A vintage whodunit, this book includes wry humour, a subtle feminist commentary regarding women in 1920's society & even a butler! The story is a thoroughly enjoyable diversion (particularly needed in recent weeks). An excellent choice for Charlotte Perkins Gilman fans & anyone who enjoys a good mystery.

This is a reasoned and scholarly approach to women's history in a specific place and time without being too scholarly and narrow.

Perkin covers the span of Victorian England in time, place, and class.

The tone is measured, even while delivering facts sure to outrage - it was perfectly acceptable in the country fairs for a man to sell his wife and well within the law for a man to claim every cent his wife earned.

Perkin's concluding chapter shows how far women came in one country, in one century, but is ever mindful of the suffering it took to achieve it.

A very readable, practical book combining metaphysics, spirituality, and effective career counseling techniques to help anyone explore career goals, and uncover one's true vocation. The book includes helpful exercizes such as visualization, skill inventories; and basic information about self and work. Inspiring and useful.

Gilman shows the reader she is going with men in the workplace , but wants to show women are just as hard or harder workers at home than the men outside of the house. She wants to show how men think women are weaklings and she shows them wrong with her strong words against the put down of a man.

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Works Of Love is a deep and rich philosophical survey and reflective analysis showcasing Kierkegaard's thought and commentary. This anthology of scholarly essays includes: Love's Redoubling and the Eternal Like for Like (Martin Andic); Kierkegaard's Concept of Redoubling and Luther's Simul Justus (Anthony Burgess); "You Shale Love": Kant, Kierkegaard, and the Interpretation of Matthew 22:39 (Paul Martens); Kierkegaard's Ontology of Love (Arnold B. Come); "Believing All Things": Kierkegaard on Knowledge, Doubt, and Love (Anthony Rudd); The Neighbor's Material and Social Well-Being in Kierkegaard's Works of Love: Does It Matter? (Lee C. Barrett III); The Politics of Exodus: Derrida, Kierkegaard, and Levinas on "Hospitality" (Mark Dooley); Mutual Responsiveness in Relation: The Challenge of the Ninth Deliberation (M.J. Ferreira); Loving "No One", Loving Everyone: The Work of Love in Recollecting One Dead in Kierkegaard's Works of Love (Louise Carroll Keeley); Four Narratives on the Interhuman: Kierkegaard, Buber, Rozenweig, and Levinas (Michael Oppenheim); The Child and Kierkegaard's "One Who Loves": The Agapic Flip Side of Peter Pan (Eric Ziolkowski); Rhetoric in Kierkegaard's Works of Love, or "No Sooner Said than Done" (Begonya Saez Tajafuerce); and Erotic Love in the Religious Existence-Sphere (Ronald M. Green and Theresa M. Ellis). Works Of Love is highly recommended to students of philosophy in general, and Kierkegaard in particular.

The subject is depressing, but the research and writing are superb. ROSA LEE is a lengthy and well-chronicled look into the daily lives of one multi-generational family in an environment of poverty and drug-infestation, where routine crime and imprisonment are accepted as normal, and where escape is possible, but extremely rare. I'd recommend this book to anyone seeking to understand the mentality and hopelessness of drug addition. This story couldn't have been written any clearer than Leon Dash did in ROSA LEE.

The story of Rosa Lee Cunningham and her family is heartbreaking and alarming. In the heart of Washington D.C., Rosa Lee's life is mired in poverty, crime, drugs, and disease. Based on the Pulitzer Prize winning series which ran in the Washington Post in 1994, reporter Leon Dash does a superb job of reporting and analyzing intergenerational poverty. I suggest that everyone, especially politicians, read this important book

