State of the World 2003

Book Description

In State of the World 2003, the Worldwatch Institute's award-winning research team provides concerned citizens and national leaders with comprehensive analysis of the global environmental problems we face, together with detailed descriptions of practical, innovative solutions, like charting the most environmentally sound path to a hydrogen-fueled economy, or accelerating the rapidly growing conversion of farmers worldwide to organic farming and sustainable agriculture. Written in clear and concise language, with easy-to-read charts and tables, State of the World presents a view of our changing world that we, and our leaders, cannot afford to ignore.

Customer Reviews:

Excellent information.......2004-01-30

Established as one of the most authoritative annual guides to progress towards a sustainable future, the 20th edition of the 'State of the World' provides chapters on:
- a review of the year
- the challenges we face
- the rapid decline on the global bird population with 12 recommendations toward a sustainable future for birds and biodiversity
- the link between population, women, and biodiversity with four principles for integrated programs
- the growing threat of Malaria with 10 essential strategies
- new and sustainable energy technologies with eight points for forging a new energy future
- the destructive effect of mining
- uniting divided cities and
- engaging religion in the quest for a sustainable world

In his speech opening the World Summit on Sustainable Development in Johannesburg in August 2002, President Mbeki drew on South Africa's precipitous overturning of apartheid as an example of the very rapid progress the world needs to make in combating the challenges before us. If Rio in 1992 provided the long-term road map for the creation of a sustainable world, Johannesburg marked a shift to modest concrete plans of action, building on the Millenium Development Goals agreed by Heads of State in 2000. The substantial involvement of NGOs, committed to social betterment, environmental progress and economic opportunity is accelerating the process of global change by bringing fresh ideas, imposing new pressures, and by setting up voluntary codes of conduct. NGOs are filling the gap left by governments and their activity may lead to alliances between governments, NGOs, and UN agencies similar to the 280 partnerships agreed in September 2002.

Growing inequality is one of the most disturbing global trends forcing developing countries to assume a bigger role in setting the international agenda. We have one or perhaps two generations in which to reinvent ourselves and overcome the five major threats: increasing numbers of people who lack the means for a decent life; increasing carbon emissions; risks from toxic chemicals; invasions of species carried in ballast water, packaging, wood products, and crop shipments; ecological decline. Despite the obvious need to change and despite our technical competence, fundamental change appears to be only a remote possibility. But there are success stories such as the eradication of smallpox and stabilizing world population. A few years ago population was increasing by about 90 million per year and it is now 77 million annually, partly due to AIDS but partly due to rapidly declining birth rates in countries like Iran. Organic farming is now the fastest growing sector of the world agricultural economy, while wind and photovoltaic generating capacity is increasing by about 25% pa.

There is growing support for the concept that we must reintegrate the head and heart of society and reestablish spirituality as a partner in dialogue with science. To accomplish this, the two groups will need to surmount the suspicion and misunderstanding that have kept them at arm's length. Religious institutions and leaders can bring five strong asserts to building a sustainable world: the capacity to shape worldviews, moral authority, a large base of adherents, significant material resources, and community building capacities. Despite the many laudable advances, serious obstacles remain to more extensive religious/environmental collaboration. "The challenge for environmentalists and other advocates of sustainability, meanwhile, may be to build a greater appreciation for the importance of spirituality into their own work. Public overtures toward people's spiritual sensibilities could be a powerful step forward for sustainability. This is important not simply to win religious people as allies, but because spirituality is important for development. All development activities are embedded in a cultural context; if pursued unwisely, they can provoke a cultural backlash. The Shah of Iran, in his attempt to "modernize" the country between the 1950s and 1970s, paid too little attention to religious sensibilities and learned firsthand, through the 1979 revolution that dethroned him, how costly this insensitivity can be. By combining their considerable skills and complementary perspectives, environmentalists and religious people can help reunite our civilization's head and heart, re-engaging religion in the quest for a new cosmology, a new world view for our time. Cultural historian Thomas Berry calls this emerging perspective a New Story - the story of a people in an intimate and caring relationship with their planet, with their cosmos, and with each other. Its ethics would deal not just with homicide and suicide, but equally with biocide and geocide, in Berry's words. It would be as comfortable with awe and wonder as with weights and measures. It would rewrite the story of unrestrained science and technology, of a human species alienated from its own home. It would be a vehicle to guide us to a socially just and environmentally sustainable future."

