Customer Reviews:
This is the "go-to" reference for OpenSource licensing.......2007-07-17
I purchased this book 18 months ago, along with two other references. Since that time, I have learned that when I have a question, this is the book to turn to first. In fact, I haven't read the others since first buying them.
This week we had a request to license some code under the CPL. Not only does this book cover that license, but it has a chapter interpreting each of the clever sections, and its repercussions.
As both a licensee and licensor, I have yet to come across an issue which this book did not address. It is the single volume you need.
Must-read for licensors.......2006-08-31
I have studied and compared Open Source licenses for a number of years. I came to the conclusion that the licenses created by Mr. Rosen were the best and I adopted one of them for my own Open Source projects. I have also read his book on the subject and I have concluded that it is also the best in its field. I recommend his book as a must-read for licensors of Open Source content.
Great for reference.......2004-10-23
When I recieved this book I was excited, finally I could read a book which would help my brain really understand all the licenses! I sat down to read it, and was impressed with how the author took the popular licenses and broke them down into more easily understandable. I mean, they *are* fairly straight forward, but the author gets into what they actually mean in legal terms, and that's interesting.
Unfortunately it turns out that reading about specifics of Open Source law is not terribly interesting to me (I guess I'll never be a lawer) After the few introduction chapters I had to stop reading straight through it and skip around and skim the parts that interested me.
In my case this is not such a good book for snuggling up with in front of the fire (some computer books are), but it is a fabulous reference book, written for us mere mortals.
Readable and by a Lawyer........2004-09-08
Open source software is growing explosively around the world. The SourceForge web site now lists 87,006 projects being done by 912,545 people. That's almost a million people writing code, probably more than all of the programmers employed by Microsoft, Oracle, IBM, etc. etc.
The code being produced is distributed free of charge. Free of Charge, but not without restrictions. This book, written by the general counsel of the Open Source Initiative is intended to explain the various licenses that are in common use in the Open Source Community. It is written in English, not lawyer-speak, and intended for developers, managers, users and of course lawyers. If this is what you need to know, you'll not find a better source.
Good material, but not for the stated audience..........2004-09-07
If you're looking to get an in-depth understanding of open source licensing and all the issues surrounding it, you should read Open Source Licensing by Lawrence Rosen (Prentice Hall).
Chapter list: Freedom and Open Source; Intellectual Property; Distribution of Software; Taxonomy of Licenses; Academic Licenses; Reciprocity and the GPL; The Mozilla Public License (MPL); The Common Public License (CPL); The OSL and the AFL; Choosing an Open Source License; Shared Source, Eventual Source, and Other Licensing Models; Open Source Litigation; Open Standards; The Open Source Paradigm; Appendices; Index
On the positive side, this book will teach you more about licensing than you thought existed. This book deals with all the legal issues that either have arisen or could become a problem as open source continues to make inroads against commercial software. The analysis is detailed as only a lawyer can do it. Another positive aspect of the book is that the author covers how different open source licenses mesh with each other. You may be forced into choosing a certain type of license if you've incorporated software that already uses a license that you're expected to apply to your software. All good stuff.
On the negative side, I don't think the book delivers on its promise to present "a plain-English guide to open source law for developers, managers, users, and lawyers". I see this as a book by a lawyer for lawyers needing to understand software licensing and how open source licensing fits into that. Companies that are building a business model around open source will need this material, but the typical developer and nearly all users will be bored to death as individual words are pulled out and dissected as for potential legal interpretations that could be applied.
I'm inclined to rank this a little higher than I'd like just because there's not a lot of material about this subject, and the author *does* cover it in great detail. But if you think you're going to get an easy-to-digest explanation of open source licensing, you will probably be disappointed.
Book Description
Through savvy investing and the basic principles of entrepreneurship, experienced and novice investors alike can find financial freedom in real estate investments. Global real estate expert Russ Whitney provides an easy to read, comprehensive look at both traditional and creative methods of real estate investment.
In Millionaire Real Estate Mentor: The Secrets to Financial Freedom through Real Estate, Whitney discusses when to purchase property, describes details to research, and introduces the pros and cons of various types of real estate, investing, and financing. He encourages his readers not to be intimidated by real estate investments but to educate themselves, set goals and stick to them. The publication is the ultimate reference guide for all real estate investors, experienced and novice, to financial freedom.
Customer Reviews:
Handbook for beginners in real estate investing--excellent.......2007-05-09
Real estate investing has different levels of players. Some are content to buy at list prices and hope for appreciation of the value of their holdings, some buy at list price and then rent a property to hope to offset some or most of the mortgage value while waiting for appreciation. Mr. Whitney goes a step further to show how to buy below list price and then to make the maximum amount possible by renting, leasing, or selling. This is a very useful handbook for the beginning investor. He provides many links to other resources, as well as very clear explanation of how and where to find the right kinds of properties to invest in.
Covers no real estate finance and overall not very useful.......2007-04-17
This book is not that useful in that it does not cover any investor return topics surrounding real estate. By that I mean the book does not cover any techniques for measuring your return on a piece of property. It does give some general idea of different areas of real estate, however he does make mention many times that you should attend his seminars.
