The Veteran's Millennium Health Care Act of 1999: A Case Study of Role Orientations of Legislators, the President, and Interest Groups

Book Description

This book chronicles the evolution of veteran's entitlement programs from 1636 through the Veteran's Millennium Health Care Act of 1999. The primary purpose of the book is to identify and explain role orientations of legislators in Congress, the President and Interest Groups in the formulation and enactment of the Veteran's Millennium Health Care Act of 1999.

Customer Reviews:

Dr. Washington is awesome!.......2005-01-23

Though the material is very dense, Dr. Washington does a wonderful job demonstrating the impact that various actors have on the passage of public policy. Between the book and her lectures I'll be able to explain how the machine that is our legislative branch works to my students. Great case study, great professor!

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Sagan's first book a real treasure...

The single best scientific book on intelligent life in the universe

Great Read

An Absolutely Essential Read

This is the first rational book to address the probability..

Intelligent Life in the Universe
Carl Sagan , and I. S. Shklovskii
Manufacturer: Holden-Day
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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Carl Sagan's Cosmic Connection: An Extraterrestrial Perspective

Comet, Revised

The Dragons of Eden: Speculations on the Evolution of Human Intelligence

Pale Blue Dot: A Vision of the Human Future in Space

Cosmos Cosmos

ASIN: 0816279136

Customer Reviews:

Sagan's first book a real treasure..........2006-11-15

I was very happy to find this book on a visit to a local used book store (where interestingly enough I also found a copy of the first book published under John F. Kennedy's name being "Why England Slept").

Though I've been a big Carl Sagan fan since reading Cosmos, Dragons of Eden, Broca's Brain, Contact and his other eighties works back during my college days I was always curious to see if he was just as good when he first started writing.

And the answer of course was...duh, of course yes.

Though admittedly one third of the book (relating to cosmic origins) is dated because it was written over forty years ago, the remaining two thirds -- relating to the origins of life generally and speculations on the possibilities of life elsewhere -- actually hold up amazingly well.

Sadly, as it relates to the later topic, being the search for intelligent life elsewhere, part of the reason why Sagan's book still holds up is because of the paucity of research that has actually been done.

In this way, this wonderful book becomes both a commentary on Sagan's abounding foresight and the lack of foresight so obvious in those academicians who've failed to follow in his able footsteps.

The single best scientific book on intelligent life in the universe.......2005-12-07

I used this book as an undergrad in a 400 level Astronomy class. At the time, the book was a real challenge for me in that I wanted to understand the mathematical and physical foundations of intelligent life. By the end of the course, and the book, I was, and have remained, absolutely convinced that intelligent life is plentiful in the universe, at least as can be "proved" mathematically using our physical laws. I was also convinced that human type life is in fact highly unlikely to be duplicated elsewhere in the universe. Finally, it is likely that many of this other intelligent life is perhaps vastly superior to our own. No, I'm not a nut, and I'm not a scientist, but I am convinced, even in the absence of physical evidence. Read this book, you'll make your own mind up. One warning, this is not "light reading". It is a college level textbook, that if you stay with it, will reward you in the end. What a shame we have lost such a great mind as Carl Sagan. To date, no one has stepped up to replace him.

Great Read.......2003-06-26

If you are interested in this issue, I highly recommend the book. This book is extremely thorough, so thorough it could be used as a textbook on an astrobiology class. It was written in the sixties so yes its out of date here and there, but much of the information is surprisingly current. You also get a great early taste of Sagan's writing style.

An Absolutely Essential Read.......2003-01-17

I first read this book in the early 1970s, and have read many
since then, and it pained me somewhat to find that the book is now out of print. I can honestly say this is still, without any doubt
in my mind, the *best* starting place for the study of astronomy,
cosmology, astrobiology/xenobiology (call it what you will) and
all things extraterrestrial. The book gives you all the background information available at the time of its publication to understand
problems that are still profound to this day, in a step by step
method that is both an absorbing read and and a good bit of education in itself. Invaluable for both its conclusions and for the historical background it gives to current issues, well illustrated and beautifully far reaching, I most highly recommend this rare and wonderful book.

This is the first rational book to address the probability.........1998-02-09

of life elsewhere inthe universe.

I read it first sometime in the late Sixties or early Seventies as an undergrad in engineering/physics/math. Carl Sagan created a wonderful book which has stayed with me over the course of almost 30 years now.

