Globalization and History: The Evolution of a Nineteenth-Century Atlantic Economy

Book Description

Globalization is not a new phenomenon, nor is it irreversible. In Gobalization and History, Kevin O'Rourke and Jeffrey Williamson present a coherent picture of trade, migration, and international capital flows in the Atlantic economy in the century prior to 1914--the first great globalization boom, which anticipated the experience of the last fifty years.

The authors estimate the extent of globalization and its impact on the participating countries, and discuss the political reactions that it provoked. The book's originality lies in its application of the tools of open-economy economics to this critical historical period--differentiating it from most previous work, which has been based on closed-economy or single-sector models. The authors also keep a close eye on globalization debates of the 1990s, using history to inform the present and vice versa.

The book brings together research conducted by the authors over the past decade--work that has profoundly influenced how economic history is now written and that has found audiences in economics and history, as well as in the popular press.

Customer Reviews:

Good Data, Wrong Bias.......2000-04-03

I would agree that this is a very good book in terms of presenting what happened in the 19th century Atlantic economy. I do have one critical observation. The authors blame the collapse of globalization on the lobbying of particular industries; thus setting up the argument that general gains from trade were lost to special interests. This is in accord with their belief that globalization is a good thing. As an economist working on these issues for many years, with experience in government as well as academics and the private sector, I have to disagree. Clearly, governments need to rally constituents to support policies. Yet, from our own Alexander Hamilton to Germany's Otto von Bismarck, and a host of others, states had a strategic vision of what was in the national interest for which they sought support. This is the origin of the "iron and wheat" alliances that O'Rourke and Williamson credit with undoing "free trade" on the continent. This was a strategy of national economic development and strategic independence under which the major powers were able to successfully increase their economic growth rates. For evidence of this I would recommend Paul Bairoch's book Economics and World History (Univ. of Chicago, 1993). As the great economic thinker Joseph Schumpeter observed "the consistent support given by the American people to protectionist policies...is accounted for not by any love for or domination by big business, but by a fervant wish to build and keep a world of their own and to be rid of all the vicissitudes of the rest of the world." This is true of most people, most places---which is why the current fad of globalization will not last either.

Economic History Made Delightful.......2000-01-24

This book is not an easy read. Especially if you are not interested in economics and lack basic economics terminologies, you'll certainly have difficulties appreciating this book the way it should be. It is, however, an tremendously insightful story of the evolution and devolution of globalizm in the world in the late 19th century and early 20th century. It, in rigorous details, shows how an earlier period of globalization in the late 19th century was self-destructed by the very same forces that established it as a significant force in the global economic system. It reflects how easy it is to lose the benefits of economic globalism which we today often take for granted.

Interesting history 19th cent. Atlantic globalization.......2000-01-12

I am an economist working on globalization issues, interested in history and economic history. I found this book an excellent study that puts globalization discussion in historical (19th century) context, a period of large international capital flows and even larger human capital flows. Th study uses data on these mass movements in production factors to empirically test/uses the standard international trade Heckscher Olin model on income and factor price distribution in trade. It shows that these mass movements had indeed measurable effects on income distribution following some of the model predictions. Problems of globalization in economic terms are indeed linked to the income effects of several groups in the economy following the opening up to increasing trade, investment and migration flows. All too often these discussions are marred by lack of data and lack of historical awareness, and i found this study filling a real gap. It surely will be contested but i found the analysis interesting and well-written. Recommended!