In recent years, welfare and the underclass have become a prominent part of the national conversation. But pundits' portrayals of the urban poor are often distressingly simplistic, usually presenting the underclass as a mass of indistinguishable brown and black people inhabiting a murky, foreign land. In 1988, Washington Post reporter Leon Dash began a seven-year project that he hoped might dispel reductionist thinking, trying to make this unfamiliar world complex and real by focusing on a single case, one that shows many of the facets of underclass life. He tells the story of a single Washington, D.C., woman and her family-four generations of poverty, pathology and crippling dysfunction. Rosa Lee Cunningham "is fifty-two years old, a longtime heroin addict, with a long record of arrests for everything from petty theft to drug trafficking," Dash writes. "Her eight children-the oldest of whom she bore at age fourteen-were fathered by six different men, and six of the children have followed her into a life of teenage parenthood, drugs, and crime." Rosa Lee's story is hardly inspirational-and yet in it there are glimmers of brightness. Amid the sadness and squalor, Dash leaves room for hope.

"Rosa Lee" grew out of a controversial Washington Post newspaper series that won a Pulitzer Prize in 1994; about half the book is fresh material. Dash paints detailed portraits of Rosa Lee and her children; presented nonjudgmentally, his depictions are founded on ambiguity. He makes it clear that-in the name of "survival"-she condemned at least two succeeding generations to follow her example, alienated from broader, productive society. "Rosa Lee exposed all of her children to her criminal lifestyle, the underworld path she argues was her avenue to survival," he writes, "and four of her six sons followed her onto the same path, with ruinous outcomes for each of them." One chilling example: Early in the book, Rosa Lee describes a shoplifting trip with an 11-year-old grandson and how a 5-year-old granddaughter had once helped her sell heroin. "Rosa Lee has introduced her granddaughter to the drug trade," Dash writes, "as something to do to earn enough money to eat." Despite her behavior and legacy, though, Rosa Lee remains somehow likable and sympathetic throughout the book. "I can't help but think that if circumstances had been different, if she hadn't faced so many obstacles in her life, her drive and her charisma might have caused her to create a different life for herself, her children, and grandchildren," Dash writes.

Facing poverty, dysfunction and ruined lives, Americans weaned on tabloid TV tend to look to assign quick blame. Who's at fault for Rosa Lee and her children? "There is something in her life story to confirm any political viewpoint," Dash writes. "Some may see her as a victim of hopeless circumstances, a woman born to a life of deprivation because of America's long history of discrimination and racism. Others may give her the benefit of the doubt in some cases but hold her personally acountable for much of what she did to herself, her children, and her grandchildren. A third group might say that Rosa Lee is a thief, a drug addict, a failed parent, a broken woman paying for her sins, and a woman who seemingly was so set on placing her children on the path to failure that it is amazing that even two of them manage to live conventional lives." If Rosa Lee is invisible to lawmakers who-only a mile or two away-see her as only a nebulous parasite, they are equally intangible to her. She "has no interest in politics or government. She has never voted," Dash writes. "There is almost no connection between Rosa Lee's world and the world of Washington's policy-makers and politicians." She is unaware, he notes, that elections even take place. Though wards of the state, entirely dependent on government subsidies and handouts, the family is completely alienated from civil society: They don't seem to recognize that their drug abuse and shoplifting have larger societal costs-indeed, that their actions affect others at all.

Dash shows us the most troubled of Rosa Lee's family: "Bobby, Ronnie, Richard, Patty, and Ducky live a kind of nomadic existence, bouncing from friends' apartments to jail, to the street, to Rosa Lee's. All five are addicted to heroin or cocaine, or abuse both drugs," he writes. "Their lives and choices provide an intricate blueprint of just how bad guidance and bad decisions so easily ensnared them in lives of drug addiction and criminal recidivism." But he also focuses on Alvin and Eric, the two of Rosa Lee's sons who "found a different path and moved up out of poverty into conventional middle-class and working-class respectability." Somehow, "they rejected the lures, avoided the pitfalls, and got around the obstacles that they faced in their home and in their neighborhoods from the day they were born." Dash attributes much of the family's continuing poverty to its lack of education and frequent teenage parenthood. Rosa Lee had her first child at 14; so did her daughter Patty. Rosa Lee's mother Rosetta gave birth three days after her 13th birthday. All dropped out of school still illiterate.

