Why Men Don't Listen and Women Can't Read Maps by Barbara Pease, Allan Pease

Why Men Don't Listen and Women Can't Read Maps: How We're Different and What to Do About It

by 

Barbara Pease, Allan Pease

Have you ever wished your partner came with an instruction booklet? This international bestseller is the answer to all the things you've ever wondered about the opposite sex.

For their controversial new book on the differences between the way men and women think and communicate, Barbara and Allan Pease spent three years traveling around the world, collecting the dramatic findings of new research on the brain, investigating evolutionary biology, analyzing psychologists, studying social changes, and annoying the locals.

The result is a sometimes shocking, always illuminating, and frequently hilarious look at where the battle line is drawn between the sexes, why it was drawn, and how to cross it. Read this book and understand--at last!--why men never listen, why women can't read maps, and why learning each other's secrets means you'll never have to say sorry again.

To get a man to listen, give him advance notice and provide an agenda,"" write the husband and wife Peases in this pithy, attention-grabbing guidebook to the differences between men and women. Originally self-published in Australia to wide acclaim, the book weaves together facts from the latest brain research, theories from evolutionary biology and a treasure trove of anecdotal events and conversations collected by the authors during a three-year research trip around the world. Sociobiology has rarely been so entertaining. The Peases say that a woman's brain is wired to be able to speak and listen simultaneously, for example, and they are geared to talk through problems. Men, by contrast, need to clam up. ""He uses his right brain to try to solve his problems or find solutions, and he stops using his left brain to listen or speak."" These brain differences took shape in cave days, according to the authors. Men were hunters and defenders who evolved tunnel vision (as compared to women's vision), while, as nurturers, women not only had broad peripheral vision but sensitive relationship skills. Channel surfing and newspaper skimming are modern ways for a man to cut off from others to privately mull problems, advise the authors. ""Remember, his forefathers spent more than a million years sitting expressionless on a rock surveying the horizon, so this comes naturally to him.... "" Feisty and crystal clear, this controversial work will appeal to readers of both sexes.

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The Conquest of Illusion - J.J. van der Leeu

The Conquest of Illusion
 by
 J.J. van der Leeu

In 1710, George Berkeley, Bishop of Cloyne, argued that there is no such thing as matter. What we take as matter, what we take to be "the world" are but our perceptions of some unknown reality. This line of thought became known as "idea-lism" and has been a thread in the history of Western philosophy since then. But this line of thought is very ancient. Plato expressed it in his well-known allegory of the cave, in which the world we perceive is but a shadow of something else, something of which we are generally completely unaware. Such a line of thought is extremely well developed in Eastern thought in such philosophies as Sankhya, Vedanta, and in the practical works of Raja yoga.

This general line of thought has fallen out of favor over the past several centuries in the West, due in large part to the rise of science, and the underlying philosophy of materialism, that has since morphed into the philosophy of physicalism, the dominant, if generally implicit paradigm of the modern world.

In spite of being eclipsed by the dazzling successes of the physical sciences in the West, it is a completely undeniable fact that our conscious awareness forever serves as an intermediary to what ever it is that is being represented as "the world" in our awareness. However, particularly in modern times, this general fact of our experience is neglected in our considerations of the world.

In Conquest of Illusion, van der Leeuw begins from this premise. But he does not construct philosophical arguments. No. This book is about his first-hand experiences from his advanced practice of yoga, exploring both the nature of consciousness and the nature of this thing we call "the world" that appears in our consciousness. van der Leeuw describes the >>result<< of successfully achieving the main goal of yoga, which is direct awareness of the eternal that underlies this "thing" we call existence.

The book is profound in every conceivable respect. In spite of the exponential growth of our current understanding of the material world, including the brain and the cosmos, this book is still apropos. It describes the eternal veritas underlying time, space, the mind, and our relative existence.

Perhaps the single most important quote of this book is:

"The mystery of life in not a problem to be solved, it is a reality to be experienced."

It is clear to one informed in such matters that van der Leeuw is describing in a lucid and (relatively) easy to understand fashion what has been described for centuries in Eastern, and specifically Indian philosophy, and in particular in the Kashmiri Shavism school of Indian thought.

The relevance of this book will only continue to grow over time as thinkers again begin to recognize in ever greater measure the implications that the "world" that exists, and this "world" as it appears in our conscious awareness are by no means identical.

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CATCH-22 - JOSEPH HELLER

CATCH-22
by
JOSEPH HELLER

There was a time when reading Joseph Heller's classic satire on the murderous insanity of war was nothing less than a rite of passage. Echoes of Yossarian, the wise-ass bombardier who was too smart to die but not smart enough to find a way out of his predicament, could be heard throughout the counterculture. As a result, it's impossible not to consider Catch-22 to be something of a period piece. But 40 years on, the novel's undiminished strength is its looking-glass logic. Again and again, Heller's characters demonstrate that what is commonly held to be good, is bad; what is sensible, is nonsense.

