Polymer Melt Rheology: A Guide for Industrial Practice
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    Polymer Melt Rheology: A Guide for Industrial Practice
    F. N. Cogswell
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    At Home in the Universe: The Search for the Laws of Self-Organization and Complexity
    Average customer rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    • At home in the universe, A New Proposal...
    • Proposals to Unanswered Questions
    • Fascinating Science Applicable to Evolution and Business
    • A fascinating look at self-organization
    • Fantastic and enlightening
    At Home in the Universe: The Search for the Laws of Self-Organization and Complexity
    Stuart Kauffman
    Manufacturer: Oxford University Press, USA
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    ASIN: 0195111303

    Amazon.com

    The best treatment I have yet encountered about how order emerges naturally -- and possibly even necessarily -- out of chaos. Profoundly important, and considerably more informed than better-known pop-science treatments of chaos theory. Very highly recommended.

    Book Description

    A major scientific revolution has begun, a new paradigm that rivals Darwin's theory in importance. At its heart is the discovery of the order that lies deep within the most complex of systems, from the origin of life, to the workings of giant corporations, to the rise and fall of great civilizations. And more than anyone else, this revolution is the work of one man, Stuart Kauffman, a MacArthur Fellow and visionary pioneer of the new science of complexity. Now, in At Home in the Universe, Kauffman brilliantly weaves together the excitement of intellectual discovery and a fertile mix of insights to give the general reader a fascinating look at this new science--and at the forces for order that lie at the edge of chaos. We all know of instances of spontaneous order in nature--an oil droplet in water forms a sphere, snowflakes have a six-fold symmetry. What we are only now discovering, Kauffman says, is that the range of spontaneous order is enormously greater than we had supposed. Indeed, self-organization is a great undiscovered principle of nature. But how does this spontaneous order arise? Kauffman contends that complexity itself triggers self-organization, or what he calls "order for free," that if enough different molecules pass a certain threshold of complexity, they begin to self-organize into a new entity--a living cell. Kauffman uses the analogy of a thousand buttons on a rug--join two buttons randomly with thread, then another two, and so on. At first, you have isolated pairs; later, small clusters; but suddenly at around the 500th repetition, a remarkable transformation occurs--much like the phase transition when water abruptly turns to ice--and the buttons link up in one giant network. Likewise, life may have originated when the mix of different molecules in the primordial soup passed a certain level of complexity and self-organized into living entities (if so, then life is not a highly improbable chance event, but almost inevitable). Kauffman uses the basic insight of "order for free" to illuminate a staggering range of phenomena. We see how a single-celled embryo can grow to a highly complex organism with over two hundred different cell types. We learn how the science of complexity extends Darwin's theory of evolution by natural selection: that self-organization, selection, and chance are the engines of the biosphere. And we gain insights into biotechnology, the stunning magic of the new frontier of genetic engineering--generating trillions of novel molecules to find new drugs, vaccines, enzymes, biosensors, and more. Indeed, Kauffman shows that ecosystems, economic systems, and even cultural systems may all evolve according to similar general laws, that tissues and terra cotta evolve in similar ways. And finally, there is a profoundly spiritual element to Kauffman's thought. If, as he argues, life were bound to arise, not as an incalculably improbable accident, but as an expected fulfillment of the natural order, then we truly are at home in the universe. Kauffman's earlier volume, The Origins of Order, written for specialists, received lavish praise. Stephen Jay Gould called it "a landmark and a classic." And Nobel Laureate Philip Anderson wrote that "there are few people in this world who ever ask the right questions of science, and they are the ones who affect its future most profoundly. Stuart Kauffman is one of these." In At Home in the Universe, this visionary thinker takes you along as he explores new insights into the nature of life.

