Value Investing: From Graham to Buffett and Beyond (Wiley Finance)

Book Description

From the "guru to Wall Street's gurus" comes the fundamental techniques of value investing and their applications
Bruce Greenwald is one of the leading authorities on value investing. Some of the savviest people on Wall Street have taken his Columbia Business School executive education course on the subject. Now this dynamic and popular teacher, with some colleagues, reveals the fundamental principles of value investing, the one investment technique that has proven itself consistently over time. After covering general techniques of value investing, the book proceeds to illustrate their applications through profiles of Warren Buffett, Michael Price, Mario Gabellio, and other successful value investors. A number of case studies highlight the techniques in practice.
Bruce C. N. Greenwald (New York, NY) is the Robert Heilbrunn Professor of Finance and Asset Management at Columbia University. Judd Kahn, PhD (New York, NY), is a member of Morningside Value Investors. Paul D. Sonkin (New York, NY) is the investment manager of the Hummingbird Value Fund. Michael van Biema (New York, NY) is an Assistant Professor at the Graduate School of Business, Columbia University.

Customer Reviews:

Exceptional Addition for Any Investor.......2007-07-07

Fantastic summary of modern value investing. Greenwald looks at the discipline with the critical eye of a professor, making it more informative than many other books about the subject. Even seasoned value investors will learn from this book.

Must-read for value investors!.......2007-07-01

What I Liked About It
* Details several valuation methods that I haven't seen in other non-academic, mainstream investing books.
* Several real-world examples to apply valuation methods
* Great treatment of brands vs. franchises

What Needed Work
* Various investor profiles unnecessarily fill the 2nd half of the book.
* Attempts at quantifying "franchise" felt a bit forced.

Greenwald's book ranks at the very top of my investing bookshelf. I read this after having read Graham, Greenblatt, Klarman, Lynch, P. Fisher, Cramer (yes, that Cramer!), Dorsey, Buffett, and Browne among others. Amazingly, this book broached a number of topics not covered by those prominent authors. As such, this book is required reading for the discerning investor.

The most important concepts this book gave me were valuation methods based on net asset value (NAV) and earnings power value (EPV). Before this, I had trouble valuing companies that didn't generate steady cash flow or have commodity assets. Now I have more angles from which to examine a prospect and find undervalued companies besides running a DCF analysis. We've heard about past opportunities where you could have bought a company like McDonalds for the price of its real estate and gotten the business for free. Greenwald shows you how to find these opportunities using his asset valuation methods. He also gives you the tools to fairly value "tech" companies (or any enterprise with heavy intangible capital). Less convincing is his discussion of earnings power value but nonetheless, it's still helpful to be able to examine a company's earnings ability.

Greenwald also spends time discussing problems with discount cash flow analysis (DCF) as well as franchises. While his thoughts on these subjects were thought-provoking, I don't completely agree with his conclusions.

On DCF, Greenwald says that trying to project future growth rates 5-10 years forward is folly and will distort your DCF analysis. While he is right that future growth projections are problematic, that doesn't mean DCF isn't helpful for individual investors. Greenwald concedes that his preferred methodologies require, in some instances, in-depth knowledge of the business and industry of the company being examined. The non-professional (me!) may not have this expertise and any estimates of asset worth or capital costs would be just as faulty as analyst growth estimates. In fact, an adjusted future growth rate derived from a number of industry-knowledgeable analysts may be more generally accurate (if imprecise).

The main knock against the book is the whole second half consisting of eight investor profiles. There's nothing wrong with them per se except that they are in the book at all. If I had wanted a book on famous value investors, I would have picked up something by Kirk Kazanjian. The chapter on Warren Buffett is almost exclusively quotations taken from freely available public reports and Seth Klarman has written his own book on investing.

I've written a more-indepth review at my enlightened-american website but in summary, my advice is to soak in the 1st half of the book and skip the 2nd half entirely. Dig into an annual report instead and start applying what Greenwald's shown you.

