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| 1. Cooking for Geeks: Real Science, Great Hacks, and Good Food by Jeff Potter | |
 | Paperback
list price: $34.99 -- our price: $20.71 (price subject to change: see help) Isbn: 0596805888 Publisher: O'Reilly Media Sales Rank: 118 Average Customer Review: 
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Editorial Review Are you the innovative type, the cook who marches to a different drummer -- used to expressing your creativity instead of just following recipes? Are you interested in the science behind what happens to food while it's cooking? Do you want to learn what makes a recipe work so you can improvise and create your own unique dish? More than just a cookbook, Cooking for Geeks applies your curiosity to discovery, inspiration, and invention in the kitchen. Why is medium-rare steak so popular? Why do we bake some things at 350 F/175 C and others at 375 F/190 C? And how quickly does a pizza cook if we overclock an oven to 1,000 F/540 C? Author and cooking geek Jeff Potter provides the answers and offers a unique take on recipes -- from the sweet (a "mean" chocolate chip cookie) to the savory (duck confit sugo). This book is an excellent and intriguing resource for anyone who wants to experiment with cooking, even if you don't consider yourself a geek. Purée in a food processor or with an immersion blender: Notes There are two broad types of cake batters: high- ratio cakes--those that have more sugar and water than flour (or by some definitions, just a lot of sugar)--and low-ratio cakes—which tend to have coarser crumbs. For high-ratio cakes, there should be more sugar than flour (by weight) and more eggs than fats (again, by weight), and the liquid mass (eggs, milk, water) should be heavier than the sugar. Consider this pumpkin cake, which is a high-ratio cake (245g of pumpkin contains 220g of water--you can look these sorts of things up in the USDA National Nutrient Database, available online at http://www.nal.usda.gov/fnic/foodcomp/search/). In a mixing bowl, measure out and then mix with an electric mixer to thoroughly combine: Transfer to a greased cake pan or spring form and bake in an oven preheated to 350 F / 175 C until a toothpick comes out dry, about 20 minutes. Notes
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| 2. Where Good Ideas Come From: The Natural History of Innovation by Steven Johnson | |
 | Hardcover
(2010-10-05)
list price: $26.95 -- our price: $17.79 (price subject to change: see help) Isbn: 1594487715 Publisher: Riverhead Hardcover Sales Rank: 645 Average Customer Review: 
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| 3. Aftershock: The Next Economy and America's Future by Robert B. Reich | |
 | Hardcover
(2010-09-21)
list price: $25.00 -- our price: $15.00 (price subject to change: see help) Isbn: 0307592812 Publisher: Knopf Sales Rank: 568 Average Customer Review:
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| 4. Oh, Yuck! The Encyclopedia of Everything Nasty by Joy Masoff | |
 | Paperback
list price: $14.95 -- our price: $10.17 (price subject to change: see help) Isbn: 0761107711 Publisher: Workman Publishing Company Sales Rank: 770 Average Customer Review:
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Editorial Review Exhaustively researched and impeccably scientific, yet written witha lively lack of earnestness, Oh, Yuck! is an ants to zitsencyclopedic compendium covering people, animals, insects, plants,foods, and more. Here are vampire bats, which sip blood and pee at thesame time so that they'll always be light enough to fly away; andslime eels, wreathed in mucus and eating fellow fish from the insideout. Oh, Yuck! explains why vomit smells; where dandruff comes from;what pus is all about; and why maggots adore rotting meat. Otherfeatures include gross recipes, putrid projects, 10 foods that makeyou airborne, and more. With hundreds of cartoon illustrations and real-life photographs,Oh, Yuck! is the complete guide to the irresistible--at least to an8-to-12 year old--underbelly of life. Reviews
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| 5. The Master Switch: The Rise and Fall of Information Empires (Borzoi Books) by Tim Wu | |
 | Hardcover
(2010-11-02)
list price: $27.95 -- our price: $15.37 (price subject to change: see help) Isbn: 0307269930 Publisher: Knopf Sales Rank: 815 Average Customer Review: 
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Customer review from the Amazon Vine™ Program (What's this?) Warning: This is not light reading. The book is well-written but is not designed as entertainment. If, however, you are concerned about the Internet and potentially where it might go in the near future, or more specifically, how it might wind up controlled, this book will be an interesting and informative read. Important too because communication and information dissemination are vital to the freedom of us all.
Columbia University Professor Tim Wu takes us on an in-depth tour of the history of the communication empires of telephone, radio, television, and now the Internet. Wu's analyses and conclusions are both brilliant as well as at times somewhat surprising. Every page gives evidence of Wu's thorough research, careful thinking and insights that went into the writing of this fine work. The internet has become part of the lives of almost everyone, with its freeing and empowering presence; in fact in important ways it has become indispensable. A not-too-surprising worry might be that the federal government may someday try to control it, not so overwhelmingly as does the government of China of course, but the possibility is there. What Wu so sagatiously points out is that that threat of control could just as easily, or actually more easily, come from the private sector, because in fact the existence of the internet and its smooth functioning are dependent, not on the government, but private enterprise. A different kind of monopoly looms ahead of us as a distinct danger, and this present information age presents new policy and regulation challenges. One hopes that the right government officials at the federal level take heed to this awesomely researched book. If you would like to understand more accurately recent decades as well as the present time the huge corporations that have in the past but also could one of these days control the ways and means of communication, by all means give this worthy work a read. Highly recommended.
Customer review from the Amazon Vine™ Program (What's this?) The Master Switch is part history, business theory and technology presented in a clear and enjoyable read. This is neither a business book, nor a history book, nor a novel but it has the best elements of all three. Some advice for the reader, be prepared to read a book about business information and technology this is deep, complex, expansive and thoroughly enjoyable.
Wu demonstrates throughout the book his ability to research and capture the historical events that led to the world we have today and present them more like James Michener than a dry recitation. The details and descriptions led me to feel like I was reading a historical novel more than a business book. Yet all of the conversation revolves round issues of information, technology and business ownership of it. Wu demonstrates his business thinking through the book and research findings. This is a business book as it discusses how information and new technologies often start out as an explosion of small companies that coalesce into a few dominate firms that then often explode into smaller more innovative companies. Those ideas, the decisions and actions behind them are the context that gives the business history context. The Master Switch is a rare combination of history, theory and technology. People looking to read the book from one of these perspectives will either be delighted or deeply disappointed. As a history, the book is a delight as I learned things I never knew before. As a business book, one with a very clear argument, sequential prose and an explicit `bottom line' this book suffers because it meanders through the history parts. Readers looking for a business book should reset their expectations and get the Master Switch. Reset their expectations from the perspective that rather than loading your brain with `programmed' messages, it may be better to get a broader perspective that will let you think through these critical issues. Setting your expectation to read something enjoyable, informative and comprehensive and you will not be disappointed.
Customer review from the Amazon Vine™ Program (What's this?) Unless you're very young, you have memory of the "Dark Ages" of technology. Yes, there was a time before the Internet...even a time before the ancient 14 kbs modem. I know it's hard for us to believe, but you used to have to be there if somebody was calling AND you didn't know who it was until you picked up the phone! The answering machine could have been available in the 1950s, but why didn't they come out until a few decades ago?
