The Benefit of Reading Books

You've learned the power of your imagination to open new windows and doors to let light in on those shadows that clouded your vision in the past. You are a creative and gifted human being with the potential to create better things and to make a difference by inspiring others to challenge their own ways of living, and make the commitment to changing their own lives.
Imagination is a source of such energy and it shines brightest when it breathes in the oxygen of new ideas and free thought. The greatest writers challenged the world to look at life in new and different ways; they challenged the status quo and dared people to question their ideals, their values, their morals, and their beliefs.
If there were no imagination there would be no progression. There would be no will to aspire to better things, and no vision to see beyond the obvious and the mundane. There would be nothing to strive for and no goals, because everyone would be quite content to sit in an armchair and stare at the wall.
Take the challenge. Open your mind wide and join in the conversation with writers and thinkers and anyone who sees the world in different ways. It doesn't matter a bit whether you agree with what they're saying - the thrill of excitement comes when you fully engage with new ideas and your mind takes off into a quiet room where nothing else matters but the words on the page and the ideas and visions spark in your mind.
Let your imagination go. Be swept away and open up that pathway between the crackling energy of inspiration and your mind and soul. Revel in the joy of new knowledge. Really listen to the conversations and open.
Reading isn't only about the ideas either. Listen to the words as they ride by - feel their energy and hear their music - whatever language you have as your own, celebrate its beauty and its sound.
What you're reading and experiencing isn't simply a collection of cold words on a flat page. Those words were written with conviction, passion and energy, and what you can experience now is that same passion and energy that the writer had.
Books are powerhouses and they will challenge you to meet their power with your own.
They cause change. They can be a phenomenal source of inspiration in your life.

Corporate Speed Reading

Corporate Speed Reading: OverviewThe written word is everywhere. In today’s fast-paced, get-it-done-yesterday world, being able to speed read—and remember what you read—is nearly a matter of professional life or death. If your reading speed is more tortoise than hare, perhaps it’s time to look into a new way of reading.Learning to speed read actually involves teaching your brain to read in a new way."But wait!" you say. "It took years to learn how to read before. I just don’t have that kind of time."Never fear! With our Speed Read Complete Corporate edition, you will be able to double your reading speed in only an hour in the privacy of your own home or office! This time-tested method of teaching your brain to speed read has been taught in live seminars for decades all around the US and the e-books have been translated into five languages.Are you still unsure about signing up for an online speed reading course? Have you handed over hundreds of dollars before, only to read a few words a minute faster? With our Speed Read Complete course—including three e-books as well as supplementary MP3 audio files which you can take anywhere—we guarantee you will be reading noticeably faster and comprehending more or every penny of your money back.Start our Speed Read Complete Corporate course (a minimum of a sixth grade reading level is necessary) with the book Speed Reading in Only One Hour. Move on to our Complete Speed Reading Program: Corporate Version. In our course you will learn not only how to speed read, but also how to learn to control sub-vocalization, vary your reading speed, batch process, and important techniques for positive thinking. Not only will you double your reading speed in just one hour, using our time-tested Speed Read Complete course, you’ll be able to increase your memory, recall, concentration, note taking, and more. In less than three weeks, you could even see a promotion at work due to your new-found love of learning.The Speed Read Complete was written based on a 3-day lecture course by Dr. Jay Polmar, an accomplished author and university and community college professor who has written more than 100 books. Dr. Polmar has helped hundreds of thousands all around the world read faster and get ahead. Let him help you improve your life!Benefits to Business with Speed Reading: Words are everywhere. No matter where you go, you cannot get away from the written word. Being able to read and comprehend faster will help you not only when you want to read for pleasure, but it will help you in business even more.The ability to speed read—reading more than 600 words in a minute with at least a 80% comprehension rate—will help you immensely in the corporate world. Read over corporate reports—yours and your competitors’—in half the time, giving yourself time to work on other projects. Read other books more quickly to increase your knowledge on other subjects you can use to get ahead in business. Keep the peace at home by reading that book your husband or wife has been nagging you about in only an hour or two!With our Speed Read Complete Corporate course, improve your reading speed, memory, reading comprehension and recall, concentration, and note taking. You will be climbing the corporate ladder in no time.In less than one hour a day for a month, we guarantee you’ll be reading significantly faster. After the one-hour beginner’s course, follow it up with our second book, the Business Speed Reading Success, a course specifically designed for business people and MBA professionals. With our book: How To Get Things Accomplished In Less Time, you will learn over 100 tips to manage your time wisely. Include with that the daily exercises and learning to read in a new way, and you’ll be reading more in less time than you ever thought possible. Supplement your study with our audio add-ons, to ensure rapid success. These MP3s, which can be downloaded to your favorite