Lessons in Grid Computing: The System Is a Mirror Review

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Lessons in Grid Computing: The System Is a Mirror ReviewHere are a few ideas that I kept after speed reading this book. In Information Technology (IT), we, the people are the resources. Our teams can exist only if we maintain the relationships and we can communicate among ourselves with pleasure and no constraints. If we reuse code and interfaces, we must first use them to begin with. We are the platform to build services and applications, not the operating systems and the chips..
But to say the few things like those described above, the author delves in exuberant verbose. It is obvious he has a deep love for writing fiction. There are too many words and too many stories. In a nutshell, we are told that without humans, IT systems are useless. And as humans, we must read Proust (great French writer - more quoted by others than read -) and Jung (the psychologist who described the collective unconsciousness) to understand ourselves.
This has some value. Many people think mechanical effects solve our life problems: sex techniques bring happiness, or success means selecting MacOS or Linux or Solaris. Computing, like medications prescribed by top doctors, can not bring the happiness via science and technology only.
Why writing 357 pages to say all this? This is a useful book in need to be condensed to about 10% of the book size. In each chapter , a short 5 line summary will be great.
Also the name of Grid Computing is confusing. Sure we believe one day the entire Information Technology will become a grid delivering units of compute power, the same way we have electricity today. We will not need operating systems and CPUs in our offices and homes, we will have a plug in the wall and a meter to read the computing energy used.
The book, that alludes to computing as a service delivery, does not highlight this meaning of grid computing well enough. Once we have a product eliminating the need to know technicalities like system administration, we will understand ourselves as humans first. Then we can make computer applications and services that are as natural as speech in everyday use.
I work in grid computing, I know many engineers who bought this book, thinking this is about a hands-on lesson on Grid Computing programming. They were disappointed, because the title is misleading. It attracted the audience which had totally different expectations. The real audience - IT leadership - might have overlooked the book, because of the title.Lessons in Grid Computing: The System Is a Mirror Overview

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Ghosts of War in Vietnam (Studies in the Social and Cultural History of Modern Warfare) Review

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Ghosts of War in Vietnam (Studies in the Social and Cultural History of Modern Warfare) ReviewExtraordinary perspective and insight on the part of Dr. Kwon. A cultural milestone. His book deserves to be read and re-read.Ghosts of War in Vietnam (Studies in the Social and Cultural History of Modern Warfare) Overview

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The Undiscovered Dewey: Religion, Morality, and the Ethos of Democracy Review

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The Undiscovered Dewey: Religion, Morality, and the Ethos of Democracy ReviewThis book is a valuable addition to the existing literature on Dewey. I am sorry the previous reviewer took it upon himself to bash the publisher, when the purpose of the book review is to review the book. If I could give this book more than five stars, I would.The Undiscovered Dewey: Religion, Morality, and the Ethos of Democracy Overview

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Political Culture in Libya Review

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Political Culture in Libya ReviewThis is an excellent book. It offers fresh thinking supported by field research on issues that go to the heart of economic, political, and social change in Libya. Based on a survey of 500 students at Garyounis University in Benghazi, Libya, the author concludes that the revolutionary government headed by Mu'ammar al-Qaddafi has enjoyed considerable success since 1969 in reproducing its values among the younger generation. Regime success is most notable in the area of gender issues together with policies on Arab nationalism, Arab unity, and the Palestinian issue. The regime has been much less successful in its efforts to create politically participant citizens and to develop acceptable alternatives to kinship ties. These are very significant findings that challenge the thinking of many observers on the construct and impact of the Qaddafi revolution.Political Culture in Libya Overview

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Kant's Politics: Provisional Theory for an Uncertain World Review

