Books

Back cover: Virginia Satir, pioneer in family therapy, is an internationally acclaimed group leader and therapist. Her previous edition of PeopleMaking sold 700,000 copies and has been translated into 12 foreign langages. The New Peoplemaking has been totally revised and enlarged by six new chapters that elaborate on the whole of life.

Some chapter titles: What's your family like? - Self-Worth: The Pot Nobody Watches - Communication: Talking and Listening - Patterns of Communication - The Rules You Live By - The Couple: Architects of the Family - Special Families - Family Engineering - The Extended Family - The Life Cycle - Adolescence - Positive Pairing - The Later Years - The Family in the Larger System - The Family of the Future.

Marc: If I had to choose just one of the books listed here, it would be this one.

From front cover: "To anyone who deals with children and cares about children, it cannot be too highly recommended"-The New York Times

From Preface: "Most children in school fail. For a great many, this failure is avowed and absolute. Close to forty percent of those who begin high school drop out before they finish. For college, the figure is one in three. Many others fail in fact if not in name. They complete their schooling only becaues we have agreed to push them up through the grades and out of the schools whether they know anything or not. There are many more such children than we think. <...> But there is a more important sense in which almost all children fail: Except for a handful, who may or may not be good students, they fail to develop more than a tiny part of the tremendous capacity for learning, understanding, and creating with which they were born and of which they made full use during the first two or three years of their lives. Why do they fail? They fail because they are afraid, bored, and confused."

"A work of breathtaking scholarship and encyclopedic scope." -Adam Robinson, Co-founder, The Princeton Review, author, What Smart Students Should Know

Marc: I'm still only half way through this book so I can only vouch for what I've read so far, but that is important enough for me to want to share it without waiting. Gatto, who was named New York State & New York City Teacher of the Year multiple times, explains why he quit after 30 years and is now instead devoting himself to alerting the public to the perversion of education that is taking place in our schools.

The full text is online at the author's site, and these short essays can serve as introductions: How public education cripples our kids, and why, The Six-Lesson Schoolteacher.

From back cover: "This collection amounts to a retrospective exhibition of a working life....Bateson has come to this position during a career that carried him not only in anthropology, for which he was first trained, but into psychiatry, genetics, and communication theory. He...examines the nature of mind, seeing it not as a nebulous something, somehow lodged somewhere in the body of each man, but as a network of interactions relating the individual with his society and with the universe at large."-D.W. Harding, New York Review of Books

"Philosophical depth, conceptual rigor, and an uncanny scientific imagination are the hallmarks of this invaluable collection by one of the most influential minds of this century."-Carlos E. Sluzki, editor of Double Bind: The Foundation of Communicational Approach to the Family

"One of the great books of the 20th century."-Charles Keil

Marc: Gregory Bateson made important contributions to the fields of (among others) anthropology, cybernetics and psychiatry.

From back cover: "Mindstorms is the book that started the computer revolution in schools. Since its publication in 1980, it has been the bible for thousands of teachers who have sought creative ways to use computers in the classroom. The book chronicles the invention of LOGO, the first child-friendly programming language.

"[Seymour Papert] offers one of the most promising glimpses yet of how we might build toward an educational system in which we could take renewed pride." ˆNew York Times Book Review

Seymour Papert is Lego Professor of Mathematics and Education at MIT, where he is also co-founder of the Artificial Intelligence and Media Laboratories.

Marc: Makes the case that children naturally learn by gradually exploring their world and building their own theories about what they find out. That children rework and refine these theories until they fit with their experience of the world. Contrasts the idea of "debugging" (gradually getting something right through successive efforts) as taught by making LOGO programs, to the right answer/wrong answer approach of teaching used in many schools. Considers how this latter method can lead children to believe they are poor learners, thus negatively conditioning further progress, or worse even killing the desire to learn. Explains how this is often the case with mathematics, and advocates use of LOGO to allow children to master powerful mathematical ideas (and understand computers from within by programming them). Illustrated with transcripts of actual programming discussions by young children.