Amazon.com

To millions, the late Carl Sagan became eponymous with the science of cosmology and, in fact, the pursuit of scientific inquiry in general. This book, which followed his death in late 1996, is a collection of essays recounting the many facets of scientific inquiry--from planetary probes to the search for extraterrestrial intelligence--on which he made his mark. Among the noteworthy authors are physicist Kip Thorne and famous debunker James Randi. Carl Sagan's Universe is a touching tribute to a man who left an immutable mark upon modern science.

Book Description

Carl Sagan’s many contributions to science and society have been profound and far-reaching, influencing millions of people around the world. He carried out significant research in planetary science, was closely associated with the US space program, created the highly-acclaimed television series, Cosmos, and was the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of many best-selling popular science books. Carl Sagan’s Universe is a fascinating and beautifully illustrated collection of articles by a distinguished team of authors, and covers the many fields of science, education, policy making, and related areas in which Sagan worked. The book is divided into four sections, the first two of which provide an absorbing overview of the US space program (as well as a complementary account of the Russian program), and of the history and current status of the search for extraterrestrial life. The final two sections deal with the importance of science education in the successful development of a technological society, and of the shaping of science policy in tackling the problems facing us today. Also included is a separate chapter by Sagan himself, discussing the place and role of our planet and mankind in the universe. Written in honour of Carl Sagan’s many achievements, this book will fascinate and reward anyone interested in planetary science and exploration, the search for extraterrestrial life, or the role of science in the modern world.

Customer Reviews:

Read after reading Sagan.......2001-06-14

This book seemed awkward at first, with its structure of lectures ranging from rambles with dim connections to Sagan through to near-hagiography barely sullied by informative content. Fortunately, these proved to be the extremes. It was saved by the range of provocative ideas, both current and historical, which emerge from the authors and implicitly from Sagan himself. Sagan's own talk in the book with a Q&A session recorded, displays both the kindliness and scientific curiousity of his public persona and the clean efficiency with which he deals with fuzzy thinking in a scientific arena. I think one of his directly-authored books is a better introduction to science and to his thinking but if you have read some of those and want to learn more about his range of thought, this book is worth the time.

Sagan's Last, But Not His Best...........1999-03-02

Written in memory of Carl Sagan, this book is edited by his Chairman at Cornell, Dr. Yervant Terzian. It includes short articles by numerous authors, and shows the breadth of Sagan's interests. It also includes some of Carl Sagan's very last work.

Customer Reviews:

Training the searchers of the future .......2006-12-06

The search for extraterrestial intelligence is ordinarily thought of as the work of a small group of scientists. This book is an educational project aimed at involving larger segments of the public in this project, and goal. The book is structured as a guide for teachers, and contains exercises in which the students are to use their imaginations to think up for instance , new missions to outer space, or new forms of life which might be sent to populate places outside the Earth.
All of this has the signature of Carl Sagan on it. Sagan from the time he was a small child dreamed of communicating with extraterrestial intelligences, believed there were other minds on other worlds. As a senior scientist he has been perhaps more than any other the moving force in the program to investigate the cosmos and search for extraterrestial intelligence.
This book provides a basic outline of the issues involved, and too gives a picture of the development of intelligence on earth.
This may be an extremely wise investment for the future.

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NOT ENOUGH STAR STUFF

Life in the Universe Essays
Carl Sagan
Manufacturer: Audio Scholar
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Audio Cassette

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Sony WMFX479 Walkman

ASIN: 1879557517

Book Description

The only collection of the Pulitzer Prize winning astronomer's essay to appear on audio or in print.

Customer Reviews:

NOT ENOUGH STAR STUFF.......2005-07-16

As a Sagan fan I was hoping for more. The lectures are out of date, of course, and the statisics are totally off the wall now with new info for 15 years but I knew and expect that going in. What disappointed me was that this very small collection has so much repetative material. The man gave lectures for 30 years on TV, talk shows, radio, books and in hundreds of classes and all that they could find was a few repeat lectures?
It still gets 3 stars because if you haven't heard Sagan, and you have any interest in if "we are alone," then this is still a worth while buy. If you'd like to him at his best try "The Demon Haunted World."

