Practical Time Management: How to Get More Things Done in Less Time (Self-Counsel Business Series)

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Practical Time Management: How to Get More Things Done in Less Time (Self-Counsel Business Series)

Timely Advice

Practical Time Management: How to Get More Things Done in Less Time (Self-Counsel Business Series)
Bradley C. McRae
Manufacturer: Self-Counsel Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Business Life | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books
Time Management | Skills | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books
General | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 0889082812

Customer Reviews:

Practical Time Management: How to Get More Things Done in Less Time (Self-Counsel Business Series).......2005-10-04

This book is a must for those people who seem that they don't have enough minutes in the day. Very pratical and understandable.

Timely Advice.......2001-05-06

I really enjoyed this book. I am amazed at how quickly the author gets to the heart of time management. Moreover, it isn't just about time management at work ... it's time management for life ... be it leisure, procrastination, health. And there are maitenance tools to keep on track. As well, the book is a fun and enlightening read. I highly recommend it.

Book Description

Gary Gastineau and Mark Kritzman team up once again for the third edition of this classic reference tool designed for financial analysts and managers. Anyone involved in financial risk management must have a proper understanding of the words, terms, and phrases used in this fast paced field-and Dictionary of Financial Risk Management clearly provides that understanding. Risk management terminology is a part of almost any financial operation, including cash, forwards/futures, swaps, options-and is found in many disciplines: probability and statistics, tax and financial accounting, and law. The vocabulary of the risk manager continues to expand with the creation of new products and new concepts. This volume carefully defines and illustrates all the words and phrases that financial professionals need to know and understand. The Dictionary of Financial Risk Management includes listings of common acronyms, profit/loss diagrams of new financial instruments, and extensive coverage of derivatives and quantitative techniques. This invaluable reference guide provides comprehensive definitions of the key terms and concepts that many financial professionals need to know on a day-to-day basis.

Customer Reviews:

Clear, concise, and highly approachable.......2000-02-13

Provided as a foundation to my employer's internal training programs, this is a fantastic book. Often arcane financial terms made accessible and understandible, even to the uninitiated. I highly recommend it to anyone working in the financial sector, or with a keen interest in their own financial matters.

Book Description

Highlighting turning points in the shaping of the Australian nation since Federation, this collection examines cases from their legal and political context, through their implementation and eventual impact on constitutional reform. Contributions by well-known constitutional lawyers, judges and two former chief justices ensure the value of the analysis.

Book Description

The transportation and storage of fresh fruit and vegetables is a global operation highly dependent on technology. Controlled atmosphere storage is a well known technique and important alternative to chemical preservatives and pesticides. It has great potential for reducing postharvest losses and for maintaining both nutritional and market value. However, there is still no agreement in the food industry and among consumers as to its usefulness. This book reviews the large amount of literature on this topic, providing the most comprehensive reference on all aspects of controlled atmosphere storage. It is essential reading for horticultural researchers and food industry staff concerned with transportation, storage and quality. The book will also interest regulatory bodies, consumer groups, and students of horticulture, agriculture, food science and technology, and food marketing.

Customer Reviews:

It must be an excellent book........1999-04-11

As far as I concern it is the first book was written on its subject on the world. Thefore I congratulate to Proffessor A. Keith Thompson who gave this valuable knowladges to the people who work or study on controlled atmosphere storage of fruits and vegetables. I didn't see it. Honestly I would have seen it.

excelent book.......1999-04-11

It was the first book was writen on this subject. I congraculate to Professor A.K.Thompson.

Book Description

The rapid progress made on somatic embryogenesis and its prospects for potential applications in improving woody plants prompted us to edit this book initially in three volumes, and now to add two more volumes. The editors were all convinced that such a treatise was needed and would be extremely useful to researchers and students. This Volume 4 has been divided into three sections and contains 23 chapters. Section A contains eleven chapters covering studies of embryo development and cell biology of white spruce, proliferative somatic embryogenesis in woody species, somatic embryo germination and desiccation tolerance in conifers, performance of conifer somatic seedlings, apoptosis during early somatic embryogenesis, water relation parameters in conifer embryos, image analysis of somatic embryos, somatic embryogenesis in woody legumes, cold storage and cryopreservation, and commercialization of plant somatic embryogenesis. Section B contains six chapters dealing with angiosperm woody plants, such as somatic embryogenesis in myrtaceous plants, Laurus nobilis, Simarouba glauca, Magnolia spp., Juglans cinera, and somatic embryogenesis and evaluation of variability in somatic seedlings of Quercus serrata by RAPD markers. The chapters contained in Section C are focused on somatic embryogenesis in gymnosperms, including Pinus patula, Encephalartos, Picea wilsonii, Pinus banksiana, hybrid firs, and Taxus. All the chapters have been peer-reviewed and revised accordingly to improve their quality.

