Riskgrade Your Investments: Measure Your Risk and Create Wealth

Book Description

Praise for RiskGrade Your Investments

"In the same way that the introduction of RiskMetrics raised the level of the discussion (and sometimes debate) regarding market risk measurement and management at large financial institutions, the introduction of RiskGrades and this book represent a major step in the understanding and application of risk measurement and management techniques by individual investors."
-Charles Smithson, Managing Partner, Rutter Associates, and author of Managing Financial Risk

What Others Are Saying About RiskGrades.com

Forbes' best of the web 2002:
"Savvy analysis, all free."

"A new and impressive Web-based service that promises to offer a clue to the question of how risky is your portfolio. RiskMetrics has been measuring portfolio risk for big financial institutions since 1994 and now sheds some light on investor risk. RiskGrades helps investors combine risk and return to make proper investment decisions."
-BusinessWeek

"Owning a high percentage of company stock in a retirement plan--any more than 20 percent--is one of the riskiest propositions in investing, and yet employees almost never measure this risk objectively or reduce their positions. . . . It is easy to approximate investment risk. A useful tool for measuring risk is available through RiskMetrics Group's www.riskgrades.com, a service that will measure the volatility and return of single securities or whole portfolios against all asset classes and international regions."
-Financial Times

"Without divining what exactly a fund owns, the system simply distills risk down to the likelihood of finding a severe change in its value on a given day. . . . Running a few notable funds through the rating bath can be a useful check on what an investor is putting on the line for a given dollar of investment gains."
-Barron's

"Mathematicians and economists use complex computer programs to examine the effects of different shocks on different portfolios. Such tests have been used for several years by professionals who manage multimillion-dollar investment funds. But RiskMetrics, a spinoff of J.P. Morgan Chase, is now providing similar tools for individual investors. RiskMetrics runs a Web site, www.riskgrades.com, which investors can use free of charge. The Web site allows investors to stress-test individual stocks and mutual funds as well as portfolios."
-The Wall Street Journal

Customer Reviews:

Terrible waste of time and money.......2003-02-17

This book is hardly worth reviewing. I didn't find anything of value in it. It reads more like a promotional brochure for a product than a serious investment guide.

Insightful analysis into managing portfolio risk.......2003-01-22

There's two ways investors can learn more about managing risk - the first is the hard way, i.e., watching your 401k fall precipitously or the second and more preferable option is to read RiskGrade Your Investments. This book offers insightful analysis into managing your portfolio's risk.

Unfortunately in my case, it took painful market losses before I realized the importance of maintaining a diversified portfolio, and an asset allocation plan that mirrors my tolerance for risk. After reading this book and visiting the RiskGrades website, I've made the necessary changes in portfolio and feel more confident as an investor. My only complaint is that I didn't read the book sooner.

Refreshing.......2003-01-22

At long last, a book that provides investors with a common sense approach toward assuming market risk. Rather than providing readers with yet another list of the "Greatest Mutual Funds for the 21st Century", RiskGrade Your Investments explains in detail the basis for growing assets over time with eye on risk.

My one complaint...I wish I knew more about RiskGrades before the market plunge. At least now, I now how to better identify risk and measure diversification. Thanks. This time I fell like I may at least have the skills to hold onto gains.

Nothing else like it........2003-01-16

I used to play around with RiskGrades, quantifying the risk of my stocks and mutual funds simply because I was curious, more than anything else. But in light of what's happened in the market, risk isn't an afterthought for me anymore. Happy that the authors took the time to explain the RiskGrades toolkit and what it can do for those like myself who want to get their arms around investment risk. Nothing else like it out there.

Not terrible, but not great either.......2003-01-11

I don't think this one will have a long shelf life. Problems:

- It's not written well. The authors appear to be first-timers. I found it exceedingly boring and dry, even for a financial management book.

- The advice given is often questionable, to say the least.

- The people giving the advice have little standing. I work in risk management on the Street everyday and have never heard of any of them.

