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It is well known that the CIA funded right-wing intellectuals after World War II; fewer know that it also courted individuals from the center and the left in an effort to turn the intelligentsia away from communism and toward an acceptance of "the American way." Frances Stonor Saunders sifts through the history of the covert Congress for Cultural Freedom in The Cultural Cold War: The CIA and the World of Arts and Letters. The book centers on the career of Michael Josselson, the principal intellectual figure in the operation, and his eventual betrayal by people who scapegoated him. Sanders demonstrates that, in the early days, the Office of Strategic Services (OSS) and the emergent CIA were less dominated by the far right than they later became, and that the idea of helping out progressive moderates--rather than being Machiavellian--actually appealed to the men at the top.
Many intellectuals were still drawn to Stalin's Russia. Saunders superbly traces the crisis of conscience that McCarthyism and its associated book-burning caused, and the subsequent rise of more moderate ideals. This exhaustive account, despite neglecting some important side issues, is an essential book. --Roz Kaveney, Amazon.co.uk
Book Description
The "rivetingly told" (Times Literary Supplement) story of the CIA's Cold War cultural operations, short-listed for the Guardian First Book Award. In The Cultural Cold War, Frances Stonor Saunders presents for the first time the shocking evidence that the CIA infiltrated every niche of the cultural sphere during the postwar years. In a "hammer-blow of a book" (The Spectator, London) drawing together recently declassified documents and exclusive interviews, the author narrates the extraordinary story of a secret campaign in which some of the most vocal exponents of intellectual freedom in the West were instruments of America's secret service. The CIA's front organizations and the philanthropic foundations that channeled its money organized conferences, founded magazines, ran congresses, mounted exhibitions, arranged concerts, and flew symphony orchestras around the world. Many of the period's foremost intellectuals, artists, and philanthropists appear in the book: Isaiah Berlin, Clement Greenberg, Sidney Hook, Arthur Koestler, Irving Kristol, Robert Lowell, Henry Luce, Andr Malraux, Mary McCarthy, Reinhold Neibuhr, George Orwell, Jackson Pollock, Nelson Rockefeller, Bertrand Russell, Jean-Paul Sartre, Arthur Schlesinger, Jr., and Stephen Spender, among others. While many were unwitting participants in the CIA's cultural operation, others were willing collaborators. In this expose of covert patronage unprecedented in modern history, recently short-listed for the Guardian First Book Award, Saunders has created "a crucial story" (The Times, London) that is "quite unputdownable" (Literary Review).
Customer Reviews:
An Outstanding Historical Analysis.......2006-10-07
Eric Ehrman's review fully fails to explain the value of this book. First he says there's nothing new here because Simone de Beauvoir wrote a novel that touches on it. If he fails to understand the difference between a novel and history then he can't be taken seriously.
He also suggests that the question about why Conor Cruise O'Brien criticized Camus is a "bigger picture." What a mind-bogglingly stupid statement!
The point of this book is that after WWII, Western Europe was in danger of falling under the sway of the Soviet Union. Capitalism had been blamed for not only the worldwide depression, but both world wars, and socialism was seen by many as a more respectable alternative. As well, Russia had a respectable cultural heritage, while Americans were seen as gum-chewing cowboys. So keeping Western Europe in the free world was a huge task. If Ehrmann thinks a tiff between O'Brien and Camus is a bigger picture than this...well, words to describe the utter silliness of that escape me.
Of course the most important--and famous--policy towards that goal was the Marshall Plan. Keep Europeans from starving after the war, and rebuild their economies, and voila, they're on our side. But there was a cultural war as well, and this is Saunders' focus. The CIA of the time was an intriguing good old boy's club, very much in the manner of the British intelligence service at the time, filled with highly educated, cultured, and well-bred folks (read John Le Carre's novels and you'll get a sense of the type). These people understood that cultural issues were important--as blue-blood Yankees they had been raised with a sense of noblesse oblige, and many of them came from families that had created the great art museums for the very purpose of bringing culture to the masses. (Seems insufferably elitist today, but that's how it was.)