A MUST READ.......2006-11-13

find weak areas with strong fundamentals is secret according to this book. this is a good combo to Investing Without Losing (ISBN: 0978834607 NOT on amazn, on other stores), one is about the concept and the latter is about execution

the most comprehensive review on value.......2006-09-20

In short, this book is grounded on economics and common sense. It summarizes "the intelligent investor", "security analysis", and the modern books on Buffett pretty well (there are other paths to heaven besides Buffett's). Its verbiage is beautifully chosen and a joy to read, especially for avid value investors. Best of all it is a scholarly work - if you're sick and tired of the commercial investing books that flood bookstores, buy this book.

Must-read for serious investors of any stripe.......2006-08-12

A must-read for investors of any stripe, growth or value. This book, written by a couple of the most popular professors at Columbia Business School, explains the innovations in the field of value investing as practiced by some of the most successful investors in the field. (fair disclosure: I will be taking courses from them in 2007) This book successfully bridges the gap between the traditional Graham & Dodd style of value investing to what works today. Although it's a paperback, it's written with the density of a textbook. The writing style is not light, and the actual meat of the book takes some time to wade through. If you don't have some experience in accounting or corporate finance, then Joel Greenblatt's The Little Book That Beats the Market is good to read first.

The substance of this book is a process for modern value investing: value investing is not investing in lousy companies just because they appear cheap. The authors also teach a structured way to value a company. Finally, the authors address how to value growth.

First, before reading this book I had the mistaken impression that value investing was all about investing in the ugliest, least interesting company you could find just because it had a low P/E ratio. I was completely wrong! (Maybe I have attended too many stock pitch sessions and heard too many poultry stocks and encyclopedia companies get pitched.) Modern value investing, according the authors: "When B. Graham went scouring financial statements looking for his net-nets, it did not concern him that he may have known little about the industry in which he found his targets. All he was concerned with were asset values and a margin of safety by that measure. A contemporary value investor had better be able to identify and understand the sources of a company's franchise and the nature of its competitive advantages. Otherwise he or she is just another punter, taking a flier rather than making an investment." What a breath of fresh air to read this passage.

Second, this book lays out a structured way to value a company by first looking at reproduction costs of assets, then earnings power, and finally the value of profitable growth. I, like the authors, find traditional DCF valuations to be plagued by false precision. The authors' more practical method starts by adjusting the balance GAAP balance sheet to calculate the cost of the assets for a potential business entrant. Next, the company is valued based on the earnings generates consistently, assuming no growth. A key insight is the value of the franchise: the difference between asset value and Earnings Power Value is the value created by a company that has significant competitive advantage. Last, the value of profitable growth is considered.

As a self-admitted recovering growth stock addict, I learned from this book that value investors are skeptical about growth for two reasons. One reason is that it is so hard to predict, but more important, many times growth is not worth much. Unless the return on capital (ROC) of the company is higher than the cost of capital, growth does not create value. (I am a slow learner; Greenblatt's example in The Little Book That Beats the Market of opening an additional gum store is even clearer to me.) The growth matrix and formulas in the book were a revelation to me. The surprising thing is how little multiple expansion a stock deserves based on growth. Unless a company truly has a franchise, expanding into other areas and "diversifying" the business often destroys value. And growth for growth's sake will not make a stock go up.

This book brings value investing into the modern stock market. Modern value investors still use traditional valuation principles in a structured way, but they also consider the value of growth and the attractiveness of the business. What a relief, I not restricted to buying typewriter and pay phone stocks! The authors quote Warren Buffett: It's far better to buy a wonderful company at a fair price than a fair company at a wonderful price.

Book Description

The book deals with issues about sex in a legal context, and addresses such subjects as the age of consent, surrogacy and egg donation, sexually transmitted diseases, the rights of intellectually inpaired people, issues of doctor-patient confidentiality and cultural practices that may be against the law. The book makes wide use of case studies to highlight particular aspects of the law.

