Competitions Books

Countdown presents the competitive world of the Mathematical Olympiad in a manner that shows well the incredible mathematical aptitude of the contestants. At the same time, the author takes pains to present the budding mathematicians as well rounded individuals who are not at all like the stereotypical geek. The author argues that mathematics at the level of the Mathematical Olympiad is more of a creative endeavor than a rigid formula based effort. Although mostly about the contestants themselves, the author also presents biographies of some of the coaches, considering, especially, their approach to teaching, which seems to involve short presentations of theory followed by long problem solving sessions. This is a really good book to give to someone who is interested in mathematics.

A few years ago, the movie Spellbound gave viewers insight into the world of spelling bees, culminating in the National championship. Since then, I've noticed other competitions getting similar treatments, such as bowling (in The League of Ordinary Gentlemen) and crossword puzzles (Word Play). Although it is a book and not a movie, Steve Olson's Count Down fits right into this genre of the competition documentary.

Count Down deals with the International Mathematical Olympiad, in which high school level students from around the world gather together to solve difficult math problems. How difficult? The first problem they are given reads: "In acute triangle ABC with circumcenter O and altitude AP, angle C is greater than or equal to angle B plus 30 degrees. Prove that angle A plus angle COP is less than 90 degrees." This is the easiest of the six questions the Math Olympians must solve.

Perhaps coincidentally, there also six members in the U.S. team, so Olson dedicates one chapter to each member and his approach to a problem (it is an all male team). It is like going from Los Angeles to New York by car: there are a number of different routes, each with its pluses and minuses. Similarly, these math problems can be solved a number of different ways.

Olson goes beyond the Olympiad itself, however, using it as a launching pad for discussions on topics regarding math education. One key theme that runs through Count Down is how Americans look down on math, often treating those who are good at it with scorns and letting people think that being bad at math is okay. This is contrasted with other countries where math is considered much more valuable. The problem is not merely with the education system but the culture itself.

Other topics include the nature of genius and the effects of environment versus genetics. Are boys naturally better than girls at math (which is to say, more genetically inclined), or is it cultural issues that creates a disparity between the genders? (As Olson notes, in the decades of American participation in the Olympiad, boys have outnumbered girls 118 to 1.) Is it even possible to truly separate the two? Can the abilities that these teenagers have be taught to others?

Olson keeps the math rather simple so even the mathematical layperson should be able to understand all that's going on. If you enjoy math, this is a recommended read. If you don't enjoy math, this is a must read: it will help show why mathematical skill is not merely nice but is essential.

a shambles ,with a mathematically talentless author totally out of his league. Exemplified by the following two poetically-challenged sentences ,appearing on page 153 ,describing Monta Vista High School in Cupertino California USA: " The school, which occupies a ramshackle collection of low-rise wood-frame buildings, nestles up against the soft burr of the coastal range. It faces east, toward the rising sun and the milky haze that often overlies San Francisco Bay." So we learn that the sun rises in the east... For an example of the mathematical ineptitude scattered throughout this wreck of a book, the author neglects to state that in Jensen's Inequality, the coefficents "r" ,"s" and "t" must add to 1. Suitable for the fireplace.

CD is two books in one, one interesting, the other pedestrian. The interesting book includes: profiles of participants in the 2001 IMO + some description of the IMO itself + partial solutions of the IMO problems. The pedestrian book includes: lengthy digressions on the topic of genius/talent. CD weaves back and forth between both books. The result: a greatly short-changed book one. Profiles could have been much longer/deeper; the event could have been described in greater and more interesting detail; solutions (relegated to Appendices) could have been complete. The contents of book two read like an extended (fragmentary) book report. The topic of genius/talent has been ably treated elsewhere in the literature. All of book two, considerably compressed, would far better have served to introduce a much expanded book one.

CD reads well enough; it does provide a couple hours' entertainment. It could have been so much more.

"Count Down" is a well-written and concise profile of the International Mathematical Olympiad and, more broadly, the field of mathematics. While the book offers an engaging overview of the Olympiad, its real strength is in its coverage of the individuals underlying the contest.

Steve Olson provides readers with an insightful and unique perspective on what type of person and abilities it takes to become a part of a Mathematical Olympiad team. Moreover, the book challenges the reader with facts and anecdotes related to the roles "nature" and "nurture" play in the evolution of traits such as creativity.

DBC Pierre's VERNON GOD LITTLE got all the press--and the Booker prize too--but for my money PROJECT X is a far superior novel, Shepard's slim, austere prose perfectly suited for a portrait of young nihilists striking back at all they hate. There isn't a false note in PROJECT X and the days leading up to a bloody attack on a high school are depicted with absolute clarity and authenticity. There have been comparisons made between Edwin, the main protagonist, and Holden Caulfield...but CATCHER IN THE RYE was marred by Salinger's propensity for sentimentality. PROJECT X isn't guilty of that sin and is the closest thing to a perfect novel I've read in some time.

