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A high-speed tour through the high-tech underground and its denizens. Dery introduces us to those who embrace computer technology, figuratively and literally -- cyberpunks, cyberhippies, cybersexers, and would-be cyborgs who believe the body is mere meat, and await the day when man-machine union is much more than mere science fiction. Dery draws heavily on academic theorists such as Bataille, Foucault, Baudrillard and McLuhan, yet his writing style makes for a highly accessible book.
Customer Reviews:
Cybersourcebook.......2002-09-04
"Escape velocity is the speed at which a body...overcomes the gravitational pull of another body," begins Mark Dery in his non-fictional amalgamation of the current state of computer culture, Escape Velocity. Dery uses the concept as a metaphor for what is happening to the many memes--concept viruses--of the on-line and turned-on and their relation to the greater society (mainly American, although some service is given to Japan and Europe). Like the emergence of the Internet (and the 'net concept of on-line connectivity) into the mainstream, the ideas of body sculpting, merging with machines (either virtually or prosthetically), and transhuman growth, among others, are just below the cultural surface, according to Dery.
To be a cultural historian to the fast-paced world of computers is a difficult one, because the cyberculture, far more so than any subculture before it, is as varied in its parts as it is separated geographically. It exists on change. In ways, the myriad differences in the cybercrowd is what makes it a culture rather than a cult--it encourages the free range of expression from left to right, and all the fringes top and bottom, and there is no single authority to consult. Mark Dery's job, therefore, was to piece together a picture of a living community that is less than 30 years old and is more malleable than one of his favorite images, that of the T-2000 liquid-metal android from the movie Terminator 2. He assembled this jigsaw by grabbing at the outward manifestations of the culture--its art--rather than focusing on the nuts and bolts of how it came and stays together. Dery's goal was to achieve a focus on where cybernauts and cyberpunks are headed, rather than where they have been. Within the cybernetic expressions in print, screen, music, body art, performance, and philosophy lie the seeds of a cultural revolution that began with the home computer, according to Dery.
Any cultural representation requires a polymath to untangle the multitude of threads that bind it together. When that culture is the front end of the runaway train of technology, the examiner must also be moving at the speed of information. Dery, for the most part, rises to the challenge, able to quote both fiction writers and art critics, social commentators and "hackers" within the same page. His profiles of those on the fringe and those with the mainstream are balanced, except when he pauses to regroup his thinking at the end of each chapter and his own impressions slip in. One of the most rewarding aspects of Dery's compilation is that he went beyond the most visible proponents of cyberculture (William Gibson, Mark Pauline of the Survival Research Laboratories, Hans Moravec) to also get the equally important contributions that have not engendered cultish followings (in fiction, for example, Dery quotes the work of Pat Cadigan and John Shirley as well as that of Gibson and Bruce Sterling), as well as progenitors to the culture (again in fiction, the work of Philip K. Dick and J.G. Ballard).
As a document of fact about what happened and is happening in the computer subculture, Escape Velocity is hard to fault. But Dery's goal was to portray where the culture is headed (in his eyes into the larger mainstream), and it is herein that trouble lies. To extract the future of society from this mismatch of ideas would be like portraying the future of cinema in the 1960s by examining both Easy Rider and La Dolce Vita. Yes, these movies had a profound effect on the cinematic culture at large, but it was subsumed into the larger whole. Dery quotes Gibson's oft-touted refrain, "The street finds its own uses for things." Just so, the mainstream often finds its own uses for the street, as evidenced in the music business by the commercialization and marketing of punk, rap, and grunge, each a thriving subculture at one time.
Escape Velocity is an intriguing volume, and Mark Dery is to be commended for attempting to achieve a cyberculture gestalt. For those interested in what is happening "in there," Escape Velocity is a one-stop shop, a veritable sourcebook of cyberdom.
Slightly outdated, but still an excellent survey.......2001-03-29
Mark Dery does an excellent job in this book of presenting elements the post-industrial fringe culture to the reader. This is a bookshelf essential for those with an interest in cyberculture, robotics, trans-humanism, body modification, and cultural criticism. Some of the references are now outdated, but that is inevitable in the print medium, given the rapid advancement of technology.
Still applicable.......2000-03-28
I read this about 3+ years ago and I was just discussing it last night. This book presents "cyber-whatever" in a way that is not bound by your typical Newsweek-esque angle of "Boy genius makes millions, blah blah" or by the approach of overwhelming the reader with senseless techie watchwords and jargon that are made up to confuse and confound the reader into thinking that the subject is important because they don't understand it. Escape Velocity presents real people doing wierd things with more esoteric aspects of our accelerted culture. A man who attached his computer to the nerves in his arm to invoke spasms of thrashing and flailing, all the while injuring himself in the process of making performance art is a whole other realm from Bill Gates' pedestrian spreadsheet programs. Don't read this book expecting "Pirates of Silicon Valley" or "the Road Ahead" or whatever drivel Bill wrote. But DO read this book.
good job putting pieces together.......1999-03-03
His thesis hangs in mid-air, not fully articulated, but if you relax, it should wash over you. Well-written, flows nicely. Excellent job defining buzzwords/key concepts others don't bother to. I found his book to be the best on the topic I've found so far and invaluable in my own studies.
