Doesn't cover new ground
926709
This could have been a great book, with such an interesting concept.  Instead it is more of a recap of the author's favorite Stones songs.  There is not enough insight into HOW these songs defined the band, HOW they were recorded and WHY they define the band.  I didn't leatn much from this book.
2660502
This book does provide some useful tips for the garden-variety prepper, but it's a bit out there for my taste. I'm looking for guidance on how to build resiliency with my neighbors -- not how to arm myself against them. This book did not provide it.
2686574
The four segments are interesting, but hardly what you expect from The Universe.  The segments explore Stonehenge, the pyramids and the star of Bethlehem. This is all very speculative, and speculation is fine.  But it's off topic for The Universe.  Have they run out of ideas?  Yes, in previous season they already covered the Mercury, Venus, Mars and the other planets.  Yes, they've already covered the sun, supernovas, the Big Bang, black holes.  But even if they can't think of more topics, there are always new discoveries about the same topics.  These segments are interesting, but I was hoping for more.
1736113
Speaking candidly, there's really no shortage of ideas floating around regarding how we can change our attitudes toward building design in such a manner that allows us align with the context and capacity of the natural environment.  There's the LEED standard, the focus on eliminating sprawl espoused by the Congress for New Urbanism, you've got Low Impact Development, and even the government is on board with the EnergyStar construction standard.  None of this is good enough for Neil Chambers.  I've read my fair share of books on sustainable architecture, design, and urban settlement, but honestly Chamber's Urban Green: Architecture for the Future sets itself apart by driving a harder line for sustainability-focused human settlement.  It's not enough that we reduce energy use or conserve water... according to Chambers we need to take a step back and have a more realistic conversation about how our infrastructure is capable of performing and what our end game is.

Urban Green is a short-read.  It's interesting, it's fast-paced, and it covers a variety of captivating topics (almost to a fault).  However, I finished the book and walked away sort of pissed off.  It's been two weeks since I've read it, and it's taken me this long to digest the material that's there.  Sure, I'd like to believe that super efficient electrical grids and cars we can plug in at the local McDonalds are going to ensure the quality of life and prosperity that I desire for my kids, but I shouldn't lie to myself.  That's exactly what got me so pissed off about Urban Green... it's a reality check... it's essentially 244 pages of Neil Chambers pointing out that in many ways we're greenwashing ourselves toward disaster.  Harsh.

Chamber's main point (or at least my synthesis of it), centers around the idea that design and architecture should be contextual.  Installing a sustainable office park in the middle of a desert doesn't mean slapping in some low-flow water fixtures and plopping some solar panels on the roof.  In fact, it might mean not placing the office park in an area where its very installation is going to exceed the carrying capacity of the local ecosystem.  Sure the low-flow fixtures are great, but they don't totally mitigate the volumes of water we are sucking out of water tables that aren't regenerating fast enough.  They certainly don't account for all the externalities of the infrastructure necessary to move the water to the site from more water-abundant regions.

Chamber's goes on to murder the latest bastion of Americanized-sustainability by pointing out that electric cars aren't really sustainable when the energy source they're using hosts more environmental problems than the energy source they're meant to replace.

Urban Green presents a fresh (albeit disturbing) look at the way we think about the built environment.  It stings a little bit, but Chamber's plays the role of Drill Sergeant in driving home the point that our efforts aren't enough.  We have pay even greater detail to the ecological context of the areas that we are working within and ensure that we are planning in a way that supports not only our own perpetuity, but our fellow species.  As Chamber's would say, we have to start acting like a keystone species (meaning that we have to take into account our profound ability to alter the existence of our biological companions).

Pick it up.  Read it.  Get pissed off about hearing the cold, hard truth.  Then go do something about it.
2337584
I was disappointed in this book. I expected it to catch me up on all new discoveries in Anthropology now that the new fossils are being defrosted and made accessible with global warming. The beginning chapters made me feel I had the right book. As I read more, the book seemed to be more about the author's opinions. He seems to feel that the quality of life of our ancestors chasing down large mammals, harvesting wild berries and grains was better than that of the poor soul who has to wake to an alarm clock, drive in traffic to a boring job and worry about being down-sized. Harari didn't seem to back up his opinions with his facts. Maybe it is more fun to live 40 years with death and abandonment possible at any moment - but Harari didn't convince me. I'm still looking for some books to tell me why Neanderthals never made it to Africa and why everyone who left Africa kept going to the farthest reaches of the world.
4354187
Before visiting Peru, I bought a few books on the history and archaelogy of the land, to prepare me for what I would see. After studying this book, my understanding of pre-Inca and Inca civilizations is still extremely lacunary. This book does not place the archaeological finds in a meaningful historical context. In lieu of history we are given an abstract of Inca legends - interesting but not enough. Surely more is known or can be extracted from the archeaological records! The relations between the various civilizations is skipped over. On the positive side is an attempt to explain some features of the andean civilizations in terms of the echology of the land.
550329
While I found the book informative and a good read, there are better references out there for the first time or seasoned gardener.

