A wonderful vision of an alternate power structure
592558
This book is a lot of fun. From the unique technological blending of science and magic to the fish-out-of-water aspect of the main character's story, I really enjoyed it from start to finish. The concept of the Elites, and their connection to the mortal realm of us normal folks, was well engineered. And the clear definitions of the colorful magics, the fanciful vehicles, and the ruling classes were well executed.

If I had one thing to critique it negatively on it would be a slight editing change here or there, but that doesn't detract from the strength of the tale. If you are looking for a fun, new twist on the modern fantasy take, I recommend giving Kyree Williams' Stirling a go. It's a wild ride with a lot of style and appeal.
2212844
This book was written in the 1930's and there are already MANY fabulous reviews, essays, and all kinds of literature analyzing the story. All I'm going to say is - it's a great look at a possible alternative future. A bit harsh at times, and a bit ridiculous, but all to stress a point. Also, I feel like even though the book was written a long time ago, it still relates to the world today. I can see the world that the author was envisioning.

About the audiobook format... I LOVED IT!  I think this book lends itself VERY well to audiobook. The reader's creation of character voices was REALLY great. For example "John" was weird, cause he really isn't from civilization. Eastern Europe director was more regal, because he IS more regal, etc etc. Even Linda, Lenina, and Fanny - I could picture them all.

I definitely recommend this book, and completely support this audiobook version :-)
4188029
I echo the opinion that this novel is a superbly written adventure that focuses on the seemingly forgotten areas in South East Asia and the various western countries' and their shady representatives who sought to control the white heroin trade world-wide. Mr. Lambert has provided an excellent insight into the smoke and mirror environment of various Asian and Corsican organized crime organizations, intelligence and military operational components as they strive to comply with their own countries' foreign policies as well as their own personal agendas. We find all the necessary ingredients---power, manipulation, greed, metaphysical philosophy, corruption, counterintelligence, sex, treachery, death, destruction, humanity, jealously, betrayal, and love. And yet all is not as it appears. This is a story that transcends the past fifty years. It could just as well have occurred yesterday in a different part of the world---with few character alterations and with a focus on oil as opposed to narcotics.  I found that it is a no-holds-barred view of the life and conditions experienced in Laos, Thailand, Burma, and Viet Nam without any soft-peddling or attempts to be politically correct. To borrow from one discussion in the book: " It's about perceptions. The world around you is a reflection of your reaction to the world around you. It's all an illusion." Lambert makes his illusions live. I thoroughly recommend his contribution to this exciting form of literature.
3837654
Stan Robinson, by his own testimony, prefers to write hard SF and generally shies away from fantasy.  It is, therefore, either a great surprise or no surprise at all that his most ambitious alternate-history novel is deeply informed by a theme of reincarnation, and that this makes the book the success it is.

An alternate-history story covering, as this one does, more than 700 years of history, has the built-in problem of a consistent character-arc.  Unless you assume an immortal character (as Miller did in A Canticle for Liebowitz), or give intensive echoes of dead characters in later chapters, you are stuck.  But KSR solves the problem by making the same characters reappear in different incarnations -- with different personalities, needs and joys, to be sure, but nonetheless the same at their cores.

Because the reader comes to care for the repeating "souls" of these characters, and hopes that they will finally find a way not to screw up their karma (or whatever), the novel maintains a personal focus rather than merely a focus on the beautiful historical story itself.
3528387
If you want a clear-headed look at what is central to our past and therefore likely to be central to our future, read this.  If you want to raise your vision beyond contemporary politics and put it in perspective, this book will speak to you.

Bennett and Lotus step back and give us a broad view of the centrality of the family to our independence.  Then they look forward, seeing a future with the optimism of futurists but the wisdom of that grounding in the past.  They do not see the transition as simple nor painless, but they do see a return to both values and customs that made our lives meaningful in the past.  It is cheering to read their solutions and refreshing to see a book that is not caught up in politics but rather the way a government (certainly a smaller, less intrusive, but sound one) can provide a structure in which the family and the good life can be lived.
554763
As a frequent visitor to Venice this book provides both an interesting alternative view to the classical, mythical and romantic view of the city, which often concentrates on the static and romantic view of Byron and Ruskin, together with a call to regenerate the city with a forward looking and dynamic future.

Standish provides a useful history of the impact of the convergence of the global environmental and local conservationist movements and how they have in recent times led to the opposition to and construction of myths concerning the new mobile dams which will help provide protection for the city and Lagoon from the sea. By examining the distant and recent history of Venice and its many myths in the context of a study of risk and resilience he provides, in a way that can be generalised, a pointer to how the problematic and modern trends to align society with nature needs to be questioned. If we are to welcome modernity through bold engineering projects as well as have a positive cultural attitude then problems need to be seen as opportunities to be embraced and Standish shows we need not simply adapt to what many now see as our accommodation within nature.

I for one will never see Venice in the same light.