device, follow the books and include subjects such as memory enhancement and speed reading comprehension. We have also included audio courses on relaxation techniques and stress relief, developing self confidence, and eliminating the negative inner dialogue. Written by Dr. Jay Polmar, a former university instructor and author with over 40 titles to his name, Speed Read Complete Corporate has been used by professionals in all areas from government to education to the corporate world. Used by corporations, teachers, and government officials in over 25 countries, Speed Read Complete has been translated into five other languages to help people learn to speed read in their native language.Who Can Learn Speed Reading: The corporate world is dominated by life-long learners—people who take the time to learn everything they can about their chosen field and everything they can about corresponding subjects. But when you have a family and a life outside of work, carving out the time to read all those books can be difficult. New books on every subject are being published every day. How is one supposed to keep up at work, and keep up at home at the same time?You know that learning to speed read is the answer. Cutting your reading time in half or even more would give you the ability to simply devour the books you always wanted to read, the books you know you should read, and the ones you need to read to get ahead.You may have looked into 1-day or multiple day speed reading seminars or "home courses" before, only to be turned off by the price. One-day live speed reading seminars can set you back anywhere from $200 to $700, and their results are far from guaranteed.So what is a lower-level manager with aspirations of advancement to do?With Speedread.org’s course for the corporate man or woman, you can double your reading speed starting with our best-selling Speed Read in Only One Hour, which offers techniques to help you break poor habits learned when you were first learning to read. With our supplements for business professionals—Business Speed Reading Success, which focuses on Business and MBA professionals, and How To Get Things Accomplished In Less Time, which teaches smart time management—you will learn not only how to fly over the pages of corporate reports, you will also learn new techniques for note taking, concentration, recall and, with our Think Right course, you will also learn positive thinking exercises and stress relief to increase your reading speed even more.The corporate edition of our Speed Read Complete course also includes add-ons useful for generating sales, and includes one of the first-ever courses written on the Law of Attraction. Our proven audio courses teach the busy professional how to sit back and relax. Aimed at adults, corporate and business employees and MBA professionals, Speed Read Complete Corporate Edition offers not only the ability to speed read. Included in the Corporate Edition is also a time management course and a course to help you achieve your life goals by using the material from our Online Download Library of speed reading and self power improving publications.The best part is that not only will you be able to double your reading speed after the first one-hour lesson, but we have also had mid-level managers receive promotions as little as three weeks after starting our course!Written by Dr. Jay Polmar, an expert in the fields of speed reading, self-improvement, continuing education and self-growth, Speed Read Complete boasts a success rate unheard of in its industry and offers a full money back guarantee that you will be reading significantly faster in only 21 days. How Much Does Speed Reading Cost:Everyone is trying to save money these days. Finding bargains is quickly turning into the Western world’s favorite pastime. A close second is doing whatever one can to make oneself invaluable to his or her employer.What would you pay for that next promotion? What would you pay to practically guarantee a raise? In today’s global financial market, what would you pay for simple job security?Self-improvement classes of all types start anywhere from $200 to $2,000 and offer mixed results and mixed promises. There is one company, however, which offers worldwide results and guaranteed outcomes.Speedread.org, Inc. has condensed their 3-day live speed reading course into a compact, at-your-own-increasing-pace ebook course to help you—the busy business professional—not only make yourself invaluable to your employer, but to also improve your chances of getting that all-too-important promotion or surviving the latest round of job cuts.This course has been taught to everyone in the corporate world from busy executives to the administrative assistant answering the phones in more than 20 countries around the world in more than five languages, all with amazing results. Many mid-level managers see promotions in less than three weeks. Everyone who takes the course doubles their reading speed in just the first hour—some even triple or quadruple their reading speed!How much would you pay for the opportunity to get more done in less time, leaving more time for family, friends, or hobbies? What would you pay to practically ensure job security and a promotion? With our do-it-yourself speed reading course for the business person, you can not only increase your chance of thriving in these economic times, you can also choose the price you will need to pay!Starting at just $79.95 USD, you can be reading twice as fast in the very first hour! Our Speed Read Complete Corporate pack includes everything you need in a single electronic download! Our $99.99 USD CD Pack allows you to keep (or share with friends or your family members) a hard copy in the form of CDs. Or, if you would like hard copies to go along with the CDs, it's only $159.99 USD for over a dozen books with their corresponding CDs and other audio files.The Speed Read Complete Corporate course is specifically designed for the busy professional and is guaranteed to help everyone in the corporation from the newly-hired administrative assistant to the CEO. For a very affordable price, you can make an investment in yourself that will touch every aspect of your life.
