Baghdad Journal: An Artist in Occupied Iraq

Amazon.com

From Baghdad Journal

New York artist Steve Mumford traveled to Baghdad four times in 2003 and 2004 following the American invasion, and his on-the-spot drawings and paintings vividly capture everyday life for both Iraqis and Americans during the drama and the downtime of a country in turmoil. Here are three paintings from his book, with Mumford's own comments on his subjects:

Street sweepers in Baghdad. Hundreds of students were hired by the Coalition Provisional Authority in August 2003 to tackle Baghdad's massive trash problem since the invasion.

Inside a Paladin: One night the base was attacked with 20 mortar rounds, and the artillery crews fired back. Staff Sgt. Diego Jimenez aimed the rounds, which Sgt. Narciso Martinez set and Pfc. Javier Vasquez fired.

Capt. Hector Maldonado talking with a Shi'ite imam after the arrest of another imam for inciting violence. Annoyed at being given a warning, at one point the imam tried to take [Mumford's] drawing away. Posters of Muqtada Sadr decorated the columns.

Book Description

An explosive conflict, as seen through the eyes of a war artist.

Bagdad Journal is the outstanding culmination of four voyages to war-torn Iraq by artist Steve Mumford. In the long tradition of war artists, particularly Winslow Homer's work for Harper's Magazine, Mumford meticulously documents the everyday scenes of Iraq in bold, breathtaking watercolors and drawings and paints a human side of the war that can be lost in the immediacy of photographic and broadcast images.

Not overtly political, Bagdad Journal presents portraits of life from all sides of the polarizing conflict. With sketch pad and notebook in hand, Mumford illuminates the routine activities of a nation in turmoil-from the individual soldiers of American platoons to Baghdad residents going about their daily lives amid the chaos surrounding them.

There will be a traveling exhibit of artwork from Baghdad Journal and presentations by Mumford on his Iraq experience in conjunction with the publication of this book.

Customer Reviews:

Very good stuff........2006-12-14

Steve Mumford, Baghdad Journal: An Artist in Occupied Iraq (Drawn and Quarterly, 2005)

"Unusual." On page 157, Steve Mumford uses this word to describe getting ready for a firefight. And his use of this word, the naturalness of it, and the fact that by page 157 the reader fully believes it, is what makes Steve Mumford's Baghdad Journal such an interesting book. For what Mumford gives us is an entirely different outlook on occupied Iraq than we in America get from the majority of the American media-- one of day-to-day life that is full of conflict, but is mostly civilians and the American armed forces going about their everyday lives, dealing with the quotidian worries that one might expect in a country trying to rebuild after a devastating conflict. And the key term in that sentence is "after."

Baghdad Journal is exactly what it purports to be-- it's a guy with a press pass, a pad, and some colors wandering around and describing what he sees. Mumford is an engaging writer, though his prose often tends toward the journalistic (a charge I have often wished I could level at most of the reporters over there); this is more than made up for by the drawings, which present a world unlike that we've been given to believe exists in Iraq at present.

A good book, and an important one. Worth your time. *** ½

Provocative.......2006-09-07

Beautiful artwork, which not only let me see where no photographers seem to be able to go, but also, as only art can do, these pictures communicated the feel of the scenes.
I am haunted by this book and greatful to the Artist.

wonderful book with great art and insights.......2005-10-20

How wonderful to see a book that has a personal artistic view.
This is a compelling, unique and personal view of war torn Iraq. After the TV cameras are shut off and the photogs have gone we see a very different view......thanks to Mumford.
His artwork has a great range as does his subject matter.

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It's Satire, Idiots.
Someone Has Done It Better
Weird
The Subject Boredom
upi are tje ja;fwot, or, Can't You See I'm Blind, You Fool?

The Subject Steve: A Novel
Sam Lipsyte
Manufacturer: Broadway
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Contemporary | General | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books

Literary | General | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books
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ASIN: 0767909178
Release Date: 2002-09-24

Amazon.com

The Subject Steve, Sam Lipsyte's remarkable debut novel, is an ebullient, bawdy, and idiosyncratic assault on American consumer culture. Like fellow mercurial satirists Don DeLillo, Thomas Pynchon, and David Foster Wallace, Lipsyte is an impressive stylist. His argot is the psychobabble of corporate jargon, advertising slogans, and sound bites. Wordplay rather than characterization is Lipsyte's métier and his language positively fizzes with invention. The characters here don't so much converse as exchange obtuse epigrammatic non sequiturs and indulge in linguistic quips. This should, of course, be utterly infuriating, but it isn't. The dialogue, like the rest of this savage, absurdist take on contemporary life (and more precisely our horror of death), is startlingly acute and unrelentingly funny.

