If They Give You Lined Paper, Write Sideways

If They Give You Lined Paper, Write Sideways
Daniel Quinn | 2007-01-02 00:00:00 | Steerforth | 208 | Non-fiction
In Ishmael, Daniel Quinn offered new ways of seeing and understanding human history, and our collective future. His message was transformative for millions of people, and Ishmael continues to attract tens of thousands of new readers each year. Subsequent works, such as The Story of B and My Ishmael, expanded upon his insights and teachings, but only now does he finally tackle the one question he has been asked hundreds of times but has never taken on: "How do you do what you do?" In If They Give You Lined Paper, Write Sideways Quinn elucidates for readers the methods behind his own thought processes, challenging and ultimately empowering them to view the world for themselves in creative, perhaps even revolutionary ways.

If They Give You Lines Paper, Write Sideways also includes Quinn's never-before-published essays "The New Renaissance" and "Our Religions." There is a scientific consensus that global warming is approaching a tipping point beyond no return faster than had previously been predicted. Quinn has long portrayed humans as "a species of beings, which, while supposedly rational, are destroying the very planet they live on." So what are we to do? There has never been a plan for the future - and there never will be. But something extraordinary will happen in the next two or three decades; the people of our culture will learn to live sustainably - or not. Either way, it will be extraordinary. The sooner we understand this reality, the greater the chances that human society will transform itself so that the human race might have a future.
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The Multiplicities of Internet Addiction

The Multiplicities of Internet Addiction
Nicola F. Johnson | 2009-01-01 00:00:00 | Ashgate | 166 | Non-fiction
Overuse of the internet is often characterised as problematic, disruptive, or addictive, with stories frequently claiming that online use interferes with relationships, or that 'excessive' time in front of computer screens is unhealthy. People joke about suffering from withdrawal if they cannot check their emails and some parents worry about their children's use of computers, wondering whether it is to the detriment of other life experiences normally associated with childhood. Is it possible that people, both young and old, are addicted to computers and Internet use?"The Multiplicities of Internet Addiction" contests the claim that computers - specifically internet use - are addictive, arguing that use of the internet is now a form of everyday leisure engaged in by many people in Western society and one which is reflective of the benefits and employment of microcomputers within society. Offering an analysis of the nature of addiction alongside an evaluation of the current day usage of computers, this volume explains how new learning spaces have developed which are also sites of leisure. These sites challenge traditional notions of childhood as the environment in which people are positioned is increasingly digitised.With a discussion of this everyday practice constituting both leisure and learning in this digital age, "The Multiplicities of Internet Addiction" informs our understanding of the discourses surrounding internet addiction and our grasp of the emerging relationships between leisure and our learning, as well as the increasing blur between our private and public spheres. Presenting a detailed empirical study of home computer use, this book will be of interest not only to sociologists of culture and popular culture, but also to scholars of media, ICT and education.
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Just Another Major Crisis?: The United States and Europe Since 2000

Just Another Major Crisis?: The United States and Europe Since 2000
Geir Lundestad | 2008-01-01 00:00:00 | Oxford University Press | 338 | Non-fiction
In this book some of the world's leading academic experts on American-European relations provide the most up to date presentations of the topic available today. The Iraq War represented a most serious challenge to American-European relations. Some of the contributors argue that NATO, the key of the Atlantic relationship, has been harmed beyond repair. The Cold War is over; America has become more nationalist than it used to be; Europe has become more independent-minded vis-a-vis the United States. Others argue that the war was just another major crisis, like the many crises that had affected NATO even in its golden years during the Cold War. Recently the relationship has already improved a great deal; it is likely to improve even further. The editor attempts to strike a balance between different interpretations.
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The Complete Idiot's Guide to the Vietnam War

The Complete Idiot's Guide to the Vietnam War
Timothy P. Maga | 2000-01-01 00:00:00 | Alpha Books | 338 | Non-fiction
If you are too young to remember the Vietnam War, this book will give you a comprehensive view of the thirty-year conflict, a more complete story than you might get in your history textbook. It will satisfy the curiosity of those who want to know more about the history and culture of the United States during the sixites and seventies, and it will give older readers an unbiased reminder of their youth.
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Democratic Drift: Majoritarian Modification and Democratic Anomie in the United Kingdom