Corporate Success / Goal Planning:Everyone creates them, knowingly and unknowingly—goals. Some goals are lofty and well-thought-out—such goals in business (get a raise by the end of the year), goals in relationships (be married by age 30), and goals in life (watch the Northern Lights in Alaska) are easy to quantify, to write down, to dream and to imagine. Other goals are implied and subconscious; such goals in business (commute to work without incident), goals in relationships (find someone to spend New Year's Eve with), and goals in life (leave this world a better place) may be harder to express. Speedread.org knows that you are more than just the business person dressing for success every morning. You are a complete person who does not spend every waking moment working—or if you do, you don't want to spend your life like that. Who you and what you do touches every single aspect of your life—your business life touches your social life; your social life touches your home life; your home life has a great impact on your spiritual life (whatever it may be); and your spiritual life determines how you perform in the business arena.For us to consider ourselves successful in life, our goals must be achieved. Consciously or not, we determine our own success—in small things (getting to work safely) and large things (being promoted to upper management)—by meeting our stated or unstated goals. We also measure others' successes or failures against our own goals. Because goal planning is mandatory for success, we have included many sections in our speed reading books. Our SpeedRead Complete Corporate course not only teaches how to read two to three—or even more—times faster than you can now, we also give you the tools to plan your goals to align with your purpose in life. To determine your personal goals, you simply need to look at what success means to you in your career, lifestyle, home life, spiritually, in a word: in everything. In our SpeedRead Complete Corporate course, we spend quite a bit of time on goal planning and the keys to success—not just in increasing the number of words read in a certain time frame, but in life. Reading is essential to life in today's world, but if you simply learn to speed read without a goal as to how to use your new knowledge, you will lose it.We know you are more than your business persona, and "success" in business may not necessarily mean success in life. At Speedread.org, we are determined to help you become not only a more successful business person, but a more successful human being. Lifelong Effects of Speed Reading:How would you like to remember 90% of what you read from anything—the newspaper, your favorite novel, business reports, your child's MySpace blog? How would you like to be able to read faster—maybe even four or five times faster—and still remember almost everything you read? How would you like this to happen in just one single hour? Impossible? Not hardly! With Speedread.org's Speed Complete Speed Reading Program, hundreds of thousands of people have done just that! But what can one do with the ability to read over 600 words per minute with a 90% retention rate?The lifelong effects of speed reading are numerous. First, you will finally be able to get to all those books on your list you have never had the time to read before. Suddenly, an hour's commute to work on public transportation won't mean simply a chapter or two… it will mean an entire book checked off your list! You won't even get that sense of disappointment when you finish a book just to finish it. With the Complete Speed Reading Program, and the new ability to retain nearly everything you read, you'll be able to discuss the book in next month's—or even next year's—book club! If you are in a profession that requires a lot of reading and just as much retention such as scholars, physicians, writers, doctors, attorneys, and countless other fields, being able to read even twice as fast can end up saving hours—even up to days or weeks—on an intense project.If you are a lifelong student—or just one who loves to learn and is always taking a course or two to help expand horizons—being able to read faster and comprehend more will, undoubtedly, be of a great boon to not only your ease of study, but also your GPA. Studies have also shown that the new way of reading taught to those who want to speed read may also assist the brain in learning a new language. Speed reading also has lifelong physical effects as well. The less time you spend reading, the less eye strain and eye and muscle fatigue you will experience. Because the Complete Speed Reading Program literally re-teaches your brain how to read, you learn how to remember more at the same time. Simply being able to remember what you have read can be just what you need to set yourself apart from the pack vying for that next promotion.Passing Along Your Knowledge:Nothing is worse for an avid reader and a lover of books than having a child who hates to read. Parents today know that reading to a child early in life will help them foster a love of reading and prepare them to read themselves, but sometimes not even that can be enough to foster a love of the written word. Reading parents know that aversion to reading will haunt their child for the rest of his life, making school harder… making life harder. But, as any parent knows, you cannot simply say to a 10-year-old who hates reading, "You're going to read and you're going to like it." You have to understand why reading is so difficult.Reading, today, is taught in an inefficient manner. "Average" readers today (of any language) read anywhere from 100 words per minute (usually for memorization purposes) to 700 words per minute ("skimming", looking only for specific key words). Statistics also show that as the words per minute go up, the reading comprehension goes down, and this is borne out in school test scores. With the pressure on slower readers of having to finish the reading section and the comprehension questions within a set period of time, most finally turn to skimming—looking only at key words in the question. This "cheater" method is only reinforced when the test comes back with a good grade (since they were only looking for specific words). What would you, as a parent, pay to not only teach your child a better, faster, and easier way of reading—but also one that jumps their reading comprehension up to over 90%?How about nothing! When you purchase Speedread.org's Complete Speed Reading Program, you have Speedread.org's permission—even its blessing—to pass the course on to your friends and family members who love to read and would like to read more or who are struggling to read and are on the fence about reading in general.Imagine your child reading every word on the standardized test page in under ten seconds… and remembering it! How would your child feel being the