The book has interesting points on technology cycles, which I'll get into in a moment, but first I'd like to congratulate the author on doing such a great job of giving a background history lesson. The topic helps because the history of information empires is every bit as interesting as the rise of military empires. It's all about strategies, "bloody" battles, and luck. It's just the weapons used that differ. Still, most of us have seen even exciting history made boring by poor writing. Mr. Wu keeps things interesting by giving the personal reasons for certain decisions and the circumstances leading to them, not just a bunch of dry dates. Some of the history discussed I was familiar with, but a lot of it was brand new to me. Several ideas presented on the cycles were thought provoking. Most of us are conditioned to immediately think monopoly = bad, but the point of view of the monopolists helps explain why society allowed them to exist. For example, before modern telephone infrastructure existed it almost took a gigantic AT&T to have the drive to force to link up every person to a phone line; while their methods of dealing with opposition were at times abhorrent, they still succeeded in using the monopoly's advantages (economies of scale, no duplication of research by different companies, steady income, etc.) to do a great deal of good. Bell Labs not only researched phone related technologies for the company but also provided resources and advancements in entirely unrelated areas. On the other hand, all was not altruistic. The same advantages that helped it expand and provide service also stifled progress as the monopoly jealously guarded itself against competitors and devoured or squashed possible competitors. They succeeded in connecting nearly everybody for the common good, even rural farms that likely would have been unconnected far longer because of greater costs per user in small population areas. However, those who are old enough will remember when there was only one choice of phone and it was an AT&T phone only. Once AT&T was broken up, we saw tremendous advances in technology and cost benefits to customers. The point being, things aren't purely black and white. The issues of information control and free speech were also fascinating. To me the most interesting was censorship in Hollywood. It's a lesson in unintended consequences. The big studios' very "monopoly" allowed them to succumb to rules of conduct that had married couples depicted sleeping in separate beds for years. In that case rules came from the private sector in the form of religious groups threatening boycotts. There too you see a dichotomy. On one hand, the threat was private individuals in a sense voting with their money and what could be more democratic than voting? On the other hand though, people who didn't agree with those rules had their ability to watch uncensored materials taken away from them in the name of somebody else's view of the public good. It's this kind of struggle for balance we see over and over and over again with the advent of new technologies. I love reading about history and watching documentaries. The adage "History repeats itself." is shown to be true time after time. It's funny how we all think we're so unique, doing things for the first time, but looking back (in some form) most everything's been done before. From the phones, to radio, to the Internet, you can see how the cycle of inventor becomes a wide open free-for-all becomes a tightly controlled industry, and eventually is usurped by some new idea from the outside that changes the rules of the game. It's all one big cycle of progress. Now if only I could figure out what the next major cycle will be, I'd be a very rich man...
Customer review from the Amazon Vine™ Program (What's this?) THE MASTER SWITCH is a highly entertaining tour of the history of today's major media industries: telephone, radio, television, motion pictures and the internet. It is also a work of theory, as Wu uses several lenses by which to view the developments in these industries. There is the "Kronos Effect" - where dominant companies swallow upstart firms who might grow to be threats; there is "The Cycle" - the constant push and pull between open and closed models; and there is "The Master Switch," which Wu demonstrates has been the constant goal of many a mogul and media titan, to centralize the flow of information so that it may be controlled by a single man. (They have all, so far, been men.)
The book reads like an extended New Yorker article, with the personalities and drama behind the developments of revolutionary technologies sketched briefly, yet with riveting, compelling detail. Coming from a man who (it is claimed) coined the phrase "net neutrality," I expected there to be more theoretical discussion of what constitutes information control and information freedom. But in the end, Wu mostly allows the reader to draw his or her own conclusions. The chapter on how Hollywood films were able to be censored for years by a few pious moralists, simply because those censors needed only capture a few choke points, is particularly illuminating. This was not a government intervention, but a self-appointed private group. Wu implies that we need to fear similar interventions in our modern telecommunication systems since today's business leaders, Steve Jobs most definitely included, have designs on consolidating information behind their own Master Switches. It is precisely because so much telephone traffic goes through AT&T's switches, Wu points out, that the US government was able to enact its warrantless wiretapping schemes post-9/11. All in all, this is a fascinating, informative book, well-researched and deftly composed. Highly recommended for folks who liked THE LONG TAIL, THE TIPPING POINT or THE BLACK SWAN.
Customer review from the Amazon Vine™ Program (What's this?) It is not often that you read a book that simply makes sense, and Tim Wu strings together a series of events evocative of the old "connections" TV show. Tim paints a picture of the difficulties that companies have cannibalizing current product lines and products in favor of the next big thing. By using AT&T and other companies throughout his book, you can see how difficult it would be for a manager to back the unproven "next big thing" when the current product set is still making tons of money and is very profitable. The picture that he portrays shows that companies are naturally disinclined to support technologies, processes, and ideas that are disruptive to profitable products.
We can see this with Microsoft struggling with Cloud Computing, and the Music and Movie industries having such a difficult time moving to a viable digital model in the internet era. The music industry has railed against every change in technology since the player piano and sheet music saying that it would decimate sales, only to find a working economic model that would allow them to be successful selling sheet music and player piano roles. This book will leave anyone transfixed, and has information for people who are familiar with disruptive technologies as a product line as well as general people who have an interest in how disruptive ideas eventually work their way into the mainstream, even it takes 40 some odd years as it did with the voice message machine that we take for granted today. This book is truly 5 of 5 stars, I sat down and read it in one sitting unable to put it down. Well worth reading for all levels of interest from managers to employees, nonprofessionals to experts there is something here for everyone. Tim writes an eloquent book about technology, corporate and business model disruption, and why companies have a hard time working with disruptive ideas that might not be the next big thing. Moreover Tim points out why a disruptive idea might be more suited to smaller companies who can afford high risks, rather than a tried and true blue company that has different ideas of business lines and profit models.
Customer review from the Amazon Vine™ Program (What's this?) "The Master Switch" by Tim Wu is a fascinating history of information technology and policy in the U.S. with profound insights for the Internet economy. Mr. Wu is a gifted writer who seeks to share his knowledge with a wide audience through a highly accessible text. Indeed, as one of the world's foremost thinkers on the topic, Mr. Wu's timely book is certain to have a major influence as we struggle to maintain an open society.
Central to Mr. Wu's analysis is 'the Cycle' or the tendency of information industries to move from open to closed systems. Mr. Wu documents how the telephone, radio, motion pictures and television initially began as low cost platforms that were more or less accessible to almost anyone. Sadly, we are reminded of the dashed utopian dreams of prior generations of Americans who had great expectations about the liberating potential of mass communications technologies. Time and again, we learn how capital swooped in, using their financial muscle and influence over government to control the markets to suit their own private, profit-seeking interests. Importantly, Mr. Wu shows how disruptive new technologies can set the Cycle in motion yet again. In nearly every instance, the challengers are first accused of criminal mischief, as in Mr. Wu's intriguing case study of how renegade cable operators challenged the broadcasting industry by connecting underserved communities with television service. Yet, as the upstarts validate their technologies by creating new markets, they frequently become the new, monopolistic sheriffs they once seemed to oppose in rhetoric, if not in deed. If we have learned anything, Mr. Wu suggests that when industry is left to its own devices the profit motive will trump the public's need for information every time. With the painful lesson of AT&T's calculated suppression of innovation and unflinching support for a Big Brother surveillance state firmly impressed upon us, Mr. Wu convincingly makes the case for a "constitutional" approach to regulating the information economy. In Mr. Wu's judgement, this means enforcing a separation of the powers that produce and distribute content (including, of course, the all-important physical infrastructure) in a way that allows fair and open access to all. Without such a framework in place, Mr. Wu fears that the Internet as we know it could meet the fate of other once-promising technologies. As his book makes abundantly clear, the possibility that the Internet could become the private fiefdom of an AT&T, Apple, Google or some other corporate behemoth and/or combination thereof should not be taken lightly. I highly recommend this exceptionally entertaining, informative and empowering book to everyone.
