The Homevoter Hypothesis: How Home Values Influence Local Government Taxation, School Finance, and Land-Use Policies

Book Description

Just as investors want the companies they hold equity in to do well, homeowners have a financial interest in the success of their communities. If neighborhood schools are good, if property taxes and crime rates are low, then the value of the homeowner's principal asset--his home--will rise. Thus, as William Fischel shows, homeowners become watchful citizens of local government, not merely to improve their quality of life, but also to counteract the risk to their largest asset, a risk that cannot be diversified. Meanwhile, their vigilance promotes a municipal governance that provides services more efficiently than do the state or national government.

Fischel has coined the portmanteau word "homevoter" to crystallize the connection between homeownership and political involvement. The link neatly explains several vexing puzzles, such as why displacement of local taxation by state funds reduces school quality and why local governments are more likely to be efficient providers of environmental amenities. The Homevoter Hypothesis thereby makes a strong case for decentralization of the fiscal and regulatory functions of government.

Customer Reviews:

Good supplemental text on local government and zoning.......2007-01-06

This makes a great required second book in a local government/administration course. As a matter of fact, it should be required reading for city councilmen all over America.

Fischel does a good job of proving the "people vote with their feet" hypothesis, but more importantly, he ties property values to virtually every local government action (and inaction). Virtually everything that city government does is capitalized into property values -- sometimes with negative effects and sometimes with positive effects. Americans are extremely mobile, moving every 4 years, so we really do vote with our feet to a greater extent than most city governments care to accept.

"I've Got Mine, Jack!".......2002-01-03

There are scads of good books on state and Federal government, but few on local government. William Fischel's The Homevoter Hypothesis is an exception and is an apparent classic on local government. Fischel's book advances more than an "hypothesis." It is a "correlation" that convincingly describes from case studies and case law how real estate economics drives local government. Fischel reports that housing equity in the U.S. is eleven times as large as liquid assets among all homeowners. Home equity value is the largest asset of private wealth. But this equity value is constantly under threat from external forces ("externalities") beyond the control of property owners except by government intervention. Homes are an immovable asset whose value can't be insured against a wipeout of equity. Homeowners will consent to the impositions of municipal and school district financing, zoning, growth controls, and environmental regulations only to the extent that they protect home values, or can be "capitalized" (converted) into higher property values. Fischel advances what he calls the "Tiebout Hypothesis" (from Charles Tiebout) that "people vote with their feet" by moving or shopping for a locality to maximize their wealth. Actually, because real estate is an immobile asset, Fischel's theorem might be more accurately restated as "people put their feet to the vote" or "stake their home value to the vote."
Fischel sometimes uses elegant terms ("homevoter," "unlovely land uses"), classical phrases ("people who buy houses are more careful about it than almost any other transaction, save perhaps getting married"), and even employs a reverse golden rule of sorts ("municipalities will foist disamenities on their neighbor that they would not do unto themselves"). Sometimes Fischel uses blunt summarization such as when he writes that the "Smart Growth Movement" and growth controls "seem to act more like a cartel for those already in possession of suburban homes than as a rationalizer of metropolitan development patterns." Fischel includes helpful subheadings in each chapter, reminiscent of Machiavelli's classic The Prince, that succinctly tell you what he is driving at. Unlike most economics texts, there are no obfuscating "supply and demand" tables in this book.
My only disappointment with the book is that Fischel did not go far enough. For instance, what just compensation is to be provided to landowners whose property has been downzoned for environmental preservation by local government, then acquired by a state or federal agency, or a non-government organization (NGO), for the same preservation use for which it was downzoned? When local government downzones a property to buy it on the cheap it is typically considered a confiscatory taking. What is the difference when two levels of government act in concert to accomplish the same thing, both in response to the same incumbent home voting constituency? Moreover, such interference with real estate markets often results in a situation where there no longer is available any land sales market data from which to determine the value of a property, except government and non-government organization sales that can not be considered under government real estate appraisal standards (see reviewer's "Valuing Nature Land in 'Extinct' Markets," Appraisal Journal, 1998). Another example would be toxic waste site cleanup policies that are less concerned with the "health effects" than "wealth effects" to surrounding property values (see reviewer's "But is it Market Value?" Appraisal Journal, 1999 and "The Externality Principle: Value Transfers from Toxic Waste Site Cleanups as a Basis for Regulatory Takings," Environmental Claims Journal, 2001). How can "people vote with their feet" when growth controls are meant to put one's feet in cement so to speak? Perhaps Fischel will follow up with a sequel that can address such dilemmas in greater depth? The Homevoter Hypothesis is an indispensable book for city managers, local politicians, zoning and school boards, and the legal and real estate professions. I give it an unqualified highest rating.
Wayne Lusvardi
The opinions expressed above are solely those of the reviewer.

