General Books

The Undead and Philosophy: Chicken Soup for the Soulless (Popular Culture and Philosophy)

Amazon Price: $12.21 List Price: $17.95 Usually ships in 24 hours By: Open Court Amazon Marketplace: 45 new & used starting at $3.66

Buy at Amazon.com

Browse similar items by category:
Subjects -> Nonfiction -> Philosophy -> Movements -> General
Subjects -> Nonfiction -> Philosophy -> Movements -> General AAS
Subjects -> Nonfiction -> Philosophy -> General

Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 6 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

Deep thoughts for the Dead. 5 out of 5 stars.
13 of 15 people found this review helpful.

I am a fan of horror fiction. In particular I have been extremely fascinated with both movies and books related to zombies lately. Vampires are another lesser fascination for me. Overall, the undead and the darkness they represent to humanity is a intriguing subject.

For years I have pondered the significance of the movies of Romero and the societal implications of his great works. Apparently I have only scratched the surface compared to the varied philosophical thinkers that delve into the concept into this book.

Lets get beyond asking whether or not the undead exist, lets ask whether they have the right to exist, to feed on human beings, if they are morally responsible for their actions and what we as human beings should accept from those who have returned from the grave. This books dives right in with a wide variety of philosophical pundits.

Never before have I experienced the broad range of analysis on the undead and their meaning to us as human beings: why there is a need to create such revenants, how they reflect our own desires and needs, and what role they play in our lives.

While the authors do tie the undead discussion in with a tremendous range of significant thinkers of the philsophical world, this is definitely not dry text book material. It is extremely topical and certainly would be a subject for a class I would be in line to take if I were once again a college student. The storybook and movie references range from Bram Stoker's Dracula to Buffy the Vampire Slayer on the blood-sucker side of the house and Romero as well as several of the zombie spin-off movies and books. I was impressed at the knowledge demonstrated-references to a variety of books and films were made that I certainly would not have expected.

Very informative and often profound, this book gave me a great deal more appreciation for topics that I felt I already had a tremendous respect and fondness for. Now when one of my friends who feels that more "mainstream" movies and books have more societal relevance I can dazzle them with key topics of discussion mulled over in this remarkable work and blow their minds with debates that are just not possible with just us mere mortals in the equation.

Editorial Review:

Though Bram Stoker coined the term, the undead have stalked the human imagination for eons, appearing in the myths and legends of nearly all cultures. The concept of people, or unpeople, interacting with others while devoid of humanity provides a wealth of material for philosophical speculation. Encompassing George Romero’s radiation-spawned Living Dead, the “infected” of 28 Days Later, as well as more traditional zombies and vampires, the essays in The Undead and Philosophy ponder questions such as: Is it cool to be undead, or does it totally suck? Is a zombie simply someone with a brain but without a mind? Are some of the people around us undead, and how could we tell? Can the undead be held responsible for what they do? Is it always morally OK to kill the undead? Served up in a witty, entertaining style, these and other provocative questions present philosophical arguments in terms accessible to all readers.

The Shovel Revival: A Motorcycle Manifesto

Zephyros Major

Amazon Price: $9.95 List Price: $9.95 Usually ships in 24 hours By: iUniverse, Inc. Amazon Marketplace: 20 new & used starting at $6.10

Buy at Amazon.com

Browse similar items by category:
Subjects -> Nonfiction -> Philosophy -> Movements -> General
Subjects -> Nonfiction -> Philosophy -> Movements -> General AAS
Subjects -> Nonfiction -> Philosophy -> General AAS

Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 5 Average rating: 2.5 of 5

Don't Waste Your Money 1 out of 5 stars.
3 of 4 people found this review helpful.

After years of reading reviews on Amazon, many helping me to determine if I would buy a particular book or not, I feel compelled to write my first review for a book I'm sure most will never know about or read, but after spending $10 on this I figure I would let other people decide if they should waste their money.

Now I'm no writer as can be seen in this review, so I'll just say that I couldn't have said it any better than Matt Holman did with his review on February 6th. But that being said I just wanted to add a few things.

