Electronics Books

Nightmares plague the narrator's childhood. In these dreams he relives the pre-stoneage life of one of his proto-human ancestors. Each night is a different episode from his ancestor's life, and the episodes are lived and relived in a jumbled, non-chronological order. The narrator places the episodes in chronological order and tells his ancestor's biography. What emerges is an action-packed, engaging saga of adventure and romance at the dawn of humanity.

London got the science of genetics wrong as he tried to explain how the narrator could have such memories, but he seems to have gotten one thing right. Modern paleo-anthropology posits that for most of prehistory, the earth contained several coexisting species of hominids. London peoples his world with three hominid species. His description of the interaction between these species probably gives an accurate depiction of ancient man's inter-species interaction.

In this short novella Jack London ('White Fang', 'The Call of the Wild', 'The Sea-Wolf') describes beings who lived at the dawn of mankind. You could call these creatures human, but they are still rudimentary beings. He tells a romance of the unknown ages populated with creatures that may have been.
Jack London's 'Before Adam' is a brilliant recreation of the dawn of humanity, describing the prehistoric world as a place of dark conflict where only the fittest will survive.
Would it be exaggerated to call it a journey to our own subconscious? A subconscious - as a hidden memory of the history of mankind - hidden so deep in our mind that it can only be reached by fiction.

I agree wholeheartedly that this is a very unique and interesting work (it's hard to even call it a novel or pin it down to another genre). The book is about a modern day protagonist who has nightmares about prehistoric life. As he becomes an adult, he posits a theory that these are the biological remnants of the experience of his distant prehistoric ancestor.

He pieces together the story from his dreams and what comes out is this book - a detailed and very graphic portayal of life before people were "people". Reading this, you are plunged into a whole different world, where the inhabitants are somewhere between people and the primate-ancestor on the evolutionary scale. It is an amazingly harsh and cruel existence with a truly "primitive" society. And yet, we get to love some of the central characters, empathise with them and marvel at this novel's description of the seeds or the birth of what we see as humanity in terms of resourcefulness and compassion.

The work also has a psychological and philosophical aspect as the modern day narrator wrestles with his "second I" and what his connection to his ancestor means to his identity. I've read several good prehistoric fiction works and this is the best - certainly the most profound - it really makes you think and amazes you.

While I'm not much into reading fiction or Sci-Fi type books; I have to say, this is probably one of the best books, I've ever read in my life. ( and I'm an avid reader)

Jack London has a way of really pulling your mind into the picture. ( Or putting pictures/stories inside your head)

If you're looking for a book to take your mind of things, or want to live a vicarious experience, I can think of no better book than this one.

This is one of Jack Londons stellar achievements. The ending will surprise you.

An awesome book, that you'll have trouble putting down, until you're finished.

I only started reading Jack London's work three years ago, but I've had an interest in prehistoric times and evolution since I was ten. When I tried explaining to other children that humans and apes may have evolved from a common ancestor they just sort of sneered in disbelief. This was over a hundred years after Charles Darwin had died.

Jack London's first SF novel "Before Adam" is an imaginitive, compelling read. Through his dreams, a twentieth century man "remembers" events from another time and place - a life lived at the dawn of time. The narrator "Big-Tooth" shows us the harsh brutality of prehistoric life, the endless struggle to survive, the constant danger posed by predators looking for food, and the menace of the "Fire Men" - a race more advanced than the species Big-Tooth belongs to, a race that have learned to use fire and kill prey with bows and arrows. It's very rare for anyone to live beyond middle age. Most people die violent deaths, either at the hands of a rival, or satisfying the hunger of a beast.

This is not the first story with a prehistoric setting (Jack London was apparently accused of plagiarism by another author, Stanley Waterloo), but it's a wonderful book nevertheless. London later wrote a book with a similar premise called "The Star Rover", in which a condemned prisoner puts himself into a trance and experiences his past lives. It's possible that J.G. Ballard had also read "Before Adam" before writing "The Drowned World", another book about race memory and the retreat into prehistory. There's a lot of psychology in it.