Notably, these early CIA folk had to fight against backwoods southern politicians who lacked their insight. While the politicians rejected the use of public funds to support anyone who was marginally to the left of the average southern reactionary, the CIA people recognized that including them in shows touring Europe served the purpose of boosting the U.S. over the Soviet Union.
First, avant garde work such as the abstract expressionists (condemned by one politician as being coded maps to such sensitive U.S. sites as Hoover Dam) contrasted well with the restricted formalism of socialist realism, highlighting America's cultural vitality. Second, by including left-leaning artists, it showed (perhaps not entirely truthfully) that America was big enough, strong enough, and free enough to allow dissidents to operate freely, also in strong contrast to the ideological restrictiveness of the Soviet Union.
I give the book 4 stars, rather than 5, because the one point where Ehrman is correct is in his criticism of Saunders' prose. She appears to be trying very hard to be an elegant and sophisticated writer, but it simply comes across as stilted and artificial. That's too bad, because the story she has to tell is fascinating and important. Maybe Ehrman missed the point because he couldn't wade through her turgid style.
An unmined field.......2000-12-19
As a reading experience, the narrative is oddly fascinating; as a source of obscure information, the material is richly rewarding; but as a history of the culture wars of the early cold war period, the book is mediocre at best. The narrative succeeds because the author keeps it moving nicely, providing biographical information when needed, but never as a drag. (Turns out that key shapers of early CIA were pedigeed establishment figures, lending weight to view of the Agency as an establishment - and not a populist - response to post-war world.) The intrigues lack the usual blood and guts of CIA operations, but are fascinating nonetheless, as intellectuals battle one another on both sides of the iron curtain. Saunders has done a service by providing information from research on this little known corner of the cold war. (Who among the general readership would otherwise know of the political intrigues that surrounded the promotion of non-representational art!) As a history of the culture war, the book doesn't work nearly as well, mainly because the events unfold without much historical context to illuminate them. For example, we learn very little of why various conferences were scheduled by the CIA's front organization, The Congress fo Cultural Freedom. Were they part of a larger propaganda offensive, perhaps in response to an aggressive Soviet move, or maybe to provide a paid holiday for penniless academics. etc. By and large, the adversarial Soviet Union, a key player in the drama, remains a very shadowy and unanalyzed presense throughout.
It's always tricky in a book about the Cold War to adopt a correct distance from the material. In this case, I believe Saunders succeeds admirably given the politically charged subject matter. She's largely non-judgemental toward the leading players, most of whom are none to sympathetic. Just as importantly, she is alert to the ironies of a Congress that preaches artistic freedom, yet whose publications refuse to include material critical of U.S. policy or objectives. In the final analysis, as she indicates on the last page, this was not a contest between virtue and evil, but between competing empires, one of which still stands with all its powers of deception still intact. The author has done a nice job of documenting one of those deceptive operations in action.
A Revisionist History of One 20th Century "Kulturkampf".......2000-06-18
This is a highly nuanced work- a decouverture and denouement of the scams and schemes of one particular compartment of cultural intelligence work orchestrated by one organisation- by the compilers of a new generation. Its oft stilted prose and loaded language are quite similar to that employed by Nicholas Davidow in his character assassination portrayal of major league baseball player and OSS operator Moe Berg.
Anyone who has read Simone de Beauvoir's roman-a-clef "The New Mandarins", published nearly half a century ago can match the players who hang out in her novel's fictive "Bar Rouge" (The Ritz Hotel Bar in Paris) with the names Frances Stonor Saunders chooses to name in her work. Nothing really new here.
Stonor's process of contacting and interviewing family members of those who played some role in the "Congress for Cultural Freedom" deserves praise and projects the sense of an open society that, today, is far more open than those whose machinations created the CCF could have ever imagined, or, wanted, for that matter.
Although the Soviet Union, Great Britain, France, the "two Germanys" and the Vatican all conducted their own cultural operations, based on their own interests and requirements, Stonor focuses on the United States, where freedom of information laws are light years ahead of the other major players.
There's a much bigger picture to be painted here. Questions that could have been raised, that were not. For example, why did Conor Cruise O'Brien, someone with known links to the CCF argue that Albert Camus was a "grade B" writer and that he received the 1960 Nobel Prize for Literature only to counterpoise the "Communist" existentialist and acadamician Jean-Paul Sartre?
