Conversations in Colombia: The Domestic Economy in Life and Text

Book Description

Drawing upon their joint fieldwork, the authors cast this book as a conversation involving themselves, a Colombian rural people, and the writings of past economists. In their view, the material practices of the rural folk constitute a house model of the economy, and the Colombian voices provide a window on prior European fold conversations about the house. The house and the corporation have been the principal modes of material organization in Western life: the former is older, but the latter now predominates. The authors suggest, through use of the Colombian conversations, that textualists of the past transformed and inscribed similar folk voices for their emerging theories of the corporation and the market. They argue that economic knowledge is not simply the product of a scientific community but is often appropriated from folk practices. By situating the knowledge gained from fieldwork within their own traditions, and by using that knowledge to reflect upon the origins of contemporary wisdom, the book implicates the modern-day ethnographer, rural folk, and economist as participants in a long conversation.

Average customer rating:

A disappointment only because it could be so much better

The best keeps getting better

Eureka they've got it!

A Complete but Complex Critique

The Bible of Cross-Examination

Cross-examination: Science & Techniques
Larry S. Pozner , and Roger Dodd
Manufacturer: LexisNexis
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

Civil Procedure | Procedures & Litigation | Law | Subjects | Books
General | Law | Subjects | Books
General | Law | Professional & Technical | Subjects | Books
Civil Procedure | Procedures & Litigation | Law | Professional & Technical | Subjects | Books
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ASIN: 0327164344

Customer Reviews:

A disappointment only because it could be so much better.......2006-04-19

Plainly stated, this is a terribly edited book. Although the authors made it clear at the outset that they are not scholars, that fact is no excuse for the decidedly sloppy, bloated, and ambiguous prose that nearly scuttles this second effort. Far too often, the authors muddle the articulation of their theories and techniques by infusing the prose with vacuous, ungrammatical, and utterly impenetrable fustian. Indeed, any educated person will quickly realize that this book is in need of major editorial intervention.

The sad aspect is that the authors have compiled some excellent ideas and are doubtless highly qualified authorities on the subject. I harbor no doubt that that the theories contained in the book are, in and of themselves, well worth the considerable purchase price. That said, the effort that has to be expended to parse the disjointed, repetitive, and circuitous prose clogging the pages is so great that it renders the book less attractive than it ought to be.

The techniques discussed in this book are so useful and relevant that this volume ought to stand apart as one of the premier practitioner manuals. The content is that good. Make no mistake: these men are good trial lawyers, and they know what works, but a large amount has been lost in translation because these gentlemen are far more proficient at trying cases than at writing books. There is no shame in that fact; certainly, all lawyers have strengths and weaknesses. Nevertheless, there was simply no excuse for not committing this book to the hands of a capable editor. The authors would be well advised to call Bryan Garner and have him polish this book before the third edition is released. With someone like Garner at the editorial helm, this book would finally attain its rightful place at the top of the literature regarding cross-examination.

The best keeps getting better.......2005-01-03

This review is intended as a review specifically of the second edition of Pozner and Dodd's _Cross-Examination: Science & Techniques_ (released 12/2004). Some of the reviews listed for this edition appear to have been duplicated by amazon.com from reviews of the first edition in 1993.

My entire practice was transformed some years ago when I adopted the authors' cross-examination-centered method of case preparation as set out in the first edition of their book (Roger Dodd, by the way, is a co-author of the second edition as well as the first edition). Not surprisingly, because the authors' method enables the lawyer to master case facts quickly and efficiently it is as helpful in negotiating settlements as it is in actually trying cases. I will not say that the techniques are necessarily quick or easy--I can recall spending eight hours laboring over questions for a major cross examination that took exactly one-half hour in court--but it produces stunning, consistent, results.

How does the second edition differ from the first edition? Well, the authors appear to have noticed that computers have been invented. The first edition's defiantly Luddite tone emphasizing the usefulness of manual pasteup of criss-cross charts and such has modulated into a respectful acknowledgement of such things as outlining programs and databases. Second, the authors provide many more examples in the second edition of the uses of the methods in complex civil litigation, as opposed to felony criminal trials. Also, although this book is not, and does not pretend to be, a primer on discovery management in document-intensive cases, its presentation of the concepts enables the reader at least to envision how the systems might be applied.

