Book Description
Based on the author's personal experience with Toyota senseis and with companies in the midst of great change, Andy & Me is a business novel set in a failing New Jersey auto plant focusing on the tribulations of Tom Pappas, the plant manager. The situations, characters and plant "politics" will ring true with many readers.
In a cool, readable style, Andy & Me follows Tom's relationship with Andy Saito, a reclusive, retired Toyota guru whom Tom persuades to help save his plant through the "teaching" of legendary Toyota Production System (TPS).
On this journey, the reader learns that TPS is more than just a collection of tools; it entails a new way of thinking and behaving. Though Tom finds success — both in his plant and in his personal life — he learns from Andy that successful improvement is "endless and eternal."
Customer Reviews:
A quick read but not worth it. .......2007-06-23
I had hoped this book would provide more detail on TPS, but it is very light on any detail and glosses over many points. After you have read The Goal and are use to its style of teaching manufacturing principles in the context of a novel, this book leaves you feeling really disappointed.
Andy & Me.......2007-01-20
YES read "Andy & Me" for a quick overview and high-level understanding of the LEAN process. The book will not tell you how to create the LEAN process but will give you a basic understanding to build on and insight into the questions you may need to ask for your particular situation.
A Good Read about Lean - if a little light on detail.......2006-12-03
As soon as I had finished this book, I reread it - to get the most out of the material presented. It is the best written lean business novel I have seen (though I also like "Who's Counting" by Jerry Solomon - available on Amazon.com). The book launches straight into the lean journey and presents the issues and challenges well. It is a good introductory read to help you get to grips with the ideas. My problem with it is that it doesn't go into any detail. There is no explanation of how the culture is changed to support involvement on problem solving; or how to do 5S, or kaizen; or how to map the value stream. But it provides a great overview and it is upbeat in tone - great for getting your energy up on the start of the lean journey, or to refresh your spirits when problems arise. Easy to read on the train or plane too. Recommended.
The author, Pascal Dennis, also wrote "Lean Production Simplified" a very clear plain English guide to lean principles and processes.
A Golden Nugget.......2006-07-24
I have read a few business improvement novels in the past few years, but this one blew me away. I picked it up and was halfway through the book before I was forced to put it down by some prior engagements. It had a wealth of information that someone eager to learn could consume and digest without trouble, as well as a story line that kept me interested and willing to keep flipping through pages. I highly recommend this literature to anyone interested in manufacturing, lean initiatives, or reading.
I wouldn't recommend this book to Amazon, because rather than buying the next book I'm probably just going to re-read this one.
Excellent.......2006-07-03
This is another "Business novel." The author does an effective job of communicating the philosophy of the Toyota Production System, and discussing organizational transition.
Book Description
A remarkable life and a remarkable voice emerge from the journals, letters, and memoirs of Leo Lerman: writer, critic, editor at Condé Nast, and man about town at the center of New York’s artistic and social circles from the 1940s until his death in 1994.
Lerman’s contributions to the world of the arts were large and varied: he wrote on theater, dance, music, art, books, and movies for publications as diverse as Mademoiselle and The New York Times. He was features editor at Vogue and editor in chief of Vanity Fair. He launched careers and trends, exposing the American public to new talents, fashions, and ideas.
He was a legendary party host as well, counting Marlene Dietrich, Maria Callas, and Truman Capote among his intimates, and celebrities like Cary Grant, Jackie Onassis, Isak Dinesen, and Margot Fonteyn as part of his larger circle. But his personal accounts and correspondence reveal him also as having an unusually rich and complex private life, mourning the cultivated émigré world of 1930s and 1940s New York City, reflecting on being Jewish and an openly homosexual man, and intimately evoking his two most important lifelong relationships.
From a man whose literary icon was Marcel Proust comes an unparalleled social and emotional history. With eloquence, insight, and wit, he filled his journals and letters with acute assessments, gossip, and priceless anecdotes while inimitably recording both our larger cultural history and his own moving private story.
Customer Reviews:
La Grand Surprise.......2007-09-05
Merveilleux, plein d'esprit, arrogant, frivole, exultant, ampoulé, artificiel, étudié, pompeux, vrai, adulateur, vain, important, indiquant, sarcastique, nostalgique, simulé, inspiré, long, accusateur, adorable, charmant, réminiscent, théâtral, musical, `dishy', abondance de bavardage, fascinants, amusement, révélatoire, `campy', vaniteux, rappelant, surélevé, parfait, détaillé, historique, focalisé, fastueux, élégant, méticuleux, explicatif, cavité, recherché, organisé, nom-chute, bien-écrit, lisible, accessible, peu compliqué, précieux, sincère, exultante!!
Fabulous........2007-08-14
Eloquent, entertaining, frequently poignant. The book is less about the great characters of mid-century New York, glitterati and literati, than about Lerman's place among them. He is his own favorite subject, but that doesn't make him any less likeable or the book any less fascinating.
