Reason 3 for Windows & Macintosh (Visual QuickStart Guide)

Book Description

Combining pristine sound quality with a comfortably retro-styled virtual rack (including a polyphonic synthesizer, mixing console, sampler, and drum machine), Reason has won legions of fans since its introduction. Now, everyone is singing its praises -- from bands like Nine Inch Nails and Prodigy to video producers. Here to show you why is the first Visual QuickStart Guide on the topic. Using simple step-by-step instructions and loads of visual aids, this friendly volume promises to have you up and running quickly -- using all of Reason's instruments, loops, effects, mixing capabilities, and drum kits. You'll also find complete coverage of Reason's essential features: from its extensive racks and sound banks to its lifelike, rear-rack cabling, as well as its effects, automation, integration with other audio programs, and more.

Customer Reviews:

Old Fader and Knob Guy.......2007-06-01

Man, I miss my racks of gear! Consequently, the transition to computer software recording was something that I avoided like the plague. When I discovered Reason and it's user interface (gotta love that rack) it seemed like an answer to my prayers. This book eased me right into the Reason 3.0 program. It actually makes it do-able, even for an old fader fart like me! Snatch this one up before they're out of print.

Great book for a total beginner!.......2007-05-12

I'm a musician of 20 years who has finally entered the world of virtual instruments (with some hesitation I must admit) and I must say that the Reason 3 for Windows & Macintosh book really helped me overcome those fears if you will. I'm not much for manuals because most, as most musicians know, speak about the product as if you've already used it and have prior knowledge about it. The Reason 3 book, however, puts everything on an easy to understand level and the pictures do help a lot but would be more helpful if some were in color.
In a nutshell, I cracked open the book and fired up my Mac on a Saturday morning and 3-4 hours later I was able to go in, pull up what I wanted and make some nice tracks. I'm still working on the mastering and some other odds and ends but I'm confident that this book will definitely get me through with flying colors! BUY THIS BOOK!!!!!

Reason for Hip Hop.......2007-01-09

I bought this for my son who has a small home studio.
He had the software but the manual was limited. He described
this book as the ulitmate tool. It revealed all the true capabilities
of the software. He said the software is useless without this book.

Una enciclopedia paso a paso.......2006-11-10

Si quieres conocer a fondo el funcionamiento del Reason, creo que este libro es una buena guia para comenzar. Te menciona paso a paso lo que debes hacer para trabajar con él.

Hasta ahora me ha resultado de muy buena manera trabajar con este libro.

It does the job but I want more.......2006-08-23

If you a looking for a fast guide so that you can produce simple music withou much thinking, try this one. I used it ans it gave me some insights, but I really missed more in-depth explanations of key concepts, and more explanations about the consequences of my tweaks. The tutorials as much more "do this and then do that", than "do this, and this will happen, otherwise, this will happen because of this", which I prefer.

I am now using the Reason Power! books, and it seems much more complete and satisfying for my needs. I like to understand everything I am doing to achieve a certain result, so that I can use this knowledge in order to do different stuff from that same process. Reaso Power! gives me more of that than this VQSG.

Why a Daughter Needs a Dad: A Hundred Reasons

Average customer rating:

On time and accurate
This is a beautiful book
Melts your heart
Beautiful book
Daughters and Dads

Why a Daughter Needs a Dad: A Hundred Reasons
Gregory E. Lang , and Janet Lankford-Moran
Manufacturer: Cumberland House Publishing
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 1581822766

Book Description

The relationship between father and daughter is one that almost defies description. Begun and nurtured in love, the relationship strengthens daughter and dad and brings out the best in both, softening the edges of fathers and providing strength and security for their daughters. The warmth of quiet—and exhuberant—hugs and laughter, the comfort of familiarity, the creation of a history from which both dad and daughter may draw—all this and much more express the rich relationship that exists between fathers and daughters.

Why a Daughter Needs a Dad is one father's loving reflection upon what he brings—or hopes to bring—to his daughter's life. “When I sat down to write,” Gregory E. Lang observes, “I wanted to express the essence of what I think is unique about the relationship my daughter and I share.” He began to think of the things they had done together and how important their moments together have been. He thought of what sort of wisdom he could impart by virtue of a strong relationship, how their years together could provide a bond that would guide her as she grew into womanhood. “The first time I read what I had written,” he writes, “I saw a list of what a daughter might ask her father to do for her. The second time I read it I saw a list of all that I hope to do for my daugher.”

The result is a book that will inspire fathers to embrace the important role they hold in their daughters' lives, to provide them with the love, nurture, and support they seek, and to enjoy the blessings that are reciprocated in kind. FAMILY; GIFT ILLUSTRATED; PHOTOGRAPHS 7” X 8”, 128 PAGES HARDCOVER (CASESIDE)

Customer Reviews:

On time and accurate.......2007-08-23

My order arrived on time and the book was in pristine condition. This collection of books are great, meaningful gifts.

This is a beautiful book.......2007-06-12

I bought this book for my husband in anticipation of our adopted daughter from China. For starters, I was thrilled that the photographs showed multicultural, multigenerational fathers and daughters including a photograph of a white father with an Asian daughter.

The sentiments inside are beautiful. If you're looking for a self-help book, this isn't it. If you're looking for short, single sentences of wisdom and encouragement accompanied by moving and beautiful photographs, this is your book.

I found this book in Target and must admit I was a little embarrassed by the tears streaming down my face when I read it. It reminded me of my own father, a true inspiration, and how my husband will be as a father once we bring our daughter home. This is a wonderful Father's Day, birthday, or Christmas present for any father from any daughter.

Melts your heart.......2006-11-02

Like the author, I'm a divorced dad of daughters so his foreward struck close to home. As if the words and pictures in this book weren't sappy enough on their own, my daughters recently gave me a copy to which they'd added a sentence or a paragraph next to a dozen or so of the author's lines which resonated with them. I nearly cry every time I read it.