The eponymous Steve (who claims his name is not Steve) is a mild-mannered 37-year old ad man who pens slogans celebrating the "ongoing orgasm of the information lifestyle." Unfortunately, he's dying, but "he's dying of something nobody has ever died of before: he's actually going to die of boredom." The scientists (who may not be scientists although they do wear white coats) "calculate that there can be no calculations" about how long he has left to live. Faced with this eventuality he embarks on a particularly wayward sexual, narcotic, and religious odyssey. Lipsyte fills Steve's journey with so many oddball doctors, multimedia weirdoes, dysfunctional gurus, and bizarre sexual encounters that it's actually rather difficult to imagine anyone dying of boredom. Exhaustion, perhaps. Ludicrous and occasionally even a little bit sick, Lipsyte's surreal, intelligent black comedy proves that death really can be a laughing matter. --Travis Elborough, Amazon.co.uk

Book Description

The bad news was bad. I was dying. I was dying of something no one had ever died of before. I was dying of something absolutely, fantastically new.

The Subject Steve is a dark, dazzling, and totally original satire on human mortality and our desperate efforts to evade it. Meet Steve (not his real name), a Special Case, in truth a Terminal Case, and the eponymous antihero of Sam Lipsyte’s savagely funny first novel. Steve has been informed by his two doctors, the Philosopher and the Mechanic, that he is dying of a condition of unquestioned fatality but no discernible physical cause. Eager to brand a new plague with their names, they call it Goldfarb-Blackstone Preparatory Extinction Syndrome, or PREXIS for short.

The news that this perfectly ordinary postmodern citizen–bitter ex-husband, quasi-deadbeat father, midlife adman, creator of such resonant dot.com slogans as “Reality Is for Those Who Dream” and “How Did You Like Tomorrow?”–is dying of something that might well be boredom sets off a media frenzy. When his physicians are exposed as frauds, but not his death sentence, he betakes himself upstate to the Center for Nondenominational Recovery and Redemption, founded and ruled by the shadowy and brutal caregiver Heinrich of Newark. From there he will travel to the desert, where the success of a cultish media empire will rest on his demise. But nothing will alter the Subject Steve’s inevitable rendezvous with those twin banes of humankind, death and synergy.

With the publication of this novel, by turns manic, ebullient and exquisitely deadpan, Sam Lipsyte enters the company of the master American satirists. It is a dark comedy for overlit times.

From the Hardcover edition.

Download Description

From a young writer on the rise comes a dark, dazzling, and totally original satire on human mortality and one man's desperate efforts to evade it.

Customer Reviews:

It's Satire, Idiots........2006-11-30

I love these morons who are reading one of the darkest and funniest books in recent times -- as satirical as anything by Evelyn Waugh -- complaining about a lack of "sympathetic" characters. Give me a break. This is a laugh-out-loud funny novel, even more impressive because it's his first, and though Lipsyte has his influences (Vonnegut, Barthelme, Pynchon, Saunders), he is a true original.

Someone Has Done It Better.......2005-12-24

As other reviewers have said, this book was not my cup of hallucigenic tea. My best guess at what the author was attempting was the injection of a Camus character in a Beckett play as filmed by Fellini-- all the existentialist angst of the masters yet none of their profoundness.

To be fair, there were wonderful exchanges and insights (10-15 at most) peppered throughout this 243 page book. However, most of the book feels like the author wrote a wonderful sentence and then took funny blue/green/red pills to take the edge off... and became really impressed with himself and his ability to "get" the absurdity of our modern times. I wish he would have sobered up, consumed a bag of M&Ms and written the book the cover promised to deliver: "a dark comedy for overlit times" that is "satire with a capital 'S'. "

Weird.......2004-06-01

I was intrigued within the first 50 pages or so because of the direction it seemed to be heading. Then it got bland in the middle . It just seemed to be the same thing spit over and over to the reader. It did have its high moments in the middle. Then at the end of the book it got better, but it was hard to get through the 2nd third of the book, it probably goes deeper than i gave it. I really didn't get into it, so that may be why, also I am still a teenager but I did get most of the satire. My recommendation is that it's one of those books you have to read yourself to judge because you may take it a different way. It just wasn't for me.

The Subject Boredom.......2004-05-26

The book consists of a terminally ill guy doing weird/odd/normal things. Note: not weird-interesting or weird-really-neat, mostly weird-why-am-I-reading-this.

To be fair I must admit I could not bring myself past page 175. I forced my way through pages 2-175. Enough is enough. Man against book...a timeless struggle. Maybe pages 176-200something hold the meaning of life.

Amazon recommended this to me; I am currently in the process of re-associating my rankings on previously purchased items. Beware of this book if you are here by recommendation.

