Million Dollar Car & $250,000 Pizza

Book Description

Your future is based on the decisions you make now.

You don't have to give up pizza or forego driving to find a way to make the smart money moves Lewis recommends. Starting with in depth analysis of the current state of one's financial affairs, she shows would be investors how to create the personal and financial goals that will power up the plan. Like an engaging personal friend who is also a financial advisor, Lewis outlines the key issues related to finding the appropriate financial advisor, and shares the results of a survey of actual investors, identifying what they most want explained in the investment planning process.

Customer Reviews:

A Million Dollar Book!!!!.......2001-10-28

Allyson Lewis' book is a definite must read for anyone wanting to get ahead financially. If you want your money to work for you, rather than you working for it, this is the book for you. Her book contains easy to read charts and graphs, compelling and motivating real-life stories, and handy worksheets. A financial book that is a great read? Definitely!!! I don't just like this book, I LOVE it!!!

It's never too late!.......2001-08-23

Allyson Lewis' gives sound investment advise in terms that the least to the most sophisticated investor can relate. Planning is the key! Creating your financial plan can begin at any age. She uses real-life antedotes from her clients and peers that conveys that anyone can reach their financial goals by writing them down, and developing a strategy and a well-thought out plan to reach them. A must buy for those who are experiencing major changes in their life: newlyweds, college grads, pre-retirement, grandparents. etc.

Better than a stick in your eye, but. . ........2001-07-20

I have to admit this book was pretty lame. A lot of common sense, pretty charts and diagrams, but overall pretty shallow. Seems to be a poor compilation of material better covered elsewhere. Get's kinda preachy over a WRITTEN financial plan. I don't necessarily agree. Seems to answer most people's financial problems by saying, "Cut your expenses to the bone, deprive yourself and your family for a brief 25 years, save your money, get an 8% annual return and you'll be financially set someday. And if you're not saving enough, just cut more out of your budget!" Naive. Far better treatment of the material in "Richest Man in Babylon". Also, Mary Hunt's "Debt Proof Living" gives real practical "how-to's" as opposed to this drivel. On the flip side, there is a little merit to this book if you can discover some of the better nuggets of wisdom amidst the fluff. Pass.

Pass this one along to your friends.......2000-06-22

Allyson writes a very practical book about financial planning that is very educational and helpful. I've recommended this book to engaged couples, college graduates, and my collegues. It is a great resource for understanding your personal finances. As Allyson says: "Your finances are your responsiblity." The more you know the better you are in planning for the future.

The Million Dollar Car and $250,000 Pizza.......2000-06-16

I have recommended Allyson Lewis's book to several of my collegues and have encourage them to share or purchase a copy of it for their kids in Graduate School, College, as well as High School. This book is a roadmap for a successful financial future.

Allyson Lewis clearly demonstrates general and complex financial planning strategies via story telling. A most effective way to deliver her message- This is a text on how to build wealth and see the true value in the hard earned dollars we all take home each pay period.

I was about to play catch-up with "The Jones Family" when I read your thoughtful words and know in 5 years time I'll have an extra $75k in my investment portfolio! Thanks for the sound advice- it could not have come at a better time.

Book Description

Brannick and Levine provide students and professionals in management and I/O psychology with the methods and applications of job analysis. Job Analysis covers a host of activities, all directed toward discovering, understanding, and describing what people do at work. It thus forms the basis for the solution of virtually every human resource problem. The authors describe several job analysis methods and then illustrate how to apply the results to problems arising in the management of people at work.

Customer Reviews:

Job Analysis.......2006-08-28

This book has a better description than what it has for its contents. If you are a neophyte at this topic then perhaps you will use can use this book. It assumes its reader is completely unaware of why job analyses must be done and unaware of what does not work. It can be safe to assume that buyers of the book are in the business of job analysis and want to know the latest techniques of job analysis. The last 3 are worth reading but having to purchase the book is,on the whole, a waste of your money.

an useful book.......2006-02-20

If one is interested in I/O Psychology, especially in Job Analysis, this book might be useful for him/her. And it is easy for reading and understanding.

Book Description

This revised and updated comprehensive introduction to astronomical objects and phenomena applies basic physical principles to a variety of situations. Students learn how to relate everyday physics to the astronomical world with the help of useful equations, chapter summaries, worked examples and end-of-chapter problem sets. It will be suitable for undergraduate students taking a first course in astronomy, and assumes a basic knowledge of physics with calculus.