first done with the test instead of one of the last? Homework and studying time would be cut in half or more, giving all of you more family time. Studies and anecdotal reports from previous customers of Speedread.org have shown that less than a month after beginning the Complete Speed Reading Program, students' grades have only raised—in some instances raising from a C average to an A in only 21 days!Dr. Jay Polmar, author of over 40 books, spent years developing the Complete Speed Reading Program, and originally taught it to university students around the United States. Now, he brings his vast knowledge into the corporate world and into your child's bedroom. Bring a love of lifelong learning home to everyone in the family starting at under $80!Get More Accomplished in Less Time What would you do if you found yourself with an extra hour a day at work? Would you get a jump on the next day's work? Would you use it to surf the Internet and just "put in your time" until it was time to go home? Or would you use that extra hour to ensure you would have an extra hour every day to make yourself invaluable to your employer?Whether you are the receptionist or a CEO, chances are if you are part of today's corporate environment, you are—at least at certain times during the year—required to do extensive reading for your job. Quarterly reports can range from two pages to two hundred, and that can take some time to read—especially when you are supposed to be keeping up on what the competitors are doing. If you were able to read—and even more importantly recall—three quarterly reports in the time it took others to read just one, what would your job look like after four quarterly reports? With the Complete Speed Reading Program, Corporate Edition, you will be reading at twice the speed you were before in just the first hour! What would you do with an extra hour or two a day you never had before? Get more sleep? Spend time with your family? Take a class? Go out with friends? Finally do all those things you'd always said you wanted to do but never had time—like volunteering at a local charity?Dr. Jay Polmar, author of over 40 books, spent years developing the Complete Speed Reading Program, and originally taught it to university students around the United States. Now, he brings his vast knowledge into the corporate world and into your child's bedroom. Our Guarantee Corporate Speed Reading Overview:What started as a classroom course has evolved into an affordable do-it-yourself course designed to make business people—from administrative assistants to MBAs to CEOs—more valuable to their company in the form of The Complete Speed Reading Program. The Complete Speed Reading Program for the busy executive contains four books (available both as a PDF download and—if desired—in print): Speed Read in Only One Hour teaches the basic techniques and has multiple reinforcement exercises. Business Speed Reading Success is specifically designed for business people and MBAs. The book teaches techniques and vocabulary—as well as going more in-depth into the science behind speed reading and motivation.How To Get Things Accomplished In Less Time is essential for any busy corporate employee. With over 100 tips to boost your time, this book teaches some simple, easy-to-follow steps to better manage the extra time you have after learning to speed read.Think Right is a book not on speed reading, but—as Speedread.org takes a holistic approach to everything we do—helps one develop one's self-power and provides an ethical viewpoint on technology. Think Right focuses on learning to set your thoughts on what you want and then accomplishing it. In addition to the books, the Complete Speed Reading Program includes a dozen audio files designed to be listened to at any time—during a commute, during "down time", at work, or even during sleep—to buttress not only the speed reading, but the other topics covered in the books. Some of the audio files supplement the speed reading program while others cover reading comprehension, accelerated learning skills, memory enhancement and intuitive development. Others take the more relaxing bent, offering conditioning for relaxation and stress relief, developing self confidence and self power, and eliminating the inner dialogue.Our books and courses have been sold all over the world, having been translated into the six major world languages. Developed by Dr. Jay Polmar, an expert in the fields of self-improvement, continuing education and self-growth, The Complete Speed Read Program for Business boasts a success rate unheard of in its industry and offers a full money back guarantee that you will be reading significantly faster in only 21 days. Our Guarantee:Many businesses offer guarantees; most of them are hardly worth the paper they are printed on. Speed reading is no exception. Many of the speed reading seminars or do-it-yourself courses out there offer guarantees, but their products often fall short, or require intense, ongoing, and stressful learning techniques.Speedread.org GUARANTEES that you will be reading faster, stress-free, after just one hour or every penny of your money back. How can we offer this guarantee? We have 30 years of speed reading results! After offering this course—both in live classes and the do-it-yourself ebooks—for more than 30 years, we know it works, and works all over the world. Utilizing both ancient and modern methods to teach the brain a new way of thinking, and a new way of reading, we have over 100,000 copies in print, and even more in ebook format. In 30 years of live courses, and more than a decade of online courses and the "do-it-yourself" offered at http://www.speedreadcomplete.com/, Speedread.org has only had to refund less than 1/10 of 1 % of sales due to customer dissatisfaction! With a record like that, they can make—and back up—their money back guarantee.The course has been used by educators, government officers, and managers of corporations in more than 20 countries around the world and has been printed in the world's six major languages.While subsequent results are not guaranteed, Speedread.org continually receives word from satisfied customers that, in as little as three weeks after starting the course, they have received business promotions directly attributable to their new skills. Students, after taking the course, have raised grade point averages from the average "C" to the excellent "A".Developed by Dr. Jay Polmar, an expert in the ever-changing field of self-improvement, The Complete Speed Reading Program Corporate course, especially, has extra programs to help one succeed more. Speedread.org also believes the information provided is so essential, the company encourages its customers to pass their information on to spouses, children, and friends to help increase reading speed, productivity, free time, and goal achievement.