Beautiful book.......2006-08-04

I purchased two copies of this book, one for my father and one for my husband. As I flipped through the pages I felt I could relate to every passage that was written. They are personal, yet universal........simple but descriptive. I would recommend this book to anyone who wants to touch the heart of a dad with a little girl (or a grown little girl).

Daughters and Dads.......2006-08-01

My daughters bought this book for my husband for Father's Day; he was so moved by each sentiment that when his friend's wife gave birth to their first child a few days later (a girl!), my husband asked me to get this book to give to the new parents. He felt that it was the most profound gift for the occasion, not just for now but for future years, to be read and re-read at all stages of their daughter's life. If these pages don't touch your heart as you read each one.....you need to visit a cardiologist to make sure you still have a beating, functional heart! And I recommend the companion book to be purchased with this one - a perfect set; "Why a Daughter Needs a Mom"

Book Lust: Recommended Reading for Every Mood, Moment, and Reason (LUST)

Average customer rating:

Great book about great books
To be skimmed - eclectic but certainly not all- inclusive
Nancy Pearl: A woman after my own heart!
A great read in itself
A Disappointment

Book Lust: Recommended Reading for Every Mood, Moment, and Reason (LUST)
Nancy Pearl
Manufacturer: Sasquatch Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Books & Reading | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books

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ASIN: 1570613818

Book Description

What to read next is every book lover's greatest dilemma. Nancy Pearl comes to the rescue with this wide-ranging and fun guide to the best reading new and old. Pearl, who inspired legions of litterateurs with “What If All (name the city) Read the Same Book,” has devised 170 thematic reading lists that cater to every mood, occasion, and personality. These annotated lists cover such topics as mother-daughter relationships, science for nonscientists, mysteries of all stripes, African-American fiction from a female point of view, must-reads for kids, books on bicycling, “chick-lit,” and many more. Pearl's enthusiasm and taste shine throughout in this lively and informative illustrated guide.

Customer Reviews:

Great book about great books.......2006-08-22

For an avid reader like myself, it's often tough to know what to read next. In this book, Nancy Pearl helped me get quite a few suggestions.

The book is helpfully broken up into little chapters about different genres or subjects, such as Action Heroines. I found it great, because if I'm not interested in that particular subject, I can just skip to the next section.

The only thing that prevented me from giving this book 5 stars was that the summaries about the books are way too short. I really couldn't tell whether I'd like the book or not until I had come and read a few of the book's reviews on Amazon.

All in all, this is a marvelous book, chock full of great suggestions for the casual and avid reader. I recommend it wholeheartedly.

To be skimmed - eclectic but certainly not all- inclusive.......2006-04-03

I love books about books. Nancy Pearl also loves books and books about books, and compiles here a long list of favorites. She provides short- summaries of the books. She has a long list of categories in which she does this, but many of the categories I most care about including those in the realm of politics, religion, philosophy, poetry are not listed at all. She has a broad taste but to my mind a bit light. Nonetheless going down the lists one can find new suggestions for reading.
No one can read everything.
And some people who are great readers have much narrower focus than this work.
But this work does have valuable suggestions , and there should be something for almost everyone in it.
A book to be skimmed and not chewed and digested.

Nancy Pearl: A woman after my own heart!.......2006-02-25

If you love books, are a compulsive reader and, most important, are not a book snob, you will love this list by librarian Nancy Pearl. See also the Nancy Pearl librarian action figure (she raises her finger to shush noisy visitors). I have not read all the books mentioned in Book Lust, and she has not read all the books I adore, but there is plenty of common meeting ground--and a lot of good ideas. Read it. Enjoy. I liked it so much I immediately bought "More Book Lust".

A great read in itself.......2006-02-17

Nancy Pearl gives the reader an enticing framework of topics through which she tells us her favorite reads. Readers can be opened to whole new and creative themes for reading and will be delighted when they see their own favorites listed among Nancy's choices. The real dilemma: Continue reading Book Lust to the end or put it down while you run to get the recommended book(s) that strike your fancy?

A Disappointment.......2005-11-25

I usually love books full of suggestions of other books to read, but this one was really just a massive list of books arranged into somewhat random categories. It was impossible to tell from what she said which of the books I would actually enjoy reading. (Amazon lists and reader reviews are much more helpful.) Also, from those of the books she recommended that I had read, her taste is too all-inclusive for me. She seems to love everything, a lot of which I don't think is very good.

Thomson Advantage Books: Reason and Responsibility: Readings in Some Basic Problems of Philosophy (with InfoTrac) (Advantage Series)

Average customer rating:

A reasonable book for an upper division specialty course
Philosophy 103
Simply great!!!
fast shipping
Great Introductory Book

Thomson Advantage Books: Reason and Responsibility: Readings in Some Basic Problems of Philosophy (with InfoTrac) (Advantage Series)
Joel Feinberg , and Russ Shafer-Landau
Manufacturer: Wadsworth Publishing
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Philosophy | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books

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ASIN: 0534625541

Book Description

The Twelfth Edition of this best-selling, topically organized anthology provides a superb balance of historical selections and recent material. Now a part of Wadsworth's new Advantage Series and issued for the first time in a paperback format at a reduced price, this new edition features more readings than ever before--79 total--all, where necessary, in the finest translations available. The readings complement each other and naturally build on the topic being covered. Clear, concise introductions to each Part provide just enough guidance to let students learn from experiencing the readings themselves. The text's long-heralded selection of readings covers topics such as reason and religious belief, human knowledge, mind and its place in nature, determinism, free will and responsibility, and morality and its critics in five parts with careful attention to opposing points of view.