A man at the center of New York culture.......2007-08-12
No doubt about it: Leo Lerman knew everybody who was anybody in New York's arts & literary scenes for almost 50 years. The cast of characters who stroll through his journals and letters (Marlene Dietrich, Maria Callas, Truman Capote, Leonard Bernstein, this list just goes on and on...) provides an amazing snapshot of life among the most notable figures of the 20th century. I wish this book was a more compelling read. When I recently read Chance and Circumstance: Twenty Years with Cage and Cunningham by Carolyn Brown, I came away dazzled at the opportunity to get close to key figures in music and dance, and felt tmy understanding of their work was enhanced. I felt no similar sense from Lerman's book, perhaps precisely because of the range of his acquaintances. For example, he meets Truman Capote when both are quite young, and Capote is writing his first book. The glimpse of the young author at that moment is priceless, but then the two lose touch, and Lerman moves on to other people. Moreover, Lerman's dizzying social life largely prevented him from completing any major work of his own, and his partner Gray Foy gave up a successful career as an artist. There are definitely some choice stories here, things that made me laugh out loud or gasp with a mixture of delight and dismay. But frankly, the best thing in the book is the introductory story about the butterfly called The Grand Surprise that gives the book its title. Almost nothing else has the texture and depth of that one vividly recounted anaecdote. As a result this memoir is a swirl of social activity without a center. If you don't mind frosting with no cake, you'll enjoy this.!
Name-dropping Opera Queens: This Is For You!.......2007-08-06
God, is this book tedious! Leo Lerman must have been the cheapest, most self-involved, most boring opera queen and star-f**cker who ever lived. If you yearn to know how 1940's demi-celebrities could be hosted for twenty-five cents per non-entity at a cocktail party, this book is for you.
Agony and Esctasy of Leo Lerman.......2007-06-11
A monumental undetaking both rewarding for Lerman's thoughts and fine editorial notes sorting out the wide variety of Lerman's friends and acquaintances.
Amazon.com
What's it all about? Though we might never answer the really big questions--with good reason--maybe we can understand why we ask them. Cognitive anthropologist Pascal Boyer tackles this topic in the unapologetically titled Religion Explained, and it is sure to polarize his readers. Some will think it's an impermissible invasion of mental territory beyond the reach of reason; others will see it as the first step toward a more complete understanding of human nature--and Boyer is acutely aware of the emotionally charged nature of his work. This knowledge informs his decision to proceed without caution, as he warns readers early on that most will risk being offended by some of his considerations. Readers who can lay aside their biases will find great rewards here; Boyer's wide scholarship and knack for elegant writing are reasons enough for reading his book.
That gods and spirits are construed very much like persons is probably one of the best-known traits of religion. Indeed, the Greeks had already noticed that people create gods in their own image.... All this is familiar, indeed so familiar that for a long time anthropologists forgot that this propensity requires an explanation. Why then are gods and spirits so much like humans?
Peppering his study with examples from all over the world, particularly the Fang people of Africa, Boyer offers plenty of evidence for his theory that religious institutions exist to maintain particular threads of social integrity. Though he uses the tools of evolutionary psychology, he is more careful than most EP proponents to avoid ad hoc and circular arguments. Best of all, at least to those unmortified at the idea of examining religion critically, his theories are potentially testable. Even if he turns out to be dead wrong, at least Religion Explained offers a new and powerful framework for thinking about our spiritual lives. --Rob Lightner
Book Description
Many of our questions about religion, says renowned anthropologist Pascal Boyer, are no longer mysteries. We are beginning to know how to answer questions such as "Why do people have religion?" Using findings from anthropology, cognitive science, linguistics, and evolutionary biology, Religion Explained shows how this aspect of human consciousness is increasingly admissible to coherent, naturalistic explanation. This brilliant and controversial book gives readers the first scientific explanation for what religious feeling is really about, what it consists of, and where it comes from.
Customer Reviews:
Overuse of the word intuition.......2007-02-27
I was disappointed in the author's overuse of the word intuition. Especially since he did not define it in the book, and then he attached it to many other words and really overused it, ending up in the last chapter with 66 uses. I enjoyed the substantive content, but feel he deconstructed too much. His use of counterintuitive was also bothersome. I could not get beyond my own conception that intuition is something that feels an inspiratation from outside oneself, and therefore his use grated on me from the get go. Many folks today are using the term intuition in a contemporary sexy way, colloquially, and what they really mean to say deals more with guessing and rational thought processed, than the frequently surprising and unexpected aspects of true, often irrational, intuition.
A serious effort to get to the real roots of religious thinking.......2007-01-20
Pascal Boyer goes deep in his effort to explain belief in the supernatural. As a result, some of the reading is a bit dull, but it is ultimately rewarding. He goes well beyond the "people are a afraid of death" and "social approval" sorts of explanations in his wide-ranging survey of current and historical supernatural beliefs. Most people today take monotheism as the norm, and Boyer shows how and why we got to this point, as religion came to mesh with an increasingly complex web of human intuitions and emotional needs, showing the edifice of religion to be nothing but a cultural artifact.
A joy to read for a behavioral scientist.......2007-01-09
This book helps us to see current formalized (text based) religions and ethics as almost necessary products of the evolutionary history of our hyper-social species.
Religion not explained.......2006-09-04
I was very disappointed in this book, and not just because it is difficult. I was mainly disappointed because rather than explaining religion, Boyer explained the "transmission" of religious beliefs. He explains the influence of "memes" (cultural archetypes)on people's beliefs, but he doesn't explain why some people reject them and believe something else.
Worth the effort.......2006-09-04
I would give this book 5 stars for its content, but only 3 for its style. The information contained here is enlightening, thought-provoking, and very rewarding, but it does take an effort to read.
It took me 2 hours to read the last 50 pages, and then I immediately started another book ("The Third Chimpanzee, by Jared Diamond) and I read 100 pages in 2 hours. This gives you an idea about Boyer's writing style which can be slow to read.