The Australian social worker and the law

Average customer rating:

The Australian social worker and the law
Frank Bates
Manufacturer: Law Book Co
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Law | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 0455199205

Book Description

Intended as a text for plant bacteriology courses and as a reference for plant pathologists in agricultural extension services and experimental stations, Fundamentals of Bacterial Plant Pathology presents current information on bacterial morphology, taxonomy, genetics, and ecology. Diagnosis, disease management, and the molecular basis of host-pathogen interactions are examined. The book is well illustrated, includes both subject and taxonomic indexes, and provides suggestions for the further reading.

Key Features
* Provides an overview on phytopathogenic prokaryotes and plant prokaryote diseases
* Contains detailed descriptions of topics of current interest including:

* Molecular Genetics of Pathogenesis
* Modern taxonomy and ecological behaviors of phytopathogenic prokaryotes
* Biological control of plant prokaryote diseases

* Presents full descriptions of eighteen selected diseases of economic interest

Customer Reviews:

Disorganized and Full of Errors.......2002-09-04

I wish that it wasn't so, but this book about mass extinction events suffers from serious problems with accuracy. There were so many questionable statements contained within this book, that I found myself running to the bookshelf to check the validity of my
objections with other sources.
Here are just a couple of examples. The author on pages 11 and 39 intoduces trilobites as "aquatic crustaceans". Trilobites are an extinct class of Arthropods (Crustacea is a another class) and were entirely marine in habitat. However, there follows a very brief (and confusing) description of dominant faunal groups of trilobites during the Ordovician, the Ibex and Whiterock fauna. It is far too complicated a concept to express, as the author attempts, in just two sentences, especially when neither term is included in the glossary.
In a section on extinct fish, Erikson describes placoderms as "ferocious giants that reached 30 or more feet in length", when in fact, nearly all placoderms were rather small. Only a couple of species within the arthrodire group of placoderms, such as Dunkleosteus, reached such proportions. Included in a section about the Age of Fishes, defined as the mid-paleozoic, the author refers to both sharks and rays. Rays don't show up in the fossil record until the Jurassic. That's only a couple a hundred million year off. One could go on and on describing other mistakes as blatant as these.
There are just too many serious errors to overlook and, in my opinion, additional problems with the organization and presentation of subject matter make this book tough to follow and a poor choice for those interested in extinct creatures.
Most of the illustrations are crude and the photography appears to be dated USGS and US Navy "freebies".
Skip this one and buy a copy of Richard Fortey's "Fossils- The Key To The Past" for accuracy and a more compelling overview.

Book Description

This is an introductory textbook on the geometrical theory of dynamical systems, fluid flows, and certain integrable systems. The subjects are interdisciplinary and extend from mathematics, mechanics and physics to mechanical engineering, and the approach is very fundamental. The underlying concepts are based on differential geometry and theory of Lie groups in the mathematical aspect, and on transformation symmetries and gauge theory in the physical aspect. A great deal of effort has been directed toward making the description elementary, clear and concise, so that beginners will have an access to the topics.

Average customer rating:

Beautiful prose, horrible characters

Lots of Fun, and Some Depth

Trust me; it bites

Trust me--I'm still living it

Captured the angst of life changes

Ask Me Anything: A Novel
Francesca Delbanco
Manufacturer: W. W. Norton & Company
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Contemporary | General | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 0393326462

Book Description

"An engaging, screwball first novel....A genuine pleasure."—The New Yorker

Twenty-six-year-old Rosalie Preston works by day as an advice columnist for the romantically perplexed readership of Girl Talk magazine. But her true passion is for the stage and for her fledgling theater troupe, the First Borns, a tight pack of friends and lovers who live (mostly) in the East Village. When Rosalie comes to the notice of suave Berglan Starker, a theater underwriter—and also the father of her best friend—she finds herself caught up in a very different affair from those she so jauntily untangles in her column for teens. Struggling to be savvy but sage, she is swept along by curiosity, a taste for adventure, and a penchant for those alluring complimentary toiletries in New York's ritziest hotels.