One last nitpick -- the Introduction has to be the worst one I've ever read. It doesn't tell us anything about the book, why the authors have written it, or why we should listen to them. A book's Intro is like a handshake -- it provides a first impression of what the book itself will be like, and you don't get second first impressions. This one left my palm feeling a little greasy, like I'd just shook hands with an ambulance-chasing lawyer.

Book Description

Virtually everyone looking for corporate work today must submit to a personality test. Better plan ahead and prepare yourself with this quick and easy guide to out-foxing and out-psyching the dreaded test. Author Edward Hoffman delivers a jargon-free tutorial on what applicants can expect from the test. He explains what six dimensions of personality the test measures, how the test is evaluated, and most importantly, what employers can and can’t ask applicants. Ace the Corporate Personality Test also features: Sample questions and scripted answers from tests that are widely used. Advice on how to frame your answers so they fit the particular position you’re seeking, whether in sales, management, or elsewhere. Detailed tips on how to conquer pre-test jitters and optimize concentration. Insights into legal issues and the rights of applicants regarding test results. Learn how to position yourself for the job you want, and ensure that your personality test says everything you want it to say to prospective employers.

Download Description

Virtually everyone looking for corporate work today must submit to a personality test. Better plan ahead and prepare yourself with this quick and easy guide to out-foxing and out-psyching the dreaded test. Author Edward Hoffman delivers a jargon-free tutorial on what applicants can expect from the test. He explains what six dimensions of personality the test measures, how the test is evaluated, and most importantly, what employers can and can't ask applicants. Ace the Corporate Personality Test also features: Sample questions and scripted answers from tests that are widely used. Advice on how to frame your answers so they fit the particular position you're seeking, whether in sales, management, or elsewhere. Detailed tips on how to conquer pre-test jitters and optimize concentration. Insights into legal issues and the rights of applicants regarding test results. Learn how to position yourself for the job you want, and ensure that your personality test says everything you want it to say to prospective employers.

Customer Reviews:

Wear a business suit, wear a business personality -- no difference.......2007-04-01

Is it unethical to wear a full business suit to an interview? Do you wear business suits all the time? You don't? Do you plan to wear a full business suit every day to work? No? Then why do you think it's ok to wear a business suit to an interview? Aren't you just "pretending" to be somebody you're not? Shouldn't you "just be honest"?

Huh--you say wearing a business suit has nothing to do with being honest? It's ok? You say you wouldn't even consider showing up at an interview without a good suit? Neither would I.

We agree? Great! You'll pass that test.

Why does everybody wear the suit? We're just showing the business side of ourselves. See the point? We all have a businesslike side inside of us. We wear a suit to show we can be businesslike, to show that side of ourself. No problem.

Then, why should a personality be any different? When you take a personality test, you should "wear a business personality." Show the business side of your personality too. It's no different. No big deal. Let out your inner business person. Employers want to know that about you too.

Don't know what a business personality is? Read this book.

Nobody is always the same, we all have many sides to who we "are." I am about a thousand different people all crammed into one person. Aren't we all? Who we "really" are--what an absurd concept.

Personality tests in business are NOT about who you "really" are. They're about finding out if you are:
(A) smart enough to know how to be businesslike (in dress as well as attitude), and
(B) willing to demonstrate that knowledge in business situations (like at an interview, for instance).

If you don't know how to dress appropriately and if you can't find an appropriate business personality inside yourself I wouldn't hire you either.

Get a grip on this. Then put on your business suit, put on your business personality, show that side of yourself and get your job.

Hope I've helped clear that up.

Cheers!

This book led to a 66% improvement in test score!.......2005-06-13

A friend of mine had to take a personality test to get a promotion and scored a 24%. This score was not high enough to qualify for the promotion but they were very supportive of her and allowed her another chance to take the test. Well, I bought this book for her and after reading it, she understood how she hadn't anwered the questions properly the first time. On her second chance, she scored a 90%. That's a whopping 66% improvement in test score!!
Even though I have not yet personally read this book I must HIGHLY RECOMMEND IT based on actual before and after test results!

Useful book.......2003-07-10

Hoffman does talk about the Lie Scales mentioned by the graduate student. The student does at least reveal a potential conflict of interest: employment with a company that designs these instruments.