Project X is an excellent book Jim Shepard really can get you to get inside of what the main character Edwin is thinking. It was a book that I didn't want to put down I enjoyed it very much!

This small 165 page book total opened my eyes, and I thought they weren't closed before. This book demands you to, "stop the apathy", that is so common in schools today. This book takes you inside the head of an outcast of society (the largest hate group in the world, and the most deadly) and shows you why school shootings happen, and how they can be stopped. I think this book should be required to be read by anyone old enough and mature enough to read it. This book has a deep, deep meaning and shows you what society really is. As to the Librarian who gave this only one star, you are off; not him. Jim Shepard is dead on the money in understanding how teenagers think, how we act, and speak.

READ THIS BOOK!

The kid had a loving family. He had kids that would be friends with him if his one friend wouldn't of been such a creep to them. He didn't have to be so antisocial. He could of just been normal. I don't get why he would want to kill everyone. The other kid maybe. Not this kid. He's just an idiot. I didn't feel for either of the kids. I think they both chose their own fates by being antisocial. They most definitely could of changed.

Why do adults lose their capacity to see reality especially from a kid's perspective? Jim Shepard does not lose this capacity in anyway during Project X. This book captures what kids think but 99.9% of them do not do. Of course tortured kids think these things when being bullied by insane selfish Kings or Queens of the school, how simple life would be without these type of people. But you have to keep in mind that this type of bullying is what makes a lot of great people great. What is crueler what Edwin and Flake do or what others do to them that drives them to it? Not for innocent or closed minded people who think the earth is a great rosy place. This book is reality. Jennifer, a 27 year old kid.

Making a long, 33 page original anthology all good is going to be very difficult, and it is the later middle of this book that lets it down. Divided into three as another way of publishing it, Dangerous Visions 1, for example, averages 3.63. The rest of this, 3.32.

The book does finish strongly, with several good stories. Given it is 40 odd years later you can see how many stories have been used again in other anthologies, etc., or at least those of have seen. In the main it is from the first part of the book, and the very end. Fritz Leiber's excellent Gonna Roll the Bones notwithstanding, if you want to call that a middle story.

There are extensive story introductions by the editor, and as he points out when writing about Slesar and Ersatz, his intro to that story is considerably longer than the story itself.

There are also authorial afterwords of varying lengths, as well as an extensive introduction on what a pain in the arse this book was to put together with dropouts, costs, lengths, stupid publishers putting it out of print because they did that to all booksbon general principle (and that was really silly given I think there are new editions now.)

Certainly worth reading for historical reasons, if nothing else.

Dangerous Visions : Evensong - Lester del Rey
Dangerous Visions : Flies - Robert Silverberg
Dangerous Visions : The Day After the Day the Martians Came - Frederik Pohl
Dangerous Visions : Riders of the Purple Wage - Philip José Farmer
Dangerous Visions : The Malley System - Miriam Allen deFord
Dangerous Visions : A Toy for Juliette - Robert Bloch
Dangerous Visions : The Prowler in the City at the Edge of the World - Harlan Ellison
Dangerous Visions : The Night That All Time Broke Out - Brian W. Aldiss
Dangerous Visions : The Man Who Went to the MoonTwice - Howard Rodman
Dangerous Visions : Faith of Our Fathers - Philip K. Dick
Dangerous Visions : The Jigsaw Man - Larry Niven
Dangerous Visions : Gonna Roll the Bones - Fritz Leiber
Dangerous Visions : Lord Randy My Son - Joe L. Hensley
Dangerous Visions : Eutopia - Poul Anderson
Dangerous Visions : Incident in Moderan - David R. Bunch
Dangerous Visions : The Escaping - David R. Bunch
Dangerous Visions : The Doll-House - James Cross
Dangerous Visions : Sex and/or Mr. Morrison - Carol Emshwiller
Dangerous Visions : Shall the Dust Praise Thee? - Damon Knight
Dangerous Visions : If All Men Were Brothers Would You Let One Marry Your Sister? - Theodore Sturgeon
Dangerous Visions : What Happened to Auguste Clarot? - Larry Eisenberg
Dangerous Visions : Ersatz - Henry Slesar
Dangerous Visions : Go Go Go Said the Bird - Sonya Dorman
Dangerous Visions : The Happy Breed - John Sladek
Dangerous Visions : Encounter with a Hick - Jonathan Brand
Dangerous Visions : From the Government Printing Office - Kris Neville
Dangerous Visions : Land of the Great Horses - R. A. Lafferty
Dangerous Visions : The Recognition - J. G. Ballard
Dangerous Visions : Judas - John Brunner
Dangerous Visions : Test to Destruction - Keith Laumer
Dangerous Visions : Carcinoma Angels - Norman Spinrad
Dangerous Visions : Auto-da-Fe - Roger Zelazny
Dangerous Visions : Aye and Gomorrah... - Samuel R. Delany


Usurpers hard to fool.

