This article marks the centenary of the founding of the approach to the study of human and other behavior known as behaviorism, often considered to have occurred in 1913. The story of behaviorism is largely, although by no means entirely, the story of Burrhus Frederick Skinner (1904-1990), who is presented as being among the intellectual giants of the twentieth century.The article touches on four of B.F. Skinner's major contributions, with some focus on his elaboration of the paral...

This is a novel of ideas, particularly ideas about psychology and philosophy. It’s also a novel about the politics and circumstances of a particularly unsettling year – 1939 – and about travel at that time. The main character is an imagined young B.F. Skinner, who became the most influential psychologist of the twentieth century. In the novel, he made a fictional trip to Europe and back in May and June of that year.Skinner had two quests, one intellectual, one political. Both quest...

Theatrical Violence Design offers the reader a complete education in the theory and practice of designing violence for the theater. From swordfights to exchanges of gunfire to domestic violence, the theater abounds in physical conflict. The artists who design that violence, sometimes called fight directors or choreographers, will find in this book an invaluable resource for becoming more expert at their craft. In the chapters of this book, they will encounter the core principles o...

Modern societies rely upon prodigious amounts of oil for transport activity. The impacts over the near term of increasing oil scarcity and higher prices on transport will be among the major challenges facing humanity and will require a revolution in thinking about how we move people and goods.Transport Revolutions analyzes five prior episodes of rapid and radical change in the way people and goods travel. It examines the worldwide state of transport today, especially its e...

Few areas in life have experienced the rapid pace of change that has been the experience of health care. It's an area where nothing feels "safe" and everything is threatened with reexamination and redefinition. Accompanying this situation is a new appreciation for the human spirit and the gift of things spiritual, including the soul of the work place. Addressing this situation is a vital new book "Health Care and Spirituality: Listening, Assessing, Caring" an anthology of the human predica...

For too long, cities have been thought of as environmental blackspots, with high levels of air and soil pollution, overcrowding, poor sanitation and growing waste disposal problems. This book takes a more positive attitude: cities can be made to work sustainably. Their high population density can work in the environment's favour if they can achieve efficient use of resources such as energy and water supplies, and improve transport and infrastructure. The best cities today are clean, resour...

Upon moving to Appalachian Ohio with their two small children, Richard Gilbert and his wife are thrilled to learn there still are places in America that haven’t been homogenized. But their excitement over the region’s beauty and quirky character turns to culture shock as they try to put down roots far from their busy professional jobs in town. They struggle to rebuild a farmhouse, and Gilbert gets conned buying equipment and sheep—a ewe with an “outie” belly button turns out to be a neuter...

One of the unspoken aspects of mourning concerns the ways that loss affects our intimate relationships and our sexual expressiveness. This text opens these subjects for conversation, with the aim of promoting the trust, care, and respect that enable us to be vulnerable. It purposefully covers a range of topics, including: (1) the meaning of intimacy and the significance of sexuality, providing a basis for the use of these terms throughout the book; (2) death, grief, and differences in sexu...

Transport Revolutions: Moving People and Freight without Oil sets out the challenges to our growing dependence on transport fuelled by low-priced oil. These challenges include an early peak in world oil production and profound climate change resulting in part from oil use. It proposes responses to ensure effective, secure movement of people and goods in ways that make the best use of renewable sources of energy while minimizing environmental impacts.Transport Revolutions synthesize...

This is a novel of ideas, particularly ideas about psychology and philosophy. It’s also a novel about the politics and circumstances of a particularly unsettling year – 1939 – and about travel at that time. The main character is an imagined young B.F. Skinner, who became the most influential psychologist of the twentieth century. In the novel, he made a fictional trip to Europe and back in May and June of that year.Skinner had two quests, one intellectual, one political. Both quest...

First released in 2007, the bestselling Transport Revolutions argued that land transport in the first half of the 21st century will feature at least two revolutions. One will involve the use of electric drives rather than internal combustion engines. Another will involve powering many of these drives directly from the electric grid - as trains and trolley buses are powered today - rather than from on-board fuel.Now available for the first time in paperback and updated with the most...

In Subjectivity, sixteen leading scholars examine the turn to the subject in modern philosophy and consider its historical antecedents in ancient and medieval thought. Some critics of modernity reject the turn to the subject as a specifically modern error, arguing that it logically leads to nihilism and moral relativism by divorcing the human mind from objective reality. Yet, some important thinkers of the last half-century--including Leo Strauss, Eric Voegelin, John Finnis, and Bernard Lo...