However, if you are interested in this topic, you will want to read this book. The basic thesis expounds how the social human mind is predisposed to believe in religious concepts despite their implausibility. Boyer explicates with precision these deep-seated psychological roots of religion.
If you find Boyer's style just too grating to read the entire book, but still want to get the meat of his argument, I would recommend chapters 1-3 and 9. Although if this subject is as fascinating to you as it is to me, you will want to eventually finish it in its entirety.
Customer Reviews:
What a Book - a must BUY.......2003-10-31
The author takes an revolutionary approach to restoring anterior teeth, a Biomimetic approach. The author goes back to basics and studies nature i.e. the form and function of natural teeth. He then studies how each tissue (dentine/enamel) behaves mechanically (when loaded) and where the forces and stresses concentrate. These findings then lay the foundation as to how teeth should be restored i.e. should they be restored so they are as strong as nature (mimic natures strength) or stronger. The author tends to favour the former approach, and goes about outlining materials and design principles that will achieve this result. He presents an extremely interesting method and commonsense approach to restoring teeth. By reading this book, it allows us to reflect upon the potential disasters (verticle root fractures, decorination) that may be caused by restoring teeth in the traditional way (crowns & posts) whereby making them stronger than nature.
You must have this book.......2002-06-23
This book is a must have if you enjoy doing bonded porcelain restorations and you want to see how a master does it. The lab work is unbelievable and the photography is excellent. Its like having an Ansel Adams book: you have to see how the best do it so that you have something to aspire to.
The cost is pretty high, but so what. You will want to take notes when you read this. If you are really flush with cash, buy one for your lab tech.
Average customer rating:
- Whole Food Allergy Cookbook
- Not so helpful...
- Meals for food allergic kids that even adults will want to eat!!
- A cookbook I am actually using!
- So, so helpful for gluten free, dairy free cooking
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The Whole Foods Allergy Cookbook: Two Hundred Gourmet & Homestyle Recipes for the Food Allergic Family
Cybele Pascal
Manufacturer: Vital Health Publishing
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The Kid-Friendly Food Allergy Cookbook: More Than 150 Recipes That Are Wheat-Free, Gluten-Free, Dairy-Free, Nut-Free, Egg-Free, and Low in Sugar
ASIN: 1890612456 |
Book Description
The First Cookbook to Eliminate ALL Eight Allergens Responsible for Ninety Percent of Food Allergies
- 200 gourmet and homestyle recipes your whole family will absolutely love! - All recipes are free of the top eight allergens: dairy, eggs, wheat, soy, peanuts, tree nuts, fish or shellfish and also refined sugar! - Baked goods are all vegan. - Guide to gluten-free recipes. - Shopping Guide for hard-to-find items. - Food Allergy Information Resource Guide.
Pineapple Banana Granola * Sweet Potato Cranberry Muffins * Curried Pumpkin Soup * Frisee with Figs, Pear, and Crispy Bacon * Quinoa Tabouli * Polenta Radiatore with Prosciutto, Shitake Mushrooms, and Spinach * Grilled Chicken Breast with Mango Salsa * Creamy Avocado Dressing
Customer Reviews:
Whole Food Allergy Cookbook.......2007-10-05
I wish I had discovered this book long ago. I am allergic to peanuts, eggs and corn. Corn is the hardest as it is in everything as citric acid, dextrose, iodized salt, xanthium gum, etc. I only buy ingredients and this book works for me. I'm giving away all the other allergy cookbooks I've bought over the years.
Not so helpful..........2007-09-24
I was dissapointed as the baking recipies all need egg replacer. Otherwise the recipies are the same as what I have in an everyday cookbook.
The brand's being mentioned also aren't readily available in Australia so it is a bit hit and miss with the quantities of replacements.
Meals for food allergic kids that even adults will want to eat!!.......2007-09-19
We've made several completely delicious foods from this cookbook - Cauliflower Soup, Orange Zucchini Bread, Banana Bread, Applesauce Oat Raisin Muffins, Shepherd's Pie, Pork Medallions with Raisin Sauce, Granola Bars, and so on. I made notes in the margins of some of the recipes to adjust them for my children's specific tastes (basically, more sweetener in the baked goods), but these are recipes that I enjoy making and that make me feel better about my daughter's food allergies, i.e., "She's not going to be deprived of delicious meals when she is an adult! Look at all this amazing stuff she can eat!"
So thank you, Cybele, for sharing your cooking expertise with the world of food allergic people.
A cookbook I am actually using!.......2007-08-13
While I have been smitten by many cookbooks, each one giving me that initial pang of excitement as I scan the wonderful dishes that could be, there have only been a few that have gone from first viewing to the kitchen within 24 hours. In fact, it had been a long while since I had even tried a new cookbook recipe. Yet, The Whole Foods Allergy Cookbook was in my kitchen, already getting into the line of fire (I'm not the tidiest cook) by the day after it arrived. As it happened, there were recipes so simple, so undaunting that I had everything on hand and ready to go.
I loved the casual tone of this cookbook, and the unpretentious way Cybele Pascal approached recipes that I may have previously found intimidating. She brings a gourmet touch to the world of food allergies that I had yet to see. However, her recipes are surprisingly easy to master, and some are merely great ideas. I was immediately inspired by her Chocolate Covered Raisins recipe, so incredibly simple to make, yet something I had never thought to try at home. My husband adored the Saffron Rice, which offered a delicate touch to our rather meat-heavy dinner.
