Turning Back the Clock: The Life and Times of a Motor Trader

Customer Reviews:

A wonderful look at the car business USED to be........2002-01-27

I bought this book after reading about it in Motor Sport. As someone who has spent nearly 25 years in the automobile business I found it is wonderfull, insightfull look at how the automobile business used to be, for better or for worse!

If you an Anglophile, enjoy cars, or in the car business than I strongly suggest this!

Book Description

The story of Alabama's most successful basketball coach. Told from his own perspective.

Book Description

TECHNICAL FILM & TV FOR NONTECHNICAL PEOPLE introduces film students, actors, producers and other nontechnical film people to the technical aspects that everyone working on a film set should know. Author Drew Campbell is a lightning and sound designer for Universal Studios who started out in theater and who was struck by the complex technical procedures and idiosyncratic expressions that he encountered on his first weeks on the set. Topics explained in TECHNICAL FILM & TV FOR NONTECHNICAL PEOPLE:

• Who does what on a film set—the roles of technical and non-technical team members

• Seeing a script—turning a story into a storyboard and then into a production

• Shooting on film or video—when each format is best used

• The parts of a camera—how it functions and how actors can best cooperate with it

• Sound—the process of recording and editing

• Shooting—the geography and schedule of a set and "getting the shot"

• Postproduction—editing, continuity, and the dailies

Book Description

This classic volume on media effects theory and research has been updated and expanded to reflect new and current directions in research and theory. New topics, chapters, and contributors give a fresh take on this perennially popular subject. Reflecting recent developments in this rapidly evolving area, editors Jennings Bryant and Dolf Zillmann have expanded this second edition to 22 chapters from the original 16. All the chapters from the previous edition are included here, extensively revised and updated. Newly added chapters reflect areas of current or renewed interests in media effects study: media consumption and its underlying reception processes; intermedia processes; educational and prosocial effects; individual differences in media effects; new effects on issue perception; and third person effects.

With contributions from some of the finest scholars in the discipline, Media Effects serves not only as a comprehensive reference volume for media effects study but also as an exceptional textbook for advanced courses in media effects. As this area of study continues to evolve, Media Effects will serve as a benchmark of theory and research for current and future generations of scholars.

Customer Reviews:

Standard on Media Effects.......2007-03-20

If you want to know about media effects and media effects research, this is the book. The authors of the chapters are the experts on the topics.

A fantastic research for media effects.

Media Effects: Advances in Theory and Research

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Media Effects: Advances in Theory and Research

Manufacturer: Lawrence Erlbaum Assoc Inc, NJ/UK
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000I8U9VY

Product Description

GENERAL FEATURES: Funny Cryptograms by Sterling Publishing Co. is designed for hours of thinking fun! Decoding these coded quotations will make you laugh out loud! That's because they come from a wide range of your favorite celebrities; from comedians like Johnny Carson and Dave Barry and some people you'd never suspect to have a sense of humor. This book contains 128 pages. Approximately 5 3/8 by 8 1/4 inches.

Funny Cryptograms 2008 Daily Boxed Calendar

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Funny Cryptograms 2008 Daily Boxed Calendar
Shawn Kennedy
Manufacturer: Sellers Publishing
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Calendar

General | Puzzles & Games | Entertainment | Subjects | Books

General | Calendars | Formats | Books

Games | Calendars | Formats | Books

Block Calendars | Calendars | Formats | Books
ASIN: 1416214801

Product Description

Decode humorous messages, puns, and fun facts all year long. Each puzzle has solving hints to help you start and each answer appears on the back of the page.

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Funny Cryptograms
Shawn Kennedy
Manufacturer: ANOVA (CHRYSALIS)
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000K2JIG0

Customer Reviews:

Great .......2005-10-12

This book can make you feel better about anything. Kind of unusual as it goes A to Z a dictionary of Affluence. You may think of this book as a friend that you can always trust for support!