Why just 4 stars? May be just a few diagrams of the dams project would have been interesting although I guess they are available elsewhere.
4111640
Ordering Power presents a well-articulated and precise theory to explain the different experiences of Malaysia, Indonesia, the Philippines, and other Southeast Asian leviathans. Tying together concepts from public finance and dominant tools in comparative politics, this book provides a convincing framework for explaining the region's diverse authoritarian routes.

In under 300 pages Slater lays out a type of recipe for a successful coercive (Asian) leviathan.  Importantly, the type of conflict, rather than the extent, is the crux for explaining state variation. Nominal regional conflict do little to drive states toward authoritarianism, unlike redistributive class politics that penetrate urban, industrial centers. As comparative scholars like James Scott have noted, rural movements are far easier for communal elites to manage than all-out urban class upheavals. Particularly potent are  conflicts that leave lasting, violent imprints within communities, or those that have the appearance of being "endemic and unmanageable."

Most interesting and novel is Slater's focus on taxes and elite collective action in sustaining authoritarian states. Contentious, endemic community and class conflict enable the state to centralize its authority, consolidate, and --importantly--impose direct taxes on threatened elites. However, it is not enough to merely dole out the rewards of state centralization amongst patrons--it must protect them from the contentious forces that had incited elite collective action in the first place. Thus, Slater suggests that contentious politics must drive a state to both "provide and protect."

Slater offers a lively-written and well researched tour of authoritarian Asia. While not as vast and complete as some classics of state building, Ordering Power presents a tightly argued story that maps quite well onto different political regimes, though relying much on the context of outside comparative research.  Political economists and scholars of comparative politics will have much to sink their teeth into. Asian Studies scholars may have less to gain, but may appreciate Slater's framework nonetheless. Oddly enough, as an economics person I found this much more gratifying than other dominant quantitative studies out there.
2558038
This is a great example of absolute power corrupting absolutely. I recommend this as a study in human nature. Few people can handle power and this book demonstrates how quickly it destroys. It is a well crafted story and very imaginative. I highly recommend it.
1585537
Writted in 1993, this book has proven itself to be a prophetic vision of the changes the world continues to undergo and the challenges it continues to face. It presents clear, concise, cogent arguments for that we are transitioning from a capitalist society (a society built upon the aquisition and use of capital -- labor, hardware, land -- in production) through a post-capitalist society into a knowledge based society (a society where the creation and application of knowledge drives the production of wealth); that we are transitioning from a nation-state based world order to a world where national economies yield to larger regional economies, national political leadership yields to both transnational organizations and local tribalism (read diversity as opposed to integration), and highly integrated generalized companies yield to specialized organizations that outsource everything that is not their speciality; that the greatest problems we need to address at the transnational level are the environment, terrorism and globel arms control (the military-industrial complex demanded by perpetual cold war in the absence of arms control, requires too many resources especially in the form of lost scientific and engineering research and development); that state governments must abandon their futile attempts to manipulate economies so as to prevent every little recession and redistribute wealth and instead return to financial positions that permit them to address seemingly inevitable major recessions by pouring massive investments into infrastructure (roads, trains, utilities, internet) and restrict itself to laws and regulations that promote long-term growth in production and recession resistance which is the only proven way to increase total wealth including the wealth in each class; that state governments must abandon complicated tax systems which have driven the development of special interests and pork-barrell legistlative spending; that state governments must outsource every activity, apart from it's natural role as regulator, to private specialized organizations held accountable by the combination of competition and profit; that organizations must transition from a hierarchical authority-based structure where supervisors assign work to a horizontal responsibility based structure where the manager communicates the goals and the specialist employees figure out how to accomplish those goals.
4754546
As a direct result of the Jesus Seminar and their insistence that the parables are a lens through which a different vision of Jesus can be seen, I began to read books that helped me to understand that "different vision." This is what I found. He bears little resemblance to the portrayal by the evangelicals of one who is for what we are for, against what we are against, goes where we go and stays away from people and places we stay away from, goes to a "seeker friendly" church when and where we go, blesses our business and makes us prosperous, flies our flag, waves our banners, fights our wars and cites our orthodox dogma. Despite the face that he did none of these things while he was here, some believe that he would do all of these things now.

Open to new light and insight I glimpsed "a subversive story teller" with a unique gift for framing a counter-world with aphorisms, pithy sayings and parables, a counter-world he called Empire of God and scholars call his "alternative social vision." It is a counter-world of unfailing justice, full inclusion, authentic freedom, incredible love, astounding forgiveness, sheer grace and unending peace..

Another major reason why I see Jesus in this fashion is the result of reading this book by William R. Herzog entitled "Parables As Subversive Speech: Jesus As Pedagogue of the Oppressed." This was a powerful contribution to a revolution in my thinking. He demonstrates that the focus of the parables of Jesus was not "on a vision of the glory of the reign of God but on the gory details of how oppression kept the ruling powers in control." "His work," someone said, is to show parables as "not just earthly stories with heavenly meanings but earthy stories with heavy meanings."

