Book Description
Long before Monty Python and the Holy Grail, Hollywood's version of the Middle Ages had sometimes been laughable. Who can resist chuckling at The Black Knight (1954), in which Arthurian warriors ride across a plain complete with telephone poles in the background? Or The Black Shield of Falworth (1954), in which Tony Curtis-in his best medieval Bronx accent-utters the immortal line, "Yonda is the castle of my fodda"? These films may not be paragons of historical accuracy, but much of what we know-or think we know-about the Middle Ages has been dictated by what we've seen on the movie screen.
In this entertaining and deeply informative book, John Aberth-author of From the Brink of the Apocalypse-assesses the historical accuracy of well known cinematic interpretations of the Middle Ages. Separating fact from fiction in more than fifty films from the silent era to today, including Camelot, Excalibur, Braveheart, and The Adventures of Robin Hood, Aberth shows how narrative license routinely makes the distant era familiar by projecting contemporary obsessions and fears onto the past. These stock images of knights in shining armor and damsels in distress rarely sum up real life in the Middle Ages. Instead, the best and most thought-provoking works-like Ingmar Bergman's The Seventh Seal-revel in the differences between those times and our own, drawing us into another world in order to understand and appreciate the differences.
With provocative insight into the blurred lines between medieval fact and fiction, both history buffs and film aficionados will find much food for thought here.
Customer Reviews:
useful study of medieval history on film.......2006-02-12
Aberth provides us an excellent survey of cinematic treatments of the medieval era. Each chapter opens with a survey of the history the films cover, tnen proceeds to discuss several key films. The chapters cover King Arthur films, Viking films, Crusade films, Robin Hood films, Black Death films, and Joan of Arc films. Aberth's judgments are pretty reliable, as he favors classic films such as Bergman's Seventh Seal and Dreyer's film on Joan of Arc, but he also finds value in newer films such as Navigator. A very worthwhile study by a historian of the middle ages.
A great example of how NOT to write about history and film.......2005-05-09
This book may have some use as a reference resource, especially for those readers not familiar with many films about the Middle Ages. Its publication as a serious work of history and film is, however, an embarrassment to Routledge. Though Aberth says he does not simply want to point out historical inaccuracies and anachronisms in the films he discusses, he ends up largely doing just that. Dividing the historical background off from discussion of the films, he uses History (naively considered as transparent and self-evident to the "objective" historian) to bludgeon various films and their directors. These films and film direcotrs supposedly "distort" history in order to "push an agenda." If Aberth knows little about history, he knows even less about film and film history. Reductive readings of the films (often cribbed from other writers) in relation to their moment of production is about all Aberth has to over in a rambling, poorly written, and simplistic excuse for a book (that should never have been published). Aberth offers no explanation of the book's organization, nor does he bother to explain the omission of numerous films from his book. Unfortunately, Aberth has no competitors in English as far as book length studies go. (...)
Book Description
Originally self-published in 1994, Gong Dreaming 1 has been sought after by collectors and fans ever since.
This is a very personal vision quest through a group experience shared by many in the late 1960s. It is not an attempt at a historical documentation of the time but of one person's visions and hallucinations sewn together with personal memories.
Why?
I am well aware that there are better singers, guitarists, storytellers, and songwriters than I surrounding me wherever I go. Yet there is no one but myself who can relate the inner journey that has taken me through 25 years of minor celebrity as father of two of Britain's seminal cult psychedelic bands, born from the cultural and social revolution that began in 1967.-Daevid Allen
Customer Reviews:
5 Stars! One Banana Moon and Andy Partridge in a weasel's Plume.......2007-07-07
.
.
.
Teeter - Totters on the brink of Ray Johnson Knell-ism
into the VAST Un-Owned.
YES ! Daevid it is moi, rain rien nevermind, And I STILL have the original copy puppy of
DREAMINg 1 , with leaking kitten, thank you very much, that Planet gong sent sailing over-seize ...and very much enjoy it and pass it around for Yuk-Yuks, And YOU or Jaw Knee Green may remember I have paid the TEN DOLLAR "$10.00" FEE-FREE RESERVE-OVATION ( that's almost 5 whole pounds, not stars, mate! ) for the DREAMINg II, ting tang yen yank, which apparently hasn't made it to press or the AMAZON JUNgLE, YET You really should mention { cut too } William Burroughs Connection just to bug people or FILL em with Bug JUICE O' Joy . EVERYBODY LISTEN EVERYBODY LEAVE as the old I am a Wall Rush Relays :: PLEASE ! with ...Angels in Heavy Syrup on it, EVERYONE Log On and BUY THIS BOOK and then BUY "Put the Book Back on the SHELF" a belle sebastian anthology ( for comic relief simi-you-lure-itty.) And with that this Ginger Geezergiddyitty Low Bows and Exits Stage Muff. Dear AMAZON, Darlinks, This is REALLY an 8 STAR Review for Daevid's Book, if you will just LOOK at the BOOK you may well understand, well, well The Review Formerly Known as 07/07/07 is over 8ted.