Then too, Stonor's focus on the CCF leaves out another key element of the U.S. "kulturkampf" strategy, namely, the issue of "journalistic cover." This is an area where an individual with Stonor's keen investigative talents could unearth a goldmine of information that would have relevance and demand accountability today.
With the velocity of information moving today exponentially faster than it did during the period being examined by Stonor, one wonders whether it is best to expend such outstanding investigative energy turning the old stones of the past, or to examine the new stones that are gathering no moss. As our global economy migrates toward the civic religion of democratic corporativism, this is the issue that Stonor and others should be examining.
CIA AS THE U.S. AUTHOR'S SUGARDADDY.......2000-05-11
From faraway London, Frances Stonor Saunders took on a thorny topic-- CIA's secret underwriting of editors and authors in the US and Europe .In effect, says Saunders,the CIA thought it prudent to bribe name brand writers when the Cold War got under way . Bribery makes great writers; Saunders' list of those who took bribes includes the best poets, novelists and pop writers of the era . But are we to believe that an Englishwoman has the right slant on the CIA? Maybe. On the other hand a secret agency , with secret budgets in the billions ( when a buck was a buck) could create any sort of media, without a single politician or president or magazine, raising a voice against the notion. Did the CIA create publishing firms ? Did it commissions books and articles ? Did it inject itself into the managements and boards of directors of media firms ? We can't tell from Saunders book. But its at least a beginning . Maybe some American will now take on the big job of telling us what the CIA is up to today in the infotainment field . After all, this is all the CIA has to do--management the media . With the cold war over, the CIA can even bribe Russians in the print and broadcasting industries .
Book Description
This digital document is an article from Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, published by Educational Foundation for Nuclear Science, Inc. on September 1, 2000. The length of the article is 1818 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.
Citation Details
Title: The Cultural Cold War: The CIA and the World of Arts and Letters.(Review)
Author: Paul D. Boyer
Publication:
Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists (Refereed)
Date: September 1, 2000
Publisher: Educational Foundation for Nuclear Science, Inc.
Volume: 56
Issue: 5
Page: 59
Article Type: Book Review
Distributed by Thomson Gale
Book Description
A companion volume to John Peacock's 20th Century Fashion and Men's Fashion, Fashion Accessories is the most comprehensive record ever published of fashion accessories throughout the twentieth century. More than 2000 full-color drawings--the result of extensive research into paintings, photographs, and the accessories themselves--reproduce each original item in meticulous detail, accompanied by a complete description. The book covers every kind of high-fashion male and female accessory for both day and evening wear: hats and caps; shoes, boots, slippers, and sandals; bags and purses; umbrellas and parasols; jewelry; scarves, stoles, and capes; gloves and belts; cravats, ties, and bow-ties. It includes a wide range of streetwear and sportswear, from baseball caps to plastic sandals, and every variety of the ubiquitous late-century sports shoe. All the century's archetypal accessories are identified, from the luxurious ostrich-feather and flower-bedecked hat of the 1910s and the cloche and pearl necklace of the 1920s, to the velvet scarf and mini-backpack of the 1990s. A final reference section contains a comprehensive bibliography and a chart that shows at a glance how accessories have evolved since 1900. There are biographies of the century's most influential accessories designers, from Salvatore Ferragamo and Manolo Blahnik to Patrick Cox and Georgina von Etzdorf, plus short histories of companies and firms that have played an important role in accessory design. For fashion enthusiasts, historians, and collectors, as well as designers working in the performing arts, this book will be the definitive reference work on twentieth-century accessories. Over 2000 color illustrations.
Customer Reviews:
A Good Reference to Add to an Existing Fashion Library.......2006-03-10
Even though I wish that these were photos, I recognize just how much work went into compiling this book and others that John Peacock has produced. This is a great book to help one understand visually subtle changes in fashion over the decades of the 20th century. I found it very interesting and feel that I will constantly reach for it for inspiration and ideas.