Customer review from the Amazon Vine™ Program (What's this?) The Master Switch is an interesting read on history that many Americans probably do not know. In The Master Switch we learn that while knowledge is power, the ability to distribute information is more powerful. Movie, radio and phone technologies are covered extensively, along with the influences of multiple parties in how those industries developed in the US.
These are powerful technologies with the ability to dictate the course of human thought and societies. Those that hold the power can either use it for the public good, or abuse it, but no matter how the power is used, that same power tends to want to perpetuate itself at the expense of innovation. The cycle is simple. A technology takes hold through small steps. Then it is consolidated over time, usually by a corporation, and with infrastructural considerations and support from government. Disruptive innovative technologies are slow to enter the marketplace because the giants are too large and present either huge financial or legal obstacles. Eventually, a disruptive technology cannot be ignored, and the old ways must adapt; just as TV replaced radio as a primary entertainment medium, and the web is slowly eroding many different telecommunication industries. Then the giants slowly embrace and work to control that new medium, consolidating power once again. The Master Switch makes a case for moderate regulation with the input of industry, but not at the expense of neutrality or diversification of power. There are some interesting ideas about net neutrality in this book, but in the end, the devil will be in the details, and it is still questionable if the cycle can be broken. The evolution of Bell Labs, ATT, CBS, NBC, ABC, Apple, the FCC, and google are contrasted and compared. Clearly written and interesting history worth reading and understanding as we at a cross roads of the cycle in regards to the continued evolution of the web.
Customer review from the Amazon Vine™ Program (What's this?) There are those who want to control the money/I care not what puppet is place upon the throne of England to rule the Empire,...the man who controls Britain's money supply controls the British Empire. And I Control the money supply. - Baron Nathan mayor Rothchild. The control of information is no less ambitious.
There are those who have controlled the flow of information and want to continue to control that medium. The internet is in their crosshairs, and they have, without exception, hit every target medium of communication there has been to date.This then, has become the author's preoccupation: those who seek to control information/in the past, present and tomorrow... In Part 1 he traces the genesis of cultural and communication empires, in what he terms the first turn of the cycle. History has shown that the oscillation of information industries between open and closed is a typical phenomenon that Tim Wu has termed: the Cycle. He shows how each of the early twentieth century's new information industries(telephony, radio, and film) evolved from a novel invention. In Part 11 he focuses on the consolidation of information empires, often with state support, and the consequences for the vitality of free expression and innovation. In Part 111 he examines the ways in which the sranglehold of information monopolies were broken after decades. In Part IV he shows how the size & scale of the information giants led to a new generation of information. In Part V he looks toward the ultimate question: will the Cycle of history repeat itself. This internet revolution, which we are part of, is so explosive that no one can see where it would lead. Will the Cycle close or will the people prevail with an internet that is in the community's interest. In today's world of privitization, where the Public has become enemy #1, where the mantra has become: socialize the cost/privitize the profits/the fat lady has not as yet sung. The author likens the outcome , almost like the weather, the flow of information defines the basic tenor of our times, the ambience in which things happen, and ultimately, it will depend upon the character of our society. So, as Fred Freindly, onetime CBS News president, made clear, before any question of free speech can be addressed, comes the question/Who Controls The Master Switch? HIGHLY RECOMMENDED !!!!!!!! P.S. Those wishing to keep up on the issue of net neutrality google: Free Press Media Reform Daily & sign up. P.P.S. Goggle: viddler interview tim wu/click ahead 24:30 to 44:00 and listen to show explaining net neutrality approx. 20 min P.P.P.S. The control of money is no less ambitious: google- Real Deal with Jim Fetzer/ then click- Friday Oct 15, 2020 Carl Herman google Fall of the Republic youtube
Customer review from the Amazon Vine™ Program (What's this?) As an IT pro with a strong interest in the history of technology (especially those I use every day), I thought I knew about the development and history of communications technology. After reading this book I can safely say that I knew practically nothing beforehand. Wu has gone through each of the major communications technologies - radio, TV, movies, cable TV, and the internet, and showed how they were invented, developed, and adopted. He discusses the individuals, the companies, and the government agencies that helped shape the way we use each of the technologies. The brilliance of the book is when he shows the parallels in all of them - how each technology starts as an open and decentralized system. Only after it is taken over by a corporation (often with the help of government regulation), does it become closed and centralized. He ends the book with what can best be described as a call to action for what he calls his "separations principle" where the producers and distributors of content are separated by regulation. Having showed the risks that come with allowing vertical integration in communications technology, the reader will almost certainly be forced to agree.
Wu employs excellent scholarship and tis work is both thorough and detailed, making it the best arguments against regulated monopolies I've ever read. His writing is excellent - too many non-fiction authors try to dumb down their language for a mass audience. Wu has none of that, and it is a pleasure to read a book by someone who knows and uses the English language so well. ... Read more | |
| 6. The Future of Learning Institutions in a Digital Age by Cathy N. Davidson, David Theo Goldberg | |
 | Kindle Edition
list price: $14.00 Asin: B0030DGXY6 Publisher: The MIT Press Average Customer Review: 
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| 7. Hot, Flat, and Crowded: Why We Need a Green Revolution--and How It Can Renew America by Thomas L. Friedman | |
 | Hardcover
(2008-09-08)
list price: $27.95 -- our price: $3.53 (price subject to change: see help) Isbn: 0374166854 Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux Sales Rank: 927 Average Customer Review:
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| 8. The Rational Optimist: How Prosperity Evolves by Matt Ridley | |
 | Hardcover
(2010-06-01)
list price: $26.99 -- our price: $16.19 (price subject to change: see help) Isbn: 006145205X Publisher: Harper Sales Rank: 1478 Average Customer Review:
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Editorial Review Life is getting better—and at an accelerating rate. Food availability, income, and life span are up; disease, child mortality, and violence are down — all across the globe. Though the world is far from perfect, necessities and luxuries alike are getting cheaper; population growth is slowing; Africa is following Asia out of poverty; the Internet, the mobile phone, and container shipping are enriching people’s lives as never before. The pessimists who dominate public discourse insist that we will soon reach a turning point and things will start to get worse. But they have been saying this for two hundred years. Yet Matt Ridley does more than describe how things are getting better. He explains why. Prosperity comes from everybody working for everybody else. The habit of exchange and specialization—which started more than 100,000 years ago—has created a collective brain that sets human living standards on a rising trend. The mutual dependence, trust, and sharing that result are causes for hope, not despair. This bold book covers the entire sweep of human history, from the Stone Age to the Internet, from the stagnation of the Ming empire to the invention of the steam engine, from the population explosion to the likely consequences of climate change. It ends with a confident assertion that thanks to the ceaseless capacity of the human race for innovative change, and despite inevitable disasters along the way, the twenty-first century will see both human prosperity and natural biodiversity enhanced. Acute, refreshing, and revelatory, The Rational Optimist will change your way of thinking about the world for the better. Reviews
Customer review from the Amazon Vine™ Program (What's this?) Matt Ridley's The Rational Optimist is a history of progress based on a simple but unpopular idea: that specialization and markets are the prime movers of progress. In fact, Ridley suggests in his introduction that the answer to the perennial "What makes humans unique?" question is our unique ability to specialize and trade. Instead of catching our own food, making our own shelter, etc (as other animals do), we humans have created a system where everyone can specialize and trade with others who specialize in other things. This means that those best at making houses make houses, those best at making food make food, and by trading, we can each benefit from that which others do and vice versa. Self-reliance equals subsistence: interdependence through trade equals ingenuity and a boom in living standards.