Download Description

This fully revised and updated text is a comprehensive introduction to astronomical objects and phenomena. By applying some basic physical principles to a variety of situations, students will learn how to relate everyday physics to the astronomical world. Starting with the simplest objects, the text contains explanations of how and why astronomical phenomena occur, and how astronomers collect and interpret information about stars, galaxies and the solar system. The text looks at the properties of stars, star formation and evolution; neutron stars and black holes; the nature of galaxies; and the structure of the universe. It examines the past, present and future states of the universe; and final chapters use the concepts that have been developed to study the solar system, its formation; the possibility of finding other planetary systems; and the search for extraterrestrial life. This comprehensive text contains useful equations, chapter summaries, worked examples and end-of-chapter problem sets.

Customer Reviews:

A very poor textbook.......2005-12-07

This text was assigned for my second year astronomy course. While I'm told that it is rather difficult to find a suitable text for the course, this one sure doesn't fit the bill.

First of all, after being raised on MKS (meters, kilograms, seconds) units since the sixth grade, it would be nice to stay consistent with that; this book uses CGS (centimeters, grams, seconds) units. Although this didn't seem like a big deal initially, it becomes bothersome when converting constants and generally known scientific values to suit the more awkward CGS system.

Second, the number of errors contained therein are absolutely astonishing; there are mistakes in the formulas given in the instructive portions of the book, in the practice problems, and even in the constants listed (very inconveniently) in the appendix. For example, the gravitational constant, G, was given units of "dyne cm^2 g^2", when it should have been "(dyne cm^2)/g^2". Speaking from a student's perspective, it is extremely frustrating and defeating to spend hours attempting to solve a problem, only to find that the formula you are supposed to prove is missing a key component or is outright misleading (i.e., a formula missing an "R," refers to the "mass of a proton" when it is supposed to read "mass of a neutron," and declares that pi must be approximated to exactly three (!). That's a sum total of three errors in one just one question.)

Instructors, I would advise you to look for a more user-friendly textbook with a more intuitive layout, clearer diagrams, and and fewer errors.

Students who are unfortunate enough to be assigned this text, my heart goes out to you.

Generally good book with a few big flaws.......2004-12-15

This book offers a good introduction to astronomy, with chapters devoted to everything from telescope technology to general relativity and cosmology. Its explanations are generally clear and instructive, although the sections on subjects like nuclear and particle physics could be a little overwhelming to the uninitiated - it's simply a lot of information to present in a relatively small amount of space, but the author does a decent job. The book gives a good understanding of the science aspect of astronomy, but rushes through some of the technicalities, with, for example, a surprisingly brief and uninformative section (3 pages!) on astronomical coordinates and timekeeping.

My big complaint about this book is that it is chock full of errors! Some entire diagrams need to be replaced, and more importantly, there are way too many errors in the equations and exercises. As a student with weekly problem sets to get through, I found this quite frustrating. In one case, an entire exercise was an error and had to be replaced with a different question. If you're thinking of using this book for a course, make sure you find the list of after press corrections, and hand it out on the first day of class.

An excellent introductory astronomy textbook.......2004-11-21

I like this up-to-date textbook. I like the explanations, the diagrams, the marvellous photographs, the exercises. It covers pretty much everything I'd want as a teacher or student, and in well under 600 pages. Maybe the parts I liked best were the sections on relativity and cosmology. But it was all just great, as it sailed through telescopes, stars, spectra, binaries,the Sun, stellar evolution, the Milky Way, star formation, the interstellar medium, normal galaxies, active galaxies, clusters of galaxies, and the Sun's planetary system. The treatment of the solar planetary system included planetary atmospheres, surfaces, and interiors. It even talked about planetary resonances.

One weakness, to my way of thinking, was the overly brief appendix on astronomical coordinates and timekeeping. And there were a couple of minor topics I would have wanted to see mentioned. One was Gamma Ray Bursters. Another was Blue Stragglers.

CONTEMPORARY ASTRONOMY A Physical Perspective 1576041263

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CONTEMPORARY ASTRONOMY A Physical Perspective 1576041263
Tai: Chow
Manufacturer: Dept of Physics, Cal Stat
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000QJ9PHY

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Contemporary Astronomy: A Physical Perspective
Tai L. Chow
Manufacturer: Whittier Publications, Inc.
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000VPYA3C

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Astronomy A Physical Perspective
Marc L. Kutner
Manufacturer: Longman Higher Education
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000OED3V0

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Astronomy Physical Perspective Sol O/P
Kutner
Manufacturer: John Wiley & Sons Inc
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: 0471606502

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Solid/Liquid Separation, First Edition : Scale-up of Industrial Equipment
Stephen Tarleton
Manufacturer: NY
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000MU7H9K

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Dr. de Duve tells it all!