This book is 43 pages long, 3 of those pages are blank, 14 of those pages have some kind of picture on it that takes up at least half or more of the page. Lets just say they take up half of the page, so we'll say 7 full pages have pictures and no words. So 43 - 3 (Empty Pages) - 7 (Full pages with pictures) leaves us 33 actual pages to read. NOW I know most Manifestos are not very long, but compound on that, that some of the pages we have out of the 33 only have writing on half of the page, you are left with roughly 25 full pages of text to read. 25 pages for $10, your really getting your moneys worth here.

This book was so bad it took me 3 nights of picking it up, reading as much as I could before I had to put it down to read something that had some substance to it. 3 nights to read 25 pages. BUT I had to read it cause I bought it and refused to give up.

Yes, for many the true motorcycle "BIKER" culture is long gone.

I grew up with a Motorcycle riding father in the 60's and 70's and experienced what the motorcycle culture was all about. I knew when I got my license at the age of 17 that I would have a motorcycle soon thereafter. I started riding full time in the mid 80's. The culture as far as I could see was alive and well back then.

I started reading "Iron Horse" magazine around 92-93 which was at the direction of David Snow. David along with Fritz and Genghis and the Piss Peas were the true iteration of what the biker culture was all about to me. True bikers working and building their own bikes along with Mom and Pop run dealerships fighting against the takeover of the factory which was trying and succeeded in turning them all into new SUPER dealerships where you can get all the doodads you need to look and feel like a REAL BIKER.

If you want to find out what being a Biker was all about then do yourself a favor and find some back issues from the years 91-97 when David was part of the mag. Don't waste your money on this book.

I bought this book after reading a positive review in the mag that took over "Iron Horse", but much like the inferior writing (Besides GTP) that's in the new magazine now, I should have known better than believe the review.

This book is by no means fascinating. If by fascinating you mean mindless rantings that leave you wondering what the heck he is talking about...then yes this book is for you. Otherwise don't waste your money like I did.

Editorial Review:

Every year, more and more would-be bikers take to the open road in an effort to get some kicks and enjoy a fuller life. But too many, too often, become mesmerized by the image of rough riding icons, and lose track of their own self-exploration. The Shovel Revival is an observation, and an appeal, to every rider of every age, to fearlessly adhere to a higher purpose. Genuine satisfaction on the road comes in the form of risk-taking and letting loose, not following the crowd or playing dress-up.

American Transcendentalism: A History

Philip F. Gura

Amazon Price: $10.20 List Price: $15.00 Usually ships in 24 hours By: Hill and Wang Amazon Marketplace: 40 new & used starting at $8.38

Buy at Amazon.com

Browse similar items by category:
Subjects -> History -> Americas -> United States -> 19th Century -> General
Subjects -> History -> Americas -> United States -> State & Local -> New England
Subjects -> History -> Americas -> United States -> General

Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 5 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Editorial Review:

American Transcendentalism is a sweeping narrative history of America’s first group of public intellectuals, the men and women who defined American literature and indelibly marked American reform in the decades before and following the American Civil War. Philip F. Gura masterfully traces their intellectual genealogy to transatlantic religious and philosophical ideas, illustrating how these informed the fierce theological debates that, so often first in Massachusetts and eventually throughout America, gave rise to practical, personal, and quixotic attempts to improve, even perfect the world. The transcendentalists would painfully bifurcate over what could be attained and how, one half epitomized by Ralph Waldo Emerson and stressing self-reliant individualism, the other by Orestes Brownson, George Ripley, and Theodore Parker, emphasizing commitment to the larger social good.

By the 1850s, transcendentalists turned ever more exclusively to abolition, and by war’s end transcendentalism had become identified exclusively with Emersonian self-reliance, congruent with the national ethos of political liberalism and market capitalism.

Integral Consciousness and the Future of Evolution

Steve McIntosh

Amazon Price: $16.47 List Price: $24.95 Usually ships in 24 hours By: Continuum Amazon Marketplace: 31 new & used starting at $15.50

Buy at Amazon.com

Browse similar items by category:
Subjects -> Nonfiction -> Philosophy -> Movements -> General
Subjects -> Nonfiction -> Philosophy -> Movements -> General AAS
Subjects -> Nonfiction -> Philosophy -> Political

Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 13 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

A wonderful refinement of the integralist theory 4 out of 5 stars.
24 of 24 people found this review helpful.