However, he does get a bit redundant and didactic, keeps resorting to catch-all phrases to explain what people are trying to escape from, e.g. economic inequality, environmental pollution, yah-dah-yah-dah. I wish he had drilled down a bit here.
Also, his groupings seems a bit forced, he seems to have dug himself a hole in his overall design. But it was probably a difficult project, so you have to forgive him that.
Sober observation of the hyperbole.......1998-03-04
An entertaining and insightful analysis of cyberculture from a man with the sense of detail of an archeologist and the wit of Voltaire.
Customer Reviews:
A classic for modern times.......2006-06-18
Christopher Stasheff is engaging! Mixing political discourse in a space-cowboy setting comes across as genuine. His work serves as a reminder for today's reader to remain skeptical.
Not bad, but dated.......2005-08-11
The writing style is very choppy and too many assumptions are made of the reader. However, I like good sci-fi, and this has some good ideas in it. You will have to read the book to find out what they are, as I won't spoil it for you. Certainly a good book to inspire an RPG session (or campaign).
In summary I would say that this is a decent book, worth reading if you have some spare time and plan to read the rest of the Warlock series. I would not put it at the top of my list, except that it is very short and a quick read.
Disappointment.......2005-03-11
I expected so much from Stasheff. I was severely disappointed. Very boring. Put me to sleep. I'm glad he improved with the rest of the series, but if I'd gotten this one first I doubt I would have followed up.
Escape Velocity.......2000-04-16
Fantastic! Christopher Stasheff has done it again; the wizard of fantasy has proved his mastery of science fiction in a fascinating reality. This explains the origins of the Gramarye colony featured in the Warlock series, complete with a few puns. I highly recommend it.
Customer Reviews:
The Doctor and Fitz are back - Yaaayy!!!!.......2002-08-08
The Doctor and Fitz are reunited at last. But the Doctor isn't quite the man Fitz used to know. Searching for Anji Kapoor's kidnapped boyfriend the Doctor And Fitz soon find themselves caught up in a struggle between two rivals to be the first privately funded man in space.
Being the last in the `Stranded on Earth' story arc sees a fun, classic story like the ones before the arc had begun. Fitz is back, hours after the eventful happenings on the now non-existant Gallifrey. The TARDIS has returned. A new companion has come aboard and best of all, the Doctor is his old self again (well kind of, he still lacks a lot of his memory and has a tendency to end a situation with more violence than usual.)
A strange part of the novel is the inclusion of the American version of UNIT, they do play a part but have no bearing whatsoever on the story. The ending is great, ending it with the same feeling ,story that continues into the next story (like with the classic 1st Doctor televised stories) and makes this a great starting point for new Doctor Who readers. This is a fun, light hearted book that rounds off the whole `Exiled on Earth' arc wonderfully. RECOMMENDED!!!
"Writing is so twentieth-century!".......2001-11-30
I'm not quite sure what to make of ESCAPE VELOCITY. On one hand, it is certainly a very flawed work, with many more holes and problems than I'm usually comfortable reading. On the other hand, I can't say it was an entirely unpleasant read, or even an unenjoyable one. It's a fun romp, if you turn your brain off at the door.
There are a lot of major problems with this book. The motivations of the main villains are not stated until near the end, and even then they are so ill-defined, that it's difficult to grasp what they are doing and why they are doing it. Unfortunately, this fault extends to a lot of the other characters as well. The book spends far far too much time telling us about people rather than showing their actions to us. There are places where it feels as though it is still in outline form, waiting for the author to come over and flesh out these sequences. The prose doesn't do any favours in this department either, as it's workman at best, but occasionally slumps down into incoherence.
The poor pacing is probably one of the main aspects holding this book back. Every time it starts to do things well, the action will start skipping ahead randomly, utterly killing any positive momentum that it had gained. It's not so much a case that the book takes two steps backwards for every one step forward -- rather it takes one step backwards, three steps sideways, a step and a half in a diagonal direction, and spins around on its tiptoes before being gang-tackled at about the 40-yard-line for a minimal gain (and if you like that NFL analogy, wait until you read the ones in the book). This was really a shame, as the bad parts really started to outshine the places that had potential. About half-way through the story I found myself mentally cheering the book on, hoping against hope that it would succeed despite itself. I felt like a soccer mom, bravely shouting encouragement to her skinny, smaller-than-the-other-kids child to defy the odds and not let the team down. And fortunately, despite some moments where it gets really rough, ESCAPE VELOCITY did not score an own goal.
On the plus side, the introduction of the new companion, Anji, is done fairly well. It's obvious that a lot of thought has gone into what makes this character tick. Alas, not as much thought has gone into what makes this character tick inside the context of this story. What everyone has said about her character outline being randomly cut'n'pasted into the text here is completely, one hundred percent correct. It would have been nice to see Anji's thoughts and reactions better integrated into the story.