Fame versus art, sex versus love, ambition versus friendship, room service versus restaurants: these are the choppy waters the First Borners must navigate—together and, perhaps ultimately, apart—in this delicious novel.

Customer Reviews:

Beautiful prose, horrible characters.......2006-12-14

I really enjoy reading this author's prose. She writes in a very clear, strong fashion and expresses herself well. The problem with this book is that the characters are not people you would want to spend any time with. I started to truly hate Rosalie as the book wore on, and at the end I thought the guy that she ended up with was too good for her. He was the only character that I really liked at all, maybe Delbanco should have made him the lead. I love her writing, but I really hated the characters.

Lots of Fun, and Some Depth.......2006-09-16

I picked this book up on a whim at the library and enjoyed it much more than I expected. Not only is the story engrossing and the heroine endearing and thoughtful, the story as a whole deals with some significant issues with eloquent prose. A strong recommendation!

Trust me; it bites.......2005-07-14

Rosalie is a member of the "First Borns" a theater troupe of mostly ivy league-educated 20-somethings including aspiring director, Evan; gifted actor (and Rosalie's sometimes lover) Cam; heiress Belle; and the good girl-bad boy coupling of Grace and Jake.

As preparations begin to rehearse a play by an Irish playwright, Declan Pearse, Rosalie enters into an affair with Belle's father, Berglan Starker. He wines and dines her in all the finest restaurants and hotels. I can certainly appreciate a nice May-December romance, but there is absolutely no chemistry between the two. It is more of a father-daughter relationship, particularly in the way they communicate. Of course, Rosalie is falling for her old man. He senses this, and ends the relationship.

Declan deduces that Berglan is her paramour. On a trip back from Boston, they meet up on the train and get to know each other better, finding out that Declan has a fiance back in Dublin. She is not sure how to take this news. When Fiona comes to NY for a visit, Rosalie wants to dislike her, but cannot seem to.

I have mixed feelings about this book. I liked the premise of the story, but I thought that the actual characters lacked depth; I got no real sense for their motivations, and the only one that was remotely interesting was Declan. I had a really hard time sticking with it. I found the advice letters that preceded each chapter to be annoying, and finally started to skip them altogether. Even the ending was less than satisfying.

The fact that this drivel was even published reeks of nepotism.

Trust me--I'm still living it.......2005-07-09

Trust me, I totally enjoyed this book. But I'm a sucker for cute stories and happy endings.

Captured the angst of life changes.......2005-01-24

I stumbled upon this book at the library, and decided to read it because it was set in New York. I was pleasantly surprised at how delightful this book was. Rosalie was a character that grew on me, the more I read , the more I understood her and what the author was trying to convey.
Even though I am past my 20's ( thank fully!) the issues Rosalie was struggling with overlap into all stages of life, the basic questions of change and how to cope with them. Of how unexpected things occur in life and what do they mean or where do they lead.
Some parts of the story were overlong, but I was entertained and pulled along. Francesca is a talented writer who excels at interesting dialog and witty humor. Her descriptions of Declan were priceless. She created speech patterns for each character that defined them well. I am looking forward to reading other work from her.
If you want to read a sweet story with a unique female lead, if you want to follow the twists of relationships, if you want to feel like you are in New York hanging with actors, and if you want to feel you are not alone when the changes in your own life might puzzle or sadden you....this is a worthwhile and uplifting story.

Average customer rating:

A Wonderful Biography by Gen. Scott!

this is his best book of all!

The life story of an American hero!

Great book. I know where some are.

