By Charles Fishman
http://www.amazon.com/Big-Thirst-Secret-Turbulent-Future/dp/1439102074/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1305595353&sr=1-1
Book review by Richard L. Weaver II, Ph.D.
Charles Fishman has written an absolutely superb book! Judge it from any perspective whatever, and it wreaks of excellence. If the five-star scale went to ten, it would be ten out of ten!
First, he is a wonderful, captivating, engrossing, and entertaining writer. His language use is delightful. As the flyleaf says, he “brings vibrantly to life in this surprising and mind-changing narrative, [how] water runs our world.”
Second, he is a terrific story teller. “Story” suggests that he makes up information, which is not the case. He provides superb examples and illustrations, and the details he offers make them riveting.
Third, he includes 55 pages of notes (in a small font) in this 313-page (of text material) book. His sources are superior; his research is excellent; and the support he offers for all of his information is without comparison.
Fishman offers excellent statistics regarding household water use that are shocking.
How Las Vegas uses, saves, and then returns much of the water it borrows from Lake Mead is astounding. The specificity of his examples are wonderful. For example, his description of Poland Spring water from Poland Spring, Maine, is both delightful and insightful. His stories of Atlanta, Galveston, Australia, India, and so many other places are breathtaking.
Fishman’s conclusion, as explained on the flyleaf of the book, is: “We have more than enough water. We just don’t think about it, or use it, smartly.” How companies like IBM, GE, and Royal Caribbean are now making important breakthroughs in water productivity are fascinating to read.
This is clearly a book that everyone should read. The back flyleaf of the book is accurate when it says that the book “will forever change the way [you] think about water, about [your] essential relationship to it, and about the creativity [you] can bring to ensuring that [you’ll] always have plenty of it.”
The big thirst: The secret life and turbulent future of water can be purchased at Amazon.
Monday, September 24, 2012
Monday, September 17, 2012
Self empowerment and your subconscious mind: Your unlimited resource for health, success, long life & spiritual attainment
By Carl Llewellyn Weschcke and Joe H. Slate
http://www.amazon.com/Mountain-Tibet-Colin-Thubron/dp/006176826X
Book review by Richard L. Weaver II, Ph.D.
Yes, I should have realized what this book would be about when I read that Weschcke has been called “the father of the New Age for his public sponsorship of metaphysical subjects,” and that Slate’s previous books included “a variety of metaphysical subjects, from astral projection and aura energies to nature power to psychic vampires, reincarnation, and rejuvenation” (from the back cover).
Why did I pick up this book? I am always interested in new perspectives, alternative ways of thinking, and counter-intuitive modes of analysis. Curiosity, pure and simple!
Before offering several reactions to this book, you have to know that I was raised by parents immersed in science (one taught science and the other was a professor who co-authored a textbook on biology), and I was in pre-medicine from junior highschool through my second year of university work at the University of Michigan. It was total immersion in scientific or science-related courses for six years of my life. I am not a scientist, but I read extensively about science and scientific subjects because they interest me and have always intrigued me.
The text of this book is only 151 pages in length after which there is a 13-page appendix, “Self-Empowerment and Self-Hypnosis,” followed by a 56-page “Glossary and Suggested Readings.”
I found the authors’ explanation of the Great Pyramid model of Personal Consciousness, presented in their chapter one, when they described the Queen’s Chamber, its foundation upon the Earth as well as its connection to the Subterranean Chamber in the earth, and then the King’s Chamber and the area above completely absurd. Even silly.
To give you just a quick introduction to the nature of this book, this is what the authors say in the section, “Psychic Skills and Paranormal Phenomena”: “The conscious mind, working through the subconscious mind, is able to manage these abilities that include clairvoyance, mind-to-mind telepathy, spiritual healing, automatic writing, psychokinesis, spirit communication, dowsing, astral projection, precognition, remote viewing, past-life regression, personal rejuvenation, psychic defense, and more. Our goal is to intentionally make use of psychic skills for our practical benefit . . . “ (p. 69). If you, as a potential reader of this book, believes in, supports, or truly endorses any of these activities or behaviors, then this book is definitely for you.
