A Manual of Common Beetles of Eastern North America

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A Manual of Common Beetles of Eastern North America
Elizabeth S. And Lawrence S. Dillon Dillon
Manufacturer: Row, Peterson and Company
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000O055VK

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A Manual of Common Beetles of Eastern North America
Elizabeth S. Dillon
Manufacturer: Dover Pubns
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: 0486611906

Book Description

London has stimulated and fascinated writers from Chaucer, Dickens and De Quincey, to Orton, Orwell and more recently, Peter Ackroyd. Both a bedside companion and an imaginative travel guide, it leads you through the literary history of each district. Discover Boswell's Fleet Street, the Dickensian London of The Pickwick Papers and Little Dorrit and look at London Bridge through the eyes of T.S. Eliot. Packed with anecdotes about the lives of the city's writers, the book allows you to locate Dr. Johnson's favourite haunts and drink in the same bars as Dylan Thomas and Jeffrey Bernard. Accompanied by specially commissioned photographs of London today, and hundreds of illustrations of writers, manuscripts, prints and memorabilia, A Reader's Guide to Writers' London is a must for any lover of either literature or London.

Zadie Smith's White Teeth: A Reader's Guide (Continuum Contemporaries)

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White Teeth
Uh, okay.
A refreshing piece of Lit Crit

Zadie Smith's White Teeth: A Reader's Guide (Continuum Contemporaries)
Claire Squires
Manufacturer: Continuum International Publishing Group
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0826453260

Book Description

This is part of a new series of guides to contemporary novels. The aim of the series is to give readers accessible and informative introductions to some of the most popular, most acclaimed and most influential novels of recent years - from `The Remains of the Day' to `High Fidelity'. A team of contemporary fiction scholars from both sides of the Atlantic has been assembled to provide a thorough and readable analysis of each of the novels in question.

Customer Reviews:

White Teeth.......2005-02-12

Great book. Very vivid descriptions of language, character and the family structure of non-native society in London. I feel that this book could explain the conflict any transplant could experience in a foriegn land.
It almost explains, though, that once you have tasted the western world, there is no going back.
Didn't care for the ending, though-- too much like a Wes Anderson movie where the players all congregate toward one spot rather unnaturally.
If you desire wit, involved reading and changes in eras, White Teeth is definitely for you.

Uh, okay........2003-07-07

If you require a guide to Smith's execrable 'White Teeth', then I regret to inform you that you are too stupid to live.

A refreshing piece of Lit Crit.......2002-06-26

Before I'd read the book, this seemed like a dubious enterprise. Surely 'White Teeth' is too recent to reward (or deserve?) this kind of close critical attention. But in fact, this short book works well because of its chronological proximity to its subject, and you get a genuine sense of the author's enthusiasm for the novel - an enthusiasm that I share.

Briefly, this book consists of a chapter that sketches the pertinent details of Zadie Smith's career so far; a chapter that engages fully with the themes and qualities of the novel; a couple of chapters that look at how the book was reviewed upon publication and how it performed initially; and a concluding chapter that contains a wide selection of Discussion Points and a surprisingly thorough bibliography. Ms Squires is particularly good at illuminating Zadie Smith's stylistic techniques, and is also refreshingly well-researched on the novel's history in terms of its publishing life (agents, deals, marketing, etc).

Book Description

This is part of a new series of guides to contemporary novels. The aim of the series is to give readers accessible and informative introductions to some of the most popular, most acclaimed and most influential novels of recent years - from `The Remains of the Day' to `White Teeth'. A team of contemporary fiction scholars from both sides of the Atlantic has been assembled to provide a thorough and readable analysis of each of the novels in question.

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A Reader's Guide to Writers' London
Ian Cunningham
Manufacturer: NY
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000MUCDEY

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Reader's Guide to Writers' London, A
Ian Cunningham
Manufacturer: Andre Deutsch
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000OPG1IQ

Book Description

Tsukushi endures innumerable ups and downs in this entry in Yoko Kamio's acclaimed series. Domyoji Tsukasa is as jealous as ever with the arrival of Thomas, while lurid and embarrassing photos of Tsukushi and Thomas emerge. Just when she thought things couldn't get any worse, Tsukushi's tormentors up the ante of cruelty and violence. Only one boy comes to her rescue. Which one will it be?

