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A practical guide to Goethe's colour investigations

Models for Perseverance in Ministry

Insight into both a top running program and biomechanics

It's a good book for practitioners.

More Trouble

It Was Great

Dated but stimulating view of spatial economyThe book is divided into four segments, focusing respectively on the "emerging information economy", the role of information technologies in this economy, the geographical patterns of production and consumption of these new technologies, and the role that government policy is playing and could play in future.
The emphasis is on macroeconomics and spatial issues at the scale of cities and above. Some mention is made of the "household economy" and retailing, but there is scant commentary on the impact of information technology on places at the neighborhood, store or home level.
I found the most useful factoid to be reference to the three types of structure that would be affected by technology: social, economic and spatial. This volume focuses on the interaction of the economic and spatial factors.
Many of the authors, and Hall in particular, explore the implications of a shift from an industrial to an informational economy. They conclude that growth favors existing world cities and some more specialized smaller service centers, at the expense of old-line industrial cities.
The expected impacts of the new technologies on the formal economy have a rather quaint and dated air - understandably, since the work is more than a decade old. For example, it is argued that computing breaks down the physical constraints of the physical body, putting it on a par with the freedom and capacity of the human mind and leading to pervasive and effective tele-presence. Information technologies are seen as space-extending, allowing individuals and firms to operate within geographically larger sets of boundaries. It is argued that the new technologies will benefit larger retail chains operating in suburban centers at the expense of the smaller street-corner shop.
The third segment on new technology and space explores mostly the regional/global disposition of new technologies. The fourth segment on policy likewise focuses on interventions at a regional/national level that could lead to increased competitiveness.


If you want to know how to make a sundial...

Vintage California

Good through book
Probably the most well developed of his scientific investigations is his book on colour theory which studied many aspects of the formation of colours. Proskauer in this book reviews and also extends some of Goethe's work on colour as well as allowing the reader to experience the phenomena first hand through a small prism attached to the book with special cards to serve as "light/dark" sources.
The book starts with an introduction to Goethe's work which contradicts Newton's theories such as the notion that ordinary "white" light is constructed from a combination of the colours and that the prism separates the colours already present in it. Proskauer demonstrates that the spectrum observed by the prism is in fact a construction which arises due to two distinct spectra overlapping and that a spectrum is noticed only in the presence of a light/dark boundary. Further fascinating aspects are disclosed and provide a strong argument for a scientific approach akin to Goethe's. The colour phenomenon is observed without abstraction used to construct a colour theory.
These are the good aspects of the work, however the writing is at times speculative and goes counter to Goethe's original approach to "never leaving the phenomenon". Somehow it never quite convinces but nonetheless it certainly wakes up the mind from the mechanistic slumber of ordinary science. Perhaps a deeper approach would remove some of these problems.
A good book with great potential.