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Kant's Politics: Provisional Theory for an Uncertain World ReviewThis is a very interesting and useful book on Kant's politics, comprehensive, and able to reach our present politics with something direct to say.
One of the most interesting features of the discussion is that of 'freedom's causality'. The author very acutely isolates the crux of the politics of freedom with this discussion, which is open-ended since the question seems to be unsolved, despite Kant's great insight.
Here is a quote on this from the book:
What would "bridging nature and freedom" mean outside of politics? For Kant the big questions are nearly always epistemological: thus, bridging freedom and nature might mean specifying the conditions under which investigators of the empirical world (scientists) are able to find evidence of spontaneity in the physical world (that is, of freedom's causality). Either freedom and nature are strictly alternative perspectives on the same set of empirical occurrences, or there are some things in the world that can only be explained according to freedom (in other words, the second alternative posits empirical evidence that some thing has no antecedent cause). I am not the first person to point out that it is not an easy thing empirical evidence of a lack of a cause. Kant himself assumes that a good scientist will operate under the presumption that absent natural causes may eventually be discovered.
This question of freedom's causality is discussed in the reviewer's World History And The Eonic Effect (Amazon) where the paradox of freedom's causality is demonstrated with a new type of history model.
Ellis' book is cited in that text.
There is something brilliant about Kant's way of isolating the basic issue, without seeing an example. But, properly seen, world history shows exactly that which he inferred in the abstract.
Ellis' book is exceptionally clear, and useful for anyone who is looking for a clear, but deep discussion, of Kantian politics.
John Landon
Author, World History And The Eonic EffectKant's Politics: Provisional Theory for an Uncertain World Overview

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Neurobiology of Addictions: Implications for Clinical Practice Review

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Neurobiology of Addictions: Implications for Clinical Practice ReviewThis book discusses the effects of substance of abuse on brain chemistry. It is of interest to anyone treating addictions. It is not a "quick read" for people without a basic grounding in neurobiology, but with persistance, you will learn.Neurobiology of Addictions: Implications for Clinical Practice Overview

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Trust Theory: A Socio-Cognitive and Computational Model (Wiley Series in Agent Technology) Review

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Trust Theory: A Socio-Cognitive and Computational Model (Wiley Series in Agent Technology) ReviewThe authors are part of a leading Italian cognitive psychology work group. Castelfranchi's publications are many and highly insightful. This book is likely to represent a key reference work for many years, and I recommend it highly for researchers in cognitive and computational psychology areas. I will limit myself to criticisms and suggestions for elaboration.
The major weakness of the volume is its almost complete lack of reference to supporting empirical material. This absence renders the volume more like a classical philosophical text than a piece of scientific research. Moreover, though the title stresses computation, there is virtually no elaboration of or testing of computational models.
For instance, the authors repeatedly assert "trust is the glue of society," but they never give either argument or empirical support for this notion. There are, of course, whole fields that dewith the nature of human society that never mention trust at all, or at best consider it an optional phenomenon. The concept does not exist in standard economic or biological theories, and most anthropological accounts of social life never mention trust. The authors may be correct (I would say "a glue" rather than "the glue"), but they have gone zero distance in proving this fact.
The authors are critical of all previous models of trust, which they declare "pernicious" (p. 7), and set the goal of providing "a general, abstract, and domain-independent notion and model of trust." (p. 7) Seeking such generality, however, presumes that trust has some "essential" meaning, rather than being a term with several very loosely related meanings, as a Wittgensteinian treatment might suggest. If there is no essence, there is no general model. I doubt that there is such an essence. For instance, the concept of trust in "I had no choice but to trust his good will" is very different from the concept in "I exposed myself to harm by opting to trust his good will," and is different from the concept in "I trust the capacity of my mathematical software to solve this problem accurately."
The authors' negative evaluation of domain-specific models of trust leads them to reject the very best models, and the most persuasive evidence available to us. The whole research tradition initiated by Elinor Ostrom, James Walker, Toshio Yamaguchi and others on trust in common pool resource and public goods games is rejected for being too "restricted." (p. 26) On the other hand, they somewhat unexpectedly argue that "only a cognitive agent can trust another; only an agent endowed with goals and beliefs." (p. 38) The appears to imply that trust cannot be modeled most animal interactions. Of course, trust means something differentn applied to fish that scavenge the mouths of larger fish, but it is not clear that this behavior is not in the "family meaning" of the term trust.
I suspect that the authors' rejection of the standard behavioral game theoretic literature on trust is due to its mathematical nature. The authors do have some equations in the book, but they never use mathematics for the purpose of drawing conclusions from a set of postulates. Rather they use equations to describe their ideas, much as they use diagrams with boxes and arrows. They certainly show nothing but hostility to the behavioral game theoretic literature on trust, which they refer to as "economic." The whole of Chapter 8 is devoted to a critique of this literature. I do not believe their critique has a single element of validity. Their main argument is that the behavioral game theory (bgt) research is "reductivist." I submit that this is just name-calling---one can engage in it without having any substantive argument at all.
Their first specific point is that the literature is self-contradictory: for the bgt researcher "trust is the belief that Y will choose and will behave in a non-rational way," and hence that "the entire society is grounded on the irrationality of the agents." (p. 236) They arrive at this attribution by noting that bgt finds that agents exhibit other-regarding preferences, which the theory explicitly argues are rational although not selfish. The authors go to note that the trust behavior discovered in bgt is in fact not irrational, thus completely undermining their central point. Indeed, it is quite clear from their argument that they have learned the distinction between rationality and selfishness from behavioral game theory research. Whom do they think they are kidding in offering this lame critique?
The authors would have done better to have taken a more catholic attitude towards behavioral game theory trust research. Recognizing its obvious strengths, they would have done better to develop the behavioral game theoretic model for their readers, and then, in a spirit of respect and inclusiveness, noted its limitations, and devoted their efforts a developing a more inclusive explanatory framework.
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This Remote Part of the World: Regional Formation in Lower Cape Fear, North Carolina, 1725-1775 (The Carolina Lowcountry and the Atlantic World) Review