Interesting, timely information.......2003-10-09

I bought this book for a course, but I found it very easy to read and very interesting. They keep everything up-to-date so it's best to buy the book when it first comes out (at the beginning of the year). By the time the end of the year comes around, the book loses its power, and you need the new year's edition. But I would buy it again, it is a great source of information.

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World Population Policies 2003

Manufacturer: United Nations Pubns
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books

General | Reference | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books

General | Reference | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 9211513936

Book Description

World Population Policies 2003 provides an overview of population policies and dynamics for 194 Member States and non-member States for which data are available at mid-decade for the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s. It also shows, on a country-by-country basis, the evolution of Government views and policies from 1976 to 2003 with respect to population growth, fertility and family planning, health and mortality, international migration and spatial distribution, within the context of demographic, social and economic change.

World Population Monitoring, 2003: Population, Education and Development

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World Population Monitoring, 2003: Population, Education and Development

Manufacturer: United Nations Pubns
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Demography | Social Sciences | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books

Book Description

The present report emphasizes the interrelationships between education and population, and their resulting effects on development. It investigates such topics as trends in population, including trends in the total and school-age populations and trends in school enrolment, literacy and educational attainment; education and entry into reproductive life; the interrelationships between education and fertility; education, health and mortality; education and international migration; and finally progress in meeting the international goals. The presentation of each topic is followed by a concluding section that summarizes the major points and messages of the study.

Book Description

Taylor's recollections focus on his service in Virginia under Stonewall Jackson and later as commander of the department of Alabama, Mississippi, and East Louisiana.

Customer Reviews:

read before gone.......2007-09-18

This is a must read for anyone who desires a true understanding of the war and aftermath before our historical perspectives are forever changed with the new history being written by liberal professors. It clearly accounts for the crimes of the reconstruction which is a topic that is definitely being rewritten by those that desire to protray the US as some type of force for good.

Genl Taylor has his say..........2003-06-25

Genl Richard Taylor offers his insights of the "late unpleasantness". Unlike too many other popular civil war personalities who wrote first-hand accounts, Taylor usually avoids the name-calling and back-stabbing others seem to readily participate in. His immediate supervisor, Genl Edmund Kirby Smith,however, doesn't fare too well by Taylor's standards. Taylor holds Smith responsible for failing to allow him the necessary reinforcements needed to route Banks in the Red River Campaign (North Louisiana). Taylor indeed offers a unique perspective, as the son of Zachary Taylor, as well as having served in the Eastern and Western Theaters. A well-bred, highly educated man, Taylor's writing is filled with allusions to Classic Literature and military folk-lore, which is often muddlesome. Also annoying is the lack of ANY maps -a real problem when discussion of the various bayous, rivers and small towns fill page after page. Definately recommended for those of Confederate ilk - especially his remarks on post-war happenings.

Destruction and Reconstruction (Personal experiences of the late war.)

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Destruction and Reconstruction (Personal experiences of the late war.)