I Won't Live Without This Tape!.......2003-03-09

I can't begin to do justice to this remarkable tape by Dr. Chopra. His words and philosophy have enriched my life in both subtle and profound ways. A short while after I began to listen to this tape, my life began to offer me wealth & opportunities that simply came my way, without any effort and this flow of wealth & opportunities has continued throughout the five years I have had this tape in my possession. The real beauty of this tape is that you need only to listen to it, (which I do every day in my car), and the wealth and affluence, that according to Dr. Chopra are what the Universe(GOD)wants for us, begin to make a presence in your life without any special effort on your part. So BUY THIS TAPE, (I have the book too, but it really is better if you can listen to the tape every day). Just listen every day and your life will change in fabulous ways, I guarantee it!

I'm A Believer!.......2002-11-16

I love this tape! It's very grounding and I never tire of listening to Dr. Chopra. I had been in a situation where I had tried for over 6 weeks to land a new job. After going on countless interviews and being told "we will be in contact" then never hearing back, I felt the interview I went to on 11/8 would be much of the same. On 11/9 I went to the library and came across the audio cassette. I listened to it daily, just enjoying Dr. Chopra's insites and his reading of the A to Z list. On 11/12 I had 5 messages on my machine responding to my resume, including the interviewer from 11/8 wanting a second interview. On 11/13 I went for the second interview and was hired on the spot. I would be making more money and have more independence than my previous position! And I could feel a distint, yet subtle shift in my perceptions of the world and I could just feel happiness and the Zest for life he mentions. I highly recommend. In fact, I am going to place an order right now for my own copy of this wonderful tape!

Read It Over and Over... It's That Good!.......2002-10-28

This book although very short, should be required reading! From "abundance" to "zest", it covers just about everything required to lead a content, happy, productive and profitable life. I have owned this book for about 8 years and have re-read it many, many times.

The introduction sets the whole tone of the book by stating "there is power in knowledge, desire and spirit, and this power within you is the key to creating affluence". We realize quickly that it is our inborn nature to be abundant... to be affluent. By desiring something, stating our intention, then letting go of our attachment to it, we can recieve all that we desire from life, wether in money, love, position or anything else we may seek.

The first part of the book discusses quantum reality and how we and everything else in our world are all made of the same "stuff", which is primarily energy... or "non-stuff". What makes one thing different from another is the arrangement and quantity of these impules of energy and information.

Part one of the book gives one or two simple ideas under each letter of the alphabet that are short, sweet and very much to the point. Beacuse it is in such an easy to read and brief format, this is the kind of book you will want (and the author suggests you do) read over and over again. Depending on where you are with your life at any given moment, you will pull something more out of it with each reading.

Part two of the book discusses our similarities to the unified field. It discusses the 25 charachteristics of the field and how these are also the characteristics of "Brahman, the source of all creation, as described in the Veda, the classic spiritual text of India". This part, although intersting, was not as good as part one, but overall I still have to rate this book as one of the best I have ever read!

This book will only take an hour or two to read but the messages it sends are timeless... read it again and again so you don't miss a word! It's fantastic!

ABUNDANCE.......2002-06-19

I read "The Seven Spiritual Laws", which perked my interest in this book. I liked this book. It had the A - Z points for affluence and abundance. Plus a terrific list of ideas/words to meditate on in order to bring your mind into balance with your desires. Practical guidlines for persons not used to meditation. And additional scientific information on how the principle of affluence works. How can one go wrong?

Creating Affluence - Wealth Consciousness In The Field Of All Possibilities

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Creating Affluence - Wealth Consciousness In The Field Of All Possibilities
Deepak, M.D.; Foreword by Carlson, Richard Chopra
Manufacturer: New World Libr./Amber-allen
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000KOBJ56

Book Description

This journal offers a loving and poignant portrait of L'Engle's mother in old age that is more about living than dying.