Dash's writing is nonjudgmental, enviably clean and straightforward, without pseudonyms or euphemisms. He never pretties up his language with gratuitous adjectives or unnecessary color; he never clumsily writes around a cliché if the cliché is clearer. The only stylistic flaw is his confusingly frequent tense shifts to accomodate his jumping back and forth in the chronology. As a black, middle-class journalist, he is an inextricable part of his own tale, and it's fascinating to see him run up against his own journalist-subject boundaries. "I lay down ground rules that I will buy them meals and even cigarettes, but I will pay for the purchases. I explain I will never give or loan any of them any amount of cash. I know from past experience that drug users go to considerable lengths to collect small amounts of money from many people until they gather enough to buy drugs. The drug-users among Rosa Lee's children boast to her that they will eventually get some money out of me. They are sorely disappointed." Dash fights not to show feelings, to remain scrupulously impartial, all the way through his realistic and informed book's-end discussion of remedial action. "Viable solutions to poverty will never be simple," he writes. "As Rosa Lee's story shows, immense difficulties await any effort to bring an end to poverty, illiteracy, drug abuse, and criminal activity. In the poorest neighborhoods, these problems are knitted together into whole cloth. . . . Reforming welfare doesn't stop drug trafficking; better policing doesn't end illiteracy; providing job training doesn't teach a young man or woman why it's wrong to steal.

This book has some wonderful techniques to change the dream of you life. In my opinion; many of the techniqies in other shamanic books are better.

However; I have several problems with this book.

1. Mr. Perkins is an environmentalist wacko. (I agree with Mr. Perkins that nature should be protected, and I am all in favor or protecting the environment. However; there needs to be a balance somewhere, and nature should not be given precedence over the needs of human beings.)

2. Mr. Perkins is a proponent of the halucinogenic he called Awahusca. (The real name of this plant is Hayascua sometimes called "the vine of death". In "Reality Is Just an Illusion: The World of Shamans, Ghosts and Spirit Guides" by Chuck Coburn. Mr Coburn relates the experience where he took Hayascua admisistered by a tribal Shaman. In "The Way Of The Shaman" by Michael Harner. Mr. Harner relates the story of having Hayascua administered by a Conibo tribal Shaman.)

3. I am NOT a proponent of the use of any halucinogenic substance because these substances open the doorway; but the would-be Shaman loses any control of the visionary experience. Allow me to quote Frank Foolscrow a wicasa wakan (holy man) of the Teton Sioux; after someone asked him if he used the halucinogenic cactus; peyote "I do not need drugs. Wakan Tanka can take me higher than any drug.".

I agree with Foolscrow's statement completely! I feel that to add toxins to your body is an insult to yourself and your Creator that gave you life.

(...)

Wah doh Ogedoda (We give thanks Great Spirit)

I just finished reading this book for the second time. Having had a few more experiences in life than when I read it the first time, I appreciated the author's message more, during and after this reading.

Everyone who reviews this book, or any book, is obviously coming from a different perspective and from a different place in life. Many have had more experience in some areas, or have formulated opinions based on deep learning. This is one of the first few books regarding shamanic practices that I have read. It is also the second book by Perkins that I have read, the other being Psychnavigation.

Perkins very ably explains for us his own personal evolution, and makes his motivations clear. Thus, although we may not agree with everything he says, or with everything he has done and is doing, for me it comes naturally to respect him, and even to trust him.

The way Shapeshifting is written is quite interesting. It revolves around two conversations Perkins had with a friend, a Maya shaman. Particularly in the first conversation, Perkins does a great deal of reminiscing about his life experiences, particularly regarding the subject indicated by the book's title. These reminiscences woven into the conversation become chapters in the book. Direct quotation gives way to a fresh reocunting, for the reader's benefit, of seminal events in the author's life.

I think we can all take away from this book some basic philosophical lessons, and an adjustment of attitudes that will be beneficial for most.