    Customer Reviews:

    5 out of 5 stars At home in the universe, A New Proposal..........2007-04-05

    In this book, Stuart Koaffman opens new doors to us. Through the theory of the chaos, proportions fractals and their networks boulinas, give an interesting speculation us on the origin of the life, the complex systems and the societies. It is hour to be on the awares and to try to focus to us in new horizons. This book took to him of the hand by these new horizons. It is hour to know our house in the universe...

    5 out of 5 stars Proposals to Unanswered Questions.......2006-09-16

    Stuart Kaufman's At Home in the Universe is a lay redaction his scientific hypotheses from his Origins of Order, a rich, fascinating, sophisticated, and complementary set of hypotheses added to Darwin's theories of evolution. For the moment, at least, they are the promising fruit of speculative or theoretical biological hypotheses (with physics, chemistry, geology, paleontology, mathematics, game theory, and economics thrown in), but they go a long way to filling in many of the gaps that strict Darwinists seem content to ignore. And some of his hypotheses, he readily admits, are heretical.

    One of the obvious problems, if not primary one, that Kaufman sets to answer, Is how can natural selection work, culling the fittest to survive, without something to act on? In other words, natural selection operates on the already existent (i.e., regressive engineering), not in the formation of the entity itself. Another problem is that 4 billion years, long as that is, is still not sufficient time for natural selection to have acted through a totally random, step-by-step process in determining today's survivors. Even 100 billion years would not be enough. Another problem is how could so many species have come into existence and failed to survive (99.9%), leaving a mere 100 million for the present, in the span of a mere 4 billion years (mathematically impossible on Darwin's theories alone).

    The central theme of Kaufman's work is Self-organized Criticality, a scientific twist on the notion of irreducible complexity (from the Discovery Institute's lexicon, no less), where a minimal degree of inherent complexity in a subcritical-supercritical phase transition is what spontaneously orders the animate world and generates and sustains life in accord with other, as yet, unknown, but implicit laws. From the moment that a sufficiently critical diversity of molecules reached the ideal phase transition, life itself was "spontaneously generated" as inevitable, not by accident. Once life appeared, the acts of natural selection, adaptation, coevolution, evolution of coevolution, cellular, morphological, and physiological differentiation, ontogeny, niches, populations, stable cum-chaotic dynamics, etc., could operate, but in addition to forces beyond natural selection. And while speculative, apparently many scientists share Kaufman's intuitions, inferences, and insights.

    But the "other" force or forces is not mystical, much less divine, even if they may be truly awesome. Rather, it is in the nature of the universe, and more particularly in our evolving earth, that these implicit laws work in tandem with Darwin's laws. At this point, these laws are posited from the empirical knowledge we do have, but have not yet demonstrated in the scientific manner to make them even hypotheses. But Kaufman's speculative biology is not a whimsical or arbitrary metaphysics, but logical inferences based on laws and facts already in place. Having done the easy work (thinking the notions of what these other general laws of nature must be like), now science must work in earnest to confirm or reject his speculative hypotheses.

    The key word and concept throughout this humorous, heady, and exacting exposition is "complexity" and within the manifold complexities of lives, environments, and mutually intersecting dynamics is a spontaneous order that arises "for free" that in turn sustains stable and steady systems just at the subcritical-supercrticial phase transition (e.g., horizon, or "edge of chaos"). Another key word and concept is "dynamic." Steady-state and homeostasis are often thought of as a static plateau, but that is mistaken, as such states are actually in a fluctuating dynamic at the phase transition between equilibrium (death) and disequilibrium (disorder). Indeed, on many different levels, living organisms are born, dwell, and die precisely at this phase transition between the subcritical (stasis, moribund) and supercritical (chaotic, disordered) states. And the key thesis is that order ("for free") is embedded in the delicate balancing act precisely at this phase transition.

    Kaufman extrapolates some of these implicit biological laws and applies them to human cultural and technological advancement. The "fit" is remarkably uncanny, helping us to understand some of the dynamics of technological improvements (and diminishing returns), innovation, extinction, and spontaneity of the economy. Perhaps the most salient features are the concepts of "dynamic" and "spontaneous."