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Confronting Pseudoscience
A battle between catastrophic theory and a closed mind.
Hero Worship
A Tribute to Velikovsky
A Tribute to Velikovsky

Carl Sagan and Immanuel Velikovsky
Charles Ginenthal
Manufacturer: New Falcon Publications
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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Customer Reviews:

Confronting Pseudoscience.......2007-01-03

This book is rather sad. The non-scientist author, like his hero Velikovsky, just doesn't understand many of the technical issues he writes about. Velikosky was so obviously wrong that very few scientists tried to refute him. Carl Sagan was one of the few who took on this task, primarily as lead speaker at the AAAS Symposium held in 1974 to discuss Velikovsky's ideas. Sagan pointed out a dozen or so of the major contraditions in Velikovsky's Worlds in Collision; he wrote up his remarks for publication in the book that came out of the Symposium, Scientists Confront Velikovsky (Don Goldsmith, editor), and reprinted it as a chapter in one of his own books. That was it. Sagan's paper was hardly a definitive analysis of Velikovsky, and he never corrected it to make the arguments tighter. This book seems to claim that Sagan spent a great deal of time dealing with Velikovsky, and even that he used the AAAS symposium as a springboard to fame. That is simply wrong. Velikovsky may have obsessed about Sagan, but Sagan had far more important things on his mind than Velikovsky. Nor did this excursion into the realm of pseudoscience do anything to advance Sagan's career. In that sense, this book is devoted to a non-issue.

A battle between catastrophic theory and a closed mind........2005-02-11

The arguments are persuasive...but only on one side. Read the book and find out just who has the best arguments. I think that it will become abundently clear just who really knows their stuff and who guards the henhouse of conformity. It is a good book and a easy read. Though some of the arguments are quite insulting. What do they think we are...minds of mush? I believe that anyone who wants to confirm their doubts of one side of the argument or the other should read this book. It serves as great ammo for the argument of technical points, but most importantly offers insight into the minds of the establishment. I just have to shake my head slowly and sadly. A great book overall.

Hero Worship.......2003-04-29

Reading the reviews of this book is very enlightening it indicates a degree of Hero Worship that is quite remarkable.
We have in Charles Ginenthal's book a morality tale of the wicked Dr. Sagan versus Dr. Velikovsky a saint.

In pursuit of his morality tale Charles Ginenthal resorts to all sorts of devices to make Dr. Sagan look bad. Velikovsky's senario as been disproven by so much evidence that the willingness of his supporters to "believe" is awe inspiring.

Charles Ginenthal's attribution of motives etc., too Dr. Sagan are quite revealing of his own psychology.

It is quite easy to demonstrate how biased, distorted Velikovsky's books are. To give just one example Velikovsky claimed that the Queen of Sheba in the Bible was the Queen Hatshepsut of Egypt.

Charles Ginenthal has perfected those techniques and ingaging in abuse of both scholarship and good manners that vastly exceeds anything that Dr. Sagan ever wrote or said. We have here an account of the "controversy" from the point of view of a committed "true believer" who shrinks at virtually nothing to blacken his enemy.

Only to Velikovsky's followers does there continue to be a "controversy", everyone else has moved on. The many positive reviews of this book make me wonder about the state of science education.

A Tribute to Velikovsky.......2001-11-22

I have been reading and re-reading the books which this man wrote and continue to be excited by them. They have almost become a virtual Bible of the past for me. I unfortunately lost my whole collection in a house fire some years ago and have not been able to replace them as they do not appear to be available here where I live in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. V. is a brilliant writer of our past and I have suffered gladly those who would do their utmost best to put him down. As to Carl Sagan, what can one say about a man who joined the nay-sayers in order to climb to the top of the heap on the back of someone else. One could only wish that V had lived to see these tributes to him.

Fran Greenfield

A Tribute to Velikovsky.......2001-01-20

Hi You All......I have been a devotee of Velikovsky's for more years than I care to remember...well since his first book came out. I have not yet had the opportunity to read this literary effort, BUT, There is a comment that needs to be made. Velikovsky opened the doors to the past at great peril to his being. He has been proved right on many issues just from reading and synthesizing the "records" left by many different peoples on both sides of the Atlantic Ocean. He didn't have today's modern scientific means to look at the past, but, he sure did a great job non the less. He opened the doors so to speak for others to be able to look at the past......Eric Von Daniken Zacharia Sitchen......just to name two well known authors. No, I do not want to get into any argument about the education and number of degrees after any name. Just be grateful that he did. Remember, the term "Ivory Tower" when applied to some academics has great meaning.....Each and every one who reaches out to tell his or her ideas of the past does in some way contribute to the education (right or wrong) of the coming generations of questing minds.

