The book I wish I'd had as an introduction to Gurdjieff's thought
353257
I'm hardly a 'Fourth Way' aficionado, but I've read through a fair number of books relating to Gurdjieff's life and thought, and I wish I'd come across this one first. Like many people, my introduction to Gurdjieff was via P.D. Ouspensky's "In Search of the Miraculous," which is fairly dense and long, despite being a good introduction - furthermore, it is Gurdjieff as presented by Ouspensky, not Gurdjieff himself.

But if you try to get at the man's own words, you will usually run up against the relatively serious impenetrability of his main works (e.g., Beelzebub).

'Views from the Real World' gives you the best of both worlds: it is written in an accessible and clear way, yet it gives a very nice overview of many of Gurdjieff's key ideas and opinions, and in his own words. Well, almost - it is actually the quasi-transcripts of many of his early talks given in Russia, Europe and the United States, but as G. forbid his students from writing things down as he spoke, we can't be sure how accurate it is. All of it was taken down after the fact from memory and in consultation with others present at the talks.

Interestingly, the style is (for me) extremely reminiscent of Ouspensky's - which suggests either that Ouspensky had a very strong hand in putting this book together (I have no idea), or perhaps that Gurdjieff's style was indeed very similar to the way in which Ouspensky conveyed it in his books, and Gurdjieff's made his own later works deliberately obscure and wild, for his own reasons.

In short, I think this is the best introduction if you're looking to get into Gurdjieff's 'System' or the 'Fourth Way' material. It is almost certainly very close to his own words, it is a fairly easy-to-understand book, and it covers a wide array of important topics that you'll see again and again if you read and study more in this school/group. Very much recommended.
371029
The chief virtues of this book are the author's intriguing perspective on Western thought, his alternative slants on  traditional Buddhist doctrine, and the generally welcoming tone of his teachings.  In one chapter, the author conducts an impressive survey of philosophy from Plato forward, with comments on how Western thought diverges or intersects with Buddhist philosophy.  It's of necessity a broad brush discussion, and may well draw scorn from scholars, but it's an interesting exercise nevertheless.

Another chapter contains a novel (to me at least) interpetation of the Four Noble Truths, based upon Gudo's readings of the Sutras and the writings of Dogen.  He unabashadley reveres Dogen.  Whether his interpretations of Dogen's writings is right or wrong is up for grabs, but it's thought-provoking nonetheless.

Those looking for another guidebook on practicing Zen might find this a disappointing read.  Gudo is interested in the place of Zen in the world of thought, not just cheerleading for those who need inspiration for their practice.  There's enough of that, as well, but what makes this book stand out is Gudo's willingness to examine Zen's broader implications.  He might be right or he might be wrong, but you'll be forced to grapple with a new look at Zen.
2265872
Real Work. The very essence of Gurdjieff's "ideas". If one has been working on oneself, you will 'see' the practical application herein.
2975085
James Madden's _Mind, Matter, and Nature: A Thomistic Proposal for the Philosophy of Mind_ proves to be an excellent undergraduate introductory text for the philosophy of mind as well as a substantial contribution that any professional contemporary philosopher of mind ought to engage with.

Madden clearly and concisely enters into the contemporary analytic philosophy of mind 'debate' by surveying what philosophers of mind presume to be the "live options" on the table.  Throughout chapters two through six, Madden very thoroughly surveys the cases for and against: substance dualism, materialism (in its numerous forms), and emergentism.  Madden finds all to fall short in various ways (although he does concede that some - viz. materialism - fall much harder than others).  He then - quite convincingly - argues that these contemporary debates take as a starting point a certain supposition concerning the nature of material objects in general.  Madden then proposes that this supposition (i.e., naturalism cum mechanism) about the material world need not be granted for general metaphysical reasons.  If one denies this assumption (which he argues there are good independent reasons to do so), then one is able to provide an adequate alternative account of the philosophy of mind that is free from the errors discussed in chapters two through six.  Madden's positive proposal is unabashedly Thomistic, and anyone interested in how the Thomistic account of human nature fits into the contemporary philosophy of mind debates will find Madden's book beyond helpful (not to mention just plain old fun to read).  Those not bent towards the Thomistic tradition, nevertheless, will find this book helpful in explaining what the Thomistic tradition is (esp. the metaphysics of classical hylomorphism).