Democratic Drift: Majoritarian Modification and Democratic Anomie in the United Kingdom
Matthew Flinders | 2010-01-01 00:00:00 | Oxford University Press | 325 | Non-fiction
Finally, democracy in the United Kingdom is currently drifting. The old rules do not appear to suit the new game, and yet the government continues to insist that the old rules still apply. The critical challenge for any future government, of any political complexion, will be to articulate a new form of constitutional morality with the capacity to clarify exactly what its reforms in the sphere of constitutional reform and democratic renewal are seeking to achieve.

The analysis offered in this book focuses on the evolution of democracy in the United Kingdom since the election of New Labour in 1997. However in order to achieve both depth and breadth this analysis is then located within the contours of much broader longitudinal and comparative analyses. This involves examining the trajectory of democracy in the United Kingdom from 1945 onwards, and then comparing this long-term view within a much broader comparative perspective to examine the degree to which recent developments in the United Kingdom fit within global democratic trends.
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Fires in the Mind: What Kids Can Tell Us About Motivation and Mastery

Fires in the Mind: What Kids Can Tell Us About Motivation and Mastery
Kathleen Cushman | 2010-01-01 00:00:00 | Jossey-Bass | 208 | Non-fiction
In Fires in the Mind: What Kids Can Tell Us About Motivation and Mastery, Kathleen Cushman reveals that kids have lots to tell us about motivation and mastery. She skillfully draws on the collective wisdom of 160 young people, weaving together their words and insights into a vivid exploration of "what it takes to get really good at something." It's impossible to choose just a few highlights from this book because it's filled with over 200 quotes from the students who participated in the Practice Project, each one contributing a valuable perspective on the journey towards expertise.

As one of the teachers who participated in the Practice Project, I was captivated by Kathleen's approach to this collaborative meaning-making process. She spent two intensive days and two follow-up days with 20 twelfth-graders and me at The International School of the Americas in San Antonio, Texas. She interviewed the students, had them interview each other, coached them in interviewing the adult experts they knew, and facilitated rich, thought-provoking discussions about the essential questions that inspired Fires in the Mind: What Kids Can Tell Us About Motivation and Mastery.

Listening intently and gently prompting students to "tell me more," Kathleen drew them deeper and deeper into the examination of their own experiences, as well as their observations of adult experts and teachers. Through these conversations about the development of expertise, Kathleen guided the students to uncover rich insights into the process of learning and shed new light on what teachers can do to facilitate that process.

Kathleen's gift to us in Fires in the Mind: What Kids Can Tell Us About Motivation and Mastery is her thoughtful analysis of what these 160 students' comments, taken together, tell us about motivation, practice, learning, and achievement. Throughout the book, she offers reflection questions, checklists, and activities for teachers and students to connect their own experiences to the ideas being discussed. This book brings student's voices into an important conversation about motivation and mastery, and invites educators to join the conversation by asking themselves and their students "what does it take?"
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Ghosts/Aliens

Ghosts/Aliens
Trey Hamburger | 2008-11-04 00:00:00 | Three Rivers Press | 272 | Non-fiction
Product Description: Are you freaked out by the mere thought of a bird winking at you? Or do you panic when you hear an unexplained gurgling sound?

Well, listen to this. On Saturday, March 8, at 7:12 p.m., Trey Hamburger heard a second hand account of a teleporting Hot Pocket and started wiggin' out bad. So he and his amigo Mike Stevens basically went into combat mode and ended up encountering some of the most seriously messed-up shit ever. And they're STILL FREAKED OUT ABOUT IT. Now, even though these guys aren't SCIENTISTS, it's pretty for sure that they might have extrapolated something HUGE, which will have the intellectual community going nuts for weeks.

This is their story.