Based on the title of the book, I expected to find several garden plans built for smaller spaces.  Instead, the main garden plan in the book is 3000 sq ft (50' x 60') which is FAR from being small in my region.  A few smaller plans are included but they don't have the same detailed planting summary that is devoted to the larger plan.  (How many vegetables can I grow in the smaller plans?)

The sowing and transplanting dates are based on the authors' hardiness zone and there is no zone chart for anyone outside the NY-Connecticut area.  Everyone can easily find this information online but it seems like a strange omission in a gardening book.

There's a handy dollar and crop yield chart for the 3000 sq ft garden but I would have preferred a concise summary table of all vegetables that includes sowing dates (# of weeks from last/first frost), planting depth, yield per plant, etc. that could be adapted to a garden of any size.

The section on insect and disease control is too simplistic for any gardener. Instead, the authors could have described the common pest or disease problems that can affect vegetables included in the book's garden plans.

There could also have been more than a passing mention on how to store the fruits of your labour.  I'm sure families won't have any trouble eating most crops as they are harvested, but how does one manage 100 heads of fennel or 540lbs of eggplant?  (Yes, the "small-plot" 3000 sq ft garden plan in this book includes these yields!)

Book layout/format:
The book's large type size, wide margins, and sparse layout are easy on the eyes but not visually interesting.
There is no photography (except for a small photo of one of the author's children) and very few line illustrations in the book.
3002827
This book covers a wide range of issue but there's no many new ideas in this book -- most of the ideas can be found on other books (like lean startup, zero to one). Also despite of the effort to emulate "Good to Great", the examples in this book are not always quite resonating.

In the Section 1 (prerequistes for Growth) and Section 2 (Catalyst for Acclerating Growth), the author touches a wide range of topics (like "solve the real problem", "Scalable ideas", etc) and I found them a very good introductory materials for people who just get started -- if they are interested in the particular topic, it'd be a good idea to find another book that does more in-depth analysis. I don't like the chapter 2 "Founder's Core Vision", as I found the examples not very convincing and in real life I found quite some counter-examples. More specifically, founder can change and learn over time, leading to the change of vision. It's true that current vision may reflect their earlier thinking, but in this book, vision is described as if it's constitute and rarely got amended.

Section 3 is my favorite, where it talks about elements for sustainable long term growth. Some chapters resonate with my personal experiences and some of them offers quite some insightful perspective that I didn't put much thoughts in.
1793977
I was looking for something to help facilitate conversation between my boyfriend and I as we move forward and was therefore more interested in the questions for that purpose rather than the case studies.  This book did act as a guide and was a good starting place but as we worked our way through it, we were rather suprised at how much this book did not cover.  For example, the family sections dealt with how you will deal with your parents, but did not touch the topic of your own children and proposing any questions about the new family you will be creating.  It also became apparent that this book is geared toward younger couples as a lot of the questions were irrelevant for us (we're in our late 30's). Call us overachievers, but we ended up expanding on the topics and coming up with our own questions that were more in depth and relevant to our situation.  This book did offer a starting point to talk about many topics, but it should not be seen as all-inclusive.
4688636
Rodney Stark is one of the world's most prominent sociologists of religion. This book shows the great breadth of his knowledge as he covers a great deal of ground. However, I would have expected Stark to be a little more circumspect in the conclusions he is drawing. Not all the studies he quotes point in the same direction. He fails to look at the negative influences of religion, such as the impact on mental health of the opposition in the churches to homosexuality. One might also ask what are the consequences for America's poor of Evangelicals' opposition to the national health scheme. We are yet to discover the extent of the consequences of the opposition among many US Christians to take climate change seriously.
Stark also needs to take into account the fact that many of the 'blessings' he points to are not tied to religion per se, but to the particular ways in which religion operates in US society. Hence, the correlates of religious involvement that Stark notes are not found in many other parts of the world.
4253715
His analysis of what is happening to workers is very accurate. It is especially difficult for workers over 50.