"What?!" you say. What about Rousseau, Marx, Ehrlich, Marcuse, and all of those other critics of society! What about all the stuff we hear about how capitalism exploits the poor, reduces living standards, rapes the environment, etc, etc. The first few chapters of Ridley's book are devoted to showing that, on all fronts, markets have actually produced higher living standards FOR ALL (and especially the poor, as also shown in Sowell's Economic Facts and Fallacies), MORE leisure time for all, and - here's the most surprising - better environmental conditions. The next several chapters are a history of how this progress happened. To be honest, these chapters may be the most dry as they are very detail-laden and repetitive in that they stress the same theme across time - that specialization leads to ingenuity and progress. In the vein of Robert Wright's Nonzero: The Logic of Human Destiny, Ridley demonstrates - and explains the principle behind - this equation. In brief, when humans invented the idea of specialization and trade, I could make x and you could make y, things we each excel at. Each of us, then, can trade what we excel at for what others excel at rather than having to do all of it ourselves. Finally, when I realize that I can trade my x's for your y's and her z's, it pushes me to be as productive at making my x's as possible (and innovating new ways to make better and faster x's) so that I can make the most of my time. Thus, we stumble upon a brilliant non-zero sum way to ensure that we all benefit from each other's ingenuity, creativity, and labor. Most of these chapters (starting in the stone-age and ending in the present) stress the idea that as transportation allowed us to trade with increasingly larger groups, and as technology allowed us to create more efficiently, the "collective brain" became bigger and everyone could benefit from everyone else's progress. The last three chapters may be the most controversial as they deal with current naysayers - particularly environmentalists. To be clear, RIDLEY IS NOT ADVOCATING THAT WE CONTINUE CURRENT ENVIRONMENTAL PRACTICES (I bold that because inevitably, some folks will accuse him of an environmental Pollyanna-ism.) Yes, depending on non-renewable fuel, by definition, means that at some point, the fuel will run out. Ridley only points out that naysayers rely on a hidden but faulty premise: that the future will resemble the past. Yes, we will run out of fossil fuels if we keep using it, but whose to say that we will keep using them? Just like Ehrlich's remarkably failed prediction that over-population will lead to food shortages, these folks' error lies in assuming that future ways of production will resemble past ways, and time and time and time again, this assumption has proved erroneous! Ridley's point is that while we can NEVER say that the future WILL solve all pressing problems, so far we have. And we can assume we will in the future because our method of exchange has globalized the "collective brain," assuring that innovation will keep occurring and the best minds will all be working on the pressing problems of the day. (Again, Ridley is not attempting Pollyanna-ism here, but only suggesting that the burden of proof should now lie on the naysayers because the past gives us every reason to think that we will, rather than will not, solve the problems that confront us.) Now, for two minor criticisms of the book. First, I do question whether Ridley has the knowledge base to go into as much history as he does. When looking through the large endnote section, many of his citations are from non-peer-reviewed trade books, magazines, etc. I simply have a feeling that Ridley's book may not be as academically rigorous as some might want. I also question Ridley's omission of the crucial function language plays in his theory, for he doesn't spend much time on it. When he asks, as he does repeatedly, what it is about humans over other animals that have been able to create trade networks and specialization, it seems that ONE of the obvious answers is "language." We have the ability to create language that is not only self-expressive but also can be used to inform others of our intent, etc. It seems difficult to create a trade network without the kind of language that can let others know your intent, establish trust, etc. If this is correct, Ridley's shouldn't omit the topic. If it is wrong, he might have explained why. Be that as it may, this is still a great read. In a world where pessimism simply sells (and makes one sound intellectual) more than optimism, books like these need to be written... and read.
Customer review from the Amazon Vine™ Program (What's this?) First, the GOOD NEWS: the sky isn't falling! The world is actually improving dramatically and the pace is quickening. Tthere are abundant facts to prove it. The BAD NEWS predicted isn't true after all. The not-so-good news is that good news doesn't sell newspapers or prime-time ads. So we'll keep on hearing that doomsday drumbeat of horrific predictions from the media, all of it certified by officials of academia and government with an obvious agenda in the vision of impending environmental collapse which can only be averted by comparably drastic intervention. We have a glut of popular books and articles feeding these fears with plausible evidence for the demise of civilization or the planet, but a critical shortage of books like "The Rational Optimist" which challenge that evidence, describe its pathologies, and show where those disastrously coercive interventions will lead, and what they'll cost in human terms. So why risk ostracism in cocktail-party conversation by reading a persuasive contrarian essay which proclaims a heretical optimism in its title?
Well, one reason might be the pleasures of an utterly readable book. Unlike talk-show polemicists, Matt Ridley uses good-natured eloquence, serious erudition and incisive wit to deflate the immanent-disaster scenarios which dominate our evening news, academic and political discourse. Despite its length, the book is remarkable for its brevity and the sheer quotability of its prose. (A reader cribbing zinger quotes will soon have writer's cramp.) Another reason might be the challenge of unfamiliar ideas, of cleaning the mental attic of the baggage left by cultural osmosis. No book can guarantee final truth, but a fresh perspective can provide plenty of creative stimulation for a skeptical mind. Ridley's long view of human history, his perspective on the unrequited human penchant for seeing immanent catastrophe informs both his skepticism and his optimism, and it makes great straight-to-the point reading. No obfuscatory jargon, no shrill hype or invective. Two of his unfashionable heresies are A) that prosperity is a hugely positive benefit to humanity--not a planet-killing consumerist fetish, and that B) individual freedom--not government planning or humanitarian intent--is the primary engine of that prosperity. His earlier book, "The Red Queen" described sex as the primary engine of evolution. The sexual metaphor gets new life in this one. The explosive growth of human knowledge and wealth in recent centuries is described as the result of "ideas having sex"--something that rarely occurred in prior millennia. It's not a coincidence that science, individual liberty, and the industrial revolution experienced a virtually simultaneous birth. This "sex" between ideas has been increasing in both quality and frequency with cumulative results of stunning usefulness. Think of what's happened in your own lifetime. He's also compiled a list of dire prophecies which never happened, some of which are perennially predicted anew with updated "tipping point" projections: worldwide starvation, hydrocarbon exhaustion, mass extinctions, nuclear extermination, mineral resource depletion, genetic decay (eugenics was invented to prevent that) global cooling (global warming could be next if the last decade's weather stasis continues). Environmental problems which were once big news (acid rain, industrial hormone mimicry, lung-rotting smog, skyrocketing cancer proliferation, holocaust viral epidemics, etc.) quietly vanished from the news when the threat receded or failed to produce significant harm, much less bio-Armageddon. A historical batting average of .000 has done little to discourage fresh predictions of the apocalypse. A minor focus is the relatively harmless rash of costly and often foolish environmental fads. He writes penetrating analyses the value and costs of organic farming, local food, and the obsessive horror of modern chemistry, fertilizers, pesticides, and genetically modified crops. His more deserving targets (I think) are the dubious "green" technologies with high--often disastrous--environmental costs: ethanol in particular, but also solar, wave & wind power. He's not opposed to the latter energy options in principal, but shows they're unlikely to replace hydrocarbons anytime soon. Most of these alternative energy "cures" are not only environmentally worse than the "disease" (fossil fuel), but their their high costs will be borne in heavy disproportion by the world's poor. But for dogmatic insensitivity, few examples can match the righteous zeal of some activists for preventing America's poor from shopping at WalMart, for shutting the developing nations out of the global economy, or keeping genetically modified food out of the hands of literally starving Africans. A corollary widespread belief (Ridley quotes some prominent advocates) is that prosperity itself is the enemy of the planet and global salvation must necessarily entail global impoverishment--in effect, a lethal Malthusian population limit waiting to be imposed by environmental decree. Ridley avoids a pro or con position on global warming, but he's rightly wary of reacting in panic: the cost of overestimating GW could be much higher than underestimating: in his words, it's like stopping a nosebleed by putting a tourniquet around your neck. (It would be even more foolish in response to a predicted nosebleed.) But he didn't write this book to heap ridicule on doomsellers. He shows why they're always wrong: linear extrapolation from the present inevitably predicts a disastrous future--which is invariably wrong because it ignores the equally inevitable (but unpredictable) free market actions which future investors, entrepreneurs and inventors will take to sidestep the icebergs in the shipping lanes. Ideas "having sex" are far more nimble and productive than governments issuing prohibitions or doomsday prophets clamoring for an emergency reversal of course. (My note: only in inflexible dictatorships does mass civilian disaster arrive inexorably, as in Ukraine in the 1930s, China in the 1960s, North Korea today. In none of these regimes were (any) ideas allowed to "have sex". Unfortunately, just such a dictatorship will probably be necessary if the world decides to implement the Environmental Taliban's agenda to save us from planetary sacrilege.) "The Rational Optimist" is a wonderfully well-written counterpoint to the alarmist feel-bad prophecies (which will probably continue to outsell it) but it is not overtly political nor brimming with righteous denunciations. It is at least as rewarding as an insightful tract on human nature (and folly) and as much a call to reason as survey of contemporary intellectual hysteria and prejudice. I enjoyed reading it immensely, and unless you are allergic to bad news about the BAD NEWS, I think you will, too.