Globalizacion e historia/ Globalization and History: La Evolucion De Una Economia Atlantica Del Siglo XIX/ the Evolution of a Nineteenth-century Atlantic Economy

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Globalizacion e historia/ Globalization and History: La Evolucion De Una Economia Atlantica Del Siglo XIX/ the Evolution of a Nineteenth-century Atlantic Economy
Kevin H. O'Rourke , and Jeffrey G. Williamson
Manufacturer: UNKNOWN
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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Globalization and History: The Evolution of a Nineteenth Century Atlantic Economy.(Review) (book review): An article from: American Journal of Agricultural Economics

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Globalization and History: The Evolution of a Nineteenth Century Atlantic Economy.(Review) (book review): An article from: American Journal of Agricultural Economics
Thomas Grennes
Manufacturer: American Agricultural Economics Association
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Digital
ASIN: B0008J2OLG
Release Date: 2005-07-28

Book Description

This digital document is an article from American Journal of Agricultural Economics, published by American Agricultural Economics Association on August 1, 2000. The length of the article is 1272 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: Globalization and History: The Evolution of a Nineteenth Century Atlantic Economy.(Review) (book review)
Author: Thomas Grennes
Publication: American Journal of Agricultural Economics (Refereed)
Date: August 1, 2000
Publisher: American Agricultural Economics Association
Volume: 82 Issue: 3 Page: 784

Article Type: Book Review

Distributed by Thomson Gale

Globalization and History: The Evolution of a Nineteenth-Century Atlantic Economy

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Globalization and History: The Evolution of a Nineteenth-Century Atlantic Economy
Kevin H. Oandapos;Rourke
Manufacturer: The MIT Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000OQPB1I

Book Description

This book provides cutting edge research and knowledge and an academic study of the impact of globalization in different areas affecting management and how management is responding. It gives a comprehensive analysis of what is actually happening and likely future trends. It is not just a focus on "convergence" arguments, but integrates a broader view of still remaining regional and national differences in management and organization. The book draws on new theoretical approaches in the field of international business, highlighting areas such as Anglo-German subsidiaries of MNCs, HRM practices and change management processes or employment relations in US-based MNCs in Europe and many other aspects.

Book Description

This new edition of the definitive livestock dictionary includes approximately 9000 entries, representing an increase of 18 percent since the third edition. Furthermore, some 2300 entries have been amended. These include major changes (new name, extinction, or the extension of a bare name to a complete entry), as well as minor ones (new breed society, new synonyms, additions to distribution or description, changes in spelling or of conservation status). In addition to these changes references to USSR, Yugoslavia and Czechoslovakia have been corrected in accordance with the current country names. Overall the book continues to represent a standard reference work for all concerned with domestic livestock, particularly those involved in animal breeding and genetics.

Supplement to A World dictionary of breeds, types, and varieties of livestock (Technical communication of the Commonwealth Bureau of Animal Breeding and Genetics)

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Supplement to A World dictionary of breeds, types, and varieties of livestock (Technical communication of the Commonwealth Bureau of Animal Breeding and Genetics)
I. L Mason
Manufacturer: Commonwealth Agricultural Bureaux
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Unknown Binding

Animal Husbandry | Agricultural Sciences | Science | Subjects | Books
ASIN: B0007J5IEW

Product Description

Advances in Geosciences is the result of a concerted effort in bringing the latest results and planning activities related to earth and space science in Asia and the international arena. The volume editors are all leading scientists in their research fields covering six sections: Hydrological Science (HS), Planetary Science (PS), Solar Terrestrial (ST), Solid Earth (SE), Ocean Science (OS) and Atmospheric Science (AS). The main purpose is to highlight the scientific issues essential to the study of earthquakes, tsunamis, atmospheric dust storms, climate change, drought, flood, typhoons, monsoons, space weather, and planetary exploration.

Outline of Planetary Geoscience (NASA TM X-58202, March 1977)

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Outline of Planetary Geoscience (NASA TM X-58202, March 1977)
unknown
Manufacturer: National Aeronautics and Space Administration
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000KFSBRO

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Planetary Geosciences (Nasa Sp 498)

Manufacturer: Natl Technical Information
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Science | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 9990690804

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The Pacific atoll raingage data set (Planetary Geosciences Division contribution)

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A Heartbreaking Tale of a Woman Already a Ghost in Her Own Home
Extraordinarily moving account of decline and resistance

The Pacific atoll raingage data set (Planetary Geosciences Division contribution)
Mark L Morrissey
Manufacturer: University of Hawaii, Manoa
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Unknown Binding