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This Remote Part of the World: Regional Formation in Lower Cape Fear, North Carolina, 1725-1775 (The Carolina Lowcountry and the Atlantic World) ReviewWood presents a monograph on the Cape Fear region of North Carolina, during its early years under British rule. We see how it was settled by different groups of immigrants. Including, it must be noted, African slaves imported to work in the plantations. The lure of cheap or free land was used to get European settlers, and not just from Britain.
The governance was changed during the period under consideration, so that it was placed under direct Crown rule. The appointment of executives from London is also studied, with the effects given on settlement patterns and behaviours.
Wood presents an impressive level of detail, indicating extensive research.This Remote Part of the World: Regional Formation in Lower Cape Fear, North Carolina, 1725-1775 (The Carolina Lowcountry and the Atlantic World) Overview

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Victory Deferred: How AIDS Changed Gay Life in America Review

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Victory Deferred: How AIDS Changed Gay Life in America ReviewWe have waited for a voice within the gay community to relate what AIDS has done and continues to do to our souls. Andiote bares that soul to the scrutiny of a verteran journalist and writer. He descibes the gay community's response to the AIDS epidemic. He outlines the growth the community made in the process. He isn't afraid to criticize where appropriate.
He tells the stories of the heroes of and the commentators on the epidemic. He delves, for example, into the internal machinations of a community trying to deal with safer sex and outlines both successes and failures. He indentifies the ongoing crisis and politics of promoting behavior change in the most intimate aspect of our lives. Through this type of no holds barred reporting that Andriote conveys the impact of AIDS on a community struggling to free itself from past and present disease related definitions.
Andriote's research is thorough, interviewing two hundred activitist and paritcipants. These individuals tell the story of a gay movement catapulted to the forefront of America's consciousness. He starts well before rhe empidemic and couches it in the context of a liberation stuggle. He tells the insider's story.
Victory Deferred will supplant Randy Shilt's And the Band Played On as the dinifitive story of one community heroically responding to the health crisis of the century.Victory Deferred: How AIDS Changed Gay Life in America Overview

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Futurecast: What Today's Trends Mean for Tomorrow's World Review