Customer Reviews:

A reasonable book for an upper division specialty course.......2007-08-06

A straight anthology without sufficient background material to help students make sense of the essays. I would not advise it for an Introduction to Philosophy course. Essays in the books focus on issues of reason, the limits of knowledge, and ethics based upon human reason. The selection of essays show a bias toward American positivism and contrary philosophical views (of which there are many) are not represented. The amount of philosophy this book ignores on the book's chosen topics is enormous. This is also a reason not to use this text for an Introductory class. If this was the only text used in an introductory course, students would come away with a very stilted and erroneous view of philosophy. It would be good for an upper division course focused on American positivism where students already have sufficient background in philosophy to understand these specialized essays and understand the selective nature of the text's selections.

Philosophy 103.......2006-12-13

I had to buy this book for a general education requirement this year. However, the class turned out to be my favorite (the teacher certainly helped) and I'm keeping the book after the semester is over. Reason and Responsibility contains essays from the greatest philosophers (and some not so great) in order to give the beginner a comprehensive overview of philosophy.

At times, the essays were edited so that parts of the original selection were omitted. I had difficulty writing papers which criticized certain arguments become some claims can only be made from the entire text. However, if you are just reading this for fun as an introduction to philosophy, I highly recommend it.

Simply great!!!.......2006-02-11

I have never taken a course in philosophy. But, I think this is not just a text book for Philosophy 101. It is a great collection of essays, on a variety of topics, written by some of the greatet thinkers the world has produced. The editorial introduction for each topic beautifully lays down the ground work. This is followed by writings from eminent scholars representing various positions that have been taken on the issue. It is hard to find so much material in one volume. A must-have book for anyone with even a precursory interest in some of the most fundamental questions posed by life.

fast shipping.......2005-09-19

this is an old edition. but practically there is no difference.
i saved a lot on this item. shipping is fast too

Great Introductory Book.......2004-12-28

I highly recommend Feinberg's 'Reason and Responsibility' to beginning philosophers. Feinberg presents various philosophical topics in an organized manner and selects text that is easy to understand for readers new to philosophy. Readers are weaned into the language of philosophy by first being presented with the jargon in the beginning of each section. It's a great book that covers a variety of topics, from arguments about God's existence to ethics to abortion.

Average customer rating:

This book is ok

Read, Reason, Write - book alone
Dorothy U. Seyler
Manufacturer: McGraw-Hill Humanities/Social Sciences/Languages
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0073533203

Book Description

This comprehensive text presents clear instruction on critical reading and analysis, argument, and research techniques, along with a collection of current, incisive readings appropriate for practicing those techniques. New features of the eighth edition include an expanded visual program, featuring new chapter opening visuals and two full-color inserts, and a newly revised and updated reader.

Customer Reviews:

This book is ok.......2007-08-19

This book is just average. It is made mostly of mediocre type short stories. Not one of my favorites.

Average customer rating:

reason tutorial
Great!!
Great Book - Easy to Read and Follow
bad book
Save Your Money

Reason 3: The Complete Course
Robert Innocent
Manufacturer: Mimosa Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0973735201

Book Description

Reason 3 - The Complete Course provides you with a step by step approach for learning the components of the award winning digital music software system: Reason.

Readers will be able to follow the book from front to back learning the different modules of the program. Each chapter builds on the next, taking the reader from the point of no knowlege to a point where they are proficient with the software.

From the basics or recording, to creating loops and synths to mixing and burning your sequences, this book covers the full spectrum of features in Reason 3.0. You'll gain in depth knowledge of the wide array of Reason devices including the Mixer, the Dr:rex Loop Player, the Matrix Pattern Sequencer, the Redrum Drum Computer, and many more.

Throughout the book you'll find tips and tricks that show the most efficient approaches for completing complicated tasks. For users upgrading to the latest version of Reason, instructions are provided on using the many new features including one-step loading of complex, customizable instruments and effect setups, a new instrument-packed soundbank, instant integration with MIDI keyboards and controllers, a new intuitive file browser, and a suite of mastering tools.

This book is ideal for users new to Reason. It can also be used as a refresher for those with experience in the program who also want to learn about some of the new features.

Customer Reviews:

reason tutorial.......2007-01-05

I have found this book to be a great supplement to my learning of reason

Great!!.......2006-08-19

A great book it really helps you on the way to understand reason even if you don't have any experience with it at all.

Great Book - Easy to Read and Follow.......2005-11-01

I'm new to reason and I found this book to be simply terrific. I took a look at some other books that simply couldn't compare. This book provides great examplex of how the tools work and where to find them.

The images show close up views of the knobs and dispays so that you know exactly where to click.

Before reading the book I wasn't clear on many of the concepts, this book made things simple to understand.

This is a must have for any new Reason user.

bad book.......2005-10-09

I was very disapointed. The Reason manuel is 10 times better.
I went back reading Reason 2.5 power by Michael Prager.Gonna buy his version of 3.0.Should have done it in the first place.

Save Your Money.......2005-10-01

This might be of some to someone who could not print out the manual that ships with Reason. Otherwise, it simply is a lazy rewording of the manual - a functional description of the components.

Whereas the manual might say, "such-and-such a knob does so-and-so" this book says "such-and-such a knob does so-and-so, turn the knob and play a note, see what happens." Well duh.

Part of what makes it come to over 300 pages is its wide margins printed over with a gratuitous graphic of a level indicator. Reminds me of a kid's book report they try to fluff out to make extra pages.

You'd do much better to play around with the turorials that ship with Reason, and visit Propellerhead's website for some real tips, tricks and insights into stuff not covered in this quick and dirty little pamphlet.

