Having heard Botstein speak and having had the opportunity to question some of his beliefs it became clear to me that his proposal is more a random thought than a well thought out idea. Sure, Botstein manages to write a book filled with great words, most of which are unknown the majority of the population in this country, but he fails to aknowledge one, huge problem in his idea. His idea is based more off of physical maturity than mental maturity. I think it's absurd to assume that students are maturing mentally at a faster pace, or even an equal pace to those 30 years ago. The fact of the matter, students generally don't have to mature that fast because of their lives at home, and those who do often turn to drugs or violence. That's just the way I feel.

As a university professor at a prestigious and highly "diverse" institution, I find it extremely unclear just how we are to transform today's American population into the spontaneously reflective, bibliophiliac, broad-horizoned culture-vultures that Botstein proposes we refashion our schools to create. I LOVE the ideal, but that's as a person of literate, upper-middle-class background who grew up stepped in those very ideals. I am not sure Botstein has been exposed to the true depths of anti-intellectualism in America, or perhaps among humans in general -- most people WORLDWIDE simply do not LIKE to "think" for its own sake, and today's universities are much more deeply permeated by unthinking radicalism than Botstein's experience has apparently shown him, which will make it almost inconceivable that the typical college student will be taught with the truly broad horizons Botstein sings of.

As much as I applaud Botstein's general vision, I cannot help thinking that it would much more practical if we were dealing with a student body composed entirely of white kids from Scarsdale, a demographic type which dominates the Bard students he has the most experience with.

His proposal that high school be eliminated, however, is thoroughly sound, as are his calls for what should be taught before students either go to college or elsewhere. It is curious, however, that he does not mention Simon's Rock, a school exemplifying this very principle, which he even heads. I am an alumnus of it and can attest that describing the place would have made his argument even more compelling.

I have known that there are many problems in our high schools, but no one has ever talked about them till now. This book tells how high school is just wasting valuable time for kids and giving them innumerable worries and stresses by having to have to learn things that will never again be used in life. I think that high school should be geared toward an individual's plan for a future occupation. This book is a must read for anyone who has ever thought about this subject before!

I'm glad that you've come. It shows that you believe in looking ahead and being prepared. A little bit of that action would have saved General Custer and his men a whole lotta' headache. With a bit of luck, reading this review will do the same for you. Hopefully (because you'll be ready for what's coming), by the time you finish this book you won't want to put a bullet through your head and forcibly remove your own scalp (in that order). My initial reaction to the book wasn't as bad as it might be for others (I have a high tolerance for pain and boredom), however I would like to do my best to prevent any Dubliners-induced tragedies. I will admit, when I first read this book I did not enjoy it at all. I don't know about you folks, but I enjoy a book where at least some of the characters have at least one redeeming quality. You're hard up to find so sweet a gem in this anthology. From open to close the reader is bombarded with every class of loser imaginable. If it's not some gutless nobody without the heart to even attempt to go after his dreams, it's a drunk who beats his children. Of course there was that one part where Ransom got into a fistfight with Satan-oh, wait. That was from a book I enjoyed (C.S. Lewis's Perelandra-check it out). Let's not get confused about this. Saying that I did not enjoy the book does not imply that I do not like it. Often in life, things look entirely different in retrospect. Dubliners is one of those things. James Joyce wrote this book at about the time he expatriated. There have to be some pretty powerful feelings behind a decision to leave one's own country. In this book you get a glimpse of what he saw, the things that he dealt with everyday. You see the world that he put up with, and you see it through his eyes. In that regard, this is one of the most powerful pieces produced in recent times. Nevertheless, I write book reviews with people like my dad in mind. If it gets too real or hits too close to home, he won't take it. You can visualize it like this: Quigley Down Under = Good; Dingoes Ate My Baby = Bad. If he doesn't get a huge kick out of it, he will have nothing to do with it. So, if you're looking for huge explosions, karate chops, or campfire flatulence, this is not the book for you. On the other hand, if you like 'em slow, powerful, subtle, and poignant (and moderately depressing-cough, Tess of the D'Urbervilles, cough) Dubliners is your sack of oats, Mr. Ed. I find myself caught in the middle of the two types: which means that if it can blow up and move me at the same time, I'm sold-kinda' like a Tchaikovsky finale. The book is classic-quality literature; I won't deny that. I'm just saying that it's not for everyone. It's definitely not my dad's cup of tea (technically, nothing is his 'cup of tea.' He won't touch the stuff. He says it makes him gassy-but I digress).

Best book on the subject, goes hand-in-hand with Guyton's book. Common pathologies of each system or organ is described sometimes with nice colored pictures. Explanations are very simple and easy to understand. Each system is first explained in terms of structure and physiology and than followings chapters in that section takes on pathologies of the system or its components, number of chapters depending on the system complexity. It is a perfect book for pathology or parallel book with physiology to understand physiology with its applications.

