Most Popular Books by Peter Scott

When Peter Scott began a 1968 tour in Vietnam advising ethnic Cambodian Khmer Krom paramilitaries, they shared only an earnest desire to check the spread of communism. It took nearly thirty years and a chance reunion for Scott to realize just how much they had become a part of him. This fascinating chronicle of Scott’s experiences with the secret army of brave, disciplined warriors is by far the most moving and richly detailed account ever published of the deep bonds forged in war between Americans and our Asian allies. Successfully blending intense combat narrative and stirring emotional drama, Scott vividly captures both the unique village culture of a little-known, highly spiritual people and their complex relationship with Special Forces soldiers, who found it increasingly difficult to match their charges’ commitment to the costly conflict. With a novelist’s powers of description and reflection and a professional soldier’s keen insight and analysis, Scott raises the standard for literature about the Vietnam War with this searing portrait of promise and betrayal. Building on his experiences as a Phoenix Program adviser near the Cambodian border, extensive interviews with Khmer Krom survivors, hundreds of hours of research in government archives, and requests for Freedom of Information Act disclosures, Scott seamlessly reconstructs the six-thousand-strong mercenary force’s final crusade against communism, beginning in their ancestral home in 1970 and ending on the U.S. West Coast in 1995. Such a hauntingly evocative and highly readable book will both entertain and shock, and it is assured of a place among the classics on Vietnam.

In this provocative and broad-ranging work, the authors argue that the ways in which knowledge - scientific, social and cultural - is produced are undergoing fundamental changes at the end of the twentieth century. They claim that these changes mark a distinct shift into a new mode of knowledge production which is replacing or reforming established institutions, disciplines, practices and policies. Identifying features of the new mode of knowledge production - reflexivity, transdisciplinarity, heterogeneity - the authors show how these features connect with the changing role of knowledge in social relations. While the knowledge produced by research and development in science and technology is accorded central concern, the authors also outline the changing dimensions of social scientific and humanities knowledge and the relations between the production of knowledge and its dissemination through education.

Physiology and Behaviour of Plants looks at plants and how they sense and respond to their environment. It takes the traditional plant physiology book into a new dimension by demonstrating how the biochemical observations underlie the behaviour of the plant. In many ways the book parallels courses studied at university on animal physiology and behaviour. The plant has to meet the same challenges as an animal to survive, but overcomes these challenges in very different ways. Students learn to think of plants not only as dynamic organisms, but aggressive, territorial organisms capable of long-range communication. Hallmark features include: Based on a successful course that the author has run for several years at Sussex University, UK Relates plant biochemistry to plant function Printed in four colour throughout Includes a wealth of illustrations and photographs that engages the reader''s attention and reinforce key concepts explored within the text Presents material in a modern ''topic'' based approach, with many relevant and exciting examples to inspire the student An accompanying web site will include teaching supplements This innovative textbook is the ultimate resource for all students in biology, horticulture, forestry and agriculture. Companion website for this title is available at www.wiley.com/go/scott/plants

Discusses polar bears in mythology and as encountered by early arctic explorers, modern attempts to preserve the species, and the polar bear''s characteristics and hunting, feeding, and mating habits.

A humorous wedding planner for the well-meaning but totally unprepared groom.

Offering a Christian response to ecological crisis, this book argues that our present-day ecological problems are due to the displacement of the triune God and the subsequent separation of humanity from nature. Peter Scott contends that this situation can be decisively addressed only within theology. Drawing insights from ecology, ecofeminism, and social and socialist ecologies, he proposes a common realm of God, nature and humanity. Both Trinitarian and political, this common realm offers a theological rationale for an ecological democracy, founded on the ecological renewal secured by Christ''s resurrection.

This explosive book lays bare the personalities and institutional relations behind the headlines. It goes beyond the recent events to discern the roots of contemporary U.S. covert activity within the past two decades. The Iran-Contra Connection delves in to the details of CIA and extra-CIA operations, including drug-trafficking, gun-running, government-toppling, and assassination. The Iran-Contra scandal is not merely a plan gone awry, the authors argue, but a consistent outgrowth of a long tradition of U.S. covert activity- from the Bay of Pigs invasion teams to the NSC organizational team; from the CIA and the World Anti-Communist League to the Israeli connection and the State Department.

Originally published in 1975, Strategies for Postsecondary Education looks at how postsecondary education absorbs an increasing proportion of education budgets in developed countries. The book analyses the inequalities in the American postsecondary education system and compares its performance with France and the United Kingdom. The traditional concept of higher education with its preference for the college sector is now being challenged by the notion of postsecondary education which embraces the community colleges and preparatory schools in the United States and the polytechnics in Great Britain. The book argues that the development of the non-collegiate sector, including further education outside a formal educational context, will extend the range of educational opportunity and make much better use of limited resources.

