Computer Science Books

Nate Shaw was the father of my Uncle Oscar Turner's best friend. His real name was Nate Cobb and the family of the son, Lorraine, is prominent in the Middletown, Ohio ghetto.

The author has done a masterful job of illustrating how greatness was thrust upon him. Nate never set out to become a hero, only to protect his own dignity and provide for his children.

I do not believe that there is a better book for teaching about the lies of 20th century sharecroppers. Theirs is an overlooked legacy.

This is a timeless classic, and not just among memoirs, because the subject was a great American---a man who "had no get-back in him." Nate Shaw (real name Ned Cobb) had an amazing memory, and also an acute understanding of the post-Civil War rural South. The rhythm of the seasons, work routines, knowledge of livestock, nature and people too, combine for a profound view of a vanished America. (If you want to really know about mules, Ned's the man.) But Ned didn't just observe, he worked with the Alabama Sharecroppers' Union and defended powerless friends, serving 12 years in prison for his pains. This activism sets him apart from Kas Maine, a South African sharecropper to whom he's been compared in recent years. The earthy dialect wears out some readers, but otherwise "All God's Dangers" is compelling from start to end. Writers from Wendell Berry to Pete Daniel praise both man and book, while John Beecher's "In Egypt Land" is a moving poetic rendition of Ned's story. R. Kelley, "Hammer & Hoe" vividly recreates 1930s Alabama; on Kas Maine, see C. Van Onselen, "The Seed Is Mine." But Ned tells about his world far better than the others. In living, then narrating, a life of great struggle lived with great dignity, Ned Cobb performed a signal service---for all of us. We are in your debt!

I am hoping that by entering a review here, I can see other reviews that I can use to write a book review on this title. Its due tomorrow! Yikes!

Ted Rosengarten is a masterful writer. All God's Dangers is an amazing undertaking that brings Nate Shaw's story to life. After a few pages, it's almost as if you can hear Nate talking. A must read for anyone interested in history and anyone who wants to learn how a book should be written. And Rosengarten's Tombee, if it can be found, is another must read.

In the middle of Rosengarten's book, truly a masterpiece of oral history memoir making, Nate Shaw says "all God's dangers ain't a white man." This would seem truly a remarkable thing for a black man who spent over a decade in an Alabama prison to say, but as a farmer growing cotton in Alabama during the first half of the twentieth century it quickly makes sense once he explains it. Shaw's story of his chaffing under his good for nothing father's roof; his growing prosperity as share cropper and than as a yeoman farmer; his hucksterism when dealing with violent and hostile whites attempting to cheat him; the defense of fellow small farmers that got him thrown in jail during the Great Depression; and his takes on the science of farming, race relations, the American class system and his own life experiences show Shaw to be a master story teller and Rosengarten and master interviewer. The combination of these two was absolute dynamite.

This book is like a bible for Fascimile technology. Which includes complete code to drive your class 1 and 2 modems. I found just one bug in making my intel modem work. I have never seen such a comprehensive book. kudos to the author.

This is a great book.
Very well written.
The source code works great.

System S/W development enginner. I'd like to get fax-programming solutions.

I needed information how to develope a fax sending program for a fax modem, but it was hard to get the information. But this book solved all my problem.

This book receives five enthusiastic stars for the outstanding information content but only four stars for the included sample software.

I've been a commercial fax software developer for more than ten years, and I was surprised to see how much I learned in this book. The information content is the best I've ever seen for a fax modem book, and Andrew Margolis' writing style is professional and very easy to read. He is clearly a veteran of this business, and it seems like he really enjoys writing.

He exhaustively covers virtually everything that one would need to do anything with a fax modem: T.4 image structure, class 1, class 2, class 2.0, T.30 handshaking, and TIFF files. His coverage is exceptionally complete, and he does not limit himself to just the standards. Throughout the text he discusses where the real world conflicts with "how it should be" and how one works around them. One cannot wish these issues away, and discovering them early rather than later is simply golden.

Coverage of serial-port control is a bit thin, and it only addresses the PC platform, but this is such a minor nit that it does not detract from the work as a whole. UNIX developers will have to discover how to talk serial ports from some other source.

The only reason this does not receive five stars is that the sample software seems fairly pedestrian and not terribly good as an example. It seems that Andrew has sacrificed substantial performance for potential clarity, something I attribute to a likely conscious choice rather than an oversight. Since he is probably also a commercial fax developer, I suspect he didn't want to give away his secrets. I know that most of the "bit-banging" code is horrendously slow, although probably straightforward to read. In his position I may have made the same tradeoff, but the reader is left to perform these optimizations himself. Some of the optimizations are not at all obvious.