Excellent source book.......2005-11-08
I first saw this book in Casa Mila museum shop in Barcelona and later regretted that I didn't buy it. I was delighted to find this book on Amazon. It contains pages after pages of very detailed colour drawings of men's and women's accessories through the century including the explanations. Moreover, included are the pictures of the complete look of each decade. It is an excellent, complete and clear source book which can be a great aid for such a perfectionist like me
Book Description
An insightful comic strip filled with edgy dialogue and thoroughly modern situations, Candorville by Darrin Bell is made for today's world. It fearlessly covers bigotry, poverty, homelessness, biracialism, personal responsibility, and more while never losing sight of the humor behind these weighty issues. The strip effectively targets the rising tide of socially conscious twenty- and thirtysomethings tackling tough issues with irony, satire, and humor, and taking a few well-aimed jabs at political correctness.
The built-in culture clash among Candorville's hip residents celebrates diversity by poking a little fun at it. Lemont Brown, his childhood friend Susan Garcia, and Clyde (that's "C-Dog" to you) represent the the rapidly growing black/Hispanic perspective in the United States. Syndicated worldwide in 2003, Candorville was one of the few comic strips to launch in both English and Spanish. The strip appears in such papers as the Los Angeles Times, Chicago Tribune, Washington Post, Seattle Times, Detroit Free Press, Rocky Mountain News, and Al Dia (Dallas Morning News Spanish edition).
Customer Reviews:
One of the Best that Makes you Think.......2006-05-19
Candorville is truly amazing. At first it is funny, but then when you think about the story and the issues it is not funny. Darrin Bell got a really good scope on the urban 20 to 30 something part of society by selecting his main characters. You've got the no good thug/bum Clyde who quick to blame everyone else for his situation but never blames himself. Then you've got Lemont - a smart and talented writer with low self-esteem and constant fears of rejection. Lemont knows better but his own insecurity stops him from doing better. Lemont seems to voice the opinion of the author. I think Lemont's character represents Darrin Bell. Lemont and his thoughts are the source of all critical questions asked in this book. And of course, you've got Susan Garcia. Susan is a progressive young woman who wants to grow professionally but is often torn by dilemmas in her workplace. Susan's character is Darrin's wife, who also happens to be latina. This assumption becomes evident as the story in the book develops.
The characters grow with every strip and eventually will evolve to be as complex as normal human beings.
But enough criticism, Candorville is awesome and a great read with your morning coffee.
A treat for comics fans.......2006-01-27
I've enjoyed "Candorville" since it appeared in the Washington Post circa 2003. Darrin Bell has a sharp sense of humor and a keen eye for social as well as political absurdities. His strip isn't just perceptive, it's very, very funny.
Newer cartoonist w/ potential greatness.......2005-12-30
A funny collection of comic strips that threaten you to think about social issues in this country without the all the anger. I really love the main characters Lemont, C-Dog, and Susan who seem to evolve w/ each page. I am already inpatiently awaiting the next book of adventures. The romantic tension between Lemont and Susan is obvious, however, I find their tolerence of C-Dog more than a little interesting. Anyway this is an intelligent social issue comic strip that doesn't quite jump in your face like Boondocks, but will try to speak to you just the same.
......very funny.......2005-11-24
I bought this book because of its interesting cover ,not expecting too much from it.But I had a pleasant surprise as I started going through it.The author shows a lot of promise.This book covers a lot of social issues prevalent in our world today.Definitely thought provoking.......The beauty of this book is how some of these serious issues are presented in such a hilarious manner.I really liked the character of Clyde
[C-dog].The author has co-authored another comic book series called Rudy Park,I look forward to reading that too.
Recommended if you are looking for something both intelligent and funny.
Average customer rating:
- Great book, but could be expanded
- Serious scholarly text, but darn fun to read
- swear in six languages!
- the best of the lot
- Spankilicious
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International Dictionary of Obscenities: A Guide to Dirty Words and Indecent Expressions in Spanish, Italian, French, German and Russian
Christina Kunitskaya-Peterson
Manufacturer: Scythian Books
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Customer Reviews:
Great book, but could be expanded.......2006-11-21
I really like this book, but at the end of each language chapter was left wanting more. It's a fun adult coffee table book when not in use on travels.