Millionaire Real Estate Mentor: Investing in Real Estate: A Comprehensive and Detailed Guide to Financial Freedom for Everyone.......2006-09-24
The book was just "ok" Author try to sell his products throughout the book
Packed With Need to Know Concepts! .......2006-02-15
Millionaire Real Estate Mentor, Russ Whitney
If you want to make millions in real estate, I can tell you one thing that you can take to the bank; that is read as many quality real estate books as possible. Preferably about real life guys that have made it happen. FYI - See my other reviews.
Russ makes a compelling case for real estate and an even more compelling case for being wealthy. This book uses more real life examples, mostly people that have taken his course and done well in real estate, (including a minister). There are lots of key concepts covered, such as: leverage used for appreciating assets, being your own boss, creating a team, focusing on money-generating tasks, the law of averages and of course the importance of cash flow.
Another great concept is, "you will be worth tomorrow what you owe today". The point here is, assuming you buy appreciating assets with the borrowed money, using leverage can create massive net worth down the road as it is paid off and appreciates.
Russ shares a lot of knowledge that he has accumulated over the years, some if it-not so easily. For example, he talks about finding funding, and if the deal is right its always possible to find funding, you just need to know where to look.
Overall, you'll walk away with a few good ideas that could make you millions as with all of the books mentioned in my reviews and on my blog bloglines.com/blog/KevinKingston
By Kevin Kingston, Author of, A 20,000% Gain in Real Estate
Millionaire Real Estate Mentor : Investing in Real Estate: A Comprehensive and Detailed Guide to Financial Freedom for Everyone.......2005-10-03
This book is even better than his last!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Average customer rating:
- A most disappointing text
- Tackles the hard question.
- A true classic
- Brilliancy in the line of Mises and Rothbard
- Why Buffalo-pucky Rises to the Top, and what to do about it!
|
The Machinery of Freedom: A Guide to Radical Capitalism
David D. Friedman
Manufacturer: Open Court Publishing Company
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
 Economics
| Business & Investing
| Subjects
| Books
| Agricultural
| Commercial Policy
| Comparative
| Consolidation & Merger
| Cooperatives
| Debt & Deficits
| Development & Growth
| Econometrics
| Economic Conditions
| Economic History
| Economic Policy & Development
| Exports & Imports
| Free Enterprise
| Inflation
| International
| Labor & Industrial Relations
| Macroeconomics
| Microeconomics
| Money & Monetary Policy
| Natural Resources
| Privatization
| Public Finance
| Statistics
| Sustainable Development
| Theory
| Unemployment
| Urban & Regional
General
| Popular Economics
| Business & Investing
| Subjects
| Books
Radical Thought
| Ideologies
| Politics
| Nonfiction
| Subjects
| Books
All Titles
| Qualifying Textbooks - Fall 2007
| Stores
| Books
Business & Investing
| Qualifying Textbooks - Fall 2007
| Stores
| Books
Nonfiction
| Qualifying Textbooks - Fall 2007
| Stores
| Books
Similar Items:
-
Law's Order: What Economics Has to Do with Law and Why It Matters
-
Hidden Order: The Economics of Everyday Life
-
Man, Economy, and State with Power and Market (Scholars Edition)
-
The Ethics of Liberty
-
Market for Liberty
ASIN: 0812690699 |
Book Description
This book argues the case for a society organized by private property, individual rights, and voluntary co-operation, with little or no government. David Friedman's standpoint, known as 'anarcho-capitalism', has attracted a growing following as a desirable social ideal since the first edition of The Machinery of Freedom appeared in 1971. This new edition is thoroughly revised and includes much new material, exploring fresh applications of the author's libertarian principles.
Among topics covered: how the U.S. would benefit from unrestricted immigration; why prohibition of drugs is inconsistent with a free society; why the welfare state mainly takes from the poor to help the not-so-poor; how police protection, law courts, and new laws could all be provided privately; what life was really like under the anarchist legal system of medieval Iceland; why non-intervention is the best foreign policy; why no simple moral rules can generate acceptable social policies -- and why these policies must be derived in part from the new discipline of economic analysis of law.
Customer Reviews:
A most disappointing text.......2007-10-05
Before reading the book, I did not know what a libertarian was beyond a vague idea that he was some kind of extreme right winger. After reading The Machinery of Freedom I still don't know what a libertarian is except for the fact that it is someone whose ideas are a terrific muddle: an anarchist who believes in institutions; an altruist who does not realize that he is an altruist (utilitarian); an anarchist who wants to organize a political party to end all political parties and the list goes on. Apparently a libertarian does not realize that all rights stem from the use of force or the threat of use of force -- if all else fails.
Why Friedman has such a hard time understanding the ownership of land is also a muddle. Land, by itself, is valueless. Value is created by the use and exploitation of the land. The value is created by the work done to it and on it. I believe the legal term for it in English is "improvement" (bienhechuría in Spanish). Once you have made an improvement to the land, the land and the improvement become inseparable and that is how the improver acquires ownership of the land. Imagine an artist walking down a deserted beach in search of driftwood or shells or pebbles with which to create a work of art. How does he acquire ownership of these items? Simply by picking them up because no one else is claiming them. If there were more that one scavenger on the beach, they would have to agree on how to divide up the loot. Hernando de Soto describes in "The Mystery of Capital: Why Capitalism Triumphs in the West and Fails Everywhere Else" how this was achieved in early America. David, read that book and discover how you become owner of virgin land.