This is what the authors say in the section, “The American Middle Pillar and “Auric Energizer”: “The psychic centers themselves are not to be visualized as images or symbols, but rather as colored spheres of intense light, each about one and one-half inches in diameter, located—as indicated—either as a full sphere external to the body, or as a half sphere partially within the body and partially projecting out in front of the body” (p. 143). If this isn’t nonsense in the extreme—psychic, supernormal, extrasensory, or mystical—I don’t know what is!
This is a totally ridiculous book—preposterous, ludicrous, farcical, irrational, nonsensical, and laughable. If you enjoy farce, if you like charade, if you don’t mind wasting your time, then this book is for you. It is harebrained, cockamamie, foolish, and stupid. I award the book zero stars out of five. If I could award a negative number of stars, somewhere between negative five and ten might not even begin to capture my assessment! What a sham! How is it that authors of the absurd can even find a legitimate vehicle to publication? This book is not worth the paper it is printed on!
Self empowerment and your subconscious mind: Your unlimited resource for health, success, long life & spiritual attainment can be purchased at Amazon.
http://www.amazon.com/Mountain-Tibet-Colin-Thubron/dp/006176826X
Book review by Richard L. Weaver II, Ph.D.
Yes, I should have realized what this book would be about when I read that Weschcke has been called “the father of the New Age for his public sponsorship of metaphysical subjects,” and that Slate’s previous books included “a variety of metaphysical subjects, from astral projection and aura energies to nature power to psychic vampires, reincarnation, and rejuvenation” (from the back cover).
Why did I pick up this book? I am always interested in new perspectives, alternative ways of thinking, and counter-intuitive modes of analysis. Curiosity, pure and simple!
Before offering several reactions to this book, you have to know that I was raised by parents immersed in science (one taught science and the other was a professor who co-authored a textbook on biology), and I was in pre-medicine from junior highschool through my second year of university work at the University of Michigan. It was total immersion in scientific or science-related courses for six years of my life. I am not a scientist, but I read extensively about science and scientific subjects because they interest me and have always intrigued me.
The text of this book is only 151 pages in length after which there is a 13-page appendix, “Self-Empowerment and Self-Hypnosis,” followed by a 56-page “Glossary and Suggested Readings.”
I found the authors’ explanation of the Great Pyramid model of Personal Consciousness, presented in their chapter one, when they described the Queen’s Chamber, its foundation upon the Earth as well as its connection to the Subterranean Chamber in the earth, and then the King’s Chamber and the area above completely absurd. Even silly.
To give you just a quick introduction to the nature of this book, this is what the authors say in the section, “Psychic Skills and Paranormal Phenomena”: “The conscious mind, working through the subconscious mind, is able to manage these abilities that include clairvoyance, mind-to-mind telepathy, spiritual healing, automatic writing, psychokinesis, spirit communication, dowsing, astral projection, precognition, remote viewing, past-life regression, personal rejuvenation, psychic defense, and more. Our goal is to intentionally make use of psychic skills for our practical benefit . . . “ (p. 69). If you, as a potential reader of this book, believes in, supports, or truly endorses any of these activities or behaviors, then this book is definitely for you.
This is what the authors say in the section, “The American Middle Pillar and “Auric Energizer”: “The psychic centers themselves are not to be visualized as images or symbols, but rather as colored spheres of intense light, each about one and one-half inches in diameter, located—as indicated—either as a full sphere external to the body, or as a half sphere partially within the body and partially projecting out in front of the body” (p. 143). If this isn’t nonsense in the extreme—psychic, supernormal, extrasensory, or mystical—I don’t know what is!
This is a totally ridiculous book—preposterous, ludicrous, farcical, irrational, nonsensical, and laughable. If you enjoy farce, if you like charade, if you don’t mind wasting your time, then this book is for you. It is harebrained, cockamamie, foolish, and stupid. I award the book zero stars out of five. If I could award a negative number of stars, somewhere between negative five and ten might not even begin to capture my assessment! What a sham! How is it that authors of the absurd can even find a legitimate vehicle to publication? This book is not worth the paper it is printed on!
Self empowerment and your subconscious mind: Your unlimited resource for health, success, long life & spiritual attainment can be purchased at Amazon.
Monday, September 10, 2012
To a mountain in Tibet
By Colin Thubron
http://www.amazon.com/Mountain-Tibet-Colin-Thubron/dp/006176826X
Book review by Richard L. Weaver II, Ph.D.