The Homevoter Hypothesis: How Home Values Influence Local Government Taxation, School Finance, and Land-Use Policies. (Residential Land Use Issues).(Book ... Journal of the American Planning Association

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The Homevoter Hypothesis: How Home Values Influence Local Government Taxation, School Finance, and Land-Use Policies. (Residential Land Use Issues).(Book ... Journal of the American Planning Association
Anthony Downs
Manufacturer: American Planning Association
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Digital

Book Description

This digital document is an article from Journal of the American Planning Association, published by American Planning Association on September 22, 2002. The length of the article is 927 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: The Homevoter Hypothesis: How Home Values Influence Local Government Taxation, School Finance, and Land-Use Policies. (Residential Land Use Issues).(Book Review)
Author: Anthony Downs
Publication: Journal of the American Planning Association (Refereed)
Date: September 22, 2002
Publisher: American Planning Association
Volume: 68 Issue: 4 Page: 456(1)

Article Type: Book Review

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The Homevoter Hypothesis: How Home Values Influence Local Government Taxation, School Finance, and Land-Use Policies

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The Homevoter Hypothesis: How Home Values Influence Local Government Taxation, School Finance, and Land-Use Policies

Manufacturer: Harvard Univ Pr, Cambridge
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000I8R0AW

Book Description

How is increasing workforce diversity likely to affect productivity? What can be done to remedy negative consequences of "groupthink"? What practical steps can be taken to improve the overall quality of group decisions? Questions associated with current research in small-group productivity and functioning are examined in Group Process and Productivity. Experts drawn from a wide array of disciplines challenge current beliefs about groups and offer practical suggestions for future research. Ways to improve our effectiveness in day-to-day interactions are also suggested. Included for discussion are group productivity, problem identification, group decision making, behavior technology, and group dynamics. Group Process and Productivity is of interest to professionals, researchers, and students in the fields of industrial and organizational psychology, management studies, political science, communication studies, and sociology. "The editors begin the book with a nice, concise history of research on groups ranging from Triplett's classic 19th Century work on social facilitation of others on an individual's task performance up to the diverse trends of the present. . . . Chapters provide extensive reviews of the recent literature on group research. . . . [They offer] a number of tantalizing threads to ponder for future research and theory building. . . . Industrial/organizational psychologists and management theorists can thus consider a rich assortment of findings and theoretical tangents to pursue." --Personnel Psychology "Both researchers and practitioners will benefit from this work. researchers will find a number of intriguing theories and methodologies to help advance their own work. . . . This is a scholarly book and requires careful reading. The payoff for the effort, however, makes the book an important contribution to the understanding of group processes." --Journal of Psychology and Christianity

CERAMICS PROCESS SYSTEMS CORP.: Labor Productivity Benchmarks and International Gap Analysis (Labor Productivity Series)

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CERAMICS PROCESS SYSTEMS CORP.: Labor Productivity Benchmarks and International Gap Analysis (Labor Productivity Series)
Icon Group Ltd. , and Icon Group Ltd.
Manufacturer: Icon Group International
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Ring-bound

General | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 0597432813

Improving productivity and creativity in online groups through social comparison process: New evidence for asynchronous electronic brainstorming [An article from: Computers in Human Behavior]

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Improving productivity and creativity in online groups through social comparison process: New evidence for asynchronous electronic brainstorming [An article from: Computers in Human Behavior]
N. Michinov , and C. Primois
Manufacturer: Elsevier
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Digital

Book Description

This digital document is a journal article from Computers in Human Behavior, published by Elsevier in 2005. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Media Library immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