Children Books - Nurture the Reading Habit

The most violent element in the society is ignorance. A little learning is a dangerous thing, but a lot of ignorance is jut as bad. To sustain in this competitive world a person should be well versed in every topic. Kids are the innocent beings who are unaware of the harsh realities of life. As such, elders should cultivate the reading habits among the kids. Reading books can help them to understand the good and right values of life as there is a popular saying " the larger the island of knowledge, the longer the shoreline of wonder." This habit can help to develop the curiosity to unroll the mysteries of the world. Moreover, constant reading can help to develop their vocabulary and enhance their language skills.
Children's books are usually written in simple language and have lots of animated characters to attract the kids. They often relate fantastic and imaginative stories. Most of these book have a child character so that the kid reader can relate to it. Various popular books such as Cinderella and Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs etc are the fairy tales which slowly and steadily incite the curiosity of the readers and readily indulge them in the reading process.
Moreover, encyclopedia's are also written for children in simple language. These books help the kids to know more about the people residing in various part of the globe, the habitation of the natives and various other such things. The science books assist the kids to undertake simple tests and experiments to satisfy their curiosity. Thus, they help to excite the imagination and creativity among the children.
The childrens books are very informative and are written in such a manner that they are easily understood by the kids. It can even nurture and expand their accumulated knowledge. Reading books of various genre can help to enhance the capability of a kid to express herself of himself in a more better manner. As such it is very necessary to select the children books very wisely. The parents should understand the likes and dislikes of their kids before purchasing any book. Though various genre of books are available these days, it is wise to select the best books to nurture the capability and creativity of the kids. One can even log into the online stores to purchase the best books for their children. These stores offers books from every genre to provide optimum satisfaction to the customers.

Book Review: "churchill & the Jews

Martin Gilbert is a historical writing phenomenon; a historian without peer in many areas; and an intellectual giant in Churchilliana. Again he has produced another valuable niche product in the vast compendium of Churchill related works, this one centred on Churchill’s 70-year relationship with Jews, Zionism and post 1947 Israel. Even if you are not found of Churchill, the book should be read by those who desire to know more about the Middle East, the current Israeli-Arab struggle, and why in modern times, Israel was created as a backdrop to current events; Gilbert has produced a valuable canvass. I have read all of Gilbert’s works, and pretty much everything there is on Churchill, and this book served up two pleasant surprises. The first, is the not inconsiderable politically incorrect pro-Zionist narrative found in Gilbert’s prose acted out by Churchill’s 70-year affinity for the cause of ‘Jewishness’ and Zionism. When world ‘opinion’ and outrage is so consumed by sympathetic revisionism seen in pro-Arab, pro-Palestinian and extreme tolerance towards all things Muslim, it is heartening to read intelligent reality based commentary which disavows genuflection to the Arab-Islmaic-Mulit-Cult, anti-modern program. The second surprise was to read of Churchill’s constancy in his support of Jews, in spite of political opprobrium over so many decades. He even once described Judaic ethics as, “incomparable the most precious possession of mankind, worth in fact the fruits of all other wisdom and learning put together.” The gutless political wonders of today wouldn’t have the courage or intellectual understanding to utter such a thing. Besides the Arab feminist gay vote would cry and be pouty. It takes a rare man to stand so long on principle even as political and public ‘opinion’ support erodes. But neither Churchill nor Gilbert are ordinary men. Churchill’s career, as Gilbert highlights, is one intertwined with, and supportive of, ‘Jews’ and Zionism, especially the idea of a Jewish home, where the long persecuted race could find security and safety. Churchill always rejected, ‘the anti-semitic lines of prejudice’ both in and outside Britain, feeling that with applied intelligence and patience, Jews and Arabs could peaceably prosper in a flourishing and modern Palestine. Unfortunately the Arabs then as now, show little inclination to live in the modern world. From 1904 to 1908 Churchill, the 30 to 34 year old politician represented a minority Jewish constituency in Manchester. Jewish concerns were thus imprinted upon Churchill’s world view early in his career. As Gilbert elaborates, Churchill during his lifetime had many Jewish friends, publishers, researchers, political allies, and even financiers. (Churchill almost went bankrupt in the 1930’s, saved by the intervention of some notable Jewish families). As a Cabinet Minister in 1921 and 1922, charged with determining the future status of a Jewish home in Palestine; through World War Two and the holocaust, as Prime Minister from 1951-1956; and as a historian puzzling over the relationship between Jews and Arabs; Churchill was profoundly associated with Jewish concerns and the complexity of Arab Jew interaction in Palestine. Though fond of Jews (and too fond according to one critic), Churchill was at times evisceratingly critical of Jewish extremism or inflexibility. Not surprisingly Churchill knew of the depth of Jewish leadership in the Russian bolshevist movement (all top Bolsheviks, including Lenin were indeed at least