Some of his solutions are good ideas, such as having workers being on the board of directors of corporations that employ people.  But where I think he falls short is how do we get there? It would require educating and building a constituency to support that kind of action, but that is easier said that done. He does say that he hopes his book becomes one step in the journey to get there, but it will be a long journey. I was hoping for some more concrete steps to solutions. Maybe I was hoping for too much.
4320500
I found this book to be lacking something that most readers of this subject look for. I've read books about the mossad and Israel before and this one is good, but not the greatest. The author is spontaneous with his literature. At times it was interesting and grabbing and i couldn't put the book down. But often I found myself in a factual slum, struggling to get through. If you've never read anything about the Mossad, this is a good place to start, otherwise I would look elsewhere.
3951058
This came across as something of a non-fiction about the politics of digging up dirt, not a series of anecdotes from the lives of two guys who do it.
This would be great if it was marketed the right way, as a series of stories, but it comes across as being higher-level than that, like how the dirt is dug up, rather than what happened while it was being dug up.
I got a few chapters in before I realized my mistake and gave up.  Again, not a bad book, but not what it appears to be.
2842589
I read the reviews and the preview available on amazon prior to purchasing this book. It's a fascinating subject, and one that--like any biblical matter--needs context.
The author certainly knows a good deal about context, I'll grant, having done immense studies obviously based on his background.

However, in the end, I didn't get enough "meat" from the Bible itself. I wanted to hear more how scripture truly ties in with the context of the times. We know that Jesus lambasted the Pharisees for their excesses of the laws, laws that went well beyond the spirit meant in the Bible. What I was looking for were more scriptural references and how those tied in. For instance, the subject of premarital sex has one very short chapter, and it references minimal actual scriptures.

Most of the author's "case" for morality is based on non-biblical elements, seemingly justifying more open behavior based on the surrounding people's or groups norms than what the Bible should show us.

He does make a case for why the marriage bed was wrongfully deemed dirty by early Christian thought, and that's the kind of point I was looking for from this book--ie how the Bible itself actually was warped, distorted from what the original meant. But other than the marital angle, he doesn't seem to cover all the other (eg, as noted, premarital sex between man and woman) angles with enough biblical backing.

In the end, he talks more about the surrounding norms and the Talmud than placing the Bible at the center/authority. Obviously, if one believes the Bible is not divinely inspired, then that's going to be OK. But I think the title is a little misleading
888185
I was disappointed because the majority of the plans in this book have the master bedroom on the ground floor.  Even the section on "Early American Colonials" shows floorplans with the master on the ground floor.  I've purchased 5 different new-build houses in the suburbs of NYC, Chicago and London and never come across a home with the master on the ground floor.  Two realtor friends tell me they are unusual and difficult to resell unless in a retirement community.  If you're looking for a ground floor master you'll probably find the book useful but anyone building a traditional house will probably be disappointed as I was.
1008735
WHEN HEAVEN INVADES EARTH was truly a great book. for me, this one did not reach those heights.

yes, we need to encourage ourselves in the Lord. God is not going to do that for us. we need to have a faith that is proactive on our behalf. i agree. being thankful. yes. keeping in mind all that the Lord has done. yes. doesn't the Holy Spirit move us to do these things on the inside if He truly lives in us? don't these things emanate naturally from our love and hunger for God? but then...what?

flashes of revelation here perhaps, but not a page turner  i'm sorry to say. some good reminders, but not much new for me. milk. disappointing.

UPDATE: after having finished many of the glory books of ruth heflin, bill johnson's face to face with God (which was truly a beautiful book), and david herzog's glory invasion, i picked this title up again and tried to read it, but with no success. it just doesn't do it for me. i'm happy for the folks that are benefiting from it. everybody is on their own particular journey with God, and this title doesn't seem to fit with mine at this point. at least i gave it another shot. blessings every one.
574286
Generally speaking, Eyewitness Travel guides are worth their weight in gold when traveling to a new city/country.  This book, however, wasn't as helpful.  It doesn't contain as many street-wise tips as the others, such as which taxi companies to use, bus routes, or transportation instructions for specific venues.  It also does not contain activities that are widely regarded as some of the best activities in the area (as proven by thousands of reviews on TripAdvisor).  Perhaps it's just time for a new version.