Description:
This article extends the findings in synchronous room-based electronic brainstorming about the impact of social comparison process on productivity and creativity in a web-based context of asynchronous electronic brainstorming. Social comparison was manipulated with a feedback informing group members of their respective contributions on the electronic brainstorming task through a shared table regularly updated by a facilitator. In another group, although participants had the possibility to identify each contribution within the newsgroup, they did not receive any feedback in a shared table. Results showed that both group productivity and group creativity are better in the social comparison feedback condition than in the other condition. It appears that social comparison process has a positive impact on productivity and creativity in a web-based context of asynchronous electronic brainstorming, but only when participants have access to a shared table facilitating the comparison among group members. This finding provides some useful recommendations for learning facilitators to improve productivity and creativity in the context of computer-supported collaborative learning over the Internet. It also invites to future innovative technological developments to improve participation in online groups.

INTEGRATED PROCESS EQUIPMENT CORP.: Labor Productivity Benchmarks and International Gap Analysis (Labor Productivity Series)

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INTEGRATED PROCESS EQUIPMENT CORP.: Labor Productivity Benchmarks and International Gap Analysis (Labor Productivity Series)
Icon Group Ltd.
Manufacturer: Icon Group International, Inc.
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Ring-bound
ASIN: 0597331391

Book Description

This book is designed for human resources managers and directors of personnel who are concerned with labor productivity. It gives benchmarks and gap analyses used to gauge a company's performance vis-a-vis firms competing firms in the same sector, at the global level. In particular, this report covers INTEGRATED PROCESS EQUIPMENT CORP., SAN JOSE, USA. With the globalization of markets, greater foreign competition, and the reduction of entry barriers, it becomes all the more important to benchmark a company's performance against other firms on a worldwide basis. Doing so, however, is not an obvious task. First, one needs to find firms competing in the same sector. Second, one needs to control for exchange rate volatility. Finally, one needs to use comparable financial standards. This report overcomes these issues and gives full human resources benchmarks vis-a-vis worldwide competitors who are present in the same narrow industrial classification. Benchmarks cover labor-asset ratios, labor-liability ratios, and labor-income ratios. Since our reports are printed on demand, the statistics reported are for the latest quarter and are the most up to date available (4 updates are produced each year). Each report provides over 100 statistics and 40 graphs to the reader.

Voice and Conferencing Applications Increase Productivity and Streamline Processes,Part 1

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Voice and Conferencing Applications Increase Productivity and Streamline Processes,Part 1
Yankee Group
Manufacturer: MarketResearch.com
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Digital

Internet, Groupware, & Telecommunications | Networking | Computers & Internet | Subjects | Books

Book Description

Enhancing worker productivity and return on investment (ROI)are the main buying criteria in corporate America.Optimization of existing technologies and infrastructure also are important initiatives of many IT buyers.These realities will be top of mind as we go through our analysis of what we have identified as the most important applications offered by enterprise voice equipment vendors today.We also provide an analysis of audio,Web and video conferencing from an application perspective. We have broken up the voice applications into five categories:Unified Messaging (UM)and Unified Communications (UC),call center-ACD,IVR and screen pops,speech recognition,and voice applications delivered via the desktop or IP telephone. In Part 1 of a two-part report,we cover Unified Communications,Unified Messaging and conferencing including Web,audio and video conferencing. We interviewed 19 end users for this report with the objective of finding out their perceptions of voice applications and judging what have been the drivers and barriers to their using these applications.We also wanted to find out what the report participants thought of voice value propositions for employees in specific verticals.

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PROCESS EQUIPMENT, INC.: Labor Productivity Benchmarks and International Gap Analysis (Labor Productivity Series)

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PROCESS EQUIPMENT, INC.: Labor Productivity Benchmarks and International Gap Analysis (Labor Productivity Series)
Icon Group Ltd.
Manufacturer: Icon Group International, Inc.
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Ring-bound
ASIN: 0597468222