As a species we've certainly come a long way, or so we like to think. The slaughter initiated by the Fire Men looking for living space has been repeated time and time again. Our "intelligence" has enabled us to come up with more ingenious ways to kill each other, moving from bows and arrows to guns to weapons of mass destruction. From what can be seen on television or read in newspapers, it seems we're still a long way from "growing up". Jack London's novel should teach us not to be complacent.

Thank you for an excellent guide for online shopping! If you are looking for great Internet guides for Kids & Family, High School, and College students, please check out the You Are Here Internet series!

Online stores come and go, especially the big ones, but this book lists hundreds of terrific small online stores that carry really unique stuff. I especially liked all of the stores that sell natural cosmetics and natural fiber clothing for me and my kids. I've had this book 2 weeks and already its saved me lots of time.

I was tired of seeing the same old online stores over and over again. This book pointed me to some real winners. It's a big time saver. Very easy to find what I wanted quickly.

I learned a lot about online shopping that I never knew before. But the best thing about this book is all the online stores, listed by categories. I found some neat stores. Loved the party section.

Before picking up this excellent book, I was wary of online shopping -- and I still am, but now I'm intelligently wary. The authors do a marvelous job of helping understand what you can trust and what you can't, how online shopping works in all its various manifestations, and what strategies to use when you do shop online. The book showed me that online shopping is not (as I had thought) just for shopping addicts who need a fix 24 hours a day, but a great space for intelligent and discerning consumers. I'm still not a big spender online (or anywhere), but I've used the book to help me find some things I couldn't find anywhere else and at surprising prices. I think this book is going to go down in the so-far brief history of online commerce as a milestone achievement. It has certainly changed my views about WWW commerce and made me a better consumer. I can't say enough about this expansive, easy-to-use, fun, and informative work. I hope they plan to update this work regularly.

At the moment the only real game worth playing is Google. No, I'm not a spokesperson for them but it is clear that if you're going to play you ought to play with the guys that own the ball. There is power in "Building Your Business with Google for Dummies". The best thing is that when you meet the Google criteria and succeed with them you can use the exact same business building blocks with any other resource. Brad Hill understands this and does a great job relaying his knowledge via the "Dummies" format. I'm beginning my second read-through. Thanks Brad.

Larry J. Frieders, RPh
[...]
340 Marshall, Unit 100 ~ Aurora, IL 60506
Tel 630-859-0333

This book took my business, AUDIN Web Design, to new heights. Now anyone can just type in AUDIN Web Design in Google (or Yahoo and MSN, for that matter) and find me. This book allowed me to master Google, the juggernaut of search engines. If you cannot tame that tiger, you will not survive in the market place. My company, AUDIN Web Design, has helped many small business get ranked on Google. This is my bible. I carry it around wherever I go. I advise everyone to read this book before consulting a professional about your online search needs. You could get ripped off if you are not wise about your choice of Company. This book has given me such confidence with the Google juggernaut, that my company now offers a 100% money back guarantee policy. A lot of companies can't offer that because they don't know what they are doing. Read this book and get informed. It could save you lots of money, yes money, the stuff you work so hard for. The stuff makes the world go round.

Since Google is currently master of the universe you need to understand what Google is looking for when it ranks web pages. This book not only does that but goes into detail of other Google services like froogle, adsense and adwords. I highly recommend this book to anybody trying to build a presence on the web.

"Building Your Business with Google For Dummies" by Brad Hill is one of many options for learning Google's tools. This one is focused on using it to promote business websites.

You might not need this book. To find out, go to Google's website, and create an account. Look at the FAQs, testimonials and the help areas. Much of what's in Hill's book is logical, but is organized in as sensibly as any I have seen. I need this book for that reason. It saved me time from having to learn this information in a too slow trial-and-error way.

