"The most talked-about education book this semester."—New York Times Based on a series of controversial Wall Street Journal op-eds,this landmark manifesto gives voice to what everyone knows abouttalent, ability, and intelligence but no one wants to admit. Withfour truths as his framework, Charles Murray, the bestsellingcoauthor of The Bell Curve, sweeps away the hypocrisy, wishfulthinking, and upside-down priorities that grip America’seducational establishment. ?Ability varies. Children differ in their ability to learn,but America’s educational system does its best to ignore this. ?Half of the children are below average. Many children cannotlearn more than rudimentary reading and math. Yet decades ofpolicies have required schools to divert resources to unattainablegoals. ?Too many people are going to college. Only a fraction ofstudents struggling to get a degree can profit from education atthe college level. ?America’s future depends on how we educate the acade
A towering figure in American culture and a globaltwentieth-century icon, Bob Dylan has been at the centre ofAmerican life for over forty years. The Cambridge Companion to BobDylan brings fresh insights into the imposing range of Dylan'screative output. The first Part approaches Dylan's outputthematically, tracing the evolution of Dylan's writing and hisengagement with American popular music, religion, politics, fame,and his work as a songwriter and performer. Essays in Part IIanalyse his landmark albums to examine the consummate artistry ofDylan's most accomplished studio releases. As a writer Dylan hascourageously chronicled and interpreted many of the culturalupheavals in America since World War II. This book will beinvaluable both as a guide for students of Dylan andtwentieth-century culture, and for his fans, providing a set of newperspectives on a much-loved writer and composer.
Beautifully illustrated with 75 photographs in full color, The Robert Pattinson Album by Paul Stenning is a breathtaking visual biography of one of the world’s most talked-about young actors. The hugely successful vampire romance Twilight was a box-office phenomenon, and Robert is that smash-hit film’s breakout star. In the space of a few short years, the twenty-two-year-old Londoner has gone from amateur stage performer to full-blown Hollywood idol, and his staggering ascent is already the stuff of legend. The public first took notice when Robert appeared in Harry Potter And The Goblet Of Fire but the role that would change his life forever was that of charismatic teenage vampire Edward Cullen in Twilight, the film adapted from author Stephenie Meyer’s best-selling book series.
We say we can no longer trust our public services,institutions or the people who run them. The professionals we haveto rely on - politicians, doctors, scientists, businessmen and manyothers - are treated with suspicion. Their word is doubted, theirmotives questioned. Whether real or perceived, this crisis of trusthas a debilitating impact on society and democracy. Can trust berestored by making people and institutions more accountable? Or docomplex systems of accountability and control themselves damagetrust? Onora O'Neill challenges current approaches, investigatessources of deception in our society and re-examines questions ofpress freedom. This year's Reith Lectures present a philosopher'sview of trust and deception, and ask whether and how trust can berestored in a modern democracy.
Experience and Education is the best concise statement on education ever published by John Dewey, the man acknowledged to be the pre-eminent educational theorist of the twentieth century. Written more than two decades after Democracy and Education (Dewey's most comprehensive statement of his position in educational philosophy), this book demonstrates how Dewey reformulated his ideas as a result of his intervening experience with the progressive schools and in the light of the criticisms his theories had received. Analyzing both "traditional" and "progressive" education, Dr. Dewey here insists that neither the old nor the new education is adequate and that each is miseducative because neither of them applies the principles of a carefully developed philosophy of experience. Many pages of this volume illustrate Dr. Dewey's ideas for a philosophy of experience and its relation to education. He particularly urges that all teachers and educators looking for a new movement in education should think in terms of
Mission and Money goes beyond the common focus on eliteuniversities and examines the entire higher education industry,including the rapidly growing for-profit schools. The sectorincludes research universities, four-year colleges, two-yearschools, and non-degree-granting career academies. Manyinstitutions pursue mission-related activities that are oftenunprofitable and engage in profitable revenue raising activities tofinance them. This book contains a good deal of original researchon schools' revenue sources from tuition, donations, research,patents, endowments, and other activities. It considers lobbying,distance education, and the world market, as well as advertising,branding, and reputation. The pursuit of revenue, while essentialto achieve the mission of higher learning, is sometimes in conflictwith that mission itself. The tension between mission and money isalso highlighted in the chapter on the profitability ofintercollegiate athletics. The concluding chapter investigatesimplications of the anal
Media argumentation is a powerful force in our lives. Frompolitical speeches to television commercials to war propaganda, itcan effectively mobilize political action, influence the public,and market products. This book presents a new and systematic way ofthinking about the influence of mass media in our lives, showingthe intersection of media sources with argumentation theory,informal logic, computational theory, and theories of persuasion.Using a variety of case studies that represent arguments thattypically occur in the mass media, Douglas Walton demonstrates howtools recently developed in argumentation theory can be usefullyapplied to the identification, analysis, and evaluation of mediaarguments. He draws upon the most recent developments in artificialintelligence, including dialogical theories of argument, which hedeveloped, as well as speech act theory. Each chapter presentssolutions to problems central to understanding, analyzing, andcriticizing media argumentation.
