Competitions Books

Alain Prost has published this book in co-authorship with Pierre-Francois Rousselot, a highly experienced and active driver, as well as an accomplished journalist. This book may be interesting for a motor sports beginner or just for a fan of competition driving. It is a quick glance throughout the Formula 1 world, yet a valuable source of information for a beginning racer or for someone interested in improving the driving skills. I've found the quality of print of this book is perfect, it has lots of very high-quality colour photographs.

Of course the book traditionally begins with the correct driving position and the handling of the steering wheel, both in Formula 1 car and in a rally car; then the authors proceed to braking and the correct use of the engine.

When it comes to choosing the perfect line, the authors reiterates the three-graded scale to categorize the corners by importance, originally published in 1971 in "Driving in Competition" by Alan Johnson, the 4-time SSCA National champion. But Alain Prost and Pierre-Francois Rousselot do not mention that it was Alan Johnson who has created this categorization, and they give no references or bibliography section in their book. According to this scale, the most important corners are leading to the straight, less important are followed by the straight, and the least important are corners that come between the other corners.

Unlike the other books on competition driving, this one pays attention to all three types of transmission when it comes to controlling car at the limit: the rear-wheel drive, the front-wheel drive and the four-wheel drive. I've found this chapter with the comparison of three transmission types very interesting. The authors explain the behaviors of different transmission for both slow corners (below 60-75 mph, or 95-120 km/h) and fast corners.

If you need a book about competition driving, a book with liveliness and variety, a book that you won't find boring, choose this one.

Just when I though that there was no more room for improvement in my aggressive driving, after a championship title in karting in my youth and 20 years driving an assorted lot of racing and so called super cars, here cames Prost with this little jewel filled with practical hints and advise. Folks I guarantee that you will not waste your money with this one. After all no one is proficient in every discipline ( want did I really know about rallye driving ?)

Probably the best summary of the economics of access regulation in the easly chapters that you'll find anywhere (particularly after the sad passing of Jean-Jacques) and a very accessible coverage of the application of those principles to the specific case of telecommunications.

Professor Laffont's book illustrates the last ten years theoretical developments that explain how feasible is to encourage competition in local telephony.

As usual, theoretical developments follows technological advances that allow profitable entry in a typical natural monopoly market. Moreover, this book highlights the importance for policy makers in helping entry in this market by eliminating legal entry barriers, or in some cases subsiding new becomers.

Although this book is more oriented to policy makers than academics, I would like to have seeing more formal treatment for some of the many topics cover by professor Laffont. Nevertheless, this book represents an excellent summary of network competition literature.

Prudence and her family have moved from sunny California to Salem, Massachusetts. When we last left Pru, she had settled into her new school, Agatha's Day School for Witches. Thankfully, she had made the school's cheerleading squad, but she is forbidden to cheer against other witch schools. Prudence had grown up unaware that her mother was a witch. With a drastic decision, her parents moved back to Salem so that Prudence and her brother could begin proper witch education to learn about their powers.

It seemed to take forever, but Prudence managed to make the team; however, until she passes her remedial magic classes, she's stuck on the sidelines. This is terribly not KEWL (Prudence's term). Prudence is DETERMINED to conquer remedial magic and get back into the normal classes. If she can accomplish that, she may just fit into her new school after all.

Her mom enlists the aid of Uncle Seamus for tutoring sessions. Also, her "sort of friend" Samuel assists in extra tutoring lessons. Prudence is determined to give up all her mortal ways to speed her education along. But her next door neighbor adds an extra glitch to the equation. Angelo is simply gorgeous. Angelo is so hot that Prudence's rival, Tara, wants to get to know him.

Trying to fit in with the rest of the girls at school, Prudence and her mother plan a Sweet Sixteen party. Trying out her newfound magic, Prudence creates magical invitations. Magical for everyone but Angelo, that is. Having mortal neighbors makes practicing her magic that much harder.

Finally achieving her goal, Prudence can now concentrate solely on her cheerleading. The coach is positive that Prudence can take them all the way to Nationals. Before leaving her California school, Pru was the head cheerleader and her team had won the National title. But cheering in the air rather than on the ground is a whole different skill set. The remainder of the story builds up to a chaotic cheering competition that no mortal could handle!

Prudence goes through ups and downs trying to adjust to a life that she's never known before. Her younger brother has an aptitude for magic that she just can't comprehend. Through her family and friends, Pru slowly begins to realize her potential. Hiding her other life from her next-door neighbor keeps things interesting and amusing.

Ms. McClymer writes a fun look at what high school might be like for a mortal finding out that they've been a witch all along. COMPETITIONS'S A WITCH is the second novel in the series. It picks up where SALEM WITCH TRYOUTS leaves off, and leaves the story wide open for the continuation of SHE'S A WITCH GIRL. The story will have special appeal for the cheerleader in all of us. You'll be rooting for Prudence to come out on top!