In addition, when I read the first edition I found the amount of information in this book simply overwhelming. Perhaps because the text is not quite as densely crammed into the page, or perhaps because I have been studying this material for years, with the help of a hilarious audiotape of a Pozner and Dodd lecture, the second edition seems less overwhelming. I noticed that the authors' quirky turns of phrase have been somewhat smoothed out, alas ("sliding off" objections is now described as "dealing with" objections); simultaneously, a number of minor, annoying typos have crept in, mostly errant commas and subject-verb disagreements.

One additional comment about the physical book--it is printed on heavier paper than the first edition. This is a Good Thing. The first edition was on very thin paper, almost like a bible, which made the pages almost transparent; I nearly wore them out. The second edition is more durable and more readable.

The verdict: probably not worth replacing your first edition with a copy of the second edition (unless you never bought the pocket part update on "The Crying Witness," worth the price of the new volume). But if you don't own this book, and you fancy yourself a trial lawyer, what are you waiting for? There are Only Three Rules of good-cross examination, but the Only Three Rules are just the beginning of a durable analytical structure adaptable to all trial work.

Eureka they've got it!.......2004-12-08

Pozner and Dodd's book contains techniques not found elsewhere. I won two hotly contested employment trials for big money in the last 4 months, as a relatively new trial attorney.

If there is one thing better than using these techniques to prepare for and conduct cross at trial- it's watching your adversary fumble the cross making every mistake in the book (this book!)

The writing style is tedious at times, but their essential advice on "only three rules" and the one area per notecard preparation method are invaluable and will save you loads of time!

A Complete but Complex Critique.......2001-11-12

Pozner & Dodd present a very well-organized protocol for conducting cross examinations. The core of their advice is perfectly sound. I highly recommend reading chapters 3 ("Developing a Theory"), 9 ("The Chapter Method"), 10 ("Page Preparation"), 11 ("Sequences"), 12 ("Only Three Rules"), 17 ("Loops"), and 18 ("Trilogies").

Other chapters include useful information, but the authors unnecessarily complicate the practice of cross examination. Few practitioners would have the necessary time to devote to preparing cross examinations as Pozner and Dodd recommend.

The book contains a highly detailed table of contents. You can almost get the full benefit of the book by studying the table of contents.

The Bible of Cross-Examination.......2001-01-12

I found Pozner and Dodd's book the best money I've spent since graduating law school. As a criminal defense practicioner, I live and die with cross. The preparation and presentation skills taught in this book work wonders in the courtroom. The first case I tried after reading this book not only resulted in an acquital based purely upon my cross, but the judge congratulated me later by saying "great cross." Believe me, the price tag is the best money you'll spend.

Average customer rating:

Cross-examination: Science & Techniques
Roger Dodd Larry S. Pozner
Manufacturer: LexisNexis
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000OUKA1U

Cross-examination: Science and techniques : (selected and edited portions)

Average customer rating:

Cross-examination: Science and techniques : (selected and edited portions)
Roger J Dodd
Manufacturer: Minnesota State Bar Association, Continuing Legal Education
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Unknown Binding

Trial Practice | Procedures & Litigation | Law | Subjects | Books
ASIN: B0006RQ0G0

Book Description

Reading the Shape of Nature vividly recounts the turbulent early history of the Museum of Comparative Zoology at Harvard and the contrasting careers of its founder Louis Agassiz and his son Alexander. Through the story of this institution and the individuals who formed it, Mary P. Winsor explores the conflicting forces that shaped systematics in the second half of the nineteenth century. Debates over the philosophical foundations of classification, details of taxonomic research, the young institution's financial struggles, and the personalities of the men most deeply involved are all brought to life.

In 1859, Louis Agassiz established the Museum of Comparative Zoology to house research on the ideal types that he believed were embodied in all living forms. Agassiz's vision arose from his insistence that the order inherent in the diversity of life reflected divine creation, not organic evolution. But the mortar of the new museum had scarcely dried when Darwin's Origin was published. By Louis Agassiz's death in 1873, even his former students, including his son Alexander, had defected to the evolutionist camp. Alexander, a self-made millionaire, succeeded his father as director and introduced a significantly different agenda for the museum.