I found the book very helpful in demystifying a tool that businesses use to screen out, rather than dealing with individuals. I haven't stolen from my employers, nor am I likely to "go postal", but I do fear these tests, along with everything else that's intended to make sheep out of American employees.

As for an introvert cheating on a personality test so that he/she can get a sales job, I suspect an interview will catch the intelligence problem.

UH OH!!!.......2002-09-06

I must react to those who have taken the high moral ground in this debate relative to "Tell the Truth, etc." We're talking corporations here, and not Ben and Jerry's. Any person who has any idea of their own inner world and motivations knows that we are complex and frequently conflicted beings. We may crave notoriety or we may struggle with a naturally shy personality, but we have free will and thus we behave as we must to survive. Like the vegetable vendor who sells his bushel of fruit by placing the perfect pieces on the top; if you want cash for your tomatos, learn how to do likewise. And the honesty, if it is to be maintained, is a two way process is it not? But do the employers stipulate what sort of personality-types they are seeking?
Frankly, the fact that psychology- a healing discipline- is perjured in this manner is unsettling. The individual subordinated to the workplace agenda.
If people did not manipulate their scores, the shy and the 'honest' would be shuttled to the streets. Only an honest person would admit to stealing or cheating or other 'red flags.' If this author is correct- they would be disqualified. One of my questions was do I wish people would seek my autograph? Honestly- yes, if I wrote a great book or if I negotiated peace somewhere- but do I wish I were Brittney or any celebrity gracing People magazine? Frankly, not at all. So, what do you answer? Well you answer- yes, if you wish to be interpreted as a go-getter extrovert. If the author is correct, and my hunch says that he is, most employers are seeking a workaholic, extraverted, squeaky clean, visionary. How's that for a nightmare co-worker?

My advice is to read the book, get the job and be as good a person as you can. As to the moralists- Only the out-of-work preachers may apply.

Misinformation that will get you nowhere........2002-08-05

I am a graduate student getting my Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology. I also work for a company that designs, administers, and interprets personality-based pre-employment tests for use by corporations. I can say, without reservation, that Dr. Hoffman's book is full of misinformation that will not only not help you, but could also hurt your chances at gaining employment.

Dr. Hoffman's premise is that these type of tests are designed to prevent you from getting the job you want. This is not true. The tests do two things (and they do them quite well): 1) identify people who have been problem employees in the past; and 2) compare candidates' basic personality traits with the requirements for success on the job.

1. The basic premise of the the "Honesty" or "Integrity" test is that candidates who will end up stealing from their employer have stolen from their employers in the past. Dishonest candidates get "caught" by the tests because they figure that "since everyone is dishonest, it is stupid to portray yourself as *squeaky clean* and so they admit to these past thefts. Dishonest candidates steal *a lot* more than the average person who has had an occassional moral lapse. Identifying the difference between serious criminals and average people is what these tests do. If you are not a crook, you have nothing to fear from these tests. If you *are* a crook, I think that it is unethical for Dr. Hoffman to abet your criminal activities.

Unfortunately for the honest candidate, Dr. Hoffman does not make it clear that these tests also contain Lie Scales that will catch any attempt to portray yourself as "squeaky clean." Employers know that not everyone is completely honest, and responding to the survey as if you were will probably get your application flagged.

2. I do not understand why Dr. Hoffman would suggest to anyone that they misrepresent themselves on tests of basic personality. All you will get is an offer for a job that will not match your personality, that will make you miserable, and at which you will eventually fail.

Think about it: You decide to apply for a sales job, even though you are an Introvert and do not enjoy meeting new people. You read Hoffman's book and learn how to misrepresent yourself as an Extrovert on a pre-employment test. You fake your way through the interview and get the job. Now what? You've just put yourself in a position where you have to "fake it" Monday through Friday, from 9 to 5. If you had represented yourself honestly, it is possible that you would have received a job offer for an administrative position, i.e. one that better matched your natural style - and one in which you would be happier and more successful.

When you are conducting a job search, the question you should ask yourself is, "Is this the right job for me, i.e. does this job match my talents, skills, and temperament?" By looking at these tests as just another way of answering that question, you can relieve a lot of anxiety you might have about completing these tests. You do not need to waste your money on this rather insubstantial book.