My reason for stopping short of giving the book five stars is purely personal. I think it has to do with Perkins' style of presentation, which for me is not as powerful and engaging as I would like. My emotions were not sufficiently swayed into wanting to believe in the literal truth of Perkins' accounts. This is not to say that I think "he made it all up," but I wish I had gone to the place while reading where I didn't even care whether the stories were literally true or not; and I did not quite get there, on either my first or second reading of Shapeshifting. For me, Perkins' concern about whether the reader believes him or not is displayed to the point that it actually detracts from the accounts.

John Perkins has studied with shamans from around the world, leads workshops on shapeshifting and shamanism and has written several books. His approach is to use ancient shapeshifting techniques as a tool for societal as well as personal transformation....offer many practical exercises for learning shapeshifting techniques. Of course, this is a difficult and lifelong process and not something you can learn from simply reading a book about it. Traditional shamans are raised with a magical and holistic worldview that is very different from our modern technological, materialistic one. Shapeshifting is, however, an excellent introduction to this path and may motivate you to delve deeper into the subject. Shapeshifting is usually thought of in terms of transforming the physical body; shamans can supposedly (I believe it, but I realize many don't) literally shapeshift into plants, animals or spheres of pure energy (the latter is described in the book). As fascinating as this prospect is, the possibility that social institutions can shapeshift may be even more important. It has become almost a platitude to say that our present political and economic system is seriously damaging the environment. As tired as we may be of hearing this, and as much as we'd like to believe that it's all hyperbole, it seems hard to deny at this point. In addition to teaching shamanic techniques, John Perkins' Dream Change Coaltion works to preserve the rainforests and influence the thinking of large corporations. Projects of this kind are crucial today.

I disagree with most of the reviews on this book. I was tasked with writing a MIB and this book did not do much for me. For instance, the IMPORTS clause, standard in any MIB. The author only gave a brief defenition of what it is, no examples, no explination of WHY one imports something! A MIB you write will not compile or work without a proper IMPORT clause.

Reading this book takes great effort. Not an easy reas at all and I have been working with SNMP for 5 years and am a Certified OpenView Consultant, and have been for 3 years. There are part of this book that are helpful, but if you are going to be writing a MIB for the first time do not count on this book to help you get it done. Try Total SNMP, which gived a better breakdown and look at some of the MIBs already out there like the UPS MIB.

I found this book to be excellent in helping me write my own SNMP MIBs for my job. No other reference or book was even close.

The book focuses on explaining SNMP MIBs and their syntax. This is extremely important, because the SNMP MIB syntax, while standardized by the IETF RFCs, is not followed strictly by vendors (probably because they didn't have this book).

The strength of this book is that it provides PRACTICAL information on making your own MIBs. Whereas books like Stalling's SNMP book cover the standard, they don't always give you the practical day-to-day help for your job. The authors experience in SNMP MIBs is geniuine as evidenced by their development of a commercial MIB compiler.

Now the negatives:
1) This book was published in 1997 and needs updating
2) Book plugs the author's own MIB compiler. These days other
MIB compilers are available. Nice to have it included on the CDROM
3) Authors periodically express their "Own Opinion" regarding RFCs and make their recommendations. While these are interesting, I don't find them useful. For example, recommending disallowing hypens from labels from v1 to v2. At this point, the standard is the standard. Again, these may have made more sense in 1997.

In summary, buy this book if you are a need to understand MIBs - either a MIB writer or an SNMP developer.

The book "Understanding SNMP MIBs" introduces the reader to the Management Information Base (the MIB) used to describe data managed through the SNMP protocol. The book covers the basic ideas behind SNMP and the operations supported by SNMP, but the major part of the text really focuses on the syntax and the structure of the information base and on defining and maintaining MIBs.

The book does a wonderful job in covering all the related aspects around MIBs. It gives a very good introduction to SNMP (yes, it is brief, but it is much easier to read than some of the texts that focus on SNMP) it gives a detailed description of the MIB syntax and on how to define, build and maintain MIBs. The task of designing and implementing a MIB is illustrated from different points of views. In one chapter, the practical considerations in building MIBs are laid out, e.g. v1 vs. v2, module naming and module layout, in another chapter, the authors lead the readers through the definition process of the MIBs for a hypothetical company with a small product. I addition an analysis of some standard MIBs and the techniques applied in these is included. The whole book is written very well and is in fact very understandable and clear. A lot of critical points in SNMP and the structure of MIBs are explained and commented (although some of the comments are not really constructive).

