Marcus Weeks

Yeah, in over 200 minutes... what a bad way to learn complex integrated ideas. Well, I dunno what you'd think if this was all brand-new to you, but I've had a couple of courses and read a few other introductions, and this just frustrated the heck out of me. I tried the first third at a pace of 1-3 pp at a time, kept losing track of what I'd already been taught. Read the last 2/3 in one afternoon and retain nothing of that beyond what I already knew.

Notably, I'm frustrated not only by the show more lack of cohesion and coherence, but the strange emphases. Either call it "The History of Western Philosophy in Minutes" or develop modern and world philosophy better. A handful of pages cover all of Eastern religions and philosophies! And a few vague platitudinous pp purport to speak to the value of philosophy today.

And what's up with the absence of women? Three pp total, and two are actually about the Rights of Women (emancipation and liberation). The third is actually about 'gender and philosophy' and doesn't even name anyone. Is Meeks a 'blind' white male? Or are there no female philosophers worth writing about? And if not, why not? (Is it because we women are so busy with just plain living that we don't have time for this BS? ;)

I chose to read this because I have always wondered what's so 'key' about philosophy that it gets books like this. I still don't know. And I'm pretty sure I no longer care. show less

I suck at eyeballing things and I suck at it in the worst way: my memory of the size of things is always smaller than the reality, so when my husband hears me say "Oh, that'll fit in our living room easy!" we both know it's not going to end well. Luckily he's quite good at eyeballing things so we don't have a 6 foot couch in a 5 foot space.

This is the reason why I grabbed this book from a closing down sale; I like comparisons; I find them much more relevant to my mind than actually show more measurements.

The book succeeds at its goal: it creates a standard of comparative measurements for objects of all shapes and sizes in every part of life. The illustrations are excellent and the writing is fun. My only complaint and the reason for the 3 stars instead of a higher rating is that the author tries to codify these representational measurements. For example, he calls the length of your arms spanned wide open a Len (in homage to Da Vinci's Proportions of Man). This is fine, and it works, but only when he remembers to actually tell you what his made up measurement means. I often found myself reading about something being 2 MEiff long without having any idea what an MEiff is (short for Monsieur Eiffel - the height of the man who designed the Eiffel tower) because it was described after it was used.

All in all, a fun reference to have when kids are around, but not particularly practical in its usefulness. show less

Este libro es la introducción perfecta a la materia: cubre y explora los experimentos más controvertidos, las teorías principales y los pioneros más influyentes en psicología. Si quieres saber porque la gente hace las cosas que hace, este libro es para ti.

In the CRASH COURSE series, this jargon-free and comprehensive book contains everything the reader needs to know to understand and enjoy classical music. It explains not only how to talk confidently about tonality, melody and counterpoint but shares insights into the musicians, composers and movements.