From back cover: "In his classic book, Mindstorms: Children, Computers, and Powerful Ideas Seymour Papert set out a vision of how computers could change school. In The Children's Machine he now looks back over a decade during which American schools acquired more than three million computers and assesses progress and resistance to progress.
"A toughtful book that is important for educators and parents and essential to the future of their children" Paulo Freire, author of Pedagogy of the Oppressed

"Papert draws us into his world, where provocative ideas share space with delightful images of the future and evocative stories of learning. Perhaps most importantly, he reminds us that the new technologies are capable of supporting the most personal, powerful ways of learning.". Harvard Educational Review

"Seymour Papert is a visionary, but he's also playful and knows how to get to kids. His plans for the future of education are exciting and right on target; they make me wish I were a kid again!" Nancy Hechinger, founding partner, The Edison Project.

"In this sequel to Mindstorms, Papert engagingly recounts what he has learned, and especially the mistakes he has made along the way. Instead of railing at the system or blaming the teachers or administrators, Papert looks at the broader problem, and sees that it springs from deeply help -and of course ill-examined- assumptions about the point of school, or School, as he calls it." Daniel C. Dennett, The New Scientist

Seymour Papert holds the Lego Chair for Learning Research at MIT, where he is also co-founder of the Artificial Intelligence and Media Laboratories.

From back cover: "A fascinating tour of scientific history, concluding with a vision of a future that is at once exhilarating and profoundly unsettling." -Kirkus Reviews

"Perhaps [After Thought's] strongest and commendable quality is that it might attract readers of popular science, particularly younger ones, to the fascinating topic of emergent and adaptive computation." -Igor Aleksander, Nature

James Bailey was a senior manager at Thinking Machines Corporation, where a 64,000 processor parallel supercomputer and a wide range of evolutionary computing algorithms were developed.

Some chapter titles: Reassigning the Tasks of the Mind - The Maths of the industrial Age - The Advent of New Sciences and New Maths - The New Intermaths of the Information Age.

From front flap: "Resnick's work provides a rare glimpse of what I am sure will become a new paradigm for research in education." - Seymour Papert

How does a bird flock keep its movements so graceful and synchronized? Most people assume that the bird in front leads and the others follow. But that's not the way it works. Bird flocks don't have leaders: they are organized without an organizer, coordinated without a coordinator. And a surprising number of other systems, from termite colonies to traffic jams to economic systems, work the same way.

Turtles, Termites and Traffic Jams is a wide ranging exploration into the counterintuitive world of decentralized systems and self-organizing phenomena. Increasingly, researchers are choosing decentralized models for the organizations and technologies they construct in the world, and for the theories they construct about the world. Yet many people continue to resist these ideas, assuming centralized control where none exists, and imposing centralized control where none is needed.

Drawing on ideas from computer science, education, psychology, and systems theory, Mitchel Resnick examines how and why people resist decentralized ideas, and he describes an innovative new computer language, called StarLogo, that he designed to help people (even young children) develop new ways of thinking about these ideas. For example, a student can use StarLogo to write simple rules for thousands of "artificial ants," then observe the colony-level behaviors that arise from all of the interactions.

Download NetLogo (or starlogoT for older Macs) to run some of the examples in the book.

Inside cover: In this groudbreaking new book, the American biologist Edward O. Wilson, considered to be one of the world's greatest living scientists, argues for the fundamental unity of all knowledge and the need to search for consilience--the proof that everything in our world is organized in terms of a small number of fundamental natural laws that comprise the principles underlying every branch of learning.