    Moreover, if an analogy can be drawn from the biosphere and ecology to the social and political realms, the overwhelming preponderance of biological evidence screams complexity, diversity, and interdependence of organisms and their environments, which arise spontaneously and reciprocally to each other, in a constant dynamic that is vibrant, active, and always on the threshold of "chaos," but retains some stability through change. It is only those social and political forms that are "adaptive" that are socially and politically the "fittest," and democracy and market economies are obviously the most adaptive mechanisms to adapt to changing human needs.

    Frederick Hayek addressed himself to these very issues over 50 years ago, and called the market economy and democracies "spontaneous" associations, in contradistinction to "planned" economies and governments. The former "adapt" to changing environments and circumstances, while the latter lack flexibility, and thus do not easily yield to adaptive mechanisms. "Planned" economies attempt to calculate rationally human desires, motivations, and needs in either an abstract or a priori fashion, then calculate the mode of production, the degree, and whether to accommodate, as if some "Absolute Human Mind" could anticipate all contingencies and changes by a simple mathematical formula. The problem is that bureaucrats are notoriously theory-laden and too calculating to include, much less advance, diversity (think Medicare Part D for "planned" absurdity). In practice, socialisms impede innovation and stifle ingenuity. With no means of adaptation, there is no "fittest," much less any mechanism to adapt to the actual dynamics of the world.

    Communism's planned economy is an extreme case of an irrational calculus asserting what the government will allow, applying the lowest-common denominator as a criterion of sufficiency. We all know of the U.S.S.R.'s food lines, limited products, forced housing, inferior merchandise, and minimal labor investment. But even weaker forms of the rational calculus, such as socialism, does not do much better. At least their democracies allow policies to change, even if it becomes years for government to adapt to the new exigencies. Even the most socialized societies have "capitalist" outlets, to provide some barometer of social wants and meeting them. Social insurance makes sense on many fronts, but social or state "planning" of economics has rotted state and worker. Kaufman's biological analogies explain why.

    Postscript: Kaufman's book is a provocative, challenging, and fascinating (sometime heady) read. Even if all of his hypotheses in the abstract are found to be untrue, at least he captures the reader's imagination, and asks the questions that most of us non-dogmatic Darwinians have raised for some time. In a time when the "easy" and "orthodox" are all too convenient for slipping under the rug, Kaufman's questions (and suggested answers) go the the very nexus of the difficulties. His suggested answers are at once perhaps too simple, on the other hand, perhaps too complex. What is refreshing, above all, is that he's not afraid to ask, and even less fearful of suggesting solutions. Thank gawd for the Sante Fe Institute, where brave and curious minds still ask questions.

    5 out of 5 stars Fascinating Science Applicable to Evolution and Business.......2006-05-17

    Stuart brings the science of complexity and complex adaptive systems to a broad range of topics from evolution to business to learning curves. The book is masterly written to allow you to skim over the formulas without lossing the excitement or to dig into the technology to understand its broad application.

    5 out of 5 stars A fascinating look at self-organization.......2005-01-18

    We see a great deal of order in living systems. Where does this order come from? Is it entirely from natural selection? The author says no. He explains that much of the order we see in the world is spontaneous, such as in the symmetry of snowflakes, and that much of the order needed for the origination of life and in living organisms is of this spontaneous nature.

    Kauffman is making a non-trivial point here, as the extent to which spontaneous order is more important than selected order is not entirely obvious. While a snowflake is indeed an example of a system that is highly ordered as it gets synthesized, that's not true of, say, a solar system, in which short-lived bodies quickly depart the scene in favor of long-lived ones. It's clearly significant that disordered entities tend to be shorter-lived and unable to replicate.

    The author then addresses theories of the origin of life. Could it have started with RNA? After all, replicating RNA could then produce the needed proteins. Kauffman says no. The amino acid chains one would need would be too long to replicate accurately enough (the "error catastrophe"). I tend to agree. Besides, RNA is awfully fragile (DNA is not fragile). And once one hypothesizes that RNA has a template to keep it safe, one's theory is that templates came first.