There are only a few minor points that I did not like about this text. a) Some of the illustrations are just plain horrible, b) the chapter ordering is a little weird: SNMP intro, MIB syntax, SNMP operations, MIB design, MIB browser, MIB design example (but maybe that's just me?) and c) where is the 2nd edition including v3?

Overall, this is a very helpful book. The material is very well presented and really helps to understand SNMP MIBs.

This book is a terrific source for learning real life self defense. It presents, explains and illustrates - in a clear, straight forward manner - how people can avoid becoming a victim, as well as how to successfully defend against virtually any kind of physical attack. It is based on the principles of Ki Chuan Do, the martial art that was created by John Perkins.

I attended a seminar by Master Perkins and his colleagues several months ago, and I was astounded by the effectiveness of Ki Chuan Do in action. The ease and speed with which Perkins - along with several of his students - made short shrift of various attackers, was simply amazing. These were not rehearsed or choreographed "plants", as I was later able to verify, but actual volunteers from the audience, some of whom were advanced black belts in different martial arts.

I have trained as a kick boxer for a couple of years in a Tai Chi school that has a reputation for turning out good kick boxers. But seeing Ki Chuan Do was a revelation. It is based to a large extent on Tai Chi prinicples, but it is COMBAT Tai Chi combined with various other combat arts, and is light years ahead of anything that I had seen or experienced before - either in Tai Chi or any other martial art.

The Attack Proof book takes the basic principles of Ki Chuan Do and explains how they can be used effectively by anyone, regardless of their physical condition or experience. A great companion to this book would be the Attack Proof video, available at attackproof.com.

There are loads of methods being taught out there for people who want to learn how to defend themselves against attacks in a dojo. But if you want to learn how to defend yourself against attacks in real life, I highly endorse this book.

I have to tell anyone who is serious about not only basic self defense but taking it beyond the limits about ATTACK PROOF. I have worked with members of various military and police organizations over the years while I was employed as a security specialist. As a professional I have seen my share of violent situations. Most of the time my work was routine. When things went out of control they never resembled anything that I studied in the dojo or saw in the many books and videos on martial arts or self defense that I had studied. When I spoke about this to my cohorts they agreed.Last year one of the men told me about ATTACK PROOF. I read it and had to read it again. It took me a bit of time to relize what the books and videos were missing. Most of them were written by people who had mostly dojo experience or only had some military or police background without really mixing it up. These fellows who wrote this book have been where I have been and know the difference. The pages are full of great methods to help me hit harder, avoid blows and be on balance far more than before. Get real, free your mind.

I've been training and teaching Shotokan Karate for nearly 25 years and over the years I've accumulated a sizable collection of books based on various martial disciplines. Many of them talk about "real fighting", but most of them are pretty much the same, emphasizing flashy "cool looking" moves over common sense techniques and skill development. So at first glance at the book's title I was skeptical. However, after reading Attack Proof: The Ultimate Guide to Personal Protection, I enthusiastically recommend it! While I have a lot of classical training under my belt I also know that the streets of Brooklyn are anything but "classical." The book Attack Proof offers both the martial artist and lay person a bare-bones methodology to real self-defense and street survival skills. The author's base their techniques on sound principles of fighting found in most martial arts systems, and support them with examples of real world applications and experiences. I was so impressed with Attack Proof's practical approach to not only fighting, but to street awareness as well, that I bought copies for my sons, both who are trained in Shotokan and one who is a "Rookie" cop with the NYPD. Whether you're a seasoned martial artist, martial arts instructor or just someone who wants to learn enough to protect yourself. You'll find that the techniques and principles taught are understandable and easy to grasp, but most important of all, effective!