Professor Wilson, the pioneer of sociobiology and biodiversity, now once again breaks out of the conventions of current thinking. He shows how and why our explosive rise in intellectual mastery of the truths of our universe has its roots in the ancient Greek concept of an intrinsic orderliness that governs our cosmos and the human species--a vision that found its apogee in the Age of Enlightenment, then gradually was lost in the increasing fragmentation and specialization of knowledge in the last two centuries. Drawing on the physical sciences and biology, anthropology, psychology, religion, philosophy, and the arts, Professor Wilson shows why the goals of the original Enlightenment are surging back to life, why they are reappearing on the very frontiers of science and humanities scholarship, and how they are beginning to sketch themselves as the blueprint of our world as it most profoundly, elegantly, and excitingly is.

From back cover: The digital revolution did not begin with the teenage millionaires of Silicon Valley, claims Howard Rheingold, but with such early intellectual giants as Charles Babbage, George Boole, and John Von Neuman. In a highly engagin style, Rheingold tells the story of what he calls the patriarchs, pioneers, and infonauts of the computer, focusing in particular on such pioneers as J.C.R. Licklider, Doug Engelbart, Bob Taylor, and Alan Kay. Taking the reader step by step from nineteenth-century mathematics to comtemporary computing, he introduces a fascinating collection of eccentrics, mavericks, geniuses, and visionaries.

The book was originally published in 1985, and Rheingold's attempt to envision computing in the 1990s turns out to have been remarkably prescient. This edition contains an afterword, in which Rheingold interviews some of the pioneers discussed in the book. As an exercise in what he calls "retrospective futurism", Rheingold also looks back at how he looked forward.

Marc: An html version of the original 1985 text is available at the author's site.

From the introduction: The theory of neuronal group selection was formulated to explain a number of apparent inconsistencies in our knowledge of the development, anatomy, and physiological function of the central nervous system. Above all, it was formulated to explain how perceptual categorization could occur without assuming that the world is prearranged in an informational fashion or that the brain contains a homunculus.

The reasons for abandoning information processing as the primary mode of brain function will be presented in the next chapter; my main purpose here is to outline the central ideas of an alternative view. To account for categorization without assuming information processing or computing, the theory proposes that the key principle governing brain organization is a populational one and that in its operation the brain is a selective system.

Marc: This is the most accessible of Pr. Edelman's books and a good introduction to his theory of neuronal group selection, the first theory to propose a coherent and complete vision of how the brain works. Once you have the overall picture, it'll be easier to dive into the other remarkable books by the same author: Neural Darwinism, Topobiology, and The Remembered Present. Or just start with Neural Darwinism, the first book of the series.

From front flap: ... "One of the most creative and stimulating psychologists in the Western World... a combination of acute intelligence and a delightful humor." Alan Watts

"Most of the essays in this book deal with the therapeutic situation, from the point of view of both victim and executioner. He instructs the therapists on how to fail; the schizophrenic on how to stay schizoid; the analyst on how to remain one-up on the analysand... But the essay likely to cause the most commotion has nothing to do with psychology or psychoanalysis. It is an entertaining, and sobering, look at Jesus Christ as a power tactician... Mr. Haley shows Jesus organizing the poor like Saul Alinsky; calling simultaneously for conformity and social change... keeping his disciples under control with the cunning of a Bolshevik. There are some startling assertions in this essay. Jesus, according to Mr. Haley, didn't bother to turn his own cheek even while pioneering the 'surrender tactic.' And his crucifixion may have been the result of his own miscalculation. I hope Mr. Haley owns a backyard bomb shelter." John Leonard, The New York Times

From inside back cover: Jay Haley was born in 1923, received his BA from UCLA, his BLS from Berkeley, and his Masters Degree from Stanford. He has done research on popular films, animal behavior, hypnosis, schizophrenia, therapy, families and family therapy. He has been a Research Associate in both the Department of Anthropology at Stanford and the Palo Alto Medical Research Foundation. Formerly an Associate Professor in the Department of Psychiatry at the University of Pennsylvania, he was also a Clinical Professor of Psychiatry at Howard University ... Currently he is Co-Director of the Family Therapy Institute of Washington, D.C. ...