    Of course, the "error catastrophe" is devastating if the minimum complexity of a living cell is rather large. Kauffman argues that this minimum complexity is indeed large, and that it is no accident that there are hundreds of genes in pleuromona, perhaps the simplest free-living (non-virus) organism.

    Spontaneous order also refutes the argument of Hoyle and Wickramasinghe that life could not have arisen on Earth because the chance of creating the 2000 functioning enzymes would be too small: 1 in 10 to the 40,000. Well, given that life does exist here, the Hoyle argument is almost certainly wrong anyway (with a chance that small, the odds would be overwhelmingly small for life to arise anywhere, ever, so the chance that the argument is wrong must be huge, since a correct argument might then give a much higher probability for life to appear).

    The author then asks how we get the large polymers we need. After all, life is basically autocatalysis (that's what I was taught in the 1960s, and that's what Kauffman says as well). How does this big autocatalytic set get into gear? The author makes an analogy to putting connectors between random pairs of entities. At first the length of a connected chain will be small. But once the number of connections is about half the number of entities, the longest chain quickly becomes almost as large as the number of entities. That raises the question of how all these entities can interact, but Kaufmann says that having reactions on a substrate, effectively reducing the region to two dimensions, helps. So does having less water around.

    We then get to the question of homeostasis. That requires plenty of order. Is there a way to get that order "for free?" The author says there is, and here is where he makes his most dramatic point. He points out that a network with 100,000 entities (call them "light bulbs") with two states each, has 10 to the 30,000 possible states. One might expect such a network to cycle through the square root of the number of states, or 10 to the 15,000. But it actually tends to cycle through the square root of the number of binary variables, which is only the square root of 100,000 or about 317. That is a huge amount of "order for free!" And it argues strongly for life's origination to be unsurprising. As Kauffman puts it, this changes life on Earth from being "We, the improbable," to "We the expected."

    There's plenty more in this fine book. The author discusses order in ontogeny. And he has a chapter on the relationship between the diversity of species in an ecosystem and the diversity of organic molecules added from outside. And there's also plenty of material on "fitness landscapes."

    One question that arises in this book is statistical: how long does a species tend to last? That has implications for the question of how long humans will last. It may not be that long. But that doesn't bother me, as long as we're replaced with something better. After all, I'm for progress!

    5 out of 5 stars Fantastic and enlightening.......2004-03-21

    This particular book is a fantastic revelation and study of the boundary between order and chaos as it applies to the evolution of life, culture, technology and anything else in the universe. Its goal is to seek a universal law regarding the emergence of order in what we've traditionally considered unordered or random sets of fundamental stuff. For example, one of the observations that it makes is that evolution as Darwin revealed it is by itself not a sufficient explanation (scientifically) for why and how creatures like us could be here at all. In other words, natural selection is not sufficient to accomplish what life has accomplished in this world of ours. It needed the help of a very important other "force"... the life force, I might call it, and to which I've alluded many times in many forms through my writings. It's that special something about the nature of the universe that brings about the cooperation of systems, the autocatalytic closure which makes "hanging together" and "existing" some sort of "goal" deeply encoded in the nature of it all. You might be able to see how I might identify these ideas very closely with that term "lifetoward". What goal-oriented force brought life to be and continues to make life strive for ever more order and complexity? This book answers I think very well with: it's not a force, per se, but rather a fundamental aspect of the basic nature of the universe. To quote the book, "We the expected." We as living beings belong here and are an integral part of an incredibly awe inspiring process of creation of meaning and order in a world aching to give birth to it. The book closes with a nice summary, which much like a message I had posted to the lifetoward@yahoogroups.com list some time ago, extols the development of a new and enlightened faith, based on a realization of the wonder of the way the universe deeply is and how we are in it.