Anybody remotely involved in writing or supporting fax software should have this book. Other than my objections to the include sample code, I cannot think of a single thing that would have improved this book, other than it having it be in my library ten years ago.

I truely recomend this book. It was a great story about how a clone tried to take over the world. I think that the author had to open his mind to create such great advances.Great dialogue and descriptions of the settings. It tells about situations that now on we are facing. I think that the author should create a 7th book of this series. The ending means that the adventure continous.

A wonderful ending to a positively wonderful series! I loved it, and read it a couple times every year! The only problem with the book is the way it ends... as if there are even more books.. Great charecters, good dialogue, good plot development. Must read!

John Peel did an amazing job on this series, more importantly this book. The action, suspense, everything was amazing. He has his own unique view of the future, and he turned it into a book!! This was awesome!!!

This was definitley my favorite book of the 2099 series! It is also my favorite book, ever. I hope Mr. Peel writes a 7th book! I am currently looking for his address to write him, but back to the topic, his book was wonderfull! It had every characteristic a great book should, action,hate,retribution,happiness,and love. I definitley recomend all readers to read this not sci fi, thriller!

The final battle. Clone versus clone. Good versus evil. The entire world's fate hangs in the balance for both Tristan and his evil clone Devon. One of them will get out of it alive. But will Earth?

John Peel spins off the last threads of this amazing and thrilling series that have sadly been a mere 6 books. It's amazing, though, how such a short series could be one of the best series out there. 2099 is one that won't be forgotten ; the entire saga, is one that anyone must own. From

the amazing first book DOOMSDAY to the suspense- driven TRAITOR to the astonishing and surprising end of FIRESTORM, the series has its twists and turns that are unforgettable. I hope Mr.Peel continues this series somewhere later on, at least to write Books 7 and 8 which anyone can be sure they'll be amazing. What happened with 2099 is special ; only a man like Mr.Peel, and his imagination, can do that to a series.

Forgive me if I gush, but Jacques Vallee is my all time favorite "ufologist." His book REVELATIONS helped to see that there was a real mystery to the phenomenon and that there were those like himself who deplored the abuse of hypnosis in the service of "abduction research" and the fascination with "crashed saucer" tales and government conspiracies.

This book takes us to his beginnings. Starting in the late 1950s, just before the ascendancy of De Gaulle and the establishment of the Fifth Republic, when he is an astronomy student and aspiring Science Fiction writer and ends in the immediate aftermath of the publication of PASSPORT TO MAGONIA. Along the way we have a first hand account of the "ufo controversy in america" and elsewhere. Additionally, there are reflections on a convention-bound France, where Vallee has to struggle against senior astronomers serene indifference to computers. Reflection on the US: like de Tocqueville, young Vallee looks upon this country with a mixture of admiration and horror. Here and there, there are insights into the looming computer revolution that would explode in the 1970's and 1980's. Vallee is in France in 1968 and records his take on the student uprising of May and June.

And then of course, there are the accounts of love. Like the entry where Vallee writes that he and his lover have just torn the bed and now he lies in the full flush of "jouissance" thinking "why do i need a vow, when I can still taste in on my lips" (DAMN! Those french know how to live!)

Yes there's a lot to get out of this book than just UFO's. But that is the main topic. We see the defining moment for Vallee when he tracks an anomalous object only to have the senior astronomer summarily tear up the print out. We see Vallee's burgeoning fascination with the subject and his passion that science find an explanation, first corresponding with Aime Michel, then making contact with J.Allen Hynek, Project Blue Book's consultant and at the time still a "skeptic."

The insight into Hynek is probably the most important part of the book. We see the role that Vallee plays in encouraging Hynek to admit that there are unexplained cases. Vallee is there when Hynek gets new of the "Soccoro landing" and sees Hynek in the aftermath of the "marsh gas" fiasco. Vallee's admiration for Hynek is obviousk, but there are also other detail. Hynek's love of the limelight and his pride at having little fringe benefits from the air force like his own jeep and driver. We find out that Hynek was an Anthroposophist (a disciple of Rudolf Steiner) and we see him at his most gullible when he brings back "film proof" of psychic surgery (Vallee & Co. are less than impressed).