Average customer rating:
Ace the Corporate Personality Test
Edward Hoffman
Manufacturer: McGraw-Hill
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000OG472C

Book Description

The fourth European Competition Law Annual contains the contributions and commentaries of a group of senior EU policy-makers, renowned academics and international legal experts on the subject of State Aid control - a unique and complex feature of EU competition policy. The contributors concentrated on the aspects of EU State Aid policy that were most contentions and challenging at this time: the economic justifications for and effects of State Aids, the specific problems arising in the control of State Aids in the banking sector, and the possibilities for a more decentralised control of State Aids in the EU.

Customer Reviews:

A must read!.......2005-05-05

Being non-religious, this book is like the "real" Bible. A beautiful and fulfilling explanation on where we come from and our place in the universe to what we know scientifically. I believe this book approaches the true story of our existence, therefore it may be the most important book you read.

Hubert Reeves - extraordinary writer and scientist........2004-06-09

It is an excellent, compact source of most fascinating facts about origins of the Universe, life on Earth and dawn of humans; easy to read in the form of interviews conducted with selected top French scientists/experts in each field. Say, comparable to Fred Adams "Origins of Existence" but lighter.
Other excellent books by Reeves: his classic: "The Hour of Our Delight" where he enlightens and teaches about entropy, and "Latest News From The Cosmos" - nifty plethora of mathematical equations that allow us to grasp history of the Universe.

I found this book to be amazing.......2000-12-02

first and foremost this is the first book that I have read on this topic. only recently have I had the desire to learn about cosmology. it wasn't too complex to grasp so for a first time interest it was good. I definetly plan on reading this occasionally it is just a book that I loved to read and didn't like to put down. I highly recommend it.

Understandable, factual and balanced. I recommend it........1998-04-24

Firstly, I should correct the amazon.com Kirkus review because journalist Dominique Simonnet is a man, not a woman (and I think his name is spelled Simonnet, not Simmonet.) Secondly, I didn't really read this particular book, I read the original French version ("La plus belle histoire du monde.") That said, I thought the book was very good. It was not written for the extreme scientifically oriented audience. It was aimed at the average person who is curious about a well reasoned hypothesis for the origins of the universe, life and mankind. This book doesn't answer every one of life's questions - but I didn't expect it to. The authors go out of their way to be sensitive and considerate of other points of view. Where they don't know or can't answer a question, they simply say so. This book is understandable, factual and balanced. I recommend it to anyone interested in an up-to-date scientific perspective regarding life and it's origins.

Book Description

During the last few years, routine applications of NMR techniques have been further developed. Spectrometers of the latest generation offer new types of experiments, such as spinlock and inverse-detected methods. In this third, revised and expanded edition, new methodology is introduced and incorporated into new exercises. In addition, a new chapter has been introduced which demonstrates the fully detailed interpretation of two typical examples.

Customer Reviews:

Very useful!.......2000-05-28

It is of a great help for a student like me : I am studying organic chemistry and i find books like this are really interesting : making exercices is what helps you the most before the exams!

A great and solid complementary book.......2000-03-30

This book has a lot of features that makes it a necessary tool for NMR practice, here are some reasons to back this up: 1.-It has a small introduction to some techniques, as well as a full explanation of the different applications of each one to help you determine an structure. 2.-Didactical , this book really means and teaches what it's title meant. Structure Elucidation. It consists of many exercises at an increasing degree of difficulty all of them answered at the end of the book, perfectly explained step by step, Undergraduates and Graduates will find the explanations complete, simple and curiosity and doubt satisfying. 3.-Structure: The book has a very simple (and yet) very udeful structure, it's full of well-scanned NMR Spectra, Cases, Exceptions, and even hints, combining skeleton structures with reaction mechanisms to explain every signal you see. 4.-Quality and selection of the exercises. The exercises are challenging, but not impossible to elucidate or to deduct a thing or two, it really makes you use the full capacity of your knowledge,though.