    In terms of the meaning and importance of this book, I would recommend it to everyone. However, I will warn you that it may be a significant challenge to read. It calls on a deeply considered understanding of a variety of disciplines, including most notably evolutionary biology, organic chemistry, mathematics, anthropology, and economics. It proceeds with an assumption that the reader has realized or can quickly recognize the common ground between these different areas of study. It uses a lot of mathematical models and visualizations of 2, 3 and hyperdimensional spaces to discuss the nature of this common law and its emergence in the world around us.
    At Home in the Universe: The Search for Laws of Self-Organization and Complexity
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      At Home in the Universe: The Search for Laws of Self-Organization and Complexity
      Stuart Kauffman
      Manufacturer: Oxford Univ Pr
      ProductGroup: Book
      Binding: Paperback
      ASIN: B000NXUAL8
      AT HOME IN THE UNIVERSE: THE SEARCH FOR THE LAWS OF SELF-ORGANIZATION & COMPLEXITY
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        AT HOME IN THE UNIVERSE: THE SEARCH FOR THE LAWS OF SELF-ORGANIZATION & COMPLEXITY
        STUART KAUFFMAN
        Manufacturer: Oxford
        ProductGroup: Book
        Binding: Paperback
        ASIN: B000OR14R2
        At Home In The Universe, The Search for the Laws of Self-Organization and Complexity
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          At Home In The Universe, The Search for the Laws of Self-Organization and Complexity

          Manufacturer: Oxford University Press
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          Binding: Hardcover
          ASIN: B000I40NMS
          At Home in the Universe: The Search for Laws of Self-Organization and Complexity
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            At Home in the Universe: The Search for Laws of Self-Organization and Complexity
            Stuart Kauffman
            Manufacturer: Oxford University Press, USA
            ProductGroup: Book
            Binding: Paperback
            ASIN: B000OKLD70

            Dynamical Systems and Probabilistic Methods in Partial Differential Equations: 1994 Summer Seminar on Dynamical Systems and Probabilistic Methods for Nonlinear ... Ca (Lectures in Applied Mathematics)
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              Dynamical Systems and Probabilistic Methods in Partial Differential Equations: 1994 Summer Seminar on Dynamical Systems and Probabilistic Methods for Nonlinear ... Ca (Lectures in Applied Mathematics)
              David C. Levermore , and Eugenec Wayne
              Manufacturer: American Mathematical Society
              ProductGroup: Book
              Binding: Paperback

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              ASIN: 0821803689

              Book Description

              This volume contains some of the lectures presented in June 1994 during the AMS-SIAM Summer Seminar at the Mathematical Sciences Research Institute in Berkeley. The goal of the seminar was to introduce participants to as many interesting and active applications of dynamical systems and probabilistic methods to problems in applied mathematics as possible. As a result, this book covers a great deal of ground. Nevertheless, the pedagogical orientation of the lectures has been retained, and therefore the book will serve as an ideal introduction to these varied and interesting topics.

              Among the themes explored in this volume are the following:

              the increasing role of dynamical systems theory in understanding partial differential equations

              the central importance of certain prototypical equations, such as the complex Ginzburg-Landau, nonlinear Schrödinger, and Korteweg-deVries equations