Mike Meyers' CISSP(R) Certification Passport

Average customer rating:

Excellent reference
Fantastic!!!!!!!!!!! Review Guide - Mike Myers & Shon Harris !!!!!!!!
Great supplement to CISSP readings
Excellant prep resource for the CISSP
Good book to create a knowledge foundation

Mike Meyers' CISSP(R) Certification Passport
Shon Harris
Manufacturer: McGraw-Hill Osborne Media
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0072225785

Book Description

Mike Meyers, the industry expert on professional certification, and Shon Harris, author of the leading CISSP Certification Exam Guide, bring you this concise, affordable, and portable study tool for the CISSP certification exam. With an intensive focus on only what you need to know to pass this challenging exam plus access to an online practice test with 100 questions and explanations at www.examweb.com, this up to date CISSP Passport is your ticket to success on exam day. Topics covered include: Security Management Practices; Access Control; Security Models and Architecture; Physical Security; Telecommunications and Networking Security; Cryptography; Disaster Recovery and Business Continuity; Law, Investigation, and Ethics; Applications and Systems Development; Operations Security. The book also includes an appendix that provides information security career advice. This book offers the best, most concise review of the CISSP topics available.

Customer Reviews:

Excellent reference.......2007-05-13

Very easy to read, very informative. Overall, a very good book.

Thanks,
Robert

Fantastic!!!!!!!!!!! Review Guide - Mike Myers & Shon Harris !!!!!!!!.......2007-04-25

FANTASTIC MONTH BEFORE THE EXAM :
Mike Meyers' CISSP(R) Certification Passport
by Shon Harris

Read and comprehended all materials.

1. CISSP All-in-One Exam Guide, Third Edition (All-in-One)+ 800 Practice questions included.

2. The CISSP Prep Guide: by Ronald L. Krutz and Russell Dean Vines,
pluss 450 practice questions from BOSON.

3. Mike Meyers' CISSP(R) Certification Passport. 200 pages of solid core material, can carry around anywhere but contains a lot of tips to ace the exam.

4. Great site for free CISSP materilas and practice exam
[...].

Here's an eye-opener of a requirement!
In today's environment of emerging security threats, the U.S. Department of Defense has
recognized the critical need for highly-qualified, experienced information assurance
personnel.
To ensure a knowledgeable and skilled workforce the DoD has taken the necessary steps to
develop a directive that involves the credentialing and continuing education of all DoD
employees with privileged access to DoD information systems.
Specifically, the U.S. Department of Defense Directive 8570.1, signed in August of 2004,
requires every full- and part-time military service member, defense contractor, civilian and
foreign employee with privileged access to a DoD system, regardless of job series or
occupational specialty, to obtain a commercial certification credential that has been
accredited by the American National Standards Institute (ANSI).
The draft manual, 8570.1M, specifies that the Department of Defense requires approximately
110,000 identified Information Assurance professionals to be certified within a five year time
period. The Defense Information Assurance Program office has divided its Information
Assurance workforce into six defined categories (see chart below). The manual also specifies
the types of commercial information assurance credentials that qualify for each of the defined

Great supplement to CISSP readings.......2007-03-09

I am using this book in addition to Shon Harris' CISSP book, and the ISC2 CISSP manual. This book works well for me as a high-level reference book and as an easy-to-carry/easy-to-read reference book when traveling. A must have book for those studying for their CISSP, but not the only book you'll need for certification. Amazon also had the best price and FAST delivery. I wouldn't purchase my books anywhere else.

Excellant prep resource for the CISSP .......2007-03-05

This book takes the original Shon Harris book, and explaines the 10 domains from a higher point of view. I would fully recommend reading this book, along with reading the Risk Management and Access Control section of the Shon Harris book.

The test questions are pretty simple, thus I do not recommend relying soley on them. [...] The test questions [...] are all written by CISSP's and closely resenble the questions that will be on the exam.

Good book to create a knowledge foundation.......2007-01-24

This book is older and I think it is a little outdated for current CISSP exam. That being said if you don't use this book as your sole source of CISSP studying , it is a great book. I found this book very informative for the very basics of the of security. Mike Meyers' Certification Passport CISSP is a great starting point to build your knowledge foundation. I would recommend The CISSP Prep Guide: Gold Edition.

Mastering Digital Audio Production: The Professional Music Workflow with Mac OS X

Average customer rating:

A serious work
Like a good friend sitting next to you explaining it all.
Covers a lot of stuff

Mastering Digital Audio Production: The Professional Music Workflow with Mac OS X
Cliff Truesdell
Manufacturer: Sybex
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

MacOS | Operating Systems | Computers & Internet | Subjects | Books

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ASIN: 0470102594

Book Description

This comprehensive guide shows you how to integrate a variety of production tools for the Mac OS X platform into all stages of audio production so that you can create and produce music. From single applications to complete suites, you’ll discover the software toolsets that are best for you and then discover how to incorporate them into a coherent workflow. Featuring best practices, real-world examples, and interviews with audio professionals, this book pulls together all the programs and tasks you need.

Customer Reviews:

A serious work.......2007-07-04

Recently I've seen some digital tutorial and books that make me thinking on a precipitated release. Sure this is not the case.

Ignacio.

Like a good friend sitting next to you explaining it all. .......2007-04-28

This is a very smart, yet very un-nerdy treatment of otherwise very technical subjects...The author has a wonderful, down-to-earth writing style. And he's funny, too. It's like having a cool friend sitting next to you explaining it all.

It's an exceptional book, I'm learning a lot from it, and I'm not even a Mac guy. And the book is a lot of bang for the buck....it's almost 600 pages, and the text is smallish (but still readable), so it's as much info as most 800 page books, and all golden.

The author does a podcast too, which is weekly (or so) companion the book. [...]

