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- Encounters with the Archdruid
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Encounters with the Archdruid
John McPhee
Manufacturer: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
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Binding: Paperback
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ASIN: 0374514313 |
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Born in 1915, the mountaineer and outdoorsman David Brower has arguably been the single most influential American environmentalist in the last half of the 20th century; even his erstwhile foes at the Department of the Interior grudgingly credit him with having nearly single-handedly halted the construction of a dam in the heart of the Grand Canyon, and he has converted thousands, even millions, of his compatriots to the preservationist cause through his work with the Sierra Club, Friends of the Earth, and other organizations.
Brower was in the thick of battle when John McPhee profiled him for the New Yorker in a piece that would evolve into Encounters with the Archdruid. McPhee follows Brower into unusually close combat as Brower faces down a geologist who is, it seems, convinced that there is no sight quite so elevating as that of a fully operational mine; a developer who (successfully, it turned out) sought to convert an isolated stretch of the Carolina coast into a resort for the moneyed few--and who provided the title for McPhee's book, wryly opining that conservationists are at heart druids who "sacrifice people and worship trees"; and, most formidable of all, former Interior Secretary Floyd Dominy, who oversaw the construction of a structure that for Brower stands as one of the most hated creations of our time, Glen Canyon Dam on the Colorado River. McPhee offers up an engaging portrait of Brower, a man unafraid of a good fight in the service of the earth, making Encounters an important contribution to the history of the modern environmental movement. --Gregory McNamee
Book Description
The narratives in this book are of journeys made in three wildernesses - on a coastal island, in a Western mountain range, and on the Colorado River in the Grand Canyon. The four men portrayed here have different relationships to their environment, and they encounter each other on mountain trails, in forests and rapids, sometimes with reserve, sometimes with friendliness, sometimes fighting hard across a philosophical divide.
Customer Reviews:
McPhee's Best Work - Still Relevant Today.......2007-08-15
I read this book for the first time 36 years after it was written, yet it seems like it was written today. The battles now have different names but the perspectives are still the same. My conclusion after reading it is that as a species human's have the capacity to view the same scenery and information and come to radically different conclusions; lets build on it or lets preserve it. The fundamental difference seems to be how an individual views the world around us; our surroundings exist to serve us or we an integral part of the world. This dichotomy in thinking may explain why some of us become engineers and real estate developers and others become artists and conservationists.
McPhee's genius in this book was to get the archetypes of those two positions to spend time together in a proposed open pit copper mine in the Cascades, a potential resort in Cumberland Island off the coast of Georgia, and in and around dams along the Colorado River; recording the dialog while describing the landscape. This book is a paean to conservation and one of McPhee's best.
Encounters with the Archdruid.......2007-01-03
David Brower is a major conservationist who leads many environmental groups. In Encounters with the Archdruid, Brower travels to a mountain, an island, and a river, and has battles with various developers in each of the aareas. In the mountains, he encounters Charles Park, a geologist who is pick-happy. ON the island, he meets Charles Fraser, a developer who wants to build a resort on the island. He also goes fafting with Floyd Dominy, who is bent on building a dam to make a lake out of the end of the river. Brower winds some, and loses some, but for the sake of the enfironment, he never gives up.
Encounters with a bad book.......2007-01-02
This book is not very interesting. It is very jumpy and hard to understand. There are many enviormental issues that are barely if at all touched on by the author. Characters are over developed and there is to much background information on unimportant characters. Brower is just on big whinner. Overall it is not that good of a book.
identity and idealism.......2006-09-15
This is not a hagiography, and readers who think McPhee is portraying David Brower as a hero are not reading deeply enough. McPhee presents Brower as a human with faults. But this too is not his purpose. All ideals need champions, and Brower was the environmental champion of the 1970s. That he was a hypocrite to his own cause bears little relevance to his symbolic importance. McPhee carefully establishes Brower's identity such that the reflective reader can draw parallels to their own self-conception and ideas of perfection. Oh, and it's readable too.
hello.......2006-02-28
Part one is very informative. It talks alot about the characters, their personalities, and their backgrounds. We didn't like the fact taht
copper" and "mine" was in just about every other sentence. IN part, we believe the author was trying to emphasize about the characters' obsession and how strongly each man felt for his argument, however it made the section extreemly boring, long, and hard to read. In the second sectoin, the story line picked upi. We enjoyed how throught the novel, the author would continuely add depth and different demensions to the characters with more background information about each characer. Part three was definatly the most enteretaining out of the three with it's fast paced storyline and action scenes. The beginning of the book was slow but then it picked up and ended well.