Day I Owned the Sky
Robert Lee Scott
Manufacturer: Bantam
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Mass Market Paperback

General | Biographies & Memoirs | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 0553275070
Release Date: 1989-01-01

Customer Reviews:

A Wonderful Biography by Gen. Scott!.......1998-07-11

I have a autographed copy of this book and it's one of my most treasured books. It is a wonderful follow up to "God is My Co-Pilot". I have read it at least 10 times in the year that I have had it. It is a very compelling book... I just don't know how to desribe it. Every library that I know of has it, as well as God is My Co-Pilot. It's really not all that hard to find. If you are even the slightest remoteness interested in what it was like in China between 1942 and 1945 this is a exellent book. I don't know how to put it into words... I just love his books. I'm sorry to say that I've never been able to read any of the others (Flying Tiger: Chennault of China, Boring a Hole through the Sky, God is Still My Co-Pilot, just to name a few). He's now over 90 I know that he flew a F-15 Eagle at age 89. Your really not supposed to.. but somehow he convinced them he could. Most everyone I've told says that there must be another seat for the navigator that somebody else went sat in. But, I garrenty you that there is only ONE seat in a F-15 Eagle. In short he is a incredible man, and has a incredible life. And I quote:

"Claire Lee Chennault was a indivialist, and some of that indiviualty must have rubbed off on me because I to have been a indiviaulast.. a mavrick general, in my carrer. But first I had to meet him, and that took some doing. I had to lie cheat and surely steal. There is a saying "never steal anything small" well what I stole was a B-17E FLying Fortress. Right or wrong, under the surrcumstances I did it. It is a long story and I have to Start at the beginning."

this is his best book of all!.......1998-05-14

This book is the Generals best by far because it chronicles pretty much everything about the man himself. His story is proof of what happens if you persist. If you want to get the whole snapshot of my hero, Gen Bob Scott- then this is the book you need to read!! Trust me.

The life story of an American hero!.......1998-03-13

Robert Lee Scott is one of the heros of our century who faded from our collective memory long ago. His 1943 best-seller, God is my Co-pilot, made him famous during WWII, and The Day I Owned the Sky brings the reader up-to-date (Well, up to 1988, anyway) on the further adventures of this magnificent Flying Tiger. This book will take the reader from his humble beginnings in Georgia, to his wartime exploits, and into his fun-filled retirement. If you love books like Yeager and Press On! you'll love this one, too!

Great book. I know where some are........1998-01-10

This is another great book by Gen. Scott. I feel that I am right in the cockpit with him. The last time I looked, there was a limited number of autographed editions available in the Air Force Museum gift shop at Robins AFB. Ga. Contact the gift shop for availability.

Average customer rating:

The Day I Owned The Sky
Robert Lee Jr Scott
Manufacturer: Bantam Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000NUGBG4

Average customer rating:

The Day I Owned The Sky
Scott Robert Lee Jr.
Manufacturer: Bantam
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000UCJKPY

Average customer rating:

The Day I Owned the Sky
Robert Lee Scott Jr.
Manufacturer: Bantam Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000PGYXAW

Average customer rating:

THE DAY I OWNED THE SKY.
Robert Lee, Jr. Scott
Manufacturer: NY, Bantam, 1988. 238 pp., illus. Fine copy of first edition in dust jacket.
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000UDX4ZA

Average customer rating:

Good book, easy read, interesting life

Just learning history

Alexander the Accessible

Alexander the Great: Legacy of a Conqueror (Weekend Biographies)
Winthrop Lindsay Adams
Manufacturer: Longman Publishing Group
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Biographies & Memoirs | Subjects | Books
General | Historical | Biographies & Memoirs | Subjects | Books
Alexander the Great | ( A ) | People, A-Z | Biographies & Memoirs | Subjects | Books
Greece | Ancient | History | Subjects | Books
General | Greece | Europe | History | Subjects | Books
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ASIN: 0321365828

Customer Reviews:

Good book, easy read, interesting life.......2006-05-05

I never would have read this book if i didnt have to, but once again, im glad i did. This book is really no different than anything about Alexander, except its short, easy, and it covers the important points of his life.
If you have to read it- dont worry its not too bad, and if you ever wanted to know about Alexander the Great, this book is perfect for you, both academically and casually