partially Jewish), calling upon Jewish leaders to denounce bolshevism and instead elevate true Jewish ethics instead. Likewise during the 1930s and 1940s, when fringe Jewish terrorist groups were attacking and murdering British Subjects and innocents in the Palestine mandate, Churchill adjured Jewish leaders to strike down such evil elements lest a Jewish home became a political and social impossibility. In short, if you analyze his career and statements, Churchill was not Hitler’s caricature of a drunken, Jewish knave, promoting capitalism as the smiling, materialistic face of neo-imperialist slavery. He was instead a politician who believed in the Judeo-Christian tradition and who had the power to help realize Britain’s 1917 Balfour Declaration guaranteeing Jews a Palestinian home (done to gain support of Jews in Russia and America to prosecute the war against Wilhelmina Germany). If you look at the historical record, the Jews owe Israel’s very existence, at least in part, to Churchill’s exertions. In 1922 Churchill as a Cabinet Minister responsible for Palestine, produced the Churchill White paper; which laid the foundation of an Israeli State. Churchill’s White Paper, which addressed the partition of Britain’s mandate between Arabs and Jews (Palestinians were a separate ‘people’ created by the U.N. and Arabs circa 1967), was decidedly pro-Zionist, allocating perhaps 12% of the mandate to the Jews and 88%, including present day Jordan, some of Syria, and current ‘Palestinian’ holdings to the Arabs. In terms of geographical coverage the Arabs won in terms of legitimacy, the Jews had their necessary and powerful, political support. Churchill’s plan was to increase civilizational development for 1000 years. As Churchill commented, the Arabs had done nothing with the land. As Jews increased from 80,000 people in 1922, economic development would dictate the levels of Jewish emigration. It was Churchill’s hope that the 500,000 Arab residents in 1922 would not feel overwhelmed by a rising Jewish population. As it turned out he need not have worried. By 1948 the Arab population in the British Mandate had tripled from 1922 levels to 1.5 million. The Jewish population had surged to about 800,000. Upon declaring statehood in 1948, post-British withdrawal, the tiny Jewish State was attacked by 5 Arab States with 50 times the population. Israel survived of course, humiliating the Arab armies. (It is a cautionary tale. However, for those who chatter about precipitate withdrawal from Iraq or Afghanistan, those Western allied governments will simply collapse if the West exits). Gilbert’s book is in many ways required reading for our days and times. There is nothing wrong as Churchill’s example attests to, of having constancy and moral purpose in politics. Defending the Jews- a vital part of Western civilization- is noble and just. Affirming blame to Arab-Islamic intolerance when analyzing Middle-Eastern affairs is necessary and justified. Learning from Churchill, from history, and from cultural precedents is also to be embraced.

'god's War', Christopher Tyerman. Book Review

Yes those nasty Crusades. In the post-modern, Marx-droid universe of salivating moppets and eager to please relativists ['please daddy tell us again about how nice the Saracens were and evil the Christians?']; it is quite easy to lose sight of reality. Muslims and Arabs good, Christians bad. Arab, Muslim and Turkish imperialism good, European fascist. So it is refreshing to read a dense, intellectual and accurate piece of work which describes the Crusades as they were – a complex political, military, and very human response to pre-modern Arab and Turkish designs at world conquest. They might have in effect saved Europe. Tyerman's overall conclusion is that, '..the internal, personal decision to follow the cross, to inflict harm on others at great personal risk, at the cost of enormous privations, at the service of a consuming cause, cannot be explained excused or dismissed either as a virtue or sin. Rather, its very contradictions spelt its humanity.' How true. The Crusades, erupting from Pope Urban II's call in 1095 to help the Eastern church against Turkish or Saracen depredation was full of cross purpose, material aims, personal vanity, spiritual earnestness, military valor, and political intrigue. That is what makes them such a great story. The Crusades were in many ways, extraordinarily successful. Men, money, material, and complex logistics were stretched over a thousand miles from the European heartland to the Holy Land and the Eastern mediterranean. The crusaders were usually quite outnumbered. Each of the 5 major Crusades, lasting roughly from 1095 to 1299 could only muster some 30.000 – 40.000 men, many of whom would melt away after a few months of soldiering, confident that any work combatting the Turks would gain them access into heaven. The Muslims, aided by their intimate knowledge of geography, millions of citizens from which to draw armies, proximate logistics, and supply, should easily have repulsed these infidels from any and all conquests. The fact that the crusaders were able to organise; embark; conquer; hold and build the incredible line of castle fortifications some of which, like the Krak de Chevaliers are still standing today, is one of the great achievements of pre-modern warfare. Tyerman's book is valuable because it relates history as it most likely was. The Crusades were viewed in Western Europe as bellum justum – a just war – a war to reclaim once Christian lands from infidel Turks; a war to push the Muslims out of Europe; a war to help save the Eastern church and bring it under the control of the Western. The casus belli for the conflict was varied and justified by theologians and lay political leaders alike. Jerusalem, the home of Christ and the origins of the Church had a profound and special attraction for an extremely religious and devout population. Tyerman rightly asserts that Muslim supremacism and war mongering made