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              Seminar on Differential Equations and Dynamical Systems, II.
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                Seminar on Differential Equations and Dynamical Systems, II.
                J.A. (ed) Yorke
                Manufacturer: Publisher Unknown
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                ASIN: B000UXX66C
                Seminar on Differential Equations and Dynamical Systems, II. Seminar Lectures at the University of Maryland, 1969.
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                  Seminar on Differential Equations and Dynamical Systems, II. Seminar Lectures at the University of Maryland, 1969.
                  J.A. ed. YORKE
                  Manufacturer: Springer-Verlag, 1970.
                  ProductGroup: Book
                  Binding: Paperback
                  ASIN: B000JNE8C4
                  Seminar on Differential Equations and Dynamical Systems, II. Seminar Lectures at the University of Maryland, 1969.
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                    Seminar on Differential Equations and Dynamical Systems, II. Seminar Lectures at the University of Maryland, 1969.
                    J.A. ed. YORKE
                    Manufacturer: Springer-Verlag, 1970.
                    ProductGroup: Book
                    Binding: Paperback
                    ASIN: B000JNC46G
                    Seminar on Differential Equations and Dynamical Systems.
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                      Seminar on Differential Equations and Dynamical Systems.
                      Stepehn G. JONES
                      Manufacturer: Springer-Verlag, 1968.
                      ProductGroup: Book
                      Binding: Paperback
                      ASIN: B000JNI2QC
                      Seminar on Dynamical Systems (Progress in Nonlinear Differential Equations and Their Applications)
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                        Seminar on Dynamical Systems (Progress in Nonlinear Differential Equations and Their Applications)
                        Lazutkin , Kuksin , and Pöschel
                        Manufacturer: Birkhauser
                        ProductGroup: Book
                        Binding: Hardcover

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                        Seminar on Dynamical Systems: Euler International Mathematical Inst, St. Petersburg, 1991 (Progress in Nonlinear Differential Equations and Their Applications)
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                          S. Kuksin , and V. Lazutkin
                          Manufacturer: Birkhauser
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                          Sinai's Moscow Seminar on Dynamical Systems (American Mathematical Society Translations Series 2)
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                            Manufacturer: American Mathematical Society
                            ProductGroup: Book
                            Binding: Hardcover

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                            GeneralGeneral | Mathematics | Science | Subjects | Books
                            Differential EquationsDifferential Equations | Applied | Mathematics | Professional Science | Professional & Technical | Subjects | Books
                            ASIN: 0821804561

                            Book Description

                            This book is a collection of papers written by participants in the seminar of Ya. G. Sinai, which has for thirty years played the leading role in shaping the modern statistical and topological theory of dynamical systems. The seminar has served as the major place for new ideas and approaches in the ergodic theory of dynamical systems.

                            These papers, written by internationally known mathematicians, represent the major part of the enormous variety of Sinai's scientific interests. The following topics are discussed: hyperbolic dynamical systems, limit theorems for dynamical systems with chaotic behavior, thermodynamic formalism, symbolic dynamics, symplectic geometry, statistical mechanics, and more.

                            The book reflects the unique style of Sinai's school and its interest in various interconnections between ergodic theory and various other branches of mathematics and physics.
                            Nonlinear dynamics and quantum dynamical systems: Contributions to the international seminar ISAM-90, held in Gaussig (GDR), March 19-23, 1990 (Mathematical research)
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                              Nonlinear dynamics and quantum dynamical systems: Contributions to the international seminar ISAM-90, held in Gaussig (GDR), March 19-23, 1990 (Mathematical research)

                              Manufacturer: Akademie-Verlag
                              ProductGroup: Book
                              Binding: Unknown Binding

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                              ASIN: 3055008588
                              Seminar on Differential Equations and Dynamical Systems, II.
                              Average customer rating: Not rated
                                Seminar on Differential Equations and Dynamical Systems, II.

                                Manufacturer: 0
                                ProductGroup: Book
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                                ASIN: B000ICENXU

                                Mrs. Katz and Tush (Reading Rainbow Book)
                                Average customer rating: 5 out of 5 stars
                                • univeral themes
                                • Mrs. Katz and Tush
                                • A wonderful story, even if the illos have some bloopers...
                                • Diversity in its finest
                                • How to be a mensch
                                Mrs. Katz and Tush (Reading Rainbow Book)
                                Patricia Polacco
                                Manufacturer: Dragonfly Books
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                                ASIN: 0440409365
                                Release Date: 1994-03-01

                                Book Description

                                In this special Passover story, Larnel Moore, a young African-American boy, and Mrs. Katz, an elderly Jewish woman, develop an unusual friendship through their mutual concern for an abandoned cat named Tush. Together they explore the common themes of suffering and triumph in each of their cultures.