4 out of 5


Draining the exes.

3.5 out of 5


The old jokes again.

3 out of 5


Winnegan's World, Winnegan's Universe.

3.5 out of 5


Murderous replay punishment.

3 out of 5


Iron Maiden granddaughter future Ripper one-upped.

4 out of 5


Future Ripper release work.

4 out of 5


Elemental lifestream visits.

3.5 out of 5


Mars is cooler.

3 out of 5


"Don't you see, Mr. Chien? You've learned something. The Leader is not the Leader; he is something else, but we can't tell what. Not yet. Mr. Chien, when all due respect, have you ever had your drinking water analyzed? I know it sounds paranoiac, but have you?"

3.5 out of 5


Organlegging escape.

4 out of 5


Dicing with Death.

4.5 out of 5


Good boy, bad boy.

3 out of 5


Not my kinda place, boyfriend.

4 out of 5


Boring between wars.

3 out of 5


Mooning the sky egg.

2.5 out of 5


Mini oracle moggie mangle.

4 out of 5


Where'd he get the big undies?

2.5 out of 5


Deity gotta turn up to Armageddon, you know.

3.5 out of 5


Taboo, us.

3.5 out of 5


Gone to the dogs.

3.5 out of 5


Real woman, please.

3 out of 5


Mum, you're for dinner.

3 out of 5


Therapeutic Machines.

3 out of 5


Real-estate, dodgy.

2.5 out of 5


Fear learning.

3 out of 5


Terran slice nice.

3 out of 5


Zoo filling.

3.5 out of 5


Machine man deity overthrown defeat repair.

3 out of 5


Interrogation space assist overlord.

4 out of 5


Entrepreneur cancer fighter catatonia.

4 out of 5


Careodor.

4 out of 5


Gender altered space workers provide exotic rough trade on shore leave.

3 out of 5




3.5 out of 5

Well, it's harlan ellison. what more can be said? Either you know him and love him or hate him. I happen to think he is a genius and so does he. He rather lost his way there for a few years but he is considered up there with the top oringinal writers. Painful, up in your face writing but extremely good. I'm glad not to have missed him.

Back in the sixties SF was in a bit of a state of flux, as a new generation of authors were growing up and trying to discover new things with the genre and becoming interested in more than just telling stories about the future or featuring weird aliens or spaceships. Often the stories were elusive in their telling, incorporating literary techniques or offbeat points of view that pushed the boundaries of what the genre could actually do. People like Michael Moorcock and his New Worlds magazine did their best to showcase the new breed, who were reacting against the relatively conservative old guard. Into this came Harlan Ellison and his big anthology. Ellison has always been a bit of a confrontational figure and it appears the easiest way to get him to do something is to tell him that it can't be done. So he decided to get together an anthology of all original stories featuring these new authors and stories that shoved up against the envelope, or broke through it completely. Thus we have the thirty five or so stories in this work, from a mix of authors that you've heard of before (Brian Aldiss, JG Ballard, Theodore Sturgeon, Poul Anderson, Samuel Delany, John Brunner, etc) and a good number that probably never became real famous. What also sets the anthology apart is the use of introductions and afterwards to bracket the stories, both to give Ellison a chance to talk the author up and the author a chance to give an final thoughts on the story you've just read, which helps makes it more than just a random collection of stories, while Ellison can be often overly effusive in his praise, he's never less than sincere (and his style is to be aggressively enthusiastic, that said, the new introduction where he talks about trying to update the biographical info for the author and had to stop when he realized how many of them were dead is a touching and sobering moment) and it helps give the anthology more of a theme by going into why he picked what stories he did. But what about the stories themselves? Range from pretty good to excellent, and it doesn't depend on how famous the author is, the relative no-names give as good as their more well-established brethren. A lot of the stories have become rather famous themselves in the years gone by, although the only one I can ever say I've read for sure is the Samuel Delany story, which is the perfect ending to the volume. There's an "anything goes" sense to the stories, and most of them were probably shocking in the day, although less so now these days (or maybe not, in the case of the Emshwiller and Sturgeon stories) since what they are reacting against doesn't really exist anymore, as SF has fragmented further, becoming more and less conservative. A handful of the stories may be too experimental for their own good, although you can give the author credit for trying (the two David Bunch tales come to mind, what is even going on in those?). Even so, the only real "product of its time" story is the award-winning and really long Philip Jose Farmer story, which is written in a style that just screams "aren't I ahead of my time?" and comes across as being revolutionary purely for the sake of being revolutionary. I can see why it won an award back then, because it's so stylistically different but today it just feels clunky and show-offy and "boy am I clever". But the rest are simply darn good stories, making their points in a few simple pages and being as different from one another as fingerprints, whether it's Zelazny's effortless flow, or Aldiss' way with an idea, or Dick's focused paranoia, or Sonya Dorman's unsettling intensity, or Sladek's chilling extrapolation, or even Ellison's forceful sequelizing, there is literally something for any SF fan to take away if they're open minded enough. If you don't like a story, simply keep reading and in a few pages something entirely different will come along. It certainly can't have the impact today that it did nearly forty years ago, but as a collection of quality fiction from your favorites and some who may become your new favorites, it is rare that you see so many good stories in one place. And even if you have read some elsewhere, there's an additional impact having them here in one place, as they play off and inform each other. Not that there's many contenders, but one of the best SF anthologies out there.