Serious scholarly text, but darn fun to read.......2003-05-13
This book is an amazingly scholarly work on an amazingly unusual subject. It actually is what it purports to be, with a fine attention to detail; and is arranged in such a way that it is not only highly amusing but could honestly be used in serious translational work.
But, also, it's a lot of fun.
I seriously recommend this for both "serious" libraries and for someone who would like a bit of spice in their reading.
swear in six languages!.......2000-04-20
A small dictionary, but there are those who love it. The IDO explains -- in English that is, to say the least, not shy -- all the filthiest language from Spanish, Italian, French, German and Russian. It is sort of unsettling to see all these curses and dirty words in a sterile dictionary column. Once you get past that initial weirdness, though, the dictionary will be a shameless joy to thumb through. It is true that insults and foul words are the funniest parts of a language, so if for nothing else you should look into this book as a humor piece.
the best of the lot.......2000-02-20
One thing I learned is this: don't practice these Spanish tasties with strangers in Mexico. I found out two things: they weren't amused and the dictionary was accurate. Some of the religious references were so rough I thought I'd be struck by lightning just for practicing them to myself. It is titled a dictionary of obsenities and that it is.
Spankilicious.......1999-09-08
This book is excellent for table top enjoyment. I leave it on my table in my room and everyone always picks it up for a look. Its a good conversation piece/starter. A must have.
Book Description
Overview of the life and career of the master of Italian horror cinema, from his first script for Leone's Once Upon a Time in the West, to producing Dawn of the Dead, to his Terror Trilogy with his Hollywood superstar daughter Asia Argento. This is the first exploration of the psyche and methodology of the man who galvanized global horror with his super-shock sensation, Suspiria. Meticulously collated into one unique volume are * every feature, interview, review of Argento's work * new material and never-before-published facts and secrets * exclusive Argento interviews * rare stills, posters and candid behind-the-scenes photos from private collections * full-length interviews with 28 collaborators, including George Romero, Max Von Sydow and Julian Sands
Customer Reviews:
THE Argento book.......2006-10-23
PROFONDO ARGENTO is the second book I have ever bought from FAB Press. The first was ART OF DARKNESS: THE CINEMA OF DARIO ARGENTO which, to say the least, was a disappointment. A beautiful but empty pseudo-anyalis of the filmmaker's career, ART OF DARKNESS was about as stale and lifeless as any film book you'll ever encounter. It seems this problem has plagued a lot of the other tomes in the FAB Press line-up: BEYOND TERROR, their Lucio Fulci book, has also been cited as something of a waste. But PROFONDO, thankfully, trumps both of them and turns out to be one of the best, most invigorating studies of a cult filmmaker ever published.
The reason is simple: British author Alan Jones has spent the past twenty-five years or so working with Argento himself. He has been on the film sets of virtually all of the man's post-PHENOMENA films, and has access to rare behind-the-scenes info, opinions, and interviews that no one else would. Whereas Stephen Thrower felt merely content to sit in his room and type up 350 pages of heartless dross and call it a book, Jones actually has something to SHOW us. Simply put, any Argento fan cannot go without this book. Unless the director himself writes it, there will never be a better book about his career.
Features chapters dedicated to each of the man's movies up to NON HO SONNO (SLEEPLESS), interviews with cast and crew (and Argento himself), behind-the-scenes photos, color artwork, and brief sections on Argento contemporaries like Asia, Michele Soavi, etc. The only thing it doesn't have is information on the man's childhood, etc.
Profondo Sycophancy!.......2006-07-01
Despite the popularity of horror throughout the 70's, 80's and 90's and its acceptance by academia and critics as a valid form of cinematic expression, it is astonishing that there has been so few books about Italian director Dario Argento. The first serious study was by Maitland McDonagh in 1994's BROKEN MIRRORS, BROKEN MINDS. This was followed in 2003 by ART OF DARKNESS edited by Chris Gallant. If you're looking for books that explore the deeper themes of Argento's work then I would recommend both of these over Alan Jones' PROFONDO ARGENTO. Jones' effort is perfectly usable, but lacks the sophistication and thematic depth of the other two. The book also suffers from an irritating degree of sycophancy, which comes from Jones' well documented friendship with Argento. This is all very good, but why do we need to know about it? Far too much of this book is anecdotal, which detracts both from the enjoyment and any objective critical stance. In compensation though, as one would expect from FAB PRESS, the book is attractively illustrated. Many of the photos come from Jones' personal collection, and for this he should be commended. There is certainly enthusiasm here and one can tell that for Jones it was a labour of love, and on occasion the prose is exciting and imaginative.