Weather | Environment | Outdoors & Nature | Subjects | Books
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ASIN: B0006DEY8U

Book Description

One of the preeminent Irish writers of our time, John McGahern has captivated readers with such poignant and heart-wrenching novels as Amongst Women and The Dark. Moving between tragedy and savage comedy, desperation and joy, McGahern's first novel, The Barracks, is one of haunting power. Elizabeth Reegan, after years of freedom—and loneliness—marries into the enclosed Irish village of her upbringing. The children are not her own; her husband is straining to break free from the servile security of the police force; and her own life, threatened by illness, seems to be losing the last vestiges of its purpose.

Customer Reviews:

A Heartbreaking Tale of a Woman Already a Ghost in Her Own Home.......2006-08-03

The late John McGahern wrote incredibly poetic and beautiful novels set in his native country. The Barracks is about a middle-aged woman named Elizabeth Reegan who marries a widowed man with three children. A frustrated police officer with dreams of buying his own farm, and fulfilling the legacy of the Reegans, her husband is a man all but oblivious to Elizabeth and her needs. Already a widower, when he learns Elizabeth has breast cancer he can hardly bring himself to face the reality. When his first wife died his only thought was what a horror it was seeing her in the morgue. Any feelings of love or support are simply beyond him, leaving Elizabeth to deal with mortality on her own.

As she worsens, declining into death, Elizabeth is able to observe the family as an outsider. Already all but a ghost, she watches them go about their daily tasks while inside she's screaming with frustration, hoping for any bit of attention or kindness she doesn't dare ask for.

The Barracks is a heartbreaking novel, and a masterful one. McGahern gets inside the head of Elizabeth, expressing her plight with such empathy it's staggering. The prose is poetic and lyrical. I would even say it's flawless, and as perfect a work of fiction as I've ever read.

What a loss to literature, and to humanity, when McGahern died earlier this year, leaving behind him an award-winning body of fiction. There simply aren't enough contemporary writers out there like McGahern, more's the pity, but that's what made him stand out like a shining light while he was alive. Better to have written like an angel and then been lost than never to have written like an angel at all.

Extraordinarily moving account of decline and resistance.......2004-08-09

I had to look for a long time for a copy of this novel when I wanted to read it last year; it's fantastic that it's been brought back into print in the US and abroad. The success of McG's recent novels Amongst Women and By the Lake/That They May Face the Rising Sun casts a soft light upon his earlier fiction from the 1960s, but this novel is no romantic landscape.

In the bogs of west-central Ireland, a policeman cycles about pretending to do his duty while his wife takes care of the children and waits to find out whether she has a terminal disease. Told in a powerful voice largely from within her consciousness, the narrative style shows amazing assurance for a then emerging writer. The last scene from her point-of-view ranks in my estimation with Joyce's closing of "The Dead."

I heard McG introduced at a reading as the greatest Irish author from the second half of the 20th (and 21st?) century. This is no hyperbole. While his reticence means he is not the showman that Seamus Heaney is, and while his oblique commentary acknowledges the trauma of the past Irish century rather than exploiting it like many of his lesser contemporaries, McG's dignity in the face of 1960s censorship (for subsequent work) commands respect and a renewal of interest in his entire body of work. Read this story and you'll find the ebb of rural Ireland charted precisely.

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Planetary Geoscience
A. D. Fortes
Manufacturer: Blackwell Pub
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Astronomy | Astronomy | Science | Subjects | Books

General | Science | Subjects | Books

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Planetary geoscience
Nicholas M Short
Manufacturer: NASA, Earth Observations Branch, Goddard Space Flight Center?
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Unknown Binding
ASIN: B0006YXKRA

Planetary geosciences, 1989-1990 (NASA SP)

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Planetary geosciences, 1989-1990 (NASA SP)

Manufacturer: For sale by the U.S. G.P.O., Supt. of Docs
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Unknown Binding

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Planetary geosciences--1988 (SuDoc NAS 1.21:498)

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Planetary geosciences--1988 (SuDoc NAS 1.21:498)
NASA
Manufacturer: National Aeronautics and Space Administration, Office of Management, Scientific and Technical Information Division
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Unknown Binding

Geochemistry | Earth Sciences | Science | Subjects | Books
ASIN: B000102EXA

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Great!