MWD

Covers a lot of stuff.......2007-04-17

I've been using this book for a couple of weeks now and it's totally got me excited about doing music on my computer again. I know a bit about some of the programs covered in the book (Logic, Reason, Garageband) already, but it gave me more of an idea of how to use those programs more effectively. It also gave me the opportunity to learn about other programs I have been wanting to use. Plus there's just a ton of information about the different software and plugins that are available, some really cool stuff (especially the free stuff). There's also sections that provide "real world scenarios" that I found immensely helpful. These sections gave me ideas of how to use the tools in new ways. The DVD that comes with the book has some great stuff too, freeware, loops, plugins, etc. Super cool.

Overall it has a wealth of information that is relevant to beginners as well as people like me who already have some knowledge of Mac music production. The book is laid out really well and the writing is engaging and well thought out. I can't say enough good stuff about it. I'm sure I will go back to it frequently. Good stuff!

The Reason for a Flower (World of Nature)

Average customer rating:

exceptional ........
Great pacing....mostly accurate
Beautiful and educational! I was fascinated!
Why We Have Flowers?
Great book for teaching pollination

The Reason for a Flower (World of Nature)
Ruth Heller
Manufacturer: Putnam Juvenile
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Botany | Science, Nature & How It Works | Children's Books | Subjects | Books

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ASIN: 0698115597

Book Description

The reason for a flower is to manufacture seeds, but Ruth Heller shares a lot more about parts of plants and their functions in her trademark rhythmic style. "[An] extravagantly beautiful creation. It is unusual in its ingenious way of teaching botany and interesting words to the littlest of readers." -- Publishers Weekly "Ms. Heller's colors and drawings are as electrifying as ever." -- Los Angeles Times

Customer Reviews:

exceptional ...............2006-08-21

Exceptional illustratiions open up the beauty of nature to young readers. The flower seems to bloom before your very eyes......

Great pacing....mostly accurate.......2005-08-03

Ruth Heller writes a compelling and entertaining story. The illustrations are great and the pacing of the book is engaging. However, as a scientist and informal science educator, I was disappointed by a few inaccuracies in the text that could be easily corrected if a new edition of this book were published. First, an anther is part of the stamen and rests on the filament (in the book she writes " From an anther on a stamen"). Second, fungi are no longer considered a type of plant. Minus these two things this book is a great teaching tool which I've used with many students to discuss floral anatomy and plant life cycles. I've sidestepped the inaccuracies by using it as an opportunity to discuss with students the importance of using multiple literature sources when studying a topic.

Beautiful and educational! I was fascinated!.......2002-08-18

I love this book! The text is fun to read and really easy to understand while introducing some big scientific words. And the pictures are big and colorful, and I really mean BIG and COLORFUL. But even more than that, they are accurate--the flowers, seeds, animals, and insects can all be identified down to the species. Towards the end it gets a little off topic, but even these pages are filled with interesting flower-facts that get you interested in further exploration of the world of flowers. There's even a touch of humor: after pages of large, flamboyant illustrations, the final page contains a single mushroom and the text, "Plants that have no flowers are fascinating, too." I had to laugh at the simplicity and effectiveness of this ending. Last, but not least, the endpapers have a wonderful drawing that shows a flower progressing into a fruit--a wonderful summary of the purpose of the book without using any words. This book definitely gets my recommendation for anyone who wants to introduce their kids to the world of science and nature in an unintimidating, yet accurate and enjoyable format.

Why We Have Flowers?.......2002-04-12

Children are constantly asking questions and sometimes they come up with a question you have difficulty answering, such as "why do we have flowers?". This book answers that question in a way that is both fascinating and entertaining for both children and adults. The illustrations in this book were quite lovely and almost tell a story themselves. The rhythmic cadence of the words introduces children to a biological vocabulary without being overwhelming, describes the different parts of the plants, explains the process of pollination, and illustrates what value plants have beyond just "something pretty to look." This book is a great book for teachers of young children for science related curriculm.

Great book for teaching pollination.......2000-05-22

Ruth Heller's rhymes and beautiful pictures engage children and clearly illustrates pollination and the role of flowers.

Critique of Pure Reason (Great Books in Philosophy)

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Incredibly Difficult, but Highly Rewarding
A vitally important work in Philosophy
clarifications
Standard translation of landmark text
Serious great book

Critique of Pure Reason (Great Books in Philosophy)
Immanuel Kant
Manufacturer: Prometheus Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0879755962

Book Description

This thoughtful abridgment makes an ideal introduction to Kant's Critique of Pure Reason. Key selections include: the Preface in B, the Introduction, the Transcendental Aesthetic, the Second Analogy, the Refutation of Idealism, the first three Antinomies, the Transcendental Deduction in B, and the Canon of Pure Reason. A brief introduction provides biographical information, descriptions of the nature of Kant's project and of how each major section of the Critique contributes to that project. A select bibliography and index are also included.

Customer Reviews:

Incredibly Difficult, but Highly Rewarding.......2007-02-11

I have only finished reading the book for the second time about a week ago. I read the opening seventy pages or so perhaps four times to get a clear grasp of what Kant was saying. Even now I am not able to debate on specific details of how he arrives at his conclusions, but I can more or less grasp the conclusions themselves. This isn't something I do regularly, this is something very few writers merit at all. The reason you will end up rereading large sections in minute detail is twofold. The first part is that Kant's philosophy is very complex. This in and of itself isn't such a bad thing, after all he is reconciling empiricism with rationalism and does a superb job of doing so. He was highly effective in closing most of the philosophical schism that had arisen over the issue. The one major complaint I have, and the second reason the book is so difficult, is that Kant is rather trigger-happy with the archaic terms and the use of academic jargon in his work. You won't be able to dive right into this, though I will say that after about page 250-300 the work gets much, much easier to understand.

Having said that, there are huge redeeming features in the book. One is that despite his painfully dull writing style, his points are concise and he often repeats and rephrases them in addition to using countless examples. In that respect, this beating of dead horses is akin to reading Aristotle, but unlike Aristotle you won't grasp what is being said right off the bat. So even a layman like I am can understand this work if they are dedicated enough.

