books: how societies

books: how societies

books:

How societies

Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed

Jared Diamond

Penguin (Non-Classics), 2005

Warms up after the first couple chapters
Not quite as good as his best-known book, "Guns, Germs and Steel", mostly because the first 50 pages are about Montana. Who cares about Montana? I barely even know where it is. But after that it gets wicked awesome. Unfortunately you can't really skip the Montana ...

The Home Energy Diet: How to Save Money by Making Your House Energy-Smart (Mother Earth News Wiser Living ...

Paul Scheckel

New Society Publishers, 2005

Great information that will save your money
The first third of the book is general information about energy, how it is made, how to count it, how to work the numbers. It should be a required class textbook for High School seniors. This background information is very well written and easy to understand. But, that ...

The Future of the Internet--And How to Stop It

Jonathan Zittrain

Yale University Press, 2008

Brilliant
Watch Video Here: http://www.amazon.com/review/R18D30YU9QC3KT An important book well worth reading.

The Game: Penetrating the Secret Society of Pickup Artists

Neil Strauss

William Morrow, 2005

Entertaining and Informative
No doubt one of the best books I have ever picked up. It is as entertaining as it is informative. I cannot put the book down. Whether your looking for a good read or wanting to dominate "The Game", this book is for you

Grown Up Digital: How the Net Generation is Changing Your World HC

Don Tapscott

McGraw-Hill, 2008

A must read for any business or marketer
Businesses and marketers take note. There's no way to ignore the Net Generation; they're 81 million strong. (That's bigger than the Boomer generation!) It's time we get to know them, intimately. Don Tapscott's Grown Up Digital gives you the opportunity to see how Net ...

Philanthrocapitalism: How the Rich Can Save the World

Matthew Bishop, Michael Green

Bloomsbury Press, 2008

How The Rich Can Save The World
We may all be obsessed with our own financial issues in the current downturn but it is likely to make Warren Buffett even richer in the long term so don't let anyone tell you that philanthrocapitalism dies with the credit crunch. Bishop and Green make this argument ...

Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions

Alcoholics Anonymous

AA World Services, 2002

Arrived as Described
The seller kindly emailed me after she sent the book off to me. She wanted to make sure it arrived in good time, and asked me to email when it arrived so she could monitor the actual days required to mail it. That showed a conscientious spirit, which is reassuring ...

The Dumbest Generation: How the Digital Age Stupefies Young Americans and Jeopardizes Our Future (Or, Don't ...

Mark Bauerlein

Tarcher, 2008

Expose of dumbing effect of technology and private schools
Expose of the dumbing down effect of technology and private schools. Children shape the world to themselves, rather than shaping themselves to the world. Public schools are the only bright spot, where children are forced to adopt to the world as it is.

Christianity for the Rest of Us: How the Neighborhood Church Is Transforming the Faith

Diana Butler Bass

HarperOne, 2006

Reflections after a congregational study
I would like to express my appreciation for "Christianity for the Rest of Us." As the pastor of a small, struggling mainline congregation, much of what Diana Butler Bass has written here resonates. My congregation just spent almost six months with this book. We used ...

The Power of Unreasonable People: How Social Entrepreneurs Create Markets That Change the World

John Elkington, Pamela Hartigan

Harvard Business School Press, 2008

Remarkable, Inspiring, Instructive, a Total "Wow"
I became very enthusiastic about the term "social entrepreneurship" when I made the transition from reading about collective intelligence and citizen wisdom councils and wealth of networks, to understanding that there was a form of energy I first encountered in How to ...

Infotopia: How Many Minds Produce Knowledge

Cass R. Sunstein

Oxford University Press, USA, 2008

Very Enlightening!
The book provides an excellent overview of various methods for knowledge aggregation and group collaboration, particularly statistical averaging, deliberation, prediction markets, wikis, open source projects, and blogs. Sunstein provides a penetrating and balanced ...

God: The Failed Hypothesis. How Science Shows That God Does Not Exist

Victor J. Stenger

Prometheus Books, 2008

Relief
Believers will not be swayed by this book of rational arguments, of course, because they are not interested in separating history from mythology when it comes to their beliefs. Their faith is blind faith and most will defend it to the death, usually someone else'. So ...

Earth-Sheltered Houses: How to Build an Affordable...

Rob Roy

New Society Publishers, 2006

The best available guide I've found yet
An excellent reference for those who are interested in Earth Bermed and Earth Sheltered houses. His attention to detail in the excavation and foundation chapters is worth the price of the book alone. Especially when there is a lack of in depth internet resources ...

The Wealth of Networks: How Social Production Transforms Markets and Freedom

Yochai Benkler

Yale University Press, 2007

Phenomenal Book on Information Science and Peer Production
I first became familiar with Benkler after reading his paper, "Coase's Penguin" in undergraduate study. I was delighted to hear of the publication of this book. Benkler continues beautifully where he left off in his previous papers and synthesizes an excellent theory ...

How We Became Posthuman: Virtual Bodies in Cybernetics, Literature, and Informatics

N. Katherine Hayles

University Of Chicago Press, 1999

REDEFINING WHAT HUMAN IS -- into the 22nd Century
Yes, this is 22nd Century thinking today. I was fortunate enough to meet the author at a LA FUTURISTS SOCIETY meeting where she was a guest speaker. She looks ordinary-- like a college professor-type, speaks clearly but her writing is the extraordinary talent. She ...