Put The Book Back On The Shelf: A Belle And Sebastian AnthologyCORRESPONDANCE is CORRESPONDANCE if you don't wanna DANCE at least shuffle along
Naked Lunch: The Restored Text
like a Daevid Allen collage to wrap your brain in before throwing it out.......2007-06-06
This book is not really a straight ahead chronological narrative as much as a collection of his poetry, art, lyrics, and some prose thrown in as well. As such, it serves as a good document of the genius of Daevid Allen and his universe. If a document of his professional career is what you're after then I would recommend other books such as the Soft Machine bio, Out-Bloody-Rageous by Graham Bennett, or Mike King's excellent Robert Wyatt bio, Wrong Movements.
Customer Reviews:
Help for Black Belt Sudoku.......2007-08-01
A previous reviewer suggested the Dell montly publication for solving tips. I found it online at www.dellmagazines.com. It was very helpful, and gave me a clue to the last step for solving I haven't found on my own. If you are bored with the usual sudoku, this is the book for you, but be forewarned, it is tough, and most puzzles can't be solved without penciling in possible answers.
A super challenge befitting the title.......2007-07-17
I wizzed throught the first Black Belt Sudoku book by another author and was getting bored toward the end. But Second Degree Black Belt by Frank Longo is awesome. These are real tough puzzles requiring an understanding of the X Wing, Unique Rectangles, Swordfish, XY Wing, XYZ Wing and other advanced strategies. Many puzzles use multiple strategies. I really liked #28 with a double X Wing based in 1's. So if you really want to dig into the more difficult strategies and avoid guessing then this is a good book to consider.
Buy Dell's "Sudoku Challenge" as a companion to this book:.......2007-02-12
My biggest disappointment with Second Degree Black Belt Sudoku is the introduction. It provides very basic, simplistic solving techniques which barely scratch the surface of the advanced techniques required to solve these puzzles. No where are terms like "X Wing" "XY Wing" or "swordfish" mentioned, much less illustrated with an example. This is a real shame as you'll need to know these techniques to truly enjoy the puzzles contained in this book.
As a companion to this book I'd recommend also picking up Dell's monthly publication "Sudoku Challenge". The Dell magazine contains the most wonderful 2 page double-sided insert. This insert contains real puzzle examples and explanations of what "X Wing" "XY Wing" and "swordfish" entail.
Prior to reading the Dell publication I felt the aforementioned techniques were too advanced for me. I attempted several times to research and learn these techniques by visiting various websites with alleged examples and definitions of said techniques. What these websites actually contained was logic-jargon and math notation that was over my head. All of these websites used theoretical as opposed to real puzzle examples of each technique which only added to my confusion and frustration. The end result was me leaving the website even more confused than before I came.
Kudos to the Dell publication for being clear and concise and explaining these techniques to me in a language that was simple enough for me to understand. It was this newly learned knowledge that enabled me to overcome my frustrations with having to outright guess at some of the puzzles in Second Degree Black Belt. I'm now able to elegantly solve all the puzzles in this book, the way Sudokus were meant to be solved.
Once you have a firm grasp on X-Wing, XY Wing, and Swordfish the puzzles in Second Degree Black Belt become quite enjoyable. Not all puzzles contained in Second Degree Black Belt require these techniques, but the ones that do I consider to be on the "easy" end of the X(Y) Wing/Swordfish spectrum. These puzzles are right on par with Dell's "super tough" level puzzles, and are nowhere near as hard as Dell's "brainbuster" level puzzles.
In summary to fully enjoy Second Degree Black Belt Sudoku you'll need to understand X Wing, XY Wing, and Swordfish which unfortunately the preface of the book doesn't tell you. Otherwise you'll just be blind guessing at certain stages of each puzzle as a previous reviewer of this book alluded to.
more than one dimension.......2007-02-02
This is the most challenging classic Sudoku book I've found. It's a pleasure to spot the solution--some of which require tracing patterns in multiple dimensions. Frank Longo knows a beautiful puzzle.