Book Description

Presenting a multidisciplinary perspective in a concise format, Principles of Ecotoxicology, Third Edition discusses the fundamental chemical and ecological nature of pollution processes while identifying the major classes of pollutants and their environmental fate. The first edition was originally created to fill the need for a textbook that covered the basic principles of a developing and wide-ranging field and the second edition expanded on that theme. Keeping the focus on principles over practice that has made each incarnation of this textbook so popular, the third edition brings the text up to date and strengthens coverage in areas that have come to the forefront of the field. The third edition features new material on pollutants that are receiving closer scrutiny, naturally occurring poisons, the history of chemical warfare, population risk assessment, community structure, neonicotinoids, endocrine disruption, and neurotoxicity. A new section on extrapolating from molecular interaction to the consequent population changes highlights the molecules to ecosystem approach and provides the groundwork for discussions on the employment of biomarker strategies in field studies. A major theme of the new material is how the concepts discussed can contribute to improved methods of environmental risk assessment. With updates to every chapter, this text provides essential information for students in easy to use and understandable format.

Customer Reviews:

An Important Perspective of Ecotoxicology.......2007-08-09

This text does an excellent job of addressing the subject from a multi-discipline perspective. It is well written but requires some background in chemistry; as it addresses the biological fate of many chemical/organic compounds. It does so in a format that does not prepare the reader for immediate sleep but does require active participation on the part of the reader. This is not a High School or Doctorate level reference but aimed well at the BS level reader.

Ecotoxicology Text.......2006-03-16

I received the text book very quickly and the book was in mint condition. The service was perfect.

Customer Reviews:

I guess my first review went into a parallel universe?.......2000-07-31

I'll try again. "Miracle in the Void" was more of a psychological book than a parapsychological book. That's okay. I liked the book because I identified with the people mentioned who work in so-called "fringe science research." "Void" explores the emotions and psychological tensions experienced by many researchers for doing unusual research and for taking a path of life-employment not considered "normal." Not a "normal science career" was the same life-employment for Dr. Brian O'Leary, too. The choice has caused him strain.

If a reader doesn't appreciate this book, my guess is that either it's too much in the head of the author or it doesn't ring bells of similarity to one's experience. In fact one high recommendation to read this book "is" that it effectively conveys the emotional feelings and turmoil that Dr. Brian O'Leary has gone through for jumping off of a mainstream science position into the unknown area of New Science. New Science investigates U.F.O's, prayer, free energy, phychic experiences, and so on.

It's interesting to read of the mental struggles Dr. O'Leary has gone through. This book is something of a journal and a catharsis for him. Dr. O'Leary even applies the research lives of some in the book, like Bruce and John Klingbeil of Spindrift Research, as models to avoid if one gets very depressed in their research attempts. A theme in "Void" is mental depression and what can one do to avoid depression when the world is telling you that your pursuits are insane or at least abnormal.

A reader should be interested in this book for no other reason than it is so unusual and psychological that one will walk away with information he didn't know he didn't know.

The Psychologist in the Void........2000-07-29

The book "Miracle in the Void" had an emotional impact on me because I know of the personal struggles some of the explorers mentioned in the book have gone through.

There was much psychological struggling described in Dr. O'Leary's book. Dr. O'Leary applied as models the life-experiences of some people who explore "so-called fringe sceientific research." Some of these people were models of what to avoid in Dr. O'Leary's own life-experience. That is, if some researcher fell into a mental depression because of the negative way he was treated for doing fringe research, Brian O'Leary writes that such a reaction provided a hint of what psychological reaction to avoid himself. Brain O'Leary didn't want to get too depressed himself. And depression is a theme in this book.