I also liked the method in which the Doctor arranges to meet Fitz "at St. Louis"; this was quite clever. The reaction to the restored TARDIS was done very well, and the characters of Anji and her boyfriend had a nice chemistry going. The problem is, however, that for everything that I liked, there was something lurking around the next page to annoy me. The aforementioned lack of proper motivations, the pointless inclusion of the UNIT competitors and, worst of all, the sheer silliness of the ending.
ESCAPE VELOCITY was a hard book to dislike. Although it made several major mistakes, it managed to somehow tell an entertaining story that held my interest throughout. It goes from good points to bad in a seemingly random, unpredictable manner, but for all its flaws, it seems to have its heart in the right place. Recommended as a fun romp, as long as you aren't looking for something to take completely seriously.
Faster than the Speed of Something.......2001-09-17
Escape Velocity should have been a watershed book for the 8th Doctor line. There's an awful lot of agenda on the plate of Colin Brake, writing a DW novel for the first time. There's the return of Fitz, last seen 6 books ago. The introduction of a new companion, Anji (a soulful, sexy... stockbroker??). The return of the TARDIS, the original TARDIS (last seen a year ago). And the escape of Doctor Who into Time and Space once more.
Escape Velocity is a genial romp. Two factions of an archetypal alien race (the insane warmongerers and the peaceful philosopher-kings) are stranded on Earth, working on competing teams to send the first privately-built vehicle into space. Those competing teams were once friends (and of course, right in betweeen is the women they loved). This is a simple and effective setup, and a good thematic backdrop for the Doctor's own escape into space.
However, the book tends to zip along with all the energy of a pulp story, when it could be argued that this novel, of all others, required a little more thought and dignity (and better-edited prose). Nothing unpredictable or novel ever happens.
It's best to read "Escape Velocity" as a collection of set pieces. The Doctor's reintroduction to Fitz, and the TARDIS's rebirth, both should bring a smile to the reader's face. Anji, the new companion, is an excellent stockbroker and a slightly less excellent girlfriend. We know this because Brake tells us so -- every couple of chapters, when it becomes important, a piece of character outline is stapled into the text. This is nothing new -- technical fiction writers dump their exposition into the text at necessary times (Tom Clancy and Michael Crichton to name obvious examples). It speaks better of the surrounding books that we've come to expect more than this from our "Doctor Who" potboilers, and that's why it's disappointing here.
Escape Velocity is a fast, easy read, safe and predictable. Not necessarily in a good sense. When the Doctor is returned to space, we don't get a taste of new, dangerous uncharted waters -- we simply get a replay of the very first "Doctor Who" cliffhanger, from 1963. A sense of adventure and the unknown has been lost, and it will be up to future writers to return "Doctor Who" to the cutting edge where it has thrived for parts of five decades.
Not bad, but not that great.......2001-08-16
Colin Brake's first Doctor Who novel is not a resounding success. The prose is a bit laboured, the Doctor's first meeting with Fitz in 100 years (as far as the Doctor is concerned) is rather anticlimactic and the characters are rather wooden.
The reason this book gets three stars, though, is Anji. Her character is a breath of fresh air after the companionless books that have just passed. Brake goes into a lot of detail about her and we really get to know her. Her relationship with her boyfriend is real (I've known people like him).
Escape Velocity brings the Caught on Earth arc to a conclusion. It's not necessarily a satisfying one, but it does provide a good jumping off point for the next series of adventures (even down to the menacing shadow on the TARDIS door at the end of the book).
The Return of Doctor Who?.......2001-05-12
When I heard about the events after the book "The Ancestor Cell", I was deeply heartbroken. Gallifrey did not have to be destroyed, neither did the Doctor's memory needed to be taken from him, because it sucks. I'm glad that the TARDIS is back, the Doctor's memory though, that's another thing. At the end of the book, he couldn't even remember Sam, which is a great disappointment. Not to mention, I was still a little upset. I feel a bit better, but not entirely well until the Doctor's memory completely returns. As for Gallifrey, perhaps it is best to put things to rest.
Average customer rating:
- Uniquely reveals the darker side of life in America
- A Present Day Walt Whitman
- We got the fax by yak . . . . . Holocaust Chutzpah . . . .
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Escape Velocity
David Breskin
Manufacturer: Soft Skull Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
 20th Century
| Poetry
| United States
| World Literature
| Literature & Fiction
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Poetry
| United States
| World Literature
| Literature & Fiction
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Poetry
| Literature & Fiction
| Subjects
| Books
United States
| Single Authors
| Poetry
| Literature & Fiction
| Subjects
| Books
ASIN: 1932360441 |
Book Description
From the righteous indignation of welfare mothers to the cloying calm of West Coast Buddhists, Escape Velocity splices the personal and the political as seamlessly as life itself. Funny and ferocious, poems such as "Mosaic Wipe," "Due Process," and "Newsworthy" go fearlessly into darkened spaces to crack them wide apart. In this new collection of lyrically canny compositions, David Breskin courageously gathers up the fractured facets of American life and transforms them into a stunning, spinning mirrored ball of postmodern poesy.
