); Jenifer Freyd's Betrayal Trauma; Morton Schatzman's Soul Murder--out of print, but one of the great works in the history of psychology (libraries can get it--will certainly come back into print when the level of understanding about trauma increases among professionals). For a simple-to-read and popular-in-style paperback that nonetheless goes right to the heart of the matter read Susan Forward's Toxic Parents--"unsophisticated" yet profound.

Having read what I've written, I feel that I should reiterate that Schengold's work really has a great deal of penetration and value for some readers. I certainly was educated and stimulated by it.

A major emphasis on Jung's father is that he "had been unable to secure an academic position. Hence he became the minister to a series of small country parishes." (p. 13). In a world where most people seem condemned to be spectators, Pastor Jung faced those who worshipped each Sunday with his suggestions for staying out of trouble, and he told his son, "Be anything you like except a theologian." (pp. 14, 32, 33).

Jumping ahead in the book to the relationship between Jung and Freud, Smith mentioned a letter on page 34 about a traumatic incident in Jung's childhood, which "Jung kept the memory of the assault secret from all except Freud until old age." (p. 34). A lot more can be learned from the letter from Jung to Freud dated 28 October, 1907, in which Jung admitted that he would "rather not have said" how much he was in awe of Freud. "Actually--and I confess this to you with a struggle--I have a boundless admiration for you both as a man and as a researcher, and I bear you no conscious grudge. So the self-preservation complex does not come from there; it is rather that my veneration for you has something of the character of a `religious' crush. Though it does not really bother me, I still feel it is disgusting and ridiculous because of its undeniable erotic undertone. This abominable feeling comes from the fact that as a boy I was the victim of a sexual assault by a man I once worshipped." Jung was astute in allowing himself to confess this to Freud as a confirmation of many of Freud's beliefs, as well as indicating Jung's trauma from a personal incident that might be generalized politically.

Chapter 2 of THE DESCENT OF MAN by Charles Darwin is called On The Manner of Development of Man from some Lower Form, in which a HISTORY OF GREENLAND by Cranz is quoted on the belief of the Esquimaux "that ingenuity and dexterity in seal-catching (their highest art and virtue) is hereditary; there is really something in it, for the son of a celebrated seal-catcher will distinguish himself, though he lost his father in childhood." Our devotion to intellectual, spiritual, and political leadership might follow genetically, if it is understood that modern people, largely reduced to being spectators, worship anyone who has kindled a spark to seek the ultimate prize. Frankly, Jung's trauma reminds me of "Ernst Roehm, Minister of the Reich, one of the founders of the Nazi Party, and Chief of Staff of the SA." (Max Gallo, THE NIGHT OF LONG KNIVES, p. 2). On December 31, 1933, Roehm had received a letter from Adolf Hitler thanking him for "the force which allowed me to wage the final battle for power," and as leader of the "SA to assure the victory of the National Socialist Revolution on the domestic front, . . . and the unity of our people." (Gallo, p. 7). Roehm was among those killed between Saturday, June 30, 1934, and Monday, July 2. A speech by Hitler on Friday, July 13, 1934 to the Reichstag meeting in the Opera House made Roehm a scapegoat for everything that Hitler had attempted to rid himself of. "The life the Chief of Staff and a certain number of other leaders had begun to lead was intolerable from the point of view of National Socialism. The question was no longer that he and his friends had violated every decency, but rather that the contagion was widespread, and was affecting even the most distant elements." (Gallo, p. 9). As much as this seems ruthless, Smith was able to see this trait as common. "Both Jung and his mother tended to personify aspects of the self. Frequently in his autobiography he refers to the ruthlessness of his mother's No. 2 Personality. But he too, as he acknowledges at the end of MEMORIES (356), could be utterly ruthless at times." (Smith, p. 27). The Retrospect which starts on page 355 of MEMORIES, DREAMS, REFLECTIONS by C. G. Jung pictures himself more as a spectator. "I stand and behold, admiring what nature can do." (Jung, p. 355). "People who see nothing have no certainties and can draw no conclusions--or do not trust them even if they do. I do not know what started me off perceiving the stream of life." (Jung, pp. 355-356). "I was able to become intensely interested in many people; but as soon as I had seen through them, the magic was gone. In this way I made many enemies." (Jung, p. 357).