Besides Hynek, there is correspondence with John Keel in the full grip of paranoia while dealing with strange happenings in the Ohio River Valley, a brief in encounter with Al Bielek (he of future "montauk project" fame) trying to pass himself off as a government spook, an account of origin, trouble history, and anticlimatic ending of the Condon Committee. But most importantly is the "paradigm shift" that Vallee undergoes as a result of studying the phenomenon from a cautious advocate of the Extraterrestrial Hypothesis (EHT) to a proponent of thinking in terms of Extra-Dimensional Entities and paying close attention to Psycho-Social factors and parallels with folklore and mythology and the backlash he suffers (and continues to suffer) from the "believers" who make up the rank and file of the UFO subculture.

As an added bonus the paperback edition includes the text of the "Pentacle Memorandum" written at the time of the Robertson Committee.

In sum, a first hand history of the UFO phenomenon in the 1960's. When read in conjunction with Jim Moseley's SHOCKINGLY CLOSE TO THE TRUTH and Patrick Huyghe's SWAMP GAS TIMES one can get a very full picture of "UFO history" of the last 50 years.

This is my favorite journal since reading "Walden" by Henry David Thoreau.

Jacques Vallee is a legend in Ufology (study of unidentified flying objects). More than that, he's a true scientist, which is a rarity in "the field". This book takes you through some pivotal moments in UFO history.

You'll learn a lot in this book, not just UFOs, but the meaning of science itself.

Certainly an essential book for anyone studying UFOs... or the possibility of alien life. (Are we alone in the universe?)

On a side note, this books is pricless for all the little tidbits and reflections on Allen Hynek, "The Galileo of Ufology".

This dazzling diary offers a glimpse into the mind of a scientist who seems to challenge every preconception and established piety... Replete with profoundly insightful, often devastating observations. Publishers Weekly, 6 July 1992

What picture of the author emerges? I find that the qualities that come through most clearly are Vallee's love of people, his intense curiosity, and his willingness to march to his own drum... Vallee's book will be a valuable resource in providing first-hand insight into the early development of the UFO controversy.

Jacques Vallee is a respected scientist and an entertaining writer who just happens to be interested in UFO's. His concepts of the 'why' are illuminating, as is his frustration at the handling of the issue by those on all sides.

If you are interested in whats "out there" read and learn. If you on the other hand scoff at all mentions of aliens and such, and consider man to be the center and grandest part of the universe, read this man's books with an open mind and you might begin to doubt some long held beliefs. Vallee is quick to dismiss frauds and charlatians, and focus on the real issues. Arresting stuff.

Langdon and Poli do a fantastic job of summarizing the major theoretical results of genetic programming. The first chapter gives a quick and clear introduction to genetic programming. They continue with a comprehensive summary of previous research in schema theory, and then they present their exciting theoretical results. Their description of an exact schema theorem (microscopic and macroscopic) for GP is a bit dense, but they provide a good discussion of how to interpret these results. As a whole, this book is generally easy to follow, even with little prior exposure to genetic programming. Of course, this book is not intended to be a general introduction to genetic programming (one of John Koza's books would be more appropriate), but instead it is intended to present some of the theoretical foundations of the field.

This book was published in 2002 to provide a survey of the direction research had taken in the field of Genetic Programming. There is an explanation of what genetic programming is and how it is different from genetic algorithms in chapter 1(GP is a "generalization" of GA). Chapter 2 discusses the problems with the fitness landscape. Chapter 3 - 6 discusses various schema theory approaches and proofs. Chapter 6 has a great explanation of effective fitness.

There are numerous theorems and proofs in the book. There are informative examples of the max problem and the artificial ant (Santa Fe Trail) problems. Chapter 11 is about how GP convergences are a tricky matter and how subtrees can hide interesting incidences of convergence.

This is not an introductory text, it is intended for graduate level or higher readers. There is much theoretical work here and a limited background in this area will result in limited understanding of the material.

Langdon and Poli are both internationally recognized experts in Evolutionary Computation (EC) and, in particular, Genetic Programming. They have both contributed extensively to the theoretical "foundations" of GP and hence may speak with no small degree of authority about GP theory. As a physicist working in EC I like the balance that the authors have struck between mathematical rigor and understandable intuition. The book is not as rigorous as Vose's well known GA book. However, it is much easier to read. Neither does it take the "engineering" rule of thumb approach, as does Goldberg's book for instance. It covers very well recent important developments in the theory of GP and in that sense makes very good reading for anyone with a serious interest in EC theory. It is not for the novice, even though technically it is not a difficult book. It is really a research monograph and not a textbook. In that sense the title is a little bit misplaced. With the exciting direction the authors are pointing in I believe that in five years time another book of the same title should truly be able to lay out what are the foundations of GP theory and also show the theoretical unity that exists between the different branches of EC.