As the week progressed, I stepped it up a notch, trialing Raf's Cuban Rice and Beans, the Penne with Cauliflower and Olives, the Falafels (which my husband loved!) and even the Creamy Avocado Chicken Salad (I ran out of lettuce and bread, serving mine over quinoa). With so many "doable" recipes that sound good from the get-go, I have no doubt that this cookbook will continue to see some mileage.
Every recipe in the Whole Foods Allergy Cookbook is free of the top eight allergens, including eggs, milk, wheat (some recipes do contain gluten in the form of spelt, barley, etc.), tree nuts, and peanuts. There is no need to search through to figure out which recipes work and which don't as with some supposed allergy cookbooks. In fact, Cybele even provides "reverse conversions," telling you how to add back an allergen should it not be a problem for you. The focus is on real food, using whole foods whenever possible, or calling for only "lightly-processed" foods, if you will. To make it a one-stop shop, the cookbook covers recipes for every meal, snacks, and desserts.
If there were any comment I could make for improvement, it would be to add more specifics and tips. While her recipes are quite friendly to even novice cooks, I did find myself asking questions at a few points. When making the black beans, do I drain the cans or just dump them in? Could I use dried? How much would ½ head of cauliflower be? At my local grocer the conventional head was about half the size of the organic. Also, it is a pet peeve of mine when food processors are called for with no alternative method. One of the recipes I attempted in the blender with absolutely no success, returning to a hand method. This would have been nice to know in advance before I dirtied an appliance. In the end though, I did end up with some pretty tasty dishes!
There are many cookbooks I have liked, some I have loved, okay even a few that I have hated, but Cybele Pascal actually got me back in the kitchen. Now that is a testimony in itself.
So, so helpful for gluten free, dairy free cooking.......2007-08-08
I recently used the "elimination diet" for my family eliminating all of the more common allergens from our diet and trialing them back in to determine food intolerances for each member. This cookbook was critically important in my ability to cook for my family. My kids actually ate the desserts, I was able to substitute a gluten free cake for so many preschool functions - and I discovered the existence of "egg replacer"! The recipes are tasty and I will continue to use this book even though the diet is over and we could add a lot of food back in to our daily routine.
Book Description
What is truth? What value should we see in or attribute to it?
The war over the meaning and utility of truth is at the center of contemporary philosophical debate, and its arguments have rocked the foundations of philosophical practice. In this book, the American pragmatist Richard Rorty and the French analytic philosopher Pascal Engel present their radically different perspectives on truth and its correspondence to reality.
Rorty doubts that the notion of truth can be of any practical use and points to the preconceptions that lie behind truth in both the intellectual and social spheres. Engel prefers a realist conception, defending the relevance and value of truth as a norm of belief and inquiry in both science and the public domain. Rorty finds more danger in using the notion of truth than in getting rid of it. Engel thinks it is important to hold on to the idea that truth is an accurate representation of reality.
In Rorty's view, epistemology is an artificial construct meant to restore a function to philosophy usurped by the success of empirical science. Epistemology and ontology are false problems, and with their demise goes the Cartesian dualism of subject and object and the ancient problematic of appearance and reality. Conventional "philosophical problems," Rorty asserts, are just symptoms of the professionalism that has disfigured the discipline since the time of Kant. Engel, however, is by no means as complacent as Rorty in heralding the "end of truth," and he wages a fierce campaign against the "veriphobes" who deny its value.
What's the Use of Truth? is a rare opportunity to experience each side of this impassioned debate clearly and concisely. It is a subject that has profound implications not only for philosophical inquiry but for the future study of all aspects of our culture as well.
Customer Reviews:
Truth, where's Rorty?.......2007-08-24
Rorty doesn't argue his (actually very subtle and complex) positions. Just responds with a bunch of generalitions that wouldn't suffice in a relatively sophisticated undergtrad course.
Excellent book for people studying Rorty's view on truth.......2007-07-12
Very systematic approach of the concept of truth - both in what Engles' view and Rorty's is concerned.
Short, expensive, and inessential.......2007-06-29
There are far better books available for those wanting a good insight into Richard Rorty's writing on truth: Philosophy and Social Hope is an outstandingly readable, engaging collection of essays which sets out his views in much more clarity than this volume, which takes the form of a rather pedantic argument between Pascal Engel, a former "continental philosopher" (believing in relativism and all those wacky gallic notions) who has seen the light of analytic truth and Rorty, a former analytical philosopher who famously became persuaded that there isn't actually a light and who adopted a pragmatist view (which is a polite way of saying he ended up believing in "cultural relativism" and all those wacky gallic notions).
Like Rorty, I have trouble seeing any way round objections to the correspondence theory of truth, so I'm firmly in his camp (wacky though it may seem): There's no correspondence between sentences and reality, the marginal utility of a statement being "true" (and not just "useful") is minimal and we should instead satisfy ourselves for descriptions of the world we find to be useful without caring how, whether or why they map onto some intangible external thing called reality.
Engel's arguments strike me as technical and implausible, since his first move is to surrender a large part of the ground by conceding there are real problems with correspondence - I doubt I do him justice, but he's reduced to saying things like 'correspondence or no, we *do* talk in terms which assume there is such a truth, and that mode of discourse in itself has some essential value and meaning which would be lost were we to relegate ourselves to merely finding sentences useful'.
I'm not persuaded, and Rorty's brilliant writing elsewhere (especially Philosophy and Social Hope and Contingency, Irony, and Solidarity) heaps grist to his wacky gallic mill.