Reviewed by: Jaglvr

After discovering that her ex-best friend back in Beverly Hills moved in on the guy she was crushing on the moment she was forced to move halfway across the United States to Salem, Massachusetts, sixteen-year-old Prudence "Pru" Stewart resolved that it was time to get her witch on. Convinced that there's no place for her left in Beverly Hills, Pru takes matters into her own hands, and begins studying magic during every waking moment. But, alas, she's still stuck in remedial classes at Agatha's Day School for Witches, which is seriously cramping her style. Pru is used to being the reigning queen when it comes to everything - from schoolwork to cheerleading - but at Agatha's, Pru is stuck at the bottom of the totem pole, clawing her way to the top. Sure, she's managed to land a spot on Agatha's cheerleading squad, but even there she can't outshine her teammates, because all of their tricks are done using magic, and Pru is too reliant on gravity. Besides, being stuck in Magic for Dummies isn't helping matters. Witches in remedial classes have absolutely no chance in being named Team Captain. Which is why Pru has decided to change things up a bit. Currently, Pru is stuck in the mind-set of a mortal, which is highly frowned upon at Agatha's, where you're surrounded by all witches, all the time. Not only does Pru talk like a mortal, but she also walks and cheers like one, as well, making her an individual to avoid at all costs. Determined to shake the worries of being discovered by her fellow witches, Pru vows to do one very difficult thing: lose the earthly ways that she's been brought up with, and embrace her inner witch. It sounds easy enough, but having to give up her most prized possessions - her car, her cell phone, and the ability to date totally cute mortal boys, namely the one next-door - proves near impossible. Pru would do absolutely anything to prove her loyalty to her fellow witches, but when you have sixteen years of mortal living in your mind, things can get a little tricky. Especially when the ultra-adorable mortal next-door, Angelo, steps into your life. Pru had no idea that her new neighborhood housed such hotties, but when she's introduced to Angelo, sparks fly, and Pru begins to re-think her stance on putting the ax to all things mortal. After all, Angelo is semi-hard to avoid. Not only is he tending Pru's front lawn, but his nosy mother keeps hanging around, meaning that Angelo is always close at hand, darting curious, and uber-cute glances at her whenever he has the chance. Now, as much as she'd love to cuddle with a mortal, Pru needs to make a tough decision, drop her mortal ways - including the cutie next-door - or dropkick the witch inside her and get back her old life - the life that was perfect before she was forced to leave it all behind. Making the decision, however, proves to be difficult, especially when Angelo's spell isn't easily broken.

Pru won my heart in THE SALEM WITCH TRYOUTS, and only managed to appeal even more to me with her appearance in COMPETITION'S A WITCH. Kelly McClymer has, once again, blended the ultra-hip worlds of TV's SABRINA THE TEENAGE WITCH, CHARMED, and BRING IT ON, to create the perfect blend of teenage drama, mixed with a little magic. Pru is an adorable character, who is easy to relate to, and extremely hard to resist. Her difficulties with fitting in at a new school, and trying to find a place where she belongs in a world where she's basically an outcast is tear-jerking at times, and really works to make the reader sympathize with her as she attempts to make her voice heard above the chorus of doubters surrounding her. Pru's determination to prove that she has what it takes to make a good witch, and work to whip her new squad into shape for the mortal-based regional cheerleading competition really show her bravery, as she faces so much negativity. The introduction of Angelo, while an intriguing love interest for our favorite wannabe-witch, is a slightly sketchy character, whose constant nosiness, and unplanned drop-ins make the reader wary of his character, and speculating whether he's not trying to uncover dirt about Pru's family; while the disappearance of Pru's one-time crush, Daniel, brings thoughts regarding whether or not the rebellious hottie will suddenly drop-in once again sometime in the future. A magical trip through the difficulties of teenage-dom that leaves you cheering. Bewitching!

Erika Sorocco
Freelance Reviewer

A sequel to his prior book, "the evolution of cooperation".
Iterated prisoner's dilemma is the center of this book,
with a particular focus on the collaboration in the interests of competiion.

No mathmatical background required and usefull referenced included.

This books covers what Robert Axelrod been up to since "The Evolution of Cooperation." Extensions to the original "Prisoner's Dilemma" have required new agent behaviors for stable solutions.

"Coping with Noise" deals with agents that make mistakes in their defections and cooperation.

"Promoting Norms" covers the fact that pure self-interest isn't a stable strategy and to promote stability requires norms - common behaviors among agents. The most interesting result from his work is NOT that agents should punish defectors - that is intuitive - but agents who DON'T punish defectors (of norms) must be "persuaded" to punish defectors to keep the norm stable. I guess we all need both the carrot and stick!