The aim of this Critique is stated in the title. It is a critique of pure reason. One of Kant's main aims in this book is to establish what we can know. He criticizes pure rationalism as not answering any of its own questions and in fact producing nothing but unanswerable paradoxes and he criticizes pure empiricism as being unable to support its claims. He works toward a synthesis of the two philosophies by examining what we can know and concludes that rational thought is perfectly acceptable as long as it remains withinthe confines of possible experience. As such, questions about God or about the universe being infinite or finite are unanswerable as we cannot experience these things.

Additionally, take what he says about space and time with a grain of salt. His writings on these subjects made up my one major qualm with his philosophy.

Still, this is considered to be possibly the greatest work of philosophy in the modern age, and it deserves to be read. Fortunately he isn't one of those type of people who can just be quoted out of context.

My final suggestion, ultimately, is that you start with something else. The Prolegomena to Any Future Metaphysics was Kant's own attempt to condense and simplify his philosophy, and although I (arguably) made the mistake of delving head first into this book not everyone should approach his work without a friendly suggestion to pick up a thinner and simpler treatise first.

A vitally important work in Philosophy.......2006-10-20

There is a common saying in Philosophy; before Kant and after Kant.

Roger Scruton justifiably said Kant was the most brilliant philosopher after Aristotle. While I would not say Kant was the only brilliant philosopher, he does deserve a central place in modern Philosophy alongside Hume, Berkeley, Liebnitz, and Spinoza.

The Critique of Pure Reason is Kant's central work and essential to comprehending Kant's overall goal of reconciling philosophical idealism and empiricism while at the same time retaining adequate grounds for the three great questions which confront all rational beings:

1) What should I do?
2) What can I know?
3) What can I hope for?

Kant gives the answers to these questions as freedom, immortality, and knowledge, however in Kant's view all the metaphysical systems of philosophy and their pretentions to provide 'certain' knowledge about these things had all failed, and failed decisively. Kant's central insight, and perhaps his most important one, was of the importance of Hume's critical skepticism towards any attempt by reason to provide sure and certain foundations to knowledge, be it scientific knowledge, philosophical knowledge, or theological systems which try to catalogue the furniture of all worlds from God down to the smallest atom. Hume's scathing and brilliant attacks on all dogmatic systems of belief shattered Kant's faith in the ability of reason to know anything with certainty.

Kant set himself on the task to finding out in the light of empiricism and skepticism, what we can truely know and hope for. The Critique is essentially a long and complex analysis of all the forms of philosophical knowledge and logic of the time and also a comprehensive review of Western philosophy itself, immense in its scope, covering everything from proofs for God's existence to the cogito of Descartes to aesthetics. Kant's key insights in the critique are as follows:

1) Reason cannot know the unconditioned, that is, any reality above the world of possible experience.
2) Reason cannot prove God's existence or non-existence.
3) Our knowledge of things depends essentially on the constitution of the world, as conditioned by our senses, our embodied existence, and the processes of our concious mind.

The third point is especially key for Kant. Kant introduces a system called transcendental idealism. For Kant, it is not sufficient to simply say reality is a creation of Mind or minds (Berkeley) or that our knowledge of reality simply consists in appearances received by a passive mind (empiricism). While each philosophical perspective contains part of the Truth, it is not a complete picture of the truth adequate from the viewpoint of Philosophy. For Kant, the world is certainly empirically real (scientific laws are true laws and will always be so in any possible world of experience) however the world is transcendentally ideal, in the sense our conciousness and how our mind orders appearances is absolutely fundamental in how reality appears to us as a coherent whole, governed by immutable physical law. The existence of time, space, causation, and of the basic categories through which we understand reality is not from things in themselves, but through the way our mind constitutes appearances. Hence the world is given, in a unity because we are 'thinking' animals for whom experience of this world is possible. For Kant, Berkeley and Descartes are right, but so are Hume, Galileo and Newton. The world is possible because of the subject, but the world is also independent of the subject in the sense appearances must and always will appear to us in the ordered way they do because it could not be otherwise, given our sense apparatus and our conciousness and the possibilities of experience it enables.

For Kant there is no 'a priori' insight which allows us to break out of our limited situation in the world of appearance into Reality or the 'thing in itself' (which Kant calls the noumenon) itself, and in fact we can never rationally talk about anything beyond our possible experience, because what is transempirical is beyond any of our categories or faculties of understanding (time, space, perception, substance, etc) and trying to do so only results in nonsense or vain metaphysical exercises which pertain to prove everything but which are really 'sophistry and illusion' which fall apart under the weight of skepticism and paradox. Reason tries to know what cannot be known, and in doing so runs into an abyss which leads to nowhere.

Kant does however, say it is possible to be a rational being, have hope in free will and morality, and in God. Despite his destruction of metaphysics, Kant proceeds to rebuild as he sees it a new foundation for ethics, religion, and knowledge on rational grounds, taking into account that any arguments for these things are grounded on the insight of the limits of our knowledge as finite beings. Kant summarises these arguments in simpler and clearer form in other works, such as 'A groundwork for the metaphysics of morals.'

Kant is not a brilliant writer in the same sense that Plato or Schopenhauer or Nietzsche are. However, Kant, like Aristotle, is not impossible to read and is not even terribly difficult (unlike Hegel) because he takes pains to set out his thought using logical argument. Anyone reasonably familiar with Descartes, Hume, Locke, or Spinoza can grasp the less obscure points of Kant. However, Kant is a philosopher of exceeding brilliance, and his influence is central to Western philosophy in all its forms. If ancient philosophy is a set of footnotes to Plato, then it can be said modern philosophy is a set of footnotes to Kant.