Having mastered front headlock crossover elbow break..........2006-06-20
These are tough Sudokus. I think these are even tougher than the "Beware! Very Challenging" sudokus from the Will Shortz series. I don't know how they compare to the ones designated "Diabolical," I haven't attempted those yet.
I'm working my way through this book and solving the puzzles successfully about 70% of the time. This seems to be just right to create tension and challenge me without overly discouraging me (again I refer you to Bandura's Self Efficacy theory).
But these are puzzles where you have to plug in numbers at some point and just see what happens. Here's what I do: I start off with a pen, doing all the numbers that can be deduced through logic alone. Then, I switch to a pencil. I find a box with only two options, and guess, write in a small 'A', and then follow it out to see where it goes, labelling the boxes with consecutive letters as I go so I can follow my steps backwards in retreat if necessary. Let me know if you've got a better idea.
The problem with these sudokus is knowing when to abandon logic and start muscling through. It's for this reason that I think I prefer sudokus that can be solved with logic alone (although some make the case that the trial-and-error guessing is just an extension of the logical steps you are taking in your head when solving simpler puzzles). But I got this book as a gift, a little retribution for all my tough Sudoku talk, and I will not back down.
Nice puzzles, well constructed for those of you into symmetry (I'm not sure why you care, but I've seen your critiques of other sudoku books). These books are also a good illustration of the fact that the number of clues filled in to start with is not directly correlated to the difficulty level of the puzzle. These look like easy puzzles at first glance, lots of numbers filled in to start with. But there is very little redundancy in the clues. I always start off hot and then hit a wall.
I like the martial arts metaphor of this series. I'm flattered to be at the second degree black belt level of something I've been at for about eight months. But I saw that he has a book called second degree white belt. What is that? Some kind of veteran neophyte? Or do you have to actively unlearn something to be a second degree white belt?
Book Description
In this fascinating book, New Yorker business columnist James Surowiecki explores a deceptively simple idea: Large groups of people are smarter than an elite few, no matter how brilliant–better at solving problems, fostering innovation, coming to wise decisions, even predicting the future.
With boundless erudition and in delightfully clear prose, Surowiecki ranges across fields as diverse as popular culture, psychology, ant biology, behavioral economics, artificial intelligence, military history, and politics to show how this simple idea offers important lessons for how we live our lives, select our leaders, run our companies, and think about our world.
Download Description
The Wisdom of Crowds
I
If, years hence, people remember anything about the TV game show Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?, they will probably remember the contestants' panicked phone calls to friends and relatives. Or they may have a faint memory of that short-lived moment when Regis Philbin became a fashion icon for his willingness to wear a dark blue tie with a dark blue shirt. What people probably won't remember is that every week Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? pitted group intelligence against individual intelligence, and that every week, group intelligence won.
Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? was a simple show in terms of structure: a contestant was asked multiple-choice questions, which got successively more difficult, and if she answered fifteen questions in a row correctly, she walked away with $1 million. The show's gimmick was that if a contestant got stumped by a question, she could pursue three avenues of assistance. First, she could have two of the four multiple-choice answers removed (so she'd have at least a fifty-fifty shot at the right response). Second, she could place a call to a friend or relative, a person whom, before the show, she had singled out as one of the smartest people she knew, and ask him or her for the answer. And third, she could poll the studio audience, which would immediately cast its votes by computer. Everything we think we know about intelligence suggests that the smart individual would offer the most help. And, in fact, the "experts" did okay, offering the right answer--under pressure--almost 65 percent of the time. But they paled in comparison to the audiences. Those random crowds of people with nothing better to do on a weekday afternoon than sit in a TV studio picked the right answer 91 percent of the time.
Now, the results of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? would never stand up to scientific scrutiny. We don't know how smart the experts were, so we don't know how impressive outperforming them was. And since the experts and the audiences didn't always answer the same questions, it's possible, though not likely, that the audiences were asked easier questions. Even so, it's hard to resist the thought that the success of the Millionaire audience was a modern example of the same phenomenon that Francis Galton caught a glimpse of a century ago.