To trace Louis and Alexander's arguments and the style of science they established at the museum, Winsor uses many fascinating examples that even zoologists may find unfamiliar. The locus of all this activity, the museum building itself, tells its own story through a wonderful series of archival photographs.

Book Description

This book comprises all of John Bell's published and unpublished papers in the field of quantum mechanics, including two papers that appeared after the first edition was published. It also contains a preface written for the first edition, and an introduction by Alain Aspect that puts into context Bell's great contribution to the quantum philosophy debate. One of the leading expositors and interpreters of modern quantum theory, John Bell played a major role in the development of our current understanding of the profound nature of quantum concepts. First edition Hb (1987): 0-521-33495-0 First edition Pb (1988): 0-521-36869-3

Customer Reviews:

The Original Papers; The Real Deal.......2006-12-15

After reading lots of commentaries on Bell's Theorem, this book
is where you finally get to read the actual paper. Worth it.

Excellent, and no caveat...........2006-07-14

You can see from the other reviews here that this is a fascinating book. Many of the essays discuss 'unorthodox' interpretations of QM like Bohmian mechanics and wave-collapse models. The introduction by Alain Aspect was very interesting as well, and discussed the experimental advances in what he calls the "second quantum revolution." If you are buying an older edition of this book you may not get this introduction.

The previous review "Small Caveat" is a little misleading. Bell does explain that if the spaceships are accelerating slowly enough, the tension in the string will cause the system to contract as a whole, and the string will not break. But if the spaceships maintain a constant distance apart in the frame of the observer, the string will most certainly break. If you don't accept Bell's main argument that the electric fields between the atoms contract, transform to the accelerated frame of one of the ships and you will find the other ship receding away.

But don't listen to me, read the essays yourself! Even if you don't agree with the arguments, you will not be sorry for the thought provoking experience.

Excellent but small caveat...........2006-02-08

I agree with the enthusiasm shown by other reviewers (see also the first edition) for this book's treatment of interpretive issues at the foundations of quantum theory. However, chapter 9 unfortunately titled "How to teach Relativity" shows that Bell's expertise in quantum theory did not extend to special relativity, which he seriously misunderstands. Drawing on an old mistaken paper by Dewan & Beran from 1959, he describes a thought experiment of two spaceships joined by a thread and accelerating identically. Like the earlier authors, Bell wrongly believed the thread would break, showing the Lorentz contraction (again wrongly) to be a "real" effect, rather than an apparent one manifested only in another relatively moving inertial frame.
Despite the fact that, as he mentions in the book, all his CERN colleagues contradicted him, he nevertheless included this old "chestnut" with a false interpretation that can only do harm to the general understanding of STR.

Clear and Thought-Provoking Gems from QM Master!.......2006-02-08

I am SO glad to see that this book has been given a second printing!!! Bravo, Cambridge University Press!

This book is not destined to become a classic-- because It IS a classic ALREADY!! It is just one that hasn't been widely recognized yet.

That's only a matter of time.

Nowadays everyone and their uncle seems to be talking about Quantum Communication this and Einstein-Podolsky-Rosen that-- and I guess with good reason, for we are now starting to see practical applications of this most esoteric of physics subfields.

However, it seems that the more non-intuitve and interesting a topic is, the more obfuscation (both intended and accidental) is written about it. (I'm not just talking about laymen and mystics, but physicists too!) Or, said another way, the more people talk, the less they really understand.

Forget all the rest of the junk out there. Cut to chase. Read about the ESSENTIALS of what QUANTUM MECAHNICS really MEANS from one of the Masters of the field in about 15 short, lucid, crystal-clear essays.

There is some math here, but not much. That is the beauty and the danger of Quantum Mechanics-- because calculations are not that difficult in this field, people are lulled into thinking they really understand what it is they are calculating.

Well, most don't.

If you really want to get a grasp as to what it all MEANS-- forgetting the calculations for a moment--- you must read this book.

Feynman said that nobody really understood Quantum Mechanics.

That may be so...

But John Stuart Bell came the closest.

You can't meet him at a conference anymore (he died in 1990,) but you CAN have him tutor you personally in this short, brilliant masterpiece.