Book Description
The only text of its kind, this Fourth Edition continues to provide a practical how-to guide to normal childhood development and behavior. In addition to exploring the normal stages of development, this informative text discusses the many familial and societal issues that can influence a child's behavior, such as terrorism and disasters, preschool choices, bullying, and divorce. Organized according to the child's age, it takes readers from the neonatal visit and newborn exam all the way through the late adolescent years. Additional topics include ADHD and learning disabilities, autism and other disorders of communication, and reactions to stress. Clinical examples illustrate development and behavior.
Customer Reviews:
Non-physicians.......2006-04-20
This is the most impressive volume on child development that I have read. It is a unique effort, presenting reader-friendly and comprehensive information regarding the development of children and adolescents. Although it is written for Pediatricians, the "Perspectives', "Quick Check" behavioral descriptions, and "Heads Up" indicators of difficulty, provide invaluable information for all who work with children. The format, describing clinical issues that may arise at various ages along with brief demonstrative vignettes, is simply outstanding. I highly recommend this book to medical personnel, mental health professionals, and child/adolescent educators because it will add to the competency of all readers. My compliments to the authors.
Exactly what I was seeking.......2000-04-02
I recently entered the world of adolescent psychopathology anddrug abuse. I wanted to read a text that would provide acomprehensive, yet succinct review of child and adolescent development, sprinkled with clinical examples and short discussions of recent research, and noting particulary important developmental highpoints that the clinician or health professional needs to be aware of. The strength of this book is that it accomplishes all that in an exceedingly reader-friendly manner, teaching, but not preaching, pointing out pros and cons, and presenting this difficult topic in a manner that anyone, from the layman to the pediatrician, can reep benefits. The book begins with pre-natal care and systematically progresses to young adulthood. First-time parents may especially benefit by learning the normal course of their baby's development. Parents of teenagers may benefit by an objective explanation of the physiological and associated psychological changes of their children. Researchers may benefit by constructing better targeted interview questions. Clinicians may benefit by learning of alternate or different or increasing number of approaches to pediatric care. And the inquiring mind can simply learn and enjoy.
Book Description
What really happens when the World Bank imposes its policies on a country? This is an insider's view of one aid-made crisis. Peter Griffiths was at the interface between government and the Bank. In this day-by-day account of a mission he undertook in Sierra Leone in 1986, he tells the story of how the World Bank, obsessed with the free market, imposed a secret agreement on the government, banning all government food imports or subsidies. This is a rare and important portrait of the aid world which insiders will recognize, but of which the general public seldom gets a glimpse.
Customer Reviews:
A real-world mystery story.......2007-02-12
The Economist's Tale is a slightly-fictionalized account of Griffiths' short-term consulting gig in Sierra Leone. The events in the story take place in 1986, so the information here isn't directly applicable to the present situation, but it will be of interest to (and accessible to) both economists and laymen all the same.
This is not a book about economic theory. Nor is it about the World Bank, per se. Rather, it's about the way people respond to incentives, and how the unintended consequences of their actions can combine to create a disaster.
The story reads almost like a mystery, told as it is through diary entries that reveal the puzzle as Griffiths himself pieced it together. It's a bit self-congratulatory and defensive, but in a way that I found easy to forgive as I got caught up in the adventure. I'd recommend it to anyone.
A must-read.......2005-12-29
The Economist's Tale is a clunkily-written but still gripping story of corruption, dogmatism and a barely-averted famine in Sierra Leone in 1986. The author, working on food policy for the World Bank and seconded to the Sierra Leonian government, discovers that:
- The country lives mainly on rice (the backup crop, cassava, has all been eaten over the last two years).