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A Painted House by John Grisham

A Painted House
by
John Grisham

 

ohn Grisham shows his versatility as a writer in the story of a seven-year-old boy who is privy to adult secrets. The conflict Luke Chandler faces is the grist of Grisham's novel. Unlike the courtroom dramas that trademark earlier books, A PAINTED HOUSE takes place in rural Arkansas in 1952, where the setting is a family's cotton farm. An only child, Luke is introduced to two migrant groups, the hill people and the Mexicans. His childhood is turned upside down when they interact with the Chandler family.

The outsiders arrive in Black Oak to work in the cotton harvest for Luke's father and grandfather, who struggle to pay their bills. The hill people come from the mountains in the northern part of the state and are considered hillbillies. The low-class Spruills pitch a tent and set their camp in the Chandler front yard --- an unforgivable act, according to Luke.

By contrast, the Mexicans live in the barn. One of them, Cowboy, terrifies Luke when he shows off a switchblade and the intent to use it if necessary. Conflict erupts when Hank Spruill, a hulking giant of a young man, bullies the Mexicans. Hank antagonizes everyone he meets in the small town of Black Oak. Luke witnesses one brutal thrashing that Hank gives a local boy. The consequences of that encounter remain a dark secret the boy is forced to keep.

Grisham develops a suspenseful story, characteristic of his earlier books. A PAINTED HOUSE is a tale of social ambiguities inherent in small communities. On the one side, Luke's family is financially superior to the visiting clans. But he is made to feel inferior when the malicious Hank points out that the Chandlers' clapboard house is a gray, unpainted wood. Hank boasts that the Spruill residence in Eureka Springs is painted white.

Luke's love for baseball consumes him. He longs to play one day for the St. Louis Cardinals, his ticket out of the farming community. He saves his meager wages from picking cotton to buy a Cardinals jacket. However, Luke makes a choice based on friendship that will complicate his dream.

Grisham's words allow the reader to become one with his characters and their surroundings. Ordinary lives become complex with tiny twists of plot. His characters come alive on the page. One cares about the outcome of each side story in the entire piece. A PAINTED HOUSE is set apart from ordinary coming-of-age stories by Grisham's artful use of sensory details. One can hear a hissing, coiled snake, feel the chill blast of a tornado's fury and smell the stench of water-soaked cotton balls.

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The Notebooks of Leonardo Da Vinci

The Notebooks of Leonardo Da Vinci

Leonardo Da Vinci, arguably the central figure of the Renaissance, has long been considered by many a man of mystery. This is in spite of the fact that we have an unparalleled set of documents which illuminate his thought processes, interests, and deepest beliefs. We have access to hundreds of pages of his notes, jottings, sketches, doodles, and musings, including lists of books he read and even scraps of financial records. All of the known Da Vinci papers as of the mid-19th century are included here in this magnificent collection. What emerges is the picture of a rationalist. For instance, Da Vinci was one of the first to question the Biblical account of the Flood. He saw the fossils of sea creatures on the tops of mountains and concluded that these could not have been deposited in a forty day flood. He looked at river valleys and did the math; they could only have been eroded over huge horizons of time. Da Vinci put as much thought into his art as he did his science. Practically half of the writings here relate to detailed studies of the natural world which informed his work as an artist.


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The Cheater's Handbook

The
Cheater's
Handbook
The Naughty Student's Bible
Bob Corbett

There are probably two types of people who are going to read this book: students and teachers.
On one hand, you have the lackluster scholastic endeavorer who knows his stuff. No, not his academic stuff—his own stuff. He knows that his ass'll be too lazy to get around to an assignment every now and then and that when that life-threatening moment arrives, he'll have The Cheater's Handbook in hand to make sure he's doing his corner-cutting right, to make sure that he is indeed taking the shortest path from Point F to Point A. (The expected societal analysis
about why he feels the need to accomplish this can be found in the final chapter.) Yes, The Cheater's Handbook will be the one book in his life that he ever does study.
On the other hand, you have the teacher who omehow discovered this manual and thought he'd
get one up on all those miserable little cretins who turn his life into a winless Tom & Jerry-esque combat day in and day out. To that breed of academic, let us first say: You're doing something terribly wrong. Very rarely does a great teacher have a room full of cheaters. A truly great teacher can take even a compulsive cheater—one who thrives on it not out of necessity but for sport—and transform him for that one semester into an eager beaver who shows up early, enjoys doing the homework, and comes to ask questions on his own tune. How? By making it interesting!
When are all you teachers out there going to realize how boring you make every thing you talk
about? Do you think that paraphrasing the previous night's reading assignment is a creative way to teach?