Customer review from the Amazon Vine™ Program (What's this?) As the author states, this book is a fusion of the ideas of Adam Smith and Charles Darwin. Mankind is the only species that is able to build on the knowledge gained by our ancestors. This unending and logarithmic accumulation of knowledge has allowed us to specialize economically and our ideas and discoveries have 'mated' in an unending (albeit bumpy) stream of economic progress.
Where Ray Kurzweil emphasizes technological progress in The Singularity Is Near: When Humans Transcend Biology, Ridley's approach is similar but stresses the economic and social progress enabled by the march of technology. Having witnessed decades of doomsayers myself, from Paul Ehrlich's in retrospect laughable Population Bomb, global cooling in the 70s, no-nukes hysteria, AIDs (which would supposedly kill millions in the U.S. alone), Y2K, 40 years of peak oil is imminent warnings, SARS etc and seen that these concerns bordering on hysteria were either outright misplaced or highly exaggerated, I appreciate the fact that Matt Ridley is able to put all this in perspective. In this regard, I think it especially important for younger people who have not yet lived through decades of pessimism and anti-development featuring one hysterical over-reaction after another that have ultimately proven inconsequential, to read this book.
Customer review from the Amazon Vine™ Program (What's this?) Matt Ridley has written a very compelling theory about why we should be optimistic about our global economy, taking into account humans ability to learn and adapt from adversity. However, he does indicate that the adversity IS coming (global climate change, faltering markets, the end of the American Empire, etc.). He indicates that through knowledge and perseverance, we will get through it and potentially prosper from it through Green technologies, global economic investments, etc. So, while this book does not paint an optimistic future for humankind, it does make a good argument for the ways we can "take lemons and make lemonade" from the upcoming challenges we will face in this world. Ridley has done some interesting and insightful research into our history as a race, and how we have continually overcome the challenges we have faced...and how it's very likely that we can do it again. Given all of the books about the upcoming "doom and gloom" on Earth, this was a refreshing change of pace to read.
Customer review from the Amazon Vine™ Program (What's this?) The basic premises:
(1) In the course of human history, people have lived increasingly prosperous, comfortable lives. This statement might seem surprising at first, but only because of the common tendency to paint the (unexperienced) past in rosy hues. On closer examination, the average inhabitant of a modern country lives a life kings of the past would envy. (2) The drive behind this ongoing improvement is trade, both of goods and ideas. Not charitable works or government regulation, necessary though those might both be in certain circumstances. No, people left to their own devices will find clever ways to solve pressing problems, bettering themselves, their customers, and often the world, in the process. (3) Given (1) and (2), the current climate of DOOM is not well-founded. Yes, we *might* be doomed, but there's no particular reason to assume that mankind can't handle whatever challenges lie ahead, using our rapidly-increasing capacity for idea exchange. However convincing current predictions of DOOM may be, there were equally convincing predictions in the past, and they all turned out to be wrong. Sure, there were occasional setbacks and issues, but overwhelmingly, life in the modern era has continued to rapidly improve, despite predictions of famine, plagues, ice ages, over-population, killer air pollution, acid rain, and much more. For me, the most fascinating parts of the book were about ancient prehistory of trade, and various historical trends and developments. Less interesting, though more controversial, are the later chapters about modern issues like global warming and poverty in Africa. Though they're important topics, they're still largely theoretical on all sides. No one knows how bad climate change will be, or what we will wind up doing about it. No one knows yet if/when/how Africa will attain prosperity. I'm more interested in facts than debate, though I realize the current-event chapters will get all the talk at cocktail parties. The only real weakness I perceived were the vague, unnecessarily inflammatory potshots taken at archetypes Ridley sees as enemies of trade: kings, priests, financiers, taxmen, monopolies, bureaucrats. Whenever historical economic progress foundered, these generic targets get the blame, without much real explanation. I've heard criticism that Ridley is unreservedly opposed to governments and regulation, but that was not my impression. I came away with the feeling that the right kind of government was absolutely necessary to prosperity, not no government at all. He criticizes places like the USSR, modern-day North Korea, and 1800s Japan, while pointing out Botswana and Silicon Valley as places doing it right. Overall, this is a fun, fascinating book to read. Essential, IMO, for anyone who wants to discuss current events in a balanced way. Whatever your stance, be prepared to have your own nose tweaked a bit, as Ridley is generous with his snark. Highly recommended.