As a graduating student in Homoeopathic medicine this is without a doubt the best general book I have read so far in this field. It uses a great variation of diagrams, charts, pictures and text, thus allowing for differing styles of absorption. It's subjct headings are broken into logical chapters and the recent addition of chapters for infant and elderly pathology is a fine improvement. The text is friendly and well written but remains professional. It also come with an A drive disk carrying a basic exam based round the books content. This is the first book I would recommend to students starting in this field.

I've never read any of Bonnie Leon's books before this, and I wasn't disappointed. I thought for sure it was going to be a "survival story" like I read in school, you know, unbearably dull. I was pleasantly surprised!

Anna, a young Aleutian girl, watches in horror as everything and everyone dear to her is swept away in a terrible natural disaster. Only she and her small sister Iya are left, and they must struggle on alone. A white-skinned, blue-eyed outsider seems to want to help, but Anna mistrusts Erik and his God. He is her only hope, though, and so the two Alaskan girls and the Norwegian form an unlikely bond. They face a long winter, hungry grizzlies, starvation, and rejection. Erik seems to believe in the white man's God, the God that crushed Anna's hopes and dreams. Can she accept Erik and his God, or will she be alone forever?

Again, it was great. I highly recommend it. Like the person below said, it's one of those books where you think you're going to read just one mroe chapter, just one more chapter, then you'll go to sleep...until you're finished with the book! I stayed up past midnight reading it. Bonnie Leon is excellent!

Excellent book. Counldn't wait for the next book to arrive. I have read almost all of Bonnie Leon's books and just love them. She keeps the reader interested and makes it hard for the reader to go to sleep because "just one more chapter and I'll turn out the light" turns out to be I'll just finish the book and THEN sleep. Thanks Bonnie for your great Northern Lights Series. .......

this is a great book i recomend it to all experinced reader

This is a well written book that touches upon all basic areas of Epidemiology. A strong point of the book is its use of illustrations, they help keep the material somewhat interesting rather than bland full of text.

It goes through plenty of examples to help you memorize concepts as well as give you practice of each chapter's readings by having review questions for that chapter.

It is a good aid for medical students, epidemiologists as well as anyone involved in the related health services.

This book explains epidemiologic concepts clearly, giving good examples and having helpful illustrations. I recommend it highly for beginners as well as for persons familiar with epidemiology who want to review previously learned methods. I have used it to successfully explain concepts to non-epidemiologists.

Epidemiology by Leon Gordis is a great textbook. Having read one or two other books on this topic, I thought I got a great deal of what Epidemiology means and how it's done. Things I thought I fully understood I now do understand. The book has got many illustrations that make the text very easy to comprehend. The text itself is built up in a stepwise manner and the important issues are repeated several times. The examples given are enlightening and, sometimes, funny, too. The book isn't that much concerned with analysis methods in detail (e.g., How do regression methods work?), but it rather deals with the principles, designs and methods of epidemiology. This book definetely earns 5 stars and will remain an epedemiologic classic. Read it!

The genres of science fiction, socialist polemics, utopian and anti-utopian novels, and love stories all intersect in Jack London's "The Iron Heel". In the beginning of the story, we meet Eugene Everhard, proponent of classic 20th century socialism. I am not aware of any more easily read statement of the principles of socialism than the first half of this book. It makes clear the theory of surplus profits causing economic collapse. While the theory is fallacious (accumulating inventories would lead to reduced prices and gradually reduced production), the matter has historical interest. We feel the excitement of the socialists in their fervent struggle to build a new and better world. The electorate in California sends Eugene to Congress, but the capitalist Oligarchy becomes alarmed and sends its Mercenaries to arrest and imprison the socialist members of Congress. The socialists go underground. We follow Eugene's wife Avis to a rural hideout. Spies of the Oligarchy are everywhere, yet the socialists have infiltrated their ranks as well. Brave socialists spring Eugene from prison. After a short visit with Avis, he is off to the East Coast to inspire the comrades there. Avis, disguised as an agent of the Oligarchy secret service, arrives in Chicago just as three local Mercenary regiments mutiny. They in turn come under attack from forces loyal to the Oligarchy and are destroyed. The Mercenaries then attack the mutineers' support structure, the workers of Chicago and the impoverished slave underclass. The description of the battle and the destruction of the city rivals the vividness of Chanson de Roland and we are awed. The footnotes convey to us the thoughts of an educated person of the 27th century, hence making a utopian fiction subplot. You will remember the imagery of "The Iron Heel". -- Daniel Brockman, Feb 5 1997

I have consistently believed that Jack London's social writings are even better than his fictional works. The Iron Heel actually gives a realistic though (on a time scale) exaggerated view of the oppression of individual rights under a government based on a symbiosis between business and the state. London predicted the rise of European fascism with chilling accuracy. London was brilliant to have seen the evils of an all powerful state, but he errs in believing the working class is the only hope against totalitarianism. This work will appeal to social thinkers, historians, literary junkies, science fiction addicts, the dispossessed, as well as people of mass wealth. It would be worth reading once, but it gets better with each subsequent reading.