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THE SELFISH GENE RICHARD DAWKINS

THE SELFISH GENE
By
RICHARD DAWKINS

Inheriting the mantle of revolutionary biologist from Darwin, Watson, and Crick, Richard Dawkins forced an enormous change in the way we see ourselves and the world with the publication of The Selfish Gene. Suppose, instead of thinking about organisms using genes to reproduce themselves, as we had since Mendel's work was rediscovered, we turn it around and imagine that "our" genes build and maintain us in order to make more genes. That simple reversal seems to answer many puzzlers which had stumped scientists for years, and we haven't thought of evolution in the same way since. Why are there miles and miles of "unused" DNA within each of our bodies? Why should a bee give up its own chance to reproduce to help raise her sisters and brothers? With a prophet's clarity, Dawkins told us the answers from the perspective of molecules competing for limited space and resources to produce more of their own kind. Drawing fascinating examples from every field of biology, he paved the way for a serious re-evaluation of evolution. He also introduced the concept of self-reproducing ideas, or memes, which (seemingly) use humans exclusively for their propagation. If we are puppets, he says, at least we can try to understand our strings.

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THE ART OF DECEPTION - KEVIN D. MITNICK

THE ART OF DECEPTION
Controlling the Human Element of Security
KEVIN D. MITNICK
&
 William L. Simon
Foreword by Steve Wozniak

Mitnick is the most famous computer hacker in the world. Since his first arrest in 1981, at age 17, he has spent nearly half his adult life either in prison or as a fugitive. He has been the subject of three books and his alleged 1982 hack into NORAD inspired the movie War Games. Since his plea-bargain release in 2000, he says he has reformed and is devoting his talents to helping computer security. It's not clear whether this book is a means toward that end or a, wink-wink, fictionalized account of his exploits, with his name changed to protect his parole terms. Either way, it's a tour de force, a series of tales of how some old-fashioned blarney and high-tech skills can pry any information from anyone. As entertainment, it's like reading the climaxes of a dozen complex thrillers, one after the other. As a security education, it's a great series of cautionary tales; however, the advice to employees not to give anyone their passwords is bland compared to the depth and energy of Mitnick's descriptions of how he actually hacked into systems. As a manual for a would-be hacker, it's dated and nonspecific better stuff is available on the Internet but it teaches the timeless spirit of the hack. Between the lines, a portrait emerges of the old-fashioned hacker stereotype: a socially challenged, obsessive loser addicted to an intoxicating sense of power that comes only from stalking and spying.

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The Master and Margarita Mikhail Bulgakov

The Master and Margarita - Mikhail Bulgakov

This uncensored translation of Bulgakov's posthumously published masterpiece of black magic and black humor restores its sliest digs and sharpest jabs at Stalin's regime, which suppressed it. Writing in a punning, soaring prose thick with contemporary historical references and political irony, Bulgakov (1891-1940) did not make things easy for future translators. The story itself is demanding: the arrival of the Devil and his entourage in Stalin's Moscow frames a Faustian tale of a suppressed writer (the Master) and his devoted lover (his Margarita), set against a realistic narrative?the Master's rejected manuscript?of Pontius Pilate's police state in Jerusalem. An immediate contemporary classic when it was first serialized in Moscow in censored form in 1967-68, the novel suffered in its previous English translations, which were either incomplete or stylistically loose. This new translation, with its accuracy and depth, finally does justice to the politically and verbally outrageous qualities of the original. Careful footnotes explain and contextualize Bulgakov's dense allusions to, and in-jokes about, life under Stalin

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My experiences, the Scott Inquiry, the British Legal System

My experiences, the Scott Inquiry, the British Legal System - Gerald Reaveley James

I am reminded of the very appropriate quote from Edmund Burke (1729-97) “It is necessary only for the good man to do nothing for evil to triumph.”

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BIG LIES : Demolishing The Myths of the Propaganda War Against Israel

BIG LIES : Demolishing The Myths of the Propaganda War Against Israel - D A V I D M E I R - L E V I

The War in the Middle East is nearly sixty years old. Most people alive today are unfamiliar with its history and origins and lack knowledge of its facts. This state of ignorance provides a fertile ground for the unscrupulous to create myths that will justify their destructive agendas. The political propaganda machine has created many such myths to fuel their war against the Jewish state.

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A Global Economy without a Global Government

A Global Economy without a Global Government

By

Hwa A. Lim

Abstract
Three globalization factors are hastening in the globalization of trade. These factors are
1. Advances in computer and communications technology permit an increase flow of idea and
information across border,
2. The progressive reduction of barriers to investment and trade by most governments, and
3. The trend toward the unification and socialization of the global community because of
preferential trading arrangements.
The first factor leads to a reduction of geopolitical barriers. The second factor leads to mobility
of workforce among trading nations, and the third factor encourages transfer of technology. The
globalization of trade has led to a global economy. However, there is as yet not a global
government to manage the new global economy. Despite this, entrepreneurs can still benefit from breakthrough-, social-, and developmental-disequilibrium to make a fortune.