In this book Fromm set out to identify 'what man is, how he ought to live, and how the tremendous energies within man can be released and used productively.' It makes for exciting, illuminating, even life-changing reading.
The medieval Norse-Icelandic saga is one of the most importantEuropean vernacular literary genres of the Middle Ages. ThisIntroduction to the saga genre outlines its origins anddevelopment, its literary character, its material existence inmanu*s and printed editions, and its changing reception fromthe Middle Ages to the present time. Its multiple sub-genres -including family sagas, mythical-heroic sagas and sagas of knights- are described and discussed in detail, and the world of medievalIcelanders is powerfully evoked. The first general study of the OldNorse-Icelandic saga to be written in English for some decades, theIntroduction is based on up-to-date scholarship and engages withcurrent debates in the field. With suggestions for further reading,detailed information about the Icelandic literary canon, and a mapof medieval Iceland, this book is aimed at students of medievalliterature and assumes no prior knowledge of Scandinavianlanguages.
MATCH World Cup 2010 is the ultimate guide to the world's greatest sporting event from the makers of Match magazine. Covering the expected highs and lows of the tournament, including all the star players, key groups and games to watch, plus the low-down on South Africa as the host nation and info on the venues, all in time for kick off of the championship in June. Featuring everything you need to know about every finalist; their routes to qualification, squads, men that matter, likely formations, plus hundreds of photographs and loads of maps and charts, Match World Cup 2010 is almost as good as being there!
Larry Ellison started the high-flying tech company Oracle with $1,200 in 1977 and turned it into a billion-dollar Silicon Valley giant. If Bill Gates is the tech world's nerd king, Ellison is its Warren Beatty: racing yachts, buying jets, and romancing beautiful women. His rise to fame and fortune is a tale of entrepreneurial brilliance, ruthless tactics, and a constant stream of half-truths and outright fabrications for which the man and his company are notorious. Investigative reporter Mike Wilson, with access to Ellison himself and more than 125 of his friends, enemies, and former Oracle employees, has created an eye-opening, utterly fascinating portrayal of a Silicon Valley success story ... filled with the stuff that dreams and cultural icons are made of.
This Introduction - an indispensable 'how to' guide forstudents and teachers alike - investigates the methods and aims ofhistorical study in the performing arts, from archival research tohistorical writing. Beginning with case studies on Shakespeareantheatre and avant-garde theatre, this study examines fundamentalprocedures and problems in documentary history and culturalhistory. It demonstrates how historians not only construct variouskinds of performance events but also place them in relation to thehistorical agents, the political and social conditions, artistictraditions, audience responses, and historical periods. Drawingupon scholarship in classics, literary studies, art history,performance studies, and general history, Postlewait shows how toask appropriate historical questions, construct evidence, use playsas historical documents, eliminate faulty sources, challengeunreliable witnesses, and develop historical arguments andnarratives. The book concludes with a survey of the 'twelve cruxes'of rese
The philosophy of Immanuel Kant is thewatershed of modern thought, which irrevocably changed thelandscape of the field and prepared the way for all the significantphilosophical movements of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.This 2006 volume, which complements The Cambridge Companion toKant, covers every aspect of Kant's philosophy, with a particularfocus on his moral and political philosophy. It also providesdetailed coverage of Kant's historical context and of the enormousimpact and influence that his work has had on the subsequenthistory of philosophy. The bibliography also offers extensive andorganized coverage of both classical and recent books on Kant. Thisvolume thus provides the broadest and deepest introductioncurrently available on Kant and his place in modern philosophy,making accessible the philosophical enterprise of Kant to thosecoming to his work for the first time.
Man's evolution as an artist and designer is traced in this collection of signs and symbols associated with the supernatural. Included, among others, are Egyptian motifs representing life, earth, and fertility; Greek and Roman emblems of Medusa and Zeus; Nordic runes; and early-seventeenth-century characterizations of the devil. Included in the set are: One CD-ROM containing 171 high-quality, permission-free images scanned at 600 dpi and saved in six different formats (TIFF, PICT, EPS, BMP, as well as Internet-ready JPEG and GIF) A large-format 64-page book with every image on the CD-ROM printed large and clearly on one side of the page only and numbered for easy reference A fascinating compilation for anyone interested in the art of graphic communication, this collection will be invaluable to craftworkers as well as specialists in art and design. Original Dover (2004) publication. 171 black-and-white illustrations. One CD-ROM and 64-page paperbound book. 8X1/4x 11.
The Irish novel has had a distinguished history. It spans suchdiverse authors as James Joyce, George Moore, Maria Edgeworth, BramStoker, Flann O'Brien, Samuel Beckett, Lady Morgan, John Banville,and others. Yet it has until now received less critical attentionthan Irish poetry and drama. This volume covers three hundred yearsof Irish achievement in fiction, with essays on key genres, themes,and authors. It provides critiques of individual works, accounts ofimportant novelists, and histories of sub-genres and alliednarrative forms, establishing significant social and politicalcontexts for dozens of novels. The varied perspectives and emphasesby more than a dozen critics and literary historians ensure thatthe Irish novel receives due tribute for its colour, variety andlinguistic verve. Each chapter features recommended furtherreading. This is the perfect overview for students of the Irishnovel from the romances of the seventeenth century to the presentday.