The story's in the details

Part brilliant, part rehashed

A brilliant compilation

Very informative

Vital Dust: Life as a Cosmic Imperative
Christian De Duve , and Christian De Duve
Manufacturer: Basic Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Biology | Biological Sciences | Science | Subjects | Books
General | Evolution | Science | Subjects | Books
General | Science | Subjects | Books
General | Evolution | Professional Science | Professional & Technical | Subjects | Books
Similar Items:

Life Evolving: Molecules, Mind, and Meaning

Singularities: Landmarks on the Pathways of Life

Our Cosmic Origins: From the Big Bang to the Emergence of Life and Intelligence

Origins of Life (CANTO)

The Way of the Cell: Molecules, Organisms, and the Order of Life

ASIN: 0465090451

Book Description

"In a work of majestic sweep and bold speculation, Nobel Prize-winning biochemist [Christian] de Duve presents an awesome panorama of life on Earth."--Publishers Weekly

Customer Reviews:

Dr. de Duve tells it all!.......2005-01-03

This book is structured along the time line from anaerobic times to multi-celled organism. In addition to its primary topic of how life evolved from plants and bacteria to multi-celled, it also discusses the external environment's role in "driving" the evolution of life. Dr. de Duve uses a most wonderful writing device by citing MODERN organisms (Giardia), things we can study TODAY, to illustrate ancient organisms and our cellular metabolism. He established the unbroken chain from waaaaay back when to now.

I wanted to know how we 'learned' to 'make' mitochondria, and other very important symbionts. His chapter Oxygen Crisis in combination with The Guests Who Stayed explained it. His chapter on Membranes gave me a whole new view of the importance of membranes, another huge body of knowledge that I must study-up.

Please do pay attention to his wonderfully helpful "end matter," bibliography, glossary and Further Reading. Do read carefully his comments about Further Reading: it ranges from books on cosmology (another of my enthusiasms), through biochem, molecular bio, cell structures, evolution... all the way to Philosophy. It shows the common thread through all these fields of science. The suggested reading includes his own illustrated book, "A Guided Tour of the Living Cell," ISBN: 0716750023. It's a Scientic American product so you can rely on excellent illustrations.

"Vital Dust" is compehensive in scope without being superficial (unlike so many trade books on science), and written by a real scientist (not journalist) and Nobel Prize winner "for [his]discoveries concerning the structural and functional organization of the cell." A pdf of his Nobel lecture is downloadable from the Nobel Prize site.

This book has plenty of detail as well being thought provoking and well-written, but an undergrad bio, or biochem background would help you get more out of it. Even so, it warrants several readings.

The story's in the details.......2004-03-26

Ever since Charles Darwin postulated the beginnings of life in "some warm little pond" science has probed into origin mechanisms. As it became clearer that life is a molecular phenomenon, researchers have delved deeper into chemical processes to work out life's start. De Duve joins that quest with a detailed examination of these mechanisms and the environments in which they come about. In his explanation of life's origins, it becomes clear that the mechanisms leading to life are common. Earth, therefore, is not alone - "the universe is awash with life". If conditions are right, and many of the processes can't go forward unless the environment permits them to, life at some level is sure to begin. "Life is one", he stipulates, but likely in many places.

De Duve's narrative is highly detailed in the opening sections. The conditions and operations he describes are fundamental to life's development. How carbon-based molecules interact in ways that led to replication, then selection, are carefully explained. While many of the early steps were random, perhaps even chaotic, "superior" [because they survived and replicated better] molecular structures became more common. While he notes there are preferred environments for this process, they aren't tightly limited. Change of environment formed selection pressures which even early life could respond to without difficulty. While at first glance this description may appear an account of many chance events, De Duve points out that life started on a "deterministic" path almost from the beginning. The rules of chemical reactions limit what chance can impose. Yet, once the start has been made, similar rules force the process of life forward.

