Month: August 2014

Author: Naunihal Singh Publisher: Johns Hopkins University Press – 252 pages Book Review by: Paiso Jamakar This is a treasure trove of data and analysis of hundreds of coups, including close observations of ten of them. From the activities we spell out below, Nauninal Singh draws conclusions on the causes and outcomes of coups and coup attempts, and has developed a unified theory on coup dynamics. The body of information he gathered for this book came from these empirical sources: 471 coup attempts worldwide in half a century 1950 to 2000. 300 hours of interviews with coup participants 10...

Author:  George Weisz Publisher: Johns Hopkins University Press – 307 pages Book Review by: Sonu Chandiram This book – a history of chronic disease (which meant different things to different people, as you will find out) – is a comparison and contrast by George Weisz of how it was dealt with by governments, medical communities, and other entities in the United States, the United Kingdom, and France in the 1900s. Like the origins of most books, Weisz found that no such history existed, and that he would write one. He also found that “chronic disease” to some people meant...

Author: Randy Alcorn Publisher: Multnomah Book Review by: Laxmi Chaandi Why does God allow suffering? That is the question asked, and is the title of section 10. I believe that is the main question in most people’s minds, as they begin to read this book. Randy Alcorn answer the question this way: “Since God is the source of all goodness, his glory is the wellspring of all joy. What God does for his own sake benefits us. Therefore whatever glorifies him is good for us…and that includes the suffering he allows or brings into our lives” “God refines us...

Editor: Barbara Cassin. Translation Editors: Emily Apter, Jacques Lezra, Michael Wood Publisher: Princeton University Press – 1,297 pages Book Review by: Sonu Chandiram This book contains nearly 400 words – concepts, and literary, philosophical, political terms – that are either difficult to translate from one language to another, or defy precise and complete translation because of lack of comparable words and / or meanings in other languages. And, this book is not just a dictionary but also an encyclopedia. The words in it come from more than a dozen languages. Examples of these words are: Dasein (German), pravda (Russian),...

Author: Dennis Saleebey Publisher: Pearson – 332 pages Book Review by: Paiso Jamakar This book was first published in 1992, so the fact that it’s been around for more than two decades and has been renewed and updated five times with new information and insight gained, speaks well for Dennis Saleeby of course, and also because it has aroused a lot of people’s interest in the strengths perspective, as a new way to help clients of social workers and others, in allied fields. What is the strengths perspective? It is a way of looking at people based on their...