This book can be usefully read along with a companion text by the same publisher - "Introduction to Evolutionary Computing". Langdon and Poli provide a focused look, on the specifics of genetic programming. The maths treatment here is significantly more involved than the other book.

Foundations starts with what I suppose in this field is an obligatory section on the concept of a fitness landscape. A very useful metaphor of what you'll be attempting to do, as a researcher. However, the authors carefully point out the limitations of this idea. Notably that some spaces might have no natural metric.

The book then rapidly goes into the ideas of GP schemas and hyperschemas. Accompanied by a nice theoretical analysis of key performance goals like the rate of convergence in the GP search space. A solid offering to the GP researcher.

Currently working as an undergraduate student in Ann Arbor, Michigan as a Computer Science major I'm an intrigued by Genetic Programming alongside all motives of this in-depth field. I found this book to be a modest account of what is new and theoretical within this field. Expressing advanced features with a short introduction; this book is profoundly for somebody with somewhat of a background. A recommended start in the computer evolutionary field is:
An Introduction to Genetic Algorithms [1996], by Melanie Mitchell.

It is hard to imagine any single person creating such a comprehensive, detailed, and beautiful book. Dr. Samet, do you ever sleep?! This book is not only far and away *the* reference for spatial and metric data structures, it covers many related topics as well -- and sets a very high bar for technical works of any type. A codification of all the work in an incredibly important area that is -- can you imagine? -- just plain *fun* to read.

It's a very good book but is very dense and glosses over some implementation details. It may not be appropriate for the hobbyist or practitioner without supporting materials or books. Requires knowledge of discreet math and all of your basic data structures especially trees and balanced trees. One shouldn't expect to pick up this book and implement the data structures even in chapter one without some research and consternation. I would recommend purchasing the dutch book in conjunction with this volume.

The best possible scenario for a reader buying a tech book is to have

1) a single author, rather than an "editor" so the conceptual presentation and perspective of the product is consistent throughout

2) an author that knows the field inside out and can speak and think about it naturally with no hint in the presentation that he or she has hit upon a topic they're shaky with, and needs to resort to "high concept hand waving" to skate over the subject.

3) an author whose command of language is first rate - precise without being pedantic, and whose tone and level of exposition remains consistent throughout.

4) an author who spares himself nothing in terms of effort, cuts no corners and leaves nothing out for the student to "fill in" when explaining difficult concepts.

In this book, you get all that and more.

It's an encyclopedia of multi-d DS, written by a top researcher in the field, and addresses the subject matter at every level, from the panoramic to the implementation details. This book is on par with Jim Gray's near-perfect Transaction Processing.

If you think you don't need to know the subject matter in this book, you might want to think again. If you're developing anything that needs to find, index or classify information of any sort, graphic, text or otherwise and you're developing the basic technology, then this book is going to pay you the following dividends:

-save you time by getting you firmly grounded in the field,
-confirm and elevate your existing approach,
-make you aware of approaches, concepts and results that you just can't live in ignorance of and succeed.

The most complete book on the subject to date. In addition, to the huge amount of information covered, it also contains a thorough bibliography with over 2000 entries. The author uses an algorithmic approach with plenty of pseudo-code without resorting to complicated mathematical formulae. Clear explanations are given with more than 450 figures illustrating the ideas. The result is a wonderful place to explore spatial, multidimensional, and metric data structures on one's own or as part of a class. It has more than 1200 exercises that test the readers' understanding of the covered material, while many also develop the material in the text further. Solutions are provided to most of the exercises and also contain detailed pseudo code for many of the representations. The book is easily accessible to a wide range of readers who need not be programmers or computer scientists. Sample pages for the opening discussion in each of the book's four chapters are available at the publisher's web site.

This book goes far beyond Hanan Samet's previous books containing completely new material such as a thorough discussion of image- and object-based representations, as well as an entire chapter on high-dimensional and metric data representations which together comprise almost two-thirds of the book. In addition, the new book expands considerably the discussion of point data in his out of print book titled "The Design and Analysis of Spatial Data Structures," which though still contains some material that is not in the new book. The new book has no overlap with his other out of print book titled "Applications of Spatial Data Structures: Computer Graphics, Image Processing and GIS".