The discussion of money with a basket of commodities to back it is also a terrific muddle. Again, money is something quite simple that even the simple minds understand. It is only learned people who have such a hard time understanding money. Money is a contract often breached but usually honored. Another book recommendation for David is "Money: Whence It Came, Where It Went" by John Kenneth Galbraith.
Anarchy has been tried before, by socialists in the 19th and early 20th centuries. It was an utter failure, the Communists gained the upper hand. I'm an anarchist at heart (a right wing anarchist) but my brain tells me it does not work. A third book suggestion for David: "No Gods No Masters" by Daniel Guerin, a anthology of anarchism.
In summary, The Machinery of Freedom is a most disappointing text.
Tackles the hard question........2007-07-02
This work spends a little time on the basic points of limited government and policies of libertarianism and anarchism. However, most of the work is spent trying to explain the hard questions of national defense and police protection in a stateless society.
David Friedman is successful is laying out the viewpoint of the anarcho-capitalist. The reader may or may not be convinced of the feasibility of his proposals(I wasn't and I bet most people likewise will find his proposals unlikely to succeed.) Nevertheless, the book is well worth the read for the clear and concise way it lays out this difficult political viewpoint.
The book is quick to the point and a quick read. The reader is not inundated with frivolous facts but is given the philosophy in a nutshell, take it or leave it fashion. The author recognizes the shortcomings and instead of dodging the questions meets them head on. For this, he should be commended. The book is a quick read and accessible to anyone and is well worth the read.
A true classic.......2007-06-21
Whether you agree or not with David Friedman, you will learn a lot from reading this book. David doesn't duck any of the hard questions, and even on the most difficult issues, such as eliminating government defense, he will make you think. In the end, even those who oppose what Friedman has written will have a much better understanding of their own positions in the end.
Brilliancy in the line of Mises and Rothbard.......2007-06-08
Dare I say it? Is he not only the heir of those esteemed gentle men, but in fact having not squandered the family millions, he has expanded the business? Yes, he has. I just love the book. Without the all-too-easy examples that all opposing camps would make, but well though-out cases and situations, he strongly makes the case for the market in general, and Capitalism in particular.
Why Buffalo-pucky Rises to the Top, and what to do about it!.......2007-01-25
Friedman's rather utilitarian approach to the issue of public goods shows how government and monopoly work to produce bad law as a public good, saying "It is no more than a slightly exuberant exaggeration to say that a government functions properly only if it is inhabited exclusively by devils"(p 217). He shows how under the monopoly conditions of government, the "worst get on top".
Friedman shows that under the system of corporate statism we all suffer under today, just law is a public good and bad law is really special interest law and can therefore be viewed as a private good. Friedman says that folks spend more time acquiring private goods than they do public goods because the benefit of a private good is whole whereas the benefit of a public good is divided amongst others. As a result, government overproduces bad law and underproduces good law.
Friedman's solution is to bring about conditions where law is bought and sold under market conditions. In that way, the bad law becomes a public good while the good law become a private good. For the reason given in the previous paragraph, Friedman postulates that good law will be overproduced and bad law underproduced.
In this imagined scenario, of course, there are no corporations. Corporations are creations of the state and these artificial persons have no place in a free market.
Average customer rating:
- Good, but could use explicit guidelines
- Fascinating, comprehensive, indispensible
|
International Libel and Privacy Handbook: A Global Reference for Journalists, Publishers, Webmasters, and Lawyers
Manufacturer: Bloomberg Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
General
| Law
| Subjects
| Books
Media & the Law
| Law
| Subjects
| Books
Property
| Business
| Law
| Subjects
| Books
General
| International Law
| Law
| Subjects
| Books
Journalism
| Writing
| Reference
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Reference
| Subjects
| Books
Media Studies
| Social Sciences
| Nonfiction
| Subjects
| Books
All Titles
| Qualifying Textbooks - Fall 2007
| Stores
| Books
Computers & Internet
| Qualifying Textbooks - Fall 2007
| Stores
| Books
Nonfiction
| Qualifying Textbooks - Fall 2007
| Stores
| Books
Reference
| Qualifying Textbooks - Fall 2007
| Stores
| Books
ASIN: 1576601889 |
Book Description
Media is now a global enterprise. The reach of broadcasting and the Internet has made ignorance of the laws of far-away juristictions a real liabilty. Publishers can be sued, sometimes successfully, for violating legal standards thousands of miles away. This handbook is a nation-by-nation summary of libel and privacy law in an easy-to-use format, covering Europe, Asia, and the Americas. It is designed for rapid analysis of media law as it applies to globally accessible publications, Internet sites, and wire services. It is written by specialists for the various regions and countries and is in straigtforward language accessible to journalists and editors, as well as their lawyers, and explains different nation's definitions of responsible and ethical journalism, the risks global publishers should know prior to publication, what steps publishers should take to avoid legal conflicts, and what defenses are avaialble should they be confronted with a claim.
Customer Reviews:
Good, but could use explicit guidelines.......2006-04-29
Glasser's book is an admirable compilation of the different rules in most of the major countries where reporters would want to operate. It seems to be one of the few books that unifies all the rules for all the different jurisdictions. The book highlights a series of key questions such as the definitions of libel, the abilities of companies to sue on their own behalf or to protect their products, possible restrictions on covering criminal/secret procedures and privacy rules. Drawing on the knowledge of lawyers from the different countries, Glasser organizes their expertise according to these themes.