Book Description

Identity-Preserved Systems: A Reference Handbook provides background for the development of processes or systems of maintaining the segregation of and documenting the identity of a product. Growers and other parties that handle, transport, condition, or process the identity-preserved (IP) product must follow strict growing and handling practices, including segregation, inspections, and cleaning of equipment to prevent other varieties from mixing with or contaminating the IP variety. The key to this system is traceability. Each production, processing, and delivery step is documented, so that products can be traced from the store shelf back to the farmers' fields and every stage in between. The need for Identity Preservation (IP) is rapidly becoming of major importance in the world trade of agricultural crops that are enhanced genetically, grown under specific conditions, or have specific characteristics which must be identified and maintained from the seed planted to the delivery of the crop to the end-user. The handbook serves as an authoritative resource that unifies IP efforts, outlines the protocols for IP systems, and includes an operational manual that may be used at any point in the value-chain of the production and marketing effort. This handbook describes an overall identity-preserved (IP) system, which may be utilized in ways that will meet the particular needs of the parties involved in specific trade agreements. It discusses the background of IP systems originating in the seed industry, the basics of a total IP system, and the potential electronic transfer of data and documents. By using the system of identity-preserved verification provided in Identity-Preserved Systems, the seed, specialty crop, and grain and oilseed industries can easily provide products that are identified with a paper trail verifying identity, product quality, and special characteristics.

Book Description

This concise introduction offers students and researchers an overview of the discipline that connects genetics and evolution. Addressing the theories behind population genetics and relevant empirical evidence, John Gillespie discusses genetic drift, natural selection, nonrandom mating, quantitative genetics, and the evolutionary advantage of sex. First published to wide acclaim in 1998, this brilliant primer has been updated to include new sections on molecular evolution, genetic drift, genetic load, the stationary distribution, and two-locus dynamics. This book is indispensable for students working in a laboratory setting or studying free-ranging populations.

Customer Reviews:

Not very "introductory".......2007-07-15

I bought this book because I thought it would be a straightforward introduction to population genetics. The first two reviews were written by people who already seem to understand population genetics fairly well; for someone who was genuinely just starting out, however, I cannot say I found it particularly digestible.

Terms are used in this text without any definitions until much later on. Topics are also divided in such a way that they are introduced in one chapter in an advanced form, and then a basic form revealed later! A friend with ADHD attempted to explain a Monte Carlo simulation to me once, and reading this book kind of reminded of me of that.

Also, the book is littered with complex formulae that students are intended to decypher for themselves, with random notes in the back of the book that may or may not assist with this - often, no verbal/written attempt is made to explain what they are for. Students require clear descriptions of what a formula does, and how it can be applied, and in what sort of circumstances long, long before they give a damn about the proofs.

This was written by somebody very fond of navel gazing and showing off their 9th grade algebra and less about providing any instruction about population genetics. This needs to be a lot clearer and more concise in the future. More descriptions of when/where to use formulae, and what they are for. Use examples from actual organisms to make it interesting, and maybe somebody will actually read it.

place to start to learn pop gen.......2004-07-14

This is a wonderfully clear and concise introduction to population genetics. The emphasis is on fundamental insights gleaned from relatively simple models. If you want to learn something about this approach to studying evolution, start here.

Simply superb..........1998-09-19

Many authors make population genetics a boring, and often a formidable discipline in Biology. Therefore, many students avoid taking population genetics, inspite of its central importance in understanding many biological processes. John Gillespie has intertwined theory with superb experimental data. He has made population genetics accessable by all biologists, and even enjoyable, which is an incredible achievement. Besides, his writing style is rare among science writers. His style is comparable to the other great stylist among geneticists, Professor James F. Crow.

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Population Genetics. A Concise Guide.
John H. GILLESPIE
Manufacturer: Johns Hopkins University Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000SIAZUO

Book Description

Richard Owen (1804-92), one of the leading naturalists of nineteenth-century Britain, is best remembered as a renowned opponent of the Darwinian principle of natural selection. In this first intellectual biography of Owen, Nicolaas Rupke looks beyond the evolution dispute and presents the complete range of Owen`s scientific and intellectual achievements, portraying him as the founder of London`s monumental Natural History Museum, a leader in Victorian scientific reform, and, after Darwin, the leading naturalist of 19th-century Britain.

Customer Reviews:

Not really a biography.......1999-03-06

If you are expecting the usual biography you will be disappointed. It is a compilation of Owens roles and efforts in regard to various movements in Britain's scientific world. It also reads slowly and ina very convoluted and "Germanic" style. Probably not worth the $50 for most of us.