Manufacturer: Civil War Times (Repub)D. Appleton & Co.
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000IBF16O

Product Description

Reminiscences of secession, War, and Reconstruction

Destruction and Reconstruction: Personal Experiences of the Civil War

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Destruction and Reconstruction: Personal Experiences of the Civil War
Richard Taylor
Manufacturer: Da Capo Pr
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Biographies & Memoirs | Subjects | Books

General | Americas | History | Subjects | Books

General | Military | History | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 030680624X

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Destruction and Reconstruction Personal Experiences of the Civil War

Manufacturer: Da Capo Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000HOH3KE

Book Description

Book Three of George Santayana's letters covers a period of intense intellectual activity in Santayana's life, and the correspondence reflects the establishment of his mature philosophy. Santayana becomes more permanently established in Italy, but continues to travel in France, Spain, and England. The year 1927 marks the beginning of his long friendship with Daniel Cory, who became his literary secretary and eventually his literary executor. Also, with the death of Santayana’s half-brother Robert, George Sturgis, Robert's son, becomes an important part of Santayana's life and letters as his financial manager. Santayana continues to write to his sister Susana, as well as to numerous friends and fellow philosophers, including Bernard Berenson, Robert Seymour Bridges, Curt John Ducasse, John Erskine, Horace Meyer Kaller, Lewis Mumford, George Herbert Palmer, John Francis Stanley Russell, Herbert Wallace Schneider, Charles Augustus Strong, Paul Weiss, and Harry Austryn Wolfson. Other correspondents include Wendell T. Bush, Alys Gregory, Marianne Moore, John Middleton Murray, and Frederick J. E. Woodbridge.

Book Description

This volume documents Boston's metamorphosis from a casualty of manufacturing decline in the 1970s to a paragon of the high-tech and service industries in the 1990s. The city's rebound has been part of a wider regional renaissance, as new commercial centers have sprung up outside the city limits, and a stream of immigrants has flowed into the area, redrawing the map of ethnic relations in the city. Boston's renaissance remains uneven, and the authors identify a variety of handicaps (low education, unstable employment, single parenthood) that still hold minorities back. Nonetheless this book presents Boston as a hopeful example of how America's older cities can reinvent themselves in the wake of suburbanization and deindustrialization.

Customer Reviews:

A superbly researched, written and presented history........2000-09-05

The Boston Renaissance: Race, Space, And Economic Change In An American Metropolis is the detailed story of how Boston was transformed from a city with declining manufacturing base, depopulation, and racial unrest back in the 1970s, to the confident, multicultural, high-tech industry oriented, prosperous cosmopolitan city it is today. The authors draw upon a wide variety of historical and contemporary resources to explain Boston's impressive rebirth and redevelopment, and vastly improved ethnic and racial co-existence. Still very much a work in progress, Boston's story could well serve as a template for other troubled communities, large and small, anywhere within the confines of the United States as we progress through the first decade of a new century.

Urban Inequality: Evidence from Four Cities & The Boston Renaissance: Race, Space, and Economic Change in an American Metropolis & Prismatic Metropolis: ... Journal of the American Planning Association

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Urban Inequality: Evidence from Four Cities & The Boston Renaissance: Race, Space, and Economic Change in an American Metropolis & Prismatic Metropolis: ... Journal of the American Planning Association
Don DeMarco
Manufacturer: American Planning Association
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Digital
ASIN: B0008ER308
Release Date: 2005-07-29

Book Description

This digital document is an article from Journal of the American Planning Association, published by American Planning Association on January 1, 2002. The length of the article is 1362 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.

From the author: DeMarco is the executive director of Fund for an OPEN Society, located in Philadelphia. The Society is a nonprofit organization offering consulting services to local communities interested in intentionally promoting racial integration and avoiding resegregation.

Citation Details
Title: Urban Inequality: Evidence from Four Cities & The Boston Renaissance: Race, Space, and Economic Change in an American Metropolis & Prismatic Metropolis: Inequality in Los Angeles & Detroit Divided & The Atlanta Paradox. (book review)
Author: Don DeMarco
Publication: Journal of the American Planning Association (Refereed)
Date: January 1, 2002
Publisher: American Planning Association
Volume: 68 Issue: 1 Page: 101(2)

Article Type: Book Review

Distributed by Thomson Gale

Book Description

A pop superstar since the age of eleven, Michael Jackson went on to earn enormous wealth and international adoration. But by the 1980s, things had already begun to get weird, what with Michael's bizarre facial reconstructions and skin bleaching, his odd preoccupations and phobias, and his unhealthy obsession with young boys. Before the eyes of the world, Michael Jackson was unraveling, culminating in his shocking indictment on child molestation charges. FREAK! is the riveting, no-holds-barred story of the rise and fall of a true American icon -- a blazing star who spun madly out of orbit.