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| 9. The World Is Flat 3.0: A Brief History of the Twenty-first Century by Thomas L. Friedman | |
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| 10. What Technology Wants by Kevin Kelly | |
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| 11. Living and Learning with New Media: Summary of Findings from the Digital Youth Project by Mizuko Ito, Heather A. Horst, Matteo Bittanti, Danah Boyd, Becky Herr-Stephenson, Patricia G. Lange, C. J. Pascoe, Laura Robinson | |
 | Kindle Edition
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| 12. Confronting the Challenges of Participatory Culture: Media Education for the 21st Century by Henry Jenkins | |
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| 13. The Path Between the Seas: The Creation of the Panama Canal, 1870-1914 by David McCullough | |
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Editorial Review From the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Truman, here is the national bestselling epic chronicle of the creation of the Panama Canal. In The Path Between the Seas, acclaimed historian David McCullough delivers a first-rate drama of the sweeping human undertaking that led to the creation of this grand enterprise. The Path Between the Seas tells the story of the men and women who fought against all odds to fulfill the 400-year-old dream of constructing an aquatic passageway between the Atlantic and Pacific oceans. It is a story of astonishing engineering feats, tremendous medical accomplishments, political power plays, heroic successes, and tragic failures. Applying his remarkable gift for writing lucid, lively exposition, McCullough weaves the many strands of the momentous event into a comprehensive and captivating tale. Winner of the National Book Award for history, the Francis Parkman Prize, the Samuel Eliot Morison Award, and the Cornelius Ryan Award (for the best book of the year on international affairs), The Path Between the Seas is a must-read for anyone interested in American history, the history of technology, international intrigue, and human drama. Reviews
This big book is necessary to tell a big tale. The effort to build the Path Between the Seas across the isthmus of Panama lasted from the 1870's through 1914. In a nutshell, first the French tried and failed to build a sea level crossing at Panama. This was in pursuit of a vision held by many national leaders in order to cut thousands of miles from the journey from the Atlantic to the Pacific oceans. The Americans picked up where the French left off, and after a decade succeeded in creating a crossing using locks and a man-made lake. What McCollough does so well is flesh out the above nutshell. It is a tale that would not be believed if written as fiction. The level of incompetence, misfeasance and malfeasance, wondrously peculiar personalities, engineering failures and brilliance, vision and size astound the reader and underscore how that age relied more upon enthusiasm, idealism and optimism in the pursuit of grand efforts than does our careful and measured era. The French followed the builder of the Suez Canal into the jungles of Panama. Tens of thousands of French families invested their life savings in the stock of a company that had no plans for the actual canal, very little good data of conditions on the isthmus, no idea of the amount of earth required to be removed, and no budget that would pay for the grand adventure. After spending the 1870's and 1880's mired in the jungle, losing tens of thousands (mostly black Caribbean workers -- the people who really built the canal) to disease and accident, raising increasingly more expensive capital in desperate gambles to stay afloat, the French effort collapsed. Shame, ignominy and jail awaited some of the project leaders. Their effort will amaze the reader -- that such an ill-conceived (that's too much of a compliment it wasn't even conceived at all beyond "we'll dig it -- viva la France!") undertaking could consume much of the savings of middle class France reminds one of how susceptible people can be to charlatans and swindlers. Into the breach stepped Teddy Roosevelt. This story once again displays the Presidents immense force of personality, drive and integrity. Evidence strongly suggests he made a revolution in Panama to win that then Colombian province away from a country that could not come to terms with the United States on acquiring the rights to dig the canal. He then ensured, through the use of highly skilled and able administrators, that the organization, logistics, financing and authority existed to make what for years stood as the world's largest construction effort. Great credit for the actual building goes to several engineers and their staff -- many US Army engineers. The success also greatly rested on Col. Gorgas and his partially successful efforts to battle disease: yellow fever, malaria and a host of others that had cost upwards of 200 of every thousand the French employed a generation earlier. McCollough brings scores of fascinating personalities to light. He tells of the financial and great political battles that attended all of the stages of the canal effort. The engineering and workings of the canal are simply and clearly laid out. The important efforts to improve sanitation and fight the mosquito borne diseases are succinctly explained. All of these elements are rendered interesting and tightly woven in this very good book.
McCullough skillfully weaves personalities and events together to create a powerful narrative replete with political intrigue, financial scandal, and triumph over tremendous adversity. The author first acquaints the reader with the leaders of the French attempt to build the canal - Ferdinand de Lesseps and his son, Charles, and Phillippe Bunau-Varilla, among others - and tells of the ultimate failure of their venture, and their disgrace due to financial scandal. McCullough then chronicles the ultimately successful American attempt to build the canal. Here is seen the political intrigue (the U.S. backed Panamanian revolution against Colombia, with the complicity of President Theodore Roosevelt, Secretary of State John Hay, and Bunau-Varilla); the successful war against yellow fever and malaria, led by American doctor William Gorgas; and the organizational and engineering genius of two American Chief Engineers - John Stevens and Colonel George Goethals - which led to the completion of the canal in 1914. "The Path Between the Seas" is more than just the story of how the Panama Canal was built; it is a well researched, historically accurate, and at the same time lively and highly entertaining account of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Highly recommended!
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| 14. The Art of War by Sun Tzu | |
 | Paperback
(1971-09-15)
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So no matter what you were looking for in this book, whether it be business, entertainment, sports, war games, actual wars, or even travel, you can be sure to learn more on how ot attack life here. The book's age is hard and easy to see at the same time. You can tell that it was written thousands of years ago by what Sun Tzu tells of. (Chariots, gold pieces are currency, etc...), but some of the grammar and language are shown well in the translation in the book, making it easy to read in English as well as other languages you would be able to find the book in. The only weakness of this book would have to be its accented topic towards foriegn countries, and much older devices. The way to break through this is for the reader to be able to translate it into his/her life. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------
This book is a classical, scholarly translation. I cannot comment on the accuracy of the translation, as I do not read Chinese. However, the translator sprinkles the text with footnotes to explain why he has chosen certain phrases that do not directly translate, and offers alternative explanations from other translators. Therefore, you get a good feel for what Sun Tzu originally meant, especially through the critical inclusion of selected commentaries. In addition, there is an introduction by the author on the history and background of the text, which are useful. There are also some comments on the influence the text has had, especially on Mao Tse-tung and on the Imperial Japanese forces through World War II. Therefore, I certainly recommend this translation for a first-time reader such as myself.
In life, you can see a little of this in each day... but just remember not too get too carried away. After all, even Sun Tzu himself said 'A battle not fought, is a battle won.' For broadening your perspective, I'd suggest adding this book to your collection as well as 'Open Your Mind, Open Your Life: A Little Book of Eastern Wisdom' by Taro Gold.
Having said that, the ancient Chinese master strips away all the familiar trappings of war - the warriors, weapons, forts and tactics - to reveal the essence of conflict and how to win. His lessons are as valid here and now as they were in an empire a long time ago and far, far away. It simply does not matter how you are fighting, what you are fighting over nor even why you are fighting. If you are forced into conflict with another, the lessons in this book will guarantee victory. Brute strength, overwhelming force, super weapons, holding the high ground, none of these are required for victory. All that is needed is a leader who can understand and apply the principles of warfare. Essentially it boils down to three ideas. Do this, and you will win competitions, elections, games. Anything that involves conflict. Even wars. Sun Tzu's elegant language lays bare the principles of warfare, illustrating his lessons with examples from Ancient China. It is a thought-provoking, colourful and valuable book.
Hart explains through military history how warfare is a mental battle that is executed in the physical plane for a tangible result. Sun Tzu's thrust is the same--and its not just a gimmick or a ploy one uses by tacking onto a Western mindset of materialism or the like. The Eastern mind which Sun Tzu articulates does not see war or conflict as "good" or as a means to an end. Its in a fascinating way, a view that is more Judeo-Christian than the so-called Protestant reformation-based West's concepts of positional warfare and a climactic battle as a form of a nation-state duel that justifies their existence (raison d-etre) in that Sun Tzu sees the highest form of warfare is AVOIDING IT by deception and psychological ploys that result in the enemy becoming your friend because war is a waste for everyone that practices it. Those that see Sun Tzu as an after-school karate class one takes to be a nice-to-have adjunct to an ends-justifies-the-means run-over-people-to-get-what-you-want Western mindset are "missing the boat" and reading the book at a very shallow, selfish level. These folks are really wannabe Samarai reading a book for quiet ninjas. Sun Tzu also goes on to show that the epitome of warfighting is NOT "prolonged operations, however brilliantly executed" but the General who can avoid war and ironically by so doing receives no glory or acclaim yet is the true hero of the people and the state. What this means is that today--in the 21st Century with the information warfare means available to us, we can for the first time execute Sun Tzu's vision better than ever before because we can bypass armies and bloody fights and reach the hearts/minds of the people themselves--if we are clever and moral enough to do so. If we think of Sun Tzu as a parlor trick, we will not have the morality to persuade the other person to join our side and the trickery of physical fighting will only yield a temporary victory as the enemy rebounds at a later date. Sun Tzu looks deep into the human condition, to understand him you have to do the same; the way of a ninja is more closely related to this kind of thinking than a samurai looking for public acclaim/attention. A true ninja today would use Sun Tzu to make the militaries of the free world more effective in 4th Generation War (See Van Crevald's The Transformation of War) and use all the customary battlefield tricks of indirectness and deception he talks about if these primary efforts fail. If you want to truly understand Sun Tzu, get your mind on the right boat to China and look deep into your condition as a human and put aside what he says as gimmicks.