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Richard Owen. Victorian Naturalist.
Nicolaas A. RUPKE
Manufacturer: Yale University Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000OS9E82

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A Little Dated

Practical and Useful

The best kicking and stretching book

Great book.

Good for beginners on stretching and kicks technics

Dynamic Stretching and Kicking
Bill Wallace
Manufacturer: Unique Publications
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Exercise & Fitness | Health, Mind & Body | Subjects | Books
General | Martial Arts | Individual Sports | Sports | Subjects | Books
General | Sports | Subjects | Books
Look Inside Sports Books | Trip | Specialty Stores | Books
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Tanita BC533 Glass Innerscan Body Composition Monitor

ASIN: 0865680183

Customer Reviews:

A Little Dated.......2007-10-11

I am a huge fan of Mr. Wallace. Growing up, he was my favorite kick boxer. Unfortunately, this book dates back to 1982, and I'm afraid it's showing its age. The stretching section consists of a good stretch routine, but there's not much explanation to go with the stretches. The kicking section primarily contains kicks that require the extreme flexibility for which Mr. Wallace is known. As a fan I enjoyed the book, but I did not get much new information that I could use.

Practical and Useful.......2006-08-31

Several years ago I developed severe back pain, the kind I'm sure many people suffer from. I hadn't experienced any type of back trauma or anything, my back, especially the lower back, felt tight and brittle and hurt all the time. I didn't know from yoga but i did think that some kind of stretching might help me a bit. I bought the book and did the workouts to loosen up my back.It worked! because of the great response my body showed to this program my back pain vanished and I'm now a practicing martial artist. If you never intend to throw a punch or kick this book can still help you become fitter. If you are a martial artist you must read this book. It's full of good,practical advice,including one of Wallace's mantra's:"Basics,Basics Basics!" It's also inspiring, especially when Wallace talks about how he overcame injuries he sustained early in his life. Well worth reading.

The best kicking and stretching book.......2006-03-29

I am an adult that has returned to martial arts after several decades off. This is the best book that I have found to explain how to become a more effecient kicker. Wallace explains and shows the techninques that one will need to improve their kicking. I believe that this book should not only be in every karate library but any good stretching library should have this as well. A must own book.

Great book........2001-07-11

This book offers very practical drills to do at home. This is also a great way to study the style of Bill Wallace. If you are a fan of Mr. Wallace this is a must have.

Good for beginners on stretching and kicks technics.......2001-04-17

This book is a good introduction and a well prepared suplemment for those who are entering the world of martial arts. It will teach a series of stretching, strengthening, and kicking technics following a philosophy of patience, control, knowledge and perseverance which are very important elements to the beginners. Another important feature of the book is at the beginning where it tells you how to strecth avoiding injuries. One example is to avoid bouncing, which is a very common mistake commited by many sport instructors and Sensei alike.

Book Description

This is a practical guide to communication activities in the language classroom, suitable for use with students from elementary to advanced level. Part I contains instructions for over 100 different exercises, including interviews, guessing games, jigsaw tasks, problem solving, values clarification techniques, mime, role play and story telling. For each activity, notes are also provided on the linguistic and educational aims, the level, organisation, time and preparation required. Part II contains the accompanying worksheets, which can be copied, making many of the activities instantly available for use in class. A comprehensive table of activities and an index are included for ease of reference.

Customer Reviews:

nothing new .......2007-01-13

I was very disappointed in this book. Like many of the books in the Cambridge series, it seemed a little dated. For anyone who lives in the US I think the cooperate learning series by Kagan is far superior and is easily adapted for ESL.

Great for beginners.......2007-01-04

So there I was at my first TESOL convention having almost completed my MA TESL/TEFL. I was literally salivating at the Cambridge book stall. Everything looked so great, but as a student you have limited funds. Suddenly an older woman walked up to me, recognized my bibliophile stupor and asked if I was a new teacher. I answered yes and she grabbed this title and "Discussions That Work" by Penny Ur. These two books have been invaluable in my teaching for the past five years. The activities are well organized and the explanations help as a springboard for my own ideas. As with all Cambridge series, the preference is British English, so if you are a purist, some activities are not readily available for American. I have found that my students don't usually notice the difference. All in all, this is the one book in my ESL library that I look in first when I am at a complete loss for what to do.