You'll learn a few important things about Google, and how to help them help you attract traffic, sell products, or create interest in your website.

AdWords
I have an online e-commerce site, and need to know Google. As a smaller business, I can't compete with the major companies in being listed in categories I feel are important. That's where Google AdWords comes in. It allows me, for a fee per click, to compete.

Hill's explanation of strategies and process is solid. There are ways to lose money, and he helps show how to test keywords, use ad groups, edit ads, and how to bid intelligently. He also looks at the premium service that allows big businesses to use oogle with less worry about click-through rates.

AdSense
AdSense, the tool that places Google ads on websites based on the page's content. While I only make a few cents when a vistor clicks through an ad, it helps me provide a service to my customers who do not feel my site met their needs.

Hill explains how AdSense makes money, and warns against cheating.

Increasing Your Page Rank
No one knows Google's formula for ranking pages. The most important factor is having useful information, being linked on other like-minded sites, not abusing the process.

Hill tells you what page rank means, and how to avoid mistakes many webmasters make. This includes tips on design, domain choice, keyword use.

Using Froogle and Google Catalogs
These are two features I have never used. Hill gives a good overview of this Google tool, which provides exposure to those websites selling products in a catalog-style, or through AOL and Yahoo shops.

I fully recommend "Building Your Business with Google For Dummies" by Brad Hill.

Anthony Trendl
editor, HungarianBookstore.com

This book was very helpful in teaching novices how Google works with online businesses in order to make the businesses more profitable and also make Google move valuable. The techniques were easy to apply.

Ed
http://www.imonitsoftware.com

Not only has Eric always been successful in the world of business but his creativity and ingenuity put him at the top of his field. His insight is always helpful and our mother says that he is brilliant! Family ties aside, Eric's book is of great help for anyone trying to get ahead or even a toehold in the difficult climate of todays business world.

I found "Business Darwinism" to be a no-nonsense, intelligently written evolution of information. The reading experience is educating, and at the same time, entertaining. It's a compendium of fascinating, and important events that shaped our current day information systems models. The Darwin, and other evolution analogies that the author selected, as well as the attention-grabbing timelines and events makes for an interesting read. He very nicely positions the IT importance intelligently at the center of the corporate model without overstated importance, and supports it with well-built logic as to why it works. The appeal of the book is that anyone, hanging on to any position on the corporate flagpole will find it both interesting and educational, as it helps him or her understand the core value of information at the business level, without all the technogibberish.

I found "Business Darwinism" to be a no-nonsense, intelligently written evolution of information. The reading experience is educating, and at the same time, entertaining. It's a compendium of fascinating, and important events that shaped our current day information systems models. The Darwin, and other evolution analogies that the author selected, as well as the attention-grabbing timelines and events makes for an interesting read. He very nicely positions the IT importance intelligently at the center of the corporate model without overstated importance, and supports it with well-built logic as to why it works. The appeal of the book is that anyone, hanging onto any position on the corporate flagpole will find it both interesting and educational, as it helps him or her understand the core value of information at the business level, without all the technogibberish.

Eric Marks has offered us a rich framework of information-age paradigms to complement the secular world of strategic thinking.

A wonderful parallel is drawn between the organic nature of the corporation and the darwinian theory of survival. The author demonstrates that while thinking might be organic or hollistic, the IT organization lacks woefully behind due to its structure and the lack of generative planning that accompanies regular business chaos.

The book makes a conscious effort to stop at theory and frameworks, hopefully to be continued with a plan to action and tools for the implementation in subsequent publications.

IT is on the verge of becoming a commodity and an integral part of our every day life. Information is now on our finger tips. Unfortunately, most businesses still don't have good visibility to their operations. In this book, Eric makes the argumaent that all businesses, large or small, must make real-time information part of their daily decision making process. He calls this concept Information-Based Business Modeling or Information Mastery. He discusses at length how companies can leverage real-time intelligence internally as well as with their customers and partners. Marks supports his reasoning exceptionally well with many real life examples. Eric's concepts are based on many years of first hand experience in implementing IT solutions. Business executives will greatly benefit from the concepts presented in this book.