Both the analytical and the continental forms of Philosophy have essentially continued Kant's project, attempting to explore what we can know in light of our limitations as finite beings, and in the light of scientific knowledge.

Understanding Kant is absolutely essential to understanding Western philosophy in its present form, just as Shakespeare is absolutely indispensible to English literature.

Kant stands admirably as one of the most brilliant and original minds of all time, and is rightly praised by Schopenhauer as 'astounding.'

However, I do feel Kant's philosophical system has some flaws, and it is not perfect. I also disagree with Kant's claim we can never know the unconditioned and we can only ever know phenomena. However, Kant does provide an important corrective to any attempts to dogmatize beyond proper limits.

clarifications.......2006-06-21

For those who read the editorial review, know that the "paperback version" is actually an entirely different translation, and while it is abridged, this version is not.
So, for those who read the editorial review and were concerned that this translation was abridged, don't worry, it isn't.
However, for those of you who read the editorial review, which sings the praises of the editor, and think that you're getting a version of innordinately high quality in this book, you're not. the translation is very awkward at points. it still gets the point accross, just sometimes with little attention paid to grammar.

Standard translation of landmark text.......2006-03-02

Note: this is the edition I'm familiar with, but it's out of print. There are new editions (both with this translation and newer ones) that would be worth checking out. This one has no real guide or preface, but I kind of like that.

Norman Kemp Smith's translation seems to be one of the standard English translations of Kant's Critique of Pure Reason. Is it the best? I don't speak German, but it's certainly serviceable.

This is a daunting work. It's also a necessary work, inasmuch as any understand of contemporary thought and intellectual history must encounter it. Kant has influenced nearly every major school of thought and cultural trend for the last 200 years. Below, I'll try to sketch his thought in this Critique.

This is the story of Immanuel Kant, who found philosophy a mess and sought to fix it. Specifically, he was a former Rationalist who was disconcerted by the critique of British Empiricism (specifically the skeptical philosophy of David Hume). He sought to provide a grounding for the truths of empirical science and mathematics, establish the possibility of religious faith and practice, while at the same time avoid dogmatism in metaphysical reasoning.

How did he seek to do this? By establishing a critique of reason whereby he understands the validity of all mental constructs. Kant distinguish between judgments which are a priori (prior to experience) and a posteriori (arising out of experience), and judgments which are "analytic" (trivial, tautological) and "synthetic" (where the predicate adds something that is not contained within the subject). Are synthetic a priori judgments possible? Kant answers yes, and much of this book deals with what follows from that.

First Kant deals with how we have sense experience. He claims that space and time are necessary a priori conditions for sense experience -- not physical things in the world. The content of our experience is sense-data: raw sensation that arises outside ourselves or inside ourselves and is "given" in experience. The forms in which we construct that experience are space and time.
Sensations, organized within us spatially and temporally yields sense experience (perceptions).

Kant then proceeds to our abstract thought. What he terms "Understanding" has pure, a priori concepts according to logical form. He calls these "Categories." These do NOT arise as a mere empirical habit/convention -- they are prior to experience and are necessary forms that allow rational beings to experience the world intelligibly. Thus, we take the raw givens of our Understanding, which are perceptions (which we dealt with under "Transcendental Aesthetic"), and we impose the categories upon these perceptions -- we "schematize" our experience.
Perceptions, given intelligible form according to schemata, yield intelligible concepts. We are justified in doing this because the perceptions are not things-in-themselves, but mere appearances (phenomena), and in order for these phenomena to exist in an experience that is coherent and consistent for us, they must have these forms. We are NOT justified in applying these categories to things-in-themselves (noumena).

This is where Reason eats itself. It tries to do the same thing the understanding did, but now it does this with respect to the big metaphysical questions. It starts with concepts and attempts to unify all phenomenal experience according to concepts and yield the Ideas of Pure Reason. When it does this, it gets all confuzelled. It tries to deal with 3 Big Problems (Kant uses the term "dialectic"):

* Soul - Reason wants to insist that the thinking soul exists, that it is subject (pure substance), that it is simple, and that it is unchangeable through all its activities. These are the Paralogisms of Pure Reason. We need these ideas -- their contraries are unthinkable for us(?), but these are not demonstrable.
* The World - Reason wants to answer questions about the series of appearances that constitute the world: Is the World limited or unlimited in space and time? Is the world made up of simples or composites? Does freedom exist in the world? Is there a necessary being connected with the world? These are the Antinomies of Pure Reason. Unlike the Paralogisms, these questions admit of contradictory answers. They, too, cannot be adjudicated by pure reason.
* God - Reason wants to demonstrate the existence of God. Kant refers to this as the Ideal of Pure Reason. He claims that all arguments demonstating God's existence in fact, despite outward appearances, depend upon one method, the "ontological" proof of God's existence, which Kant disallows as transempirical.

Kant tries to tell us how to employ reason. First, stop arguing speculatively about God, etc.! But he urges us to apply those metaphysical ideas must be employed in practical (moral) contexts. In this, he anticipates the Victorians, who were somewhat skeptical on matters of faith, but stressed the necessity of continuing to act according to traditional morality. The dialectic problems deals with ideas are not verifiable speculatively. They are not constitutive of experience. Rather, they serve a regulative function, specifically in the practical realm of morality.

Kant claims that reason is architectonic: it naturally wants to assume the greatest generality. Kant says this is fine for moral thinking, but bad for speculative thinking.

Kant says that philosophy answers these questions: "What can I know? What ought I to do? What may I hope for?" The bulk of Critique of Pure Reason answers the first question. The Critique of Practical Reason, Groundwork of the Metaphysic of Morals, Metaphysic of Morals, etc., answer the second question. The third question ties the two together -- this is what Kant deals with at the end of the first Critique.