I have read no previous books by Colin Thubron; thus, this was my introduction to the author and his writing. I was thoroughly impressed.
There are a number of caveats in my assessment of this book. First, I am an active traveler. Second, I love being out in nature. Third, I have traveled in many foreign countries, and I’ve experienced isolated villages and desperately poor people. Thus, it is easy for me to identify with Thubron’s ideas, feelings, and insights. Fourth, I love to read beautiful language (spectacular imagery) — especially when words create visual images that can easily be perceived. In this book, it is as if you, the reader, are part of the author’s traveling party.
There is another reason, too, that prejudices my assessment of this book. Fifth, I truly enjoy entry into thinking-people’s thought processes. This book is a thinking person’s spiritual journey, and the way he weighs and develops his ideas is not just remarkable and riveting but outstanding. The way this author transitions smoothly between descriptions about the people he encounters, the natural environment he experiences about him, his own thoughts and ideas about his history and his family, and even the history, religion, and background of the places he happens to be are wonderful in their richness and vividness. Again, just allowing his words to immerse you, bathe you, even soak you in their radiance and intensity is a warm, deep, penetrating experience.
I easily, comfortably, and accurately award this book five stars out of five for its dramatic, colorful, fascinating, intensity. If you want to read about what the book covers or even the passages that stand out in others’ minds, read the reviews at Amazon.com.
To a mountain in Tibet can be purchased at Amazon.
http://www.amazon.com/Mountain-Tibet-Colin-Thubron/dp/006176826X
Book review by Richard L. Weaver II, Ph.D.
I have read no previous books by Colin Thubron; thus, this was my introduction to the author and his writing. I was thoroughly impressed.
There are a number of caveats in my assessment of this book. First, I am an active traveler. Second, I love being out in nature. Third, I have traveled in many foreign countries, and I’ve experienced isolated villages and desperately poor people. Thus, it is easy for me to identify with Thubron’s ideas, feelings, and insights. Fourth, I love to read beautiful language (spectacular imagery) — especially when words create visual images that can easily be perceived. In this book, it is as if you, the reader, are part of the author’s traveling party.
There is another reason, too, that prejudices my assessment of this book. Fifth, I truly enjoy entry into thinking-people’s thought processes. This book is a thinking person’s spiritual journey, and the way he weighs and develops his ideas is not just remarkable and riveting but outstanding. The way this author transitions smoothly between descriptions about the people he encounters, the natural environment he experiences about him, his own thoughts and ideas about his history and his family, and even the history, religion, and background of the places he happens to be are wonderful in their richness and vividness. Again, just allowing his words to immerse you, bathe you, even soak you in their radiance and intensity is a warm, deep, penetrating experience.
I easily, comfortably, and accurately award this book five stars out of five for its dramatic, colorful, fascinating, intensity. If you want to read about what the book covers or even the passages that stand out in others’ minds, read the reviews at Amazon.com.
To a mountain in Tibet can be purchased at Amazon.
Monday, September 3, 2012
As China goes, so goes the world: How Chinese consumers are transforming everything
By Karl Gerth
http://www.amazon.com/China-Goes-World-Transforming-Everything/dp/0809034298/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1304448557&sr=1-1
Book review by Richard L. Weaver II, Ph.D.
The author teaches modern Chinese history at Oxford University and has written one previous book on China. The 205-pages of text of the book As China Goes . . . is followed by 29 pages of notes, three pages of further readings, and a complete index. The notes section is thorough, comprehensive, and extremely competent.
The book is not only well-written, it is well-researched, too.
Having recently visited both Shanghai and Beijing, I was interested in the author’s perspective of China, and that is why I sought out this book.
His eight chapter titles reveal, in part, what this book is about: 1) No Going Back? 2) Who Gets What? 3) Made in Taiwan. 4) Standardizing Abundance. 5) Branding Consumer Consciousness. 6) Living in a World of Fakes. 7) Extreme Markets. 8) Environmental Implications.
I thought the continuing contrast between the past and the present throughout the book was interesting and stark. Having been there recently, I was able to witness the characteristics Gerth offered about present-day China. Having lived and worked in Dacca, East Pakistan (now Bangladesh) for nine months, it is not difficult to visualize the China Gerth knew when he went to school there, and the China with which he contrasted the present.