Originally published in 1984, The Crisis of the University looks at the way in which changes to intellectual life relate to the development of the different institutions that make up higher education. It examines the evolution of the liberal university that flourished in the 19th and early 20th centuries into the modern university that has grown up since 1945. It also looks at the more detailed experience of British higher education, with separate chapters on what the Robbins expansion meant for the universities and why it was thought necessary to construct an alternative in the shape of the polytechnics. Looking to the future, the book argues first that the present structure of British higher education needs reform and speculates on the future intellectual and social demands that may be made of higher education.

Inter-war Britain saw a boom in ''mass markets'' for consumer durables, such as new suites of furniture, radios, and electrical and gas appliances, while items like refrigerators, telephones, and automobiles didn''t reach the mass market until the 1950s. Peter Scott explores these ''market makers'' and how US innovations influenced British markets.

Author Peter Scott presents a prequel to his popular Something in the Water in a panoramic portrait of an extended Maine island family at the onset of World War I. The Boy Who Came Walking Home is a vivid depiction of a close-knit island society — its morals, bigotry, family strength, and compelling hold on its residents. In particular, it is the story of young Henry Coombs, who abruptly leaves this hardscrabble fishing community to join the army. Within the context of Henry''s journey, the reader learns fascinating details about life in a military encampment, the war''s effect on the Maine home front, and the devastation of the 1918 influenza epidemic. Scott''s gift for period detail, subtle humor, and fully dimensional characters makes this an engrossing and haunting novel.

Bring new power, performance, and scalability to your existing Perl code! Cure whatever ails your Perl code! Maintain, optimize, and scale any Perl software... whether you wrote it or not Perl software engineering best practices for enterprise environments Includes case studies and code in a fun-to-read format Today''s Perl developers spend 60-80% of their time working with existing Perl code. Now, there''s a start-to-finish guide to understanding that code, maintaining it, updating it, and refactoring it for maximum performance and reliability. Peter J. Scott, lead author of Perl Debugged, has written the first systematic guide to Perl software engineering. Through extensive examples, he shows how to bring powerful discipline, consistency, and structure to any Perl program-new or old. You''ll discover how to: Scale existing Perl code to serve larger network, Web, enterprise, or e-commerce applications Rewrite, restructure, and upgrade any Perl program for improved performance Bring standards and best practices to your entire library of Perl software Organize Perl code into modules and components that are easier to reuse Upgrade code written for earlier versions of Perl Write and execute better tests for your software...or anyone else''s Use Perl in team-based, methodology-driven environments Document your Perl code more effectively and efficiently If you''ve ever inherited Perl code that''s hard to maintain, if you write Perl code others will read, if you want to write code that''ll be easier for you to maintain, the book that comes to your rescue is Perl Medic. If you code in Perl, you need to read this book.–Adam Turoff, Technical Editor, The Perl Review. Perl Medic is more than a book. It is a well-crafted strategy for approaching, updating, and furthering the cause of inherited Perl programs.–Allen Wyke, co-author of several computer books including JavaScript Unleashed and Pure JavaScript. Scott''s explanations of complex material are smooth and deceptively simple. He knows his subject matter and his craft-he makes it look easy. Scott remains relentless practical-even the ''Analysis'' chapter is filled with code and tests to run.–Dan Livingston, author of several computer books including Advanced Flash 5: Actionscript in Action

The incredible book behind the primetime Channel 4 documentary, Peter: The Human Cyborg ''A remarkable account of what it means to be human and what technology can really achieve'' Sunday Telegraph ''Peter''s story is one of the most extraordinary you will ever hear. I urge people to read it'' Stephen Fry ''A remarkable story . . . you''re left desperate to take nothing for granted'' Radio Times __________ Peter, a brilliant scientist, is told that he will lose everything he loves. His husband. His family. His friends. His ability to travel the world. All will be gone. But Peter will not give up. He vows that this will not be the end and instead seeks a completely new beginning . . . Peter has Motor Neurone Disease, a condition universally considered by doctors to be terminal. He is told it will destroy his nerve cells and that within about two years, it will take his life too. But, face-to-face with death, he decides there is another way. Using his background in science and technology, he navigates a new path, one that will enable him not just to survive, but to thrive. This is the astonishing true story about Peter Scott-Morgan: the first person to combine his very humanity with artificial intelligence and robotics to become a full Cyborg. His discovery means that his terminal diagnosis is negotiable, something that will rewrite the future. And change the world. By embracing love, life and hope rather than fear, tragedy and despair, he will become Peter 2.0. __________ ''Compelling . . . Scott-Morgan is a true one-off. It is in the telling of the love story, rather than the technical details of becoming a cyborg, that this book succeeds'' The Times ''What''s striking is Peter''s constant optimism, bravery and his ability to find radical answers to problems that have confounded Britain''s brightest minds'' Daily Telegraph ''A soaring love story'' Financial Times ''Fascinating and extremely moving'' Sun