18th century's approach to strengthening: bulking and artistic illustration, with minimal fitness.

Good overall guide with more exercises than most weight training books.

Excellent info for building a woorkout plan

I'm no athlete

Getting Stronger: Weight Training for Men and Women (Revised Edition)
Bill Pearl
Manufacturer: Shelter Publications
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Exercise & Fitness | Health, Mind & Body | Subjects | Books
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Bodybuilding & Weight Training | Training | Sports | Subjects | Books
General | Sports | Subjects | Books
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Bill Pearl's Keys to the Inner Universe

Getting in Shape: 32 Workout Programs for Lifelong Fitness

Stretching: 20th Anniversary (Stretching)

COMPLETE BOOK OF CORE TRAINING, THE: THE DEFINITIVE RESOURCE FOR SHAPING AND STRENGTHENING THE "CORE" -- THE MUSCLES OF THE ABDOMEN, BUTT, HIPS, AND LOWER BACK

Getting Back in Shape: 32 Workout Programs for Lifelong Fitness

Accessories:

Tanita BC554 Ironman Glass InnerScan Body Composition Monitor Elite Series

ASIN: 0936070242

Book Description

Written by Bill Pearl, a four-time Mr. Universe, and widely regarded as the best general book on weight training available, Getting Stronger contains specific strength training programs for 21 sports as well as general conditioning. The book includes more than 100 one-page fitness programs that can be performed by simply following the illustrations, while each lift is keyed to a section with specific instructions for that lift. The 20th anniversary edition includes new sections on nutrition, supplements, injury rehabilitation, stretching, and equipment.

Customer Reviews:

Great!.......2007-08-23

I am just getting back into working out with weights as it has been about eight years. Since then, I have forgotten everything and a trainer in my gym referred this book. I love it! Every day I go through and pick out the parts of the body I am going to work out and I am able to choose new techniques I have forgotten or have never tried before. It has been a few months and I love my results. This book shows you the proper way of doing things and what I like is it tells you exactly what part of the muscle(s) you are working. I recommend it for everyone that is just starting out or that needs some new techniques.

18th century's approach to strengthening: bulking and artistic illustration, with minimal fitness........2006-12-12

In my earlier review of "Weight Training for Men and Women" by the same author, I had addressed the same issues which appear in the current book, which is nothing more than reproducing the previous book under a different title. The reason for my second review is to attempt to answer my own concerning questions. Those are:

1- What are the simplest and basic exercises needed for staying fit versus achieving tip-top athleticism?
2- What are the basic nutritional needs for staying healthy at affordable cost?
3- What are the minimum guidelines for telling the difference between good fitness virtues versus bad ones?

I believe that Bill Pearl has taken the bodybuilding approach for granted as the best way to building strength. There must be a simpler answer to reduce the number of exercises to as low as 3 of 4, and the nutritional needs to basic grocery food stuff. The complicated needs for bodybuilding stand in the way of producing an educated generation of fit citizens. From what you read in this book, the current approach to weight training is more retarded than the 18th century's approach: complex needs for formidable objectives. This approach alienates the majority of people who are looking for affordable, rational, and practical life style of staying fit and strong.

A summary for the book contents follows with reviewer's comments.

- General conditioning: it prepares beginners to joining the world of adult training for the sake of becoming bodybuilders.

- Bodybuilding: a summary of training programs for beginners, intermediate, and advanced trainees with helpful tables of sketches of exercises.

- Strength Training for Sports: an essential discussion on periodization, exercise physiology, and training habits.

- Stretches from Weight Training: a brief and appropriate list of stretching exercises.