the Crusades a necessity. Large parts of Europe were under Muslim dominaton and, 'jihad was fundamental to the Faith, described by some as a sixth pillar of Islam. In theory fighting was incumbent on all Muslims until the whole world had been subdued, but it was a spiritual as well as military exercise from the start, and a corporate not individual obligation.' You won't read such an honest assessment of jihadic Mohammedism in the New York Times. Without a response Western Europe might very well have suffered the fate of the Eastern Church. As Tyerman states, 'it is hard to argue that we are dealing with an age any more credulous or unthinkingly accepting of religious truth than our own.' Certainly so. Contrary to modern media and educational manipulation, the Europeans of the 11th century and of the Crusades were not simpleton mental midgets, scurrying around mud hovels, wearing hair shirts practicing witch craft or listening to papal sermons with rotted teeth falling out. Western Europe in the early medieval period was a bustling, thriving, urbanising scene of activity, invention, and dynamism – everything one would expect to find and see, in an era of change, which heralded the creation of the modern political-economy. Tyerman's chapters are broken into outlining the 5 major crusades – all of them described in rather exhaustive fashion. Details on the military, political and church-oriented spiritual complexity are compelling and very human. The highly successful First Crusade, featuring many of France's and Germany's leading noblemen, families and Knights, is summarised by Tyerman as a dramatic episode, an event rarely told. The First Crusade's conquests from the borders of the shrinking Greek state [some 100 odd miles outside of modern day Constantinople or Istanbul], through the rough terrain of Anatolia, down the Lebanese coast, and on through to the borders of modern Gaza and east to Jerusalem, north east to Edessa, were an astonishing feat, accomplished in just 2 short years of fighting. A force of roughly 40.000 men, from different states, under various leaders with political infighting and intrigue, and weakly supported by the Greeks of the Eastern empire, had landed, marched, fought and won numerous victories over far larger Turkish hosts. From 1097 to 1099 when Jerusalem was taken, the Christian forces were always in demand and need of men, food, water, supplies, military weaponry, and the medieval tank or mounted Knight. Fully armed mounted knights were extremely expensive to maintain and only the rich could afford to pay their own way to the Holy Land, including horse, armor, servants and food. Of a force of 30.000 the crusaders might be lucky to count on 2.000 such men, their power often assuring a Christian victory over the lighter armed Turkish forces. As Tyerman notes about the complexity and astonishing prowess of the First Crusade, 'Yet the political, material, and military pillars of victory fail adequately to describe the structure of the First Crusade or alone explain its success. Although it is misleading to assume that all recruits and followers shared a similar intensity of religious motivation and zeal, without the element of ideology and spiritual exhiliration, there would have been no march to Jerusalem, let alone a successful conquest.' Military superiority, good organisation, personal genius, luck, good planning and a rough hewn solidarity were the reasons why the First Crusade succeeded. These crusaders had faith, believed in their cause and went through amazing deprivations before finally, in 1099 attacking, sacking and controlling their objective – Jerusalem. In spite of this success the Crusades were doomed to failure if and once the Muslims could unify their command and take advantage of Christian manpower weakness, internal political dissension and lack of Western European support. Importantly for the Muslims, the varied Christian states and sundry crusaders always had a hard time creating political and miltiary unity. Without a unified chain of military and political command, Christian conquests became difficult to defend. Another issue was resource scarcity. During the 200 years of the Crusading wars only a small fraction of European power was involved in trying to wrest and protect the Holy Land from Muslim occupation. If the average Crusade had about 40.000 fighting men involved it represented a small fraction of European manpower and also value-added GDP. Logistically such a force would entail a further 400.000 people to support the Crusade including those involved in shipping, transport, supply manufacture, arms provisioning, food supply, various support work and aiding the army directly in engineering, food and siege work. At most about 500.000-700.000 people would have been occupied in some way with the Crusades. Europe's population at that time was about 30 million in 1100 doubling by 1300 to more than 60 million. This signals that Europe was a fast changing, very productive and extremely wealthy society. So in effect we can say that less than 2 % of Europeans were involved with the Crusades – a rather paltry amount. The problem for the Christian East was getting money out of their fast growing home economies, and using such wealth to secure and deepen their hold on the Holy Land. Medieval Europe was still in the nascent phases of nation state creation. Its richest territory was Germany which was made up of many different and competing sub kingdoms. The German Emperor whilst powerful, did not have anything approaching the machinery of a modern state, nor the ability to extract monies to the level the later states would deem justifiable. France was not yet unified [and wouldn't be until after the Albigensian or Cathar crusades in southern France in the early 13th century]; Spain was bifurcated by Muslim conquest; Italy was split into many kingdoms; and the other parts of Europe were fragmented, small and preoccupied with internal matters. In short in about 1100, the