As an introduction to Argento's cinema I would recommend PROFONDO ARGENTO as your first port of call (having made sure you have watched all the available films of course), compared to the other two major works on him, it is light, entertaining and readable. But be warned, in this book the story of Argento's cinema is also the story of Alan Jones, and I for one am certainly not interested in the latter.
A must-read for Dario Argento fans.......2006-03-04
If there is one valid complaint to be made about this book it is that there is too much information presented within its pages. Argento fans know there is no such thing as "too much information" when it comes to the master of Italian film, though.
Interviews, rare photos and lobby cards, film reviews and more are presented in this gorgeous book. If you are an Argento fan and haven't read this, you are truly missing out. There is something for even the most die-hard fanatic to learn.
Beautiful Argento book by a fan for the fans........2005-06-09
All Argento fans can rejoice with the publication of Alan Jones' book Profondo Argento: The Man, The Myth And the Magic. Everything a fan(or newcomer)wanted to know about Dario Argento's work(films, reviews, interviews, articles, etc.) is practically here. It is extremely well researched, with lots of interviews and articles, and it is profusely illustrated with images, posters and people associated with Argento's work and world. The best thing is that the book is pretty much up to date, covering Argento's latest giallo "The Card Player." This book is definitely a work of love by a fan for the fans and I find myself always referring to it quite frequently. A true delight well worth for the price. I highly recommend it.
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Flash Cards, Major Triads
Manufacturer: Hal Leonard Corp
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: 0634001787 |
Average customer rating:
- Brief but helpful intro to Shogi
- A Good Introduction to a Challenging Game
- If you can play chess, this book is for you.
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Shogi: Japan's Game of Strategy
Trevor Leggett
Manufacturer: Tuttle Publishing
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Chinese Chess: An Introduction to China's Ancient Game of Strategy
ASIN: 0804819033 |
Customer Reviews:
Brief but helpful intro to Shogi.......2007-05-17
I have been playing shogi with some friends for a little while, but I really wanted to brush up on my skills and try to develop more advanced techniques. Having read this book, I feel like a more confident shogi player. Mr. Leggett walks through the basics of shogi pieces, with the focus on how to effect mate with those pieces. Then dropping pieces is introduced. From there, Mr. Leggett works the player through basic strategy before showing championship games and the strategies used there.
As an introduction to shogi, I think this book is a good effort, but is somewhat rough around the edges. The does pretty well in walking through the very basics, but starts to jump into advanced strategy without covering mid-level strategy much. Mr. Leggett has many useful mottos and pointers to keep in mind (you need X number of pieces to drop to effect mate, Y number if you have pieces promoted), and some of these have been helpful with my own gameplay. In addition, the basic pointers on how to mate an opponent have actually helped me to win games since reading this book.
My only complaint (hence the 4 stars) is the focus on specific games, and not enough examples of general strategy. Also the length of the book is somewhat brief. I feel that each section could use some more expansion, particularly the later sections.
In any case, I think this is a fine book, and a good read for anyone whose new to shogi, or wants to brush up on their skills. I think this book is good for rounding out one's knowledge of shogi.
A Good Introduction to a Challenging Game.......2000-07-11
The Japanese play Chess as enthusiastically as we play golf, but Japanese Chess, or Shogi, is quite unlike Chess. At first glance, Shogi bears no resemblance whatsoever to Chess. The 9x9 board is uncheckered and is marked with dots similar to those on a Go board. The pieces look like little pentagonal arrowheads or wedges, and enemy pieces are distinguished, not by color, but by the direction in which they point. Probably the most intimidating aspect of Shogi is that the pieces' ranks are displayed in Japanese hieroglyphics. The pieces' ranks appear in black on one side, and their promoted value in red on the other side. The pieces are really quite easy to learn, and although Westernized sets abound, the game loses some of its charm when played with pieces marked with English initials and arrows indicating the movement of the pieces.