Back cover: Milton H. Erickson, M.D. is generally acknowledged to be the world's leading practitioner of medical hypnosis. His "strategic therapy", using hypnotic techniques with or without actually inducing trance, allows him to get directly to the core of a problem and prescribe a course of action that can lead to rapid recovery.

This book provides a comprehensive look at Dr. Erickson's theories in practice, through a series of case studies covering the kinds of problems that are likely to occur at various stages of the human life cycle. The results Dr. Erickson achieves sometimes seem to border on the miraculous, but they are brought about by a finely honed technique used by a wise, intuitive, highly trained psychiatrist-hypnotist whose work is recognized as a major contribution to the field.

Back cover: The great Russian psychologist L. S. Vygotsky has long been recognized as a pioneer in developmental psychology. But his theory of development has never been well understood in the West. Mind in Society corrects much of this misunderstanding. Carefully edited by a group of outstanding Vygotsky scholars, the book presents a unique selection of Vygostky's important essays.

"This selection of Vygotsky's important writings (most were previously unavailable in English) offers the Western reader a new appreciation of the seminal contributions of one of Russia's most influential psychologists." --Psychology Today

"Vygotsky was a genius. After more than half a century in science I am unable to name another person who even approaches his incredible analytic ability and foresight. All of my work has been no more than the working out of the psychological theory which he constructed." --A. R. Luria

From back cover: This newly revised edition of Vygotsky's seminal work contains much new material and many references that were previously unavailable. Vygotsky's ideas become fresh and contemporary in this translation, and Alex Kozulin's foreword to the book is in itself a contribution to the history of psychology in the twentieth century." --Jean Berko Gleason, Professor and chair, Department of psychology, Boston University

Back cover: Linking the music of J.S. Bach, the graphic art of Escher and the mathematical theorems of Goedel, as well as ideas drawn from logic, biology, psychology, physics and linguistics, Douglas Hofstadter illuminates one of the greatest mysteries of modern science: the nature of human thought processes.

His momentous and by now famous book has much in common with the works of Lewis Carroll. Lucid and witty, drawing together an astonishing range of ideas, it is at once an entertainment, a brilliant literary achievement and a triumph of the imagination.

Back cover: Marvin Minsky - one of the fathers of computer science and cofounder of the Artificial Intelligence Laboratory at MIT - gives a revolutionary answer to the age-old question: "How does the mind work?" Minsky brilliantly portrays the mind as a "society" of tiny components that are themselves mindless.

Mirroring his theory, Minsky boldly casts The Society of Mind as an intellectual puzzle whose pieces are assembled along the way. Each chapter - on a self-contained page- corresponds to a piece in the puzzle. As the pages turn, a unified theory of the mind emerges, like a mosaic. Ingenious, amusing, and easy to read, The Society of Mind is an adventure in imagination.

From the publisher: "A startling view of man, stripped of the facade we try so hard to hide behind." In view of man's awesome creativity and resourcefulness, we may be inclined to regard him as descended from the angels, yet, in his brilliant study, Desmond Morris reminds us that man is relative to the apes--is in fact, the greatest primate of all. With knowledge gleaned from primate ethnology, zoologist Morris examines sex, child-rearing, exploratory habits, fighting, feeding, and much more to establish our surprising bonds to the animal kingdom and add substance to the discussion that has provoked controversy and debate the world over.

Natural History Magazine praised The Naked Ape as "stimulating . . . thought-provoking . . . [Morris] has introduced some novel and challenging ideas and speculations."

"He minces no words," said Harper's. "He lets off nothing in our basic relation to the animal kingdom to which we belong. . . He is always specific, startling, but logical."

