Book Description
What should people do today to shape the next hundred years to their liking?
Customer Reviews:
The Complexity of long term policy planning strategies.......2004-04-26
The visionary ideas put forward by Lempert, Popper and Bankes work not only for business analysis but provide thought -provoking models for many different types of long term planning. Of particular interest to the general reader are the discussion of conditions of deep uncertainty and the necessity of seeking robust strategies.
The Next 100 years of Strategic Thinking.......2004-01-10
"Shaping the Next One Hundred Years" by Lempert, Popper and Bankes is as an exciting new book on strategic thinking and is comparable in importance to Michael Porter's "Competitive Strategy ". The book describes a methodology that mirrors how successful business leaders think while using novel software to expand and codify the decision making process. Lempert et al accomplish this by using exploratory modeling to evaluate the myriad possible futures a decision maker faces and then comparing different strategies against the desired metrics. The results are new insights and a strategy that works regardless of unpredictable events the future. The methodology is revolutionary and will become the preeminent way important decisions are made.
An excellent guide for forward-thinkers and strategists.......2003-11-18
The collaboration of Robert J. Lempert, Steven W. Popper and Steven C. Bankes, Shaping The Next One Hundred Years: New Methods For Quantitative, Long-Term Policy Analysis offers complex mathematical analysis techniques for making long-term policy predictions. Sample models, ways to analyze sustainable development, robust and adaptive strategies, and more fill the pages of this technical guide focusing upon quantitative approaches to long-term policy analysis. An excellent guide for forward-thinkers and strategists in business who must take into account such diverse considerations as environmental protection, political terrorism, genetic technologies, international trade developments, and more, Shaping The Next One Hundred Years is very strongly recommended reading.
Book Description
This landmark book, the concluding volume in a magisterial series, presents the story of America’s interwoven history and geography from 1915 to 2000. Discussing such developments as the automotive, neotechnic, and communications revolutions, the world wars, urban migration, and regionalism, D.W. Meinig offers unprecedented insights into the reshaping of the United States.
"Meinig at his best: he presents a masterly synthesis of the cultural complexity of America, a compelling account of the dramatic but immensely complicated restructuring of its human geography during the twentieth century."—Graeme Wynn, Journal of Historical Geography
"This work will shape the way many people view the United States for a long time to come. Essential."—Choice
"This splendid work concludes the most ambitious writing project of any American geographer, ever. Global America meets and even exceeds the high standards set by the previous three volumes."—John C. Hudson, Northwestern University
Customer Reviews:
A worthy conclusion to the series.......2006-11-10
Having read the first three volumes of the series before this one was published, I was waiting for this final volume. Professor Meinig is again up to his usual high standards. For anyone with an interest in both history and geography, the entire series provides an overall framework in which to view the past. The rewards of reading the entire series certainly, for me anyway, justifies reading the entire 2000+ pages.
A Fine End to a Magisterial Work.......2005-02-27
For 20 years, D.W Meinig has been producing a work of superhuman scope, covering the development of America from the time of Columbus from a geographical perspective. Each of the four volumes contains eye-opening information that cannot help but change your perspective on this country.
The first two-thirds of the fourth volume are really continuations of the themes of the third book, showing how the landscape of America was changed by first the creation of interconnecting highways and then by airways (we don't think of air routes as having geographical impact, but Meinig shows how they do), and then following up with the resulting internal migration that involved the development of suburbs to the detriment of urban cores (and which cities escaped the worst of it) and the movement from Rust Belt to Sun Belt that changed the political as well as geographical landscape.
One great discussion, which was entirely new to me, involved when the decision was made to reapportion Congress without increasing its size, how that was impacted by early 20th century immigration policy, and how it affects us in profound and unintended ways to this day.
The last part of the book, which fits more into Meinig's Global America title, is somewhat rushed and probably could use some revisions when more perspective is gained. He covers well the stretching of American power across the globe as a result of the World Wars and the Cold War, but doesn't really cover the degree to which American institutions, from Coca-Cola to Wal-Mart, shape the current world landscape. For a book that ends in 2000, I would have expected some discussion of the WTO riots in Seattle in 1999. By ending it at that artificial date, of course, he doesn't cover 9/11 or its aftermath, with their clear effects on the landscape from changes in the usage patterns of airports to the wall thrown up around the Washington Monument. While he covers the special relations between Ireland and Irish-Americans in a short paragraph near the end, he says nothing of the Chaldean-Americans in Detroit and the Kurdish-Americans in Nashville, whom we just witnessed voting in their homeland's elections (albeit after this volume was published).