Customer Reviews:

Wow...disturbing!.......2004-04-19

Volume 5 of Hana Yori Dango was excellent in almost every way. The art was beautiful, the story...amazing, and the character development...wow!
The one problem I have was with Viz's editing. While this was not nearly as bad as Volume 4 (...), I still kept noticing typo's, and I also had the distinct feeling that the translation wasn't literal enough.
But still, buy this book! Even with it's little mistakes, it's worth buying, if only to discover Sakurako's creepy little secret!

Book Description

This definitive work by world-renowned bee authority Eva Crane offers a fascinating account of bees and their complex relations with both humans and animals. Comprehensive, absorbing, and lavishly illustrated, this scholarly, yet accessible volume explores how bees, honey and other bee products have been gathered and utilized throughout the world.

Beginning with the rock paintings of the Mesolithic cave dwellers, readers will learn about the variety of methods used by human beekeepers, the stratagems used by animal honey-hunters, and the multitude of products humans have derived from bees. The first in-depth book on the subject, the World History of Beekeeping and Honey-Hunting is the ultimate work on bees for scholars in biology and the life sciences, professional and amateur beekeepers, and anyone who is interested in bees or the collection of honey.

Customer Reviews:

Great on detail, not an easy night's read........2007-07-05

If you are scientifically-minded and love lots of little details, this is a great book for you. Eva Crane has well-documented her resources, and if you can get through all the details, you find great stories as to the origin and development of beekeeping in different cultures. However, this is not a storybook, or a book you might expect a child to read - it is stock full of info. I personally love this book, and think it is well-worth the high price. However, it is not a book for everyone.

The world history of beekeeping.......2007-05-12

If you are at all interested in bees or you are a beekeeper this is the book for you!
Eva Crane has just about left no stone unturned in her research for this book and has covered all four corners of the Globe.
The evolution of beekeeping is fascinating and this book cover an increadable time line from early man right up to present time.
The illustrations are plentiful and very well presented throughout the book.
A must for any beekeepers library.

The World History of Beekeeping and Honey Hunting

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The World History of Beekeeping and Honey Hunting
Eva Crane
Manufacturer: NY
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000MU9CSO

Book Description

This book gives an introduction to the basic theory of stochastic calculus and its applications. Examples are given throughout the text, in order to motivate and illustrate the theory and show its importance for many applications in e.g. economics, biology and physics. The basic idea of the presentation is to start from some basic results (without proofs) of the easier cases and develop the theory from there, and to concentrate on the proofs of the easier case (which nevertheless are often sufficiently general for many purposes) in order to be able to reach quickly the parts of the theory which is most important for the applications. For the 6th edition the author has added further exercises and, for the first time, solutions to many of the exercises are provided.

Customer Reviews:

A very good book!.......2007-07-05

I read this book after I had read Karatzas' and Shreve's book "Stochastic Calculus..." and it is probably better to do it the other way round. The mathematical prerequisites are not high, however a good intuitive understanding of measure theory is probably necessary. The pace of the book is leasurely, the proofs are such, that pencil and paper is rarely needed, however no rigor is lost.
The book quickly moves to interesting applications of the theory, which is motivated very well.
It contains a few typographical errors, mostly in the last chapter, and mostly of a harmless nature.

With the necessary mathematical background, it seems to be an ideal introduction to this highly interesting topic of stochastic differential equations!

Excellent introduction on Stochastic Differential Equations.......2007-05-08

A well written book in Mathematics
Stochastic Differential Equations is a branch of mathematics. This book is not just for financial derivatives analysis or modeling. Oksendal first introduces the subject by raising a few stochastic problems (population growth; electric charge in RLC circuit; filtering problems, Dirichlet problems; asset management; optimal portfolio and options pricing) in the first chapter. The subsequent chapters develop notions and techniques which are able to solve wide varieties of stochastic problems (not just those mentioned in the first chapters). The arrangement is impressive in particular for readers who have no previous knowledge about the subject. The readers at least know the target for developing the techniques and would not lose the way when manipulating tons of symbols. Hints and answers to selected problems are invaluable to students for self-study.
To achieve a sound background on stochastic equations is extremely important especially in quantitative finance. It is not an easy job however. QF students may consider going through this book before seriously take Shreve's books on Stochastic Calculus for Finance.