Mr. McIntosh does a superb job in refining what the integralists had previously written concerning the spiral integral. His prose is easy to read and his points are made very clearly. If you have ever been frustrated or confused with Cowan and Beck's explanations in Spiral Dynamics then please read this book. It explains and refines their model in a lucid and succinct style. If you have ever felt that Wilber's explanations for his AQAL model left you wanting then read this book as McIntosh lays it out and then builds on it beautifully.

What the author does exceptionally well, five stars in Amazon parlance, is layout a model where he cores the evolution of spiral integral theory to three main topics. Those topics are psychology, science and religion. He does the best job of all the integralists' writings to explain how the integral model evolved into existence on the psychology and science. Though he does not denigrate religion he does not explain the evolution for the third leg of the stool with the detail and deftness he delivers on the other two legs.

Mr. McIntosh should not be faulted for this as this flaw is one which all of the integralist theorists share. That is they play fast and loose with history, quoting events in time as it suits their arguments instead of adhering to the evolved model as they do with psychology, science, biology etc. This is somewhat ironic as the author dings Wilber for this in the book and then proceeds to replicate the same behavior himself in support of his arguments.

McIntosh departs from the integralist theorist peers in majoring in the explanation and refinement of integralist theory almost completely for the group spiral and not the individual. This is one of the factors which make his book much easier to understand than all the others. When walking through a theoretical landscape the switching between group and individual models makes complex theory much more difficult to follow. In fact I think it creates a mindset in most integral theorist writers to create identical symmetries between the group and the individual where few actually exist. The author escapes from this trap by staying on the group throughout and this is a fundamental reason why his book succeeds where others have not.

The reason the author is awarded four stars for such a wonderful refinement of integralist theory is because of he has not factored in any standard model for history. I will admit that while I do focus on the history of humankind in an effort to try and define a standard model, the integralists must understand that there is such a standard model analogous to the one being refined in physics. I would ask the author when he crafted his model for a three legged stool - who or what is sitting on that stool? The answer of course must be human history. Since McIntosh majors in the group it has to be our collective evolutionary history sitting on the stool. The failure to make this connection causes the author to make historical assumptions which skew the potential applicability in his projections for the future where he does spend time to carefully make integral consciousness operational. Therefore allow me a moment to layout but the briefest and barebones model for human history so that this point can be clearly seen by the integralists and their readers. Until this factor has been taken into consideration in their models there will be no adoption and refinement for their ideas in the academic community. This is not a minor issue.

For those integral theorist and readers out there, I must state categorically that there exists a standard model for the telemetry of human history in exactly the same as there is for psychology, physics and physiology. There has been only three economic ages for humanity: the hunter-gatherers age (200,000-12,000bce), the agricultural age (12000 bce-1770ce) and the industrial age (1770ce through the foreseeable future).

At the very moment in time when our ancestors had fully developed the modern sized mind (starting 30,000 years ago) we see world wide an explosion in what we today call art. What they depicted was their first worldview which can be historically catalogued because wherever our ancestors were they drew the same types of images (lethal wild animals, vortex symbols and the pregnant Venus figures). These were not their grocery lists or individuals expressing themselves but rather the start of our unique magic based human worldview in pictorial form as drawing is always the precursor to writing. This was humanities 1st historical Axial Age. The Mind in the Cave and Inside the Neolithic Mind are two excellent books written by David Lewis-Williams and David Pearce which have proven this and taken their model to an accepted academic standard.

Just as in the hunter-gatherer age, three quarters of the way through their agricultural age suddenly humanity rewrote (800bce) their inherited worldview to one which was human centric and no longer strictly a nature based magical model. They did this because they had moved into increasingly larger villages, towns, cities, city-states and some even empires and the old rules simply did not successfully regulate human interaction. The first written texts attest to the changing worldview from their inherited one of animal sacrifice to feed their gods and keep the world in balance. Over time the sacrifices become symbolic, though a majority of the inhabitants on earth still saw them in the same way that the hunter-gatherers had tens of thousands of years before. It was only by the end of the agricultural age that majority had switched over to this very ne worldview.