Speakable and Unspeakable in Quantum Mechanics (Collected Papers on Quantum Philosophy)

Average customer rating:

fascinating
Recommended but with a minor caveat.
Still the subject of much debate
Clear and Thought-Provoking Gems from QM Master
If it isn't yet, it will become a classic.

Speakable and Unspeakable in Quantum Mechanics (Collected Papers on Quantum Philosophy)
John S. Bell
Manufacturer: Cambridge University Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Science | Subjects | Books

General | Physics | Science | Subjects | Books

Quantum Theory | Physics | Science | Subjects | Books

ASIN: 0521368693

Book Description

This book includes the entire collection of published and unpublished papers on the conceptual and philosophical problems of quantum mechanics written by John Bell, the leading expositor and interpreter of the modern quantum theory.

Customer Reviews:

fascinating.......2007-07-10

This is some provocative work from a man who is not satisfied with the copenhagen interpretation of Quantum Mechanics.

Recommended but with a minor caveat........2006-02-08

I agree with the enthusiasm shown by other reviewers (see also the 2nd. edition) for this book's treatment of interpretive issues at the foundations of quantum theory. However, chapter 9 unfortunately titled "How to teach Relativity" shows that Bell's expertise in quantum theory did not extend to special relativity, which he seriously misunderstood. Drawing on an old mistaken paper by Dewan & Beran from 1959, a thought experiment is described where two spaceships are joined by a thread and accelerate identically. Like the earlier authors, Bell wrongly believed the thread would break, showing the Lorentz contraction (again wrongly) to be a "real" effect, rather than an apparent one manifested only in another relatively moving inertial frame.
Despite the fact that, as is mentioned in the book, all his CERN colleagues contradicted him, he nevertheless included this old "chestnut" with a false interpretation that can only do harm to the general understanding of STR. It is precisely this misunderstanding that has caused so much confusion over the rotating disc problem (Ehrenfest paradox), which has generated many meaningless papers over the years - and still does !

Still the subject of much debate.......2003-02-13

It would be difficult to find a more controversial topic in the philosophy of physics than what is discussed in this book. But its implications go beyond philosophy, in that some of the ideas in the book have been used in the attempts to build a quantum computer. Since it was written at a time when quantum computation was not taken as seriously as it is now, if at all, it is not surprising that experimental backing for the content is not included in the book. That such experimental evidence is lacking in the book is also a sign that such experiments are not conclusive in the verification of what the author expounds in the book. I can only speak for myself here, but having undertaken a painstaking look at the literature on the experiments purporting to verify entanglement and the "Bell inequalities", I have yet to find one that does so in a convincing way. The mathematical formalism employed by the author in the book allows him to prove some interesting theoretical conclusions, and those who work in the field of quantum computation even more so, but real-world experiments are lagging considerably behind these purely theoretical constructions.

The reader will find good discussions of the Einstein-Podolsky-Rosen and the de Broglie-Bohm delayed-choice "thought experiments" in the book, as well as a few other interesting discussions, such as the problem of hidden variables all from a pretty much philosophical viewpoint. The author however does not hesitate to use mathematical formalism where appropriate. Some of his conclusions will depend on what philosophical "school of thought" the reader is in. For example, in his discussion on hidden variables, he refers to the work of the mathematician Andrew Gleason on the impossibility of hidden variables. However, Gleason's proof would be unacceptable to a reader from the "intuitionist" school of mathematics, since the proof is nonconstructive. The author though does give an interesting analysis of why the von Neumann proof, and others after him (due to for example Jauch, Piron, and Gleason), are of limited relevance when analyzed in depth. Hence, for those who accept non-constructivism in mathematics, the Gleason proof would still not be a refutation of the existence of hidden variables in quantum mechanics. The author analyzes the arguments of von Neumann, Jauch, Piron, and Gleason, and rejects them mostly on the grounds of their demand that dispersion-free states must have the same properties as the usual quantum-mechanical states that allow all the successful predictions of quantum mechanics. The dispersion-free states could still reproduce the measurable peculiarities of quantum mechanics when they are averaged over, the author concludes.