These are nits, and as I said, Meinig was handicapped by the fact that much of what has happened to Global America was happening while he was doing his writing. The fact is that this work is absolutely the most engaging series on this topic that has ever been written and will stand as a monument to the ability of a single writer to reshape our understanding of such a basic topic for years to come.
Customer Reviews:
Excellent perspective.......2000-04-06
This is a really good book. The maps alone are worth it. Meinig represents the underpublicized geographic view of history, giving a different and needed perspective in American studies. All three of his works in this series are excellent. Following on his earlier work in historical geography, Meinig's position shows how regions, rather than political divisions of "states" contribute to our nation's development, as well as showing how the "state" concept applies. This book,focusing on Western expansion, Civil War, sectionalism, etc. further represents the important geographic influences in development of the "United" States of America. This book should be of interest to any general reader wanting a serious and unique view of socio-historical studies.
Average customer rating:
- Very good studie on the subject
- Still outstanding
- The Next One Hundred Years
- "The Next One Hundred Years..." is Essential
- Provocative and insightful glimpse into earth's future
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The Next One Hundred Years: Shaping the Fate of Our Living Earth
Jonathan Weiner
Manufacturer: Bantam
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
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ASIN: 0553057448
Release Date: 1990-02-01 |
Customer Reviews:
Very good studie on the subject.......2007-10-17
I read this book when it came out over 15 years ago or so and it is still the book that I remember when someone asks me to recommend something that explains environmental change issues. He has such a concise and personal way of making you see the living sphere of Earth, all the parts of it, and how they are interconnected. I would highly recommend this book to anyone who wants a quick but in depth read on the causes and effects of global pollution and degradation.
Still outstanding.......2004-04-10
Even today this book is the best read on the subject, I found so far. Concise, insightful yet entertaining, as in the hunt for (better: discovery of) the Keiling curve for CO2 concentration in the atmosphere - involving locations around the world and "peaking" in Hawaii. I also found it a fair treatment, giving some of the difficulties that the study of climate change is facing scientifically and politically. The emphasis is on science, thankfully. Jonathan Weiner learnt and teaches a lot through this book. Such as that global warming is a very slow process and manifests itself more in extremes and indeed will take yet another 20, 50 to 100 years until nature will prove the adherents or shock the skeptics of global warming. (Too late then.)
The action film "The Day After Tomorrow" due out in mid 2004 is a simplified, well meant dramatization of this subject. I recommend that you read this book before seeing the film and you will know the facts and then can enjoy the film even more (and smile and shake your head the wiser for it). Will take you a couple of feature film lengths to read this book, and fortunately the book is available via the indirect sellers on amazon.com.
The Next One Hundred Years.......2002-10-15
Although written more than 10 years ago, this book lays out in understandable terms to the non-professional scientist reader the foundation of the current global warming debate. Jonathan Weiner{winner of the 1995 Pulitzer Prize for Nonfiction for "The Beak of the Finch: A Story of Evolution in Our Time"}, gives compelling evidence that although a complex issue, global warming, climate change, ozone depletion, etc., are very real phenomena.
For those who wish to read more about the policy debate within government, NGO, and business circles; I recommend another Pulitzer Prize winner, Ross Gelbspan's "The Heat is On: The High Stakes Over Earth's Threatened Climate[1997]." I suggest reading Weiner's book first because it helps comprehend the jargon that professional science types tend to use.