OK intro to stochastic analysis.......2007-03-14

This is a standard work (it is the one I read when I first started looking at this sort of thing) but having taken it off the shelf recently again, I think it is overrated, for several reasons.

First, it is very notation heavy - TeX has seduced Mr. Oksendahl into all sorts of bad habits - I can very easily imagine that the earlier editions (mine is the 5th), which were written with a typewriter, are much more readable.

Second, the proofs are very formal, developed mostly in terms of classical functional analysis (square integrable real functions, geometry of real Hilbert spaces etc.). From the point of view of rigor this is fine, but from the point of view of intuition, not so much, esp. when combined with the heavyweight notation. In fact note that unless you have a decent background in functional analysis, of the sort you are more likely to pick up in a mathematics degree than a finance degree, then you are going to get precisely nowhere with this book.

I don't want to be too negative, and there is lots of good stuff here - just to warn that Oksendahl is not (as one might think) a royal road to the theory of SDEs (depressingly, it may be that Oksendahl is, nevertheless, the best of the bunch out there - it is certainly, all criticism not-withstanding, more accessible than Karatzas and Shreve).

Very good book - would not mind more on finance.......2007-02-08

Very good book. However the math prerequisite is at quite a high level. Especially the probability theory introduction could be a little less fast-paced. As my main interest was on the financial application I would not have minded a little more on that topic and a little less on e.g. filtering or stochatsic control in return.

good intro book.......2006-02-03

This is a good intro book. It brings you really fast to Ito's Formula and SDE. Somebody said that the Kolmogorov's backward eq in chapter 8 is wrong. This is false, it is just expressed in a different way than the usual form. However, with a change of time, you are all set.

Optimal Control: An Introduction to the Theory with Applications (Oxford Applied Mathematics & Computing Science Series)

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Optimal Control: An Introduction to the Theory with Applications (Oxford Applied Mathematics & Computing Science Series)
Leslie M. Hocking
Manufacturer: Oxford University Press, USA
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0198596820

Book Description

Systems that evolve with time occur frequently in nature and modelling the behaviour of such systems provides an important application of mathematics. These systems can be completely deterministic, but it may be possible too to control their behaviour by intervention through 'controls'. The theory of optimal control is concerned with determining such controls which, at minimum cost, either direct the system along a given trajectory or enable it to reach a given point in its state space. This textbook is a straightforward introduction to the theory of optimal control with an emphasis on presenting many different applications. Professor Hocking has taken pains to ensure that the theory is developed to display the main themes of the arguments but without using sophisticated mathematical tools. Problems in this setting can arise across a wide range of subjects and there are illustrative examples of systems from as diverse fields as dynamics, economics, population control, and medicine. Throughout there are many worked examples, and numerous exercises (with solutions) are provided.

Optimal Control : An Introduction to the Theory with Application (Oxford Applied Mathematics and Computing Science Ser.)

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Optimal Control : An Introduction to the Theory with Application (Oxford Applied Mathematics and Computing Science Ser.)
Leslie M. Hocking
Manufacturer: Oxford University Press, Incorporated
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000OLXTHQ

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Optimal Control: An Introduction to the Theory With Application
Leslie M. Hocking
Manufacturer: Oxford University Press, USA
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000OKY3FY