As it happens, the possibilities of group intelligence, at least when it came to judging questions of fact, were demonstrated by a host of experiments conducted by American sociologists and psychologists between 1920 and the mid-1950s, the heyday of research into group dynamics. Although in general, as we'll see, the bigger the crowd the better, the groups in most of these early
experiments--which for some reason remained relatively unknown outside of academia--were relatively small. Yet they nonetheless performed very well. The Columbia sociologist Hazel Knight kicked things off with a series of studies in the early 1920s, the first of which had the virtue of simplicity. In that study Knight asked the students in her class to estimate the room's temperature, and then took a simple average of the estimates. The group guessed 72.4 degrees, while the actual temperature was 72 degrees. This was not, to be sure, the most auspicious beginning, since classroom temperatures are so stable that it's hard to imagine a class's estimate being too far off base. But in the years that followed, far more convincing evidence emerged, as students and soldiers across America were subjected to a barrage of puzzles, intelligence tests, and word games. The sociologist Kate H. Gordon asked two hundred students to rank items by weight, and found that the group's "estimate" was 94 percent accurate, which was better than all but five of the individual guesses. In another experiment students were asked to look at ten piles of buckshot--each a slightly different size than the
Customer Reviews:
Smart, Interesting and Easy to Read.......2007-09-21
This book was a surprise hit for me. I didn't expect to like it, but ended up loving it so much I just had to have a copy on my shelf. Surowieki is very convincing, in part because he takes such care to bring up alternative arguments and respond to each. He also keeps his focus fairly narrow, so the arguments aren't all over the place. I was especially fascinated by his discussion of experts. We rely on them so heavily these days, but now I know to question their expertise. This book has changed the way that I make decisions and the way I evaluate good decision-making in my elected representatives. I recommend this book to anyone interested in making good decisions. It is a smoothly-written book and you won't have any trouble following the arguments or staying 'into' it.
Don't expect a textbook.......2007-09-19
I really like the Wisdom of Crowds because Surowiecki succeeds in explaining complicated and sophisticated ideas in ways that educated people can not only grasp but also incorporate into their own thinking. This is quite an achievement, one that critics of the book have overlooked. This topic has not been open until now to such a wide audience.
Surowiecki never shies from even difficult and abstract statistical concepts. He draws liberally upon academic journals and scholarly books, writing in a style that is at once journalistic and educated.
Yet, Surowiecki never talks down to his reader. Instead he invites the reader to accompany him through an arcane (and dimly lit) maze of statistical practice as it has been developed and utilized for decades by social scientists and economists. The reader is rewarded again and again because Surowiecki points to a partially hidden jewel, holds it up for examination, hands it to the reader and then leaves it in plain sight (often for reference later in the book).
Thus, this book is a remarkable example, a model, for readers (and writers) who wish to bridge the gaps between educated professionals.
My criticism is along different lines. In this extremely visual era, the editors could have widened the audience for the Wisdom of Crowds much further if suitable images could have been commissioned to throw additional light on Surowiecki's prose. But, paper and ink are so much more expensive than artists these days, one can understand the limitations and constraints Doubleday (Random House) were under. On the other hand, why not put up a web site?
Crowds Oh Wisdom.......2007-09-19
Good book and I thought the pace moved along extremely well. There are some significant things in the book that are a bit dated, but overall this is a very interesting book. I also recommend "Beyond Buzz: The Next Generation of Word-of-Mouth Marketing" by Lois Kelly published 2007 to couple with this book. Beyond Buzz: The Next Generation of Word-of-Mouth Marketing
Food for thought.......2007-08-21
I found this book full of sweeping claims, generalizations and is confusing in its presentation. However it made me think. Overall the writer is saying that people independently working on a problem can in a fair vote be more accurate then the smartest individual. He then quotes examples for such behaviour and examples of when the crowds got it wrong when they acted not independently but in mass. I suspect that much of his arguments are sound.
How much I am not sure for example if I asked the average person independently if they believe there was much truth in astrology, I am sure that over 50% would say yes.
However since the book is making much comments, I hope to see some better studies coming forward.
Having said all this it has changed my views on decision making and how to do it.
Surowiecki is a gifted teacher.......2007-08-08
At first I was afraid that "The wisdom of crowds" was going to be a 250 page restatement of the law of large numbers for dummies. In the beginning it looks that way, because Surowiecki takes a lot of time to explain that the more people trying to guess the solution to a problem, each adding their own bit of information, the more accurate the average guess. Not very revolutionary at all (although possibly counterintuitive at first). But as the book moved on I got more and drawn in and impressed by the presentation, which is rigorous and supremely readable at the same time.