European modern state and its ability to create wealth, tax it, and use it to fund centralised armies was not yet in existence. Therein lies the major factor for the eventual collapse of the Crusading ideal. Without a strong nation state structure where GDP can be centrally taxed and armies centrally managed, the Crusades were left with wealthy Kings and Lords paying the costs, supported by European wide Church taxation or tithes so make up the short fall. Even this was not enough. Many crusaders paid their own way, supporting themselves as they went with plunder. In fact many states such as France went into financial ruin due to the Crusades with some states and their noblemen spending an entire year or more of revenue just to reach the Holy Land. The Crusades were a very costly business indeed. Along the routes between Europe and the Holy Land, pillage and theft was common, and much of it directed against fellow Christians and where possible, the Jews. Attacks against Jews by crusaders along the path of their march, were legion. Tyerman relates that, 'Nothing in official Christian doctrine justified slaying Jews. Pope Alexander II had explicitly prohibited it when drawing a careful distinction between them and Muslims in 1063.' Without plunder or the promise of it, the Crusades never would have happened. This says nothing about the sack of Constantinople itself in 1204 and the looting of its wealth. Along with plunder comes carnage and the Crusades if savage, were no more savage than any other pre-modern war. The myth that the Muslims were tolerant multi-cultists devoted to easing the pain of conquered Jews and Christians and never engaging in mass slaughter and savagery is junk and bunk. As Tyerman elucidates, 'The recent Turkish conquests in the Near East had been accompanied by carnage and enslavement on a grand scale.......Massacres as well as atrocity stories were – and are – an inescapable part of war. In the face of a Muslim counter-attack, letting the locals live may not have seemed a prudent option to the Christian victors, however obscene the alternative.' How real that statement is. The Turks, and the Arabs before them, warred, raped, murdered and annihilated their way through Christian and Jewish territory. Submissive and cowed populations make convenient and easy to rule apartheid empires. So it was with the Muslim states of the Holy Land. Tyerman's book is a great one volume piece on why the Crusades happened, how they occured and just how complicated a story it all is. But a couple of things stand out when reading it. The faith and confidence of 11-14th century Europe is one. Their logistical and sometimes military brilliance in campaigning far from home is a second. The engineering achievements in fortifying and bringing to economic life an uncompromisingly harsh land is a third. And perhaps most importantly of all, is their clear headed appreciation of what Islam was all about – a cult of Mohammed, which desired to wipe out civilisation. It is a lesson that one thousand years later still resonates.

Surprise Christmas Hit By R4

As usual at Christmas, there is much talk of what will be this year's must have toys. Toys such as Elmo Live by Fisher-Price are, as you can expect many experts forecast list. This year however, the crown of the most wanted toys May not go to any well-established multi-nationals. Instead of this year's Christmas's most sought-May intruder R4 Nintendo DS.
R4 opens the possibility of a DS to read from an SD card. This opens a lot of possibilities. One is that the Nintendo DS will be compatible with homebrew applications, which can be stored on the SD and added to the R4.
Since the R4 gives its users many opportunities to use their DS in many ways, he was seen crawling up the Amazon list of best-sellers. Although it will probably not be on the news as the best selling toys of Christmas, because it is not in stock street stores yet, it could face problems of stock, as all the best toys. It's an example of the type of application for the R4 DS Organize. This software lets you use your DS as an office suite. It includes a file browser, web browser, text editor, image editor, calculator, calendar, contacts list, among other useful functions.
Moon shell is an operating system of the R4 that allows you to navigate through the homebrew applications, as well as integrating an MP3 player, video and photo viewer. There are several operating systems available, but Moon shell is the most popular.
The R4 also allows people to stay in touch with their friends and family. Homebrew applications enable users to connect to their MSN, AIM or Yahoo Messenger. Most interesting of all, Skype can also be used with the R4. This means that the DS may well be used as a cell phone as long as a Wi-Fi is available.
DS Libris allows the DS to display eBooks, turn the machine in a small library of books for you to read at your pleasure. DSVNC can be used to control a PC. Boro DS is a Web browser. The list of new ways to use a DS with an R4 continues.
Nintendo really not have much of potential for the DS, first by the exclusion of a flash player like the PSP has. The R4 has correct this problem, but Nintendo are keen to have people to use their own device for reading flash memory card, so they have introduced a new model of DS, the ISD.
The main reason for the flash drive in the DSI is to store the pictures taken on new cameras to the ISD and music files. It seems unlikely that Nintendo will allow homebrew applications to be run by the ISD, but Nintendo R4 had a history of strict control over what is published on their systems.
Nintendo, perhaps have strict controls of the steam from the early 80s, when the video game market is in decline due to a large number of poor-quality games that flooded the market. In response, the Nintendo Entertainment System is the first console to include a chip that has prevented games is made without the approval of Nintendo.
This has far of choice. The R4 is the choice of return.