This is a well-written, well-researched, well-organized, and well-presented narrative that offers an accurate picture of China both then and now. Gerth’s examples—whether personal, from contacts, or from his research—are interesting, useful, and certainly help advance his narrative.
I found this information both accurate and informative: “If global consumers are concerned about the safety of such Chinese imports as toys, paint, and drywall, imagine what it’s like to be a consumer in China, where the authenticity and quality of everything in your life is suspect: the food you eat, the water you drink, the pills you put in your body, the building you live in, the computer you use, the airplane you fly in—right down to the ‘Mont Blanc’ pen you may use, say, to write a book manuscript. The uncertainty created by Chinese counterfeits is making sonsumer life in China unpredictable . . .” (P. 155).
This quotation reveals Gerth’s writing style, the accuracy of his observations, and the kind of information he has for readers. This is a wonderful book, full of excellent, insightful information. Whether you are planning a China trip, have been to China in the past, or if you have an interest in the development of the Chinese economy. It isn’t just the development of the Chinese economy either, it is the reciprocal influence between China and the United States. In his conclusion’s final paragraph, Gerth says, “. . . what happens in China is also deeply influenced by the actions of other countries, particularly the United States, and a similar case could be made that as the American consumer goes, so goes the Chinese consumer and the world. . . .(p. 205).”
This is an excellent book full of 205 pages of useful, well-researched information.
As China goes, so goes the world: How Chinese consumers are transforming everything can be purchased at Amazon.
http://www.amazon.com/China-Goes-World-Transforming-Everything/dp/0809034298/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1304448557&sr=1-1
Book review by Richard L. Weaver II, Ph.D.
The author teaches modern Chinese history at Oxford University and has written one previous book on China. The 205-pages of text of the book As China Goes . . . is followed by 29 pages of notes, three pages of further readings, and a complete index. The notes section is thorough, comprehensive, and extremely competent.
The book is not only well-written, it is well-researched, too.
Having recently visited both Shanghai and Beijing, I was interested in the author’s perspective of China, and that is why I sought out this book.
His eight chapter titles reveal, in part, what this book is about: 1) No Going Back? 2) Who Gets What? 3) Made in Taiwan. 4) Standardizing Abundance. 5) Branding Consumer Consciousness. 6) Living in a World of Fakes. 7) Extreme Markets. 8) Environmental Implications.
I thought the continuing contrast between the past and the present throughout the book was interesting and stark. Having been there recently, I was able to witness the characteristics Gerth offered about present-day China. Having lived and worked in Dacca, East Pakistan (now Bangladesh) for nine months, it is not difficult to visualize the China Gerth knew when he went to school there, and the China with which he contrasted the present.
This is a well-written, well-researched, well-organized, and well-presented narrative that offers an accurate picture of China both then and now. Gerth’s examples—whether personal, from contacts, or from his research—are interesting, useful, and certainly help advance his narrative.
I found this information both accurate and informative: “If global consumers are concerned about the safety of such Chinese imports as toys, paint, and drywall, imagine what it’s like to be a consumer in China, where the authenticity and quality of everything in your life is suspect: the food you eat, the water you drink, the pills you put in your body, the building you live in, the computer you use, the airplane you fly in—right down to the ‘Mont Blanc’ pen you may use, say, to write a book manuscript. The uncertainty created by Chinese counterfeits is making sonsumer life in China unpredictable . . .” (P. 155).
This quotation reveals Gerth’s writing style, the accuracy of his observations, and the kind of information he has for readers. This is a wonderful book, full of excellent, insightful information. Whether you are planning a China trip, have been to China in the past, or if you have an interest in the development of the Chinese economy. It isn’t just the development of the Chinese economy either, it is the reciprocal influence between China and the United States. In his conclusion’s final paragraph, Gerth says, “. . . what happens in China is also deeply influenced by the actions of other countries, particularly the United States, and a similar case could be made that as the American consumer goes, so goes the Chinese consumer and the world. . . .(p. 205).”
This is an excellent book full of 205 pages of useful, well-researched information.
As China goes, so goes the world: How Chinese consumers are transforming everything can be purchased at Amazon.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