I almost submitted this as 1 star, whoops. I forgot to mention the two really cool characters: The Philosopher and Mechanic. Hmmm, so I guess the first 20 pages were actually quite good. Unfortunately these characters did not get enough screen time. They at least indicate potential in Mr. Lipsyte and I will at least read the back of his next endeavor.

upi are tje ja;fwot, or, Can't You See I'm Blind, You Fool?.......2004-04-25

Relax, I was hungry when I wrote that. The book really helped once my wife diced up some Chinese pillaries. They help the apoplexy, really.

Hey, wouldn't we also read them aloud to our friends, and our friends-to-be, and our enemies, and our enemies-to-be? Would we cradle the book tenderly near our crotch(es) and croon it to our children-to-be? Would we go to the nursing home and holler it into the ear trumpets of the corpses-to-be? I'm all for this public reading stuff, but your proposition--it cries out with a mighty shriek to have its reductio ad absurdum illustrated, especially since you called me a halfwit. Hey--maybe we'd be reading them to a friend and the act of reading it aloud would transform that friend into an enemy-to-be; would similarly transform a lover-to-be into a nodding acquaintance-to-be, or even a person-who-crosses-the-street-when-they-see-us-to-be. We might go to a special ed class and read them to our halfwits, and halfwits-to-be. Just a thought, articulated within the framework of several complex "sentances" utilizing serial commas, written with concentration, intensity, and love toward a lover-to-be.

Book Description

The chaotic class trip continues as Negi Springfield and his thirty-one beautiful female students explore the historic cities of Kyoto and Nara. Negi’s special headache is Konoka, the headmaster’s granddaughter, who turns out to have her own magical abilities! Although she’s not aware of them, others certainly are . . . and Konoka is kidnapped by a group of wizards who plan to corrupt her budding talents. Negi is going to need all the help he can get–even if it comes from a former foe. . . .

Customer Reviews:

the beginning of the end... of the School Trip arc.......2007-06-05

So we've come so far on this school trip. We've seen Nodoka finally confess her undying love for Negi-kun, had an unfortunate run-in with Kotaro and his spider onmyou, and had alot of fun along the way. The fun pretty much ends with volume 6, though, as this is the most serious of the three Kyoto/Nara volumes. Akamatsu's still at the top of his game, however, and this is most definitely a good thing.

Volume 6 begins as Asuna, Negi, and the others finally arrive at Konoka's home in Kyoto. A welcome party is in order, but not before Negi delivers the headmaster's letter to the leader of the Kansai magic district (who happens to be the headmaster's son-in-law). Things quickly get out of hand, though, as an ally of the Monkey Lady, known simply as Fate Averruncus, pays the temple a visit and turns most of the people there, including Nodoka and the rest of the girls, into stone. Miraculously, Yue escapes and calls Kaede and Fei Ku for help. Negi, at the same time, calls Asuna, who tells him that Konoka was kidnapped; he then calls the headmaster, who promises to send someone.

The second part of the novel details Konoka's rescue. Asuna and Setsuna end up having to face hundreds of golems- and she's still panty-less (from being turned into stone earlier)!!! They get aid, however, in the form of Kaede, Fei Ku, and Mana Tatsumiya, who shows she's no slouch when it comes to wielding a sniper rifle (actually her artifact in the anime version). Negi ends up pactio-ing with Setsuna, and then races off with Chamo in tow to save Konoka. What happens next is quite the surprise, but that I'll let you figure out on your own, but I will tell you this: Negi gets help from someone whom he least expects to show up.

Not as much fan service than the other novels, but with such a serious setting it would have been out of place anyways. There is one funny scene in particular when Fate's conjured water spirits don't exactly do to Asuna what he had intended them to do, leaving her screaming, "What is it with you wizards and your perverted attacks?!?!" The demon's always good for a startle or two, also. In all, one of the better volumes. Oh yeah... be on the lookout for Setsuna's little secret too... like you'll be able to miss it.

Enjoy!!

~andy~

The battle continues.......2005-10-30

Ten-year-old wiz kid Negi Springfield has been battling some nasty new enemies in the past couple of "Negima" collections, and the battle hits its high point in the sixth volume. Old enemies, new allies and an army of demons make this battle the most intense of Ken Akamatsu's new series.

The gang arrives at the Kansai Magic Temple, which also happens to be the home of Konoka and her dad, the Elder of the West. Negi and Co. are assured of their safety -- but then a strange white-haired boy petrifies everyone except Asuna (who merely loses her clothes and gets tickled almost to death). Konoka is kidnapped, so that her latent magical power can be manipulated.

To get her back, and keep the Monkey Woman from releasing a legendary demon, Negi enters a pactio with Setsuna, and she and Asuna take on an army of ancient demons. Negi sets off to rescue Konoka, but is stopped on the way by the white-haired boy, and by dog-boy Kotaro. But Negi will receive help from an unexpected source: vampire mage Evangeline, who is also his enemy...