Ancient times were an extremely brutal environment and the only way forward was to evolve a new golden rule centric worldview (do onto others as you would have them do onto you). That golden rule is at the core of all of the major religions which came into existence during the agricultural age to address this problem of human violence. The remainder of the farming age was spent in refining and codifying the rules for humanity which peaks in the middle Ages. This can be seen as late as the New Testament when Jesus throws the animals out of the Temple courtyard in one of his few recorded rages because even the symbolic act had become repugnant to the evolving worldview. Karen Armstrong lays out the change over magnificently in her book The Great Transformation, though her thinking is still not academically accepted as no scholar is willing to stake their career on the line against the current firewall that scholars have drawn in the sand between pre history (pre written history called prehistoric) and written history. Once that line is breached the progression from hunter-gatherer images traversing down through Sumerian, Akkadian, Egyptian and the ancient Hebrew scrolls will be self evident even for the causal observer in terms of the removal of animal and nature worship from popular worldview.

As we entered the industrial age the inherited worldview is coming under increasing review and will result in a 3rd Axial Age in the future (at two more long waves out by my reckoning). What the integralists such as the author must remember is that their philosophy will not be the trigger for this event. Their evolved worldview can serve to make the transition a less violent and difficult event than the previous Axial Age change was but will not likely serve as the tipping point. This can be seen clearly from the agricultural ages shift in worldview when there had been a broad spectrum in religious thinking from Archaic to Integral from a Spiral model perspective. What was codified was what the author references as the Traditional spiral. In other words the lowest common denominator for humanity was selected so that everyone could be brought onboard.

The major change in the industrial age is the rise of nations and the associated nationalism which comes with it at the group level. Nations will have to work through how they are going to successfully interact with one and other but this is not where integral thinking will be of effect as those rules will evolve from purely economic bulwarks. This is where the author's lack of factoring in the standard human history model reduces his thinking in his book. Integral thinking must occur as evolution does from the individual to the group. Multiculturalism will only grow from individuals and not by legal codes enforced at the end of a rifle barrel as all laws ultimately are. None of the previous Axial Ages were legislated into existence they simply grew organically out of the spectrum in evolving thinking.

Because Integral Consciousness has not been accepted academically the practice of playing with human history is an ongoing and ill-advised practice. However until a standard model is placed as the baseline for integral theory, it can never be accepted in the academic communities which serve as diffusion centers for all accepted human thinking. One can no more adjust the telemetry of human history than one could remove gravity from the earth. In other words the stool can't float to fit the theoretical models together but must be a foundational component of integral modeling theory. Therefore McIntosh and all the integralists must finish the work in building an academic quality model before embarking on political roadmaps such as the one the author proposes in his book. It is for this reason that it is four stars though to be honest this is not a flaw of the author by himself but is shared by all of the integral writers. McIntosh does further refine integral theory in his book but muddies it with premature moves to operationalize the excitement of the changes we are all now seeing in the world today.

Finally McIntosh clearly possesses a brilliant mind. What those of require who follow the evolution in integral theory is for the author to focus on completing the model to an accepted academic standard. There is where these philosophical giants can make their contribution to the world which our children will inherit. That is the application of integral consciousness which is required for the road ahead in my opinion.

Editorial Review:

What does the next step in evolution hold for society as a whole? This volume suggests that an integral worldview is crucial to the development of our civilization, and that through its understanding of the evolution of consciousness it can provide both realistic and pragmatic solutions to global problems."Integral Consciousness" is divided into two sections, the first serves as an accessible introduction to the power of integral consciousness, whilst the second brings together unique perspectives and breaks new ground in its application to philosophy, politics, and spirituality. This volume also includes a contextual critique of the integral consciousnesses leading advocate, Ken Wilber.

The Sublime Object of Ideology (Phronesis)

Slavoj Zizek

Amazon Price: $19.75 List Price: $21.95 Usually ships in 24 hours By: Verso Amazon Marketplace: 24 new & used starting at $13.80

Buy at Amazon.com

Browse similar items by category:
Subjects -> Health, Mind & Body -> Psychology & Counseling -> Psychoanalysis
Subjects -> Nonfiction -> Philosophy -> Movements -> General
Subjects -> Nonfiction -> Philosophy -> Movements -> General AAS

Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 8 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Editorial Review:

In this provocative and original work, Slavoj Zizek takes a look at the question of human agency in a postmodern world. From the sinking of the Titanic to Hitchcock's Rear Window, from the operas of Wagner to science fiction, from Alien to the Jewish Joke, the author's acute analyses explore the ideological fantasies of wholeness and exclusion which make up human society. Zizek takes issue with analysts of the postmodern condition from Habermas to Sloterdijk, showing that the idea of a 'post-ideological' world ignores the fact that 'even if we do not take things seriously, we are still doing them'. Rejecting postmodernism's unified world of surfaces, he traces a line of thought from Hegel to Althusser and Lacan, in which the human subject is split, divided by a deep antagonism which determines social reality and through which ideology operates. Linking key psychoanalytical and philosophical concepts to social phenomena such as totalitarianism and racism, the book explores the political significance of these fantasies of control. In so doing, The Sublime Object of Ideology represents a powerful contribution to a psychoanalytical theory of ideology, as well as offering persuasive interpretations of a number of contemporary cultural formations.

What Would Jesus Deconstruct?: The Good News of Postmodernism for the Church (The Church and Postmodern Culture)

John D. Caputo

Amazon Price: $13.59 List Price: $19.99 Usually ships in 24 hours By: Baker Academic Amazon Marketplace: 39 new & used starting at $9.50

Buy at Amazon.com

Browse similar items by category:
Subjects -> Nonfiction -> Philosophy -> Movements -> General
Subjects -> Nonfiction -> Philosophy -> Movements -> General AAS
Subjects -> Religion & Spirituality -> Christianity -> Church History -> General

Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 5 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

Deconstruction Work 4 out of 5 stars.
16 of 21 people found this review helpful.

In this short, accessible, and often humorous book, Jacques Derrida scholar John D. Caputo introduces introduces Christians to deconstruction using Charles Sheldon's In His Steps and the gospels' portraits of Jesus. Countrary to what most conservative Christians assume, Caputo argues (and succeeds, in my opinion), that deconstruction is not anti-thetical to Christianity. Indeed, Caputo suggests that we find a model deconstructor in Jesus himself, who regularly challenged the received hierarchies and human regulations of the day insofar as they inhibited the love of God and neighbor (much as Derrideans deconstruct human laws in the name of the undeconstructible goal of justice).

This six-chapter book is divided into two parts, with the first three chapters explaining the theory behind deconstruction and the last three applying that theory to contemporary Christianity (focusing especially on the Religious Right). The first half of the book is excellent, the most lucid, inspiring explication of Derrida I've read to date. The second half is good, though chapter 5 is quite mediocre.

Earlier in the book, Caputo denigrates the Christian Right for using the question "What Would Jesus Do?" as a weapon to attack those who disagree with them; the answer often given is effectively, "Jesus would endorse what we do and challenge all those who do things differently." The question becomes a veiled assertion of power, in the same way personal interpretations of the Bible are prefaced with "the Bible says" to grant them legitimacy. Caputo warns us of this danger, but, in my opinion, he never adequately works out how can answer that question in a way that avoids simply using it to endorse our perspective.

This becomes especially problematic in Chapter 5 (titled "What Would Jesus Deconstruct?), which is essentially answered with a rant against the Christian Right, somewhat disconnected from the rest of the book. I actually agree with most of his political conclusions in that section (the Religious Right certainly needs to be demolished), but disagree with his implication that he is simply being a "conduit and a witness" (as James K.A. Smith puts it in his intro), objectively informing us of "what Jesus would deconstruct." The problem seems to be that any answer to that question (including Caputo's) is inevitably someone's answer to it. I think deconstruction can and should be used to challenged the Religious Right. I do not think Caputo presents us with a compelling model of what that might look like.

Nevertheless, this is a very informative, often exilirating read, and I highly recommend it to students, scholars, and pastors interested in exploring the ways in which postmodern philosophy and Christianity may mutually inform each other. A great second installment in Baker's "Church and Postmodern Culture" series.

Editorial Review:

This provocative addition to The Church and Postmodern Culture series offers a lively rereading of Charles Sheldon's In His Steps as a constructive way forward. John D. Caputo introduces the notion of why the church needs deconstruction, positively defines deconstruction's role in renewal, deconstructs idols of the church, and imagines the future of the church in addressing the practical implications of this for the church's life through liturgy, worship, preaching, and teaching. Students of philosophy, theology, religion, and ministry, as well as others interested in engaging postmodernism and the emerging church phenomenon, will welcome this provocative, non-technical work. Winner of the Gold Award in ForeWord Magazine's 2007 Book of the Year Awards.