This book is a major statement and deserves serious consideration. That this is a technically challenging read should not discourage you. A thorough analysis of life's development, right up to that major achievement of evolution, the human mind, de Duve demonstrates how important knowledge of ourselves is to our survival. He further postulates that values are an essential part human evolution, including wisdom, love, and responsibility for our place in nature. True science, he argues, supports a sense of moral values, it doesn't abandon nor avoid them. Learning about origins of life as a fact of chemistry doesn't reduce it to sterility nor meaninglessness. These ideas aren't necessarily novel with de Duve, but he expresses them better than most. He also provides a better foundation for believing in them than most. A valuable book, it's one that should be considered vital for any student of nature or philosophy. [stephen a. haines - Ottawa, Canada]

Part brilliant, part rehashed.......2002-02-01

Duve's thesis is that life springs naturally from the universe. As he concludes: "Life is either a reproducible, almost commonplace manifestation of matter, given certain conditions, or a miracle. Too many steps are involved to allow for something in between."

The best part of the book is early on, when Duve exercises his expertise in biochemistry and discusses how life must have come into existence and made the first moves toward complexity. This is difficult but rewarding reading, and a section I think I will be returning to.

The final chapters, discussing the future of mankind, environmental issues, and the nature of consciousness, are almost entirely derivative, consisting of rehashed thoughts of others rather than original concepts or explanations.

Still the book is well worth it just for the understanding of how life might have come to be and how it developed into what it is today. Recommended.

A brilliant compilation.......2001-08-04

A brilliant compilation.

My personal tendency is to consider the systems of creation in the light and abyss of concepts which cannot ever be fully explained by creatures such as ourselves. Humanity tries desperately to box and categorize ideas which, in essence, are too amorphous for such assertion. As a result we attempt to fill in the gaps and the unknowns of all existence with such nebulous ideas as deities and, counter to De Duve's argument, creationism. Neither of these two particular concepts have ever maintained a thread of commonality throughout humanity's histories or logic. If a spiritual singularity ever did exist which is verifiable, true and realistic, then all humanity would likely have coalesced upon and maintained such a line of understanding from the earliest of times to the present. If a conceptual singularity ever did exist then it is likely that the complexity and simplicity of our understanding would be little different than the fundamental truths of hunger and food. When it comes to theological perspectives, humanity is intensely ubiquitous which is sadly revealing of how little we do understand.

However, at least there is a slate which we all tend to. Written on this slate are all the ideas ever imagined about our universe and ourselves. If one can point to any thread of commonality throughout all the ages it might be that this slate does seem to exist in our understanding and observations. It has height and depth and thickness. This slate encompasses the past, the present and the future. It has detectable energies and forces. This slate is yet mostly mysterious. This slate on which we attempt to write all solutions toward an omnipotent solution is comprised of all the predictable forces and elements which we are able to perceive. We all seem to strive to sense the patterns and order upon this slate and we all seem to attempt to read and write upon that mantra. It is a hunger after all. We eat, drink and spew these ideas without full understanding or even a need to understand the infinite complexities required to disassemble and recreate within the depths of our mind or our bowels. Yet we do continue to live and procreate without personal omnipotence or even without association to omnipotence.

Christian De Duve has come very close to creating complete patterns from our chaotic comprehension of this universe. The architectural mantra he has created in this book draw on the foundations of verifiable evidence from thousands of sources. If his patterns grow weak in some areas that are yet unexplored then Christian admits that short leaps of faith must be taken to continue the process of filling the patterns. These apprehensive leaps are typically few and often short and upon finding solid ground again the journey safely continues on. If conflicts or similarities occur within the overview of a step in the processes, Christian offers these as optional paths to the same end. Christian De Duve's approach and writing style is honest and humble. My limited personal perspectives of universal indifference and chaos has been challenged by Vital Dust. I am beginning to accept and sense that the forces which cause the existence of living matter are inerent in all the elements, the very atoms and quantum particles, observable or not; existent in the energies, detectable or not; existent in the time envelope in which all is immersed; and existent in all yet undiscovered unrealized phenomena. How grand this thread of logic. The unfolding patterns Christian De Duve present exquisitely link and interlink to provide us with a brilliant perspective heretofore only dimly imagined.

Very informative.......2001-01-03

I found this book to be quite informative and well written. The one small complaint I have about "Vital Dust" is its sparse use of diagrams and illustrations, hence the 4 star rating rather than 5. Otherwise, I found this book to be excellent. I am a research life scientist, so had little trouble with Dr de Duve's explanations, but feel the work would be more accessible to the general reader with more illustrations. This is such an interesting book, that I would hate for someone to be "put off" of it because of technical language.