Dr. O'Leary has more descriptions of New Science theory and experiments in his other writings. However, "Miracle in the Void" is a stand-alone book, to the best of my knowledge, of the psychological warfare with others and with one's self many people with "far-out" ideas go through.

I liked the book. It's psychological all the way through. It wonders more about the mental states of people rather than the altered states of people! The book is almost a journal of what Brian O'Leary has noticed in his contacts with those researching the unusual.

Dr. O'Leary's book is an emotional ride. His writing hit me as a "catharsis" of all the emotions he has experienced by jumping off the mainstream of science into what is called New Science.

As I said above, one good reason to read this book is, it may be the only one of its kind. What do I mean? Rather than going deeply into psychic and spiritual phenomena, Dr. O'Leary goes into the psychological states of people who promote their unusual experiences with free energy, prayer, consciousness, UFO's, and so on. I didn't anticipate what the book was about. That should peak one's interest in reading it.

Too much airy speculation about death and consciousness........1998-05-18

Readers expecting useful information on the book's subtitle, "Free Energy, UFOs and Other Scientific Revelations", will be disappointed, Although a scientist, O'Leary is light on the science of free energy. He is far more concerned with death, consciousness, personal introspection, transcendence, parapsychology and resurrecting Gaia than in offering a strong explanation of advances in energy technology. O'Leary still thinks there are remains of a lost civilization on Mars. "Finding Myself in the New Consciousness" would have been a better description.

Book Description

Like many of Kate Chopin's other well-received short stories of Creole and Acadian life, these memorable tales are filled with fascinating characters, idiosyncratic customs, and sometimes shocking details. In addition to "Lilacs," a heartfelt and simple tale of love, life, and devotion, the collection includes 23 other distinctive tales of Southern life.

Customer Reviews:

A mixed bag.......2006-08-28

This collection holds a mixture of lesser-know stories with a few of her classics, all well-worth reading. It includes A Dresden Lady in Dixie, A Family Affair, A Matter of Prejudice, A No-Account Creole, A Rude Awakening, A Sentimental Soul, A Wizard From Gettysburg, After the Winter, At Cheniere Caminada, Athenaise, Beyond the Bayou, Dead Men' Shoes, For Marse Chouchoute, In and Out of Old Natchitoches, In Sabine, La Belle Zoraide, Lilacs, Love on the Bon-Dieu, Ma'ame Pelagie, The Lilies, Neg Creol, Tante Catrinette, The Return of Alcibiade, and Wiser Than God.

Looking for the Lilac Line and Other Stories from Off the Road

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Looking for the Lilac Line and Other Stories from Off the Road
Peter Anderson
Manufacturer: Semaphore Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

Rural Life | Humor | Entertainment | Subjects | Books

Essays & Travelogues | Reference & Tips | Travel | Subjects | Books

General | Travel | Subjects | Books

The Telltale Lilac Bush and Other West Virginia Ghost Tales

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The Telltale Lilac Bush and Other West Virginia Ghost Tales
Ruth Ann Musick
Manufacturer: Quarrier Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Audio Cassette
ASIN: B000RJS29K

Product Description

Two cassettes - Total running time approximatley 2 hours, 27 minutes.

Book Description

Told more as stories than history lessons, the biographies in American National Biography Supplement I recount the tales of all the different people who shaped America--leaders, composers, entertainers, entrepreneurs, writers, scientists, and outlaws. Each one written by an expert in the field and masterfully woven together to present the most accurate and up-to-date information, the entries bring forth a powerful narrative of America's past and some of the most important figures that went into its formation. As the first in a series, ANB Supplement I extends the coverage from the original ANB to include notables who died prior to the end of 1999. This adds another four years of captivating history to the original 24-volume print edition's cutoff date of 1995. Among the biographies in the Supplement are articles first published in the ANB Online. The result is hour after absorbing hour spent exploring the dance of Gene Kelly and the music of Ella Fitzgerald along with the lives of Revolutionary War General Peter Gansevoort and literary scholar Fredson Bowers, among many, many others. With over 400 new listings, bibliographies after each entry, and a cumulative revised index of occupations and realms of renown, the Supplement continues the ANB tradition of bringing the people who have meant so much to this country to the forefront.

Average customer rating:

"Life is full of quarrels as an egg is full of meat"

Brilliant

Fine, but...