Cover: "Written with great wit and a pleasure to read... The book's provocative style forces one to reflect thoroughly on the puzzle of human evolution, and where we came from and where we may be heading." -New York Times Book Review

From back cover: Though we share 98 percent of our genes with the chimpanzee, our species evolved into something quite extraordinary. Jared Diamond explores the fascinating question of what in less than 2 percent of our genes has enabled us to found civilizations and religions, develop intricate languages, create art, learn science-and acquire the capacity to destroy all our achievements overnight. The Third Chimpanzee is a tour de force, an iconoclastic, entertaining, sometimes alarming look at the unique and marvelous creature that is the human animal.

Jared Diamond is professor of physiology at UCLA Medical School.

From back cover: "Douglas Adams has taken millions of readers on wild excursions through time and space in his bestselling Hitchhiker's Trilogy and Dirk Gently novels. Last Chance To See continues this tradition--but the time is now and every word is true."

"Douglas Adams and zoologist Mark Carwardine took off around the world in search of exotic, endangered creatures. What they found will by turns amuse, fascinate, and touch you."

From back cover: "The first edition of Frans de Waal's Chimpanzee Politics was acclaimed not only by primatologists for its scientific achievement but also by a much broader audience of politicians, business leaders, and social psychologists for its remarkable insights into very basic human needs and behaviors. In this revised eidtion--featuring a new galery of color photographs along with a new introduction and epilogue--de Waal expands and updates his story of the Arnhem colony and its continuing political upheavals."

"Even more enlightening than Machiavelli's The Prince, this book describes power takeovers and social organizations in a chimpanzee colony... I'll never look at academic or corporate politics the same way." - Jim Collins, Inc.

"Precise but eminently readable and indeed exciting... This excellent book achieves the dual goal which eludes so many writers about animal behavior--it will both fascinate the non-specialist and be seen as an important contribution to science." - Robert Hind, Times Literary Supplement

Back cover: 'How could such an intricate object as the human eye -so complex and working so precisely- have come about by chance? In writing described by the New York Times as "a masterpiece," Richard Dawkins builds a carefully reasoned and lovingly illustrated argument for evolutionary adaptation as the mechanism for life on earth.
The metaphor of "Mount Improbable" represents the combination of perfection and improbability that we find in the seemingly "designed" complexity of living things.

Dawkins skillfully guides the reader on a breathtaking journey through the mountain's passes and up its many peaks on the long, improbable path to perfection. Evocative illustrations accompany this eloquent descriptions of extraordinary adaptations such as the teeming populations of figs, the intricate silken world of spiders, and the evolution of wings on the bodies of flightless animals. And through it all runs the thread of DNA, the molecule of life, responsible for its own destiny on an unending pilgrimage through time.

Cover: "The scope and the explanatory power of this book are astounding." -The New Yorker  Winner of the Pulitzer prize

From back cover: "This is a brilliantly written, passionate, whirlwind tour through 13,000 years of history on all the continents - a short history of everything about everybody. The origins of empires, religion, writing, crops, and guns are all here. By at last providing a convincing explanation for the differing developments of human societies on different continents, the book demolishes the grounds for racist theories of history. Its account of how the modern world was formed is full of lessons for our own future. After reading the first two pages, you won't be able to put it down." -Paul R. Ehrilich, Bing Professor of Population Studies, Stanford University
Jared Diamond is professor of physiology at UCLA School of Medicine and author of the best-selling and award-winning The Third Chimpanzee. He is a recipient of a MacArthur Foundation fellowship.