Many have called `The Art of War' a Chinese version of Machievalli's `The Prince." Both books provide a warrior/prince/manager/CEO with a way to think about problems and come up with dynamic solutions. This translation provides the work of Sun Tzu in a good translation, not great, but only good. Another positive aspect of this book is that it doesn't define what each passage means. It lets the reader determine the meaning and personally apply it to their life and situation. Give it a read, Sun Tzu does not disappoint and decide for yourself - what Sun Tzu wanted the reader to understand - don't be forced, as some books do, to allow them to tell you what Sun Tzu meant.
As a manual for whatever conflict you are applying the book to, the most good it will do for you is to remind you of something you may have overlooked, or some better alternative solution that you may not have thought of. The book's true value lies in its ability to inspire elegant, simple, and practical solutions to a problem that may seem complex. Through reading Sun Tzu's solutions to the problem of war, your way of thinking about problems (hopefully) will naturally become more enlightened by example. In 500 BC, Sun Tzu was already thinking the nowadays cliche - 'out of the box'. His final and utmost tactic to war was to avoid it. Is the Art of War applicable to modern warfare as a manual of tactics? Sure, if only minimally. Is the Art of War applicable as rare literature that embodies problem solving, practicality, and contextual thinking? Amen. So to those seeking a good manual, go elsewhere. But to those who are able to gain intellectually from such readings: Don't miss out. ... Read more | |
| 15. The Next Decade: Where We've Been . . . and Where We're Going by George Friedman | |
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| 16. The Next 100 Years: A Forecast for the 21st Century by George Friedman | |
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| 17. The Poisoner's Handbook: Murder and the Birth of Forensic Medicine in Jazz Age New York by Deborah Blum | |
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Customer review from the Amazon Vine™ Program (What's this?) I love reading about famous crimes, medical oddities, and cases solved by forensics. This book has them all, and is every bit as entertainingly well-written as my old favorite, THE MEDICAL DETECTIVES. by Berton Roueche.
Better yet, the title, THE POISONER'S HANDBOOK, is not just hyperbole. In describing famous New York City crimes committed with poison, the author discusses the chemical makeup, toxic effects, and early-20th-century sources of (1) chloroform, (2) methyl alcohol, (3) cyanide, (4) arsenic, (5) mercury, (6) carbon monoxide, (7) radium, and (8) thallium. In reading this book, you will probably find that there is a lot you thought you knew but didn't really know about well-known poisons frequently encountered in mystery novels and television shows. Did you think that fast-acting cyanide delivers a "one whiff, you're done" death? Think again! Did you think that only Skid Row bums drank wood alcohol during Prohibition? Not so! Did you know that Marie Curie died of radiation poisoning? Probably, but did you know exactly how radium works in the body to produce aplastic anemia and death? In reading this book, you will also learn about pioneering forensics efforts that required the grinding up of large samples of brain and organ tissue prior to laboratory testing. (In the early 20th century, testing was done with "wet" chemistry; today it is done with "dry" chemistry that only requires smears for testing.) The testing itself required many time-consuming steps and tricky procedures. Some of the testing involved tissue samples that were retained in room-temperature containers for weeks and months. The book also tells the story of three great pioneers in forensics science--NYC medical examiner Charles Norris, his chief chemist, Alexander Gettler, and New Jersey medical examiner Harrison Martland. Norton and Gettler lobbied tirelessly against Prohibition, which caused countless deaths from bad booze (renatured industrial alcohol), and against other toxic commercial products sold for hair removal, better-looking skin, and generally improved health. Martland did important research into the effects of radium on factory workers who painted radium watch dials, and also lobbied against the sale of radium-laced health elixirs, such as Radithor. Some of these toxic products actually worked--until they succeeded in poisoning the user. Although the book is an easy read, it is well-researched, and includes footnotes describing the author's sources. (My advance review copy did not include footnote numbers within the text, but presumably the numbers will appear in the final printed book.) The book also includes a useful bibliography of scholarly works on forensic toxicology.
Customer review from the Amazon Vine™ Program (What's this?) Police work has always included an element of an arms race between criminals trying to outwit authorities and get away with a crime and police trying to prevent this from happening. This battle of wits is especially true in the case of murder. Science in the latter part of the 1800's had exponentially added to the store of chemicals whose use could prove to be fatal to humans. Science was great at finding all sorts of new elements and chemical compounds. The problem was that science was not always good at seeing if these new discoveries were safe around people, and there was no shortage of people who were willing to explore the lethality of these new chemical. It is against this "golden age of poison" that Blum builds her history. Through the dangerous poisons (chloroform, arsenic, mercury, cyanide, radium and wood and grain alcohols) active in the early twentieth century New York City she tells the story of Charles Norris and Alexander Gettler, who are arguably the fathers of the modern Medical Examiner's office and of forensic science. Set against the backdrop of the hubbub of New York City as a growing city, a center of society and money, and as ground zero in the social experiment of Prohibition, Norris works to advance the medical examiner's office from a position of patronage to Tammany Hall to an office integral to the solving of crime and building a knowledge base for civic health information. Norris would be the driving force of change trying to build a modern department built upon science, as well as be a Cassandra warning about the coming dangers of Prohibition in terms of public health as drinkers, cut off from their normal alcohol, would turn to poisonous wood alcohol drinks, despite the government's attempts to render industrial wood alcohols poisonous (denatured). Meanwhile Gettler, the meticulous toxicologist continues experimenting to test and discover new ways to identify and test organs and tissue for the presence of poisons - the better to convict poisoners.
Each chapter revolves around cases encountered that involved the particular poison, covering the two decades between 1915 and 1936. A recurring theme of the chapters is how society focused on the triumph of the industrial age, blasting ahead with new chemicals without worry or heed to potential health effects. Cyanide gas would be freely pumped into areas to rid buildings and ships of rats and other pests with little regard to the dangers should the gas seep up pipes to inhabited areas on the floors above, or the danger to sailors in fumigated ships that had not had the gas fully ventilated from below decks. Arsenic, mercury compounds, cyanide compounds and thallium were all generously available for purchase as rat poison, cleaning agents and for, often dubious, medicinal purposes. But what could be a benefit to society could also very quickly become deadly when used incorrectly or illicitly. Glow in the dark radium watch faces were a boon that came from necessity in World War I, but the need to `retip' the radium paint brushes by using one's lips introduced radium poisons to the factory worker's bodies, eating them from the inside out. It fell upon science to prove these poisonings were often deliberate, and may be a result of a crime. Toxicology searched for ways to detect even minute traces in the body after death, and to determine how long this telltale trace lingers in the body after death and burial. It was up to the medical examiner's office to take their research and package it for juries to understand in order to obtain a conviction. This took time, dedicated research and effort of Norris, Gettler and many others. Today, with crime procedure shows such as CSI the norm it is amazing to think that the structure, procedures and values of these kinds of investigations is only 60-80 years old. This book is a blend of several stories - part history, part science and part sociology. The book also points out how attempts from some areas of government to remove poisons from the lives of citizens came up against other government efforts to remove one large `poison' from people's lives only to force them to seek out even deadlier poisons in Prohibition. The result is a very readable account of the government at some of its best and its worst in regards to the safety of the public.