While the book is very useful and informative, as a reporter I feel it is better reading for news executives rather than the journalists themselves. It would benefit from clear dos and don'ts -- perhaps a list for each country on a single page telling the reader exactly what specific procedures he/she should follow.
But that is a minor point. Overall, it's useful and interesting, and successfully renders complicated legal principles into a straightforward guide.
Fascinating, comprehensive, indispensible.......2006-02-14
For any journalist, lawyer or for anyone with an international point of view, this book, focusing on media law throughout the Americas, Europe and Asia is at once a handbook, a compendium, a guide, and a window into different cultures and societies, offering insight as to how each nation deals with the issues of defamation, privacy, freedom of expression, and state power.
Enormously readable, concise, cleverly organized for international comparison, this book will answer a lot of questions that may have occurred to you over the years, and it provides a kind of instant worldwide knowledge. It's required reading for the foreign correpondent, the foreign editor, and anyone else who may know someone or have an interest in worldwide journalism, Internet and broadcast media.
Book Description
Can the right to private property be claimed as one of the `rights of mankind'? This is the central question of this comprehensive and critical examination of the subject of private property. Jeremy Waldron contrasts two types of arguments about rights: those based on historical entitlement, and those based on the importance of property to freedom. He provides a detailed discussion of the theories of property found in Locke's Second Treatise and Hegel's Philosophy of Right to illustrate this contrast. The book contains original analyses of the concept of ownership, the ideas of rights, and the relation between property and equality. The author's overriding determination throughout is to follow through the arguments and values used to justify private ownership. He finds that the traditional arguments about property yield some surprisingly radical conclusions.
Customer Reviews:
Still the Best Analysis of Property Rights.......2007-06-03
I read this book almost twenty years ago, and I've read about six more books on the same subject since. This one is still the best discussion of property available. Munzer's book is also excellent, but for sheer
power of intellect Waldron's book has to be the book of choice. There is comprehensive coverage of the necessary arguments, the prose is clear, and the opinions are judicious.
Also noteworthy are Professor Waldron's books on liberal rights and especially his recent work on the political philosophy of John Locke. A political philosophy junkie can spend many happy hours absorbing astute insights from the impressive work of Jeremy Waldron.
Amazon.com
Richard Pipes offers a vigorous defense of a fundamental freedom--private property--in this engaging mix of history, economics, and political theory. Western historians "take property for granted," complains the acclaimed scholar of Russian history (and author of the masterful The Russian Revolution). Pipes argues that a greater appreciation for this institution is necessary if liberty is to survive in the 21st century. "While property in some form is possible without liberty, the contrary is inconceivable," he says. Property rights give rise to the political and legal institutions that secure freedom. Their absence practically invites atrocity. The sinister regimes of Communist Russia and Nazi Germany were fiercely opposed to private property. Those regimes' "simultaneous violation of property rights and destruction of human lives," he emphasizes, "were not mere coincidences."
While the bulk of the book compares England and Russia, showing how varying attitudes toward private property led these two nations in totally different directions, the final section examines the broad theme of property rights in the late 20th century--a period when they have come under assault, and have been made increasingly conditional, by the growing strength of the welfare state. Pipes concludes with a broadside against New Deal and Great Society programs. Although liberal readers may bristle, none can deny that Property and Freedom is the product of a great mind tackling a big theme with great enthusiasm. --John J. Miller
Book Description
Richard Pipes, Harvard scholar and historian of the Russian Revolution, brings his remarkable erudition to an exploration of a wide range of national and political systems to demonstrate persuasively that private ownership has served over the centuries to limit the power of the state and enable democratic institutions to evolve and thrive in the Western world.
Beginning with Greece and Rome, where the concept of private property as we understand it first developed, Pipes then shows us how, in the late medieval period, the idea matured with the expansion of commerce and the rise of cities. He contrasts England, a country where property rights and parliamentary government advanced hand-in-hand, with Russia, where restrictions on ownership have for centuries consistently abetted authoritarian regimes; finally he provides reflections on current and future trends in the United States.
Property and Freedom is a brilliant contribution to political thought and an essential work on a subject of vital importance.
Customer Reviews:
UNIVERSITY OF LOUISVILLE.......2005-12-01
Pipe's thesis on freedom and property is an in-depth evaluation of the effect that individual freedom to own private property has on the history, wealth and type of government of a country. Pipes relates a thorough and interesting concept that supports his opinion that the most desirable type government is brought about by freedom to own property.
The comparison of societies in England versus communist Russia and Nazi Germany supports a convincing theory within the premises of truth and logic. He shows examples that support his theory that freedom to own property in England gave rise to political and legal institutions. On the other hand, Russian czars ruled by decree and required obligatory payments from estate holders who were not allowed to own their own property. His theory suggests that because Russia did not respect freedom to own property they did not respect human life.