Some great stories, the kind where you can suspend disbelief, abound in this volumn. Most of the authors went on to bigger and better things.

Of course these stories aren't as "dangerous" or revolutionary as they were when they were published 35 years ago. The culture and SF have evolved quite a bit in that time. That said, its still a pretty good collection of stories, and even more interesting as a piece of SF history.

Harlan Ellison deserves a lot of credit for preserving this book as it was, resisting the temptation to update it (like certain directors have futily tried to update their older movies). This includes his introductions, which are written in the venacular of the time, dig, (and which less secure writers might have been embarassed by). To be honest, I found them the most entertaining part of the book, and they give the reader a great insight into the time in which they were written.

Mr. Berzon continues to have sour grapes about the fact his plan was given little consideration into the rebuilding process. When some "pro-twins" rebuilders suggested that a vote should be taken to pick a single design to go against Pataki's plan, Berzon opposed it. He is taking his anger out on a plan that remains superior to his.

Rather than being a book about corruption, it reads more like a childish editorial, filled with excuses about his own failed plan.

His cries only try to incite anger rather than any form of unity.

This is THE book to get for anyone who wants to know what REALLY happened and what is currently going on at the ground zero site since the days after 911. The sheer amount of evidence of corruption is overwhelming and heart-breaking at the same time. It's hard to imagine fellow human beings would stoop down so low by adding such evil insult to such a tragic historic injury, as was the destruction of the great WTC. We must indeed rebuild the WTC as it was before or we will have sunk into the New World Order's plans forever.

Being born and raised here, I love NYC. Like many New Yorker's, after the shock and horror of 9/11 wore off, I just assumed that the Twin Towers would be rebuilt. Clearly, I thought, anything less would be an unthinkable act of surrender which could never be allowed to happen. I and the millions like me, were wrong. If you wanted the Towers back and don't understand, can't understand, why we aren't putting them back, Mr. Berzon will answer your question. What he discovered will shock and anger you. The people of NYC, and dare I say, of America, were the victims of a terrible wrong perpetrated by the hands of those very government officials sworn to protect and defend us. I could not put the book down. Be warned though, after reading the book, you WILL be very, very angry.

Superbly researched, tough-minded and fair. Sometimes truth is stranger than fiction and with any luck Berzon's story will send the Pataki administration the way of Governor Rowland's. Berzon proves that Pataki's "redevelopment" has been a pork barrel feeding frenzy that has only added insult to the injury of 9/11.

Berzon has done what all of us were praying someone somewhere would do: expose the World Trade Center redevelopment for the disgusting fraud that it is. Anyone who calls this "nonsense" hasn't read the book and probably wouldn't know how.

It's a great book, the delivery was excellent and it has a very good resale price. Get it.

recieved quickly but no cd rom was attached I may have missed it in the description though but I don't believe it stated no cd

I taught a basic undergraduate microbiology class using this text book. The students were mostly pre-nursing so we had a clinical focus. My main problem with the text is it is trying to be all things to all people. It tries to present too much information that is scattered all over the text. Frequently, within chapters, students have to jump back and forth to material presented in other chapters and it simply becomes information overload. In addition, some of the study question, especially the clinically oriented ones, ask the students about areas that haven't been adequately covered in the text or assume knowledge that they don't have as yet. Finally, beware the Powerpoint slide presentations. These are also full of errors and need pretty extensive editing.

This book seems to be pretty informative and well laid out. However, my book states that it comes with online access including access to the ebook. When I logged in however, I was denied access to the ebook. I wrote to customer service and they told me it was not included with my book (even though it says so right there on the cover). I have access to all the other online features, but just not the ebook (which is the one I want access to the most). We have gone back and forth but I haven't gotten anywhere.

So the bottom line is if you want the ebook, this is not a great choice.

I like this book. Microbiology is very fascinating to me. Parasites, etc are particularly interesting. If you are assigned this book for your Microbiology class, my advice is to read it and know the information. This book was very helpful.