Lastly, this book is short - it's about an hour's read, partly comprises a book review by Rorty of Engel's book on truth which is available online, and the copy I purchased was absurdly expensive.
One day the world may be turned on to (the recently deceased) Richard Rorty, but this isn't the book to do it.
Olly Buxton
A Debate on Truth.......2007-05-10
This recent short book, "What's the Use of Truth?" (2007) consists of the text of a debate held between two distinguished contemporary philosophers, Richard Rorty and Pascal Engel, at the Sorbonne in 2002. Rorty began his career as an analytic philosopher who edited a collection of texts in a book called "The Linguistic Turn." (1967) But, in his book "Philosophy and the Mirror of Nature" (1979) and many later writings, Rorty became disillusioned with analytic philosophy and, indeed, highly skeptical of the philosophical project as traditionally conceived. Rorty became a self-styled "pragmatist" in the tradition of John Dewey. Pascal Engel, in contrast to Rorty, began as a European philosopher steeped in Heidegger. He has since tried to bring European thought closer to the techniques and questions of analytic philosophy.
The subject of the Engel-Rorty debate is the nature of truth and whether the concept of truth is philosophically important. Rorty argues for a "deflationist" account of truth, and maintains that there is little benefit to be gained from studying the conundrums that philosophers have erected around the concept. Rorty claims to adopt the pragmatist maxim of William James that "if a debate has no practical significance, then it has no philosophical significance." To simplify greatly, Rorty rejects an approach in which true statements are thought to bear a relationship of correspondence to an independent reality. True statements are those accepted by a community under standards used by that community whether the statements be scientific, artistic, technical, political, religious, ethical what have you. There is no metaphysical entity called Truth for Rorty, and to say, for example, that ""The cat is on the mat" is true" is, in most circumstances, only to say "The cat is on the mat."
In the debate, Pascal Engel agrees with Rorty on some important points. Notably, he rejects any metaphysical notion of "the Truth" and he also rejects representationalism for the most part. But while Rorty claims to be a follower of James and Dewey, Engel is closer to the earlier American pragmatist, Charles Peirce. Engel argues that the concept of the truth as an important regulatory role to play in human thought by setting a goal and limiting condition of human inquiry. Engel discusses what he describes as the assertion-belief-truth triangle by which he endeavors to show that the question of the acceptability of a particular statement by a group cannot be reduced to the question of the truth of that statement.
Following the statement of their basic positions, Rorty and Engel engage in a brief discussion which grows increasingly heated.
As is often the case, Rorty states his position eloquently and rhetorically, with references to himself and those who think with him as "we pragmatists", "we quietists" and the like. It is difficult to take a good hard look at Rorty's views. Rorty does not seem to me entirely consistent in his pragmatism and anti-metaphysical orientation, as he slips, in places in his discussion, into a philosophical naturalism with no place for any form of theology. In other places, his approach seems to be of the breadth to allow theological discourse, just as any other discourse, as long as it serves a human need. Engel works hard in the debate to establish the importance of a limited concept of truth, but I was struck by how much the contours of philosophical debate have shifted towards a position much influenced by Rorty.
This book is short, lively, and provocative. I think it too brief and too concentrated to make a good introduction to the issues it addresses. This book will be of interest to serious students of philosophy and to those interested in the claimed death of or at least reformulation of this venerable discipline.
Robin Friedman
What is the use of brief discussions about truth?.......2007-04-12
I give this 3 stars because it is not a very good addition to the literature already on Rorty, but it is a decent discussion (considering its brevity) on some important philosophical themes.
At less than 80 pages, this discussion of truth is much more precise, fruitful, and inspiring than a similar short book on truth - Harry G. Frankfurt's On Truth.
This book is actually the text of a public debate held at the Sorbonne in November 2002. The topic is the role that truth plays both linguistically and socially. Rorty has written for over 20 years on his view that the notion of truth as Truth is an unnecessary addition (and epistemological quandary) to the notion of justification within a given community.
The book consists of a main statement by Pascal Engels who, though finding commonalities with Rorty, differs with Rorty importantly. Next, Rorty responds with his main statement. Then a discussion ensues with shorter critical responses. The appendix is actually a reprint of Rorty's book review of Pascal Engel's book Truth(this actually adds to the discussion, though not much). Part of my disappointment in this book is that Rorty has addressed every one of Engel's objects (except for the one I relay in the next 2 paragraphs) somewhere else in his writings - especially his Objectivity, Relativism, and Truth: Philosophical Papers (Philosophical Papers, Vol 1).
Where to begin when discussing Truth? The point of departure here is Rorty's previous writings on Truth. Engel spends time presenting Rorty's view then offering a fairly nuanced approach to truth which he proposes against Rorty. Engel is sympathetic to Rorty's critic of truth as correspondence or the "Mirror of Nature" which goes back to Rorty's 1979 book Philosophy and the Mirror of Nature but Engel will not follow Rorty all the way. Engel says, "I do not believe that, because the correspondence theory of truth encounters difficulties that are perhaps insurmountable, it follows that we must surrender any realist conception of truth, nor...that we can totally rid philosophy of oppositions between realism and antirealism in every field. I also think that truth is a norm of inquiry" (pg. 12). Engel proposes a belief-assertion-truth triangle which turns truth from its epistemological foundations (and its ethical consequences) to a normative concept. So Engel writes, "It is therefore necessary to make a sharp distinction between the conceptual thesis, according to which truth is a constitutive norm within the belief-assertion-truth triangle, and the ethical thesis, according to which it is an intrinsic value and must be respected and sought under all circumstances; and between these two and the epistemological thesis according to which it is the goal of inquiry, the supreme value" (pg. 26).