- Sports Training Programs: full 100 pages of non-sensual and redundant programs for people who never seek help from a bodybuilding expert. The section on Powerlifting propagates the myth of isolated regional training. Thus the legs are hit hard on one day, the shoulders on another day, and the back on a different day. That is a backward approach to training that even the 18th century athletes would have never contemplated.

- Exercises for Free Weights: This is the thickest chapter in the book. It deals with exercises for isolated body parts. It starts with two anatomical charts that are made in haste. The chart of the front, misplaces the gluteus minimus and that of the back misplaces the two rhomboideus muscles. Neither chart locates the serratus anterior, levator scapulae, abdominis transversus, or the most important muscles: the spinal erectors or quadratus lumborum. Let alone the soleus and vastus intermedius.
Its major pitfalls are: the bent-to-opposite foot (page 192), wide-gripped back squat (page 284), and cross-arm front squat (page 285-7). The first exercise traumatizes the vertebral ligaments, the latter two overlook shoulder flexibility.

- Hardware: is the right place to fill 20 pages with non sense information.

- Fit for Life: deals with low back issues and children's training. Its pitfall lies in designating specific training programs for blue-collar workers and white-collar workers, as if the author could draw the specific health criteria from socioeconomic status.

-Getting Older: is a motivational chapter on training in old age. It is based on personal concern of the author. The over 50's program is merely a personal choice than a reliable recommendation.

-Muscles: is a snap shot on muscle anatomy and function with an attempt to explain the effect of exercise of muscular adaptation.

- Injuries: is a brief outline of sports injuries and the "RICE" first aid.

- Injury Rehabilitation Program: is a useless chapter that lists exercises of back, knee, and shoulders without further details on how to structure any rehab.

- Nutrition: deals with macronutrients, supplements, natural food, and vegetarian eating. It presents both the author's own experience in addition to current knowledge among bodybuilders.

- Drugs: deals with the reason for their use, its statistics, and types: steroids, growth hormone, and stimulants. It discusses two perplexing uses of human chorionic gonadotropin and tamoxifen by bodybuilders for blocking the effect of steroid on breast and testicles. [It might be more shocking to most readers to realize that nutritional health food stores in America sell on-the-self packages that contain steroids. Those cause breast swelling in male bodybuilders with inconvenient knobbing and hardening of the breast tissue. (Ref.: personal encounter is a local gym)].

- Brief History of Resistance Exercise: is the best chapter in the book. It contains rare photos and stories from the 18th century and attempts to document the history of lifting. Its best photo belongs to Arthur Saxon's one-hand press of his two brothers loaded on a bar. The hitch, in that photo, is that the loaded bar does not show a yielding curve, which raises doubt about the authenticity of the photograph.

Mohamed F. El-Hewie
Author of
Essentials of Weightlifting and Strength Training

Good overall guide with more exercises than most weight training books........2006-02-07

I have searched MANY books on weight training and have found this to be the most comprehensive, offering the most variety of exercises - suitable for home and gym alike. This is by far the most inclusive book I have found, and turn back to it frequently so that I can keep my work-out varied.

My main complaint is the lack of emphasis on proper form, something which I find few books do well. More photos would be helpful, but overall, a great book and my current weight training favorite - good for men and women and I believe good for beginners as well as seasoned weight trainers.

Excellent info for building a woorkout plan.......2006-01-30

We found this book to be an excellent resource for us. We were trying to develope a workout plan for us and this book has all the answers. We could find specific exercises for each body area and it helped us to blend weights with an aerobic program. Highly recommended!

I'm no athlete.......2005-12-10

I checked this book out of the Library, xeroxed the parts I liked and use the exercises to get in shape for a trip. In three months, there was a noticable difference. What I like best is there are so many charts set up in a series of routines broken down by what you want to work towards. For someone like me who knows nothing of sports or exercise, it was a big help.

Book Description

Diann Valentine makes magic and weaves dreams. For more than a decade, she has produced inimitable celebrations of love for a host of top talents, as distinct as Lela Rochon and Antoine Fuqua, DeLeon and Gary Sheffield, and Kelis and Nas, in cities as different as Toledo, Ohio, and the Big Apple. "I'm definitely living up to my name," says Valentine.