I also used a study guide "Microbiology Study Guide Questions and Answers by Patrick Leonardi. This book has awesome questions for studying during the semester and really gets you ready for the exams.

Great book for my MBA course in International Business. It is well organized, full of clearly defined principles, and loaded with case studies.

I've used previous editions of this text in my international business course, and have decided to adopt this one as well. The text does a great job of hitting every topic that international business people/corporations need to know. The text covers country differences, economics, strategy, and corporate functions.
Another Amazon review incorrectly suggested that the author of this text is biased politically and in favor of larger firms. If the author intended to introduce a political bias in the text he certainly could have done it with the cases, but it is clear from reading such cases as the Kellogg Brown & Root case on page 190 that the author has no particular axe to grind. It is, in short, simply impossible to guess the author's political orientation.
The book also has no bias in favor of larger firms. The business school in which I teach is (in fact) oriented towards entrepreneurship and smaller firms. The text was selected, in part, because the information imparted would be just as valuable to small firms as it would be to the large. The author specifically addresses the topic of "mini-multinationals" as well as topics that would be of interest primarily to smaller firms.

exact product at an affordable price w a smooth transaction

If you don't mind your information being written from the Western, pro Big-Business, capitalist view, the bias conveyed throughout the text won't be a problem. But if you are looking for something objective, something to fairly present the concepts associated with globalization, search elsewhere.

In the first two chapters alone, several instances of bias are written into the text. For example, in the first chapter, protesters of the WTO are referred to as "anarchists" and in the second chapter the difference between communists and social democrats is claimed to be that communists use violence in their revolutions. This is clearly not the case. While historically this may be true of the revolts, this is not even close to the fundamental difference between the two groups. For the first example, it can be seen that thousands of people gather to protest the WTO and it is certain that a select few, if any, consider themselves anarchists.

It is clear where the author stands!

I have used this book for the past 10+ years for a college course in "International Business". The students are mostly business majors. Now I have History, English, Communication and other majors. It is important for all students to understand globaliztion. With the information technology and e-commerce, the world is getting closer and easier to reach. Only 10 percent of US firms (GM, Ford, IBM, Motorola etc) are doing International Business, but the upside potential is unlimited. This book is an excellent entry to this exciting and challenging field. The book will be better if it has the PowerPoint slides for professors and covers more examples on Logistics.

I used this book as the primary text for a high school class I taught: Monopolies: Necessity, Invention, and the Corporation. It is a great springboard to learning how the major indutries of the 19th century developed and helped shape this country.
Folsom presents the major players with a conversational tone that makes this book accessible to young readers. He does a great job of presenting the people in a realistic light, rather than the classic "Captains of Industry," out to rob the little guy view presented in so many texts in this genre.
Thoroughly enjoyable and recommended. My only prooblem with it - why is it so hard to get? I have had a horrible time getting copies of this book - the publisher may be phasing it out, although I don't know. I've tried several outlets, and all seem to have difficulty getting multiple copies. Amazon claims 1-2 day availability - it's been a month and I am STILL waiting for copies.

Folsom does a masterful job of illustrating how the traditional "Robber Barons" of the 19th century actually fall into two categories, market and political entrepreneurs. The political entrepreneurs, were generally abusive of their position and government favors, providing little innovation, high prices, and lower quality because government subsidies and privileges made it unnecessary for them to compete more effectively. The market entrepreneurs, though not always angels in their personal lives, generally reduced the prices and increased the quality of the products of their industries in order to succeed by outcompeting their competitors. Even the most successful, like Rockefeller, who approached 90% market share, never raised the prices of their products back to their earlier levels. In other words, even when they were successful, these entrepreneurs always left the markets they entered with considerably higher quality and lower prices than when they entered. His treatment of his chosen entrepreneurs is well-researched and his clear bias in favor of capitalism does not come across as bigotry, given his careful use of factual evidence. I use these as supplements to my History and Civics classes, and have for years. His other books are equally well-written, but not as easy to find in print.

He includes a supplemental chapter right at the end of his book that deals directly with the reasons why traditional history textbooks come to such contradictory conclusions with respect to these entrepreneurs. That historiography aspect of this book is unique in most such business literature.

A short, but excellent book that argues that many of the great industrialists of the 19th century became wealthy because of their ingenuity and their productiveness. That is, not because they were corrupt or exploited labor.

A few of the industrialists discussed are steamship guru Cornelius Vanderbilt, railroad magnate James J. Hill, oil innovator John D. Rockefeller and famed U.S. treasurer Andrew Mellon. One of the best aspects of this book, in my opinion, is that it offers a concise, essentialized history of what made these unjustly named "robber barons" great so that an avid reader may absorb a healthy amount of introductory material without committing himself to reading an 800-paged biography.