- Nobody knows whether or not enough rice is being grown to feed the country (there are two different scientific studies of production that differ by 80%). Some rice is imported, but anything from 20-100% of it is smuggled out of the country again, and nobody knows how much.
- The currency, the leone, was held at an overvalued rate to the dollar. Imported rice was half the price of home-grown rice and the monopoly exporter was so inefficient that cocoa and coffee growers saw about 20% of the price they might have seen on the open market. So no-one's growing anything.
- Now the leone's been floated at the World Bank's insistence, it's collapsed in value by a factor of 10. But production is too low for native producers to take advantage: imports will go up in price long before the exchange comes into the country to buy them.
Then he works out by interviews and legwork that, in fact, the country depends on the imported rice to avoid a famine. And then the government signs a deal with the World Bank, his employer, to get an emergency loan of $5 million, in return for which they will stop all rice subsidies and slash their rice imports by almost 90%. And the private importers who might import enough rice to make up the difference won't, because they can't afford to sell it below the market rate and, being all Lebanese, they'd rather not get involved than risk starting a race riot by being seen as price-gouging. As the only person who knows all the facts, he has to persuade the government to break its deal with the World Bank without starting a turf war, making the decision take so long that a famine happens anyway, or destroying his own future career.
It's an excellent book. The lessons:
- Economics is all about incentives. No matter how ideal a market solution might be in theory, if the incentives aren't lined up right the market won't work.
- A currency whose liquidity is so small that its value is changed by importing a single expensive car probably shouldn't be floating.
- Corruption is everywhere, and corruption kills. The state electricity company is unreliable, so everyone uses personal, much more inefficient generators, so there isn't enough oil.
- Dogmatism also kills. You can't un-distort a market overnight. There's a lovely moment when a British Conservative starts explaining to the Americans how privatisation isn't really that great an idea.
Recommended to anyone who's interested in development economics, africa, politics, food, globalization, the World Bank, racism, colonialism, and any of the other ways that people end up treating people the way they do. And it has a happy ending!
Changed my understanding of third world poverty.......2005-05-07
This is an absolutely riveting book. I heard of it through a brief mention at Brad DeLong's website, and ordered it because of the comments by the previous reviewers. I can only agree with their comments -- this book should be required reading for anyone interested in globalization, poverty, and the real world constraints that often prevent idealistic anti-poverty efforts from succeeding. I can't recommend it highly enough.
Insighful and sad account.......2005-01-28
A good book, known by few, written by an even less well known author, to which I am grateful. As (probably) most of the other readers, I learned about this book from a (very positive) book review published on the "Economist".
This book tells a first person account of how bad economics, corruption, or "simple" incompetence almost caused a famine of immane proportion in Sierra Leone, in the 80s, with the important "contribution" of the World Bank. The author (at the time a consultant for the World Bank) tells us how he managed to avert the crisis, a deed that many did not appreciate, and that caused him professional troubles later on.
It is a mistery how this book can be so little known. It is well written, and above all quite deep. Mr Griffith clearly shows to be a skilled and informed economist. I found particularly compelling the pages that discuss how economic "data" should be often taken with a grain of salt, or two. Especially in poor countries, "data" are sometimes nothing else that guesses (sometimes educated, sometimes not), and this may lead to enormous policy mistakes. Unfortunately, people's lives may put at stake by such mistakes. One point that Mr Griffith powerfully makes is that economic policy is not simply boring material to be debated by politicians and discussed in the ivory towers of academia, but it is something REAL that has sometimes the potential of deciding about the fate of millions of people. Unfortunately, policy is the hands of men, and this book amply shows once more how little trust we should have in men.
Overall, this is quite a compelling reading, much more than the insipid "Globalization and its discontent" by Stiglitz, a world-class economist that has produced a little polemic book that could have been memorable, and instead has disappointed everyone, except uncritical anti-globalization protesters. If you are looking for a deeper account of the potential evil of economic policy and the World Bank, this book is highly recommended.