Book Description

The interaction of Jew and Greek in antiquity intrigues the imagination. Both civilizations boasted great traditions, their roots stretching back to legendary ancestors and divine sanction. In the wake of Alexander the Great's triumphant successes, Greeks and Macedonians came as conquerors and settled as ruling classes in the lands of the eastern Mediterranean. Hellenic culture, the culture of the ascendant classes in many of the cities of the Near East, held widespread attraction and appeal. Jews were certainly not immune. In this thoroughly researched, lucidly written work, Erich Gruen draws on a wide variety of literary and historical texts of the period to explore a central question: How did the Jews accommodate themselves to the larger cultural world of the Mediterranean while at the same time reasserting the character of their own heritage within it? Erich Gruen's work highlights Jewish creativity, ingenuity, and inventiveness, as the Jews engaged actively with the traditions of Hellas, adapting genres and transforming legends to articulate their own legacy in modes congenial to a Hellenistic setting. Drawing on a diverse array of texts composed in Greek by Jews over a broad period of time, Gruen explores works by Jewish historians, epic poets, tragic dramatists, writers of romance and novels, exegetes, philosophers, apocalyptic visionaries, and composers of fanciful fables--not to mention pseudonymous forgers and fabricators. In these works, Jewish writers reinvented their own past, offering us the best insights into Jewish self-perception in that era.

Customer Reviews:

An encyclopedia on the subject.......2007-01-09

This is a very important survey of the cultural creations of the Jews living in the Ptolemaic and Roman empire. It is a very balanced exposition of what remains a minority living in a world civilisation, could do and would do to keep its group identity. The discussion in the greek of the Ancient Testament does not kill interest on all the rest. As such, there are important parallelims to be drawn with our own time and it is very clear that the author has them in mind.

A Different Way of Seeing.......2006-02-06

Erich Gruen a Classicist and historian of the Roman Republic and Empire has gone somewhat far afield here to review the Greek language literature authored by Jews during the Hellenistic period. Literary criticism of the traditional nature is the chosen vehicle for his investigation. The text and what it says is Gruen's predominate concern. Only after such an analysis has been employed, and its gleanings well explicated is the author willing to deal with other concerns. By so doing, he arrives at a number of conclusions or lack of conlusions somewhat unique among scholars who have appraised these works.

He does not see the tension between Jews and Hellenism often highlighted by others. With rare exception he finds Jews accepting Greek authority while asserting Jewish superiority and precedence. No particular "setz in leben" is found for much of the literature. It may have been generated in the diaspora or Isreal. And, it is proposed that it really does not matter. Furthermore, Gruen finds that most of the works do not have any assertainable specific intent with regard to individual historical occurences. The primary function of this literature is the maintenance of group cohesion and superiority while accomodating or co-opting both Hellenistic culture and accomplishment.

Gruen finds amazing liberties taken in the adaptation of both the Biblical and non Biblical corpus to the advance this project. Broad humor is often present and much of it at the expense of the Greek dynasts of the period. From Macabees 1 to the Jewish Sybilline Oracles, most everything is covered. While short of proposing any earth shaking historical revisions, this book should serve as tempering corrective to much previous scholarship on the topic. Any future account of Jewish reponses to Hellenism that disregard this study do so at their own peril.

An Interesting Look At Hellenistic Jews.......2002-11-09

Gruen's 'Heritage and Hellenism' provided a limited, but informative, overview of Jewish literature from the Hellenistic period, focusing on works with historical intent. He opens with an analysis of I & II Maccabees, to see that the Hasmoneans were not opposed to Hellenism per se, but that they in fact utilized Hellenism to further Jewish ends. Gruen goes on to examine the creative adaptations of Biblical materials by Jews to help place them in the context of Hellenistic society and thought, emphasizing their antiquity and superiority in that world. Other materials discussed are from Josephus, and the Jewish Pseudepigrapha, often little-known fragments of historical lore, Greek additions to Daniel and Esther, and the Third Sybilline Oracle. Gruen looks insightfully at his sources, wonders how they were intended and who they were for. He finds elements of satire, humor, consolation, and exhortation in these remote works. Many of the footnotes are in Greek, but can be looked up in translations by chapter and verse numbers. In a few places Greek is used in the text, but this should not dissuade the general reader. Overall, the book is very readable, fair-minded, and potentially helpful to anyone wishing to understand the Judaism of this period in history.

Heritage and Hellenism The Reinvention of Jewish Tradition

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Heritage and Hellenism The Reinvention of Jewish Tradition
Erich S. Gruen
Manufacturer: California
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000PWD154

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