However, there are things that you shouldn't expect from this book: NMR Basic theory. This book has none of it, it is neccesary to have a basic but well known background in NMR because this books emphasizes on the exercises and how to solve them, exceptions to the rule, and assumes that you have at least that background, it fulfills it purpose: It teaches you just structure elucidation at a great for graduate and undergraduate level.

Amazon.com

For most laypersons, Darwin's theory of evolution equals survival of the fittest, with one species gaining ascendancy over another in nature's brutal war of attrition. For most biologists, however, evolution is far more complicated. Advanced studies in genetics have given rise to the theory of evolution on a genetic scale, with "selfish genes" battling for supremacy within organisms. Taken to its most extreme, species themselves become almost incidental to the genetic warfare that rages within them. Other biologists take a less narrow view of evolution, believing that many factors--both genetic and environmental--affect how an organism evolves; in Lifelines: Biology Beyond Determinism, author Steven Rose comes firmly down on this side of the argument.

Rose, a biochemist, specializes in how memory works, and his book includes some fascinating information about the influence of chemistry in the development of our bodies. So delicate is the balance of DNA chemistry and environment, in fact, that Rose finds the periodic announcements that scientists have "found" a gene responsible for sexual orientation or criminal behavior, for example, to be outrageous and downright dangerous. Simple answers to complicated processes worry him, which may be why he strenuously attacks the genetics-as-destiny stance championed by such well-known scientists as Richard Dawkins.

Book Description

A distinct voice in the nature/nurture debate, Rose's series of essays are a response to the biological reductionism of Richard Dawkins's book, The Selfish Gene (OUP, 1990), which insists that all aspects of human life are in our genes, and everything arises as a consequence of natural selection. Rose argues that life depends on the elaborate web of interactions that occur within cells, organisms, and ecosystems, and in which DNA has but one part to play.

Customer Reviews:

An Argument for Complexity.......2007-02-26

There has been a general argument going on for several years in biology over deterministic reductionism (as exemplified by sociobiology and evolutionary psychology) and its implications (actually the restarting of an argument that has flared up every so often over the last few hundred years at least!) Unfortunately almost all of the participants are given to overstatement and polemical diatribes when deriding their opponents (an unfortunate human habit, perhaps adaptive in providing the derider with more progeny?}

Steven Rose, a Professor of Biology at Britain's Open University, jumped into this debate in 1998 with his "Lifelines", which I have just gotten around to reading. The first part in indeed very engaging. In fact I pretty much agree with both Rose and Ernst Mayr ("Toward a New Philosophy of Biology") that reduction of an organism to the level of molecules only tells part of the story. Indeed, James Watson's view that "there is only one science, physics: everything else is social work" and his insistence that organismic biology was a waste of time stimulated E. O. Wilson to develop sociobiology in order to save some part of organismic biology at Harvard!

Rose goes on to expand on Theodosius Dobzhansky's thought that "nothing in biology makes sense except in the light of evolution" by adding both the history of the earth and the history of biological thought as well, a grouping of which I heartily approve. If you do not understand how we got to this point in the scientific dialog, you really cannot understand the debate!

An example of one contentious argument developed in this book is that of the effects of sexual selection on human reproductive success. Rose's point (in chapter seven) that rich men are not automatically reproductively successful is not without foundation, but must also be compared to the success in this area by very rich men such as Kings and Sultans, who were successful enough to get large harems and thus produce large numbers of offspring. It simply may not work as well today because rich men are not as often allowed the luxury of obtaining a huge number of wives (but see the Sultan of Brunei!) Many modern rich men may have substituted money for sex as their main preoccupation! However, from a purely genetic point of view, at least some rich men may be unfit to produce viable progeny. Also social custom, such as the killing of siblings as possible rivals (as was notorious in the Ottoman Empire) and female infanticide (common in China and India) can mitigate that success. Finally wealth does not guarantee successful child rearing! It might also be noted that in most countries large families often were poor ones! Poor people needed more hands to do the work and might have 20 children by one or more wives! On top of everything else, we have no idea how humans behaved in the Pleistocene! Behavior is not fossilized! As usual things are more complicated then we might think, whatever the "apparent" tendency!