Kant sees the great transendental ideas as being God, Immortality, and Freedom. They are the starting points of theistic religion (e.g. Christianity and Judaism). These can neither be verified nor disproved by speculative reason (since speculative reason must by its nature deal with givens (Latin, data) either from sense-experience or pure intuition (as in mathematics). These ideas, however, are necessary "regulative" ideas for the guidance of practical (moral reason) and are valid in that connection. Thus, the second Critique answers the question "What ought I to do?" by recourse to the transcendal idea of Freedom. The question, "what may I hope for?", is given response through the transcendental ideas of God and immortality, for if God does not exist, nothing can grant us happiness for moral behavior and unhappiness for immoral behavior, and if we're not immortal, God won't have anyone to reward.

I probably have made errors and inaccuracies in the above, but I hope I give a flavor for his thought. Kant is sober, earnest, and disciplined. Again, he's not easy, but I think he's worth the effort.

Serious great book.......2005-10-11

Anyone who is interested in philosophy's great relics but mainly reads books in English should see the Cambridge University Press translation of Kant's CRITIQUE OF PURE REASON by Paul Guyer and Allen W. Wood published in 1997 sometime to check the Table of Contents on pages 85-90, and compare it with Kant's original Table of Contents from 1781 on page 125, to observe how many parts of this book have become so well known that scholars consulting this monument to philosophical thought feel a need for 132 page references to find whatever interest in Kant they might have at a particular moment. Such a summary might have been open before Nietzsche when he wrote in section 110 of THE GAY SCIENCE that "Over immense periods of time the intellect produced nothing but errors. . . . Such erroneous articles of faith, which were continually inherited, until they became almost part of the basic endowment of the species, include the following: that there are enduring things; that there are equal things; that there are things, substances, bodies; that a thing is what it appears to be; that our will is free; that what is good for me is also good in itself." Kant was concerned with transcendental philosophy, the general problem of pure reason, but in I, Transcendental doctrine of elements, Division one, Book II, Chapter II, Section III, 3, A on "principle of persistence of substance" can be found on page 299; Division two, Book II, Chapter II, Section IX, III, "The possibility of causality through freedom" can be found on page 535; and in II, Transcendental doctrine of method, Chapter II, Section II, "On the ideal of the highest good" can be found on page 676.

Kant's practice of using large heavy type in the text for key terms makes his points much easier to locate in the Cambridge University Press edition, which features some of the heaviest type I ever saw in a book. Page numbers for the A (1781) and B (1787) editions are located in the outer margins, making it easy to locate quotations by later philosophers who frequently invite their students to read the original work. Schopenhauer, in particular, was adamant that Kant spoiled the 1781 edition when he removed pages 348 to 392 and "introduced a number of remarks that controverted it" (THE WORLD AS WILL AND REPRESENTATION, translated by E. F. J. Payne, Vol. 1, p. 435) in 1787. This part of the Second Book of the Transcendental Dialectic, First Chapter, The paralogisms of pure reason, was originally intended by Kant to illustrate forms of reason which imitate logical thought, and appealed strongly to Schopenhauer as a basis for his own philosophy, which he declared had placed Will in place of Kant's thing-in-itself as claimed in the 22nd chapter in the second book of WWR, vol. 1, pp. 110-112. Kant was not trying to make things easier for the philosophers who followed him by providing an easy platform they could use to proclaim their own views, as even Schopenhauer discerned when he complained that Fichte had "succeeded in turning the public's attention from Kant to himself, and in giving to German philosophy the direction in which it was afterwards carried further by Schelling, finally reaching its goal in the senseless sham wisdom of Hegel." (WWR, Vol. 1, pp. 436-437).

Schopenhauer does not appear in the index of the Cambridge University Press edition of Kant's CRITIQUE OF PURE REASON, but the index can be used to locate a few notes on Swedenborg. In Gregory R. Johnson's Introduction for KANT ON SWEDENBORG, Kant's knowledge of Swedenborg's writings are linked to some of the key ideas in Kant's CRITIQUE OF PURE REASON. "Finally, Swedenborg claims that his visions of the spiritual world do not show the spirit world as it is in itself. Instead, his visions are spatio-temporal representations of a non-spatio-temporal reality. Spiritual realities take on this spatio-temporal garb to accommodate themselves to the requirements of a finite intellect. These teachings presage such central tenets of Kant's CRITIQUE OF PURE REASON (1781, 1787) as transcendental idealism and the ideality of space and time." (KANT ON SWEDENBORG, p. xviii). The notes about Swedenborg on pages 731 and 753 of Kant's CRITIQUE call attention to his "ironic attack on Swedenborgian spiritualism in DREAMS OF A SPIRIT-SEER (1766)" and spiritual qualities lampooned then which reappear in Kant's elucidation of the limits imposed by the general conditions of experience:

" . . . or a special fundamental power of our mind to intuit the future (not merely, say, to deduce it), or, finally, a faculty of our minds to stand in a community of thoughts with other men (no matter how distant they may be) -- these are concepts the possibility of which is entirely groundless, because it cannot be grounded in experience and its known laws, and without this it is an arbitrary combination of thoughts that, although it contains no contradiction, still can make no claim to objective reality, thus to the possibility of the sort of object that one would here think. As far as reality is concerned, it is evidently intrinsically forbidden to think it in concreto without getting help from experience, because it can only pertain to sensation, as the matter of experience, and does not concern the form of the relation that one can always play with in fictions." (CPR, A 222-223, B 270, p. 324).

For example of Kant's always already unthink fictions, I would like to suggest the experience of a rock concert, in which a crowd knows the most popular song of the evening. It could be Liz Phair, doing a recent song, `stars and planets' in which "You know it's just the same old story. Stars rise and stars fall. But the ones that shine the brightest aren't stars at all. They're the planets just like us. . . . They're the planets that unite us. And from big to small. We all shine shine shine." So we are.

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