Customer Reviews:
Uniquely reveals the darker side of life in America .......2005-01-09
Escape Velocity is an original work of free-verse poetry, that uniquely reveals the darker side of life in America - poverty, social inequity, and worse with a combination of cultural critique and raw linguistic depiction of ugly realities. Bluntly written, prizing honesty over flowery language, the poems are crafted from the grit of human experience and offer a clear reflection of harsh reality. "Welfare Reform": The Lakota used every piece // of the buffalo and I expect no less / from you. If you rub me hard enough // against the rough concrete of the voters, / my skin comes off like grated cheese. // Recover the chaise. Patch the frayed cord / of the tennis net. Resole the old soft shoe.
A Present Day Walt Whitman.......2004-12-09
David Breskin is his own best publicist, for you have only to go to one of his readings to want to buy all of his books. I remember seeing him many years ago, perhaps in 1998 or 1999 reading for the Poetry Center at San Francisco State University, where he was then celebrating the release of his famous first book FRESH KILLS, but also as some poets do he went on to give some "sneaky peeks" from a forthcoming book that he was then just starting work on. I remember him reading a poem, "Growing," that has the line in it, "She was a lighter and I was a cigarette," and right away I knew, his rough, easy to love delivery marked him down as a present-day Walt Whitman, with one eye on the circumstances of the everyday and the other on the vatic and holy.
Now "Growing" and many more poems have been assembled and published by New York's fast-growing Soft Skull Press. The book may be a little long but you have to remember it contains the work of many years of sowing, reaping, and harvest. After the ill-conceived tribute to Gerhard Richter he produced last year for the San Francisco portion of the Richter retrospective (ESCAPE VELOCITY is dedicated to Gerhard Richter), I thought that perhaps his sense of humor had left him, but no, it is here and more, squared, from the front cover portrait of four black prisoners on a turn of the century chain gang, to the back cover which has four black men playing music, standing around, and dancing, and the blurb by Bono, perhaps the same one from the band U2. Anyhow, there's another funny poem in the book called "Rated X," Breskin's philosophical meditations on what happens to women who decide to chop off the "members" of their boyfriends who did them wrong. "Take him home in a doggy bag," it concludes, in a wry burst of wit. Guys who are sensitive about this sort of thing, you can skip the two pages 32 and 33, and go on to other poems in the book. In "Today's Place Crash" you will read a chilling poem that will inevitably remind you of the twin towers going down on 9/11, as Vreskin borrows his Thomas Lux voice to intone grimly, "The black box tape reeling sticky impact/ of quickening terror is the jokester."
His jokes are sly and usually subversive, and his images are lovely, like the "trampoline of waffles" counterposed to the "bad boy's erection."
I love the names of his children, to whom he dedicates his most heartfelt poem, a girl called, "Billie Miro," and a boy called, "Theolonius Blue," kind of jazzy names and certain to cause talk in the playground. So, if you get a chance to hear Breskin read, run, don't walk, he is earthy and intense, and makes you feel you have a laser beam going from your ears into his heart.
We got the fax by yak . . . . . Holocaust Chutzpah . . . . .......2004-11-13
are some of my new favorite expressions, courtesy of Escape Velocity. I will confess that I'm a relative neophyte to the world of poetry, but Breskin's book came highly recommended, and for that I'm now grateful. Simply grasping his references was, for me anyway, highly entertaining, but the contexts in which they're nestled will forever change the way you see, or are embarrassed by, the flotsam of our world.
It's like watching TV or reading the newspaper or walking down the street while on some hyped-up cocktail of stuff that all combine to give you, oddly, both a never-before-possessed (or even-thought-possible) clarity and yet at the very same time a completely different way of seeing.
Cool words. Read them.
Average customer rating:
- Arresting, Edifying and Playful: "I know it will last."
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Escape Velocity (The Ragged Sky Poetry Series)
Arlene Weiner
Manufacturer: Ragged Sky Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
20th Century
| Poetry
| United States
| World Literature
| Literature & Fiction
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Poetry
| United States
| World Literature
| Literature & Fiction
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Poetry
| Literature & Fiction
| Subjects
| Books
United States
| Single Authors
| Poetry
| Literature & Fiction
| Subjects
| Books
ASIN: 0963309293 |
Customer Reviews:
Arresting, Edifying and Playful: "I know it will last.".......2007-01-18
Arlene Weiner's Escape Velocity is at turns playful, plaintive, wry, audacious, pointed and provocative. The first poem of the volume Close Reading is both a challenge and a promise to the reader--a concise treaty at the poet's behest that is as sacred as it is daring and sexy:
"I'm going to pick you up/ I'm going to take you home/ I'm going to flex your spine/ ....Yes, I'm going to get my tongue around/ every part of you./ ....I'm going to read you/ like you've never been read before."
Her precision with language is admirable, and that, coupled with her imaginative attention to detail create one deftly delivered sentiment, insight or epiphany after another. So precise is her craft that even her punctuation (or interesting lack thereof) seems to be full-bodied. In Before TV, Weiner's apt absence of those little meaningful dots of ink seems to signify the openness of the narrator's wonder; who else, I thought, reading this brief poem, could evoke and enact hope, wonder and sidereal rumination by dropping commas and periods?