In Weddings Valentine Style, this unabashed romantic with a commitment to quality and a keen eye for excellence reminds readers that a classy, unforgettable wedding is not about merely serving up fine caviar and champagne but rather about envisioning the triumph of a stunning centerpiece composed of a single stem of dendrobium orchids rather than a crowd of carnations or mums. Ultimately, Valentine insists, "It's about making choices that speak to your own beat."

Valentine has been featured in InStyle, Essence, O: The Oprah Magazine, and Grace Ormonde Wedding Style, among other periodicals, as well as on InStyle Celebrity Weddings, Entertainment Tonight, E! News Daily, and VH1 Rock N' Roll Weddings. She receives constant applause for her extraordinary ability to trump continuously her own creativity in producing one-of-a-kind celebrations, her energy never failing from vision to execution. Her signature style is clean, simple elegance with touches of eclecticism, meshing tradition and innovation. And in Weddings Valentine Style, she offers lovebirds with and without big budgets a treasury of information and inspiration for dreamweaving a glorious "I Do" day.

Customer Reviews:

O.K........2007-08-06

It was not exactly what I was looking for but it was O.K. I will keep the book

Fabulous.......2006-09-14

This book is nothing but AWESOME starting with the detailed cover flowing through the most vibrant pages one could ever image in a book. As a up and coming Professional Wedding Planner this book was helpful mentally and spiritually. It's not just pretty pages, and flawless creativity but D. Valentine also tells her story of how she came up in the industry starting out with nothing but accomplished a lot. This is a must add to your collection if you are getting married or interested in pursuing event planning.

Elegant and Glamorous.......2006-03-22

I am an Event Decorator located in Los Angeles; I must tell you that I was excited when I heard that Diann was coming out with a book on weddings. I purchased my book right away, I didn't care how much it cost, but to my surprise! The book was very affordable. The photographs are absolutely amazing and I loved the articles in the book. Diann style seems to be some what simple but yet edgy.

I guard my book with my life, I take it every where. I recommend this book for every event professional.

Simply Fabulous!!!!.......2006-03-11

Ms Valentine I am reading your book and I am enthralled, I am a registered nurse. I have helped friends plan there wedding. I always receive abundant complements about my work from banquet managers and wedding guest. Finally I decided to make weddings and events my business, so I set out to read everything that I could find on weddings and the business end of wedding and party planning. So I got on amazon.com and ordered over twenty books, Preston Bailey, Colin Cowie, David Tutera, Maria McBride Harriet Cole and some I wont mention because they were to put it diplomatically disappointing in their lack of useful content...Ms Valentine you struck a chord I read your book and I was listening to me... a more advanced me. A friend of mine teasingly refers to me as a gay man in a woman's body because she says I am fabulous (by the way she did not say this in any way to be offensive to gay men). Ms Valentine, you are fabulous. Thank You for being dedicated to excellence it is apparent in your work and your enthusiasm. I have learned a lot from your book. Harriet Cole did a great start in Jumping the Broom. Preston Bailey is wonderful but unrealistic to the common budget. However you Ms Valentine brings glamour to the African American urban young professional you "BRING IT". Thank you for laying down the gauntlet.

A Blessing To So Many..........2006-02-25

Diann's story is so inspiring. Her work is full of love and passion which shows in the photographs. We are fortunate to have Diann's sister, Julie coordinating my sister's wedding. My sister is absolutely ECSTATIC! We love everything about the book. It is wonderful to see examples of people fulfilling their purpose for being here. This book will not only help to make your wedding day special but also inspire people to fulfill their purpose! We wish Diann and her family an abundance of success beyond their dreams.