This book was not intended as a communication theory text, but it does a great job of providing the basic results in an organized fashion. It serves as a good reference for me for CDMA related issues, or channel models and fading/diversity analysis.

Definitely recommend the book if you can find one at a decent price. Five stars is granted for the reference use of this book, this should not be a first timers' textbook.

Artech House books are usually packed with errors, since there is no serious review process. But refreshingly this book does not come with a big pack of errata despite the large content. Congradulations to the authors...

This book is particularly best reference for research students working in the area of CDMA systems design or algorithm development. With extensive coverage, you will find any thing that you need to know about CDMA IS-95 systems.

Artech house is the best publisher of CDMA books on the planet, hands down

This book is a very complete explanation of spread spectrum technics. The book is centered in IS-95 standard, but the detail in every subject makes it useful for other standards, like WCDMA and CDMA2000. After reading this book i feel that i can handle any spreading and codification technic. To get 3G to the real world, we need to handle the most inner principles of technology. With this book we have and excelent presentation of this principles, for the present and the future.

This book not only clearly presents the CDMA/spread spectrum theories, but also structurally analyzes the reasons behind IS-95 standard from the system design perspective. As pointed by the other readers, this book is self-contained. However, if you already had a decent communications engineering background, you might find some parts of book are redundant.

HIGHLY recommended!! A perfect CDMA book for both newbie and guru.

This is a 'must have' book for anyone seriously wanting to cut through the Internet clutter and market their service or product on line.

The wealth of ideas and tips from experts around the world make it essential reading from the novice through to the marketing professional.

I'm proud to have been a contributer to the book and highly recommend it to my clients and audiences I speak to around Australia and overseas.

If you are still not convinced visit my website at ... and I'll show you why it's so important to sort the Internet 'hype'from reality.

Th ehoneymoon period is over for the net and this book will show you practical, down to earth tips top make the most of this new medium.

Thomas Murrell
International Business Speaker
Managing Director
8M Media & Communications
AUSTRALIA
...

This book is so full of amazing, supportive information. The ideas by the multitude of Interent Experts are endless. Well done Debbie! I have already used 5 of the ideas from your book, and I have not even finished reading it yet.

How often do you get access to leading experts from around the world in the hot new marketing topic - Internet Promotion?

Let's face it - rarely.

This is a 'must have' book for anyone seriously wanting to cut through the Internet clutter and market their service or product on line.

The wealth of ideas and tips from experts around the world make it essential reading from the novice through to the marketing professional.

I'm proud to have been a contributer to the book and highly recommend it to my clients and audiences I speak to around Australia and overseas.

The honeymoon period is over for the net and this book will show you practical, down to earth tips to make the most of this new medium.

I really like the way the book captures the best ideas and latest edge thinking from around the world. There are not many publications that can provide this perspective.

Debbie has done a great job pulling it all together and this will be a great addition to any business library.

There is a HUGE amount of marketing information, from basics to the extreme, for entrepreneurs online! All of this information comes straight from those who know! This is a must have for anyone who markets or sells online.

I wish I had read this book cover to cover the minute I got it. Silly me, I waited for a good time. The time to read it is the minute you can lay your hands on it...but only if you want the wisdom of the most savvy, prosperous folks who use the internet for business.

Each author has done their best to give their hottest tips for internet promotion and success. You cannot learn these tips unless you've walked the road and fell in a few holes along the way. Save yourself the tumble. Buy this book!

I just can't wait until I finish reading the entire book before I post this review because this is the best PowerBuilder book I have ever read. This book leads you through the steps on how to develop a distributed PowerBuilder applications. This is a must have and the only book you need to learn how to write DPB applications. Well done, Michael !!

