Bringing Some Clarity to the Abstract
582685
The Economics of Good and Evil is a long past-due reference point for those of us adrift in a world that has been flim-flammed by computer modeled economic forecasting.

Sedlacek's point (it would seem) is that individual economic well-being is as ancient as the truth that the successful hunter gets his choice of the meat provided. Yes, he does go pretty deep into biblical and pre-biblical references, but those who choose not to travel with him must settle for what has happened recently in world economics and simply go it alone on trust. Alan Greenspan trusted the markets to police themselves and thus handed a can of worms to Ben Bernanke and toddled off to write a self-serving book that explained it wasn't his (or Ayn Rand's) fault.

The reviews here are long and complicated, while nearly all of the reviewers make long and complicated arguments to support their side of the issue, all the while complaining about the length and complication of the book they review. I prefer to be brief, if perhaps over-brief.

This is a book to be read and (at times) struggled through if you give a damn about what has been foisted upon worldwide humanity in the name of economics. A Nobel Prize no doubt lurks somewhere in Tomas Sedlacek's future.<a data-hook="product-link-linked" class="a-link-normal" href="/The-Dark-Side-of-the-Moon-1998-2003-Observing-America-Volume-1/dp/1937674231/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8">The Dark Side of the Moon 1998-2003: Observing America (Volume 1)</a>
1535001
Newspapers and magazines take glee in deriding academics.  It has become a spectator sport.  But calling an academic pedantic hardly seems sporting -- or particularly original.

Reading this book reminded me of why i went to college -- to explore ideas in ways that I hadn't before.  It's true that the authors in this volume take rather similar positions; however, it's also true that it's a much-needed explanation of why new ideas sometimes sound new.

It also shows how writing needs to be read in context -- not only do individual sentences often need the paragraphs around them to make sense, but individual publications often need the context of other writings to make sense.  Each writer shouldn't need to review or rewrite all of philosophical history at the beginning of every article or book!  Authors should, in certain times and places, be able to start from the assumption that their writings speak to a particular tradition, one that not every reader is immediately familiar with.

So asking if individual sentences can be rephrased to be clearer is sometimes beside the point.  Asking if Judith Butler's writings make a contribution to a philosophical tradition dating back to the pre-Socratics is the real question.  After all, Plato and Aristotle wrote some texts that were meant to instruct a wider studentship and others that seemed too difficult to the novice scholar.  They needed both kinds of writing.  So do we.
3325959
I thought this was exceptionally well done. I was already familiar with much of the research covered in the book but it is very helpful to have this material summarized in such readable, non-technical language. I will consider using this in one of the courses I teach. A few additional thoughts are available here: http://www.fullerinstitute.org/?p=811
696601
For the most part I like this book because it gave me some clarification on a few things I've been thinking about for a low-carb high-fat diet. However, some of her claims, particularly about calories in-calories out, make me wonder where she got her information. It runs counter to some of the other information I've been reading that is backed up by a lot of science and includes reference to the original source material and scientific studies.  Overall I got enough out of this book to make it worth it for me.
405513
It is informative about a rather illusive subject.  Glad to have a clarification.
1307104
The book describes in detail for the layman the evolution of the theories and discoveries attempting to determine the age of the universe. Most areas are quite clear but in some of them, by necessity, the reader has to accept things as they are, which is unavoidable when trying to condensate all the theories and discoveries for non-specialists in one book.
4926934
This makes sense.  It's a lot of small print and a lot to try to understand.
4886158
After years of hearing clergy discuss their angst in trying to explain the trinity to their congregations, I realized that I needed to explore my own understanding a bit. Thus, I read Understanding the Trinity, a Dorrance publication by K. R. Walters, Jr., to further explore this difficult concept. The Reverend Walters explores this topic in his publication in a methodical yet "plain language" manner, allowing lay and clergy to follow him in his journey as he explores his own thoughts on the trinity. He offers biblical citations to support each segment of his analysis, and he uses questions that he has heard about the trinity to guide him in organizing his analysis. I found his analysis and explanation interesting, even though I admit that I did not share each of his conclusions. Still, I found his discussion of the Bible's use of "three" and his observations regarding people's approaches to understanding concepts based on faith, versus sensory affirmations, enlightening. I found Walters' comparisons of Genesis, Exodus, and Leviticus as illustrations of God the creator/father, God the Son/man, and God the Holy Spirit, particularly interesting--something that I had not observed or read before reading his book. I appreciate his efforts to write this book as a guide to his flock and in publishing it so that others might share from his wisdom as well. I received a complimentary copy of Understanding the Trinity as a member of the Dorrance Publishing Book Review Team.  Visit [...] to learn how you can become a member of the Book Review Team.
3793128
Some great ideas are contained within, some are clearly aspirational, others are more realistic; it's definitely worth the read, enjoy!
1046788
I enjoyed the viewpoints of the author and appreciated his ability to connect the dots to come up with a cohesive, if not scientific, explanation of how economic changes are driven by demographic changes.

In the process of proving out the 'Time Machine' he goes back to previous generations, presenting a wealth of historical economic and generational data, and shows that his economic model works. I enjoyed this exercise because it provided some interesting history of where we have been in the past and how it might relate to where we are going in the present.