Just learning history.......2006-03-02

History frequently expresses strong views of Alexander. Alexander was not the first cult figure but one of the greatest characters of history. I thought that history books were dates and footnotes and Greek passages. But it has come down to many more questions than answers. Why did more Greeks fight against Alexander as mercenaries than for him?
I like the readability of the book. I knew something about Alexander the Great from high school. And then I learned on the History Channel about how his father Philip was killed. That's all I knew up to reading the book. Through this book I found the spirit of Alexander. The book provides a glossary which is very helpful. The book is a easy read. It's like a series of guest lectures and reviews that helped shaped the work . Frank Holt is the leading scholar working on Alexander and the East, as well as Greeks in Asia. I liked it and read more.
I learned to like the word Arete meaning excellence, but it really means the "capacity for excellence" or "prowess." It is the Homeric ideal to which all heroes aspire and the driving principle in Alexander' s character. I took this took to heart.
I never thought that money was so important to history. From the Persians 3 Billion dollars alone was the prize catch. I learned that many came over to Alexander the Great's side and he was met along the road and then cities would surrender their fortresses and treasuries to him. I enjoyed the book and liked it very much there were times I got into the action of the book. The topic of Alexander is 2300 years old. Alexander ordered a journal kept and even had a staff to keep it up to date. This was the Ephemerides ( or the royal Journal or "Day Book"). Today they survive in fragments. The literature published on Alexander in German, French, Italian and of course Greek is immense. I think I would like to read some day "William Woodthorpe Tarns, Alexander the Great 2, Cambridge, 1948.
I have started another book,"Alexander the Great" by Paul Cartledge which tells of another Alexander, the Spartans and his ancient world. The book talks a lot about history but does not get into Alexander's relationship with his father Philip or his his career in terms of alcohol. Alexander favorite pastime was hunting. In Macedonia you did not become fully a man until you had passed the key manhood test of hunting and killing, without a net, one of the ferocious wild boars that roamed the heights of western Macedonia. Only then could you recline, as opposed to sitting, when participating in the daily ritual of the symposium, the evening drinking party. Another kind of hunting, the killing of enemies in battle entitled a Macedonian to wear a special belt, as a visual signal and reminder of his attainment and prestige.
Alexander's legacy unites East and West in it's traditions including art and music. Alexander is a world legacy as well as a Greek Hero. Alexander is seen as hero, bad guy, holy man, Christian, as a new achilles, prophet and visionary, King of Macedonia and conqueror of the Persian Empire. No sexual relationship ever distracted Alexander from his purpose.
From the reading I still question if Alexander was poisoned. I think he died because of a contracted fever and broken heart. I think he knew that his men wanted him to come home and finish his war in other lands. He left no heirs, nor did he establish any permanent structure for the empire. The League of Corinth had been dissolved. His empire fell apart.
This book is presuming that the reader is beginning the study of Macedonia and Alexander the Great. Another book he wrote that I would love to read is In the Shadow of Olympus: the Emergence of Macedonia ( Princeton ,1990) by E. N. Borza which describes Aristotle teaching him at thirteen and combat training at seven.
Alexander the Great introduced Greek as an official language throughout his vast empire. Alexander kept a copy of Homer's Iliad under his pillow. I liked how this man took care of his sick and wounded on the battlefield and disabled veterans. And he also took care of veterans as they got older.
The first historical novel " The Alexander Romance" celebrated his many feats and Alexander coin portraits continue to be struck. Caesar as a pretorian governor in Spain, on seeing a portrait of Alexander, lamented that he was in his late thirties and had yet to do any thing great. This was the greatness of Alexander

Alexander the Accessible.......2005-02-18

Biographies of figures from the ancient world are often written, in the words of one of my old professors, "as if the author were being paid by the word." Lindsay Adam's new biography of Alexander the Great manages to avoid that trap. This book demonstrates that scholarship and readability are not contradictory. Adam's scholarly grounding is top-notch, but he does not clutter up his narrative with the usual wordy footnotes and passages in classical Greek. Both the professional historian and the history fan will find much to enjoy here. The author handles the complex and fascinating story of Alexander's conquests and their legacy with considerable grace and mastery. The professor looking for a text for undergraduates and the reader simply interested in a retelling of one of history's most compelling careers would both profit from this book.