Along these same lines, the author also gives an interesting discussion of the argument of Einstein, Podolsky, and Rosen on the incompleteness of quantum mechanics. He formulates their requirement that quantum mechanics contain additional variables mathematically and then proceeds to show that it is incompatible with the statistical predictions of quantum mechanics. These extra variables or parameters must have a probability distribution, and it is then shown, for a pair of spin-1/2 particles in a singlet spin state, and moving in opposite directions, that these extra variable do not give the quantum mechanical expectation value for the singlet state. The author concludes that in a theory in which parameters are added to quantum mechanics to determine the results of individual measurements without changing the statistical predictions, there must be a mechanism in which the setting of one measuring device influences the reading of another instrument, no matter how remote. He concludes that instantaneous propagation would exist in such a theory, which violates Lorentz invariance. His proof is straightforward to follow, but he does use a classical (Kolmogorovian) expression for the expectation value of the two spin components. This has provoked some debate, and has brought about a notion of "contextual probability", which is a probability theory that follows more on the lines of the frequency approach of von Mises. Also, the notion of locality that the author employs has been seriously challenged by some researchers, who assert that the real notions of space and time have not been used by Bell in the proof.

Therefore it could be said without a doubt that this book will introduce the reader to the raging debate on locality and other issues in the "foundations" of quantum physics. Papers supporting Bell and those against his conclusions appear frequently on the preprint servers. Since this book is widely quoted in these papers, it should perhaps then be on the shelf of all those readers who really have a desire to understand the mysteries of quantum mechanics.

Clear and Thought-Provoking Gems from QM Master.......2002-11-22

It is a travesty that this book is out of print. Almost unbelievable, in fact. What is Cambridge University Press thinking?

This book is not destined to become a classic-- because It IS a classic ALREADY!! It is just one that hasn't been widely recognized yet.

That's only a matter of time.

Nowadays everyone and their uncle seems to be talking about Quantum Communication this and Einstein-Podolsky-Rosen that-- and I guess with good reason, for we are now starting to see practical applications of this most esoteric of physics subfields.

However, it seems that the more non-intuitve and interesting a topic is, the more obfuscation (both intended and accidental) is written about it. (I'm not just talking about laymen and mystics, but physicists too!) Or, said another way, the more people talk, the less they really understand.

Forget all the rest of the [stuff] out there. Cut to chase. Read about the ESSENTIALS of what QUANTUM MECAHNICS really MEANS from one of the Masters of the field in about 15 short, lucid, crystal-clear essays.

There is some math here, but not much. That is the beauty and the danger of Quantum Mechanics-- because calculations are not that difficult in this field, people are lulled into thinking they really understand what it is they are calculating.

Well, most don't.

If you really want to get a grasp as to what it all MEANS-- forgetting the calculations for a moment--- you must read this book.

Feynman said that nobody really understood Quantum Mechanics. That may be so...

But John Stuart Bell came the closest.

You can't meet him at a conference anymore (he died in 1990,) but you CAN have him tutor you personally in this short, brilliant masterpiece.

If it isn't yet, it will become a classic........2002-08-08

In the early days of quantum mechanics, Einstein (who was
actually at the origin of the basic ideas of the theory)
and Bohr (one of the founders of the formalism of quantum
mechanics) had a lot of discussions: Einstein just couldn't
accept the (to "common sense") weird predictions of
quantum theory. Einstein's criticism on quantum theory
reached a top in a few papers that describe what is called
"the Einstein-Podolski-Rosen paradox". It describes long
distance correlations between measurements that seem to depend
on arbitrary decisions made by the two distant observers and
that can have no causal relationship.
Einstein's favorite view of the statistical nature of quantum
mechanical predictions was some hidden "gears and wheels"
that wasn't found out yet.
John Bell examined the question in detail and wrote a few
historical papers in which he showed that it is mathematically
impossible that the predictions of quantum mechanics follow
from hidden local "gears and wheels" in the situation
described by the EPR paradox; as such the strangeness
of the EPR paradox is underlined and can be settled by
experiment: if the "gears and wheels" exist, then the
predictions of quantum mechanics cannot be right (that is the
content of the Bell papers). Today, very sophisticated experiments indicate
that quantum mechanics is right and that the weirdness is
with us for good.
In this volume, those historical papers by Bell are reprinted
with added comments by the author. The merit is that they
have raised the issue from a conceptual debate to a scientific
question, amenable to experimental inquiery.

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