For almost twenty years, until the publication of John Fairbairn's "Shogi for Beginners," this book served as the only English language introduction to the game. Fairbairn's book is more thorough and gives deeper insight into the game, but Fairbairn's diagrams are in Japanese hieroglyphics. Legget's book uses Westernized symbols which are easier to decipher. Leggett's book also has this advantage over Fairbairn's: It comes with a cardboard punchout Shogi set.
Thus, Fairbairn's book gives better instruction, but Leggett's is more user-friendly.
If you can play chess, this book is for you........1999-12-10
This is my first review of a book at Amazon, but I was moved to write because this book does not deserve the three star rating given by the only other reviewer. While it is true that (until recently) this was the only book in English about Shogi, it is in my opinion a much better introduction than most beginning books on chess. Trevor starts with the rules of chess, and quickly converts that knowledge into how the pieces move in Shogi, adding info where needed. Then he offers an (admittedly brief) introduction to two different opening styles (like King's pawn vs Queen's pawn openings if you will). He uses the game with mistakes as an illustration because, as a beginner, one learns more from mistakes than from flawless master-level play. I have lived in Japan now for four years and have had ample opportunity to see such high-level play -- it baffles me. Still, with this book, I have turned my chess skills into a moderate level Shogi game. I've even won a few games against some friends. In the end, this book hooked me on Shogi. It is a great game, and this book does much to take you from beginner to moderate player (I recommend a computer game to help you learn too)
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Cho-Yo
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ASIN: 0710307187 |
Book Description
Shogi -- Japanese chess -- is the supreme game of strategy, and this book is the key to its mastery at the most profound levels. Written in 1899 by the enigmatic Professor Cho-Yo -- artist, philosopher, and master player -- it is the book that introduced shogi to the west and remains the best exposition of the philosophy of the mastery of shogi, which he describes as the most highly developed, most interesting, and most scientific and philosophical of all the games ever invented, illustrating the secret and intricate combinations of cause and effect on human nature. The work covers the history, rules, and philosophy of shogi, drawing analogies with famous military battles, and includes some classic shogi problems.
Customer Reviews:
Anything but Shogi.......2002-03-16
Shogi by Cho-Yo.
This is a book about two things: 1. Japanese cultural superiority and, 2. Self-admiration of the author.
What this book is not about is .. you guessed it! - Shogi.
Every non-Japanese shogi player knows: books on shogi are rare. We look for each and every chance to learn more and to read more which is difficult - shogi is not that well known in the West, unfortunately both for shigi and the West. So, when I saw [money] book on shogi I immediately visualized pages and pages of discussions on boats and castles, moving and static rook openings, exqusite tsume etudes, etc. Alas! None of that.
But tons of ranting about Japanese victory in Russo-Japanese war, explained by the author as a result of Russian ignorance rendered in exquisit formulas:
Russia + ignorance (= - knowledge) = Japan + knowledge (= - ignorance)(see p.106).
That Russian ignorance and Japanese knowledge is attributed to the fact that Japanese play shogi and Russians don't.
The book is overloaded with Japanese terminilogy that does not add anything to the reader's understanding of shogi (and I am a former student of Japanese and ancient Chinese languages, so imagine how it will irritate anyone who is not interested in linguistics).
In addition to all that the reader will learn that Abraham was "not an individual person, but a horde of shepherds" of "outcast Brahmans" Indian Brahm - worshippers, that Hebrews are called so because they descend from a guy named Heber, and many other amazing thruths with no respect for any other opinion than author's (p.46).
The book was apparently written right after the end of the Russo-Japanese war (1905) and I have no idea if the author lived long enough to see the Japanese defeat in Manchuria, Khalkhin-Gol, the whole collapse of the Chinese campain, the Battle of Leite, Pacific fiasco of the Japanese fleet and the signing of the capitulation by Emperor Hirohito.
One would wonder if that can be attributed to Japanese stopped playing shogi all of a sudden?
As a lifetime student and admirer of traditional Chinese and Japanese cultures (among other things), Hayan poetry, caligraphy, literature and yes, shogi, I doubt that anyone should spend [money] on this book if his or her goal is to learn shogi, or anything else about things Japanese, for that matter.