Alexander the Great : Legacy of a Conqueror (Library of World Biography Series) (Library of World Biography)

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Alexander the Great : Legacy of a Conqueror (Library of World Biography Series) (Library of World Biography)
Winthrop Lindsay Adams
Manufacturer: Longman
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000OUK36W

Alexander the Great: Legacy of a Conqueror (Weekend Biographies)

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Alexander the Great: Legacy of a Conqueror (Weekend Biographies)
Winthrop Lindsay Adams
Manufacturer: Longman Publishing Group
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000QY9OFW

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Book Description

Computation and Intelligence brings together 29 readings in Artificial Intelligence that are particularly relevant to today's student/practitioner. With its helpful critique of the selections, extensive bibliography, and clear presentation of the material, Computation and Intelligence will be a useful adjunct to any course in AI as well as a handy reference for professionals in the field.

The book is divided into five parts, each reflecting the stages of development of AI. The first part, Foundations,, contains readings that present or discuss foundational ideas linking computation and intelligence, typified by A. M. Turing's "Computing Machinery and Intelligence." The second part, Knowledge Representation, presents a sampling of numerous representational schemes by Newell, Minsky, Collins & Quillian, Winograd, Schank, Hayes, Holland, McClelland, Rumelhart, Hinton, and Brooks.

The third part, Weak Method Problem Solving, fouses on the research and design of syntax-based problem solvers, including the most famous of these, the Logic Theorist and GPS. The fourth part, Reasoning in Complex and Dynamic Environments, presents a broad spectrum of the AI community's research in knowledge-intensive problem solving, from McCarthy's early design of systems with "common sense" to model-based reasoning.

The two concluding selections, by Marvin Minsky and by Herbert Simon, respectively, present the recent thoughts of two of AI's pioneers who revisit the concepts and controversies that have developed during the evolution of the tools and techniques that make up the current practice of Artificial Intelligence.

Connectionist Models and Their Implications: Readings from Cognitive Science

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Thanks to Waltz, this book changed my life.

Connectionist Models and Their Implications: Readings from Cognitive Science
David Waltz
Manufacturer: Ablex Publishing Corporation
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0893914568

Customer Reviews:

Thanks to Waltz, this book changed my life........1999-01-29

The best Connectionist Models book I have ever read, Waltz is absolutely brilliant. A must for anyone who is serious about this interesting subject.

The Great Perpetual Learning Machine: Being a Stupendous Collection of Ideas, Games, Experiments, Activities, and Recommendations for Further Explora

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The Great Perpetual Learning Machine: Being a Stupendous Collection of Ideas, Games, Experiments, Activities, and Recommendations for Further Explora
Jim Blake , and Barbara Ernst
Manufacturer: Little Brown & Co (Juv)
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

General | Self-Help | Health, Mind & Body | Subjects | Books

Readings in Machine Learning (The Morgan Kaufmann Series in Machine Learning)

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Absolute must for any work in the field.

Readings in Machine Learning (The Morgan Kaufmann Series in Machine Learning)

Manufacturer: Morgan Kaufmann
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 1558601430

Book Description

The ability to learn is a fundamental characteristic of intelligent behavior. Consequently, machine learning has been a focus of artificial intelligence since the beginnings of AI in the 1950s. The 1980s saw tremendous growth in the field, and this growth promises to continue with valuable contributions to science, engineering, and business.