Customer Reviews:

Disappointing.......2006-12-30

As a reader who adores the likes of Wendell Berry, I have never minded books where "nothing really happens." L'Engle's second Crosswick's installment here, while circling around the death of her mother, is such a book: a meandering chronicle of a summer where, aside from her mother's death, not much really "happens." The fact that nothing happens is not what made me dislike this book, though, but the delivery which is so absolutely stultifyingly dull, trite, candy-coated and aggravatingly sermonizing and patronizing, certainly was. What a missed opportunity for a writer of obvious talent and skill to have failed to either charm or endear her readers. This book lacks all magic and enchantment; there is not one memorable character aside from the overbearing narrator (and author).

L'Engle fails to realize that some readers actually enjoy pure anecdote and resent being led to conclusions and emotional responses by an over-present author. This title was brought to our book club by someone whose opinion I respect and enjoy, however, I absolutely detested this book.

A gentle disappointment.......2002-06-06

Having read and loved "A Circle of Quiet" (the first of four in the Crosswicks Journals) I had high hopes for this second volume. Curiously, though, this book made me reconsider continuing with the series. L'engle's accounts of her extended family read like historical revisionism -- does any extended family function as well as she claims? I would think a creative and brilliant group of people probably clash more than this book would suggest.

As with "A Circle of Quiet" there are little gems along the way -- L'engle is a gifted writer, and reading her thoughts is a privledge. Overall, though, I found her style dispassionate and erudite, not what I would have expected from a personal memoir.

Great journal of decline and death.......2001-10-25

I'm a big fan of Madeleine L'Engle's non-fiction (regrettably, I have not yet read any of her fiction); I began with Walking on Water, and then moved on to A Circle of Quiet, from which I arrived here, at The Summer of the Great-Grandmother. There are themes that carry over from Walking and Circle, but for the most part, Summer is a different animal altogether.

Like A Circle of Quiet, the book is autobiographical and takes place at "Crosswicks," the L'Engle/Franklin home in Connecticut. As the title indicates, L'Engle's mother, freshly a great-grandmother, is living with them, and her health and cognitive ability is swiftly declining. Throughout the book--really, like A Circle of Quiet, a collection of journal entries--the author deals with losing the mother that she used to know to senility and incontinence, as well as the effects and ramifications of death.

I've never had anyone close to me die, so I can't relate to this book as much as I could to A Circle of Quiet or Walking on Water, but it's superbly written (L'Engle's words always seem to be alive and breathing), and I imagine that it would be a great comfort to those who are dealing with death.

A lovely tribute.......2001-01-16

This is a lovely book that underscores the potential beauty of death as well as our responsiblity to the dying. Madeline writes this book as a tribute to her mother and to her mother's life during the summer that her mother lays dying in Madeline's Crosswicks home. The book has very strong echoes (read repetitive)of A Circle of Quiet and therefore should not be read immediately after reading that one. While I found her story interesting and sometimes fascinating, I did get bogged down in some of her listings of her family tree. But this was overall another lovely book that was thouroughly Madeline

My Grandmother, too.......1999-11-28

I have lived with my grandmother for two and a half years, watching her slowly slip farther into senility. L'Engle's narrative of her mother's last summer connected with me -- it was helpful to hear another's struggles, and to know I am not the only one who has prayed for the death of a loved one.

My grandmother is gone: she was an artist, a world-traveller, a cook. Now, she does not know me, she doesn't remember her children (except my aunt who has been a constant in her life), she can't "do for herself" anymore. I just want her to have life back. I was touched by the way L'Engle put that --to be born again through death.

I also enjoyed hearing about the life of two fascinating and wonderful women, both L'Engle and her mother. The book is a substantial, warm, human look into L'Engle's thoughts and her family.