Vital Dust: Life as a Cosmic Imperative.: An article from: American Scientist

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Vital Dust: Life as a Cosmic Imperative.: An article from: American Scientist
Paul Schimmel
Manufacturer: Sigma Xi, The Scientific Research Society
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Digital

General | Science | Subjects | Books

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ASIN: B00093TTQE
Release Date: 2005-07-28

Amazon.com

A correspondent for the Financial Times, Anatol Lieven spent much time in Chechnya, the postage-stamp-sized Caucasus republic whose break from Russia in 1994 precipitated a major war (one that Russia lost). Lieven looks into the long, troubled history of Russian-Chechen relations, noting that each side despised the other for largely cultural reasons (the Chechens have long been involved in organized crime in major Russian cities, whereas Russians have long tried to strip Chechnya of its resources). He notes that Chechen society has historically been militarized (one Armenian said to Lieven, "The men are always fighting and the women are cooking for them, nursing their wounds, and bringing up their children"), making the mountain people a formidable foe. In the meanwhile, writes Lieven, the Russian military suffered from low morale and from corruption of various kinds: Russian field soldiers sold their guns to Chechen guerrillas for vodka and currency, while Russian officers stole their soldiers' pay and Russian politicians skimmed off the top. This is an extraordinary look at a little-known conflict. --Gregory McNamee

Book Description

The humiliation of Russia by separatist rebels in the Chechen War marked a key moment in Russian-and perhaps world-history. In this major new work, distinguished writer and political commentator Anatol Lieven offers a riveting eyewitness account of the war, the first in-depth portrait of the Chechen people in English, and a sophisticated and multifaceted explanation for the Russian defeat and the present weakness of the Russian state and nation.

Customer Reviews:

Dont buy this book.......2007-07-26

I am an avid fan of war memoirs and did not enjoy this book. It was a way too complex read of a war that most people have little knowledge of. First book I ever returned to Amazon.

Intelligent but Dated.......2006-07-13

This 1998 book examining the war between Russia and its breakaway republic Chechnya is a product of great expertise and tremendous thoroughness. The war is examined from all angles in great detail. Furthermore, author Anatol Lieven has an affecting writing style when he relates his personal experiences among the Chechens. But things are still unsettled in the former Soviet Union, and events have overtaken this book. New wars have broken out in ways and in places that call Lieven's theories (which were based on the best information available at the time) into question.

For the person who needs to know the current zeitgeist in the former Soviet republics, this book is too dated to be of much use; while for those who are interested in the Russia/Chechnya war as a historical subject are going to have to wait until the region settles before a definitive account can be written. This is a good book from a thoughtful, talented, and well-informed author; but the lapse of time has rendered it unfit for its purpose.

A Chechen Stocking Stuffer.......2003-11-04

This book is an example of how embarrassing it can be for an author to go out on a limb with his prognostications. Lieven declared in this book that after the Russians were driven from Chechnya (the first Chechen War) they wouldn't be back for many years. Well, they're back - and with a vengeance.

Lieven does point out some interesting things along the way, of course. It's amazing to read that central Grozny - destroyed by the Russian Army and Air Force - was primarily inhabited by Russians, especially older, retired Russians, not Chechens. Subsequent events in Moscow's Dubrovka Theatre - where the security services killed all the Chechen kidnappers and most of their Russian hostages - show just how little the Russian government values the lives of its citizens. In any event, each tidbit of useful information is offset by either an error or an unsubstantiated opinion. For example, Lieven wonders why Russian TU-22 or Tu-26 bombers were not used to destroy rebel sanctuaries. Well, for one thing, TU-22 (Blinder) bombers have been out of the Russian active inventory for many years. As for the TU-26, it doesn't even exist. Lieven should know that the bomber he wanted to refer to is the TU-22M (Backfire.) Apparently what Mr. Lieven lacks in knowledge he's more than willing to make up for in speculation.

Perhaps the most egregious shortcoming of the book, though, is the total lack of maps and diagrams. The author makes dozens of references to locations throughout Chechnya, but provides not map one. For all the reader knows, Chechnya could be somewhere in Central Asia, and where the locations are inside Chechnya is anybody's guess. Nevertheless, it's obvious from reading the reviews on these pages that some readers got a lot out of the book. For that reason alone I think that this book would make a good stocking stuffer for a history/politics buff at Christmas. A nice token, but not something to be taken too seriously.