Unfortunately, Rose starts to use the term ultra-Darwinist in Chapter eight. While his points are well taken, I do wish that both sides of this essentially unprovable argument would cease and desist in their name-calling. Such tactics remind me of creationists' characterizing of all evolutionists as Satan-loving, God-hating, moral relativists who have no scruples and are trying to ruin our society! Because of the use of "ultra-Darwinist" I dropped Rose's book to four stars.

As a field biologist I have always been impressed with the complexity of ecosystems and organisms. I also like solid data for every claim in a theory, if at all possible. I sometimes think that these preferences are what separates those who believe in the complexity of nature and those who seem to require a simple system that can be easily understood! Rose has said essentially "It's not that simple," and I am inclined to agree, although I also understand the need to try and model nature to make it more understandable. Let's just not confuse the model or the hypothesis for the real thing!

An engaging book to read, along with those of Gould, Dennett, Mayr, Dawkins, and Wilson. However, I would take no one's word that the final definitive book has been writen on the subject!

Complexity replaces reductionism.......2006-11-14

First, I note that most of the other people who wrote a review of this book are unsympathetic. Several note that--unlike Dawkins--Rose does not fill his book with a myriad of examples drawn from biology as does Dawkins. However, Rose is not a biologist. Rather he is a biochemist whose specialty is the biochemistry of memory in the brain. And to give Rose credit he does introduce a number of notions from biochemistry. Second, if this book had been written in the latter half of the nineteenth century I would dare hazard that it would have been titled: A Treatise on Philosophical Biology. I don't know how many people have actually read his book, but I would wager that with such a formidable title fewer still would have been enticed to read it. If I had written this book, I might have called it The Complexity of Life Trajectories, but Lifelines is mercifully brief and non-threatening. It would be interesting if we knew what potential titles flitted through Rose's mind (brain) while he was composing the book.

Given this, what is Rose's chief aim in the book? I think he is anxious to distinguish several forms of reductionism, particularly methodological reductionism from philosophical reductionism. Has reductionism been successful as the dominant methodology for science in the past three-and-a-half centuries? Even Rose admits that it has been spectacularly successful. Breaking things down into their constituent parts and carefully isolating a variable and investigating its effect by changing it under carefully controlled conditions has enabled humans to achieve success after success in mastering and controlling the physical world. In addition, this methodology is very amenable to mathematical treatment. Reductionism does work and under the right conditions it works exceedingly well indeed.

Rose's concern, and it is a paramount concern, is when methodological reductionism (a very good practice for working scientists) ends up as philosophical reductionism. He points out that once you start down the slippery slope of philosophical reductionism, you will ultimately end in the belief that the entire universe, all the one hundred billion or so galaxies each having billions of stars, and all human beings who have ever lived, are living now, and who will ever live, who we are--are desires, drives, loves, hates, you name it--can ultimately be explainable by one master equation--the holy grail of reductionist physics--the so-called theory of everything, which Rose reduces to its ultimate risible acronym, TOE.

This proposition is so patently ridiculous as to be a howler of the first magnitude, but plenty of people exist who believe it. Stopping at biological reductionism, all human beings--and all life on Earth--are reduced to nothing but their genes, conceived of as atom-like entities. Then when the master equation of gene interactions is worked out, this will thus explain once and forever all human behavior. This idea is again so patently ridiculous as to be a howler of the first magnitude. However, lots of people believe this proposition also, and Rose mentions some of them explicitly by name: J. Watson, R. Dawkins, D. Dennett, E.O. Wilson, to name a few, and even L. Pauling, who ought to have known better.

The idea that a person can be wholly explicable by one's genes alone can easily lead to a type of genetic racism. One reason why biological reductionism is very appealing is that it gives an easy answer to human behavior. That is, it reduces the complexity to a simple solution, and oh do we humans love simple solutions. Remember Adolf Hitler? He was a master of the simple solution. His simple solutions resulted in the needless and brutal deaths of millions. If I recorded some of the more recent simple solutions I've heard bandied about, I wouldn't be able to post this review.