To summarize, this is another wonderful book from the most respected authority in the field. From novice to expert, everyone can learn something from this true masterpiece.

Hanan Samet, the world-reknown authority on multi-dimensional data, has written a comprehensive and stunningly beautiful book. The illustrations that appear in the margins of almost every page serve to wonderfully augment the text and convey the essence of the topic under discussion. If you enjoy the clarity and broad coverage of Knuth's classics, or the elegance and wonder of Tufte's monographs, you will love this book.

Samet has distilled a lifetime of work understanding the algorithms of others and inventing major new algorithms and data structures into this very readable survey. The annotated bibliography and multiple indexes are amazing accomplishments in their own right. The book is very reasonably priced, making it accessible. This delightful book deserves to be on the bookshelf of every computer science scholar and programmer. X. Hao is right: this is truly a masterpiece.

Great book for understanding the fundamentals of DSL however I have to say it includes A LOT of equations and algorithms that went way over my head.
So to be frank, I'd prefer if it included some layman-type analogies to go along with the math.

A really well written book and a very valuable reference for all those working in DSL. The required theory is explained clearly and succintly. Furthermore, in a great improvement on traditional textbooks, this work tackles the working details head on; no holes are left in our comprehension. The range of topics covered gives a joined-up cohesive understanding of DSL technology and each chapter has an excellent list of references subcaterogised by topic to allow the reader to further investigate the basics and state-of-the-art in the areas which have piqued the reader's interest. If only more technical books endeavoured to give such a FULL understanding.

I wanted to learn about the technical and system-level aspects of DSL technology, and this book was really really helpful! It goes into much more detail than a basic guide to DSL, but is not overbearing in complexity - just the right amount of insight that I needed as an electrical engineering MS student looking to learn a new technology. I know that I will be using several of the best chapters in this book as reference later on in my career (Noise Modelling, Error Control Coding, Equalization, etc). Overall: highly impressed with the quality and presentation of information! I would definitely recommend this book to both fellow students and industry members.

Fundamentals of DSL Technology, edited by Philip Golden, is the best book of its kind--it's thorough, comprehensive, and well organized. It's probably the best foundational text on DSL out there. I would recommend it for college course syllabi or as a general resource for those working in the field.

I grabbed this book because I needed a quick primer on DSL technology. It turned out to be just that and much much more. I'm constantly returning to it to delve deeper into the subject. It's definitely one of the best technical texts I've read.

Wow! This book is great! It combines two great subjects NASA and Computers! This book inspired me to use computers, and learn C++ programing! I think children ages 8-13 would enjoy this book very much.

This book is great! I bought this book and have read it at least 50 times

Cyber.kdz #3 is really number one. This is the book where we learn how the cyber kids met and live their first adventure together. Deeder is the first cyber kid and the secret club forms as a means to clear his father of suspicion in a new AI program that went all wrong and scrubbed a big NASA shuttle launch. Deeder's clumsy approach to Josh and Paul by anonymous email is funny. They both think Deeder is some kind of spooky weirdo. It is through the efforts of Tereza that ... well, read the book ... you'll understand! And, HEY!!, it's really good.

I loved this book. It was really suspenseful and exciting. I checked it out from the library and don't want to give it back!

I think this is a great book. It tells about when the Cyber.kdz are just starting to locate each other. Deeder goes to Florida to meet his dad.While they're at the shuttle something goes wrong and Deeder has to go home along with his dad. They are both depressed. But with the help of the Cyber.kdz, they solve the mystery.

Nice step-by-step guide for building a web application that makes use of Hibernate. This fills in an important gap left by the official Hibernate documentation. However, a consequence of this approach is that much of the book ends up being devoted to explaining how to set up the chosen tools and frameworks (see table of contents). If you are instead looking for more in-depth information on topics such as session and object lifecycles, complicated mappings or performance, you'll find more information in the official Hibernate documentation (or in the corresponding section in the Spring documentation). This book really ought to have a less cute, but more descriptive title.

This book is a wonderful book for beginning hibernate. It has the right balance of theory and practice, and it is always right to the point and concise. I used it to get up to speed on hibernate 3 after not touching hibernate for two and a half years, and it was exactly what I needed. The paper quality is pretty bad, like some others have noted. However, I have read through about 70% of it (the only 70% I am going to read) and the paper/binding has shown no sign of deterioration, so do not let that keep you from reading it.