From back cover: 'Jane Goodall's work with chimpanzees represents one of the Western world's great scientific achievements' - Stephen Jay Gould

'By dint of heroic patience and labour in the accumulation of verifiable data, she has substantiated her once startling revelations - that chimpanzees think, and can reason out simple problems; that, contrary to general belief, they will eat meat; that they know love and jealousy, grief and boredom; and that they will murder, and make war - and has taken her place as a world authority ... A totally absorbing book' - New Yorker

From back cover: "The Ape and the Sushi Master is simply brilliant. A must read for anyone interested in the questions of what it means to be human and what it means to be an ape. Not only is the language accessible to everyone, it is a wonderful, thought provoking read." - The Glasgow Herald

"Absorbing and entertaining... explaining to the interested lay person more clearly than any other book the sound science that lies in the middle of the sometimes shrill debate about the origins of human nature." - Washington Post

"De Waal is one of our clearest science writers, not afraid of personal detail, not afraid to stand on the shoulder of the greats, like Charles Darwin." - Los Angelest Time Book Review

"An extremely well-written, highly provocative discussin of the origins and meaning of culture." - Kirkus Reviews

"For those ready for some self-scrutiny, and a less biased view of culture and learning in our fellow creatures, this book will be a revelation." - Scientific American

From back cover: "This marvelous collection of talks, interviews, and essays offers a memorable sample of the wit, brilliance, and irreverence of the most celebrated physicist of our time. The more one reads of Feynman, the more one falls in love with his refreshingly enthusiastic view of the world." - Alan Guth, author of The Inflationary Universe

"Every one of the short works is a pleasure. Feynman is always outrageous, at times courageous, and often movingly eloquent as he ranges from computers to the role of science in society." - Rocky Kolb, author of Blind Watchers of the Sky

From cover: "Develops one fresh new insight after another... In the great tradition of physicists writing for the masses, The Elegant Universe sets a standard that will be hard to beat." - George Johnson, The New York Times Book Review

"The Elegant Universe is compulsively readable... Green threatens to do for string theory what Stephen Hawking did for black holes." New York

In a rare blend of scientific insight and writing as elegant as the theories it explains, Brian Green, one of the world's leading string theorists, peels away the layers of mystery surrounding string theory to reveal a universe that consists of eleven dimensions, where the fabric of space tears and repairs itself, and all matter-from the smallest quarks to the most gargantuan supernovas-is generated by the vibrations of microscopically tiny loops of energy. (...) The Elegant Universe is a tour de force of science writing-a delightful, lucid voyage through modern physics that brings us closer than ever to understanding how the universe works.

From back cover: First formulated in the early years of the 20th century, Einstein's theories of relativity overturned long-held concepts of space and time. They provided a radically new way of looking at the physical workd and explanations for many questions unanswered by classical physics. Unfortunately, many laypeople consider relativity so abstruse and complicated that they despair of ever understanding it. In reality, the ideas, although profound, are quite simple.

That simplicity is strikingly illuminated in this delightfully nontechnical book, which explains relativity in a straightforward, carefully illustrated manner the intelligent layperson can understand. A little high-school geometry will enable the reader to follow the discussion. Moreover, the book includes more than 60 drawings to illustrate concepts more clearly than verbal explanations could ever do.

back cover: 'Richard Dawkins, one of the most brilliant of the rising generation of biologists, gently and expertly debunks some of the favourite illusions of social biology about the evolution of altruism, but this is on no account to be thought of as a debunking kind of book: it is, on the contrary, a most skillful reformulation of the central problems of social biology in terms of the genetical theory of natural selection. Beyond this, it is learned, witty and very well written.' Sir Peter Medawar, Spectator

'Who should read this book? Everyone interested in the universe and their place in it.' Jeffrey R. Baylis, Animal Behaviour

'This may be the most important book on evolutionary biology in the last decade or two.' Antoni Hoffman, Zentralblatt für Geologie und Palaeontologie

From the introduction: This book is about important newly discovered facts that are crucial to our understanding of how human beings function sexually. We believe that the information presented here can be used to help millions of women and men lead more pleasurable and satisfying lives and avoid a good deal of unnecessary suffering and frustration.

Some of these facts were already known but were ignored or rejected because they did not fit into what was culturally or scientifically acceptable and were not connected with each other in a meaningful way. "Facts are of no value," said Charles Darwin, "unless they are for or against some point of view." Considered in relation to each other, the facts presented profoundly alter our understanding of human sexuality.