Average customer rating:
The Summer of the Great-Grandmother

Manufacturer: Noonday Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: 0374520488

Average customer rating:

the most exciting summer

A tale not ot be forgotten

An endearing classic

The Summer of the Bonepile Monster
Aileen Kilgore Henderson
Manufacturer: Milkweed Editions
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

General | Ages 9-12 | Children's Books | Subjects | Books
General | Literature | Children's Books | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 1571316035

Customer Reviews:

the most exciting summer.......2007-04-10

This story begins with a young boy named Hollis and his older sister Lou getting on a bus to go stay with their Granny for the summer. Their parents were having some tough times so they wanted the kids to go stay with their grandmother for the summer and not worry about the problems at home.
After arriving at the bus station, an older gentleman, Mr. Mayhew, picked Hollis and Lou up to drive them to their Granny's house. On the way to the house Hollis saw a road with a gate in front of it. It had a sign that said Bonepile Hollow Road and KEEP OUT!!! NO Trespassing! When Hollis asked Mr. Mayhew where that road went, he was told, "nowhere." Mr. Mayhew told him that there were bone piles down that road and for him to never go down it because anything that went down that road did not come back. Hollis was very suspicious about this road and his curiosity finally got the best of him and he finds himself in the middle of a pile of bone. This summer is full of exciting things for Hollis. Not only does he find out about the terrible things down this road, he also meets a couple of new friends, and he learns about a singing mice. Everyone should read this exciting book.

A tale not ot be forgotten.......2001-07-31

Hollis and is older sis Lou are sen to live with thier great grandma in rural Doliver for the summer so their parents can work out some tensions. In Doliver there is a barred off road with a big sign over that says "BONE HOLLOW ROAD, KEEP OUT". The locals say that whatever go down there doesn't come back, but Hollis is just too curious and eventually finds himself ni the heart of Bonehollow. Aileen Kilgore Henderson (author) paints a vivd picture in your head while you read this book. This is one of those books that gives you some chills everytime you see the cover after you have read it. This was a book a had trouble ot read at night. It was filled with mystery, suspense, a little action and a whole lot of butterflies in your stomach. I know there are few reveiws about this book, but that doesn't mean it is a bad book it was just overlooked. But i think this book is one of the best books ever written and is a must for anyones collection.

An endearing classic.......2000-04-09

I read this book as a child and found it to be extremely heart-warming and sweet. The innocence and truthfulness of young children interspersed with suspense and action make this story well-rounded. I recommend this to all young (and young at heart) who enjoy nostalgic portrayals of the life of children.

Average customer rating:

THE SUMMER OF THE GREAT GRANDMOTHER
Madeleine L'engle
Manufacturer: The Seabury Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000QALPLM

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SUMMER OF THE GREAT-GRANDMOTHER
MADELEINE L'ENGLE
Manufacturer: HARPER COLLINS TRADE DIVISION
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000KUIFS4

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The Summer of the Great-Grandmother
Madeleine L'Engle
Manufacturer: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000OPI11Q

The Summer of the Great-Grandmother: The Crosswicks Journal

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The Summer of the Great-Grandmother: The Crosswicks Journal
Madeleine L'Engle
Manufacturer: Borgo Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

Religious | Leaders & Notable People | Biographies & Memoirs | Subjects | Books

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The Summer of the Great-Grandmother

Manufacturer: Farrar Straus Giroux
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000GQXXQQ

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The Summer Of The Great Grandmother
Lengle
Manufacturer: Farrar Straus & Giroux
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000JEGG46

Summer of the Great Grandmother 1ST Edition Insc

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Summer of the Great Grandmother 1ST Edition Insc
Madeleine Lengle
Manufacturer: FARRAR STRAUS & @ GIROUX
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000VB45PO

Average customer rating:

This book is for those who have no clue about the subject whatsoever

Bad

Avoid at all cost if you are taking world history

Cracking the SAT U.S. & World History Subject Tests, 2005-2006 Edition (College Test Prep)
Princeton Review
Manufacturer: Princeton Review
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | United States | Americas | History | Subjects | Books
General | World | History | Subjects | Books
SAT & PSAT | Test Guides - College & University | Education | Reference | Subjects | Books
General | Test Prep Central | Reference | Subjects | Books
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Cracking the SAT Math 1 and 2 Subject Tests, 2005-2006 Edition (College Test Prep)

Cracking the SAT Literature Subject Test, 2005-2006 Edition (College Test Prep)

Cracking the SAT Chemistry Subject Test, 2005-2006 Edition (College Test Prep)

Cracking the SAT Biology E/M Subject Test, 2005-2006 Edition (College Test Prep)

Cracking the SAT Physics Subject Test, 2005-2006

ASIN: 037576450X
Release Date: 2005-03-08

Customer Reviews:

This book is for those who have no clue about the subject whatsoever.......2007-01-11

Never buy this book! It is extremely short: 1940's-2000's period is covered on 2-3 pages. You will get nothing from it. Simply waaaayyy toooo short. Though practice exams are OK.