P.S. By the way, contrary to what some extremist may believe, the World Bank is not only made by evil individuals who only care about their career. The World Bank is a very complex institution, and I can assure you that committed, serious, and conscientious individuals abound in there. Whether they have a major role in how the World Bank actually works in Developing Countries is something I still have to find out...
Andybody Who Cares Should Read This.......2004-06-28
An excellent, excellent book in several ways. Anybody who cares - about society - conservative, moderate, or liberal should read this. All economists, political scientists, politicians, and students of these fields should read this book carefully. The Economist's Tale is a true morality play. It looks at the way economics plays out in real-life using the framework of food policy in Sierra Leone. The author is not against market forces - but as economic theory has recognized in the last few decades - markets work (or don't work) with many attendant frictions and imperfections. Unfortunately, in the tale told within this book, people die because of these frictions.
The Economist's Tale is also quite interesting and riveting as a read. It is also a quick read. One learns much about Sierra Leone among other non-economic subjects. It appears nobody else has rated this book yet - which tends to indicate that few people have read it - a sad state of affairs.
Average customer rating:
- A unique college-level analysis and acquisition.
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Green Encounters: Shaping And Contesting Environmentalism in Rural Costa Rica (Environmental Anthropology and Ethnobiology)
Luis Antonio Vivanco
Manufacturer: Berghahn Books
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Binding: Hardcover
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ASIN: 1845451686 |
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A unique college-level analysis and acquisition........2006-12-14
Green Encounters: Shaping and Contesting Environmentalism in Rural Costa Rica covers the inner workings of a country renowned for its environmental management. Luis Vivanco is Associate Professor of Anthropology at the University of Vermont, so his is an anthropological view as he examines Monte Verde politics, culture, and environmental issues. Very few books narrow the focus to one country's policies, fewer yet focus on a single region, and even fewer include the social and political backdrop necessary for understanding - all of which are contained in Green Encounters, making it a unique college-level analysis and acquisition.
Diane C. Donovan
California Bookwatch
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Development Encounters
Margarita Benavides ,
Anne Ferguson ,
Theodore Macdonald ,
Isaac Mazonde ,
Ajay Mehta ,
Paul Nkwi ,
Jesse Ribot , and
James Trostle
Manufacturer: Harvard Institute for International Development
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Binding: Paperback
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ASIN: 0674002601 |
Book Description
The field of development is subject to shifts in paradigms, and it is important to examine systematically how these are realized in actual practice. Two currently favored approaches are participation and indigenous knowledge. In this volume's collected papers, development researchers and practitioners share their ideas and experience on the different forms taken by participation and knowledge, not limited to "indigenous" knowledge, in the practice of development. The "development encounters" they describe took place in sites ranging from villages in the Amazon, India, and southern Africa to research laboratories and corporate boardrooms in central Africa, Latin America, and the United States. This timely and grounded account of participation and knowledge in the front lines will be of interest to a range of practitioners, analysts, and students of development.
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BREAKTHROUGHS ON HUNGER: A Journalist's Encounter with Global Change
Richard M. Harley
Manufacturer: Smithsonian
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Binding: Hardcover
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ASIN: 156098001X |
Book Description
There is a side to world hunger that few people see. Though media coverage focuses on the bolder headlines of food shortage, poverty, and failure in the developing world, there has also occurred a quiet revolution of positive change. Award-winning journalist Richard M. Harley has spent the better part of a decade tracking these hopeful trends. The concerned public, as well as students and specialists in international development, will find Breakthroughs on Hunger the human face of issues that too often remain abstract and remote.
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Colonial Encounters: Europe and the Native Caribbean, 1492-1797
Peter Hulme
Manufacturer: Methuen
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Binding: Hardcover
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ASIN: 0416418600 |
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Conversations and Transformations: Toward a New Ethics of Self and Society (Global Encounters)
Fred Dallmayr
Manufacturer: Lexington Books
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ASIN: 0739103229 |
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