From inside cover: "Brimming with research findings and case histories... Based on their cautiously presented findings, women and men appear to be more alike sexually than had been previously imagined." Publishers Weekly

From the introduction: The world is complex, dynamic, multidimensional; the paper is static, flat. How are we to represent the rich visual world of experience and measurement on mere flatland?

This book celebrates escapes from flatland, rendering several hundred superb displays of complex data. Revealed here are design strategies for enhancing the dimensionality and density of protrayals of information--techniques exemplified in maps, the manuscripts of Galileo, timetables, notation describing dance movements, aerial photographs, the Vietnam Veterans Memorial, electrocardiograms, drawings of Calder and Klee, computer visualizations, and a textbook of Euclid's geometry.

From back cover: "A remarkable range of examples for the idea of visual thinking, with beautifully printed pages. A real treat for all who reason and learn by means of images." - Rudolf Arnheim

"A beautifully illustrated, well-argued volume." - Scientific American

"A beautiful, magnicent sequel to Tufte's classic The Visual Display of Quantitative Information ." - Ameracan Mathematical Monthly

"Brilliant work on the best means of displaying information." - Sci-Tech News

"An incredibly beautiful, true, refined, and luscious book." - Denise Scott Brown and Robert Venturi

From back cover: This unique guide to interactive system design reflects the experience and vison of Jef Raskin, the creator of the Apple Macintosh Project. Other books may show how to use today's widgets and interface ideas effectively. Raskin, however, demonstrates that many current interface paradigms are dead ends, and that making computers significantly easier to use requires new approaches. He explains how to effect desperately needed changes, offering a wealth of innovative and specific interface ideas for software designers, developers, and product managers.

The Apple Macintosh helped to introduce a previous revolution in computer interface design, drawing on the best available technology to establish many of the interface techniques and methods now universal in the computer industry. With this book, Raskin proves again both his farsightedness and his practicality. He also demonstrates how design ideas must be built on a scientific basis, presenting just enough cognitive psychology to link the interface of the future to the experimental evidence and to show why that interface will work.

Paul Graham, designer of the new Arc language, co-founded Viaweb, the first web-based application (sold to Yahoo and now powering the Yahoo Store). In addition to his PhD in Computer Science from Harvard, Graham also studied painting at the Rhode Island School of Design and the Accademia di Belle Arti in Florence.

Marc: Many very astute insights, despite the sometimes simplistic worldview. Some of the essays in the book are online at Paul Graham's site.

Back cover: A Twist of the Wrist, the acknowledged number one book on rider improvement for ten years straight, brought riders worldwide to a new understanding of vital skills. Twist, volume II, uncovers and traces, action by action, the direct links between man and machine.

Keith Code has trained more riders than anyone in the world. His training and teaching methods are responsible for scores of victories by top riders around the globe. Keith's unique ability to unravel complexities and establish simple, essential principles, provides both street and race riders with real tools to think about, and understand for themselves, the problems of riding.

From back cover: "Fascinating and fun! We all feel somewhat dumb when it comes to electronics. There Are No Electrons would be a proper tonic for this ignorance" - Ray Bradbury, author of The Martian Chronicles, Fahrenheit 451, etc

"Perhaps the best electronics book ever. If you'd like to learn about basic electronics but haven't been able to pull it off, get There Are No Electrons . Just trust us. Get the book." - Monitoring Times

"I think There Are No Electrons is a major breakthrough in teaching the elementary physics of electricity. It should be required basic reading for high school science students. After 58 years of wandering in an electronic void, even a blockhead like me, who could never visualize the abstract, was able to penetrate the nebulous mists of amps, volts, current, induction, and conductors, and actually understand what the hell they're all about. Who knows? Perhaps it will lead to a whole new concept of teaching." - Clive Cussler, author of Raise the Titanic!, Night Proble, Treasure, etc