The freedom to acquire and own private property gives individuals the reason to thrive and accumulate personal wealth. This ambition and desire to achieve property requires a legal system that results in a capitalist democracy. On the other hand, if the government owns all the property such as the comparison with Russia and Germany, the citizens are slightly more than slaves. They have no reason to work because they will not share in the profit nor ever be able to own their own property - sort of like the "haves and have nots" of our society. Thousands of immigrants come to America each week in search of "The American Dream" which means that anyone can work hard and accumulate wealth and property. Pipes suggested that various social movements could place checks on owning personal property even in a free nation. Possibly he was talking of some of the social service programs that provide money for the poor but if they have too much money or own property, they are in danger of losing their payments which seems to discourage wanting the freedom to own private property. A law that seems to contradict freedom of property is the law of "eminent domain" which allows the government to seize property if it is for the benefit of the majority which seems like an infringement on our freedom for personal property - why have it if the government can take it away? In the words of Pipes, "We must have to be."
Don't read in front of an open fire.......2005-01-17
Richard Pipes's Property and Freedom, offered by him as the work of a "dilettante", is professor emeritus of Russian and Soviet history at Harvard. He is the author of at least twelve other books, including A Concise History of the Russian Revolution (1995) and The Unknown Lenin (1996). His books are written in an agreeable prose, a passport across any boundary, but one. In conscience, Property and Freedom cannot be recommended except, perhaps, to someone who is dying of incurable boredom and needs a dose of it to go over the side, for rare is the person who can read this book without slumping over it, and wise is the person who does not read it in front of an open fire. As the great 19th century historian Jacob Burckhardt wrote, it is good for a specialist to be a dilettante in other fields, but he should be one "privately" (Burckhardt, Weltgeschichtliche Betrachtungen (Munich, 1978), 16). Pipes instead chose to write a book.
Pipes wrote Poverty and Freedom to prove that liberty and the right to property are "connected", an idea that emerged in the seventeenth century and that no one contests. He claims, however, that though the idea is old, the historical evidence for this uncontested idea has not been gathered, and hence his book. It is doubtful that, after reading it, the reader will learn what he did not know at the beginning, and that is that rights have not "evolved" in a Darwinian garden, they are not sociobiological specimens, and they are not the result of theological epiphanies. They are powers that have been granted or seized because those who would deny them would suffer. All else - tracts, scrolls, philosophies, testaments, beliefs religious or pagan, all of the scenery and scripts that we call history, are as nothing compared with the central fact of power and its location. Magna Carta, for example, benefitted English barons, not Englishmen at large, and freedom of speech originated not in the mouth of an English divine or philosopher but in the grant of the English crown driven by the need of money to grant them to the House of Commons.
For the history of the idea of property, Pipes recounts the thinking of Western philosophers, theologians, and political theorists. We are treated to the differing views of Plato and Aristotle, the influence of Stoicism on Christianity, the immense contribution of Roman jurists, the radical opinions of St Thomas Aquinas, the inspiriting of capitalism by Calvin, the derisable ideas of the "noble savage" and "Utopia", and on and on through the Law of Nature, Grotius, Hobbes, Harrington, Locke, Rousseau, and the calling in, of all people, Wordsworth and Coleridge, all of this and one has reached only page 49, with last-page 328 a rumored oasis in the distance, reachable after one has run barefoot over 907 footnotes in which one's closing eyes may find six languages to feast upon. If this book has one constant flaw, it is its daunting incantation of facts and opinions that fly by like freight trains, all to prove that the right to property is essential to liberty. The flaw may be forgivable on the ground that Pipes, a Polish Jew who fled Poland in 1940 at the age of ten, has for decades lived intellectually with the murderous sweep of Marxist Communism, fixed at 20,000,000 under Stalin, and 120,000,000 throughout the earth (See, Stephane Courtois et al., Le livre noir du communisme (Paris: Laffont, 1997)).
For property as an institution, Pipes examines history, psychology, anthropology, and sociobiology, to prove to us, a people consecrated to materialism, that acquisitiveness is universal among humans as well as animals. He covers
possessiveness in animals, including insects, from protozoa to primates, careful to include dragonflies and the beloved three-spined stickleback. At one point he writes, "Such examples can be multiplied ad infinitum", causing this reviewer to reflexively drop his book. Nor does the acquisitive behavior of children escape Pipes's cascade of what must be thousands of 4 by 6 index cards. Following children, presumably in logical progression, are "possession among primitive peoples" and "societies of hunters and gatherers". The myth of a primitive communism is bound and taken to the scaffold, while private property in antiquity, feudal and mediaeval times, is reported, together with the creation of the state as the guarantor of ownership.
Pipe points to England as the classic illustration of how private wealth came to restrain public authority. Parliament, the servant of the crown from the 11th to the 15th century, then its partner from the 16th to the early 17th century, became the crown's master in the 1640's. The secret, described by Pipe in habitual detail, was simple. The crown needed money. The "people" had it or controlled it and demanded freedoms and reforms for it. He traces English history from pre-Norman times through the development of the common law, the crucial history of English taxation, the history of the Tudors, Stuarts, the Commonwealth, and the Revolution of 1688.
By way of comparison to England's history, the story of patrimonial Russia, including two and a half centuries of serfdom and seventy years of Communist rule during the latter of which Russians were deprived of liberties to a degree hitherto unknown on earth, is painstakingly set forth in proof of how the absence of the right of property makes tyrannical government possible. Like its predecessors, this chapter sorely needed surgery. It is overloaded with historical material that satisfies only a narrow scholarly interest. Still, there are matters that might engage the reader, particularly Pipes's development of the idea that Russians historically saw sovereign power as the source out of which property issued, and the fact that Russian liberals under the Tsar saw law as the cornerstone of liberty but did not see the connection between law and private property.