"There were just two channels/
dark and light"
In some of my favorite poems such as Outplacement, Solstice and A Yard in New Jersey, I was struck at how adept Weiner is at working with natural landscapes and nature--almost seemingly on its own terms. She sows and reaps such hefty, yet playful, coy-ish, yet serious language and meaning here. Again and again, her language struck me with its concision and surprise, its acuity and play, its dedication and life-affirmation, its graceful muscularity and unadorned, unencumbered flair. Old Moon, perhaps my absolute favorite of the whole volume, embodies these delightful traits completely but with much more eloquence and fewer words.
Weiner delivers poem after poem with poise, aplomb and, quite frankly, punch. Graciously, Weiner's poems spare us useless aggression (mere shock and/or overt explanation); instead, in seemingly minute gestures, she employs a reticence that underscores poignant, smart twists and revelations that almost always conclude her poems and yet simultaneously, open the poem--if not alternate universes--up for further inspection, pondering and concurrent analytical and celebratory close readings.
These Figs, Dying is Easy and A Gift of Soap have such good game (well-crafted voice, development, layering, abstraction and insight), as well as such heart. These Figs, in particular, limns and marks fecundity, in all its messiness and work, with such sensuality and charisma that it deserves its place as the closing poem. It is a rare poem that so successfully spins and refocuses the common theme of the seasonal passage of time into that of bearing and eating fruit; And though, Weiner seems to say, they are hazards in such endeavors, the divinity and pleasure possible in each is beyond compare.
Certainly there is much pleasure to be had in taking up this volume of lovely, precise and rich work.
Average customer rating:
- Escape Velocity: 50 True Poems
- Poetry that speaks to my heart
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Escape Velocity: 50 True Poems
Richard Peres
Manufacturer: iUniverse, Inc.
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
Anthologies
| Poetry
| Literature & Fiction
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Poetry
| Literature & Fiction
| Subjects
| Books
Personal Transformation
| Spirituality
| Religion & Spirituality
| Subjects
| Books
ASIN: 0595360998 |
Book Description
Despite our best efforts to control our lives, the people we happen to meet often direct our sails, affecting how long we live, whom we marry, the children we have and the lives of others.
In Escape Velocity—50 True Poems
Richard Peres pulls us into the lives of his past friends and family with passion, wit and irony.
He describes flashing moments whose impacts are lifelong and relentless, encapsulating a lifetime in a few chosen words: “Lacking creativity he did nothing not making the connection nor the intersection with her life…” We identify almost immediately with our own lives, making us reflect on how we arrived to this point and how it all happened.
Customer Reviews:
Escape Velocity: 50 True Poems.......2005-08-08
Great first book of poetry! Easy to understand. Easy to relate to. Everyone will see something of themselves here. Really like very short non-fiction that covers the gamut of emotions.
Poetry that speaks to my heart.......2005-07-01
I have never been much of a poetry reader. Then I discovered Richard Peres. His poetry speaks directly to my heart. In particular, I love "That Day in 1932." How many times have I thought back to the string of coincidences that have shaped my life? But my thoughts are always clunky and prosaic; Peres, in this poem, makes that string of events in his life seem both pre-ordained, and impossibly fragile. I love this book. I hope you will, too.
Customer Reviews:
Escape Velocity.......2003-07-16
This is an eye-opening book about what is happening in today's business world...post Enron post dot.com and what happens to all those gurus. This book explain why and what's wrong with tradtional stratety planning. Wonderful read!!!
thought provoker.......2002-03-01
An interesting read with worthy concepts to keep in mind. Unlike other business authors that touch upon chaos theory in a buzz-word fashion, Mootee actually addresses the gap and linkage to pragmatic application of the concepts.
Bring this on your next plane trip.
Escape Velocity.......2000-10-12
An excellent book and explains many theories about strategy and the myths. Not an easy book to read and MBA is preferable. But definitely work investing the time to read. It's the secret of management consulting and help to understand and explain what's going on in the rapidly changing Internet business landscape.
Book Description
Here is something you can actually use day-in and day-out in the practical world of living—tools that enable you to handle a broad scope of situations that we all face in today's world.
Whether it's raising healthy and happy children, improving your quality of communication with your associates, or having an exact plan on how to achieve your goals in life —The Scientology Handbook gives you proven and effective tools that can immediately be put to use in these areas.
Once you understand the exact barriers in the road to achieving what you want in life, you can take effective action to remedy this. And that is exactly what you get with this book.
The Handbook is so practical that anyone can pick it up, read it and apply it. It is broken down into 19 separate bodies of technology, addressing the most common problems of man, such as:
Education and how to handle illiteracy Relationships and how to maintain a successful marriage Solutions to the everyday problems of the workaday world Keeping children happy, productive and healthy Successful communication with anyone Assists for illness and injuries Overcoming the effects of drugs
Today, the need for real solutions is crucial. Abuses of every description are rampant in the world—drugs, crime, conflict, terrorism, illiteracy, immorality—the list seems endless. To have any decent future at all, you need to know this manual for living and use it.
Enough people doing so will create the positive effect our turbulent society must have.