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Futurecast: What Today's Trends Mean for Tomorrow's World ReviewPollster George Barna has been collecting and analyzing data trends for many years, particularly from a Christian perspective. His latest book in this vein is Futurecast: what TODAY'S TRENDS mean for TOMORROW'S WORLD.
In this book, he discusses data on family life, goals, population growth, and demographics, but a major theme is religious beliefs and behaviors. As often happens, the actual data reveals trends that are sometimes disturbing and disconcerting. For example, "less than one-fifth (18 percent) believe that belonging to a community of faith is necessary to become a complete and mature person." And less than one-fifth (17 percent) believe that their faith in God is meant to be developed primarily through involvement in a local church" (p. 145). This translates into a steady and seemingly relentless drop in attendance and participation in a church community in the past few decades.
Spiritual beliefs are becoming as independent as church membership has become. A majority of American adults "contend that the Holy Spirit is merely symbolic" (p. 141) and 59 percent believe that Satan is only a symbol of evil rather than a being who exists (p. 140).
Barna points to changing models of ministry such as multisite churches (with remote campuses) and home churches as ways to reach those who have rejected traditional church membership. Barna seems to have a bias in favor of home churches that appears in this book and other things he has written.
Barna suggests that there are five significant shifts happening in ministry in response to societal changes and the recent recession:
-from monologue to dialogue - more conversation with a place for questions and deeper discussion
-from authoritarian to team-based leadership - a more collaborative approach to ministry
-from observation and appreciation to ideation and participation - Barna suggests that the old 80/20 rule is shifting toward 70/30 with 70 percent of the ministry now being done by 30% of the congregation
-from assumptions to analysis - churches are increasingly looking at hard data rather than their own assumptions or guesses to evaluate what they are doing and what they need to be doing
-from legacy services to pragmatic value - a shift from people's reliance on the church for marrying, burying, baptizing, and other rituals toward seeing the church as "facilitating personal ministry opportunities..., connecting like-minded people, and providing aces to facilities and programs...(p. 194).
Futurecast offers much food for thought for church administrators, but Barna's intention is to motivate the entire church to pay attention to the trends and consider what each person needs to be doing to function effectively as a witness to the Gospel in the midst of such rapid social change. He concludes with a challenge: "Is Futurecast simply a book with information you find interesting, or is it a book that you will allow God to use to reveal the trends in your life and to challenge you to change the trajectory of those trends, first in your life, then perhaps in the lives of others, one life at a time?" (p.226).
Futurecast: What Today's Trends Mean for Tomorrow's World Overview

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Unfamiliar Relations: Family and History in South Asia Review

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Unfamiliar Relations: Family and History in South Asia ReviewI found that this wonderful set of essays extends the study of "the history of the family" into South Asia. Notably, this collection shows how concepts of the family could be understood on the Indian subcontinent in the past.
The collection does two important things to establish how to understand the family in historical India. First it breaks down the assumption that family dynamics were kept private. The essays note the role the public and state played in family dynamics.
Second, the book demonstrates that the concept of "family" needs to be understood based on its historical and cultural context. Because most historical research remains dependent on colonial records, this collection of essays breaks new ground in the family of history by relying on indigenous records.
Also, an important things to understand about the volume is that it exposes and explores contradictions. It also seems the goal of the volume is to show the ways in which the history of the family in South Asia developed differently from the colonial-records-based histories we are more familiar with.
These essays are an excellent contribution that expands an existing historiography and show the ways in which the history of the family has been too narrow.Unfamiliar Relations: Family and History in South Asia Overview

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Community Care for an Aging Society: Issues, Policies, and Services (Springer Series on Lifestyles and Issues in Aging) Review

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Community Care for an Aging Society: Issues, Policies, and Services (Springer Series on Lifestyles and Issues in Aging) ReviewI thought this book is excellent, it covered what I was looking for. I had to do a research paper on community services, and factors that influence elderly to use community services. This book was excellent by far. I strongly recommend anyone who is looking into community services, to use this book..
thanks alot amazon.......Community Care for an Aging Society: Issues, Policies, and Services (Springer Series on Lifestyles and Issues in Aging) Overview

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At Home in the Studio: The Professionalization of Women Artists in America Review

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At Home in the Studio: The Professionalization of Women Artists in America ReviewThis book is interesting, well researched and written and thoroughly enjoyable. Even those with little background on her subject matter will get something out of it.At Home in the Studio: The Professionalization of Women Artists in America Overview

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Fashionable Acts: Opera and Elite Culture in London, 1780-1880 (Becoming Modern: New Nineteenth-Century Studies) Review