Customer review from the Amazon Vine™ Program (What's this?) I love true crime books. I find it fascinating to read about crimes that really happened. I know that makes me weird, but so be it.
For a person who has similar (morbid) tastes, "The Poisoner's Handbook" perfectly fits the bill. These crimes take place in New York City during the Jazz Age. The author carefully describes various poisons, such as wood alcohol, arsenic, and radium and the various effects it had on the victims. If your knowledge of poisons is based on tv shows or movies, you will be surprised to find out a lot you (probably) didn't know already. As you can guess, forensic science was in its infancy at the time. This book focuses on Charles Norris, the New York City coroner, Alexander Gettler, Mr Norris' lead chemist and Harrison Martland, the New Jersey coroner. These people are for real, not like the old "Ouincy, ME" television show of long ago. When you see old movies of people drinking "bathtub gin" during Prohibition, it looks so carefree and fun. But it wasn't. Many deaths were caused by the "hooch" that was made from renatured industrial alcohol. It wasn't a pretty death, either. It makes me wonder why anyone would be willing to take the risk of drinking homemade booze, but plenty of people did it, I guess thinking "It won't happen to me". When you see what types of ingredients were in the common ordinary household items, you will wonder how anybody managed to stay alive in that type period. You think toxic products are bad now, when you read this book, you will be surprised how far (or maybe not) we have come. One of the more interesting sections (to me) was the part about radium. You wouldn't think of ingesting a radium laced "health elixir" now. But it was very common during that time period. It also made me think of the F. Scott Fitzgerald short story, The Diamond as Big as the Ritz. It makes me wonder what happened after the end of the story. I had heard the story of the radium watch factory workers from my father. I was pleasantly surprised to see it told in full in this book. It seems somebody might have thought about the possibility of poisoning in the factory workers, but apparently the company didn't realize what radium is capable of doing. I strongly recommend this book for any fans of true crime or the "CSI" roster of shows. It's a great read and you will learn a lot about poisons,
Customer review from the Amazon Vine™ Program (What's this?) Alexander Gettler "positively hated the idea that some poisoner off the street could outwit him." No other city in the United States in the early 1900's had a toxicology lab. Gettler was hired to design the lab and invent the methods for analyzing poisons. He was the perfect man for the job.
"If research methods didn't exist, he would develop them himself. If a new poison or drug came on the market, he went off to a butcher shop, just around the corner from his Brooklyn home, and bought three pounds of liver." Poisoners during this time were hard to catch and even harder to convict in a court of law. The science of toxicology was so new that it seemed to many jurors to be nothing more than conjecture so a person guilty of poisoning could easily walk free. Gettler worked tirelessly at his work and his paper, "The Toxicology of Cyanide," was so thorough and accurate that it was referenced into the 21st century. Deborah Blum writes thoroughly about a fascinating subject. Her writing remains interesting while still including the more technical chemistry involved in toxicology. Blum recounts some of the more notorious cases like Typhoid Mary and introduces us to America's Lucretia Borgia, Mary Fanny Creighton, who continued to haunt Gettler for twelve years after her 'not guilty' verdict in the murder of her brother and mother-in-law. Or Eben M. Byers, a fifty-two year old millionaire, industrialist, athlete and social elitist, who enjoyed his health drink, Radithor while his bones were mysteriously splintering, his skin was yellowing and his kidneys failing. He drank over a thousand bottles of his health drink never imagining that the radium-based drink was his killer. "This is a poison. Warn Everyone." Gettler's message to doctors after realizing wood alcohol was responsible for the severe weakness and abdominal pains, vomiting, blindness, heart failure and death. Used as a substitute during Prohibition, wood alcohol often caused blindness and death. Wood Alcohol, radium, arsenic, mercury, carbon monoxide, ethyl alcolhol... it's a wonder anyone lived a long life with these poisons freely available and often freely dispensed. This is a very captivating book for the reader with an interest in science and history.
Customer review from the Amazon Vine™ Program (What's this?) Until reading this book I had never given any thought to how forensic medicine started. I had no idea that in the early 1900's our country was not as advanced as European countries in it's efforts to use science to make definitive determinations of the causes of deaths. The author begins the book by explaining that medical examiners were elected in NYC at the turn of the century, and the Tammany Hall system resulted in incompetent and corrupt medical examiners holding the office. A reform movement resulted in the establishment of an ME's office that not only operated respectably, but that undertook cutting edge research in order to come up with methods to determine if people had been poisoned. The book is arranged in chapters for the major types of poisoning of the early 1900's.
This book does NOT read like a textbook. The author provides you with the political and social picture, and also the personalities of the various doctors who developed the tests to determine poisons as well as the vicitms and the perpetrators. One historical point I had been totally unware of was that doctors pushed for repeal of Prohibition. During prohibition there was a dramatic increase in the number of people dying due to deadly concoctions sold by bootleggers. In addition, the U.S. government required manufacturers to add some horrific chemicals to products that had alcohol in them but were not meant for drinking in an attempt to prevent people from drinking them. Alcoholics drank those products anyway, with terrrible consequences. One of the saddest chapters was about radium. In WW1 soldiers needed watch faces that could be read in dim light or darkness. It was discovered that radium glowed and was good for this purpose. Women in a factory in New Jersey used their mouths to wet paintbrushes they dipped into radium for painting those numbers. In addition, the factory air had a dangerously high level of radium in it. As a result, these women had heavy exposure to radium. Radiation poisoning sickened and ultimately killed them and some sued and won a settlement from their employer. There were also companies selling water containing radium as a health drink. Sadly, it wasn't until a well known and wealthy NYC man died (from consumption of radium drinks) that any effort was made to outlaw products containing this deadly substance and force companies to protect their workers from it. The author obviously did a lot of research for this book, and did an excellent job in providing simple but full explanations of the science. I don't give a lot of books 5 stars, but this one absolutely deserves it.
Customer review from the Amazon Vine™ Program (What's this?) On seeing the description of this well written, extensively researched history of forensic chemistry by a Pulitzer Prize winning science journalist I was hoping that I could exercise the well-worn expression "reads like the best fiction"; instead this is a book of historical vignettes of developments in toxicology and forensic chemistry that is exquisitely researched, clearly described and placed in interesting and accurate contexts; but, in my inexpert opinion it lacks the fiction-like attributes of a scientific history like Jennet Conant's "Tuxedo Park". The writing is lucid, non-technical and interesting, and great effort has been placed in developing its scientific and historical accuracy, but the case studies and the criminal incidents which it describes in developing the context of toxicological breakthroughs do not read like mini-mysteries. I would certainly have been pleased with this excellent work if I were looking for a history of forensic chemistry describing the development of particular techniques organized around the assays developed to detect particular compounds and poisons; as I was also looking for well-developed short mysteries based around these historical developments I was slightly disappointed with this otherwise masterful work of science journalism.
--Ira Laefsky
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| 18. Young People, Ethics, and the New Digital Media: A Synthesis from the Good Play Project by Carrie James | |
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| 19. You Are Not a Gadget: A Manifesto by Jaron Lanier | |
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| 20. The Post-American World by Fareed Zakaria | |
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