Misleading title and description

GREAT TO HEAR HOW THE REAL PEOPLE INTERACTED!!

Bloodfeud: Murder and Revenge in Anglo-Saxon England
Richard Fletcher
Manufacturer: Oxford University Press, USA
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Europe | History | Subjects | Books
General | England | Europe | History | Subjects | Books
General | World | History | Subjects | Books
Medieval | World | History | Subjects | Books
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The Struggle for Mastery: The Penguin History of Britain 1066-1284

Fire from Heaven: Life in an English Town in the Seventeenth Century

A History of England, Volume I: Prehistory to 1714 (Chapters 1-16)

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Alfred the Great: Asser's Life of King Alfred & Other Contemporary Sources (Penguin Classics)

ASIN: 0195179447

Book Description

A treacherous murder in northern England on an early spring day in 1016 is used to introduce readers to the world of the aristocratic men and women of Anglo-Saxon England, their violence, their piety, their assumptions and experiences, their hopes and fears. In this book, award-winning author Richard Fletcher illuminates British society and politics in the years around the Norman Conquest, threading together scanty documentary evidence to produce a rich narrative.

Customer Reviews:

"Life is full of quarrels as an egg is full of meat".......2007-06-23

the cycles of murder and revenge in the Anglo-Saxon period didn't seem any different than the same in continental Europe at the same time,after all at this period it is families vying for power and advantage.there are no powerful nation-states since the breakup of the Roman Empire and even in Rome there was always the same violence within the empire as families sought out advantage.Like the american old west gunfights were never the romanticized "showdown" at high noon,but overwhelming ambushes delivered with maximum surprise and force,much like the anglo-saxon feuds in this book.Did this chaotic feuding make the anglo-saxon/viking culture more susceptible to be taken over by a more organized power such as the Normans.Like 2 dogs fighting over a bone growling at each other then a third comes in and takes it from both.From reading this book i got the feeling that the feud was a thing in itself beyond any idea of trying to cooperate between the anglo-saxons/vikings and make a nation-state.This is one of the few books i've read where the Scottish king Macbeth is given some time.I wondered after reading the book if Macbeth's murder of Duncan might have been a relic from an old feud of times past. Maybe Macbeth besides being greedy for Duncan's throne,was settling an old score.That could have been even more of a coercian than his nagging wife.Maybe Shakespeare missed something.

Brilliant .......2006-02-28

Fletcher's 'Bloodfeud' is a little keyhole through which we can look clearly at the world of eleventh century England. Moderns tend to view all people of the past as the same as they, in funny clothes, perhaps a trifle more violent, and with poor table manners, all of this informed more by Hollywood than by research. We have so little real, hard information about these times, and almost no record of what these people thought. Fletcher begins with one recorded event--a brutal, politically motivated murder-- and using that as his focus, examines how Anglo Saxon culture worked. He ties together dozens of hints and suggestions from the fragmented records of the time, cross referencing brilliantly, showing where the power was, how it worked, how men and women strove to be masters of their world, and along the way revealing the true nature of these people. A fascinating and truly original work, and one of my favourite books.

Fine, but..........2006-01-27

This book is well-written and factual. However, I thought I was buying a novel. I was sadly mistaken. Also, much of the book does not actually revolve around the events of Uhtred and Cnut in 1016. It's still worth reading, though.

Misleading title and description.......2005-02-18

When reading the title and the description, as well as the first few pages of the opening chapter, you get a feel for what you are about to read. It is only shortly after you have started the book that you realize you have been deceived.

This book is most certainly not about 'bloodfeud' as the title hints. Sure, there is a feud that is mentioned a few times throughout the book, but that only accounts for roughly 15 pages of the 203. Not much information. Another downside to this book: we understand that the sources are few next to none, must you tell us every time that you and other historians would like more sources but they are not available? As well, there is absolutely no point to the final chapter of this book, "The Hagets". They are a century later and yet he writes about them as though they have a significance, with no relation to the parties of the feud. So besides repetition and the fact that this book is not about a 'bloodfeud', what is it about?

This book is a history on the time before William the Conqueror and shortly after, up until the doomsday book. He does a great job in relaying this history, connecting the dots and showing where and how the loyalties were aligned and what happened because of them. His writing style is fluid and nice as well, easy to read. So, if you are looking for a history of a time that is not well documented, of a time before William the Conqueror, then this book should be considered.