With "The Iron Heel," Jack London does a much better job of predicting today's world than George Orwell's book "1984." London depicts a world where government serves the business community, not the people, and there has been an incredible concentration in the ownership of the means of communication and the media. Speak out against this and the iron heel crushes you.

This book is an exciting, political adventure romance that you can't put down -- as long as you get through the first 40 pages of downright boring socialist polemics. If you want to really understand where we are headed, read "The Iron Heel" it today. Hard to believe it was written in 1906.

Few people try to understand where we come from. I give my utmost respect to her and her persistance to understand the world around us and understand why it is the way it is. Whatever color or pride you are you have to recognize and open your eyes to the world around us. I gave this book an 8 because I've tooken the time to open up my mind and now this book has open more horizons and understandings. I hope others will take the time to read this book and hopefully they'lll read: Makes me wanna holler; Monster: Autobiography of an LA gang member; and all the books by author Jess Mowry.

An outsider can only portray something fairly and Leon Bing has not shown a bias to either the blues or the reds. I've read this book a few times and I love it, and it does provide a valuable insight into the way of life for some gang members. However, at times I found the key at the bottom of the page distracting - you become more involved in a book if you realise what certain terms mean for yourself, and I would have preferred a truer picture rather than editted stories and name changes.

Do or Die is written in the best tradition of great American chroniclers of horrifying social conditions, societal and political neglect,and the breakdown of social and human norms. Leon Bings tells the story of South Central Los Angeles' teenage gangs of the late 80s and early 90s,who - in a frenzy of uncontrolled violence - set out to defend their part of the hood and put in work for the set - in other words, kill members of a hostile gang. It's a shocking tale of innercity 12-year olds entering enemy neighborhoods to blast other gangmembers' heads off, just like 12-year old suburban kids enter the opposite soccerteam's penalty area to score the decisive goal.
The main narrators are the kids themselves, Bing only providing necessary background information and the thread that links individual experiences into a whole. Throughout the book she stays remarkably objective - never trying to hide her sympathy for G-Roc, Sidewinder, and Co., but not shying away from breaking with political correctness' irrevocable laws by describing one kid she visits in juvenile detention as somebody she "wants to be kept inside forever".
As far as I know, Bing, who by the way is an ex-model turned journalist who comes from money, which makes her undertaking even more remarkable, was the first author to seriously investigate ganglife and write about it. Thus, one might not find in Do or Die some information and analysis contained in later books. The lack of the latter has its plusses, though, since one is not forced to follow a particular line of thought, but has the opportunity to arrive at one's own conclusions.
Last but not least, the book is very well written. Bing's calm style alternates with the agitated torrent of gang speech. Relaxing moments, which, after all, still exist even in South Cental, take turn with descriptions of violent action. Overall, a great book. Required reading for anyone with only the slightest interest in gangs and urban America.

It is overall a fairly good book, but contains much to much detail for the typical non-major collegfe student. I am a teacher for the Intro Biology class ar a well known university, and I was admittedly called in at the last minute to teach this course, so I couldn't choose the text. This one I would not have chosen, as it has too much info for students who have never taken a biology class in their lives before. I find I have to "dumb down" a lot of the material, which is unfortunate, because it really is a well written and well thought out textbook.

I would just like to mention that none of the reviews here are talking about the 4th edition, which came out in 2002. While a new edition isn't a completely different book, according to the publisher, there are some significant changes that have been made to the book.
I used the 2nd eidition in my Freshman year of High School and I really like how the book was made, laid out, and how the information was presented.

I used this book during my freshman year in college. It was an excellent book with top-notch descriptions, well-placed layouts, and easy to understand content. The topics range from biochemistry to genetics to histology and all sorts of tangents into zoology, anatomy, and pharmacology. I have kept this book for 4 years and now that I will be starting medical school, I am taking the book with me. Many others in classes ahead of me have said that this book helps to clarify some of the complex topics that are presented in 1st year medical school. I firmly believe that and recommend this book to anyone with an interested in biology, medicine, and related fields.