This book makes for a great general introductory text for undergraduates (whether of the Thomistic tradition or not).  I have already used earlier drafts of this book in two of my general introduction to philosophy courses (with the permission of the author) at a large public school.  The structure of the book makes teaching the material easy and straightforward (even if one is not a philosopher of mind by training).  My students also found the book engaging and clearly written (despite the numerous complexities of the debates).
To my satisfaction, it also provoked a lot of discussion among students.  Since Madden provides powerful arguments for and against the "mainstream views" of the mind (substance dualism and materialism) which most students hold in some form or another, each student will be challenged to thoroughly think through and grapple with his/her beliefs concerning the nature and relation between the mind and body.
2608837
This is a philosophy book in which Hilgendorf, who previously authored Life & Death:  A Buddhist Perspective, weaves in own Eastern views with Western thought. He calls upon many well-known names, including Jesus, Tolstoy, Goethe, Gandhi, Eisenhower, Thoreau, Daisaku Ikeda, Walt Whitman, John Kenneth Galbraith, and Karl Jaspers, to name just a few, to support his views.

  Hilgendorf begins by discussing the unseen currents affecting us. While most people sense the chaos, he sees new roots, new sprouts, new leaves, an emerging spirit blossoming forth.  He tells us of his own personal struggles and how he found new meaning and new beginnings in life.  "During those early days of practice of Buddhism, it was, above all else, a sense of connecting my life to a life greater than my own that kept me practicing," he explains. "I was moving to a new rhythm - the rhythm of the vast universe itself.  I was awakening to the greater self within."

  The basic problem, as the author sees it, is one of identity. We do not know who we truly are.  We thus identify with religion and nationality, thereby creating an identity that divides us and results in hatred and war. We hunger for a sense of purpose.  We strive to gather more material goods, but there is never enough.

  "What is needed," Hilgendorf says, "is a human revolution, a raising in consciousness and state of life, and this can only come about in the spiritual realm. Mankind needs to open its eyes and heart.  This is the true function of religion; and it will be the function of the new religion ushering in the coming new civilization."

  He sees Nichiren Buddhism as the emerging global religion, one that offers solutions to the most difficult problems of our times. "It is a religion offering solutions to the age-old sufferings of birth, sickness, old age, and even death," Hilgendorf stresses.  It's a practice accessible to everyone and can begin with simple chanting.  By chanting Nam Myoho Renge Kyo, he tells us, our mind and life gradually expand from the small, self-centered ego to the larger ego, embracing all of life.

  As with his earlier book, Hilgendorf offers much food for thought.  The crux of the book, as I see it, is that Eastern practices and Western ideals can be reconciled and result in a better world.
253507
I unequivocally recommend this book as a manual, not only for creating atheists, but, more importantly, scientific thinkers.  In fact, I suspect that the name of the book was selected more for its publicity value rather than the actual thrust of the contents of the book.

Boghossian focuses on the practical aspects of getting scientific thinkers who wish to be active against belief without evidence, he calls them Street Epistomologists, prepared to penetrate the minds of the majority of people on the planet who are infected with the faith virus.  He essentially looks at belief without evidence as a mental disorder and believes the best way of combating it is to intervene at appropriate times with the skills of Socrates.  He falls back on his decades-long experience of using the Socratic method of dialogue, which is simply asking a question, waiting of an answer, and repeating this process to its maximum benefit.  The approach is not attempting to change beliefs, but to change the way people form their beliefs, thus the use of the term epistomologist (one who studies the nature of knowledge).

The recommended approach keeps in mind the reality that faith claims are knowledge claims, as they are statements of fact about the world.  Boghossian presents several actual interventions he has used during his career and breaks each one down as instruction to the reader.  As with any good teacher, He includes much instruction that should lead the reader into competency regarding the necessary steps in curing, or at least controlling, the spread of the faith virus.