I don't think a review could possibly convey the radical change in one's understanding of Jesus and his ministry this perspective entails unless it conveys that these parables must be seen politically if they are to be understood in all their potency. When you see them as "subversive speech" that calls into question the Empire of Rome and sets the Empire of God up as an alternative social reality then you are beginning to see why the Romans could only challenge that "subversive story teller" by getting rid of him! That's what the cross is about. I warn you that some of your cherished dogmas may be called into question by this book. And that's precisely why you should read it!
108491
I really enjoyed this book, it has a very realistic view of superpowers and the resulting society that's formed by them
2914925
Kate Crehan's marvelous work on the role of Antonio Gramsci, ideology, and hegemonic formations of power constitutes a core element of my own scholarly work.  I have actually used the term "Crehanian" in my writing.  I think her perspective is both useful and compelling.

This work, which is based on a longitudinal study of a community-based arts group explores some questions that need serious consideration: What does it mean to be community based?  What would a counterhegemonic ideology look like if it was given the tools of formal self-expression?  How do you evaluate the work of those who run counter to the bloc's expectations?

If you're an anthropologist like me or a social theorist who wants to see a practical application of some Gramscian ideas, this is a fine book and a nice piece of ethnographic work, certainly work that not everyone could have done.
4670733
This work which speaks to the problem of political power is quite compelling. It  takes a long forgotten work by a relatively obscure Greek philsopher as the beginning point for a discussion which takes one into the future where the state is likely to be far more powerful than any tyrant of the Ancient world. This work should be read carefully. It is a sobering reminder of the troubles which face us as political power expands almost without limit. It is also a charming and interesting work.

Enjoy.
1014547
I've always been interested in politics and power. I've read many philosophical treaties and dissertations, but this book provide an illuminating and shrewd analysis of what is power and how it works. It is an exceptional analysis of what it takes to get to power and how to keep it. The framework they define in the book can be applied to everything. Once you start thinking within that framework the world, not only politics, becomes much clearer. In the introduction the authors tell that their students call what they are explaining "A theory of everything". Well, that is an incredibly apt definition.

Please, read this book. It'll make your life better.
1751340
An excellent book if judged by what it is and not what one would have wished it to be. It is about possibilities, possibilities that open up only beyond the current binary thinking that plagues most current discourses regarding politics and the environment. Many want a book with prescriptions and concrete "solutions"; that is not what this book offers nor what one should ask any single writer, scientist, or activist to formulate. Lapp correctly points out that big v. small gov, left v. right, growth v. sustainability, vegetarians v. omnivores, are misleading dichotomies that only stifle our creativity in meeting the new economic and ecological challenges. She then offers some examples of several communities who have thought creatively and constructively to both become more sustainable and more prosperous, not as specific prescriptions to imitate but as examples to follow. For these alone it deserves a read.
3668381
Nobody writes like this anymore.  I hadn't expected the eminent urban historian to write such a brilliant paranoiac tract against the System and Established Order. Although often redundant, Mumford makes a heroic attempt at explaining the current problems of our times, with roots in the Middle Ages, and perhaps even the Age of the Pyramids.  He echoes contempories like Herbert Marcuse, Erich Fromm and Marshall McLuhan, but instead of taking a Marxist, psychological or media perspective, he takes the more general view of an urbanist.  The arguments are quite paralell, although considerably more holistic at times.  One recognizes critiques that were earlier or later articulated by not only Marxists, but also feminists, environmentalists, and anti-Imperialists.  There are also anticipations of the New Age Movement!  (See Fitjof Capra's "the Turning Point.")In short, this massive volume impressively combines much historical and cultural material in its critique of Modern Western Civilization.  Although the tone of the book is quite bleak -- we would all appear to be trapped in this Megamachine, the High Technology of the Power Elites -- one also senses a hope towards last chapters that an alternative is possible.  He seems to suggest a New Age style withdrawal, rather than any kind of organized resistance.  Draw your own conclusions.
4311627
This book hooked me in the first few pages by refuting widely held  but inaccurate beliefs from World War II. Mr. Blencowe teases out a story line that the West essentially started its decline as a global powerhouse shortly after their defeat of the Axis of Evil. If you're like me, you've heard tons of laments about manufacturing jobs moving to Japan and their seemingly tireless workforce. This book takes it one step further by imagining a world where  2041 Japan has solved the ills of modern life and has overtaken the US in almost every aspect.

I thought this book was really well thought out and addressed many common blights and global social woes that plague society today. The disappearing family unit, energy and environmental issues were especially spot on in my opinion. I think it's a tremendous call to action to invoke national pride and not let the Japanese beat us at our own game. As Memorial Day approaches, it's hard not think about all who served this country fighting the Japanese. This book was a great insight to what an alternate future might look like led by a nation that the West has essentially put in the drivers seat. Terrific read!