Rorty responds, "I am not sure I understand Engel's use of normative concept. If he simply means that we should try to have only true beliefs, then we do not disagree. If, on the other hand, he means that truth is an intrinsic good, that it possesses an intrinsic value, then the question seems to be undiscussable. I do not have the faintest idea how to go about determining which goods are the intrinsic ones and which are the instrumental ones. Nor do I see the point in raising the question. Intrinsic is a word that pragmatists find it easy to do without. If one thinks that sincerity and exactness are good things, I do not see why we should worry about whether they are means to something else or good in themselves. Which reply one gives to such questions will have no bearing on practice. Trying never to have anything but true beliefs will not lead us to do anything differently than if we simply try our best to justify our beliefs to ourselves and to others" (pg. 44).
Although the discussion section is riveting for its staccato style, it does not bring out anything in Rorty that has not already been published a dozen times.
This book is small in size, large in print, and less than 80 pages. It can be read in one sitting without a break. Both Engel and Rorty write accessibly and it is a decent introduction to some contemporary themes in philosophy. There are more arguments presented here than I have summarized which makes it a decent introduction to Rorty's thought. However, Rorty's best writing on Truth is his essays in Objectivity, Relativism, and Truth: Philosophical Papers (Philosophical Papers, Vol 1).
Customer Reviews:
High Quality Book. Great for inspiration........2007-03-12
Review: D'artiste: Character Modeling
Full color and great quality book. It was nicely package. This is a collectors book containing some very talented artists. As someone who has watched the artist's work expand over the years, it was great to actually learn their thought process and how they 'cheated' to get the images just right. You will be inspired and challenged to keep at it to produce your own work. This is not a how to book for beginners/see Wilson's review. The artist does a great breakdown of creating the highlighted works. My only complaint is in the selection of other artists work where the main artist gives their short opinion. I felt there should have been some input from the actual artist. Other than that I would like to see more...Im looking forward to further character modeling books of this quality. Forest
A good book with great art, but beginners beware!.......2006-09-13
D'artiste is a very well put together book. However, if you are looking a comprehensive tutorial on character modeling, then you should look elswhere. The book is broken up into 3 sections. Each section uncludes an interview with a featured author, a few tutorials by that author, and and a gallery of artwork from many other artists that were invited to be in the book. All of the Art is great, and you can definitely find inspiration from the work of the main artists here as well as the invited artists work. As far as tutorials go, these tutorials are for the more advanced artist (hence the Digital Artiss Master Class), as they do not guide you through every function and button, but more so give an overview of the artists techniques and such. If you are already advanced and just want some some new tricks, definitely pick this up. For anyone else, this book would be better suited as eye candy for inspiration.
Book Description
A must for all serious students and practitioners of viticulture, the Handbook of Enology (volumes 1 and 2) serves as both a text and reference book for students and practitioners interested and working in the field of winemaking. Carefully revised and updated, this second edition features new scientific and technological results to reflect the most up-to-date knowledge in winemaking. Written by two esteemed authors, the handbook discusses the scientific basics and technological problems of winemaking and the resulting consequences for the practitioner, providing an authoritative and complete reference manual for the winemaker, and an in-depth textbook for the student.
Average customer rating:
- Reading teacher's message
- Reading outweighs hunger.
- A great read aloud supportive of literacy activities
- See wolf read
- Wolf
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Wolf
Becky Bloom
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Customer Reviews:
Reading teacher's message.......2007-01-04
As a teacher I love the ultimate message that this story sends: Reading is hard work, but with effort everyone can suceed.
The story is set in absurdity where educated cows, pigs, and ducks can teach the big bad wolf a few things. Enjoy!
Reading outweighs hunger........2006-11-15
A hungry wolf comes to eat the other animals, only to learn that reading is much more rewarding. My students loved seeing him go through the steps of learning to read, just as they had done.
A great read aloud supportive of literacy activities.......2006-06-17
The "big, bad wolf" wants to eat Pig, Duck and Cow, who are too busy reading to be bothered with him. He goes to school, to learn to read and his early attempts are brushed off by the animals. When he finally learns to read, he entertains Pig, Duck and Cow with his story telling skills and wins them over. This is a fabulous read aloud to launch reading and story telling activities early in the school year.
See wolf read.......2006-01-10
The illustrations in this book are detail-filled and fabulous. When reading to my preschoolers, I like to point out the different parts of the book, including the endpages. Just the endpages alone tell a story! Wolf is a fierce, angry, and hungry guy. He justs wants to scare someone, and maybe take a bite. Unfortuately, the farm animals he encounters are not scaredy cats. They just tell him to be quiet, "this is a farm for educated animals." So wolf, goes to school. He practices. He becomes more than a reader, he becomes a storyteller. As wolf learns and practices, visual clues illustrate his journey toward a more civillized wolf. He adds clothing and makes more refined entrances. My preschoolers adore this book, and I would recommend it to anyone!
Wolf.......2005-09-21
This story is a great way to set the stage for the new school year. My students listened eagerly and found the story amusing, especially because the wolf wanted to be educated. The story was a good stepping stone for literacy activities.
