Author: Biz India

Book Review: The Columbia Guide to Religion in American History

Editors: Paul Harvey & Edward J. Blum Publisher: Columbia University Press – 462 pages Book Review by: Paiso Jamakar Twenty-two scholars write on major themes in this book on a diverse range of religious traditions in the United States. Among these themes are: The growth and spread of evangelical culture The mutual influence of religion and politics The rise of fundamentalism The role of gender and popular culture The problems and possibilities of pluralism Among the benefits that students, researchers, scholars and readers in general can derive from this study are: An extensive glossary listing crucial concepts, groups, historical...

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Book Review: Landscape of the Mind: Human Evolution and the Archaeology of Thought

Author: John F. Hoffecker Publisher: Columbia University Press – 259 pages Book Review by: Deekay Daulat Chances are, you have not come across the phrase ‘the archaeology of thought’ because when you think of archaeology, you think of something physical, like bones, tracks of leaves etched on stone, and the like. Well, as they say, you learn something new everyday. Thought is produced by the human mind, and the seat of the human mind is the human brain. This book, as the writing on the inside jacket flap states, “explores the origin and growth of the human mind, drawing on archaeology, history, and the fossil record.” The author John F. Hoffecker – who is associated with the Institute of Arctic and Alpine Research at the University of Colorado at Boulder – suggests that “as an indirect result of bipedal locomotion, early humans developed a feedback relationship among their hands, brains and tools that evolved into the capacity to externalize thoughts in the form of shaped stone objects.” Those shaped stone objects of our earliest ancestors somehow evolved into symbols of language. But that is not quite clear, since we all have known or been taught that those oval pieces of stone with sharp edges were used to kill or disable animals that were then used for food by the earliest humans on earth. So to jump to the idea...

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Book Review: Social Justice and the Urban Obesity Crisis: Implications for Social Work

Author: Melvin Delgado Publisher: Columbia University Press Book Review by: Deekay Daulat The statistics are sobering. In 2004, two thirds of all adults were either overweight or obese. And 16 percent of all children and adolescents were overweight. An additional 34 percent of these youngsters were at risk for becoming overweight. Melvin Delgado presents lots of data that helps the reader look at the dimensions and understand the true extent of the obesity epidemic in the United States The figures he cites showing great weight gain across all age groups in recent years are alarming, to say the least....

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Book Review: Handbook of Multicultural Counseling Competencies

Editors:  Jennifer A. Erickson Cornish, Barry A. Schreier, Lavita I. Nadkarni, Lynette Henderson Metzger, and Emil R. Rodolfa Publisher: Wiley – 540 pages Book Review by: Paiso Jamakar Over the decades since Europeans came to the shores of what was first called India by Christopher Columbus, prejudice and bias has existed in the hearts and minds of some people against others based on ethnicity and race, which later enlarged to include age, disability, language,  sexual orientation and size. With gradual, better understanding of people who act, behave, look, talk and think differently discrimination has lessened considerably. But there is...

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Book Review: Contemporary Business, 15th edition

Authors: Dave Kurtz and Gene Boone Publisher: Wiley – 549 pages Book Review by: Sonu Chandiram This is the 15th edition of a very popular textbook on many aspects of business as it is done in today’s world. In addition to nearly 550 pages of information, this book contains five very useful and practical Appendices, one each on: Business Law, Insurance and Risk Management, Personal Finance Planning, Developing a Business Plan, and Careers in Contemporary Business. Also, the purchasers of this book are provided additional resources, mainly the Boone and Kurtz Student Case Videos and the Weekly Updates. In...

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