                                Customer Reviews:

                                5 out of 5 stars univeral themes.......2007-03-22

                                What a beautiful story to show children that, despite our differences, i.e. age, race, family background, we still have some many important things in common. Characters have wit, charm and integrity. Story is very moving and good for all ages.

                                5 out of 5 stars Mrs. Katz and Tush.......2006-07-28

                                This is one of the best children's books I have ever read. In fact, it is one of the most beautiful (in language and illustrations) books I have read--period. Patricia Polacco is a master at bringing diverse, meaningful relationships to life. Every sensitive, mature parent should buy this book for his/her child!

                                4 out of 5 stars A wonderful story, even if the illos have some bloopers..........2004-03-30

                                This is the story of a loving friendship between an elderly Jewish lady from Poland named Mrs. Katz, and an African-American child named Larnel. Mrs. Katz lives alone in her apartment and doesn't have anyone to visit her. (It's not stated in the book, but, since this appears to be a predominantly African-American inner city neighborhood, one wonders if she was left behind by the Jewish community when the more affluent members moved to the suburbs? In real life it has happened...) Larnel's mother stops by to visit her every other day or so, and brings Larnel with her.

                                One day, Larnel gets the idea to give Mrs. Katz a kitten from the litter that was born in the basement of his apartment building. (Get the pun -- Katz/cats? Actually, the name "Katz" has nothing to do with "cats," but it's cute anyway.) Mrs. Katz names the kitten Tush, which is Yiddish for "bottom," because it has no tail. Larnel agrees to help her care for Tush, and from this sharing, a lifelong friendship grows.

                                The story is well-written, the characters are well-developed and "real." The illustrations are vibrant, beautifully done, and ethnically accurate. Well, almost. There are a couple Jewish bloopers. For one thing, the menorah sitting by Mrs. Katz's window only has seven branches. A Hanukkah menorah has nine -- eight for the eight days plus an extra for the "servant" candle. The seven-branched menorah mentioned in the Bible was specifically for the Jerusalem Temple, and is not usually found in the home. Since Hanukkah was mentioned in the story, I have to assume that this was supposed to be a Hanukkah menorah.

                                The second blooper is the scene in the bakery. Mrs. Katz is shopping for PASSOVER -- a time when no leaven is to be found anywhere in a Jewish home. It is not just a matter of eating matzoh. The entire house is cleaned of anything even resembling leaven, and even owning leavened products is forbidden. That being the case, why is she shopping for her Passover feast in a bakery, of all places? She is clearly pointing at a cake or some rolls, and these would NOT be served on Passover! So nu, maybe she's a Reform Jew and not so strict? But in that case, why is that very Hasidic-looking gentleman in the corner shopping there? Surely HE would not serve bread for Passover! (...)

                                These are relatively minor quibbles, given the overall good quality of the book. But when it comes to children's books, I insist on total accuracy with regard to Judaism, because these are the images that will stick in the mind for years to come. Granted, this is not a "Jewish" book per se, it's a multicultural book -- which is all the more reason to pay more attention to the Jewish details, lest the reader(s) be misled. For the bloopers I'm docking it a star, but it's still a great story and I highly recommend it to both Jews and gentiles.

                                5 out of 5 stars Diversity in its finest.......2003-03-06

                                Ms. Katz and Tush is an excellent choice for educators and parents to use when explaining diversity.
                                In the book, a young boy is introduced to an elderly jewish woman through his mother. The boy develops a bond with the elderly lady, and the two are friends forever.
                                This book enables children to develop an understanding about life in different cultures. It shows them that different is good and you can learn a lot from someone of a different culture.

                                5 out of 5 stars How to be a mensch.......2002-07-03

                                I have read this schmaltzy tale of friendship bridging two cultures dozens of times. Not once have I finished it with dry eyes. This is the stuff that dreams are made of.