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- The depth of thought.. the poetry.. the reasons that are not accesible to reason
- A Spiritual Classic from a Great Scientific Mind
- Religion of the Heart and of the Head
- Pascal's Pensees
- reasonable faith
|
Pensees (Penguin Classics)
Blaise Pascal
Manufacturer: Penguin Classics
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ASIN: 0140446451 |
Customer Reviews:
The depth of thought.. the poetry.. the reasons that are not accesible to reason.......2007-05-15
My profile- No qualifications as a philosophy critic whatsover
I write this review based on my own experiences while reading it in my early 20's... I was blessed with the time and the setting for it was done in a remote beach town here in Venezuela...indeed if there ever was a good time to read the Pensees it was during this period, where I had the time to read the philosophy, where the spirit was eagerly looking for its tools to discover truth..
The Pensees are even more applyable today (at my 40s) than back then.. its true I no longer follow the precepts of the Roman Catholic Church as I did back then.. to outgrow your religion, your nationality and your family is to me a necessary part of existence.. its ok if you go back to any of them later, but the trip has to be made... and to make this trip this is the book!! sure, it has compelling arguments to turn you into a christian.. but then again, the arguments are compelling for any religion that uses them.. I do not want to give you an impression that this is about religion only.. they are some many themes.. chose your existencialism poetry (young readers take note).. use practical psycology as to classify manking perception modes... laugh at the imagination is a an imperfect tool that exerts its mastery here and wide..
A Spiritual Classic from a Great Scientific Mind.......2005-11-01
I first picked up Pascal's Pensees because I was intrigued by his reputation as a genius of physics and mathematics. I was not very far into it before I realized that I was reading a Christian spiritual classic, in its own right.
Perhaps because Pascal was such a brilliant physicist and mathematician, his Pensees resonate with my very modern soul, steeped as it is in the scientific mode of thought.
He understands the restlessness of the modern soul in his comments on "diversion" - "If our condition were truly happy we should not need to divert ourselves from thinking about it." And again - "The sole cause of man's unhappiness is that he does not know how to stay quietly in his room." These things are at least as pertinent in the 21st century as they were in the 17th.
His comments on reason (and its limitations) are very sharp - "Reason's last step is the recognition that there are an infinite number of things which are beyond it." Pascal was a world-class scientist of his day, and yet he was very much aware of what reason was and was not capable of.
I especially liked his comments on "The Hidden God" - "[We see] too much to deny and not enough to affirm." Or again, "What can be seen on earth indicates neither the total absence, nor the manifest presence of divinity, but the presence of a hidden God. ... to know that one has lost something one must see and not see; such precisely is the state of nature."
He is also very perceptive in his comments on the simultaneous greatness and smallness, glory and corruption, of human nature.
And I haven't even mentioned the two most famous passages, "The Wager" and "Reasons of the Heart"; this book is dense with nuggets of pure gold.
The Pensees can seem very disjointed, because, in his lifetime, Pascal merely wrote down his thoughts as they occurred to him. What we have are essentially his notes; he died before he could organize them into a coherent work, or develop some of his more obscure themes. A lot falls on the editor/translator to make sense of the material he has to work with, and I think A.J. Krailsheimer has done an admirable job.
This is a wonderful book, and justly counted a classic.
Religion of the Heart and of the Head.......2005-05-10
Before actually reading "Pensees," I knew Blaise Pascal and his "Pensees" only from snippets of quotes such as, "The heart has its reason of which reason knows nothing" and from "Pascal's Wager": better to risk believing in God and living with Him for all eternity and being wrong, then risk not believing in God and living apart from Him in all eternity and because you were wrong.
Having read him, I know now that the quote and wager just mentoned, though only snippets, do summarize his brilliance and his beauty. Like few others, Pascal fuses head and heart in his defense of Christianity. His ability is likely due to his brilliant mind that on November 23, 1654, from 10:30 PM to 12:30 AM encountered God in a mysterious, mystical experience that he could only describe with the one-word epitaph: "Fire."
For the rest of his brief life (he died at age 39), the fire in his soul and the genius of his mind merged in the "writing" of "Pensees." I place "writing" in quotation marks because Pascal's early death never allowed him to finish "Pensees." What we have is akin to his outline (though 325 pages in length!). Imagine if he had actually finished it. Pascal, ever the absent-minded professor, would have a thought run through his mind, write it down, cut it in a strip, and splice it in with other similar subject headings.
It's helpful to understand this before reading "Pensee" for what you find is brilliant disorder--an incomplete sentence here, half a thought there, then long and insightful paragraphs here. In other words, you do need to wade through the unusual design of the book, but in the wading you will find oceans of depth that flood both your heart and your head with passion and reason to love and know God.
Pascal's "real world" arguments for God are the most rationally and personally compelling ones that I have ever read. Pascal honestly faces the reality that we see God only in part and that by evidence alone, whether of reason or nature or both, we might just as well conclude that there is no God (the atheists), or that He is not loving, or not powerful, or that He is disinterested (Deism), or dispassionate (the Greek philosophers). He then explains that God reveals enough in nature to cause us to perceive His existence and to perceive that we are finite and fallen. Nature, according to Pascal, points more to the Mediator--Christ--the One who reveals the hidden God as a God of holiness and love, and the One who reveals us as God's prodigal children who need to come home.
Reviewer: Dr. Robert W. Kellemen is the author of "Soul Physicians: A Theology of Soul Care and Spiritual Direction," "Spiritual Friends: A Methodology of Soul Care and Spiritual Direction," and the forthcoming "Sacred Companions: A History of Soul Care and Spiritual Direction."