Customer Reviews:

GARBAGE!!!!.......2006-02-18

I cant believe that as a fan I was curious and actually read this book. I have never in my life read anything this filthy. This is not a book, this is right out of the National Enquirer and is only full of complete and utter crap. I have never sworn so much while reading a book. Everything was maniputated and so many of the "facts" presented were wrong, completely false, pulled out of someones behind, I swear. It seemed unedited also, as the grammer was bad at times... I still cant believe that some people believe this absolute rubbish. This book, is a horrible insult to the greatest musician the world has ever known and ever will know. THIS IS GARBAGE!!!
DO NOT READ IT!!! THIS BOOK IS TABLOID CRAP!!!!
Just BURN IT!!!!

Why was this book published?.......2005-12-22

This book is so boring that I did not even get to the end of it. The arguements in the book are not convincing because they are not backed up by evidence. And the grammar is terrible! I thought a book had to be read by at least five people at a publishing company before it can be published!

Believe it or don't..........2005-12-03

I have just finished reading this book. It was a great, uh, "sitting room" read, by the way. I can't sell my copy now, because it's flagged. But anyway, I digress. I thought this book was kinda fascinating, and whether you believe what's in it or not, it does make you wonder about what kind of motivations MJ has for his actions, in public and in private. Especially interesting was the description of his childhood, playing in strip joints and seedy bars that his father brought them to (the young Jackson 5) versus his religious upbringing from his mother. I can see where this would create inner conflict....but it goes much deeper than that.
I have concerns for the safety of his children, and wonder at what point in his future will he be accused of doing the same things to them? Is that why he had his own children? I can't imagine him wanting to be a parent for altruistic reasons. But then, I never met the guy, and can only speculate. You should read this book, and form your own opinions. I gave it 4 stars because it was so hard to put down, but it does have some problems with proofreading, sentence structure, etc. It appears to have been written by a british person or someone pretending to be british, by the style of it. But it's still a good story, believe it or don't!

.........2005-06-24

why wont people leave him alone... everyone's trying to make money using his name, nm how twisted they set it.. gh

Oh Jeez!.......2005-04-05

The title alone should tell you that this book is mean spirited & was made to make money by slandering Michael Jackson's name. It's written by a tabloid, enough said. Wake up, People! Stop believing everything you read!

Customer Reviews:

A bit to narcissistic.......2001-04-12

Davis writes extremely well and the images of his youth are quite powerful. He also does an excellent job conveying the difficulties of relating to his parents.

However, he can never seem to escape from a level of self pity. Though he ascribes this to his parent's deafness, often one wonders if his feelings are not rooted in his own deep classism. Much of what he describes as his youthful dificulties are not uncommon to find in the writtings of other children of working class immigrant jews. The embarassment he feels seems far more driven by this than his parents inability to hear.

I grew a bit tired of his deep self pity, perpetually describing himself as the victim of almost every circumstance.

In one poinient passage, he describes how his mother had once been courted by a wealthy english suitor whom she rejected. He wonders why she chose not marry this "catch." I myself wonder if davis would not have much prefered for this to be the case. It seems he would rather have been the child of the wealthy deaf than of the hearing poor.

While it is worth the read, other worthy texts by children of the deaf are far less self involved.

