Books about Unavoidable from Amazon.com

PHILOSOPHY: CONFRONTING THE UNAVOIDABLE is a broad yet highly coherent presentation of philosophy in a story-like format, linking successively issues in logic (which, using the Kantian taxonomy, includes epistemology), metaphysics, ethics, and social philosophy. This book avoids the technical issues that are of interest only to specialists by following the theme suggested in the title, that philosophy deals centrally with the kinds of commitments made just by living a human life. With a continuously unfolding exposition of all the main areas of philosophy that is unified by the contention that philosophy is of primary value to everyone, this text provides a clear sense of direction that should deepen class discussions and enhance interest in these essential issues..
Price: $15.95 [Notify me when price goes down.]

This is Unimaginable and Unavoidable (subtitle) Irresponsible Writings on Non-Duality By Guy Smith Foreword by Tony Parsons This first book by Guy Smith addresses the appearance of separation from first-hand experience in an original series of prose, verse and 'notices'. Challenging and original, it constitutes a blast of freedom written in the period six months after awakening. Guy Smith is 24 years old and lives in Bristol. "I love this book! It is passionate, uncompromising, irreverent, intimately openhanded and wonderfully without any sense of order or progression. Throughout the whole work there is very little that the cunning guru mind can get hold of and turn into a belief system. There is a powerful invitation within these outpourings which seems to harbour and generate a feeling of the sensuous, the impersonal, the unbounded mystery that lies beyond the words. This is not a book to wade through steadily, but rather a deep pool in which to dip one's foot . . . and maybe fall in. There is a proliferation of so-called Advaita/Non-dual literature available today, and virtually all of it is borne out of a fundamental misconception about the nature of being. However, during the last decade some rare, clear voices have emerged out of the mist, and Guy's work is surely an inspiring and unique confirmation of this wonderful message." From the Foreword by Tony Parsons.
Price: $10.75 [Notify me when price goes down.]

From the O.J. Simpson verdict to peace-making in the Balkans, the critical role of human judgement--complete with its failures, flaws, and successes--has never been more hotly debated and analyzed than it is today. This landmark work examines the dynamics of judgement and its impact on events that take place in human society, which require the direction and control of social policy. Research on social policy typically focuses on content. This book concentrates instead on the decision-making process itself. Drawing on 50 years of empirical research in decision theory, Hammond examines the possibilities for wisdom and cognitive competence in the formation of social policies, and applies these lessons to specific examples, such as the space shuttle Challenger disaster and the health care debate. Uncertainly, he tells us, can seldom be fully eliminated; thus error is inevitable, and injustice for some unavoidable. But the capacity for make wise judgments increases to the extent that we understand the potential pitfalls and their origin. The judgment process for example involves an ongoing rivalry between intuition and analysis, accuracy and rationality. The source of this tension requires an examination of the evolutionary roots of human judgement and how these fundamental features may be changing as our civilization increasingly becomes an information and knowledge-based society. With numerous examples from law, medicine, engineering, and economics, the author dramatizes the importance of judgment and its role in the formation of social policies which affect us all, and issues the first comprehensive examination of its underlying dynamics..
Price: $2.74 [Notify me when price goes down.]

From the 2005 Pulitzer Prize—winning columnist Connie Schultz comes fresh, clever, insightful commentary on life today: love, politics, social issues, family, and much, much more. In the tradition of Anna Quindlen, Molly Ivins, and Erma Bombeck, but with a distinctive voice and sensibility all her own, Connie Schultz comes out of the heartland of America to get you seeing, feeling, and thinking more deeply about the lives we lead today.

“You might spot someone you know in the stories here,” writes Connie. “Maybe you’ll even find a glimpse of yourself. Yes, each of us is unique, but life happens in ways that bind us like Gorilla Glue.” In Life Happens, Connie shares sharp, passionate observations, winning our hearts with personal thoughts on a wide range of topics, from finding love in middle age to the meaning behind her father’s lunch pail, from single motherhood, to who really gets the tips you leave and why as the war in Iraq, race relations, gay marriage, and wwhy women
don’t vote. In a more humorous vein, Connie shares her mother’s advice on men (“Don’t marry him until you see how he treats the waitress”) and warns men everywhere against using the dreaded f-word (it’s not the one you think). Along the way, Connie introduces us to the heroic people who populate our world and shows us how just one person can make a difference.

Charming, provocative, funny, and perceptive, Life Happens gives us, for the first time, Connie Schultz’s celebrated commentary in one irresistible volume. Life Happens challenges us to be more open and alive to others and to the world around us.


From the Hardcover edition..
Price: $7.84 [Notify me when price goes down.]