This book cover all aspects of Powerbuilder Distributed components. It is clear, informative, well written and contain many examples. Although covering what is generally considered an advanced topic, this book should be understandable by Powerbuilder beginners. Most technical books covering a product are bad. This is a welcome exception. Overall an excellent book.

This book is very helpful in covering all of the details of building an Distributed PB Application. I recommend it for others to read for it is very helpful and informative.

If you are a Powerbuilder Guru, you must read this book, otherwise you'd take the risk to know less than your apprentices. If you are a novice, you must read it to become a Guru. Don't loose time with me, go to buy one!

Distributed Application Development with PowerBuilder 6 is dedicated to distributed application development in the PowerBuilder environment. It focuses on Distributed PowerBuilder. This text is packed with code samples to guide you every step of the way. Also included is a robust server framework I have used on real-world projects. A "must buy" for anyone preparing to go to the next level of PB development!

As a relative beginner to the world of embedded systems I was very pleased with the readability and accessibility of this book. From coding examples provided in so many languages, anyone with coding experience can find one they identify with, to real world usage examples that make sense. This book is a great place to start for anyone looking for information on how to use, integrate, or program for, the Rabbit processor. It's also a great place to start for anyone looking for information about how embedded processors can be used.

It's extremely rare for me to find a technical book that is as captivating as this one. I'm truly shocked at how well written it is and how inspiring the words are. I literally can't put this book down. Strongly recommended.

The book has been written by people with a lot of experience in the industry.... in various sections, it goes beyond just building hardware or writing code and offers practical advice that one gains only after a couple of decades in the industry.

Although the title may lead the reader to think the book is focused only on the Rabbit microprocessor, there is useful and practical advice in there for just about any embedded systems designer.

Excellent reference on all there is to know about the Rabbit 3000. I found the chapters on interrupts and interfacing to the external world especially usefull resources. Overall, the book is well researched and written and enjoyable to read. I wish all technical books were this good.

I have been using Rabbit microprocessors for years. I started out with the Rabbit 2000 and now use the Rabbit 3000. This book addresses a lot of the problems I came across while developing software and integrating hardware for the Rabbit. I truly appreciate the authors taking the time to put together such a great book. The CD that came with the book includes all of their project's sample code and compiles the first time (unlike other publishers which require modification to compile and run properly). This book is also a great reference and will not collect dust on my bookshelf!

FYI: My last robot was powered by a Rabbit 2000:

http://www.robotdirectory.org/details.cfm?id=194&cat=4

Have fun developing for the Rabbit 3000!

This is a book with a strong focus on modern telecom networks. It has helped me achieve a good understanding of SS 7 - both the protocols and the network aspects. And herein lies the strength of the book - its stress on both the 'academic' and the 'practical'. I would recommned this book to all those who wish to obtain technical insight about mobile, ISDN and Intelligent networks - as SS 7 is at the core of all three. practical aspects.

This book covers all standards used in the world in a very complete way. It describes all aspects of the digital technologies used in the telephony world. I have used it several times in the last weeks, while making some avaliation tests in ISUP and DSS1 and it was very useful!

A text that builds up the subject step by step. Of particular merit is the tutorials on all three subjects - SS7, ISDN and Synchronization. The main theme is rightly SS7 considering its significance in modern telecom networks. A good text both for students and professionals. More details should be provided on U-interface. Perhaps the author will include this in the Second edition.

If you need to know about the ISDN, network syncronisation and non-advanced SS7 this book is the best. It is a shame though that the book does not cover SS7 user parts such as SCCP,TCAP and due to date of publication does not have BISUP, Etc. The book is extremely well written.

This book is packed with ready to use information on SS7. Eversince I got hold of this book, I have used it on numerous occasions in my work. Though I bought it mainly for SS7, I found the chapters on network synchronization and timing truly revealing. Very few telecom engineers are aware of the significance of timing in telecom networks. I do not know of any text that treats this subject so convincingly. In conclusion, a great work.