Book Features:
Large hardcover format Over 900 pages and 700 illustrations 19 chapters covering different areas of life Practical exercises following each chapter for application Results from others who have read the book:
"Recently I went to the hospital to see a friend who'd had an accident. He had been pretty badly mangled up and was in a coma, not responding to anyone or anything. The 'experts' at the hospital said he'd never walk again, use his hands, or live to see his next birthday. I was running assists on him from The Scientology Handbook for several weeks when one day he regained consciousness. Using another assist from the handbook I got him into communication with the environment and then with me. To the total disbelief of the doctors and staff, I continued the assists for another week and both he and I walked out of the hospital together. That was the biggest thrill of my life and it was totally because I used the techniques from The Scientology Handbook." —G.M.
"I spent a few hours and read the entire Scientology Handbook. It gave me a sense of knowingness I've never had before. I knew that I was prepared for any situation in life and I'd know what to do. I now perform assists at work and apply the technology from the book. Now I'm considered a miracle worker and someone who knows what she's doing. All my life I've tried to help people, but now with The Scientology Handbook, I can really help them!" —K.J.
Customer Reviews:
So full of useful info you won't believe it!.......2007-06-10
Wow where to start on this book? There is so much data in this book you could literally start a career in just about any of it's chapters. This is most basic yet powerful tools Scientology has to offer and using them will change your life.
Whether you want to improve your study skills, your ability to analyze data or help a person with physical injuries, this book will have something for you that will just grab your imagination & you can RUN WITH IT!
You cannot go wrong with this book! Get it and enjoy!
Changed my life in all the right ways.......2006-05-16
It had everything I had ever been looking for to change my life and turn it around for the better.
Scientology Handbook.......2005-08-03
This really is a very useful handbook with real answers that work well to help with almost any situation in life, to improve your life or help someone else. Very easy to use with lots of pictures and illustrations. I think the study technology should be used in all schools...actually should be the first course that kids do in school. I love the chapter on management and use it all the time. This book also helped me to get over a major loss.
Solutions to problems in life.......2005-06-23
I love this book because it is so useful. Each chapter contains methods for handling problems in some aspect of life.
From childrearing to studying more effectively, to increasing the production in a company, you can find very useful information - and processes - that, when applied, can improve your life.
This book, on its own, is an incredible resource. I recommend it to everyone!
Everyone should read this book.......2005-01-11
I have spent 12 years on a spiritual quest, and ran into this book while doing a search term. I had heard so many negative things about Scientology, that I ignored my findings for 3 years. 3 years later, and hundreds of abandoned books, again I search, and this book comes up. So I buy it. And now I kick myself for not acknowledging it when I first discovered it.
I have read thousands of books, I read every day, I study every day, and this is by far the best practical guide to life I have ever encountered. I use the information daily. Whether it is dealing with my children, setting goals, performing nerve assists or touch assists on friends and family with pain, public relations, organization - I spent 4 days doing the practical applications in my home and in my office, and I felt lighter and free to think when the clutter was removed, marriage, and something I use with myself and taught my kids was the technology of study. The entire educational system should adopt this, and it is so easy you could do it in under a week. The cause of suppression - since reading this I have never had a cold or illness since. There is much more, and this book would make the best gift to a son or daughter heading off to college, or for any adult that is not flourishing.
Until you discover an answer for yourself, the rest is heresay and gossip.
Book Description
Here's a simple, practical handbook you can use and apply right now to improve your awareness, ability and happiness.
Handbook for Preclears is a Dianetics self-processing manual containing fifteen powerful yet easily applied exercises to help you overcome barriers in your life that are blocking your true potentials.
Customer Reviews:
Great Techniques.......2004-11-05
I used the techniques from one chapter to quickly recover from a fall on concrete, where I hit my head, and a personal sorrow. I handled the physical aspects separately from the fall and on the memory of both was able to resolve the pain and sorrow so now I can think about it easily--as easily as normal memories. Thank you, L. Ron Hubbard. It works. Get it. Try it. Use it.
Not for the faint of heart.......2004-04-13
This book is very helpful but not necessarily a walk in the park to use. It's all about weeding through various things that make life difficult and how you can work your way to a better state of mind. You have to be willing to work for it and if you follow the steps in the book, you get amazing results. If you don't do what it says in the book or only do it half-heartedly, you really don't get much out of it. I give 5 stars because it really does deliver. In using the book, sometimes you have to examine things about yourself that aren't so easy to face. Once you push through those things using the book, it's pretty beneficial.
Handbook for Preclears.......2003-08-25
This book is for those who are in the need of change in their lives. It isn't about money; it isn't about winning friends and influencing people. It is a self-help book for those people who want to change the conditions of their life by viewing their goals and problems and past situations that relate. It gets a person better acquainted with himself.
It was written many years ago, but the techniques work IF one reads the book throughally and applies each step. The author is deceased, and the book is not published by the author but by the
LRH Library which is run by the Religious Technology Center which is a [type of religion]corporation.
There are many references in the book where you can go for further services--however, you might search out alternatives on the Internet, because there are individuals in what is called the "FreeZone" who can deliver services, too. If reading this book makes you want "more" then shop around.