"The Next One Hundred Years..." is Essential.......2002-02-08
Jonathan Weiner's book concerning the Earth and its biosphere and what is imperiled by the major increases in the burning of fossil fuels and the destruction of natural resources is one of the most important books for Ecologists, Environmentalists and leaders from all walks of life to read. This book allows the layman with a rudimentary science background to grasp the fundamental scientific facts supporting global warming. It tries to cover many different indications of global warming, from air bubbles frozen for thousands of years in Antartica to ocean temperatures, ground temperatures, carbon monitoring, and many other points of evidence. It introduces one to the history of the exploration of this phenomenon, giving a kind of personal tour of each major discovery and what its implications are. It incorporates actual weather disasters such as the drought of 1988 and how it affected farmers, people, politicians and news reporting. It takes you on the scene to the places where atmospheric composition is being carefully monitored. It covers the full range of toxic gases and what their build up could mean in the future. Most importantly, it describes the interelationship between toxic gases and air polution. In general, it seems to have a more detailed view of global warming than other books on the same topic.
Finally, it leaves you with little doubt that time is running out, and something must be done, sooner rather than later. This book should not become out of print, and should be read by leaders the world over. It resolves the ambiguities surrounding the global warming controversy.
Provocative and insightful glimpse into earth's future.......1999-03-13
Although nearly 10 years old this book is a very readable popular science assessment of the plight of our planet. It provides a provocative view of the forces that will shape our environment in the 21st century. I was inspired to begin collecting information on climate change that might one day form the basis of book of my own.
Customer Reviews:
A good companion piece.......2003-02-15
At times enlightening, the first volume of Meinig's "Shaping of America" series is a worthy companion to American history books about the same topic. As a geographer, Meinig's concern isn't so much the history of the United States--in fact, he assumes that the reader already knows quite a bit about the topic. Rather, he is attempting to understand and represent why the Americas--specifically North America--became the continent it did, with the cultural characteristics it has. As such, models of cultural interaction are key.
Meinig's presentation is a bit grand--he could have used a more effective editor. Run-on sentences and grand adjectives pepper the text, and the organization (especially in the first section) could have been clearer. Still, this is a very important book in a very important series, because it provides a geographical perspective--one that previously had been ignored--on American history. As such, it makes a good companion to traditional histories of the North American continent.
Book Description
In this third volume of his acclaimed series, D. W. Meinig offers a riveting account of the expanding country`s development from mid-nineteenth century to the onset of World War I. Beginning with the struggle over where to build the Pacific railway, the book details the settlement of the American West, the nation`s increasing consolidation, and America`s imperialist efforts in the Caribbean and Pacific. Forty superb new maps accompany the account.
Customer Reviews:
if you love U.S., history and geography you'll this book.......2007-02-07
This book offers a new perspective on a key phase of U.S. history, and in a very readable way. Strongly raccomended.
A Learning Experience........2002-08-31
From the very start Mr. Meinig teaches the reader, even learned ones, a new way of seeing how America was settled. His perspctive includes all members of the societies which he covers. While the book is very factual, it is written in such a way that it opens ones imagination. By using a geographical viewpoint, you are able to 'see' the topics he covers. My only criticism is that he does not reference his quotes in a traditional manner, though a quick perusal of the bibliography shows they are valid. Once you realize that he includes an extensive list of sources, this concern disappears. I recommend this to anyone who wants to discover more about the discovery of our land.
Good but could be better.......2001-05-06
Overall its ok. The author introduces alot of theroy and analyzes things in an almost mathmatical way. He also draws conclusions without alot of specific evidence for them. The book has some very good information however and its presented in an orderly fashion. You just have to sift through all the useless theory to get what you need.
An excellent thesis impeccably carried out.......1999-10-22
Each of the three volumes of Meinig's history finished so far has simply whet my appetite for the next. This third volume is that much sharper and better-focused than the prior two, making it an unforgettable experience to read. From how the experience of settling Oregon differed from Utah or California, to the way the choice of where railroads were laid affected both patterns of settlement and ecology, to how the relationship between U.S. railroads and European steamship lines affected patterns of settlement by different ethnic groups, he is always enlightening. This is a book that will change how you look at the country and how you look at history. I can't recommend it enough.
A fantastic innovative perspective on American history.......1998-03-30
Meinig's literary style makes this book on American historical geography interesting and very "readable". I would highly recommend the Shaping of America series for the geographer, history buff or anyone just interested in a new perspective on the evolution of the United States.