However, professional students of Japan and especially of Japanese-Western cultural mentality (I hate this word) will find many fascinating subliminal messages in this book, that are quite unique in the sense that they are also expressed in traditional Japanese shogi terminology.
Alex Chaihorsky
Reno, NV
Book Description
THE COMPLETE LEAN ENTERPRISE: Value Stream Mapping for Administrative and Office Processes Beau Keyte and Drew Locher This new book provides a step-by-step approach to applying lean initiatives to the office environment. This title is a must read for those looking to improve their production support activities by identifying waste, establishing performance metrics, speeding up administrative workflow, and improving office efficiency.
Customer Reviews:
Lean Administration.......2007-08-31
This is an excellent resource for office staff wanting to value stream map their work. Its written in a clear no nonsense style with ideas you can put into practice immediately.
I like the insider 'Lean Note' every so often providing hits and ideas you would only get from an experienced lean leader, these tips are designed to stop you going down a blind ally.
If you are thinking of running a Kaizen event in your administrative area you would benefit from everyone on your team having this resource to hand.
The approach is particularly useful for manufacturing companies who have already gone lean on the production floor and are waiting for their office support and administration functions to catch up.
Highly recommended..
Good introduction to VSM for office operation.......2007-03-10
The value of this book depends strongly on your personal knowledge about VSM and JIT/Lean. I was more used to the approach from Quick-Response-Manufacturing as Tagging&Process Mapping. Anyway, for people searching an introduction to Value-Stream-Mapping and especially the office part, I can recommend this book - the production part of the good example used, is not discussed in details - but this is not the goal of the book anyway. I read many different books to get started with VSM, but this one is one of the simpliest and most consistent books about VSM for office operation. The writters refer to one single example of a company and develop the case in a understandable manner.
Readers interested in VSM for the shoopfloor should read this book as well. As a matter, it is unfortunatelly true, that companies focus there attention to the shopfloor operations, meanwhile the potential of upstream and non-production processes are ignored. This book gives you a good knowledge, how to start your journey.
I bought both books, Complete-Lean-Enterprise (the one I refer to here) as well as Value-Stream-Management-for-the-Lean-Office. Meanwhile the first one gave me a much better overview how to practice VSM, the second one was quite week (bad case example in my oppinion) and I could not get the point how to proceed with the VSM-technique. On the other side, the later book provides more information about important issues as pitch, heijunka, work balancing etc., but already using VSM for the shopfloor and having knowledge about JIT/Lean, this will not provide new insights to you anyway. Conclusion, I would recommend this book here to get started and definetly not the book Value-Stream-Mgmnt.-for-the-Lean-office!
Best Regards,
Oliver
Process mapping with a new label.......2006-11-11
I always look for new ideas and this book was weak. The material seemed to be a rehash of process mapping and not an adaptation of value stream mapping to administrative areas.
I already know how to process map and I know how to value stream map.
I agree that administrative areas are more about process mapping, but based upon the title of the book, I wanted some ideas on what others are doing to merge the two concepts.
Office Value Stream Maps.......2006-03-09
Best reference and how to on adminstrative functions for value sream mapping.
A LOGICAL EXTENSION OF LEAN PRINCIPLES.......2005-10-01
This book is a good tutorial to apply Lean to an office setting, but a basic understanding of the Lean principles is required to take full advantage of the work as many parallels are drawn between manufacturing applications and their office counterparts. Overall very useful, but especially in a manufacturing/production-support office environment more than in a traditional service or other type of office setting.
Books:
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- The Genius of Rome 1592-1623
- The Heritage of Apelles (Gombrich on the Renaissance)
- The Iconography of Landscape: Essays on the Symbolic Representation, Design and Use of Past Environments (Cambridge Studies in Historical Geography)
- The Illusion of Life: Disney Animation
- The Last Album: Eyes from the Ashes of Auschwitz-birkenau
- The Marvel of Maps: Art, Cartography, and Politics in Renaissance Italy
- The Navajo and Pueblo Silversmiths (Civilization of the American Indian Series)
Books Index
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