In this Handbook for Preclears the dynamic principle of existence, which is "survive" is introduced. It is an important datum, because it is what all things have in common...it is the common demonator of existence. Of course, there are degrees of survival from bare to successful, but the datum gives one a way to look at things.
That isn't the only datum that is useful in this book. It isn't a good book for someone who just skims the reading material and doesn't throughally apply the exercises. That is why I rate it a 4 star instead of 5--...
Handbook For Preclears.......2000-01-08
This book was packed full of practical, useful information about life. It gives a way to look at life in a new and diffrent manner. It is a no nonsense book and hits right to the real stuff of life. I really enjoyed it alot.
Workable Self-Help.......1997-08-16
A book filled with techniques you can use yourself to improve your abilities. It also contains the theory and philosophy behind the techniques. How can you get in better control of your own life? What mechanism in the mind causes people to act with fixed responses or to insist on the rightness of obviously wrong actions? It's all answered here
Book Description
L. Ron Hubbard supplied the first and only technology of how to study. He discovered the laws on which learning is based and developed workable methods for anyone to apply. He called this subject "Study Technology". This technology provides an understanding of the basics of learning and supplies exact ways to overcome all the pitfalls one can encounter during study. Study technology is not speed-reading or memory tricks. These have not been proven to raise one's ability to comprehend what was studied or to raise literacy. Study Technology shows how one studies in order to comprehend a subject so one can apply it.
Customer Reviews:
Excellent, and most worthwile data.......2007-02-18
Imangine reading a book, and forgetting what you had just read?
Or trying to "get" what the author was saying, or falling asleep after reading a book. This happens all to often. It's observable it all schools, and in most everyone, reading almost anything.
I grew up knowing this technology, and recently starting fully using it in my everyday life.
I used it to get to new heights, in playing chess. I always wanted to be a good chess player, but felt frustrated by the many books, and what-not out there, that seemed over my head, or too confusing. Finding the right chess book, led me to owning almost 300 books! and still not getting better.
I recently went back, and used this study tech, on a piticular tough chess book, and to my amazement, I learned something! and still remember it to this day. Now i'm ready to get through the whole book, and get to new heights in chess.
With this data by Mr Hubbard, anyone can learn what ever they set out to!
Basics of study.......2005-02-15
Unlike the "how to study" course I took my first semester in college, this book actually covers basics of learning that EVERYONE runs into, whether they are an engineer, or writer, or artist.
It breaks down basic barriers to learning and explains clearly how to overcome each one.
This is not dry theory - it's practical application that the student APPLIES. I have gotten SO much out of this material already!
OMG!.......2004-11-15
I got this lil pamphlet thing from this yellow tent in my city.
Guess what: I CAN FIALY UNDERSTAND PHYISICS! Although my teachers and family dis the guy who wrote this book, the book kicks ass all the same. The idea of clearing words up while studying is SOOOOO GOD DAM TRUE! Just try it out! There is no psychobabble about brains and nerve pulses, just 3 study steps. You really can conquer any subject by applying the oh-so-simple techniques outlined.
The reason I never liked physics and got 'bored' or 'wooden' was through no pictures in the school text book. I now draw a diagram for every concept in all my lessons and clear up EVERY word I don't understand in English class.
I really really recommend you get dis book.
Clarifies study enormously!.......2003-10-06
I wish I had been given this book before I started college - it would have made my studies much easier.
This book covers the basic technology of successful study.
Did you ever get to the bottom of a page and realize you don't know what you just read?
Have you ever gotten headaches or stomaches while studying?
Have you ever felt frustrated by study materials?
Did you ever just want to throw a textbook away and quit the class?
I, like probably most everybody, have experienced all these things. This little book explains what EXACTLY happens to cause these different phenomenon. Not only does it explain the cause, but it gives very simple - VERY simple - ways to handle them!
I use these study techniques with my children. My 12-year-old just read the whole set of Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy and is now reading "Runaway Jury" - not something most 12-year-old kids can do. He's been reading high school science books for a few years now, and he uses these techniques himself in his study.
This study technology makes it possible for anyone able to read to be able to read anything. Legal documents, scientific texts, whatever -- if you use the techniques as laid out in this book, you can learn anything.
Average customer rating:
- The answers to the questions you should have asked
- A must read for anybody you wants to improve life
- Very helpful to me
- This book works for me
- The Volunteer Minister's Handbook has been key to my success
|
The volunteer minister's handbook
L. Ron Hubbard
Manufacturer: Church of Scientology of California
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Unknown Binding
General
| Religion & Spirituality
| Subjects
| Books
Scientology
| Other Practices
| Religion & Spirituality
| Subjects
| Books
ASIN: 0884040399 |
Customer Reviews:
The answers to the questions you should have asked.......2006-08-07
There is plenty of information in here which loads of vested interests do not want you to have. And these are answers you can understand, legal and ethical ways to get on top of life's hard problems. This is rubber meets the road stuff. I've read, understood and used it all.
A must read for anybody you wants to improve life.......2003-01-27
I have been looking for many years for something that helps me improve and solve problems in life -- finally I found something in my hands that really tackles problems at their root causes.