Bad.......2007-01-10

Questions are way off from the real thing, ineffective prep book, do not recommending buying it.

Avoid at all cost if you are taking world history.......2005-11-26

I used this prep book to prepare for SAT II World History
It proudly states that most part of the test is concentrated on European History.
Yes, it is true.
However, it basically does nothing to cover the rest part of the world.
And even for the European History, it just barely touches the surface that you get nothing out of it after the review chapter.

Compare the thickness of this book (which also has US History and two practice for US History) and other World History prep books.

It's way too thin physically, and in content.

Although other prep books may have too much extra information. However, too much is always better than too little.

I am not giving 1 star just because I haven't had chance to check out the US History section.

Average customer rating:

Forget the flaws. Enjoy it.

Definitelly a great book but it serious editorial issues

The Works and Biographical Details of Some of the World's Greatest Mathematicians

Exactly what I wanted!

A great idea well executed (with a caveat).

God Created the Integers: The Mathematical Breakthroughs That Changed History

Manufacturer: Running Press Book Publishers
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

General | Science | Subjects | Books
General | Mathematics | Science | Subjects | Books
Logic | Pure Mathematics | Mathematics | Science | Subjects | Books
Logic | Pure Mathematics | Mathematics | Professional Science | Professional & Technical | Subjects | Books
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The Universe in a Nutshell

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The Equation That Couldn't Be Solved: How Mathematical Genius Discovered the Language of Symmetry

ASIN: 0762419229

Amazon.com

"God created the integers," wrote mathematician Leopold Kronecker, "All the rest is the work of Man." In this collection of landmark mathematical works, editor Stephen Hawking has assembled the greatest feats humans have ever accomplished using just numbers and their brains. Each of the 17 sections opens with a historical introduction of the featured author, and proceeds to a faithful translation of their most famous work. While most mathematicians will already have complete editions of Isaac Newton's Principia or Georg Cantor's Contributions to the Founding of the Theory of Transfinite Numbers, this book is unique in presenting just the best bits of these and other theoretical works. The collection spans 2,500 years and covers a vast range of theories: the parallel postulate, Boolean logic, differential calculus, and the philosophy of the unknowable among them. Dense with numbers, formulae, and ideas, God Created the Integers is quite challenging, but Hawking rewards curious readers with a look at how mathematics has been built. In contrast to the towering physical edifices of great civilizations of the past, Hawking writes, "The greatest wonder of the modern world is our understanding." --Therese Littleton

Book Description

Bestselling author and physicist Stephen Hawking explores the "masterpieces" of mathematics, 25 landmarks spanning 2,500 years and representing the work of 15 mathematicians, including Augustin Cauchy, Bernard Riemann, and Alan Turing. This extensive anthology allows readers to peer into the mind of genius by providing them with excerpts from the original mathematical proofs and results. It also helps them understand the progression of mathematical thought, and the very foundations of our present-day technologies. Each chapter begins with a biography of the featured mathematician, clearly explaining the significance of the result, followed by the full proof of the work, reproduced from the original publication.

Customer Reviews:

Forget the flaws. Enjoy it........2007-08-30

I just couldn't put this book down. I was so absorbed that I even missed my station and had to catch a train back. The biographies mixed with mathematical explanations and the significance of each work is brilliant. It gives one an insight into how context-dependent genius really is.