This is perhaps the most intense volume of "Negima" so far, focusing on magic, battles, and the friendships that make them possible. The only flaw is that they switched translators somewhere, which means that some characters, like Fei Ku, sound EXTREMELY different. Suddenly she's speaking in pidgin English. Ah well...

And yes, there's still gratuitous nudity, but at least some of it is humorous, such as poor underwearless Asuna being pursued by an army of ogres, wailing, "Why do these things happen to me?" The focus is a lot more on Negi's burgeoning powers, and on the increasingly elaborate fights between characters. Yet Akamatsu still has a knack for humor, such as Evangeline's sick little sidekick doll. Freaky.

And some of the characters get new dimensions: the Elder reveals that Konoka might be even more powerful than Negi's dad, , and Setsuna reveals that she's not really human. And Tatsumiya (whom Akamatsu only noted for her "endowments" before) gets to show off her magical sharpshooting skills by defeating ogres.

Ken Akamatsu's new fantasy series hits its stride, with an epic fantasy battle and lots of new battle pals. Time for some downtime.

Non-Stop Action.......2005-09-08

This is the Sixth installment on the Negima! manga series by Ken Akamatsu-san. In this volume, Akamatsu-san brings the Kyoto Field Trip Story arc to a close, in the only way it could be closed, an all out battle. Comdy takes a back seat in this volume that, suprising for Akamatsu-san. Negi, Asuna-san, and their friends face many dangers in this one and I don't want to be the one that spoils them. All I can really say this is by far the best book in this series yet.

a first real battle for negi.......2005-08-23

this is real is a good manga as it continues throughout more chapters... so in this book negi and companions met up with unsuspected extra companions... the assocation that negi had to go for a mission is really the home of one of his lovely students... they celebrate and talked over things but only later to be attacked by one of the monkey girl's group... he single handedly took out mostly all of the associations people... leaving negi, asuna, set... to defend konoka... but she gets taken away anyways... as they trail to konoka only to find that they have to battle more than 100 summon monsters... believe it or not, they are actaully nice although they have to do what they are summoned for... soon mana, ninja girl, and fei helps them out... negi made it to konoka but was too late and the beginning great summon of a 2 faced summmon thingamajig... after negi tries to defeat it only to find out its too poweriful... an old enemy helps protect negi then defeats the giant thing after setun...rescues konoka... after the hard won battle negi was close to death. Konoka saves the day due to her healing powers and everyone is saved. later negi visits his fathers home and learned little but useful to negi. Then they were going back home after a long fun adventure.
later series gets really good hehe because u can really tell. turst me.

The Hidden Power, Unleashed.......2005-08-20

Fans of the previous volumes of this series should enjoy this one, also. However, there were a few things about it that bothered me, just a tiny bit. They have a new translator this time, who translates things differently, so characters have different speech patterns than they had in previous volumes. Also, a bit too much of the book is taken up by magical battles for my taste. Although the fights are well done, I would have preferred more comedy than we get this time around. But, that's just me. Other fans of the series may feel differently.

Magister Negi Magi Vol. 6 (Mahousensei Negima!) (in Japanese)

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Magister Negi Magi Vol. 6 (Mahousensei Negima!) (in Japanese)
Ken Akamatsu
Manufacturer: Kodansha
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Comic

All Japanese Books | Japanese | Foreign Language Books | Specialty Stores | Books
ASIN: B000LMH3WA

Negima!: Magister Negi Magi #06: Negima!: Magister Negi Magi: Volume 6

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Negima!: Magister Negi Magi #06: Negima!: Magister Negi Magi: Volume 6
Ken Akamatsu
Manufacturer: Del Rey
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000OVIUUM

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Jack Vance, where are you when we need you?

Enjoyable Sequel to SANTIAGO

None of the characteristics of the original!!!

Amusing Pulp

A quick read, but not a good one

The Return of Santiago
Mike Resnick
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
Similar Items:

Santiago: A Myth of the Far Future

A Gathering Of Widowmakers

Mutiny (Starship, Book 1)

Pirate (Starship, Book 2)

Dauntless (The Lost Fleet, Book 1)

ASIN: B000IOEUGI

Book Description

A decade ago, Hugo and Nebula Award-winning author Mike Resnick captivated the imagination of a generation of readers with his star-spanning saga Santiago, an epic tale of a daring outlaw and rebel whose life had become legend. The novel won high praise from readers and critics alike, and was hailed as a modern masterwork of science fiction adventure. Now, at last, Resnick offers a new chapter in this spellbinding saga with The Return of Santiago. It has been more than a century since the bandit and assassin known as Santiago blazed a trail of havoc and glory across the Inner Frontier. Some say he is immortal, destined to return again when he is needed most. Some say he was gunned down by a bounty hunter long ago. Others whisper that he never existed at all. When Danny Briggs, a bright but unexceptional thief, stumbles upon the lost poems of Black Orpheus, the poet who had immortalized Santiago with verses about his friends, foes, and exploits, he begins an interstellar odys-sey to unravel the truth behind Santiago's legend. And, in the farthest reaches of the Rim, Danny comes face to face with Santiago. Brimming with action, excitement, mystery, and suspense, The Return of Santiago is pure storytelling in the grand tradition.