In Pipes's last chapter, he tours our welfare capitalist state, complaining that entitlements create dependence, environmental laws are oppressive, minimum wage laws interfere with freedom of contract, banks are pressured into minority loans, rent control is bad economics, administrative agencies are governmental islands broken away from the continental shelf, taxation of personal income unjustly redistributes wealth, affirmative action in employment is the most egregious form of governmental interference, the government takes property by regulating its use, and so on, providing a communal table at which readers of this review at this moment are selecting their favorite complaints.
Pipes's book invites criticism, but there is in this his last chapter a sudden, disarming admission. A way, he writes, must be found to preserve property as a fundamental human right while, at the same time, "ensuring fundamental social justice". Had Pipes but written a slim, creative volume on social justice in a capitalist state, he might have given us something worth fifty books on the connection between property and freedom. The way to preserve the right to property and to assure social justice, he argues, is mainly "by attitudes which determine how laws and institutions are employed." This reviewer would put it another way. On the one hand, welfare capitalism offers the best opportunity for realizing freedom and achieving productivity while assuring minimum benefits to those least fortunate. On the other hand, working and middle class majorities may demand too much equality with the rich, thus impairing the prospect of long term economic productivity and giving too little equality to the
underprivileged to satisfy their right to human development. Thus, the justice of welfare capitalism depends on the virtue of moderation by all classes for the sake of the common good. Imperfect as the analogy may be, it is somewhat like one ship towing another at sea. The knack is to keep both ships "in step" by using a tow line of such a length that the ships meet the waves and ride over them together, otherwise one vessel might be in a trough while the other is on a crest, causing the line to slacken and then tauten with sudden violence, doing neither much good. So too in welfare capitalism. The expectations of the classes must be such that one does not destroy the other, otherwise they will all go down.
Completely off-the-mark........2004-08-19
Instead of being titled "property and freedom," it should be titled "property and power." Pipes was a prominent old cold-war apologist for American capitalism, and you can tell that he is still trapped in his little world of false-dichotomy.
Pipes overall argument is contrived, and with the exception of his knowledge of Russian history, superficial. Most of his time is spent criticizing the Stalinist Soviet Union, while at the same time lacking any thoughtful rebuttal to Marx's critique of capitalism.
His title claim, that freedom cannot exist without private property, is weak philosophically and logically. He has poor insight into the nature of freedom and presonal responsibilty. He would really benefit by reading some Sartre or Nietzche, before trying to describe his own made up idea freedom. His attempts to link economic thought with philosophy and history fail miserably. He barely exposes the actual writings of Marx. This is incredibly unfortuante since most "real-world" capitalists, such as wealthy Wall street brokers, know that Marx understood capitalism better than any of its supporters. His philosophical support is all anecdotal with no real thoughtful analysis. His historical summary, although detailed with Russia, leaves much to be desired. He fails to discuss slavery, prostitution, or even slumlords, all which flourish under American capitalism.
Although some might find his credentials enough to accept his flimsy argument, I for one was greatly disappointed. I realize that property is linked to power, but freedom is something completely different.
I'm sure many right-wing folks will look past all of this flaws in this books and embrace it. I'm sure the paternalistic allure of an established Harvard professor will cause some to avoid challenging the views in his book.
But I'm not trying to convince those people. Look past the credentials, the excessive use of footnotes to appear more "academic" ( a clear sign of a writer who is insecure of his own beliefs!), and the comfort of someone who agrees with your agenda, and you will discover shallow puerile nonsense.
The Central Role of Property in Society.......2004-07-01
In this book, Richard Pipes examines the role of property in the cause of human freedom from every angle. One, Pipes discusses ideologies of property: what classical thinkers thought about property, what later Europeans thought, especially the philosophes and utopians of the early modern era, and so on.
Two, Pipes discusses the anthropology of property. I consider this chapter to be the most valuable in the book because I've never seen a discussion like this anywhere as it relates to property rights and political theory. I have studied anthropology and sociobiology, so the terminology and the science is familiar, but the application is different. Pipes notes that property is universal; land is not always considered property, but all peoples have things which are considered such, and even when communist regimes outlawed property, theft became rampant. This was human nature revolting against ideology. He notes that human beings know property intrinsically; parents have to teach their children to share, not to covet. He notes that other primates, and many nonprimates, have property, and that across species females tend to find propertyless males unattractive. There has never been a society without property, and the contrast between reality and the mythical visions of propertyless societies is clear.
Three, Pipes discusses and compares the historical development of property rights in England and Russia, the latter being his field of expertise. Whereas secure property rights gave English landowners leverage against the monarchy, in patrimonial Russia there was nothing to check Tsarist absolutism. The submission of the country to Soviet totalitarianism and the current move toward "managed democracy" in Vladimir Putin's Russia have been natural consequences of Russia's heritage. (Pipes has an article in a recent issue of Foreign Affairs about popular acceptance of authoritarianism in modern Russia that is very insightful as to the current situation.)
Four, Pipes discusses the politics of property. He argues that, while property rights were essential to the foundation of democracy, democracy can become a threat to property rights as people begin to realize that they can regulate the property of others and redistribute some of it to themselves through the electoral system. Unfortunately, the last few decades of Western history seem to bear this out.