I think Dr. Folsom's brilliantly insightful distinction between "market entrepreneurs" and "political entrepreneurs" is crucial for studying 19th century history. Market entrepreneurs are the productive geniuses who accumulated wealth by offering products and services that consumers wanted to buy. Examples include Andrew Carnegie, John D. Rockefeller, James J. Hill and Cornelius Vanderbilt. On the other hand, political entrepreneurs are the industrialists who made a fortune through posturing for government handouts or downright dishonesty or corruption. These include Henry Villard and Leland Stanford.

If you enjoy this book, then I also highly recommend Burton Folsom's "Empire Builders" and Andrew Bernstein's "The Capitalist Manifesto".

Who were the real robber barons.

The entrepreneurs vs. the state. Folson cuts away the myths and tells the true story of these remarkable risk takers: Vanderbilts's steamships, Hill's Railroads, Scranton's Iron Rails, Schwab and the steel industry, Rockefeller's oil, and Mellon's tax cuts. He also hits upon the missed data and half truths in the textbooks that contributes to rewriting history.

Burton's style is a little dry, with an over emphases of each subject. He received research help from libraries, institutions, historians, and even his students.

There are two types of entrepreneur, the market entrepreneur and the political entrepreneur. Great visionaries of the private sector can do it better than the government: what we get is lower prices and a better product; innovation isn't stifled; more affordable comfort and products for the poor. Government aid tends to breed inefficiency.

Who is relative to growth? Who makes creative contributions?

"Of all tyrannies, a tyranny exercised for the good of its victims may be the most oppressive. It may be better to live under robber barons than under omnipotent moral busybodies. The robber baron's cruelty may sometimes sleep, his cupidity may at some point be satiated; but those who torment us for our own good will torment us without end, for they do so with the approval of their own conscience."------------------C.S. Lewis

Wish you well
Scott

...that there is still so much hatred of capitalism in the world today, as evidenced by the fact that several reviewers gave this book one star. Nothing in history has even come close to elevating the material standard of living like the capitalistic system, and yet it is still villified, maligned, mocked, and hated intensely, mainly by those who despise freedom. Burton Folsom's "The Myth of the Robber Barons" is an excellent, though much too brief, discussion of several industrialists of the 19th century. In the book, Folsom argues, and undeniably proves, that free market entrepreneurs of the 19th century were far more successful, less wasteful, and much less economically corrupt than those who begged for government subsidies. This will not surprise anyone who understands free market economics versus government meddling.

Just one quick example: James Hill built the Great Northern Railroad without a dime of government money. The other four transcontinental railroads, all built with government subsidies, went bankrupt--there were massive amounts of waste, fraud, and abuse, which is, of course, exactly what you would expect when people aren't spending their own money. Those who built the transcontinental railroads on government subsidies had no reason to be careful or efficient because they were spending taxpayers' money, not their own. Hill built the best, most efficient, and most profitable line. Then he expanded into the Asian market, opening doors to further enhance American trade. Only to be stymied by government action--the Sherman Anti-Trust Act. So government built a far worse railroad on taxpayers money, and then stifled the freedom of a great entrepreneur with a useless law. Folsom proves this conclusively, and there is no way to deny it, except through vitriol and hatred.

There is a reason why capitalism can succeed in economic matters where government cannot. Government, by definition, is the nationalization of force. It can do nothing without the threat or use of force. It's major--often only--source of income is through coercive taxation, which is nothing more than forced requisitions from its citizens. Government's purpose, as so wisely noted by America's Founding Fathers and ignored by American politicians today, is the protection of property, the free use thereof that does not infringe upon the natural rights of others. Government can only use force to protect property--that's why government is so good at war and so wasteful when it comes to social issues. It's not government's purpose to be involved in charity, simply because of the nature of government--the use of force to accomplish its goals. One doesn't use a sledge hammer to break an egg--that's not the purpose of a sledge hammer. A sledge hammer WILL certainly break an egg, but it probably won't accomplish the intended purpose, unless that purpose is the total destruction of the egg. And when governmental force is used in areas where force is not required (charity, free market economics, etc.) then the result will nearly always be negative and very often catastrophic. That's the point Folsom makes in this book and he makes it well.

Lovers of freedom will enjoy this book. Those who want to control others, think they know better how to run other peoples' lives, and are government-control freaks will hate this book.

One last note: I am an instructor of history at a community college in California. And starting this fall, I'm going to require my students read Folsom's book. It's time our people started getting the other side of the story, the correct one, the one where freedom wins, rather than loses.

Design and Analysis of Experiments
Dr. Montgomery has done his usual excellent job in presenting difficult material in an understandable manner. In addition to its valuable walk through theory, the text is filled with well-executed and informative examples. The homework exercises are the best in his series of books!