I bought it twice........2006-12-02

I bought this book as a requirement for one of my college classes. As a foreign language and second language teacher, I referred to it often for ideas. I loaned it to another teacher who left the country without returning the book. I loved the book so much I bought it a second time. Now, I never loan this book to anyone.

Pretty good.......2003-12-09

This book is pretty good. It has photocopiable games at the back that I use fairly often. My only complaint about this book is that it isn't organized in a way that lets me find specific activities for practicing specific grammar points. It's organized by type of game (i.e. picture games, word games, acting, etc.) But all in all, it's pretty good

fun and fluency building for the language learner.......2000-08-15

"Keep Talking" contains over one hundred different fluency-building activities for the language teacher to use either directly, or with modification, in her language classroom. Each activity has a well defined purpose, whether it be functional or structural, and is categorized according to language level, skill and student arrangement, stating clearly whether or not preparation is necessary, and how long the tasks typically take. The procedural instructions are lucid and relatively easy to convey to most groups of language learners, and there is also scope for variation for many of these language games, along with helpful comments on how make such activities fun and achievable. If one also includes the importance of making notes, and obtaining feedback, which Kippel suggests in the introduction, then it is clear just how useful this book is. Although I was at first confused as to why the author grouped his language learning activities under themes such as jigsaw task, interview, or story telling, rather than according to function or structure, I think his point is to focus on fluency and engendering a communicative atmosphere, rather than to actually teach anything or practice something too specific. The teacher's role, therefore, appears to be as a facilitator or classroom manager. In any case, the indexes include language structure (but not function) and level, making navigating relatively straight-forward. "Keep Talking" also contains about sixty worksheets which can be copied for use in class. Although I no longer use them in my teaching situation, I borrow ideas from them all the time. This book is not suitable for formal institutions, but otherwise, whether you are new to language teaching, or a seasoned pro, I feel fairly confident that there is something in this book for you.

Book Description

This book describes in detail many of the AI techniques used in modern computer games, explicity shows how to implement these practical techniques within the framework of several game developers with a practical foundation to game AI.

Customer Reviews:

Misleading Title.......2007-09-13

Misleading Title

This book has a misleading title. I think this book should be called "Fundamentals of Game Development" instead of Programming Game AI by Example. Sure the book delivers on what it promises, as so many reviewers have already mentioned, but I believe that his book teaches you something that no other book that at least I am aware of teaches - good software practices coupled with actual game development.

There are dozens of books available in the market today claiming to teach you Game Architecture. I will not name the exact titles of such books but you know what I am talking about. I have read so many such books only to find myself becoming a graphics programmer. Not that I didn't want to become a graphics programmer, but even after learning all that stuff, there was "something" missing. That something turns out to be design patterns related to game development. In other words, how to combine various game components together into a working game. The last place I expected to learn it in such an elegant and easy to understand manner was in an AI book.

It's my sincere belief that this is the best book on game development available in the market. Read that again, not just AI but Game Development. Thats right, no matter which of the numerous disciplines of game development you wish to specialize in, no matter which platform or technologies you want to develop for, you need this book. Period.

The book starts off with the most relevant mathematics chapter that I have found in any game development book. Maybe I'm stupid, but this was the only book that explained to me what a radian was! The lesson on vectors presented many useful examples that are bread and butter of game development but for some reasons are ignored by mainstream game development books. For example, finding out whether a game agent is in front of the player of behind him.

Next, it teaches you the "state design pattern". To me this chapter alone is the entire cost of the book itself. I had never seen this discussed in any game development books. I believe this should be in the appendix of each book that claims to teach game development. Instead, almost all entry level game development books have a C++ primer, but never a primer on topics like the state design pattern or UML. In one appendix this book with teach you all the UML you need to get started. Did I mention the "telegram" pattern? Again, so many "beautiful" books claiming to teach you game architecture only end up teaching you graphics programming and using some API in general. This is the first book I have come across that taught this design pattern. Strange, given the fact that you cannot make a game without a robust HSM and some way of sending messages.