Overall, I would suggest this book for anyone seeking to understand the role and importance of property in the development and freedom of human societies.
Philosophically weak.......2004-02-24
Philosophically speaking, this is weak on argument and analysis and high on invective. Its author is a specialist in history, or rather the use of history for political ends during the Cold War. He served on a far right wing CIA advisory panel. This book is good at showing the theoretical impoverishment of the ideology of this cold warriors.
Book Description
In Overseers of the Poor, John Gilliom confronts the everyday politics of surveillance by exploring the worlds and words of those who know it best-the watched. Arguing that the current public conversation about surveillance and privacy rights is rife with political and conceptual failings, Gilliom goes beyond the critics and analysts to add fresh voices, insights, and perspectives.
This powerful book lets us in on the conversations of low-income mothers from Appalachian Ohio as they talk about the welfare bureaucracy and its remarkably advanced surveillance system. In their struggle to care for their families, these women are monitored and assessed through a vast network of supercomputers, caseworkers, fraud control agents, and even grocers and neighbors.
In-depth interviews show that these women focus less on the right to privacy than on a critique of surveillance that lays bare the personal and political conflicts with which they live. And, while they have little interest in conventional forms of politics, we see widespread patterns of everyday resistance as they subvert the surveillance regime when they feel it prevents them from being good parents. Ultimately, Overseers of the Poor demonstrates the need to reconceive not just our understanding of the surveillance-privacy debate but also the broader realms of language, participation, and the politics of rights.
We all know that our lives are being watched more than ever before. As we struggle to understand and confront this new order, Gilliom argues, we need to spend less time talking about privacy rights, legislatures, and courts of law and more time talking about power, domination, and the ongoing struggles of everyday people.
Average customer rating:
|
Premises Security
William Blake , and
Walter F. Bradley
Manufacturer: Butterworth-Heinemann
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
General
| Business & Investing
| Subjects
| Books
Social Services & Welfare
| Poverty
| Current Events
| Nonfiction
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Administrative Law
| Law
| Subjects
| Books
Civil Procedure
| Procedures & Litigation
| Law
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Criminal Law
| Law
| Subjects
| Books
Law Enforcement
| Criminal Law
| Law
| Subjects
| Books
Ethics & Professional Responsibility
| Law
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Law
| Subjects
| Books
Property
| Business
| Law
| Subjects
| Books
Private Law
| Law
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Administrative Law
| Law
| Professional & Technical
| Subjects
| Books
Law Enforcement
| Criminal Law
| Law
| Professional & Technical
| Subjects
| Books
Ethics & Professional Responsibility
| Law
| Professional & Technical
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Law
| Professional & Technical
| Subjects
| Books
All Amazon Upgrade
| Amazon Upgrade
| Stores
| Books
Business & Investing
| Amazon Upgrade
| Stores
| Books
Law
| Amazon Upgrade
| Stores
| Books
Nonfiction
| Amazon Upgrade
| Stores
| Books
Professional & Technical
| Amazon Upgrade
| Stores
| Books
All Titles
| Qualifying Textbooks - Fall 2007
| Stores
| Books
Similar Items:
-
Effective Physical Security
-
Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design, Second Edition
-
Executive Protection Specialist Handbook
-
Understanding and Managing Cybercrime
ASIN: 0750670304 |
Book Description
Premises Security: A Guide for Attorneys and Security Professionals guides the security professional through the ins and outs of premises security liability. Premises security litigation claims represent a serious financial threat to owners and occupiers of property. This book provides an overview of risk assessment techniques, identification of reasonable security measures, legal issues and litigation strategies.
Premises security litigation is increasing at a dramatic rate and has a significant negative impact on corporate profits. Realizing the increasing costs of litigation, business owners and other interested parties are initiating proactive measures to provide adequate security. Attorneys can use this book as a security resource for providing legal advice to their clients and during the litigation process. Security professionals will be better able to propose and implement reasonable and appropriate security measures. The format of providing information in response to specific questions carries the reader through a logical and sequential method for understanding the legal concepts of premises liability, the identification of reasonable and appropriate protection measures, and how to acquire premises security information.
This is a practical, concise and informative guide. This book can be used in a proactive prevention mode as well as a reactive response to litigation claims. It explains what security professionals should be thinking about and planning for when it comes to protecting people on their premises. It also provides a common base of knowledge for attorneys and security professionals that does not exist in any other publication.
Designed to meet the needs of both attorneys and security professionals
Covers both liability and security issues
Appendices provide detailed premises security information to facilitate a proactive approach to providing reasonable and appropriate security measures and reacting to litigation
Book Description
With little effort and expense, you can hide cash, armaments and even family from the menacing eyes of burglars, terrorists or anyone. Learn how to construct dozens of hiding places right in your house and yard. Here are small hiding places for concealing money and jewelry and large places for securing survival supplies or persons. More than 100 drawings show how to turn ordinary items into extraordinary hiding places.
Customer Reviews:
Not Recommended.......2007-02-14
This book seems to be taken from information published many years ago. Many of the articles refer to building construction from the early 1900's. I was disappointed with this book.
How to hide a few thing.......2007-01-26
Like most Paladin books, this slim volume is serioulsy lacking in substance. If you want advice on how to hide some jewelry or your stash around the house, then this book will do it for you. Otherwise, this rather dated edition will leave you in the dark. Save your money. Do some web searches and you will probably come up with more complete and up-to-date information for only your time.