Customer Reviews:

Jack Vance, where are you when we need you?.......2007-09-12

Feeling like not much more then amateur Jack Vance fan-fic, the return of Santiago has a little charm, and about 150 too many pages. It also has a ridiculously obvious ending, which is a problem, as it is supposed to be a surprise.

Mind you, if you pick it up, you will probably be roped into Mr. Resnick's easy natural style. His ability to generate quick likable characters is evident, a skill he shares with the venerable Mr. Vance.

His inability to create memorable interesting cultures in a few sentences, or maintain interest past 200 pages (both skills Jack Vance excelled at) sadly outweighs this however, and eventually drags this book down below the 3 star level.

Enjoyable Sequel to SANTIAGO.......2007-01-04

THE RETURN OF SANTIAGO(2003) is the sequel to the classic SANTIAGO(1986). SANTIAGO was so good, that it was a very tough act to follow, but THE RETURN does a good job, and I rate it at 4.5 stars.

In the original SANTIAGO, we learned that Santiago was really more of an idea than a person (there were 6 Santiagos over the course of 30 years in the original book). Santiago is described as "The King of Thieves", but he is really a revolutionary who keeps the Galaxy-ruling Democracy at bay on "The Inner Frontier". RETURN is set 100+ years later in time, and starts off with a petty thief coming across the entire collection of poetic writings of Black Orpheus, a contemporary during the original "reign of Santiago" a hundred years ealier... well, our petty thief figures out "the secret of Santiago", takes on the moniker "Rhymer" and decides to continue writing in the vein of Black Orpheus, and to help ressurrect the legend and reign of Santiago, to keep the increasingly oppressive Democracy at bay.

The author couldn't just continue writing in the exact same way as the original book, as that would have been too boring; but he is able to mix some of the original flavor with enough new twists and turns that RETURN still is able to continually capture the reader's attention and interest. All in all, it is great fun, and that is really why I read - for enjoyment!

Someday, I expect there might be a third book in this series, rounding out a new classic "Trilogy".

None of the characteristics of the original!!!.......2006-03-23

This was terrible! Much like most of the other reviewers, I count Santiago as one of my favorite books and have read it several times. The sequel however, I didn't even finish. Here's why...the main character is a thief and has been one for as long as he can remember. During one of his exploits he finds the entire works of Black Orpheus, reads them in two days, and discovers who Santiago is...what?! Then he decides that he can continue where Black Orpheus left off and start writing poems about the Inner Frontier. I know this is Resnick's book and he can do whatever he wants, but I think he waited too long to write the sequel and lost the passion (and ablity to develop a story) that he had when he wrote the original. If you are looking for a sequel that will enchant you like the first one, I'm sad to say you won't find it here.

Amusing Pulp.......2005-09-26

I like Mike Resnick's space-based dime Westerns, probably for the same reasons that historical readers liked the original dime Westerns. Resnick's larger-than-life characters, with their outsize names (Tyrannosaur Bailey, the Black Death and Accidental Barnes are but three) and bizarre talents, are magnetic, and their hyperbolic adventures are luridly compelling. But Resnick, a writer of exceptional technical skill when he wants to be, is definitely not trying to be William Shakespeare when he writes stuff like this, the original Santiago, or the Oracle trilogy.

Compared to the first Sanitago, this long-delayed sequel has a more complicated, but more troublesome, plot. I know that Resnick intentionally glosses over a lot of details he's fully capable of writing out if he wanted, just to keep things simple and broad-stroke like the tall takes he's emulating. But even making allowances, some of the plot can be hard to swallow. For instance, it's hard to buy that our hero the Rhymer, who is trying to re-create the biggest secret of all time, does so by telling the details of that secret to practically everyone he meets.

Still, plot is not the point of this fast-reading book anyway. The point is to see what happens when Jackrabbit Willowby meets the One-Armed Bandit, or who would win if Joshua Silvermane fought the giant aliens Tweedledee and Tweedledum. Mike Resnick is the only guy who writes stuff like this any more, and I'm happy to have it on any terms.