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Fashionable Acts: Opera and Elite Culture in London, 1780-1880 (Becoming Modern: New Nineteenth-Century Studies) Review"Fashionable Acts" is a closely-observed study of the microcosm of the audiences of the London opera world for what the changing behavior of this audience--i. e., the "fashionable acts"--tells about the process of democratization of the society. In the late 1700s, opera-going was essentially an occasion for socializing among the aristocracy; which at the time were the politically-connected and politically-influential. Socializing at the opera was a continuation of the socializing that was carried on at the social clubs, exclusive residences, and chambers of royalty that were in the same neighborhood as the major opera house, the Queen's theater. This socializing involved political dealmaking, searching for suitable marriage partners, ostentatious display of younger men, and indications of the rising or falling influence of various individuals as indicated by who was seated near whom and who was spending time with whom. Hall-Witt--an independent scholar teaching part-time at Smith--also observes the role of many aristocratic women as "gatekeepers" in that they held certain subscription boxes and remain seated for men to go them in their rounds of socializing. The opera being performed on the stage was almost incidental with the bustling socializing.
By the end of the 1800s, this had changed to where the audience silently, and appreciatively, watched the opera. Opera-going still had some vestiges of its former significant as a showplace for social standing. But this was communicated basically simply by attendance, to this extent copying a ritual of the aristocracy. Along with attendance, where one sat during a performance indicated one's social rank--which by then was more earned or assumed than granted by birthright--as the better seats cost more. By the latter 1800s, businessmen outnumbered aristocrats at the London operas. The socializing was replaced by silent watching not only because of new ideas about regard for others in public places; but also because members of the audience did not know one another as had those in the relatively small circle of aristocrats of the latter 1700s. Moreover, the growing class of businessmen who were becoming the new most significant political group conducted their affairs in the privacy of offices or at meetings.
Becoming examples of decorous behavior at the opera was one conspicuous way the aristocracy tried to maintain its social standing and influence. But in this, it was adopting behavior of the democratic social elements rather than confirming or exercising meaningful social or political force. Changes in opera reviewing with different periodicals, the diminished place of women, and new tastes in opera (e. g., preferences for Mozart over Italian operas) are among other germane topics brought in in this distinctive work of cultural studies in which Hall-Witt provides a bounty of material while keeping a sharp, revealing focus.Fashionable Acts: Opera and Elite Culture in London, 1780-1880 (Becoming Modern: New Nineteenth-Century Studies) Overview

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Philanthropy, Patronage, and Civil Society: Experiences from Germany, Great Britain, and North America (Philanthropic and Nonprofit Studies) Review

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Philanthropy, Patronage, and Civil Society: Experiences from Germany, Great Britain, and North America (Philanthropic and Nonprofit Studies) ReviewAs a practitioner, I'm grateful for scholars that think enough of philanthropy to study it with academic scrutiny and report their findings. Philanthropy, Patronage, and Civil Society is a collection of the work of such scholars. Thomas Adam has compiled ten essays examining impact of the transatlantic influence of philanthropists and patrons on the changing cultures of Germany, Great Britain, Canada, and the United States.
Philanthropy, Patronage, and Civil Society is packed with information and new ways for practitioners to look at the roots of early modern philanthropy. I was intrigued by the way "philanthropy" has been defined over the years. I was also surprised to see how important philanthropy was in the life of Germany before the twentieth century. In fact, in his essay, Thomas Adams argues that philanthropy is not an American invention but really comes from Europe.
Because Philanthropy, Patronage, and Civil Society is written by scholars for scholars, it is a bit dense to read. It helps if you can find a personal connection with some aspect of each chapter as I did in the sixth chapter with the discussion of Leipzig's Gewandhaus Orchestra. (A friend of mine from high school is part of this orchestra.)
I found the section on Jewish philanthropy particularly interesting. One essay explores the different experience of the German Jews as a minority population and the U.S. Jews as just one immigrant population among many others. It's also fascinating to see how philanthropy became a bridge between Jewish people of different religious beliefs.
Philanthropy, Patronage, and Civil Society definitely delivers on its promise to give a thorough historical comparative look at the transatlantic nature of philanthropy in the eighteenth through early twentieth centuries.
CONTENTS
PART I: PHILANTHROPY IN A TRANSATLANTIC WORLD
1. Philanthropy and the Shaping of Social Distinctions in Nineteenth-Century U.S., Canadian, and German Cities - Thomas Adam
2. "The Glue of Civil Society": A Comparative Approach to Art Museum Philanthropy at the Turn of the Twentieth Century - Karsten Borgmann
3. Self-Help and Philanthropy: The Emergence of Cooperatives in Britain, Germany, the United States, and Canada from Mid-Nineteenth to Mid-Twentieth Century - Brett Fairbairn
4. Patronage and the Great Institutions of the Cities of the United States: Question sand Evidence, 1800-2000 - David C. Hammack
PART II: BETWEEN MARKET AND STATE: PHILANTHROPY AND SOCIAL ELITES
5. Philanthropy and Science in Wilhelmine Germany - Eckhardt Fuchs and Dieter Hoffmann
6. The Serious matter of True Joy: Music and Cultural Philanthropy in Leipzig, 1781-1933 - Margaret Eleanor Menninger
7. Changing Perceptions of Philanthropy in the Voluntary Housing Field in Nineteenth- and Early-Twentieth-Century London - Susannah Morris
PART III: JEWISH PHILANTHROPY AND EMBOURGEOISEMENT
8. Rabbinic Study, Self-Improvement, and Philanthropy: Gender and the Refashioning of Jewish Voluntary Associations in Germany, 1750-1870 - Maria Benjamin Baader
9. Ethnic Difference and Civic Unity: A Comparison of Jewish Communal Philanthropy in Nineteenth-Century German and U.S. Cities - Tobias Brinkmann
10. Burgerlichkeit, Patronage, and Communal Liberalism in Germany 1871-1914 - Simone Lässig
Contributors
IndexPhilanthropy, Patronage, and Civil Society: Experiences from Germany, Great Britain, and North America (Philanthropic and Nonprofit Studies) Overview