Readings in Machine Learning collects the best of the published machine learning literature, including papers that address a wide range of learning tasks, and that introduce a variety of techniques for giving machines the ability to learn. The editors, in cooperation with a group of expert referees, have chosen important papers that empirically study, theoretically analyze, or psychologically justify machine learning algorithms. The papers are grouped into a dozen categories, each of which is introduced by the editors.

Customer Reviews:

Absolute must for any work in the field........2002-01-29

The aim of the book is to bring together key papers in Machine Learning and to provide an introduction to the field and a reference collection for graduate students and researchers. The book contains 51 most imoportant article from Machine Learning (up to 1990). Most of these are NOT available online, so watch out! The following areas are covered: Introduction (3 papers; one by Simon), Inductive Learning From Preclassified Training Examples (16 papers including great classics from Quinlan, Michalski, Mitchell, Minsky...), Unsupervided Learning and Concept Discovery (9 papers -- Feigenbaum, Holland...), Improving the Efiiciency of a Problem Solver (10 papers including fameous Samuel's gem "Some Studies in Machine Learning Using the Game of Checkers"; also papers from Mitchell, Nillson, Utgoff...), Using Preexisting Domain Knowledge Inductively (13 papers; Russel, etc...). Really really outstanding collection and a definite recommendation.

The responsive environment system: An analysis of its utilization

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The responsive environment system: An analysis of its utilization
Mervin E Pederson
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Unknown Binding

The Sound Machine (English Language Learning: Reading Scheme)

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The Sound Machine (English Language Learning: Reading Scheme)
Dahl
Manufacturer: Cambridge University Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Education | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books

Book Description

The drive to own the natural world in twentieth-century America seems virtually limitless. Signs of this national penchant for possessing nature are everywhere--from suburban picket fences to elaborate schemes to own underground water, clouds, even the ocean floor.
Yet, as Theodore Steinberg demonstrates in this compelling, witty look at Americans' attempts to master the environment, nature continually turns these efforts into folly. In a rich, narrative style recalling the work of John McPhee, Steinberg tours America to explore some of the more unusual dilemmas that have arisen in our struggle to possess nature.
Beginning along the Missouri River, Steinberg recounts the battle for three thousand acres of land the river carved from a Nebraska Indian reservation and deposited in Iowa. Then he travels to Louisiana, where an army of lawyers butted heads over whether Six Mile Lake was actually a lake or a stream. He continues to Arizona to investigate who owned the underground, then to Pennsylvania's Blue Ridge Mountains to see who claimed the clouds. He ends in crowded New York City with Donald Trump's struggle for air rights.
Americans' obsession with owning nature was immortalized by Mark Twain in the tale of Slide Mountain, where a landslide-prone Nevada peak turned the American dream of real estate into dust. In relating these modern-day "Slide Mountain" stories, Steinberg illuminates what it means to live in a culture of property where everything must have an owner.

Customer Reviews:

Absurd tales relevant to today's environmental woes.......2007-09-16

There are a lot of interesting and controversial examples of owning nature like beach access and endangered species laws. This book details similar examples of ocean floor ownership, underground water and Donald Trump's struggle for air rights. The book is both philosophical, historical and very relevant in today's increasing developmental mindset. Told with a humorous and environmentally consious tone, Slide Mountain is absurd, yet important and relevant. I am going to use this book in my environmental science (100 level) course to get them thinking!

Slide Mountain, or The Folly of Owning Nature.: An article from: Yale Law Journal

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Slide Mountain, or The Folly of Owning Nature.: An article from: Yale Law Journal
Andrew Jackson Heimert
Manufacturer: Yale University, School of Law
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Digital

Book Description

This digital document is an article from Yale Law Journal, published by Yale University, School of Law on June 1, 1996. The length of the article is 4070 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: Slide Mountain, or The Folly of Owning Nature.
Author: Andrew Jackson Heimert
Publication: Yale Law Journal (Refereed)
Date: June 1, 1996
Publisher: Yale University, School of Law
Volume: 105 Issue: n8 Page: 2297-2302

Article Type: Book Review

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