If biological reductionism is correct, then how a person behaves lies solely in her/his genes. Don't like the behavior? Well, just eliminate the person who has the "bad" genes or engineer the bad genes out, and presumably that solves the problem. A reviewer commented that we humans can now see past the bad old eugenics movement. Well, I'll say this. I would hazard a guess that no one in Germany in 1913 would have thought in their wildest dreams that within twenty years Germany would be completely taken over by a group of people who would push the eugenics movement to its ultimate extreme in the Holocaust, which incidentally killed off lots of people besides Jews. It can most certainly happen again, and if you think it can't, then you're very naïve.

Several people have also noted that Rose's book is very short on a methodological approach that goes beyond reductionism without falling into antiscientific, New Age mysticism or religious creationism and ID nonsense, all of which Rose explicitly repudiates. In short, is reductionism the only way to approach natural phenomena? Here is where complexity enters the picture. This approach is quite new, stemming from the late 1960s to the present. A period of merely fifty years. Even now it isn't clear how research will proceed with this concept. Complexity theory involves nonlinear mathematics, and anyone who has ever played around with math knows that nonlinear equations don't have exact solutions and make a set of linear equations look like child's play.

It seems highly likely that the only way to proceed mathematically with complexity theory will be with novel developments in computer science. Rose doesn't develop the methodology of complexity theory very well in his book since very little has been developed. However, it seems clear that the path to understanding complex systems such as living forms, the human brain, human society, living things in ecological communities and possibly some astronomical phenomena such as the organizations of galaxies will proceed through complexity theory. I haven't read Rose's revised edition (2006), so perhaps he addresses this serious flaw in this new edition. Nevertheless, I give this book five stars for its provocative ideas and a different way of thinking about biological phenomena and the complexity of life trajectories of all living things on this planet.

Excellent book.......2005-12-11

I found this book an enlightening book of biology and the current reductionistic philosophy now in vogue. Includes an interesting study of the history of science and its paradigms. Here's a quote:

Being and becoming
Living organisms exist in four dimensions, the three of space and one of time, and cannot be 'read off' from the single dimension that constitutes the strand of DNA. Organisms are not empty phenotypes, related one-to-one to particular patterns of genes. Our lives form a developmental trajectory, or lifeline, stabilized by the operation of homeodynamic principles. This trajectory is not determined by our genes, nor partitioned into neatly dichotomous categories called nature and nurture. Rather, it is an autopoietic process, shaped by the interplay of specificity and plasticity. In so far as any aspect of life can be said to be 'in the genes', our genes provide the capacity for both specificity -- a lifeline relatively impervious to developmental and environmental buffeting -- and plasticity -- the ability to respond appropriately to unpredictable environmental contingency, that is, to experience. This autopoletic interplay is in some senses captured by that old paradox of Xeno -- the arrow shot at a target, which at any instant of time must be both somewhere and in transit to somewhere else. Reductionism ignores the paradox and freezes life at a moment of time. In attempting to capture its being, it loses its becoming, turning processes into reified objects. This is why reductionism always ends by impaling itself on a mythical dichotomy of materialist determinism and non-material free-will. Autopoiesis, self-construction, resolves these paradoxes. (p. 306)

Nature v. Nuture in Genetic Research.......2005-05-10

The word that comes to mind in describing this book is `quandary'. As a non-scientist, with a background in nursing, I found the read both challenging and interesting. In fact, I wrote many marginal notes, generally reserved for books that capture my enthusiasm. I was fascinated by Rose's attention to the history of genetic research and appreciated his seemingly unique view on `nature vs. nurture'. I must admit that in this debate I am an ardent `nature' advocate myself. He, however, was able to convince me of suspending my judgment, at least temporarily, in appreciation of his line of reasoning. He supports his view of freedom of choice in relation to genetic predisposition with theories on the influence of the environment as well as genetics in determining behavior. He uses the analogy of life as a trajectory, or vector, from birth to death made up of inherent genetic predisposition in juxtaposition with the interplay of individuals and the events and circumstances that make up their day-to-day lives. People are able to alter the direction of their life vector, in his view, through the decisions that guide their actions as well as their overall developmental and genetic predisposition toward a particular course of action. He debates the scientific theories of reductionism and determinism in supporting his claim of free-will over destiny and artfully crosses the line between philosophy and objectivism in drawing the reader into his line of reasoning.