Although this book is well written and Richard Fletcher seems to know what he is talking about, the misleading title and description is enough to show that either a) we were purposefully mislead in order to attract more interest and thus more sales, or b) he thought he could write a history about this feud and somehow strayed from his end goal. Either way, both reasons are reason enough to rate this only a three star.

GREAT TO HEAR HOW THE REAL PEOPLE INTERACTED!!.......2004-09-19

It's nice to have a history professor who can bring an obscure part of history alive with real characters and how their machinations developed at least a little part of our history.
And, of course, I may be biased, because several of them mentioned are our ancestors, but, as such, knowing their role in the history brings life into what is often a boring subject for many people. Here, it also helps to have a greater historical background on some of these families thru authors such as Dr. Karen Ralls, Michael Baigent, Henry Lincoln, etc. Thanks for bringing the players in a little developed part of history alive around York, Northumbria, England and the Battle of Stamford bridge.

Bloodfeud: Murder and Revenge in Anglo-Saxon England

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Bloodfeud: Murder and Revenge in Anglo-Saxon England
R. A. Fletcher
Manufacturer: Oxford University Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000OKQBCW

Book Description

The fascinating story of a problem that perplexed mathematicians for nearly 400 years
In 1611, Johannes Kepler proposed that the best way to pack spheres as densely as possible was to pile them up in the same way that grocers stack oranges or tomatoes. This proposition, known as Kepler's Conjecture, seemed obvious to everyone except mathematicians, who seldom take anyone's word for anything. In the tradition of Fermat's Enigma, George Szpiro shows how the problem engaged and stymied many men of genius over the centuries--Sir Walter Raleigh, astronomer Tycho Brahe, Sir Isaac Newton, mathematicians C. F. Gauss and David Hilbert, and R. Buckminster Fuller, to name a few--until Thomas Hales of the University of Michigan submitted what seems to be a definitive proof in 1998.
George G. Szpiro (Jerusalem, Israel) is a mathematician turned journalist. He is currently the Israel correspondent for the Swiss daily Neue Zurcher Zeitung.

Customer Reviews:

Disappointing.......2007-02-26

There are several forgivable errors in this book that a more thorough proofreading would have fixed.

My problem, however, is with the many mathematical inaccuracies. I have read and enjoyed many popular books about mathematics. I realize that it is a difficult trick to write a pop math book that is both accessible to a large audience and still faithful to the spirit of its subject matter. If an author does not feel up to the task, they should just leave it for someone else.

This author tries to give the impression that he is letting us in on the clever ideas behind some difficult mathematics. It becomes clear, though, that he has not understood these ideas himself.

Kepler's conjecture is a subject that could have inspired a very good book. Hopefully someone else will write that book someday.