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9/11 SYNTHETIC TERRORISM MADE IN USA

9/11 SYNTHETIC TERRORISM MADE IN USA – Webster Griffin Tarpley

TABLE OF CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION
CHAPTER I – THE MYTH OF THE TWENTY-FIRST CENTURY
CHAPTER II – THE THEORY AND PRACTICE OF SYNTHETIC TERRORISM
CHAPTER III – THE ROOTS OF 9/11: THE GLOBALIZED CRISIS OF THE 1990s
CHAPTER IV: AL QAEDA: THE CIA’S ARAB LEGION
CHAPTER V: COULD THE ALLEGED HIJACKERS FLY THE PLANES?
CHAPTER VI: THE COLLAPSE OF WORLD TRADE CENTER 1, 2, AND 7
CHAPTER VII: WHAT HIT THE PENTAGON?
CHAPTER VIII: SHANKSVILLE
CHAPTER IX: “ANGEL IS NEXT” – THE INVISIBLE GOVERNMENT SPEAKS
CHAPTER X: ANTHRAX
CHAPTER XI: INSIDER TRADING; CELL PHONES; MI-6 AND MOSSAD
CHAPTER XII: CONSPIRACY THEORY: THE GREAT AMERICAN TRADITION
CHAPTER XIII: THE 9/11 MYTH: COLLECTIVE SCHIZOPHRENIA
CHAPTER XIV: NETWORKS OF INTEREST
CHAPTER XV: ISLAMIC FUNDAMENTALISM: FOSTERED BY US FOREIGN POLICY
CHAPTER XVI: ELECTION 2004 IN THE SHADOW OF SYNTHETIC TERRORISM
AND WAR
AFTERWORD: 2004: NOT AN ELECTION, BUT A CIA COVERT OPERATION
BIBLIOGRAPHY

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THE WORLD AS I SEE IT – Albert Einstein

THE WORLD AS I SEE IT

By

Albert Einstein

This book does not represent a complete collection of the articles, addresses, and pronouncements of Albert Einstein; it is a selection made with a definite object– namely, to give a picture of a man. To-day this man is being drawn, contrary to his own intention, into the whirlpool of political passions and contemporary history. As a result, Einstein is experiencing the fate that so
many of the great men of history experienced: his character and opinions are being exhibited to the world in an utterly distorted form.

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A HISTORY OF WESTERN PHILOSOPHY – BERTRAND RUSSELL

A HISTORY OF WESTERN PHILOSOPHY
by
BERTRAND RUSSELL

Since its first publication in 1945? Lord Russell's A History of Western Philosophy has been universally acclaimed as the outstanding one-volume work on the subject -- unparalleled in its comprehensiveness, its clarity, its erudition, its grace and wit. In seventy-six chapters he traces philosophy from the rise of Greek civilization to the emergence of logical analysis in the twentieth century. Among the philosophers considered are: Pythagoras, Heraclitus, Parmenides, Empedocles, Anaxagoras, the Atomists, Protagoras, Socrates, Plato, Aristotle, the Cynics, the Sceptics, the Epicureans, the Stoics, Plotinus, Ambrose, Jerome, Augustine, Benedict, Gregory the Great, John the Scot, Aquinas, Duns Scotus, William of Occam, Machiavelli, Erasmus, More, Bacon, Hobbes, Descartes, Spinoza, Leibniz, Locke, Berkeley, Hume, Rousseau, Kant, Hegel, Schopenhauer, Nietzsche, the Utilitarians, Marx, Bergson, James, Dewey, and lastly the philosophers with whom Lord Russell himself is most closely associated -- Cantor, Frege, and Whitehead, co-author with Russell of the monumental Principia Mathematica.

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BERTRAND RUSSELL – ABC OF RELATIVITY

BERTRAND RUSSELL – ABC OF RELATIVITY

First published in 1925, Bertrand Russell's ABC of Relativity was considered a masterwork of its time, contributing significantly to the mass popularisation of science. Authoritative and accessible, it provides a remarkable introductory guide to Einstein's theory of Relativity for a general readership. One of the most definitive reference guides of its kind, and written by one of the twentieth century's most influential philosophers, ABC of Relativity continues to be as relevant today as it was on first publication.

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Is There a God? – Bertrand Russell

Is There a God?
by
Bertrand Russell

The question whether there is a God is one which is decided on very different grounds by different communities and different individuals. The immense majority of mankind accept the prevailing opinion of their own community. In the earliest times of which we have definite history everybody believed in many gods.

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