Simply essential reading.......2002-07-30

This book is one of the most important works for those who read, write and think about any of the following:

Capitalism;
RMA Issues;
Nation-States;
Revolutions;
Post-Soviet Society;
Islam;
Tribal Society;
East-West Divisions;
The Rule of Law;
War;
and Human Rights.

There is very little that this book does not at some point find a way to address. That is my only real problem with the text: Like its author, it has a way of involving many different ideas that may, or may not, actually hold together to make a compelling argument. However, unlike other authors' attempts to weave this kind of tapestry, this book succeeds more often that it confounds.

I think it is the first book I have read that accurately captured just what was going on in Chechnya in terms of what had happened in Moscow. This is more than a typical piece of modern war-correspondent work. This is an author who understands both sides of the conflict, and not only in terms of the tactical and strategic pictures. More than a blow-by-blow account of Russian brutality (which it contains as well), it moves beyond the normal, facile explanations of Russian behavior in the Caucasus.

Would the normal view of an expansionist Russian still account for the ways in which the first Chechen campaign was conducted? Only partly, and it would be wholly unsatisfying to stop there. To answer this question requires a deeper understanding of modern Russia than you would get from the traditional explanations coming from Conquest et. al.

What Lieven has done here is to capture more than the status on the ground. He has achieved the first real and complex portrait of the Russia of Boris Yeltsin, the Russian army in its post-Soviet incarnation, and one of the best examples of the kind of analysis that needs to be done on modern armies who must confront ancient societies.

Comprehensive but does assume some background.......2002-01-31

Undoubtedly a fine work. Comprehensive, Incisive and written with great passion. However it does assume at least a passing aquaintance with the actors, thus for the beginner it would be probably be advantageous to supplement with additional material.

Chechnya: Tombstone of Russian Power.(Review): An article from: Canadian Journal of History

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Chechnya: Tombstone of Russian Power.(Review): An article from: Canadian Journal of History
George O. Liber
Manufacturer: University of Saskatchewan
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Digital

Russia | History | Subjects | Books

Book Description

This digital document is an article from Canadian Journal of History, published by University of Saskatchewan on April 1, 1999. The length of the article is 981 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: Chechnya: Tombstone of Russian Power.(Review)
Author: George O. Liber
Publication: Canadian Journal of History (Refereed)
Date: April 1, 1999
Publisher: University of Saskatchewan
Volume: 34 Issue: 1 Page: 125

Article Type: Book Review

Distributed by Thomson Gale

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Chechnya: Tombstone of Russian Power
Anatol Lieven (au); Heidi Bradner (ph)
Manufacturer: Yale University Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000OS1T4E

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Chechnya: Tombstone of Russian Power
Anatol Lieven
Manufacturer: Yale University Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000OSFV7K

Book Description

Spirited and adventurous, Sir Rupert Holmes lived a life rich with escapades. Embarking on one of the strangest and most romantic episodes in naval history, he accompanied the exiled Prince Rupert on a cruise to Portugal, the Mediterranean, West Africa, and the West Indies. And, after the Restoration, Holmes--in perhaps the most successful single feat of arms of the century--succeeded in destroying a great part of the Dutch Merchant Marine. In a biography that overflows with as much excitement, intrigue, and vitality as its hero, all Holmes's contributions to England's seagoing supremacy--as well as the gusto of the Restoration period--shine forth. "A first-class account written with a nice mixture of humor, observation, and narrative skill."--C.V. Wedgwood.

Customer Reviews:

A pioneer of modern warfare, almost forgotten.......2006-11-13

There was a time, 300 years ago, when Robert Holmes was as famous for his victories -- especially his brilliant raid, when most of the Dutch merchant fleet was burned at its moorings, ever after known as Holmes' Bonfire -- as Marlborough was for his. But perhaps because of his modesty, or because his line petered out, or because materials were scarce, for nearly three centuries there was no full biography of this founder of Britain's sea supremacy.

In 1969, Richard Ollard remedied most of this with 'Man of War.' Elegantly written and deeply informed, the biography disappoints only by its thinness. This, however, is not Ollard's fault.

In those more spacious days, Holmes set out to make a career as a cavalryman and ended up an admiral. Allied with Prince Rupert and the Stuarts, he participated in desperate adventures, not only in England but in Africa and the Caribbean.