While Rose stimulated my thinking and educated me on scientific history, hegemony and recent developments in genetics, I found his theoretical basis weak, his ability to draw together his argument on the basis of research somewhat scattered and his argument confusing. I'm left wanting to know more of what this author thinks, however, due to his creative and at times witty approach to genetic research and to those scientists influencing efforts on its behalf. The book is worth reading and I look forward to its sequel.

A doctrinaire view of biology.......2005-01-07

Most books that set out to explain why organisms behave as they do describe observations of behaviour on almost every page. The books of Richard Dawkins, whom Rose selects as his special target, illustrate this well: readers can reject all of his interpretations while remaining fascinated by the purely factual information that they contain. How one can hope to convince anyone of the truth of a theory without supporting it with abundant facts? Yet hard biological information is extremely sparse in Rose's book. There is a great deal about what he thinks of other biologists' opinions, but almost no observations from behavioural biology. Nonetheless, in his preface he aligns himself with the practising biologists "who spend a significant part of every working day thinking about and designing experiments", dismissing Dawkins and Daniel Dennett as "people who either no longer do science or never did it." What a pity, therefore, that he chose to include so little of the experimental basis of his ideas in his book. There are a few vague remarks about how chicks behave, and that's about it.

Lifelines: Life Beyond the Gene, rev. ed.

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An important side to the debate

Lifelines: Life Beyond the Gene, rev. ed.
Steven Rose
Manufacturer: Vintage Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Science | Subjects | Books

Book Description

Today, genes are held to account for every aspect of our lives, from social inequalities to health, sexual preference etc. Professor Rose emphasizes the organism rather than the gene, and offers a bold new perspective on biology that acknowledges the essentially complex nature of life.

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An important side to the debate.......2007-06-02

Steven Rose has regularly attacked sociobiology and evolutionary psychology, insisting on what he sees as their genetic determinism being a resurrection of eugenics and the road that led to the Holocaust. In 'Lifelines' Rose attempts to present an alternative biology rather than merely being anti- 'ultra-Darwinism'. He does continue to attack the gene's-eye view, mainly the works of Richard Dawkins, while trying himself to present a more holistic biology mixed with Marxism - a developmental dialectic through which the organism constructs itself and its own future.

Rose believes he has a solution to the problem of free-will ie once we take the view that it is in the nature of living systems to be radically indeterminate and organisms are constructing themselves then free-will exists within this process itself. He talks of these processes as 'homeodynamics' and 'autopoiesis'. He argues that Dawkins' view has the problem of needing an immaterial force to rebel against the rule of the genes. Myself, I don't see much difference between the plasticity of Dawkins and Rose.

Rose is first and foremost very anti taking the gene's-eye view. For him it is a reflection of mechanical, industrial capitalism, Hobbesian politics and Adam Smith's economics. He wants this view to be overturned in favor of one which sees the genes as part of a 'harmonious dialectic' and 'cellular symphony'.

Rose does offer some interesting biology concerning brain cells and embryogenesis. He does not deny the competition that goes on, along with cooperation, both within these processes in the body and between organisms and groups of organisms. He also makes important points about epistemology and how our culture affects our thinking. But he also seems to be being deliberately obtuse at times, such as when he talks about the 'dilution' of the original DNA as cells divide and asks what actually is being preserved and transmitted. Rose lacks any appreciation of the information-carrying DNA that survives through time while the bodies that carry it all die - an important appreciation Dawkins has brought to so many of us.

Reading Rose one would think that it is only since Darwin that men have been hating and killing each other. The fact that it is important that we act against racism etc does not mean we have to label any sociobiology/evolutionary psychology works as dangerously eugenic. Rose clearly wants to shoot the messenger. The difference between Rose and Dawkins is not as great as Rose thinks. It is mainly about focus and emphasis and in this respect the focus and emphasis of Rose is an important part of the whole but not something that can succeed in blotting out the gene's-eye view.

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