The book is rich in content and extremely well-resourced, with extensive information regarding further reading on the subject.  It uses psychology and philosophy based on the authors extensive and varied experiences.  In summary, this is the book I have been waiting for that is consistent with my views, giving me guidance in the proper steps for maximal effectiveness in persuading believers without evidence to consider a better way to understand reality.  I wish I had it several years ago, as I would have avoided much frustration.
1942414
There is a lot that Turnbull says that I don't agree with, but he does a very good job of explaining his point of view.  His is a biased but still very useful summary of the history of philosophical ideas.  A beginner should find it useful because of it's brevity and clear explanation of some difficult concepts.  But a beginner should never rely on this book alone because Turnbull has a a very specific point of view that he makes very clear.
He despises analytical philosophy and Wittgenstein (as do I, for reasons that would take at least a chapter of a book).  He also interestingly divides modern philosophers (that is, starting with Descartes) into "technocrats" and "philistines" (the pragmatists).  Kant and Hegel for instance would be technocrats with differing degrees of romanticism.  Of course there is a world of difference between Kant and Hegel as everyone knows, but it's instructive to listen to Turnbull enumerate the similarities.
And therein lies the attraction of this book for someone like me who Turnbull would probably recognise as having technocratic leanings (Kant's my philosophical hero).  He clearly enjoys the arguments even of people he does not agree with.  Though I daresay he also trivializes or distorts the arguments of some of the philosophers he mentions.  Plus he shows really bad taste in saying Heidegger was one the few true philosophers of the 20th century, though he gives cogent reasons for saying that.  But still it rankles me that he doesn't acknowledge Heidegger's procedural debt to Husserl.
Most importantly though, he tackles many of the 20th century philosophers, whose names we often hear but whose views are often presented as an indigestible melange.  Even if his summaries seem idiosyncratic, they are far more useful than the outright worship or denigration one or the other side of certain philosophical debates seems to heap on the modern philosophers (analytical philosophers are not philosophers, so it is ok to hate them without fear of error).  So I really found his summaries of Derrida, Foucault, Adorno, Marcuse and even Heidegger interesting enough to make we want to find arguments from other sources to either support or disprove his analyses of these thinkers.
His main interest really is ethical philosophy, which explains his disagreements with the "technocrats" and his clear dislike of the "philistines" (even if his choice of name here wasn't already indicative of what he thinks of them).  Maybe this is why one reviewer complained that the book was mainly just religious opinion.  It is of course one of our modern diseases that we cannot divorce ethics from religion (Nietzche's perhaps ill-considered attempt having driven him mad), but this book is certainly not religious unless you consider Turnbull's meanderings about the "goddess of philosophy" to be religion.
So read the book if you are philosophically inclined.  It has its own rewards.
1390507
I found this book to be an extremely helpful adjunct to Gurdjieff/Ouspensky material. For anyone doing serious study of The Work, it's a valuable resource
713613
This is the first introductory book I'd read on literary or cultural theory, and at the time I had very little idea of what "theory" could mean, although I had a brief exposure to some cultural theory from anthropological readings. The great reviews of this work (and its availability at the library) made it my first choice.

Barry does a good job of concisely explaining the principles, key figures, and key concepts of some popular theoretical perspectives. He also does an excellent job of working examples of applying their insights to literature. Each chapter has a list of 'what  critics do,' a handy step-by-step that would doubtlessly be very useful for anyone needing to apply such theory to a reading with a less than stellar command.

The title, however, is misleading: in my opinion, there is very little about culture, directly, in this book. I would've liked at least some tie to culture, if only in terms of what particular theorists' work means for those concerned with culture, or the concept of culture in general. There was no solid discussion or example of theory in a cultural context.

The second beef I have with the book is its lack of depth in some important areas. First, the reader is left to imagine a purpose or historical context for any given theoretical perspctive. Although we're given a set of rules for application, and a quick introduction to precepts, Barry completely avoids the questions of 'What does this mean?,' whether politically, culturally, or simply in terms of practical use. I frequently found myself wondering why anyone bothered with some of these viewpoints at all. Perhaps, in retrospect, this is a symptom of such theorizing in general, rather than a problem with Barry's book, but I would have liked an introduction that tackled these issues.

Secondly, and I suppose necessarily in an introduction, I found many of the chapters lacking in detail. In the chapter on psychoanalytical criticism, for instance, Barry's discussion of Lacan and Lacanian criticism left me wondering why Lacan did and thought as he did: clearly he wasn't just a literary critic, and clearly he must have had some point and objective outside of simply allowing critics to adopt a particular perspective. There is no inkling of his motivations or historical situation, just a trite guide to applying a few handy precepts to your reading of literature. Obviously a full discussion or understanding of such issues would be a lifetime's work, but even in an introduction I felt more was required.