Very good but needed (more) proofreading........2005-04-14

This is an excellent book for the following reasons.
1. It provides a good historical review and an up-to-date description of a math topic with hardly any other books to meet the need. This book only covers the (2D&)3D versions of the kissing problem (proof that only 12 spheres can touch a central one) and the densest packing problem (which lacked a proof for 300 yrs. until recently). The only other books available are Zong and Conway & Sloane which are multi-dimensional specialized academic treatments - C&S being out of date and Zong only giving Hales' new proof superficial mention. Compared to the hoopla that greeted solutions to the 4-colur problem and Fermat's last theorem, solving Kepler's problem has gone almost unnoticed.
2. It is one of those all too rare "popular" books that isn't afraid to include a fair bit of mathematics, albeit mostly in appendices. This is mainly spherical trigonometry, but that's the nature of the problem and it gives a good idea of how Hales' elaborate proof procedure works, although for the voluminous ugly detail you need to consult Hales' website.
However, there are a lot of errors and misleading details such as;
p.25 Dodecahedron & Icosahedron labelled the wrong way round.
p.125 line 11 ratio of boxes wrong way round - can be corrected if the words "divided......by" changed to "divided.......into".
p.137 in the first paragraph the word "later" should be "after Blichfeldt" and the 2nd. occurrence of "Rankin" should read "Rogers & Lindsey".
p.222 Kelvin's tetrakaidekahedron isn't; it's Weaire and Phelan's structure.
p.232 footnote 7 "radius 3" should read "radius 4"
p.246 1st. equation - superfluous factor of ½ on l.h.s. and the "3" in front of r.h.s. sqrt. should be deleted. 2nd equation - quotient slash "/" should be deleted between 3 and sqrt. on r.h.s.
p.255/6 line 14 expression for discriminant (determinant) has signs reversed throughout & should be multiplied by -1. Also the same capital D is inappropriately used for both the discriminant and the first auxilliary variable and lastly the 3 squared signs are twice missing from a.b.c partway down p.256.
p.277 equation - It is obvious that the total score is not 7.99961 as Szpiro claims but needs to be multiplied by 0.0553736 to convert it to 7.99961 points, where points are defined 100 pages earlier on p.171.
Also there is some confusion over FCC & HCP where on p.23 it is claimed the two packings "are exactly the same" (they're not, but they have the same density), whilst on p.230 it is implied that FCC has greater density because Gold, Silver & Platinum use it compared to the HCP of Cadmium , Cobalt & Zinc.
Perhaps it's time for a revised paperback edition !!
However, contra the reviewer below, Szpiro does not say that Cohen showed there must be cardinals between countability and the continuum: he actually says "some other notion of cardinality must exist between...." which is acceptable if a little unclear. (His criticism of Szpiro's comment on Gödel is valid, however.)

Suboptimal packing.......2004-09-10

I've read and enjoyed many "mathematics for the non-mathematician" books. For example, Four Colours Suffice by Wilson, and Flatterland by Stewart, both of which I recommend. I regret to say that I cannot heartily commend Kepler's Conjecture by G. Szpiro.

It has good intentions. Kepler's Conjecture is a math problem with history galore, which Szpiro recounts. It is a problem easily understood by TC Pits - (The Celebrated Person In The Street).

The problem. We want to store as many balls of uniform size (e.g. soccer balls) as possible in a large storage container. Is the most efficient packing the "obvious" one? The obvious one, not being so obvious as everyone believes, is the one used to store cannonballs adjacent to cannons - nestle each ball into the indentation provided by three mutually adjacent balls, and repeat as necessary. The result - you've seen it many times - is known as the hexagonal closest packing, or HCP.

Mathematicians idealize this problem by using a very large room (i.e. Euclidean 3-space) and identical spheres.

The problem started with wanting to efficiently store cannonballs in the hold of a ship, or on the deck of a ship. For balls on a brass monkey (yes, this is where the saying originated) there is a simple formula. For the more general problem of Euclidean 3-space, the venerable CF Gauss proved that HCP is the most efficient lattice packing in the early 1800s.

But Kepler's conjecture was only recently solved by Thomas Hales, and the mathematical community hasn't exactly accepted his proof. What did Hales do that Gauss didn't? Well, Gauss proved a result for lattice packings; Hales did not assume the spheres were constrained to have their centres at lattice points.

Szpiro does tell the story, with generous dollops of colourful history. So what's not to like? He gets too many details wrong. His writing isn't polished, let alone scintillating. His mathematical excursions are seldom proofs, and often incorrect if they are meant to be proofs. He chastizes mathematicians who claim more than they prove, so I am holding him to the standard he asserts mathematicians should meet.

I don't expect from Szpiro the details that your math teachers expected in your homework or exams, and I don't expect a mathematical treatise. But I do expect his explanations to be correct except for the details, and I believe that, as often as not, they are not correct.

Having said some rather cutting things about Szpiro's book, I'll now darn him with vague praise. If you know a teenager fascinated by sphere-packing, sure, let him/her read this book. It won't hurt them, and if they aren't mathematically precocious, they'll likely enjoy it. If they are mathematically mature enough to see the flaws, they may enjoy the book despite the flaws.

I expected more than Szpiro has to offer, and I don't think I have unreasonable expectations. I've seen too many books in the genre that meet my expectations to offer praise where I don't feel it is deserved.

On the flip side, I've seen worse. I just can't commend them to you wholeheartedly.

fascinating.......2003-05-03

An extremely interesting combination of mathematics and history. A book that will appeal to everyone. Szpiro shows off his flair and knowledge with a light humourous touch. Thoroughly enjoyable!