The author does not ignore the fact that it's not really possible to predict future outcomes with certainty and I think that lends credibility to points of view.

I think this book is worth reading for anyone who is interested in the economy. If you were troubled by the recent financial crisis and want to feel somewhat empowered to know where we are heading next then this book will help.  I also think this work has created some rare and easy-to-understand clarity in an area that is often murky and difficult to understand.
2214345
A useful and challenging, yet difficult to garner all the information to process and interpret. Nonetheless, the effort is worth the engagement in order to achieve the outcomes recommended in this dense and informative book.
1677928
On the upside, the author strives and does a good job to convey intuition and visual examples, which I think is important and not enough people do this, so kudos to the author for this.

On the downside, there are many errors in the exposition and proofs.  They range from innocuous (pg. 20, Lemma 6 says 'union' when the equation clearly and correctly shows 'intersection') to intermediate (pg 28, Theorem 9, he claims 'f(f^-1(B)) = B' when really the lhs is a subset of the rhs), to ones that threw me off (pg. 24, 'U x V = p_1(U) \intersect p_2(V)' should be 'U x V = p_1^-1(U) \intersect p_2^-1(V)'; and pg 65, theorem 31, has incorrect / inconsistent variable references, and states without proof that open balls are path connected.  That last one isn't an error, but I had to look up, and this author, who is careful with the concepts part, seems like it would be his style to include it).

All in all, I could recommend a future version if the errors are corrected.  It gave me insights and had a conversational tone that made it easy to learn from, but I had to stop because the errors threw me off too much to have confidence that I'll catch more subtle problems in more unfamiliar territory.  I hope the author does an updated version with corrections.
1432725
As other commenters have noted, this book is intended for clarification of a sometimes-murky cluster of issues that have entered into public debate with increasing frequency in recent years. Bartlett contributes to that debate by providing tools of understanding that hopefully allow different sides to talk to each other, not past each other--or for spectators to better evaluate the discourse and weigh the outcomes.

The author is not carving out a position to defend, though he does take positions, worthy ones I think, on many issues. His comments are not meant to be exhaustive; for example, he does not delve into the contribution that the feminist movement has made to public understanding of sex and gender. But he covers many important points concisely and clearly.

I was personally interested in this book after the horrible events in Orlando earlier this summer made it necessary for me to confront a family member over some pernicious opinions he had expressed to and about another family member who is gay. I don't know if this book will help me to heal tensions among my people, but it certainly has clarified many issues for me; and I agree with the author that keeping an open mind and fostering harmony among one's neighbors are worthy actions for any decent person.
4116691
I found this book very helpful, but some areas were not clear. I think that there are some assumptions of prior knowledge.
2536720
An interesting and short book. The book is written in easy language making many of concepts quite accessible and thus lending some enjoyment to the reading. And it really is full of insights!

Simplicity is an ironically complex subject. Maeda has demonstrably done a lot of work to reduce the body of knowledge to a short framework of 10 "laws"; though my preference would be to call them tenets. Being true to his ideals, this framework of categorizing does honor the second tenet or organizing and categorizing to draw out simplicity.

But, there are a few things which do detract from the importance of the message. The first thing is that although some examples from broader subject matter are used, the vast majority of cases, anecdotes and examples are derived from computers and Apple devices in particular. One can't deny the design and simplicity successes of Apple. Putting them on the pedestal does smack of jumping-on-the-band-wagon like so many other nauseating creativity and innovation texts.  Drawing examples from a far wider spectrum of everyday things would, I feel, improve learning through better contextualizing (laws 4 and 6) for a wider audience and what reinforce the author's credibility. The ideas do also suffer from a somewhat awkward flow of thoughts, at least within each explanation of his laws. Blame for this could very well be leveled at bad editing rather than the author himself.

I would have also preferred more effort is differentiating between the "whats" and the "hows" i.e. defining what constitutes simplicity first of all, and then the tools and methods most often used to realize those elements. As it stands in the book, these discrete elements are melded together and for me this does create a bit of conceptual murkiness.
1898669
I've used bunches of these brief books. When I'm feeling ambitious I use them to check my understanding of cases. When I'm not, I use them to skip reading the cases. For the most part, the book's pretty good, but I found a few cases that were rather unclear. It feels as if in an attempt to be concise the author skimmed over some of the context in some cases. It's understandable to a point because a lot of these cases are long-winded fact patterns followed by a quick and dirty legal analysis and decision, but it does make it necessary to go and read the case for understanding, rather than the other way around!
Some of the little note boxes at the end, though, have given me great insight and helped me pull concepts together. I'm really glad I got it, even if I feel like it left a bit out.
2386319
In this book, Johnson does a very good job of conveying the ideas of emergence in a simple, understandable way.  For people that are just looking to get an idea of what the field is about, this book will provide the answers in an accessible manner.
The book beings with a compelling look at the way ant colonies function and uses this as a foundation for the ideas of emergence.  Along the way he looks at several examples of emergence, including cities and software.  He also touches on (or alludes to) current research areas such as genetic algorithms and pattern recognitition.
As someone who studied computer science I felt the book was a bit too light and missed some great opportunities to dig, at least a bit, into greater detail.  However, I think many people will find this an approachable, enjoyable read.