I really liked reading and learning about Experimental Analysis and Design from this book. I think it is pretty well paced, and quite well illustrated with many examples. I addition, the author also provides an online space with further expansion to the ideas presented in the book, as well as digital resources to all the data used in solved examples, as well as question problems. I strongly recommend this book for anyone with moderate statistical backgrouns, wishing to learn about experimental design and analysis.

I haven't used this much for a class yet but it is definitely better and less rigorous than other statistics books, which easily become dry and boring.

Doug Montgomery got excellent statistical training at VPI. He also has a wealth of practical experience from his consulting work. His books on regression, statistical design and response surfaces are all well written and understandable to engineers. This 4th edition published in 1997 still contains all the useful information on factorial and fractional factorial designs. Chapter 14 is a wonderful up-to-date chapter that covers important process optimization topics not often covered in traditional design of experiments books. This includes response surface methods, mixture experiments, evolutionary operation and Taguchi methods. It does not require high level mathematics.

See Experiments by Wu and Hamada if you want a high mathematical level of presentation.

This is the sixth edition and the book has a lot of typos, please, somebody has to correct them before the next edition.

Fukuyama argues that without Trust an economy is destine to fail. He says nation is great and it's economy will only work if it is founded in trust.

Great book. A must read for anyone who wants to learn what makes the world go 'round.

Fukuyama outlines how the "intermediate social organizations" of society, under the Protestant ethic, permitted the development of modern capitalist structures; whereas in low-trust societies (where you cannot depend on the corresponding person to trust you, or you to trust him), only family oriented businesses could grow, and inevitably collapsed after the second or third generation. He links the development of these intermediate organizations--guilds, PTAs, unions, volunteer activities--to the social fabric that engendered trust. He comments that a country can "spend" this hard-to-develop social capital and eventually become a rigid, non-trusting, and economically backward state. Furthermore, Fukuyama points out that the United States probably is doing just that, in nearly all intermediate social organizations, which are now surrounded by litigious critics--the educational system, Boy Scouts, union-management conflicts, the Catholic Church (which has never trusted its parishioners to have other than the standard orthodoxy, and now has suffered enormous scandal), and so forth. The lack of trust in our country is seen as pointing to our economic future, whether for good or bad.

Fukuyama is a genuinely interesting and informative writer. In his sense of fairness, he also points to examples where trust is generated, and cites them as necessary for a country to make both social and economic progress. I really enjoyed the multiple perspectives that the author brings to his task of explaining how some countries are prosperous, and some are not. He is truly an innovative thinker.

This book was written ( I bet)by unpaid graduate assistants. I borrowed it from the library to read before mr Fukuyama's arrival to speak at a university.
The book was "written to order" to appeal to American conservatives. If Mr Fukuyama had really wanted to write about the construction/maintenance/increasing/decreasing of TRUST he could not have pointedly ignored the European Union. Nations and peoples with a thousand or more years of organised warfare are now at peace and trying to work together now that's an exercise in TRUST BUILDING.
I asked Mr Fukuyama why, as the book doesn't have America in the title, did he only mention distrust in medieval Italy and not the phenominal TRUST required to bring Germans, Brits and the French together. His reply "Oh .. people always want me to talk about their country. Next question." well!....
I feel that this book is a dis service to Americans because as with so many political/cultural and economic books from the USA what is left out of the book adds to the hurly burly spiral of disinformation accepted as the truth about the world by many Americans and esp. uncrital conservatives. I am, of course by my own reckoning, a conservative - a mixed economy democratic christian from the U.K.(OK OK New Labour) So I am not hostile to the US, but this type of book and the supportive reviews sadden me. Good luck America and PLEASE read wider and TRAVEL!

Fukuyama trots out stereotypes that he must have picked up at his Japanese-Protestant father's knee, under a thick veneer of impenetrable sociological jargon that can fool the occasional reader into believing that this is an impartial scientist at work. Like all stereotypes, Fukuyama's are a blend of breathtaking overgeneralizations, and huge blind spots. And, like all stereotypes, they are utter nonsense.

The book attempts to update Max Weber's "Protestant ethic" story to include some non-Christian societies. The basic argument of the book is that Catholics are unable to trust people outside their immediate family, and so unable to form associations that are not based on family ties. The same is true of the Chinese, claims Fukuyama. These are the Catholics of the Orient.

The Japanese and Protestants are able to transcend family ties and therefore form a vast range of associations that do not have a genetic basis, especially large professionally managed corporations.

The feckless Catholics and Chinese however are doomed to form business enterprises that can never be more than over-grown Mom and Pop operations. Fukuyama therefore has a gloomy prognosis for the economic miracles of China or Taiwan or Singapore--however brilliant a businessman Pop or Mom may be, sooner or later Paris Hilton will be minding the store.