Thoroughly entertaining........2003-04-10

Sphere packing has been a hobby of mine for less than a year now, and I was drew to the subject via my interest in coding theory (error correction coding). At first glance, as I skimmed
the book at the bookstore, it seemed deceptively simple. It didn't seem to have much technical substance. I bought the book anyway, as it's really one of the only books on the subject. Thankfully, my initial reaction was wrong. The book contains alot more detail than appears. The book doesn't contain alot of math equations, in fact, it tends to gloss over even the simple theory a little too much. I found this a tad dissapointing. However, the author throws enough scraps of information to you, that if your really interested, you can pursue the matter in further detail.

The authors writing style is friendly; written definately for the laymen. Unfortunately, the author is also very sloppy in his writing style. He constantly throws out names, dates, and shifts back in forth in time spans over decades and even centuries. Sometimes you think to yourself "what century is he talking about now." Sometimes he'll throw out the name of a mathemtician, but won't even tell you when he did his research or won't give you a good frame of reference. This can be confusing if you are trying to build a mental timeline of the history of sphere packing research. If you read the book 20 times, you might be able to extrapolate through this bad writing style... but some questions are still left unaswered.

The majority of the discussion focuses on packing spheres in 1, 2 and 3 dimensions. He explains the history of this quite well over the course of several hundred pages. Occasionally, he'll
talk about higher dimensions and explain in laymens terms what you can do in higher dimensions that you can do in lower dimensions,.. and he tries to give you the gist of the idea of why mathemeticians even care about higher dimensions. I found this understandable, but dissapointing in that he didn't at least dedicate 1 chapter specifically to this topic. However, in fairness, the book is about Keplers conjecture, focusing on 3 dimensions. It's not really supposed to be about sphere packing in D > 3. As an a laymen enthusiast, I was dissapointed because I was hoping to learn more about higher dimensionality, as I really don't understand how that works.
But I think the excellent way in which the authorpresented the history has really motivated me to study this subject in more detail, so I'll seek alternative means to find out about higher dimensions.

The main emphasis of this book is the history of sphere packing. It all starts with the idea of how many cannonballs can be packed.. However, the author actually mentions that the problem actually dates to Greek times and was considered long before. I had no idea so many mathemeticians through history had worked on this problem, so the history was very rich and pleased me in the manner in which he dealt with it. Unfortunately, the author tends to gloss over the actual details of how various mathemeticians provided proofs. Many of these proofs were 20 to 100 pages, so I can see how it might be difficult to work this into a book.... but I definately think the author didn't put enough effort into this. I think that some math, could have been put into this book. Most of the history pertains to mathemeticians pursuits to find "upper bounds" for sphere packing. Lower bounds are not talked about much, but are mentioned briefly when the author say's the Riemann zeta function can somehow be used as a lower bound in higher dimensions...but he doesn't feel the need to explain this unfortunately.

Overall, I give the book 4-5 stars as a historical overview. I was very pleased in that aspect. I give the author 3 stars for his friendly writing style, but he aslo gets very sloppy by moving back and forward in time too much that it gets confusing. I'll give him 3 stars for "technical content" if we are to assume that the technical content is strictly for laymens. There really is no math content per se for anyone who has any higher college level math, but it might raise some thought provoking questions for those who'smaths skills aren't so good.

However, I strongly believe that any mathemeticians would be VERY happy to read this book. In fact, the author shows that several recent mathemeticians who worked on providing proofs for Keplers Conjecture were not even aware of the problem until well after they were professors... meaning that this book serves not so much a technical manual, but merely a source of history and motivation for those interested. Therefore, on average, I give this book maybe 3.5 - 4 stars.

Also, he doesn't discuss sphere packing as it applies to error correcting codes, but it should interest you nevertheless. If thats your interest, see Sloan and Conways bible on sphere Packing and Lattices; the ultimate tome on that subject.
-Hoffman

Book Description

This digital document is an article from Real Estate Weekly, published by Hagedorn Publication on June 22, 2005. The length of the article is 441 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

Citation Details
Title: Civil War park opens on Long Island's waterfront.
Publication: Real Estate Weekly (Magazine/Journal)
Date: June 22, 2005
Publisher: Hagedorn Publication
Volume: 51 Issue: 45 Page: C3(1)

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