                                Mrs. Katz, a widowed old woman befriended Larnel Moore, a young boy. She gifted him with Yiddishisms-and good cooking. "Kugel! Such a kugel I baked for you today." She also gave a heart as warm as the sweater she knitted for him.

                                In turn, Larnel also performed many mitzvot (good deeds). Mrs. Katz needed a friend. He became that friend. He gave her a cat, too, for when he couldn't be there. Mrs. Katz took the kitty, who reminded her of her Myron, who was ugly as a child, too, "but such a person!" She named the kitty Tush, Yiddish for `behind,' because she had no tail. When the cat escaped through an open window, Larnel did everything to find her. His everything included prayers.

                                Larnel became a grandchild to Mrs. Katz, and she his grandmother. Everything else is commentary.

                                Each child enriched by this joyous tale of sharing and kindness will come that much closer to being a mensch (a good person). Such a person! Alyssa A. Lappen
                                The Tush People
                                Average customer rating: 5 out of 5 stars
                                • Adorable book!
                                • 5 stars for "The Tush People"
                                • "I Love Tushies"
                                The Tush People
                                Deborah Favorite
                                Manufacturer: The Tush People
                                ProductGroup: Book
                                Binding: Hardcover

                                ComicComic | General | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books
                                ContemporaryContemporary | General | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books
                                GeneralGeneral | Issues | Children's Books | Subjects | Books
                                ASIN: 0972251405

                                Book Description

                                This story is about a colony of creatures known as Tushies who depict the beauty and richness of a multi-cultural society, as Tushies come in a variety of colors, shapes and sizes. They portray a tenderness for family, camaraderie and community. Tushies reveal their happiness and their mishaps but, most importantly, they bare the treasure of a child's imagination.

                                Customer Reviews:

                                5 out of 5 stars Adorable book!.......2003-07-11

                                This book is absolutely adorable! The pictures are delightful and make you just smile. We have bought 3 so far and given one as a gift. I recommend this book be added to all your gift giving lists! Can't wait for the next book in the series to come out!
                                Way to go Debbie!

                                5 out of 5 stars 5 stars for "The Tush People".......2003-06-26

                                There are four tushies in our home and each one loves reading "The Tush People." Our youngest tushie insists on reading it each night before going to bed and reads it to each new tush who enters our home. Your tush is big hit in our home. Your book has turned reading into a pleasure instead of a
                                chore.

                                Linda F. Radke, author "Promote Like a Pro: Small Budget, Big Show."

                                5 out of 5 stars "I Love Tushies".......2003-06-25

                                I nanny for a family of three children. The Tush People has become a part of our everyday!!! Before lunch we read "The Tush People," at nap time, we read, "The Tush People." During our potty training sesion it comes in handy the most. The kids love it and most of all I get a laugh out of it every time!!! To whoever wrote the book...thanks for your humor and creativity! You have taken book reading to a whole new level.
                                Signed,
                                The nanny and the three new "Tushies"
                                p.s. Is there going to be anymore to follow? We'll be waiting =)

                                Books:

                                1. Polymer Sensors and Actuators (Macromolecular Systems - Materials Approach)
                                2. Polymer Synthesis: Theory and Practice: Fundamentals, Methods, Experiments
                                3. Principles and Applications of Inorganic, Organic and Biological Chemistry
                                4. Rates of Chemical Weathering of Rocks & Minerals
                                5. Retinoids: The Biochemical and Molecular Basis of Vitamin A and Retinoid Action (Handbook of Experimental Pharmacology)
                                6. Rheology Essentials of Cosmetic and Food Emulsions (Springer Laboratory)
                                7. Risk Management for Hazardous Chemicals
                                8. Rubber Toughened Engineering Plastics
                                9. Safety Scale Laboratory Experiments for Chemistry For Today: General, Organic, and Biochemistry
                                10. Saponins (Chemistry and Pharmacology of Natural Products)

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