David Fogel has done a painstaking job of examining the historical record of Evolutionary Computation (EC) and recording both early and seminal papers in field. As a lecturer on EC, I have found the book to be an important, intriguing and insightful supplement to the course.

I think the book's strengths are twofold. First, that the important ideas in EC "popped up" in many earlier guises. I find it fascinating to discover concepts like "schema theory" and "bloated programs" addressed in at least a primitive form in papers going back to the 1950's. EC may be a "new science" but it clearly has deep roots. Second (and a more general point), that ideas themselves are not all that is required to do science. Timing and other factors play a role in how ideas get pushed forward and recognized by other researchers. It is a point that would be well taken by young researchers in any field.

There are some things that could be improved. One could quibble about the selection of papers, though I think Dr. Fogel's selections are well justified. For readability's sake I think the formatting of some of the papers could have been redone. Furthermore some papers might have been better presented in an abridged format. Overall, however, I think the book's minor flaws are far outweighed by its contribution to the field. Serious students in EC should definitely look at this book.

The collection of papers included in this book not only serves to explore the origins of evolutionary computation, but also shows some contributions that could had been turning points in the field but that somehow never received enough attention. The comments of David Fogel preceding each chapter are refreshing and show a deep and extensive knowledge of the field. His meticulous work of selecting, editing and commenting this valuable collection of papers certainly deserves my highest admiration. I have decided to use some of the papers contained in this book for my Graduate courses and seminars on evolutionary computation because I think that these early attempts (either successful or not) to simulate evolution in a computer must be studied by any serious EC researcher.

This is not your ordinary volume of collection of papers, this is a treasure chest for all those who truly want to understand the "evolution" of the ideas behind contemporary Evolutionary computation. David Fogel's thorough knowledge of the field and his passion for>tracking down the origins of the key ideas are evident in his introductions to each group of papers. Each time I have opened the book I have made delightful and often quite unexpected discoveries for myself. I wish to thank David Fogel for this outstanding work.

Evolutionary computation techniques (i.e., techniques based on the metaphor of natural evolution) constitute one of the most fascinating areas of computer science. Despite a long history of research spanning over several decades, evolutionary techniques are still of increasing interest because of their applicability to many real-world problems in science and engineering. However, many recent discoveries have their roots in the past (this is probably true in any discipline of science), and perforce, it is important to "look back" at some of the early developments in this field. Apart from the interesting ideas that emerged many years ago (e.g., artificial life, co-evolution, evolving computer programs, etc), a number of papers in this volume contain latent ideas that have not been fully exploited.

David Fogel accomplished a great feat by searching, reading, and selecting a collection of papers that constitute "the fossil record of evolutionary computation." This volume contains almost 30 important research articles that establish the foundations of evolutionary computation, including seminal articles written by Ingo Rechenberg, Lawrence Fogel, John Holland, Hans Bremermann, Nils Barricelli, Alex Fraser, Michael Conrad, and John Koza. All the articles were grouped carefully into meaningful units, each prefaced by an introduction written by David Fogel.

Researchers will find this volume to be an extremely interesting guide to the background of concepts of evolutionary computation. It is appropriate for anyone who is in search for such answers as: where did these techniques come from? where are they going? and what is their potential? But, above all, the book provides a unique experience of addressing the most fascinating question: "how is an idea born"? For this reason alone, this book is a must for any researcher in this or any other related field.

A rare piece of scholarship by one of the leading scientists in the field. Evolutionary Computation has only recently matured to the point of being a separate discipline. The Fossil Record is a remarkable compilation of foundational research. Fogel does an excellent job of placing each work in its historical context. In many cases, he was fortunate enough to interview these pioneers of computer science, artificial intelligence, mathematical biology, engineering, cybernetics, and evolutionary theory. As such, he provides unique insights into the motivations, methodologies, and philosophies of some of the most original thinkers in science.

Russell W. Anderson, Staff Scientist, HNC Software, and Associate Editor, IEEE Transactions on Evolutionary Computation