In summary: this feels like a completely practical (as in: get the paper written, now) guide to theory, which seems to me paradoxical. If you're looking for an introduction focusing on literary criticism, particularly on its step-by-step application to readings, this will prepare you quickly and accurately. If you're interested in anything more than a step-by-step distillation, or anything at all related to culture: so was I. My plan is to keep looking.
999711
I think Giddens' structuration theory is the most promising theory since collapse of Parsons' framework. I read this book at undergraduate for the first time. while I studied Husserl and Heidegger at the same time. this help me understand Giddens with ease. I recommend to read Heidegger's Sein und Zeit to see the motive under Giddens' theory. this is not hidden fact. Giddens himself noted it several times. without philosopical background knowledge, it's impossible to access him properly. u will see my point if u read the first page of his 'Central Problem of Social Theory'. I agree to Turner's point that Giddens' theoretical framework is vague at best sencitising for actual research. concepts are clearly defined but how those concepts are related to each other is not that clear. reader himself should fill the gaps. one should make up for this difficulty with grasping Giddens' deep motive under framework. to do so, u should know well the tradition of Sociology and modern philosophy.
1628584
This is an excellent resource work for those interested in scholarly investigation of the writings of G. I. Gurdjieff.
3603649
The late Murray Rothbard's short volume is the best single introduction available to monetary theory -- and to the sort of fiscal jiggery-pokery that becomes possible to the State which takes control of the currency.

Here the reader will find a short introduction to what money is in the first place (and how it arises on a free market); how fiat currency makes inflation possible and allows the State to steal funds without anybody noticing; and what sound monetary policy would look like in the unlikely event that the State can ever be persuaded to take its fingers out of the pie. As is typical of Rothbard, the whole is presented with clarity, rigor, and wit.