Pascal's Pensees.......2004-11-07
For thousands of years humanity has been searching for the presence of an invisible God. Blaise Pascal's "Pensees" is an excellent book describing why God's presence in our lives is so important. Even though I disagree with Pascal's reasoning concerning the defense and support of the Christian faith, he comes across as someone interested in the well-being and happiness of others, which makes it possible for "Pensees" to be beneficial to people of all faiths.
Pascal reminds us that people have been trying to find happiness, through worship, for many years. People have worshipped idols like wood, clay, stone and religious figures. Pascal's intention is to extend the idea that the need to worship someone or something is a natural fixation installed in us. Man's need to worship someone or something must then be due to the fact that God exists.
Pascal's "Pensees" suggests that we need God's help to be happy and to settle many of our own internal wars. Pascal points out that people fight with their own selfishness as well as that of others. He reminds us that the injustices, tyranny and irrational wars of the world have caused much distress. Pascal points out three troublesome questions humanity has struggled with: what is my purpose in life, where is my life going and how much time do I have left?
Pascal sheds light on the three types of people in the world and how God's presence in their lives is needed for their happiness. He tells us that people who have found God are reasonable and happy. Those who have not found God but continue to seek God are unhappy and reasonable, and those who leave God out of their lives are unreasonable and unhappy. Pascal is trying to relate to us that true happiness comes from knowing and understanding our creator.
Pascal, with his wager, intends to show how people have nothing to lose or possibly everything to gain when they put their faith in the Christian God. Although, he argues total destruction may find those who choose not to devote themselves to the Christian faith. As I stated, I disagree with the one-sidedness of Pascal's wager. If we look at Pascal's wager from a religiously neutral standpoint, we can eliminate the fallacy of the wager. Therefore, to put your faith in the "Creator of All Things" can only bring about a relationship with the true God.
Pascal's Pensees is a challenging book that if looked at with the right perspective depicts that happines can be found when a relationship is established with the true God. Pascal's "pensees", consists of ideas that can be useful if applied to our lives in a positive and non-prejudicial way.
reasonable faith.......2004-08-02
_One must know when it is right to doubt, to affirm, to submit. Anyone who does otherwise does not understand the force of reason. Some men run counter to these three principles, either affirming that everything can be proved, because they know nothing about proof, or doubting everything, because they do not know when to submit, or always submitting, because they do not know when judgment is called for_
Blaise Pascal found his faith to be the basis of reason. In this collection of his thoughts, the Pensees provide a glimpse of how he may have arrived at this concept. Further, he expresses the impact of this revelation on his own thinking in a way that transcends time and place. People throughout the centuries, some of whom have never known of Pascal's other contributions, have found encouragement in the Pensees.
The introduction by A. J. Krailsheimer provides an excellent background of the life of Pascal and his influences. The argument which Pascal uses to fortify his faith is given a thorough development that provides a course and direction to the otherwise often disconnected thoughts. Professor Krailsheimer points out that Pascal is in a paradoxical position of appealing to reason in order to communicate truths which, on his own showing, are outside its province. The paradox is that only reason can persuade reason of its own inadequacy.
Pascal's starting point is that the temporal world is inadequate to demonstrate eternal truths. Further, Pascal believes that a choice about the eternal is imperative. To leave the decision untested is to actively not decide and to fall into the category of skeptic. Pascal did not hold that ultimate skepticism was possible, maintaining that a _perfectly genuine skeptic has never existed. Nature backs up helpless reason and stops it going to so widely astray._
On the other hand, Pascal does not condone dogmatic acceptance of unsubstantiated presumption. _Is he, on the other hand, to say that he is the certain possessor of truth, when at the slightest pressure he fails to prove his claim and is compelled to loose his grasp?_ Neither certainty not uncertainty can be ultimately proved nor disproved in Pascal's world.
Our friend appears to have painted himself into a corner. Indeed, Pascal has and intentionally so. He appeals to a leap of faith to establish the legitimacy of a faith. Pascal's argument hinges on the concept of prevenient grace. _We shall never believe with an effective belief and faith unless GOD inclines our hearts and we shall believe as soon as he does_ (380).
Pascal's argument benefits from his own miraculous vision that occurred on 23 November 1654. In that experience, he saw the light that guided him the rest of his life; a vision of the Messiah that brought him certainty and joy. This is, at the same time, both the strength and weakness of Pascal's argument.
While I respect the experience of Pascal and others who have witnessed eternity break the temporal barrier, not all of us who faith in the spiritual have this to fortify our convictions. Since there is no way to manufacture such an experience in my own life (neither do I feel that I need to) the type of intensely personal apologetic that Pascal's work represents often strikes a hollow chord.
At the same time, I do find encouragement in Pascal's validation of a personal experience while upholding the certainty that dogma and skepticism will not be silenced. This is the decision to which I am drawn regularly on my spiritual journey as circumstance comes into conflict with my convictions. I agree with Pascal that the capacity to acknowledge a spiritual relationship has its source outside of the temporal realm.
This is the stuff of life. We choose a course without guarentee of the destination. Each step brings us closer if for no other reason than our experience has grown.
Whether or not one chooses to wager on the side of eternity, as Pascal purports as the only sensible bet, I find the Pensees to be important for it's unique position in the then nascent era of Science. Pascal's contemporary, Descartes, at whom Pascal points some of his arguments, took a completely different path to establish his faith. Neither of which provides eternal certainty, and thus, both of which are questions still pertinent for today.
PEACE
Catrina
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