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Small Strangers: The Experiences of Immigrant Children in America, 1880-1925 (American Childhoods Series) Review

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Small Strangers: The Experiences of Immigrant Children in America, 1880-1925 (American Childhoods Series) ReviewSMALL STRANGERS: THE EXPERIENCES OF IMMIGRANT CHILDREN IN AMERICA, 1880-1925 provides a rare look at immigration using children's own experiences over the last century. Few existing immigrant studies do more than nod to the child's perspective: SMALL STRANGERS fills a gap, analyzing kids at home, at work and at play and considering their special challenges. An excellent addition to any college-level collection strong in immigrant studies.
Diane C. Donovan
California BookwatchSmall Strangers: The Experiences of Immigrant Children in America, 1880-1925 (American Childhoods Series) Overview

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Handbook of Digital Homecare (Series in Biomedical Engineering) Review

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Handbook of Digital Homecare (Series in Biomedical Engineering) ReviewWith the increasing percentage of seniors in the population and the advent of 'universal healthcare' in the US, this topic is hot and will become hotter. The products associated with this topic will provide a paradigm shift in healthcare.
I wondered for a moment if the primary editors were related to Ann Coulter as they had said they had searched and couldn't find many references found to "digital homecare". However, if he or she would have use any one of a bunch of synonyms such as "telehealth homecare", "remote homecare", "eHealth homecare", or "remote homecare", they would have gotten a lot of hits.
Also, it has no index. In a digital age (not the title), this beyond the pale. I guess Springer doesn't believe in software based editing tools. I think I had an index creator for the VMS editor.
Another minor gripe is that it is written from a European perspective. That does not affect the validity in any way. There are necessary and sufficient books which are US centered. For the most part, it enlivens the reading. I just would like to know more about what is going on in the US...I have a feeling, it was nothing.
Aside from those minor nuances, it appears to be quite accurate. There is a lot of good information in the book. It is a collection of scholarly papers. As such, being easy to read is unusual; the academicians often seem to thrive on their profundity. I have paged through the book stopping to read and extract gems here and there. Last night I sat down to read it and the six chapters I have read thus far are very easy to read. There is a lot of discussion on regulation and the need for data interoperability. There are some good examples of field usage and need.
I skipped the chapter on privacy because it was too oriented to European regulations and not enough to general requirements. In the chapter on diffusion of the technology, the authors either were unaware or did not care that there is a wealth of information on system or technology diffusion in existence. The discussion and references in that chapter concentrated on chemistry and not on existing methodology in technology diffusion or communications diffusion. I gave up when they brought up the Arrhenius equation. I guess if you heat up the place by ten degrees, it will diffuse twice as fast.Handbook of Digital Homecare (Series in Biomedical Engineering) Overview

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At War With Words (Language, Power, and Social Process, 10) Review