Reads like a novel..........2000-10-13

This could become a classic. I really felt everything he wrote about. I felt badly for him - his childhood was rather bleak. However, his intelligence and good humor won the day and he has become a successful person, as a writer, in academia and his personal, family life. To me this shows that unique situations often produce unique people, and in this there is hopefulness for those of us who feel we grew up as "outsiders." Frankly, I think everyone fits into that category one way or another, so I recommend this book to...everyone.

Interesting but I wanted to know more..........2000-08-20

It was very enlightening to learn of a hearing individual's experience being raised by deaf parents...the author's first awareness of his parents' deafness, his alertness and response to nighttime sounds, his role as interpreter even as a small child, his excitement at attending school surrounded by those who could hear, his need as a young adult to escape his limiting home environment, etc. However, there were times during my reading when I felt the author strayed from what I perceived as the main intent of the writing, that is, to understand or empathize with the difficulties and problems of growing up in a somewhat restricted household (at least, in his mind). These were the parts of his story that were not as interesting, and I wanted to hurry through them to get to the portions where I learned something about the deaf experience. Otherwise, it was a very good book and well done. I did notice that the author at times used sentence structure reminiscent of his descriptions of "deaf speak". I wondered whether this was intentional or just a slip to his past.

You'll love this book!.......2000-04-28

I have read several books of this gen-re, growing up with deaf parents. This one has its own, unique slant. I loved it, and I'm sure you will, too. It's fascinating when a person with parents of any particular group can look back at their childhood and explain things as they saw them through the eyes of their childhood. Mr. Davis describes his young feelings with insight and clarity and makes you understand exactly where he's coming from. It's a wonderful book, made even more special by the rainbow of seldom-heard, but easy to read, descriptive vocabulary used throughout.

Perfect pitch.......2000-04-03

How to adequately praise an amazing memoir that is by turns comic, tragic, brave, immensely kind (never cloying) and seemingly photographically rendered? Davis presents the reader with how his young life looked, smelled, sounded - and most importantly, how it felt. It's a remarkable story of growing up in the now-lost world of the working-class Bronx (Tremont Avenue) of the 1950's, the much younger of two sons of smart, devoted, hard-working Jewish British immigrant parents, who are also "stone deaf," in his father's words. His mother lost her hearing in childhood, and so can speak and be understood by the hearing world; his father lost his as a baby. The circumstances surrounding these events are examined, too. Their shared disability both constricted and greatly enlarged his life.

Young Davis was deeply loved by his parents, but hyper-responsible and desperate for contact and life in the outside world. Readers are given the terrific minutiae of his life as a child - the weekly dinner menu at home, the interior of his family's apartment, life at school, the kindesses of teachers and his parents' friends in the deaf community, (lower case "d," , then) the neighbors, and the sights, sounds, smells of family life, including what he describes as a nearly religious object (because of course his father couldn't hear baseball on the radio): an Emerson Console TV. A very personal iconography of Television -- he develops a superhero alterego he calls "The Zenth" -- is part of the immense charm and humor of Davis' story. (Years later, he finds the exact same Emerson Console in a junk shop in upstate New York, another great scene in this book.) In the chapter "Honeymoon with Mom," he goes to England to visit relatives. The cozy domesticity and accepting, familial love - the music in every house, English candy - that he finds there is movingly described.

From the confines and immense security of his family's one-bedroom apartment Davis learns difficulty and differentness of being the hypervigilant hearing child - conscientious, smart, and emotionally desperate, sometimes - of Deaf parents. There are two brothers in this family, and their interesting but troubled relationship is examined with compassion and intelligence.

Davis is a careful writer with a wonderful and loving sense of the world. Not a word has been wasted. By the way, "Zenth" becomes a Professor of English. His generosity in revealing his life to us is immeasurable. The full picture of the old neighborhood is in itself an excellent historical narrative. You can smell the food - and hear the voices. It's also very funny at times. One of the best autobiographies I've ever read.

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My Sense of Silence: Memoirs of a Childhood With Deafness
Lennard J. Davis
Manufacturer: Univ of Illinois Pr
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000J4U444

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