Ghost/Aliens is probably the first time ever a regular person has investigated this sort of thing. So now the people of planet Earth will finally know the truth about all those levitating towels and dead grandpas popping up all over the place.
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Bravo Two Zero

Bravo Two Zero
Andy McNab | 1994-01-01 00:00:00 | Bantam Doubleday Dell | 411 | Non-fiction
This book is the true story of operation gone horribly wrong during the Gulf War. An eight-man team of the elite British Special Air Service were dropped by helicopter into the desert of western Iraq, each carrying well over 200 lbs. of equipment. Their mission was to watch a road for military traffic and hunt for mobile Iraqi SCUD missile launchers. They were soon discovered by a local shepherd boy. The local Iraqi militia were called out, and the poop hit the fan.

Their radios didn't work, and so they had no way to call for an extraction. They decided to trek 100 miles west to the Syrian border. But one man had injured his leg during the evasion of the Iraqi forces. Another had been wearing his thermal underwear since the compromise, and so had sweating profusely the entire time and was now dangerously dehydrated. How any managed to survive is a true testament to the power of the human will, and to the rigorous standards to which the SAS trains its men.

The overall book is excellent. McNab has put together one of the most readable military stories I've ever come across. It's a cliche, but this book is a real page-turner. There's military jargon galore, but he usually explains it for the layman reader. A glossary at the back helps with that, and with some of the British army slang, but the regular British stuff you have to figure out by context.

It's the little things McNab adds that make this book so readable and "enjoyable," (if you can use that word about a book in which a man describes himself and his friends being tortured, and some dying gruesome deaths.) To a military professional, the tactics and gear of the SAS are an interesting part of the book. [To my grunt bubbas, make sure to check out the pictures of the packs and gear they carried.] But even the average person can find things to identify with in the book: The joking between the members of the patrol, even after they've been discovered; The story about the old Iraqi farmer who they run into while escaping. There are others, but I won't spoil the entire book for you.

This is one of the most no-holds-barred looks at warfare I've ever read. The only book I can compare it to, for realism and readability purposes, is "Nam" by Mark Baker. If you enjoy military books, or true stories of adventure and survival against all odds, you'll like this book.

BTW, if you already read this book, McNab's account of his life before the Gulf War, "Immediate Action," would be well worth your time also. I've also heard the BBC (or some British TV station) did an excellent movie version of this story, starring Sean Bean ("Sharpe" movies, "GoldenEye,") as McNab. I haven't seen it, but that'd probably be worth checking out, too.
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Saucers of the Illuminati

Saucers of the Illuminati
Jim Keith | 2004-01-01 00:00:00 | Adventures Unlimited Press | 148 | Non-fiction
Groundbreaking research for the truth behind stories of alien invasion, secret underground bases, and secret plans for the New World Order. Conspiracy expert Keith’s final book on UFOs exposes the secret, sinister cabal that manufactures UFOs and uses them for their own purposes: the control and manipulation of the population of Earth. Chapters cover mind control, saucer abductions, the MJ-12 documents, cattle mutilations, government anti-gravity testing, the Sirius Connection, and include

*The Process of Decoding oThe Human Factor
*Infiltration
*A Symbolic Odyssey
*Increase of Resolution
*Philip K. Dick and the Illuminati
*The Sirius Connection
*Demons and Adepts
*Occult Espionage
*The Year of Light oJ im Keith’s famous lecture on UFOs and the Edge of Reality
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How to Hug a Porcupine: Negotiating the Prickly Points of the Tween Years

How to Hug a Porcupine: Negotiating the Prickly Points of the Tween Years
Julie Ross | 2008-01-01 00:00:00 | McGraw-Hill; 1 edition | 224 | Non-fiction
You never listen to anything I say!

Yesterday, your child was a sweet, well-adjusted eight-year-old. Today, a moody, disrespectful twelve-year-old. What happened? And more important, how do you handle it? How you respond to these whirlwind changes will not only affect your child's behavior now but will determine how he or she turns out later. Julie A. Ross, executive director of Parenting Horizons, shows you exactly what's going on with your child and provides all the tools you need to correctly handle even the prickliest tween porcupine.

Find out how other parents survived nightmarish tween behavior--and still raised great kids.
Break the nagging cycle, give your kids responsibilities, and get results.
Talk about sex, drugs, and alcohol so your kid will listen.
Discover the secret that will help your child to disregard peer pressure and make smart choices--for life
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