I knew that the book had flaws because I read these reviews a while ago. But so what! You wouldn't use this book for reference or as a text book. It's meant to be entertainment and entertaining it is. If you can understand the maths and the significance of the selected papers you can enjoy it without worrying too much about everything being crossed and dotted.

I knew the bios of many, but not all, of these men. Of the ones I didn't know, my favorite was George Boole. The description of his unusual career and the amazingly clear and readable paper on symbolic logic are worth buying the book for. I almost choked up when I read how he died.

Anyway, in our age or irrationality and ignorance we need more books like this to show us that we can rise above it all.

Definitelly a great book but it serious editorial issues.......2007-08-13

I will be brief:
*** I miss a chapter on Euler. Wasn't he a great mathematician?
*** I need a magnifying glass to go with the book. The footnotes are very, very small
*** While I understand the editors that they did not want to bring the translated text up to today's standard I believe that a footnote or two to define the terms would have helped. Especially with the Riemann's seminal paper on Geometry

The Works and Biographical Details of Some of the World's Greatest Mathematicians.......2007-08-02

By way of introduction, the Egyptians and Babylonians did sophisticated math as early as 3500 BC. This book begins with the works of Pythagoras (his theorem), Archimedes (use of a pulley to do the work of 100 men; distinguishing gold from gold alloys), Diophantus (biographical word problem), etc. We then learn of such men as Descartes (on geometry), Riemann (on curved space), Laplace (on probability), Fourier (deciphering the Rosetta stone; propagation of heat), etc.

There is at least one inaccuracy in this book. Alan Mathison Turing is said to have cracked the Nazi Enigma Code. In actuality, the code was broken earlier by a team of Polish mathematicians headed by Marian Rejewski. The French and British mathematicians (including Turing) went on to build on Rejewski's breakthrough.

This book touches on the personal lives of many of the mathematical greats. Did you know, for instance, that Newton was personally hostile to Leibniz? Or that Cauchy had to flee Paris because of his royalist ties and consequent fear of being guillotined during the French Revolution? Or that Boole, at one time, compared the Trinity to the three dimensions of space? Or that Kurt Godel (Goedel), an eccentric fellow, had to be repeatedly hospitalized for severe depression?

Exactly what I wanted!.......2007-07-21

I read "Euclid's Window" last year, another mathematical history/overview book, and while I enjoyed it, it did seem to skim much and not get too deep into any one subject. I'm still glad I read it, because it's whetted my appetite for the subject, and this book is definitely the main course. It's a great companion to Roger Penrose' "Road to Reality", an overview of just about all we currently know about physics, which doesn't shy away from the math. Between these two books, my brain will likely explode (I'm a musician, but I love the subject), but they are full of depth for both thorough reading or just reference.

A great idea well executed (with a caveat)........2007-06-27

Hawking here puts his name as editor to an outstanding collection of the writings, theorems and proofs of several of history's most influential mathematicians. He also contributes historical and biographical context commentaries. The choice of title, and implicit subtitle due to Leopold Kronecker, is itself interesting in its metamathematical posture, alluding to both the platonic (real but 'immaterial') mathematical Given, i.e., "God Created the Integers", and the concept of mathematics as human 'invention', i.e., "all the rest is the work of man". In his popular writings, Hawking has long identified with positivism, a philosophy claimed by relatively many in the natural sciences but by very few practitioners of mathematics (likely all the men profiled here would consider themselves Platonists, believing that mathematical truths are discovered as opposed to contrived/invented). I find it slightly fascinating that one can be so assertive in his scientific positivism while also frequently conceding a weak mathematical Platonism/realism.

While all of the 'chapters' are worthy of attention, I was particularly interested in Hawking's presentation of the life, work and thought of Kurt Gödel. I don't know that his perspective on Gödel's philosophical views or expectations, as regards this Incompleteness Theorems, or Gödel's relationship with the Vienna Circle, is portrayed accurately. Witnesses and other biographers have convincingly portrayed the story otherwise. Gödel's famous proofs may have surprised and disappointed the Positivists, but it seems they neither disappointed nor surprised [the Platonist] Gödel (although he calls his result "surprising," it seems he is speaking to how they must be received by Hilbert, Wittgenstein, and the positivists, rather than to his own view). There are several popular sources [books] on Gödel and his work that are available for the interested reader. A very nice exposition focused mainly on the philosophical import of Gödel's result is "Incompleteness: The Proof and Paradox of Kurt Godel" by Rebecca Goldstein (although, unlike Hawking's book, Goldstein presents only a good summary explanation of Gödel's famous paper, rather than the whole paper).