A quick read, but not a good one.......2005-04-05

The original Santiago captured my imagination when I was fifteen or sixteen, so it was with trepidation that I picked up the sequel almost two decades later. I should have stayed away. This book is a '50s pulp space opera bloated to 440 pages--it tells a ridiculous story in a very unconvincing way. The dozens of characters and worlds are little more than colorful names attached to short, repetitive descriptions. The action scenes are barely sketched and often silly (Can't find the bank's vault during a heist?--look in the closet! Can't crack the vault's lock?--stand back, the Bandit's super prosthetic arm can destroy anything!). Is it too much to expect a little verisimilitude, characters that are more than talking heads, and just a little world-building from a science fiction novel subtitled "A Myth of the Far Future?" Maybe, but readers deserve better. There's too much complex, interesting, and exciting SF being written to settle for blank, simple, silly stories like this, even from Mike Resnick.

Legends of Santiago (santiago,the return of santiago)

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Legends of Santiago (santiago,the return of santiago)

Manufacturer: tior books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: 073943215X

Product Description

BANDIT,OUTLAW,KNOWN TO ALL,SEEN BY NONE,HAS HE KILLED A THOUSAND MEN.MURDERER,MADMAN,MYTH.

THE RETURN OF SANTIAGO (Limited Signed Edition)

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THE RETURN OF SANTIAGO (Limited Signed Edition)

Manufacturer: Easton Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Leather Bound
ASIN: B000HA3B72

Product Description

Limited edition, signed by the author.

The Return of Santiago (SIGNED, LIMITED FIRST EDITION, LEATHER BOUND)

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The Return of Santiago (SIGNED, LIMITED FIRST EDITION, LEATHER BOUND)
Mike Resnick
Manufacturer: Easton Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Leather Bound
ASIN: B000W7GOJW

Return to Ramos (A Challenger book. La raza series)

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Return to Ramos (A Challenger book. La raza series)
Leo Cardenas , and Nilo Santiago (Illustrator)
Manufacturer: Hill and Wang
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Library Binding
ASIN: 0394020189

Ducks will lean on NCAA champions.(Sports)(Winners in 2001, decathlete Santiago Lorenzo and javelin thrower John Stiegeler return from seasons ruined by ... from: The Register-Guard (Eugene, OR)

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Ducks will lean on NCAA champions.(Sports)(Winners in 2001, decathlete Santiago Lorenzo and javelin thrower John Stiegeler return from seasons ruined by ... from: The Register-Guard (Eugene, OR)

Manufacturer: The Register Guard
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Digital
ASIN: B0009FYN0O
Release Date: 2005-07-31

Book Description

This digital document is an article from The Register-Guard (Eugene, OR), published by The Register Guard on April 9, 2003. The length of the article is 874 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

Citation Details
Title: Ducks will lean on NCAA champions.(Sports)(Winners in 2001, decathlete Santiago Lorenzo and javelin thrower John Stiegeler return from seasons ruined by injury)
Publication: The Register-Guard (Eugene, OR) (Newspaper)
Date: April 9, 2003
Publisher: The Register Guard
Page: B1

Distributed by Thomson Gale

No regresaremos al reloj de la imposición: Santiago Creel Miranda/secretario de Gobernación.(TT: We will not return to the watch of imposition: Santiago ... : An article from: Siempre!

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No regresaremos al reloj de la imposición: Santiago Creel Miranda/secretario de Gobernación.(TT: We will not return to the watch of imposition: Santiago ... : An article from: Siempre!
Irma Ortiz
Manufacturer: Edicional Siempre
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Digital
ASIN: B0009FOZCK
Release Date: 2005-07-30

Book Description

This digital document is an article from Siempre!, published by Edicional Siempre on July 3, 2002. The length of the article is 3245 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

Citation Details
Title: No regresaremos al reloj de la imposición: Santiago Creel Miranda/secretario de Gobernación.(TT: We will not return to the watch of imposition: Santiago Creel Miranda/Ministry of the Interior.)(Entrevista)
Author: Irma Ortiz
Publication: Siempre! (Refereed)
Date: July 3, 2002
Publisher: Edicional Siempre
Volume: 49 Issue: 2559 Page: 6(5)

Article Type: Entrevista

Distributed by Thomson Gale

Returns, record highlight Preview meet.(Sports)(John Stiegeler and Santiago Lorenzo are back, and Jordan Sauvage becomes No. 1): An article from: The Register-Guard (Eugene, OR)

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Returns, record highlight Preview meet.(Sports)(John Stiegeler and Santiago Lorenzo are back, and Jordan Sauvage becomes No. 1): An article from: The Register-Guard (Eugene, OR)

Manufacturer: The Register Guard
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Digital
ASIN: B0009FVYT2
Release Date: 2005-07-31

Book Description

This digital document is an article from The Register-Guard (Eugene, OR), published by The Register Guard on March 23, 2003. The length of the article is 936 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

Citation Details
Title: Returns, record highlight Preview meet.(Sports)(John Stiegeler and Santiago Lorenzo are back, and Jordan Sauvage becomes No. 1)
Publication: The Register-Guard (Eugene, OR) (Newspaper)
Date: March 23, 2003
Publisher: The Register Guard
Page: D3

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Vuelve a la etapa negra: el "gobierno del cambio".(TT: Return to the black moment: the "change in government".)(Artículo Breve): An article from: Siempre!