"Choosing Sides" covers landscape theory - the creation of population aggregates because similar agents tend to clump together.

There are other interesting sections and I like this book. I would normally give a five to this book; however, this is also a thin book. If there were more coverage of the material and a more in depth discussion of other peoples work, I would have given it a five.

This text compiles the American High School Mathematics Examinations (AHSME), now called the American Mathematics Competition, that were administered from 1961-1965. It includes the questions, their answers, their solutions, and a listing of the problems classified by subject. This book is briefer than the others in this series. That may be because 1966 was the year in which a penalty was introduced for wrong answers in order to discourage random guessing.

Each examination consists of forty multiple choice problems based on the American high school curriculum at the time. The problems are meant to be done without a calculator. The principal topics are algebra and geometry, although there are questions on set theory and logic. The examination consists of three parts, which are successively more difficult. The first part, consisting of twenty questions, contains short problems that are meant to test for conceptual understanding. The next two parts each contain ten problems. These problems are designed to make you think more deeply about the subject matter. The problems range in difficulty from routine problems to ones that require considerable ingenuity to solve.

The format of the book enables you to work through the problems, check your answers, and correct any mistakes you make before examining the solutions that Salkind provides. Reading his solutions is instructive for a couple reasons. Salkind's solutions tend to be elegant, and he sometimes presents alternate methods of solving a problem. That said, if you are not familiar with the results that Salkind assumes, you may find his solutions cryptic.

Working through this text will help you develop your problem solving skills. If you are preparing for the American Mathematics Competition, you may want to use this as a source of practice problems. However, keep in mind that both the format of the examination and the curriculum have changed since these examinations were administered. There are problems dealing with non-decimal bases and logic which will be unfamiliar to current high school students. Working through volumes V, VI, and/or VII of this series would be more useful if you are preparing for the American Mathematics Competition. Unlike the subsequent volumes, The Contest Problem Book V: American High School Mathematics Examinations (AHSME) / American Invitational Mathematics Examinations (AIME) 1983-1988 (Anneli Lax New Mathematical Library) contains problems from the American Invitational Mathematics Examination as well as the AHSME.

These books are the basic preparatory materials for a better and more successful college math career. If you are ambitious and want to sharpen your real math skills, they are for you!

My [...] daughter took this book out from the library and couldn't stop reading it and giggling. After we returned it, she recited passages from memory and still giggled. I'm buying the book now. She loved the cat and dog insulting each other; "You're as ugly as a Pekinese," and the little dialog blurbs accompanying the illustrations. Excellent fun for a dog and cat loving child.

I gave this book to a 7 year old who enjoyed reading it and loved the illustrations.

Story of the most interesting brand wars in US. Lucidly written packed with the wisdom to be learned from the history. A must read.

Well written stories of business. I could not put the book down. I would not rank it as one of the best books I've ever read but I would definitely recommend it to anyone interested in the business scene.

This book is most excellent with many great pictures of Corvettes in their golden age. What better American Car is there ? None can compare with the 60's and 70's Corvette. This book brings them to life with pictures and details.

the book got boring at times and it needed more pictures of the cars for the maximum overlook would be good. the book had a little amount of flaws but since i am a car fan i licked it alot reply back to the computer # 13 thanks alot

Dorothy & Mikey are two friends who play, argue, make up and have fun together. The book contains 3 short stories about playing together & how girls don't always have to be the princess-in-distress, bragging, and keeping secrets from each other. The stories have happy endings with the friends settling their differences. The illustrations are cute. The stories interested my 3 1/2 yr old daughter alot as immediately following reading the book she wanted to act out the stories and play dorothy & mikey.

What a humorous story about how people can get along. The author, Keiko Kasza, has given the reader a delightful story to read and share on the gift of friendship and the comedy of who got the last laugh. It reminds me of a childhood incident and therefore this will be one book that I will be sending to a sister who always tries to get the last laugh. I am laughing now, as she will laugh when reading this book. May you also enjoy this story.

This book about Fair Trade is amazingly well documented; every chapter focuses on a specific subject which addresses in deep detail and develops with a quite academic and powerful stance.

I would say that this is not for newcomers but for experienced Fair Trade activists who want to gain a powerful insight into the movement.

To me, the better chapters are the one dealing with banana plantations certification and the final one, accurately describing the current tensions inside the Fair Trade community.

Really worth reading.


Roberto Valbuena
[...]

I received the book very quickly and it was in great condition. The book is a wonderful compilation of information on Fair Trade and what it means as it develops as a serious and viable social justice movement. The authors are experts in the field and offer a very comprehensive understanding of Fair Trade. Read the book!