Readers who like what they find here may want to go on to Ludwig von Mises's _Theory of Money and Credit_ -- which Rothbard describes somewhere as the best book ever on monetary theory.
2566005
Finnis, encouraged by the late H.L.A. Hart (20th Century leading English legal positivist), wrote this introduction to legal theory from the Natural Law Tradition point of view. In 13 chapters he shows what is a science of Law, why Natural Law classical (Plato's, Aristotle's and Aquinas') theory has been misunderstood (even by Hart or Kelsen), which are the basic principles of practical reason (corresponding to the basic human values) and the basic requirements of practical reasonableness (which allow us to reason in a morally right way), and which are the most fundamental truths regarding the community and its common good, justice,  (legal and natural) rights, authority, the Law and obligation, unjust laws and, finally, the place of God in this order or practical knowledge. The book is difficult to read, but a source ot true intellectual joy. I have translated this book into Spanish, and this, I guess, might be a sign of how much I think it is worthwhile reading and using it, along with Finnis' "Aquinas" (1998).
4111863
This book was recommended to me by a collegue. Looking at the title, I don't think I would have picked it up myself. My interests tend towards the practical. But this was a surprising delight to read. Hatton is sharp,  well-informed and very funny. And I was surprised at how similar the  challenges that Hatton addresses are to the ones faced by the development  groups I've worked with.
Hatton's primary motivation is to defend C as a  language for use in safety critical systems. And that's an argument that I  don't have much interest in. But he defends it by identifying unreliable  features and usages of C and showing how these can be automatically  detected and avoided. This is the interesting part. His analysis is deep  and entertaining. He obviously has spent many many hours reading draft  standards and commentary. The task has nearly turned his brain to jelly.  Yet he pressed on and has identified and categorized long lists of issues  that the standards leave open to interpretation.
The second basis for his  argument are empirical studies he has made of occurances of faults in  software. These are also very interesting. He also has made studies  correllating complexity metrics to these fault metrics and thereby comes to  well-defined complexity criteria. But having defined some metrics, he also  has good ideas about how to make use of them.
Hatton doesn't have much  faith in process standards (such as the CMM, or ISO 9000). He feels that if  you have to have rules, they need to have automated enforcement mechanisms.  Indeed, one of the purposes of this book is to plug tools that do just this  that he has developed. But he also describes competing and complementing  tools with fairness. Indeed, his descriptions of the different static and  dynamic code analysis tools is the best one I've seen. I learned several  useful things from this section alone. He also realizes that you can't have  arbitrary limits. So he often suggests that a grey zone be defined where  formal written justifications can allow code to exceed the lower limits.  It is clear to me that if we are going to continue to call ourselves  software engineers, we will need to be spending more time defining,  following and justifying the engineering practices we use. Hatton's  analysis is a useful model, because it shows how this can be done without  hopping on to one of the latest management buzzword models.
His  background as a geologist shapes his expectations for computer languages  and software. He doesn't have much sympathy for ambiguous specifications  and standards. He expects a lot, but he also knows that we have the  knowledge and ability to meet these expectations -- expectations that  anyone else who wants to be called an engineer accepts.
1780217
Recently, by chance, Nobel laureate Gerardus t Hooft ( the head) came to my attention and I decided to buy some books he authored.  Introduction to GENERAL RELATIVITY is a small booklet  covering  on  page 1 to page 86  the basic physical ideas, the mathematical concepts and applications  of the subject very well and ends with gravitational waves. I like to compare parts of it to   Die Grundlage der allgemeinen Relativittstheorie from 1916 to see how ideas are progressing.  It is not a must on a bookshelf and the Author has made it free for humanity on his home page,  but I want to micro-recompense the author a little bit for his contributions to state of the art  physics, he has brought to life  so far. In addition my  copy  may be found, in the near or far future, by a young mind and awake his interest for nature and its laws, which I think is a wonderful way to spent the days during ones presence on earth ( or mars). Furthermore I like to have books with me on vacation  etc. to look up things and read and books are still very handy. Last but not least I recommend you the authors home page and his speeches on you tube; listen to the funny introduction when his host try to spell his name and pay attention to his humorous formulations.
2900158
Jim McKnight's book is interesting, thought-provoking and a great motivation to anyone who wants to simplify their life but doesn't know where to start, or to people who know what they want or need to do, but somehow can't seem to actually do it. He thoroughly and convincingly covers the reasons why change is necessary, as well as outlining some of the things that stand in the way of moving to a long-term, more sustainable way of life: the problems facing us are usually presented by the Green movement with an emphasis on urgent and radical change. This is supposed to sufficiently scare us and stir us into action, but more often than not, it only makes the task seem insurmountable, and most of us resist change because - let's face it - going with the flow is just easier.
McKnight is fully aware of these problems, and as a psychologist, he also expands a little on the nature of procrastination in general. I found this discussion useful as I have a definite tendency to procrastinate. He goes on to offer practical suggestions and applies them to aspects of the voluntary simplicity movement.
I must confess that I skipped most of the chapter where he goes into an indepth discussion of interest debt - it seems a little too complex and heavy for inclusion in the book, and my guess is that anyone who was a chronic procrastinator would probably get bogged down and then just put off finishing the book. In fact, I knew that if I kept trying to plough through it, I'd just get disillusioned, so I skipped it kept going. I also skimmed the next couple of chapters on housing and communal living, not because they weren't interesting, but mostly because I felt it was a fair way beyond where I am at the moment (only finished studying recently, barely employed, still living at home and probably not cut out for living in a commune).
Overall I found the first two and the last two chapters the most interesting, relevant (to me), and easy to read. There are, of course, numerous other books that deal with the various problems we face associated with overconsumption and environmental degradation and the people that seek to solve them, but this book looks at the issue from a slightly different but worthwhile angle.
433482
This is an excellent overview of the practical insights of cognitive science. And Simon adds a genuinely original contribution to the field: The idea that all our depressing thoughts spring from our universal tendency to  compare ourselves or our circumstances to someone or something else. If the  comparison is good, we feel good; if it is bad, we feel bad.
Of course,  if you look at your own life in an overly negative or pessimistic way, your  comparison may turn out worse than it really is, making you feel bad  unnecessarily. And if you decide you're helpless to improve your state,  that will make you depressed. From the simple idea of comparison, all the  different modes of cognitive science are clarified and fit into the larger  picture. Simon normally writes on economics. He wrote this book because of  his own personal struggle with depression.