Book Description
The year 2007 will mark a turning point in human history: the world’s urban population will for the first time equal the world’s rural population. But with the concomitant strain this will place upon current urban infrastructures, what does this mean for the state of our cities—especially those experiencing the highest rates of “in-migration” (influx of people to cities) in the developing world?
Focused on progress towards achieving the UN Millennium Development Goals, this new State of the World’s Cities volume considers a wide range of the issues which affect the lives of (mainly poor) urban dwellers: water and sanitation, shelter, overcrowding, malnutrition, disease, education, employment, and more. Research from UN-HABITAT (the world’s leading authority on human settlements), including new data on the failure to reduce poverty, hunger, child mortality, and HIV/AIDS rates in slums, is discussed and clearly presented in full-color, easy-to-read graphs, boxes, tables, and photos. The scale and distribution of slums worldwide is analyzed, along with progress of key indicators such as tenure, living space, and sanitation, showing regional differences and the impacts of slum conditions on health, employment and security. The final part of the book evaluates the past thirty years of slum and urban policies, showing which pro-poor and governance policies have been effective and what the practical lessons are today for tackling urban poverty. This is indispensable reading for all those involved in urban planning, local governance, and poverty reduction.
Book Description
Decorating ideas and projects organized by season.
Whole-house tours that convey seasonal palettes—pinks and greens and creams for spring, bright tropical colors for summer, etc.
Chapters include at a glance, tip-style, and step-by-step projects.
Multiple room arrangement ideas and tips with floor plans.
Ideas to change rooms with color, furniture placement, and accessories to reflect the mood of the season.
Resource directory for materials and furnishings pictured.
Shopping sources for decorating materials cited.
Customer Reviews:
This book complements the other BETTER HOMES BOOK called..........2007-07-26
Yes, this book complements the other BETTER HOMES & GARDEN book called: "STYLE BY NATURE".
At least, I think so.
I bought both books together and I have enjoyed reading both "Nature" books (by BETTER HOMES) very much.
Example, both are hardback books, with gorgeous photos.
The colors in the homes used throughout this book are just as soothing as the photos in the other BETTER HOMES book mentioned above.
If you are the type of decorator that likes to look at pictures , in order to be inspired, then this is a very nice book to own in your library.
Thoroughly enjoyable!.......2005-05-22
This book is more practical than some decorating books I've seen. It goes beyond just photos of beautiful rooms with commentary. The pages inside explode with colorful decor and practical ideas.
One of the nice things I noticed is that there are sections where the author points out different components in the room (and there is literally a line drawn from that piece in the photo to the commentary about that design element). Sometimes I find it hard to think about what makes a room warm and friendly. I know it when I see it, but I couldn't really tell you off the top of my head. Since this book points those things out, it really draws your attention to those important details.
The author also does a great job of demonstrating how small touches can transform a room as there are photos of the same room with a few things changed (perhaps a different duvet in the bedroom or adding some flowers during the summer). These subtle changes can really change the look of the room, especially if you want your home to reflect the different seasons. There are photos that show how you can bring the outdoors in and change the feel of the room throughout the year. What a wonderful idea to keep your room fresh!
This book also contains information and ideas of how to make your own decorating touches - perhaps a picture gallery or a mirrored door that fools the eye. How about ideas on stenciling a room? The book goes beyond showing the idea, but also contains a materials list and instructions on how to complete the project.
This book is a wonderful and practical resource for decorating ideas. And if you want to change up your rooms periodically without doing a complete makeover, you'll find this book very handy!
A treat.......2002-11-01
I figured this book would be full of ideas, and it is. I love it, and I know I'll use it for a long time to come. What surprised me a little was how absolutely beautiful the book was just to flip through. I felt like my blood pressure went down as I flipped from page to page. This is a sumptuous book with such lovely pictures and such practical ideas. I really like the fact that the book has so many little and non-crafty ideas I can do quickly .
Don't let the title fool you!.......2002-10-02
I thought this book would show me ways to change the same room throughout the seasons. It does that only about five times in the book. The rest of book shows different rooms and houses for each of the four seasons. I live in the same house year round and could use more tips about changing my basic look. The craft ideas are not appealing to my style either. I gave it three stars because it does have three or four good pieces of information.
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Books Index
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Futures Research Methodology, v2.0