Brief History of Time: From the Big Bang to Black Holes (G K Hall Large Print Book Series)

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This book is a fake!
Author - a true genius
Fascinating
TERRIBLE digital transfer by "Phoenix Audio"
A well written classic

Brief History of Time: From the Big Bang to Black Holes (G K Hall Large Print Book Series)
Stephen W. Hawking , Carl Sagan , and Ron Miller
Manufacturer: G K Hall & Co
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0816147736

Amazon.com

Stephen Hawking, one of the most brilliant theoretical physicists in history, wrote the modern classic A Brief History of Time to help nonscientists understand the questions being asked by scientists today: Where did the universe come from? How and why did it begin? Will it come to an end, and if so, how? Hawking attempts to reveal these questions (and where we're looking for answers) using a minimum of technical jargon. Among the topics gracefully covered are gravity, black holes, the Big Bang, the nature of time, and physicists' search for a grand unifying theory. This is deep science; these concepts are so vast (or so tiny) as to cause vertigo while reading, and one can't help but marvel at Hawking's ability to synthesize this difficult subject for people not used to thinking about things like alternate dimensions. The journey is certainly worth taking, for, as Hawking says, the reward of understanding the universe may be a glimpse of "the mind of God." --Therese Littleton

Book Description

A Brief History of Time, published in 1988, was a landmark volume in science writing and in world-wide acclaim and popularity, with more than 9 million copies in print globally. The original edition was on the cutting edge of what was then known about the origins and nature of the universe. But the ensuing years have seen extraordinary advances in the technology of observing both the micro- and the macrocosmic world--observations that have confirmed many of Hawking's theoretical predictions in the first edition of his book.

Now a decade later, this edition updates the chapters throughout to document those advances, and also includes an entirely new chapter on Wormholes and Time Travel and a new introduction. It make vividly clear why A Brief History of Time has transformed our view of the universe.

Customer Reviews:

This book is a fake!.......2007-10-01

As a physicist I am flabbergasted and slightly depressed by the success of this book. First of all this book presents as if they were equally certain some pieces of orthodox science together with some of the author's dubious speculations. The lay reader is not told which are which. Secondly, the author obviously has no knowledge of the actual history of physics and yet he shamelessly "describes" it to the reader.

Hawking seems to have gathered together all the bad cliches about various physical issues and has taken out all the valuable ideas. He explains nothing, he just asserts that "we physicists know that..., we physicists have demonstrated that...". I cannot see how anyone can actually learn anything about physics from this book, about why we know what we know. And yet, judging from the amount of praise this book receives, it seems that quite a lot of people have fallen under the spell that they have been allowed access to some secret. They haven't and I find this trickery immoral.

Quantum physics and astrophysics are really interesting. They don't deserve to be thrashed in this unashamed manner. If you want to learn something about physics, there are other books which do a much better job, for example Asimov's Atom: Journey Across the Subatomic Cosmos.

Author - a true genius.......2007-09-22

Stephen Hawking is a true genius. Although I don't understand everything he writes, all-in-all this book gives one the understanding of how wonderfully made the universe is.

Fascinating.......2007-08-24

I found this book to be ingenious yet accessible to the average reader, which is what I believe Hawking set out to accomplish. Great food for thought in my opinion.

TERRIBLE digital transfer by "Phoenix Audio".......2007-08-10

It's a great book by Hawking, but this product is just a reproduction of something by Hawking/Jackson that we already know is great. So what sort of job does this product do of delivering one of my favorite audio books? Not a very good one.

The original recording sounds fine, but this production from 2005 sounds like it was converted to a low bit rate at some point during editing, and probably had a poor noise removal job done as well. For the benefit of removing possibly a little weak static in the background, we get to listen to a robotic Jackson for 5 hours. It sounds similar to an early digital cell phone with a choppy feel and many T's and S's muffled.

There really isn't any reason I can see for this to not be a perfect reproduction of earlier digital versions. Old bootlegs floating about the internet sound better. Maybe "Phoenix Audio" should have just grabbed those to print, and left all of that tricky audio work to the more competent civilian sector.

A well written classic.......2007-08-01

I have a stack of these :The First Three Minutes: A Modern View of the Origin of the Universe,Cosmic Code and In Search/big Bang: /, so I can compare and contrast.
There is material on black holes here that isn't covered as well in the others. I still would wish that all these authors would put in more of the real equations and less of the dumbing down. One point is that people not able to understand this kind of book, probably won't understand no matter how simple you make the text. Maybe one should make effective use of your time in writing and concentrate on those who will understand and use the results.

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Cosmos (Leather Bound)
Carl Sagan
Manufacturer: Easton Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Leather Bound

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ASIN: B000OM0CO8

Product Description

Leather bound edition accented in 22 kt gold.

Evolution of a Planetary System (Life in the Universe)

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Evolution of a Planetary System (Life in the Universe)
Seti Institute
Manufacturer: Libraries Unlimited
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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Extragalactic Adventure: Our Strange Universe

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Extragalactic Adventure: Our Strange Universe
Jean Heidmann
Manufacturer: Cambridge University Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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