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At War With Words (Language, Power, and Social Process, 10) ReviewIn a new era of global conflict involving non-state actors, At War with Words offers a provocative perspective on the role of language in the genesis, conduct and consequence of mass violence. Sociolinguistics meets political science and communication studies in order to examine interdependence between armed conflict and language. As phenomena attributed only to humans, both armed conflict and language are visible on two axes: language as war discourse, and language as a social policy subject to change by the victorious.
In this unique volume, internationally known contributors provide original data and new insights that illuminate roles of text and talk in creating identities of enemies, justifications for violence, and accompanying propaganda. Incorporating contexts from around the world, this collection's topics range from a radio talk show hosts' inflammatory rhetoric to the semantic poverty of the lexicon of mass destruction. The first eight chapters discuss war texts. How does language serve as a vehicle to incite, justify, and resolve an armed conflict? Case studies from the US to China, and from Austria to Ghana detail such a progression to, through, and from war. The book's second part reflects the understanding of language as a symbol of power achieved by a victorious side in war. Five chapters discuss cases from Okinawa, Croatia, Cyprus, Palau, and Northern Ireland.
Edited by a sociolinguist and a political scientist, At War with Words includes chapters by Michael Billig, Paul Chilton, Ruth Wodak and a dozen other prominent linguists and communications scholars. This book will be of interest to linguists, media scholars and political scientists, but is also accessible to any reader interested in language and war. Teachers will find particular chapters useful as course material in discourse analysis, language policy, war and peace studies, conflict resolution, mass communication, and other related disciplines.At War With Words (Language, Power, and Social Process, 10) Overview

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Cyberunion: Empowering Labor Through Computer Technology (Issues in Work and Human Resources) Review

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Cyberunion: Empowering Labor Through Computer Technology (Issues in Work and Human Resources) ReviewThis book has effectively established the "bar" for cyber-unionism. Some might complain that the book is not detailed enough or technical; however, Mr. Shostak is the first author to formally challenge existing paradigms and move unions to action.
As a student at the National Labor College, Vice President and CIO of my union, and webmaster for our site, I recommend this book as a must read for any unionist who is attempting to implement technology in their union. Actual implementation methodologies and philosophies should be forthcoming in his next book which I am eagerly anticipating.Cyberunion: Empowering Labor Through Computer Technology (Issues in Work and Human Resources) Overview

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Pacifica Radio: The Rise of an Alternative Network (American Subjects) Review

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Pacifica Radio: The Rise of an Alternative Network (American Subjects) Review`Pacifica Radio: The Rise of an Alternative Network' recounts the fifty-year history of the nation's first listener-sponsored and only politically left radio network.
A previous reviewer laments the book's `failure' to critique the content and style of Pacifica's present programming. But this book's purpose is deeper and, it seems to me, much more interesting. It follows Pacifica's internal discussions, debates, and internecine battles through fifty years of its staff, board, and activist listener's efforts to maintain an American media institution that is not owned by or beholden to corporations, the government, or wealthy donors and thereby remains free to produce and broadcast challenging and controversial radio.
When Pacifica's first station, KPFA, began broadcasting to the San Francisco Bay Area in 1949 it was unlike any radio station before it. Its founders were pacifists and anarchists some of whom had spent time during WWII incarcerated as conscientious objectors. The station's agenda was radical. Its format was groundbreaking. And its means of support (listener-sponsorship) was, at the time, unheard of. Also, in 1949 its audience was tiny. An FM license could be had for little more than the cost of an application because most radios of the day were able to receive only AM signals. KPFA had to distribute FM receivers to its prospective listeners. Today the market value of the five Pacifica stations (in New York, Los Angeles, The San Francisco Bay Area, Houston, and Washington D.C.) approaches half a billion dollars.
The dangers posed by McCarthyism, the challenge and promise of the Southern Civil Rights struggle, the intense and tumultuous Vietnam years, the movements for racial and gender equality, and the struggles at home and abroad for personal, political, economic, national, and sexual liberation all have left their mark on Pacifica Radio and Pacifica has shaped those movements and events as well. Through it all Pacifica has managed to remain, as the motto of its signature program, `Democracy Now' puts it, "the exception to the rulers".
Whether one is inclined to describe the present programming as conventional or courageous (and it has elements that are both) Matthew Lasar's thoughtful account of how this `mission driven' network has reflected, responded to, and shaped our times will interest anyone who works with others to make progressive social change possible.Pacifica Radio: The Rise of an Alternative Network (American Subjects) Overview

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