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Israel in the World: Changing Lives Through Innovation

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This is an excellent and beautiful book about the little nation of Israel. Israel's accomplishments are something all humans can point to with pride. We humans can indeed make great progress in medicine, science, technology, agriculture, society, and outreach. Even a nation of just a few million people can do it. Some nations on this planet are producing very little of lasting value. Others are producing more. Some, of course, are consuming more. But we can all see from this book that Israel is more than pulling its own weight. It is holding up far more than its share of the sky!

This book shows why Israel ought to serve as an example for all of us. It's exciting to see how much can be done by an educated society. This is not a secret: all human society can and should try to emulate (or even exceed) Israel's behavior here.

I'll mention just one of the many examples of what Israelis have done, drip irrigation. This process, which dramatically increases water productivity, was developed by Israelis, and it has helped people in a wide variety of nations. Bananas in the Ivory Coast, sugar cane in Mauritius, melons in Mexico, vegetables in India, strawberries in Indonesia, and grapes in Germany are just a few of the products grown using this technique, with the help of Israeli companies. We also see a low-sugar fruit, the pepo, developed by Israelis especially with diabetics in mind.

I know that some folks prefer not to applaud Israel but regard it with envy. That is not the true path. Those of us who want our species and civilization to have a future should start by praising what is good about it. And this book certainly contributes to that.

Israel in the World : Changing Lives Through Innovation is a powerful book in that it shows the power of a people.

It is ironic that Israel has grown from nothing in 1948 to be a world powerhouse in democracy, medicine, technology and much more.

On the other side, many feudal, monarchies in Africa have gone nowhere. The people are still malnourished, there is no democracy, etc.

Israel in the World : Changing Lives Through Innovation should be read by every lover of democracy.

This attractively illustrated book provides a showcase of Israel's achievements in fields as diverse as agriculture, education, medicine, science and technology. It looks at the technologies, processes and the products from this tiny little land that are improving the lives of so many people. The authors highlight some of the people responsible for this ingenuity that is benefiting the whole world.

For example, at the Weizmann Institute, Dr Michal Schwartz has developed a way of harnessing immune system cells to repair and revive damaged nerve fibres. Other medical breakthroughs include the miniscule camera-in-a-tablet used for internal diagnosis, ultrasound for destroying tumours and Israel's highly effective disaster relief operations.

A great help to third world people has been the discovery by scientist Yoel Margalith of the Bti bacterium that kills certain kinds of flies and harmful mosquitoes. This has already saved millions of livers and is an environment-friendly intervention. Most remarkable is that Margalith is a holocaust survivor, of both the Bergen-Belsen and Teresienstadt camps.

In many fields Israel is so far ahead of the pack that other countries have no chance of catching up. One of the most interesting innovations developed in Israel is a project to avoid collisions between aircraft and migratory birds. It involved the study of the flight paths of birds. This work of researcher Yossi Leshem is now also used by the Jordanian and Turkish air-force.

Israel has more engineers per capita than any other country on earth and a remarkable number of hi-tech companies. Innovation in the fields of computers and information technology is particularly impressive. This encompasses software, operating systems, storage & retrieval systems, verification and firewall technologies, plus a host of mobile phone applications.

Israel's creativity is not restricted to science and technology, as there is also much happening in arts and culture. Despite its small size and its many enemies, this country is bursting with creative energy and making a huge contribution to the global marketplace and to quality of life worldwide.

The founders of this brave country were aware that Israel had almost no natural resources and that its people therefore had to develop and apply their brainpower. Well, they are succeeding spectacularly. What a pity that Israel has to devote so much of its money and resources to protect itself from its neighbours! If its full genius were given free reign, it would become even more of a blessing to the world.

The great dreamer- founders of Israel including its first Prime Minister David Ben- Gurion believed that Israel should be a light to the nations. In its early years many people were astounded at how a small beseiged nation could somehow manage to provide irrigation experts to distant countries in Africa and help them develop their own economies.
In this remarkable work many of the most recent contributions of Israel to the world's technological and scientific development are depicted. Many of these innovations are in the all important realm of medical technology whose human benefit is unquestionable.
The contributions of Israel to world development are significant not because they are all out of proportion to Israel's size, geographically and demographically. They are significant because this helping of others is a true religious meaning of what the Jewish state is supposed to be. And they are especially noteworthy at the time when Israel is often demonized unjustly by totalitarian terrorists, whose values are primarily in destruction rather than in creation.
This book I might add is endorsed by Rupert Murdoch. Its authors are the superb writers, husband and wife team, Douglas and Helen Davis.

This book talks not only about the impresive technical advances of Israel but also the humanitarian ones. I buy many copies for friends that want to know more about the "real" Israel along with the book: The Israelis : Ordinary People in an Extraordinary Land -- by Donna Rosenthal.

Several of the vignettes also have executives speaking about the Israeli character. The CEO of Teva, of RAD, and of NDS all have very interesting things to say about the Israeli character. For instance, the CEO of Teva speaks of giving a scientist a question which he answers then he comes back begging for more.

Few nations need good press, Israel, sadly, is one of them. This book fills an important gap. Most are fimiliar with Israel through the headlines, "checkpoints", "palestinians", "terrorism". But there is another Israel. There is the idealistic land and people who came from more than 100 countries, many with nothing, and built a first world nation. They built an ideal society, with kibbutzim, communal owned property where new farming techniques were created. They came to the forefront in technology and science. An innovative nation, Israel should be a model for the world. In Israel women and men serve together in the army, race in the western sense of the word does not exist, as millions of immigrants from disparate places such as the Soviet Union(former) and Ethiopians mingle in society.

Israel is a nation of people who live in small houses, where society is fluid, where orthodox religion coexists next to the nude beahces of Ashdod. A state that has pioneered exonomic and environmental programs.

This book is a wonderful study, a fascinating look at a new country and its role in the world, and its gifts to the world. Many things will intrigue, and this is not a book of politics, this is a book about achievment, about revolutionary ideals.

A good eye opener, away from the polemic driven press that frequents the middle east all to often.

Seth J. Frantzman

Filled with information we never realized. The press tell only the negatives and this book astounds us with mighty positives.

The book is fantastic and shows a secret, unknown and even more fantastic Israel! Read it!

The book gives us an overview of a wonderful country, doing innovative things at all levels that are helping people in all other countries.
Innovations in health, science, education and infrastructure are being developed that are benefiting people all over the world.
People need to hear about these exciting things!!

This beautifully illustrated book shows some of the important contributions Israel is doing in several areas, from technology to medicine right now. It presents a very positive view of a country full of creative people, that in 60 years already gave several Nobel prices and so many technological discoveries. In a scenario of a growing anti-Israeli propaganda, it is a very necessary book.