Then it goes on to teach you how to create autonomous game agents. Whether you are into AI or not, this is something you need to know. But what I appreciated most about this chapter was the application of state machines and how physics is implemented in a game at an architectural level. Most books uses procedural approach when to comes to actual implementation. This book uses good object oriented techniques to show you how forces on an agent are accumulated and how it gets translated to the agent's movement.

While I was still amazed how much money I wasted trying to learn how things are put together, this book surprised me with a complete mini soccer game! Now, I learned more about game development from this single chapter than I had from reading complete so called game programming books.

Each and every chapter in this book is a gem. If you are new to game development, then this book will provide you with the right direction to begin your career. If you already have read so many game programming books in the hope of making an actual game but were never able to do so then this book will seal the deal.

To cut a long story short, the book also delves into graph theory, scripting and other material topics such as fuzzy logic that you can easily read from the index of the author's website.

Chapter 7 of this book teaches you how to create the AI of a FPS. Rest assured, you will end up learning more from this chapter than you initially sighed for. And you wont be disappointed. One way to think of this chapter is not an AI simulation, but the framework of an entire FPS game! Thats right, it contains everything except the graphics engine, sound engine etc. You can plug a 3D engine with it, along with other missing libraries and get a 3D game! Other books take a complete opposite approach. They go into great details as to how to create various game libraries and in the end slap you with a pathetic design to hang them on to. After reading this book, all the other game programming books will make sense.

The only qualm I have with this book is that the author has not upgraded the scripting code on his web site. This book teaches you how to integrate Lua into your game engine. Since the publication of this book, Lua has been changed dramatically. Getting Lua, Luabind and Boost to work together was a nightmare, which I am still not able to do successfully. So now I am integrating python into my game. This is when you try to integrate their latest versions. They will work if you stick to the older ones though. But this does not render this chapter useless as you will still learn a lot from it.

If you are beginning game programming, or have given it up in frustration, this book will get you back in the game! If I am asked to name one game development book that I want to suggest to a newbie (who knows C++), this is it. Pick it up with your eyes closed. You wont regret it.

Wish i could spend more time on it..........2007-08-15

Likes:
- How the author only deals with AI game programming and doesn't put in a lot of fluff
- The broad range of topics the book covers
- The use of actual 2D examples and an actual game "Raven"

Dislikes:
- Use of "helper" files that have no explanation in the book (some are explained in previous chapters but the author should have included an appendix to list and explain all the files in the common directory)
- The code explanation is shallow when you consider the fact that the author neglects to tell you about the, many and crucial, other files that are needed to run the program.
- The actual code that can be downloaded from the web site needs a lot of tweaking before it even works (you should just be able to unzip it and run it).
- Chapter 3 and how the author only includes the source code for a final all encompassing program instead of smaller easier to understand projects.
- If you don't know Win32GDI then learn because the book uses it extensively to output to the screen, and that can interfere with understanding the actual meat of the program.

Summary:
If you are going to buy this book make sure you have a lot of time on your hands to look through the source code, tweak it, and pull it apart. The book itself just doesn't give enough explanation to allow a person to create their own version of the concepts without digging through the source code. Overall I would recommend the book to people with an intermediate knowledge of C++ and have very good 2D math skills. This book is a fine overview of major topics in game AI but is sorely lacking (add another 100 pgs of quality explanation on topics). It would probably be necessary to buy other books that are more specific in their focus.

Immensely Useful.......2007-06-13

This book is simply outstanding. The material is crystal clear, direct to the point, and so easy to understand that my 10 year old son is writing state machines in Visual Basic. Although the code is C++ I had no trouble translating it to Objective-C for my use. I am quite impressed at how the author makes such high-level concepts so easy to understand. A must have for every game programmer.

Best book about AI around..........2007-04-24

If you are like me, who wants to get the job done, this book is just perfect!

With lots of examples, this book is stuffed with clever solutions for pratical problems you stumble upon when developing average games. There is even a simple soccer game example.

After you read this book, I'm pretty sure you will obtain solid notions about artificial intelligence for games.

It saved my life.......2007-03-25

I had a problem programming a NPC car pilot and I found the solution inside this amazing book! I'm sure you'll find the solution for your problem as well!!

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