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Vuelve a la etapa negra: el "gobierno del cambio".(TT: Return to the black moment: the "change in government".)(Artículo Breve): An article from: Siempre!
Félix Fuentes
Manufacturer: Edicional Siempre
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Digital
ASIN: B0008FL27M
Release Date: 2005-07-30

Book Description

This digital document is an article from Siempre!, published by Edicional Siempre on October 2, 2002. The length of the article is 581 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

Citation Details
Title: Vuelve a la etapa negra: el "gobierno del cambio".(TT: Return to the black moment: the "change in government".)(Artículo Breve)
Author: Félix Fuentes
Publication: Siempre! (Refereed)
Date: October 2, 2002
Publisher: Edicional Siempre
Volume: 49 Issue: 2572 Page: 16(2)

Article Type: Artículo Breve

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The Return of Santiago
Mike Resnick
Manufacturer: Tom Doherty Associates
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000MVOFSA

Book Description

A provocative look at the theological implications of artificial intelligence—and the controversial questions raised by robotics about our very definition of humanity—from the founder of MIT's God and Computers Project Get ready to meet two remarkable characters, Cog and Kismet. They both enjoy working with others, they're very attentive, have excellent learning skills, and, according to their colleagues, they're very charming. And they're both robots.

From Hollywood to the halls of NASA, robots loom large in the popular imagination. But what feelings do these lifelike machines really provoke in us? In God in the Machine, Dr. Anne Foerst draws on her expertise as both a theologian and computer scientist to address the profound questions that robots such as Cog and Kismet raise for us all: What does it mean to be human? What does it mean to have a soul? And what do robots teach us about our relationship with God?

God in the Machine challenges many popular assumptions—about the Bible, about the meaning of community, and especially about the fundamental distinctions between humanity and the “artificial” beings we create. Dr. Foerst shares intriguing observations about the ways we define “human” versus “person” and asks what we must do in order for all humans to be treated as equal persons.

Original, controversial, and deeply insightful, God in the Machine illuminates the exciting and little-understood new terrain that lies at the intersection of technology and religion, science and faith.

Customer Reviews:

Do Humans Have Souls? Of Course. Well what about Robots?.......2006-09-03

Ask yourselves a question: what makes a being a person? If you don't like that question, consider another: what defines life and how do we know that it is present in creatures other than ourselves? These are just two of many questions theologian and computer scientist Anne Foerst ponders in this interesting and provocative book. "God in the Machine" considers what it means to be human, to have a soul, and to connect to God. Foerst is one of several scholars seeking to explore possibilities for a trans-human future in which robots and humans co-exist, or perhaps robots and humans merge into a new species of cyborgs. With a background in theology she is less interested in questions of what defines a legal person than what defines a new form of life. And what is the connection of that life to God. She notes that building these new life forms--robots--make us co-creators with God in what could be the advance of a new species. She suggests building robots may be best perceived as a type of prayer.

"God in the Machine" offers a breathless consideration of five major themes in cybernetics and theology. The first is the age-old quest to create life. From Golems to Frankenstein's creature this has been a dream of humanity. Second, Foerst explores the idea of embodied science, and then moves on to embodied intelligence, the fundamental attribute of robotic research. From there she investigates the nature of community and what it means to be a person within the context of larger systems. Finally, she seeks to link these ideas into a final chapter on the relationship of humans and robots in community.

This is an interesting, provocative, and sometimes frustrating work. Foerst writes well, but her illustrations are sometimes poorly drawn and not as fully explained as I would like. She also dispensed with notes in favor of a bibliography for each chapter, which meant that the sources for quotes are sometimes difficult to discern.

The begining of some great discussions........2006-04-22

As a former student of Dr. Foerst, I was somewhat predisposed to the material that is presented in this book, perhaps more so than the average reader.

This book is well written which promotes the speed at which one finishes it; but is clearly written for a popular audience. As far as a criticism, I believe that this particular volume introduces more questions then it answers. The positive side of that remark is the number of splendid conversations that the book sparks. I have had many an intellectual discussion of science, philosophy and theology with friends and colleagues as the result of just some of those unanswered questions found in the book.

I would recommend this book.

My only request of Dr. Foerst is that another volume on this topic is written that dives more deeply into some of material introduced in this first book.

The begining of some great discussions........2006-04-22

Provocative Title, Much Less Provocative Text.......2005-07-09

The title of Ms. Foerst's book brings together two of humankind's greatest fears and desires: God and artificial intelligence. But despite such lofty goals, the text is mostly a rather mundane recollection of her days in the MIT AI lab during the 90s. These stories, such as accounts of the way humans emotionally responded to the faces of machines, are only occasionally marginally interesting. However, to her credit, she provides a more humanist perspective on human/robot interactions than a more technically focused writer would have.