The book describes how crowds can solve problems of cognition, coordination and cooperation. It gives the conditions under which crowds are good and not good at doing so. The author illustrates with a myriad of interesting problems and case studies, some rather obvious choices (why do investment bubbles emerge?, why do political stock markets predict so well?), others more arcane (why did the gangsters in reservoir dogs fail?, why is it often easy to cut a line?). What binds these studies together is the way groups handle information and the good and bad institution designed to make them do so.
Throughout all the diversity, it is the great scholarship of Surowiecki that makes everything naturally fall into place. Being familiar with a lot of the material in academic form, I know how conceptually daring some of it is, but Surowiecki effortlessly reduces it to bite-size portions, without compromising much or exaggerating anywhere. Great reading!
Average customer rating:
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The Wisdom of Crowds
Manufacturer: Books on Tape
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Audio Cassette
ASIN: 1415900736 |
Product Description
Unabridged on 7 cassettes
Book Description
Groups can sometimes take on characteristics and dynamics that impede individual decision making. Being aware of how susceptible you and your colleagues are to powerful social influences is important. This chapter examines several ways in which groupthink and other social influences can infect a logical decision process.
Book Description
This digital document is an article from Modern Casting, published by Thomson Gale on June 1, 2006. The length of the article is 778 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: Tapping the Wisdom of Crowds.(NOVEL SOLUTIONS)
Author: William J. Libby
Publication:
Modern Casting (Magazine/Journal)
Date: June 1, 2006
Publisher: Thomson Gale
Volume: 96
Issue: 6
Page: 38(1)
Distributed by Thomson Gale
Book Description
The Delphi technique involves recruiting panels of experts from a variety of fields and asking them to iteratively evaluate predictions about the future of, say, an emerging innovation until they reach consensus. Shaping the strongest predictions into several possible scenarios prepares managers to act quickly when one begins to unfold.
Book Description
This digital document is an article from The Business Owner, published by Thomson Gale on May 1, 2007. The length of the article is 463 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: The Wisdom of Crowds.(Book review)
Author: James Surowiecki
Publication:
The Business Owner (Magazine/Journal)
Date: May 1, 2007
Publisher: Thomson Gale
Volume: 31
Issue: 3
Page: 13(1)
Article Type: Book review
Distributed by Thomson Gale
Book Description
This digital document is an article from Business Economics, published by Thomson Gale on October 1, 2006. The length of the article is 635 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: The Wisdom of Crowds: Why the Many Are Smarter than the Few and How Collective Wisdom Shapes Business, Economies, Societies, and Nations.(Audiobook review)
Author: Edmund A. Mennis
Publication:
Business Economics (Magazine/Journal)
Date: October 1, 2006
Publisher: Thomson Gale
Volume: 41
Issue: 4
Page: 63(2)
Article Type: Audiobook review
Distributed by Thomson Gale
Books:
- A New History of Japanese Cinema: A Century Of Narrative Film
- A Short Guide to Writing about Film (Short Guides Series)
- A Woman's View: How Hollywood Spoke to Women, 1930-1960
- Quotable Star Trek
- Alfred Hitchcock and the Making of Psycho
- An Unauthorized Guide to Godzilla Collectibles (Schiffer Book for Collectors)
- Batman Begins: The Official Movie Guide
- Bazin at Work: Major Essays and Reviews From the Forties and Fifties
- Best in Show: The Films of Christopher Guest and Company
- Bruce Lee: The Celebrated Life of the Golden Dragon (The Bruce Lee Library)
Books Index
Books Home
Recommended Books
- Organizational Behavior: Key Concepts, Skills & Best Practices
- Concrete Countertops: Design, Form, and Finishes for the New Kitchen and Bath
- The Matter of Images: Essays on Representation
- Tom Taylor's Civil War
- A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge, Third Edition
- Democracy in America
- Art of Peace
- Wiley CPA Examination Review Focus Notes: Financial Accounting and Reporting
- The Value of a Dollar: Prices and Incomes in the United States, 1860-2004
- Wooden Throne
General
| Movies
| Entertainment
| Subjects
| Books
The Medieval Hero on Screen: Representations from Beowulf to Buffy
Common Women: Prostitution and Sexuality in Medieval England (Studies in the History of Sexuality)
The Hanged Man: A Story of Miracle, Memory, and Colonialism in the Middle Ages
A Short History of the Middle Ages
The Name of the Rose: including the Author's Postscript
![Freakonomics [Revised and Expanded]: A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything](http://images-eu.amazon.com/images/P/0061234001.01.THUMBZZZ.jpg)