Staying with Hawking's presentation of Gödel, I also note that, in his introduction (xii), Hawking writes "Kurt Gödel proved a theorem troubling to many philosophers, as well as anyone else believing in absolute truth: that in any sufficiently complex logical system (such as arithmetic) there must exist statements that can neither be proven nor disproven." Dividing Hawking's statement into those segments defined by the sentence's punctuation, Gödel would quickly protest, "yes, no (!), and yes": True, Gödel's result troubled certain philosophers -- most especially Wittgenstein! (Wittgenstein is said to have, in frustration, resolved to "ignore" Gödel's result; Gödel, for his part, considered Wittgenstein to be not only a poor judge of mathematical thought, but also a poor philosopher generally.) What Gödel would categorically deny of Hawking's summation, is the idea that his result in any real way questioned the ontology of 'absolute truth.' In fact, he inferred exactly the opposite. His result addressed the decidability of propositions and not the existence of truths! Hawking obviously understands this, but has taken some license in assailing 'truth' anyway, perhaps subconsciously attempting a kind of Wittgensteinian proxy revenge; but Gödel's result addresses the limits of formal logic, NOT any constraint on 'truth' itself. (Sorry if this seems like a lengthy digression, but as Kurt Gödel isn't around to defend the philosophical meaning of his work from positivistic spin-doctoring, other mathematical Platonists must.)

One indicator of this volume's uniqueness is the fact that some of these texts had not previously been published in English. The book is a great idea well executed, and is definitely recommended to anyone with an interest in the history of mathematics or in familiarizing themselves with great (and often quirky) mathematicians. Read it front to back or in any manner you wish, although there is an obvious 'building' through the book, the segments on the life and work of each mathematician will be of interest in their own right.

God Created the Integers: The Mathematical Breakthroughs That Changed History

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God Created the Integers: The Mathematical Breakthroughs That Changed History

Manufacturer: Running Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

History | Mathematics | Science | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 0739467344

Book Description

In diverse regions around the country, impending crises over dwindling natural resources and conflicts over land use have given birth to a new approach to environmental management and policymaking. Known as bioregional assessment, the approach gives science and scientists a crucial role in the policymaking process, bringing together experts on a range of issues to assess existing ecological and social conditions and to provide a base of knowledge from which to develop policy options and management decisions.

A number of high-profile assessments have been conducted, and while much has been written on individual projects, little has been done to compare assessments or integrate the lessons they provide. Bioregional Assessments synthesizes the knowledge from many regions by examining the assessment process and detailing a series of case studies from around the country. Each case study, written by knowledgeable leaders from the region, features a detailed description of the project followed by reviews from the perspectives of science, management, and policy.

Case studies examined are the Forest Ecosystem Management Assess ment Team (FEMAT) Assessment; the Great Lakes-St. Lawrence River Basin Assessments; the Everglades-South Florida Assessments; the Northern Forest Lands Assessments; Southern California Natural Community Conservation Planning (NCCP); the Interior Columbia Basin Ecosystem Management Project; and the Sierra Nevada Ecosystem Project.

In addition, the book features introductory chapters that examine the challenges inherent in the assessment of complex regional systems, and the role of science in the assessment process. The concluding chapter provides a synthesis and analysis of the assessment process.

Bioregional assessments are quickly becoming an essential part of ecosystem management. This book provides a unique look at the theory and practice of bioregional assessments, and is an essential volume for resource managers, scientists, policymakers, and anyone involved with formulating or implementing strategies for regional planning and ecosystem management.

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