In "Neither Here nor There" Bill Bryson brings his unique brand of humour to bear on Europe as he shoulders his backpack, keeps a tight hold on his wallet, and journeys from Hammerfest, the northernmost town on the continent, to Istanbul on the cusp of Asia. Fluent in, oh, at least one language, he retraces his travels as a student 20 years before. Whether braving the homicidal motorists of Paris, being robbed by gypsies in Florence, attempting not to order tripe and eyeballs in a German restaurant, window-shopping in the sex shops of the Reeperbahn or disputing his hotel bill in Copenhagen, Bryson takes in the sights, dissects the culture and illuminates each place and person with his hilariously caustic observations. He even goes to Liechtenstein.
'Dr Fromm is deeply concerned with the most important unifying questions that can be asked about contemporary western society - is it sane? He criticises very sharply those social psychologists who act as expert apologists for the status quo.' - The New Statesman 'Erich Fromm speaks with wisdom, compassion, learning and insight into the problems of individuals trapped in a social world that is needlessly cruel and hostile.' - Noam Chomsky Dr Fromm is deeply concerned with the most important unifying questions that can be asked about contemporary western society - is it sane? He criticises very sharply those social psychologists who act as expert apologists for the status quo. - The New Statesman Erich Fromm speaks with wisdom, compassion, learning and insight into the problems of individuals trapped in a social world that is needlessly cruel and hostile. - Noam Chomsky `He has enriched our understanding of man in humanity, compassion and love.' - Sunday Times `He has enriched our
Packing spheres, Reversi, braids, polyominoes, board games, andthe puzzles of Lewis Carroll. These and other mathematicaldiversions return to readers with updates to all the chapters,including new game variations, mathematical proofs, and otherdevelopments and discoveries. Read about Knuth's Word Laddersprogram and the latest developments in the digits of pi. Once againthese timeless puzzles will charm readers while demonstratingprinciples of logic, probability, geometry, and other fields ofmathematics.
Postman suggests that the current crisis in our educationalsystem derives from its failure to supply students with atranslucent, unifying "narrative" like those that inspired earliergenerations. Instead, today's schools promote the false "gods" ofeconomic utility, consumerism, or ethnic separatism and resentment.What alternative strategies can we use to instill our children witha sense of global citizenship, healthy intellectual skepticism,respect of America's traditions, and appreciation of its diversity?In answering this question, The End of Education restoresmeaning and common sense to the arena in which they are mosturgently needed. "Informal and clear...Postman's ideas about education areappealingly fresh."--New York Times Book Review
So much has how been said and written about the life and career of Michael Jackson that it has become almost impossible to disentangle the man from the myth. Recent revelations are only the latest instalments of a saga that began decades ago. This book is the fruit of over 30 years of research and hundreds of exclusive interviews with a remarkable level of access to the very closest circles of the Jackson family - including Michael himself. Cutting through tabloid rumours, J. Randy Taraborrelli traces the real story behind the Michael Jackson we see and hear today, from his drilling as a child star through the blooming of his talent to his ever-changing personal appearance and bizarre publicity stunts. This major biography includes the behind-the-scenes story to many of the landmarks in Jackson's life: his legal and commercial battles, his marriages to Lisa Marie Presley and Debbie Rowe, his passions and addictions, his children. Objective and revealing, it carries the hallmarks of all of Taraborrelli's best-
The Discovery of Evolution explains what the theory of evolutionis all about by providing a historical narrative of discovery. Someof the major puzzles that confront anyone studying living thingsare discussed and it details how these were solved from anevolutionary perspective. Beginning with the emergence of the earlynaturalists in the seventeenth century, the scientific discoveriesthat led up to and then flowed from Darwin and Wallace's theory ofevolution by natural selection are then discussed, and finally themodern evolutionary studies at the close of the twentieth centuryare detailed. This new edition of The Discovery of Evolution isfully updated and contains a new chapter on the evolutionarystudies of the twentieth century. By approaching the topic ofevolution in this way, it is made accessible to the non-specialistand no previous study of biology is required in order to read andunderstand this book.
Which plays are included under the heading 'Shakespeare's lastplays', and when does Shakespeare's 'last' period begin? What ismeant by a 'late play', and what are the benefits in defining playsin this way? Reflecting the recent growth of interest in latestudies, and recognising the gaps in accessible scholarship on thisarea, leading international Shakespeare scholars address these andmany other questions. The essays locate Shakespeare's last plays –single and co-authored – in the period of their composition,consider the significant characteristics of their Jacobean context,and explore the rich afterlives, on stage, in print and other mediaof The Winter's Tale, Cymbeline, The Tempest, Pericles, The TwoNoble Kinsmen and Henry VIII. The volume opens with a historicaltimeline that places the plays in the contexts of contemporarypolitical events, theatrical events, other cultural milestones,Shakespeare's life and that of his playing company, the King'sMen.