Book offers lots of hiding ideas for inside/outside of home.......2003-06-16
I have several books on hiding places. While all of them have useful ideas, the strong suits of this book are the outdoor, structural, and away-from-home hiding places.
The outdoor hidies are great for those with their own land. There are several innovative ideas that the other books do not have, including a tree stash.
The structural hidies are also different -- these aren't just making false drawer bottoms. :) There are pipe, appliance, wall and even drain hidies. Furniture hidies are covered extensively as well, but this review focuses on what makes this book different from the other hiding books.
The away-from-home hiding places are ingenious, easy to do and will hide your valuables from the casual thief and the sticky-fingered maid alike. Obviously, there is little to no carpentry involved and in fact you could use the same principles in your own home if you are carpentry impaired like me. :)
One last strong point of this book is the writing. Throughout, it talks about the psychology of the thief and why some hides work better than others to prevent theft. The main focus is not hiding things from the government or the police, who often have a whole different mindset and a lot more time than a thief does. If you are more interested specifically in strategies to hide objects from law enforcement or the government, there are hiding books that focus on that rather than thieves and I recommend you get one of those instead.
Please note: As with all hiding place books, you simply must have some carpentry experience and a lot of patience. There are no step-by-step, hold-your-hand instructions on how to make a hiding place here (or in any other hiding book I've seen either). The ideas are presented, and it is up to you to make them work in your own home or land.
Keeping people's noses out of your business!.......2000-04-04
I found this book to be one of the most useful and surprising help books i have ever had the good fortune to stumble upon. When I saw 'How to Hide Anything' I had to buy it, and that was a choice I am glad I made. As a college student, I know there are things I don't necessarily want roommates, parents, and especially authorities to snoop around in. Often, I felt that my own hiding places still left me nervous. Other times, I hid things in such obscure places, I forgot where they were! This book, however, lives up to its title. Its ideas are ingenius and the drawings practically do the work for you. Now I am confident that everything I want to keep private will be kept private! Buy this book.
Book Description
Achieve “bullet-proof” wealth in any real estate market
The real key to achieving sustained wealth in real estate is finding just the right investment strategy--and then learning how to adapt it to changing market conditions. For that, you'll need the help of a mentor with a proven track record.
A third-generation real estate investor, James Dicks made his first million before the age of thirty and went on to head his own international investment and financial services firm. Now, in How to Buy and Sell Real Estate for Financial Freedom, he teams up with fellow real estate investor and wealth-building expert J.W. Dicks to help you map out a winning strategy for realizing your dream of financial freedom.
Regardless of your level of experience or bankroll size, this book will put you in the position to start making serious money in real estate--right away! Step-by-step, you'll learn how to
- Find and buy the best investment properties
- Write winning offers and money-making contracts
- Negotiate deals like a pro
- Take advantage of traditional and creative financing techniques
- Master more than 25 proven investment strategies, including buy-hold-sell, rentals, flipping, equity sharing, lease options, and more
Customer Reviews:
Good book by Dicks.......2006-10-29
In 1990, I bought a real esatate course by Jack Dicks called "How To Make Money in Real Estate in the 90's" when Mr. Dicks was then associated with Charles Givens. Using his techniques, advice and strategies, I was able to buy several properties in the Central Florida area with no money down and without the usual problems of the three T's (tenants, toilets and turnover)
His newest book written with John Dicks is a compendium of the best strategies in real estate investing from the top guru's of the last two to three decades and updated for 2006 and going forward. This is must reading for all serious real estate investors. Or perhaps I s hould say, all of those who want to be successful real estate investors.
Also recommend Real Estate Money Machine.
Books:
- Out of Egypt: A Memoir
- Out of the Ballpark
- Sacajawea (Lewis & Clark Expedition)
- Shanghai Diary: A Young Girl's Journey from Hitler's Hate to War-Torn China
- Shared Sorrows: A Gypsy Family Remembers the Holocaust
- Singing Bowls
- Ten Green Bottles: The True Story of One Family's Journey from War-torn Austria to the Ghettos of Shanghai
- The 25 Best Time Management Tools & Techniques: How to Get More Done Without Driving Yourself Crazy
- The Annotated Mona Lisa: A Crash Course in Art History from Prehistoric to Post-Modern
- The Basque History of the World: The Story of a Nation
Books Index
Books Home
Recommended Books
- Strategic Intelligence: Business Intelligence, Competitive Intelligence, and Knowledge Management
- Lake Malawi Cichlids
- Fun Run and Other Oxymorons: Singular Reflections of an Englishman Abroad
- History: Fiction or Science
- Its All Your Fault: How To Make It As A Hollywood Assistant
- Tarzan of the Apes
- Making Friends: Training Your Dog Positively
- Meeting Community Needs With Job and Career Services
- Executive Report on Strategies in Sri Lanka, 2000 edition
- Firm characteristics and managerial perceptions of NAFTA: an assessment of export implications for U
Understanding Open Source and Free Software Licensing
Producing Open Source Software: How to Run a Successful Free Software Project
The Business and Economics of Linux and Open Source
Innovation Happens Elsewhere: Open Source as Business Strategy
Software Agreements Line by Line: A Detailed Look at Software Contracts and Licenses & How to Change Them to Fit Your Needs