The real problem with the book is when it actually tries to fulfill the lofty goals towards the end. This has the unfortunate result of taking the reader on a mixed up journey into human/robot and human/human interactions culminating in the conclusion that the path to world peace is for everyone to treat everyone else with the same friendly curiosity with which they treat robots. No joke...if you would just be nice to everyone, and everyone else would do the same, then we'd have world peace. It's that simple! And luckily, because of robots, we now understand this fact.

Clearly the argument has slightly more depth than my above characterization, but that is the general conclusion. And the reader is just left wondering at the end if there was something more valuable we could learn from robots.

Also, if you're curious, she is theologically quite liberal. So within the context of the book, God is more clockmaker than the God of the Bible.

An interesting and bold narration.......2005-05-27

Those readers who have no religious beliefs but yet are interested in or working in the field of artificial intelligence may think that this book would not be very interesting or important, or possibly an apology for a particular religious worldview. When beginning the book this attitude will be reinforced somewhat, since it takes a while for the author to develop her main themes. Once she does however the book is fascinating, and her discussion of some of the issues in artificial intelligence is highly original and insightful. Considering the environment in which she worked it is refreshing to learn that the author was taken seriously, in spite of her overt expression of her religious beliefs. The only minus to the book is that the author concentrates her attention on robotics, which is a very narrow field of artificial intelligence at the present time. Machines can be intelligent to various degrees without looking like humanoids and without interacting with the environment in the manner that the author describes in great detail in the book. Indeed, these machines are more than just the "machines that sit on the desk" to quote the author. No, they cannot move in the world as humans do, but their abilities to perform tasks in a way that cannot be done by humans attests to their cognitive abilities.

Along with those who work in the field, the author has developed a deep appreciation of the magnificence of the human machine. She encapsulates her view of humanity not according to the usual classification, but according to human capabilities. Humans can tell stories ("homo narrans"), can stand upright ("homo erectus"), can use technology to change the world ("homo faber"), can engage in creativity ("homo ludens"), and can hold to religious beliefs ("homo religiosus"). There are of course other machines, biological and otherwise, that can do some of these things, but the human machine is unique in being able to do all of them, and then with a relatively low energy requirement. This of course does not make the human machine superior to the others, and in fact humans cannot compete at all with some of the machines of today in certain tasks. Those who build robots though insist on replicating the idiosyncrasies of the human machine, even though these robots may not be useful in any practical sense. The author's goal in the book is to try and understand why the building of these robots has been such an intense activity in the last half-century.

It is clear that many do not find the prospect of humanoid robots very pleasant at all. Hollywood movies, with their depiction of machines bent on the annihilation of humankind, are both an expression and cause of this anxiety. But stories of non-human entities possessing high degrees of intelligence have also pervaded our myths and stories long before the invention of film. As an example she describes the myth of the "golem" coming from Jewish mysticism. Interestingly, in some stories, golems are made from clay and constructed through words and numbers. Their purpose is to assist in the understanding of the world, a mythos or paradigm that definitely intersects with the one in artificial intelligence.

More interesting in her discussion of "rebuilding ourselves" is the reminder of a peculiar phenomenon that takes place in the artificial intelligence community, indeed in the scientific research community as a whole. This regards the "demystification" or diminishing of awe when a scientific explanation is found for a particular human capability. Indeed, it seems that every time an advance is made in artificial intelligence, such as a machine beating the best backgammon or chess player in the world, it eventually gets dismissed as being merely the result of a sophisticated program, and not as an example of true intelligence.

The author of course is not free of biases, as no one can be, whether they are in the scientific profession or not. Her intellectual honesty though is refreshing, and she is unashamed of her devout religious beliefs. She correctly recognizes that there are many in the scientific community who occupy both laboratories and churches, and make significant contributions to science. Whether they are scientists who sometimes practice religion or religionists who sometimes engage in scientific research is perhaps left to debate. But the author believes that these individuals, along with all the rest of humanity, clearly benefit and learn from social interactions, and that such interactions are even absolutely necessary for true intelligence to arise. Sometimes though these interactions go awry, and result in devastating conflict, this occurring primarily because of a diminution in respect for differences or of parties not being in the same physical space. The acceptance of humanoid robots she argues will therefore depend on whether their differences can be respected and whether they can interact with us in the same physical space. These robots can be viewed therefore as a gauge on how far we have advanced in our acceptance and respect for others. Certainly this is a good reason for the creation of these machines if none other can be found. But many other reasons can be found.....

God In The Machine: What Robots Teach Us About Humanity And God

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God In The Machine: What Robots Teach Us About Humanity And God
Anne Foerst
Manufacturer: E P Dutton
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000PCFSLY

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