Academics are presumptuous. This is not for the everyday reader. Too bad. The topic is interesting (being mixed heritage Asian Americans). The book is boring --too academic. This is not for the average reader who wants to read something for fun. I would prefer What Are You? by Pearl Gaskins and the book, Half and Half (by biracial and bicultural writers) before I'd recommend this academic mumbo-jumbo. The book's title is misleading. It should be titled, "Academics Gotta Make a Project Out of Everyting, including hapas" The writings are presumptuous.

I commend this book for a lot of reasons. First, there are already enough anthologies of personal essays from mixed people. This anthology both shows and proves that mixed people can be subject to rigorous academic study. Second, most books on mixed people, focus on black-white. This book focuses on part-Asian, and not just Asian-white and not just biracial in the USA. Still, I have to agree with other reviewers that this book is a little dry. So many of the articles are just academics commenting on OTHER people's studies. The chapters read quickly, but while some are rich, others have little to say. For instance, the chapter comparing white-Asians to black-Asians said less about black-Asians than many of the other articles in the book. Further, this book is broken into four sections and the best section is the one where people speak more personally and avoid sociological studies. The best essay is about lesbigay mixed Asians. I applaud the editor for her piece. I'm glad this book was made, but lots of it left me unimpressed. As a whole, this was decent enough, just some things were problematic.

This book isn't for the simple minded or someone who just wants an easy answer -- skip this one and read People or something. But if you're really interested in hapa issues (and I'm hapa so yes) it's a great, articulate, intelligent group of essays covering many different aspeacts of hapahood. Some of the writing takes some mental acuity to comprehend but I found it really worth the effort.

As a former Bank of America employee, I read with interest Ross Yockey's authorized biography of Hugh McColl. McColl proves to be a shark when it comes to buying banks, devouring one bank after another in an effort to build a coast to coast banking franchise. Yockey provides much detail of McColl's early years, growing up in an affluent household (McColl's father owned banks and land) as well as McColl's efforts to impress his hard-to-please father. It was McColl's father who gave his son a push into banking, making a phone call to an old friend to help Hugh land a bank job with NCNB. The book details McColl's rise in NCNB, and, once he became more powerful in that organization, his many business conquests, first taking over, with military precision, small banks in North and South Carolina and then moving on to larger banks in Texas, Georgia, Florida, Missouri and finally San Francisco's Bank of America. On the negative side, the details of the BofA/NationsBank "merger of equals" are sparse, but I understand that the book was printed too soon to provide any information that isn't already available in newspapers. Also somewhat tiring is Yockey's, or McColl's, negative image of anything north of Baltimore and west of Charlotte. Throughout the book, there are constant negative references to anything outside of the South. Yockey also paints McColl as a man who believes deeply in diversity. But his contempt for anything outside of the South (or anyone who is not a former NationBank employee) makes one wonder how sincere McColl really is about diversity and inclusion. One interesting note, not mentioned in the book, is that most of the senior female employees in the old Bank of America left the bank soon after the merger. If McColl truly believes in diversity, I'm sure more would have stayed. It is also interesting to note that, in all of McColl's major takeovers, most of the senior staff (both male and female) in the takeover targets were either forced out or left the organization. McColl clearly shows loyalty to his old NB teammates and seems to have difficulty accepting his new associates. Overall, the book was enjoyable and entertaining.

Althought I enjoyed this book about Hugh McColl, I got the impression it was another part to McColl's PR effort. The book was so flattering in its portrayal of Mr. McColl you wondered if Bank of America might not have subsidized it. Even with that criticism, I still recommend the book to anyone interested in the background of the buyer of Bank of America.

Ross Yockey does an exceptional job of explaining the ins and outs of bankings most aggressive company while capturing the thoughts and emotions of the very real human beings involved. Inspiration can be drawn from this book for all walks of life.

I read this book for a college human nature class and found it highly enlightening. I have long been an opponent to the rigid structure of the nature v. nurture argument, and have thus far found few (if any) serious intellectual scientific works to clearly articulate other possible explanations for why we are the way we are. Kudos to the authors of Not in our Genes for presenting a possible alternative to the norm. Read it and see whatcha think.

A breath of fresh air in a fetid miasma of assumption and association, anecdotes and lies. The politics of the radical left are obviously clear, yet this is an honest response to the radical right who have claimed for years to be neutral. This finally lays to rest the false dichotomy of the nature vs nurture debate. The attack on the cultural determinism which for many years has given ammunition to the "common sense" view of the world, is attacked with equal venom as that of the genetic determinists of Richard Dawkins and other chauvinists. Deserves to be printed more times than lira.

I hadn't read much at all dealing with this subject matter but am glad I read the book. It points out the flawed nature of (some) science research in this area. In this the authors did a good job. However they didn't really influence me that much as to what extent our genes are responsible for what we become. I may reread the book