Customer Reviews:

Thoughtful, complex text with significant philosophical implications.......2006-03-28

This is an thoughtful, erudite and complex book weaving together various strands of research in evolution, neural organisation, cognition and mind together. Every page is littered with references, not carelessly I hasten to add. The author's main thesis, as i understand it, is that the mind essentially 'runs' simulations, and this is an evolution endowmnet arising from ontogenetic requirements to exercise control of behaviour and the environment. Anyone locked into folk psychology, especially Stich's simualtion theory, will find much to ponder here. Geary holds that folk psychology has many 'anchors' that orient the human organism towards fundamental activities to sustain itself, e.g. social cues. These anchors are shaped in development under evolutionary imperatives. Much of the book is devoted to teasing out in detail the framework that allows this to occur. The notion of a fluid intelligence is introduced to debnk the g factor (as too limitinf a construct) and explain adaptive behaviours. Each chapter deserves a review by itself. Overall, the book is tremendously impressive and detailed however, it still faces to problem of splicing folk psychological concepts with neuroscientific data, and it is here that most critics will focus there attention. Geary has assemled a welther of piece sof evidence and argumentation to make this work, but eliminativtists will not be satisfied. Having read this book quickly, I can state baldly that it is the first book in years that I will reread. Lots of food for thought.

Jacket Cover Blubs.......2004-12-10

People often complain that modern psychology is a ragbag of phenomena without a theory to make sense of it all. The Origin of Mind makes that complaint obsolete, because in it David Geary has given us a coherent and satisfying framework for the sciences of mind. It combines an impressive coverage of the latest literature with hard thinking about how to synthesize topics like evolutionary psychology, neural plasticity, human development, and intelligence testing. The Origin of Mind is invaluable both as a reference work and as a road map for the sprawling territory covered by modern psychology and neighboring sciences.

-Steven Pinker, Johnstone Professor of Psychology, Harvard University; author of How the Mind Works and The Blank Slate

Human nature is one of natural selection's most stunning feats. David Geary takes seriously the implications of this for psychology-that it must be an evolutionary discipline. He sets out the theories with admirable clarity and deals systematically with the wealth of multidisciplinary evidence. This book pioneers a Darwinian synthesis, pulling together the disparate strands that currently criss-cross the study of the human mind. Here lies the future of psychology. So now read on.

-Helena Cronin, Professor, The London School of Economic; author of The Ant and the Peacock: Altruism and Sexual Selection from Darwin to Today.

In his book, The Origin of Mind: Evolution of Brain, Cognition, and General Intelligence, David Geary shows that he is indeed a scholar for the 21st century, providing a truly interdisciplinary synthesis on a topic of both great theoretical and practical importance: human intelligence. He presents clearly research from neuroscience, behavior genetics, and cognitive science (among others) and integrates them in an evolutionary framework to yield a comprehensive theory of the human mind. This book will be must-reading for anyone interested in intelligence, cognition, or human evolution.

-David F. Bjorklund, Professor, Department of Psychology, Florida Atlantic University, Boca Raton, F; coauthor of The Origins of Human Nature: Evolutionary Developmental Psychology

The Definitive Work on the Brain As WeKnow It.......2004-11-16

The brain has long been the most mysterious of the organs. Part of the problem has been that the brain can be viewed in so many different ways. The same organ can think of Einstein's Theory of Relativity in one instant and be smiling and talking baby talk to an infant the next.

In this book Dr. Geary brings together research from neuroscience, behavior genetics, and cognitive science along with the behavioral sciences such as primatology, anthropology, and sociology to present an integrated view of the brain as we know it today.

The chapter "General Intelligence in Modern Society" is brilliant in it's explanation of IQ testing and its relationship with society. It both confirms, explains, and rejects the findings in the best seller "The Bell Curve" from 1994. "The IQ test," Dr. Geary says, "was designed to predict educational outcomes." And in this it works very well - in one study 20% of the people in the 99th percentile had Ph.D. degrees. He then discusses other aspects such as motivation, family, social presures and more as reasons for achievement in education, work and income. There's far too much to cover in a short review like this one.

This is not a book that has been dumbed down for the general reader. It is a definitive tome on the state of the understanding of the brain as it exists today. It is fascinating reading, but not something that you're going to race through in an afternoon.

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