There is an interesting chapter on Korea, where Fukuyama is at pains to show that however like wannabe Japanese/Protestants Korean business organizations may seem, they are really Chinese/Catholic at heart.

The book's thesis is obvious nonsense. Dramatic counter-examples exist, such as the Chinese Communist Party or the Jesuits. Also, the broad idea that Catholicism or Chinese-ness contributes to poverty lacks a statistical basis.

I saw a recent article about thousands of Japanese orphans in China who were taken in and looked after by Chinese families after Japan's World War II defeat. Rather surprising behavior in this "low-trust" society! Perhaps these Chinese had been somewhat civilized by the high-trust ways of the occupying Japanese.

I give this book 4 stars because the author explains the area they are at so well I feel like I am there. I also liked it because it had some very funny parts. This book caught my I when i first saw it becasue it is about baseball and baseball is my all time favorite sport.

I think you should read this book because it teaches you not to like someone just becausewhere they come from. It's about a fram boy that has to leave in the city for a week and acity kid that has to live in the city so they can paly for there baseball team at school.which they both fight over a girl which you tries to protect the other one and one tries to go out with her. over the week there relationship get strong and the under stand each other

Billy Baggs a 15-year-old kid loved baseball and as long as he could remember King Kenwood and him have been archrivals. They both play on baseball teams, Billy plays for the farm team and King plays for the town team. Billy and King both like this girl named Suzy Langen. Suzy and King had a thing for each other but then Billy broke it up. There baseball coach for next year is Mr. Anderson the high school coach. He heard that Billy and King don't really get along with each other so he makes them spend one week together. He does that because he wants them to get along better so they don't fight on the team next year. If they don't get along they don't play. But before that happened Billy and Suzy did some things to get closer and closer. You will have to read to see what that is and see if Billy and King get along better.

Some things that I liked were that the book was about baseball, and baseball is one of my favorite sports. I also liked that Billy and King had to send a week together because at some points it was pretty funny. I like that Billy and King were fighting between a girl because it was funny to see what they were going to do to get Suzy's attention. I didn't like it because some times I would lose track of what was going on. But other than that I really liked the book.

I think that anyone that likes baseball and friends would like this book because it is mostly about baseball and friendship. I thought that it was a pretty good book because it was funny and it was about baseball. So if you like those things I would read this book. If you like Matt Christopher and other sports authors I would read this book.

One Great Book!!! It is about a kid named Billy 14 that lived on a farm and a kid name King Kenwood that lived in town. They both are great pitchers and they both have their own baseball team. Billy's team is a farm team and King's is a town team. They both like a girl named Suzy Langen.

They go to a game to Minneapolis to watch the Twin's play. Billy really likes Suzy so he stares at her most of the game. King Kenwood likes her just as much as Billy does and asked her if she wanted to sit in the box seats instead of outside, because he has an extra ticket. Suzy says not now maybe later. Jake goes instead to the box seats. Later on in the game King Kenwood comes back up and says does anyone else want to go. Suzy got up and went down there with King to the box seats. Billy stated to stare at King and Suzy. A batter on one of the teams hits a hard line drive foul. Billy gets hit in the mouth by the ball and is sent to the hospital at the stadium. Billy's lip is really messed up and two of his teeth are broken. Billy is then taken to a the Twin's loker room. Jim Kaat a pitcher for the Twin's and puts his signature on his old glove and gives it to Billy.

Billy's mom wants to get Billy some new school clothes and his teeth fixed. The town have one more hame left on Friday. Suzy had not been to any of their games, but she went to this one. Billy and King are the starting pitchers for the night. Billy does good for awhile, but then gets bad. King on the other hand does good all the way. Billy gets pulled out and goes over to Suzy. Suzy wants a kitten Billy has many of and is trying to get rid of them. Billy and Suzy go to get a kitten. Suzy sees a swing and wants to swing on it. Suzy wants Billy do join so he does. Later on the swing breaks and they fall to the ground. They then begin to kiss each other. King Kenwood then arrives and is mad as all get out. King and Billy start to fight against each other. Suzy then calls for help and everyone comes over. The coach says if they want to play baseball for him that they have to spend a whole week together. They end up learning what it is like in other areas of someone's life. They drawl closer to being friends then they ever where, but they would never be friends. Their dads both disliked one another. Billy and King end up doing something about it and their dads become to like each other better.IF YOU LIKE BASEBALL READ THIS BOOK ITS GREAT!!!

I have to say, this book is the best about Baseball that I have yet read, and believe me, I've read alot of them. Hardball is the third book in a series of novels featuring farm boy Billy Baggs who has to deal with, puberty, his father's jailing and parole and school. The book shows increased relationships between Billy and Suzy than the previous two. However, this book kind of leaves readers hanging. What will happen to Billy and Suzy? Will Billy and King ever become friends? I don't know. I hope Will Weaver will write another book to finish things off.