It is amazing how effective the proposed solutions are. Simple, but -- and this is of utmost importance -- they WORK!! It is the first time I found a self-improvement book that helps achieving sustainable results. This book delivers what it promises if one follows each step exactly the way it is stated. If only I had had this book earlier. This Mr Hubbard must have been an amazing man -- I do not understand what his critics complain about; I am sure they never tried the solutions he proposes! In summary: A must read!
Very helpful to me.......2002-12-14
I found many things in this book of use to me. What I found the most helpful was the section on assists which give several simple exercises to do if someone is ill or injured. I used the assist on my husband and my daughter and it worked well both times. Each section is relatively short and easy to read. There are exercises in the back of each section to help you learn the procedures. You learn things to help people in a variety of situations. If you like to help people, whether you are a social worker or just as a good neighbor or a parent and want to learn some new things to help, I highly recommend this book.
This book works for me.......2000-06-27
This book is simply written so that it is easy to understand. I have used many of the principles in this book and found them quite workable. A must-read for anyone who wants to learn more about several areas of "life".
The Volunteer Minister's Handbook has been key to my success.......1998-05-23
Over the years I have refered back to the essays and solutions compiled in this volume many times. I've used it to resolve problems with my family, improve my relationship with my wife and keep me focused on my goals. It's amazing how L. Ron Hubbard wrote so many common-sense solutions that no one else though of.
Product Description
The first volume' "Scientology - More than a Cult?, gave a summary of the development of this controversial movement and of the philosophical concepts of its founder, L.Ron Hubbard. It is now being rounded off with this "Handbook for Use" which tells you what it all looks like when put into practice. For the first time ever, the majority of techniques used in scientology are being presented, critically commented upon and simply explained with regard to application.Addressing his readers with a script like this, means that the free-thinking publisher does not shy off from dealing with taboo-ridden subjects. By freeing the philosophy and methodology of Hubbard from their superfluous dead weight and making them accessible to the general public, he challenges the monopoly the Church of Scientology purports to have on Hubbard's work. This is in the hope that the techniques discussed here, will, for the first time in their history, be able to be put to an unprejudiced test so that an impartial judgement can be made by ordinary people, i.e. those not indoctrinated by the Church of Scientology or its detractors.
Customer Reviews:
Deep Overview of Advanced Scientology.......2004-03-01
The Creation of Human Ability was written around the time when the Scientology philosophy was in its early years and some people were finding it to be a spiritual/religious experience as well as a method of personal improvement. The book begins with a summary of Scientology and some of the training that occurred at the time.
Most of the book covers a series of over 70 exercises or "processes" that a trained Scientologist would help someone apply to improve their abilities to accomplish their goals in life. The processes are mainly divided into two groups, Route One (R1) and Route Two (R2). Depending on the condition of the person, one would do R1 followed by R2 or, more likely, R2 followed by R1. There are indications that individual exercises can also be used separately. Each exercise has anywhere from a short paragraph to a few pages of descriptive material, so it's relatively easy to read, for an advanced book.
The last part of the book goes into a further discussion of advanced concepts in Scientology, as well as a few more processes.
Most of the processes require a team of two, but a few can be run by oneself, most notably #3, #67 ("R2-67") and "Present Time Differentiation" (toward the back of the book). I've used each of these myself several times, with beneficial results. They can also be quite fun to do.
I found some of the explanatory material strange, but other parts were fascinating. Overall I'd say it's not an introductory book, but it's a good and sometimes deep overview of advanced Scientology concepts and applications, along with a few basics as well.
Now you will know Hubbard was a drug addict!.......2004-02-24
This book is the greatest metaphysical garbage you have ever read! With its numerous psychological techniques it is THE manual for going insane. Actually administring these techniques with somebody else to yourself will make you go totaly neurotic.
There's even a process consisting of an entire blank page saying: "An enormously effective process for exteriorization but its use is frowned upon by this society at this time."
Well, one can only wonder......ahem, shoot your brains out.
And then there are the good old "Hubbardian" rants about universes, beings, horrors, eatingnesses, sexingnesses, etc. Amaze yourself with Hubbards story about Admiration (a very moth-eaten concept in Scientology), he explains why a tiger will eat a monkey (because the monkey moks the tiger, the actual eating of the monkey will bring a special flavour to his flesh, admiration, because the monkey now admires the tiger with his fear, or something like that). Of course this book has all the Scientology/Hubbard trademarks, no real scientific investigations, ad-hoc hypothesis, junk science, placebo- effects, etc. The pages off the book, though, are made of a special material, wich smell fairly nice.
Average customer rating:
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Group auditor's handbook
L. Ron Hubbard
Manufacturer: Bridge Publications
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Unknown Binding
General
| Religion & Spirituality
| Subjects
| Books
Scientology
| Other Practices
| Religion & Spirituality
| Subjects
| Books
ASIN: 0884047237 |
Average customer rating:
|
Introductory & demonstration processes handbook
L. Ron Hubbard
Manufacturer: Bridge Publications
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Unknown Binding
General
| Religion & Spirituality
| Subjects
| Books
Scientology
| Other Practices
| Religion & Spirituality
| Subjects
| Books
ASIN: 0884048276 |
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