The early Stuart navy was still more medieval than renaissance, and not at all modern. It was the Roundheads who began to regularize and modernize, appointing army generals to command at sea. In the dingdong battles of the Dutch wars, they, so to speak, lost the spurs they had won so hardly and won cocked hats.

Intelligent men, they quickly learned naval strategy. Holmes, as good as any of them, carried this intelligence over into peacetime, when he helped create the administration of the modern navy. Another reason he may have been relegated to obscurity is that he often tangled with Samuel Pepys, the secretary, who by both merit and his ever-interesting diary, became a more revered figure.

Holmes deserves, from the English, as much consideration. His life was full of revolutions, and near its end, one more, when the Stuarts were replaced and Holmes, as civil governor of the Isle of Wight, had to deal with the invasion of William's army. Ollard writes: 'His resilience, his stout-heartedness and his personal loyalty shine brightly in what for him must have been days of darkness and disaster. He was old and infirm; the cause of the Stuarts whom he he served without romanticism but with honour and fidelity, never more conspicuous than in ectremes of misfortune, was manifestly lost; but until the King admitted defeat Holmes would not desert him.'

This book should be read by anyone interested in naval history, especially the professionalization and modernization of the Royal Navy.

Note: The title is 'Man of War,' not 'Phoenix Man of War' as listed in Amazon's catalogue. Phoenix is the British publishing house responsible for this reprint.

A Brave and Brilliant Patriot.......2004-09-08

Robert Holmes was a brilliant and professional admiral who served the House of Stuart faithfully and well, at great personal cost to himself. He began as a dashing soldier in Charles I's Cavalier army. After power was usurped by Oliver Cromwell and his firebrand Puritans, Holmes remained loyal to King-in-Exile, serving as one of Prince Rupert's most effective lieutenants in the famous cruise of the Royalist fleet during the 1650s. When, in 1660, legitimate government returned in the form of King Charles II, Holmes became a leading supporter of the Royal Africa Company and, later, admiral in the Restoration navy. Ollard provides a brilliant account, based on contemporary sources, of Holmes's controversial raid on the Dutch fortresses in Gambia (arguably provoking the Second Anglo-Dutch war); he also explains Holmes's role in intercepting the Dutch Smyrna fleet (arguably causing the Third Anglo-Dutch war). The climax of the story is Holmes's brilliant raid on islands of Vlie and Schelling, dealing much-deserved retribution to the Dutch aggressor. Finally the author traces Holmes's virtual retirement to the position of governor of the Isle of Wight. A comprehensive biography of a much-neglected defender of English liberty.

Book Description

In this insightful book, which is a revisionist math history as well as a revisionist art history, Tony Robbin, well known for his innovative computer visualizations of hyperspace, investigates different models of the fourth dimension and how these are applied in art and physics. Robbin explores the distinction between the slicing, or Flatland, model and the projection, or shadow, model. He compares the history of these two models and their uses and misuses in popular discussions. Robbin breaks new ground with his original argument that Picasso used the projection model to invent cubism, and that Minkowski had four-dimensional projective geometry in mind when he structured special relativity. The discussion is brought to the present with an exposition of the projection model in the most creative ideas about space in contemporary mathematics such as twisters, quasicrystals, and quantum topology. Robbin clarifies these esoteric concepts with understandable drawings and diagrams.
Robbin proposes that the powerful role of projective geometry in the development of current mathematical ideas has been long overlooked and that our attachment to the slicing model is essentially a conceptual block that hinders progress in understanding contemporary models of spacetime. He offers a fascinating review of how projective ideas are the source of some of today’s most exciting developments in art, math, physics, and computer visualization.

Customer Reviews:

A wonderful introduction to the projective approach in math and art.......2006-03-07

An innovative thinker and a gifted artist, Tony Robbin filters the world of mathematics through the nuances of human vision, creating masterful representations of higher dimensions. His new book stands as a testament to his meticulous scholarship of the history of projective geometry, in mathematics, physics and art. It is a thoroughly enjoyable account of how the notion of finding shadows of the fourth dimension emerged in the 19th century, permeated modern art in the 20th, and now represents one of the frontiers of computer graphics in the 21st. Along the way, Robbin shows how projective geometry could provide the key to a quantum description of gravity. A must read, for the curious anecdotes, cutting-edge science, impressive array of references, colorful art, and insight into how we can perceive the seemingly imperceptible.

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