'Harnessing Hibernate' is a great resource for learning more about and how to use the Hibernate technology to map Java code to relational databases and vice versa. In today's programming world you want to be able to create object that directly map to database tables and fields. Not only does this allow for persistence and good scalability, it hides the SQL stuff that can otherwise make for difficult programming and puts them into familiar classes instead. Before this book there really wasn't great resources out on the market for learning about this technology but that is no longer the case. With 350+ pages spread over 14 chapters, good writing and separation of content this is a must have for all seasoned Java database and Hibernate developers.

***** RECOMMENDED

While I was at work one day, I decided to write the persistence layer of an application that my team was working on. I had minimal experience with Hibernate because I had worked on another project where a coworker implemented the persistence layer and used Hibernate. I got to see a bit of the magic that Hibernate provides, and I thought it would be excellent for my current project. My problem was that I did not really know how to set everything up.

I searched on Amazon for books about Hibernate, and I wanted to make sure I bought one that was fairly current so that I could see how to use it with the latest technologies. I came upon Harnessing Hibernate which is only a few months old. Even though there were only two reviews, after reading them, I decided to take a chance on this book. Wow, these reviewers were exactly right!

The authors take you through a music cataloging project. Their progression through the concepts is nothing short of amazing. They seem to give the perfect amount of detail and explanation at each step, and then you begin to form questions in your mind. They seem to anticipate them, because these questions always seem to be answered in the next section.

I should inform you that I often dislike reading books on computer technologies. I find that most authors tend to make the books as dry as possible, going on and on, ad nauseam, about every detail and idiosyncrasy of the topic. The authors of Harnessing Hibernate, however, make the book completely enjoyable to read. Their style is conversational, and they do not try to talk over anyone's head. They give you plenty of useful information that you can use immediately, and inform you of other sources to investigate if you want more information on a particular aspect of the material.

Anyway, if you want to learn Hibernate in a clear and concise manner, then you will not be disappointed if you buy this book. It will keep you reading, and you won't fall asleep while doing so. And hey, you'll understand all of the material and you will even learn a lot about Hibernate! I do not give complements lightly, but this is indeed a perfect book.

Harnessing Hibernate is a fine book, which uses the most efficient ways to achieve its goal. Though focusing on Hibernate, the book enlists the usage of various frameworks such as Spring Framework, Stripes and Maven.


Part I: Hibernate in a hurry: The core

Build:
The book starts with how you should build which used to be a dread. The authors choose to use Ant - Maven task, which is cool. I use Maven directly, but that's beside the point. Both approaches are better than finding the JARs on the web.

Database:
HSQLDB is what the book recommends and for some reason it makes sense . It really is the best way to go. I am not suggesting to format your Oracle DB server and install HSQLDB; but I am suggesting you stay focused and worry about the big DB later; the book goes back to a larger DB; so don't worry too much right now.

The Project Hierarchy:
This one, I must admit, I do not care for; I think Maven directory structure is better and one should not have to create this manually, but that's probably personal. This is later reviewed in Chapter 12: Maven in More Depth.

Core hibernate:
The book doesn't mess around too much. It explains how to configure hibernate and before long you find your hands in hibernate mapping. From chapter 2 through chapter 9 you'll find yourself in the core of Hibernate: mapping, hibernate configuration, persistent objects (creating and finding), collections and associations, richer associations, custom value types, annotations, criteria queries and a look at HQL.

Part II: Playing nice with others: beyond the core

MySQL - a nice short intro to MySQL is shown.

Hibernate and Eclipse - yes, this is in here too (and up to date Eclipse v3.3). And just in time for you to get ready for a later chapter, Spring and Hibernate, which is the way J2EE is going anyway (lightweight).

Maven in more depth - Maven does not have many books out there and this is a very nice in depth explanation. If you think you've gotten short changed, take a look at Java Power Tools (you'll love that book too). The chapter is enough to get you moving with Maven, and if your Maven experience is anything like mine, you'll never go back to Ant.

Hibernate and Spring - this book could not have gotten any better than this. Spring, is like a dream. Rod Johnson, Colin Sampaleanu and team have done it well. Unlike the other monolithic approach, Spring takes advantage of already existing frameworks and offers this invisible layer to allow you to focus on what's important; your business code... and, of course, the book delivers. It shows you how Spring simplifies Hibernate development. If you're new to layered development a la separation of concerns (SoC) the book first introduces you to the DAO pattern. It then continues with the reason so many of us like the Spring framework: HibernateDAOSupport and the HibernateTemplate. Although I prefer to use the HibernateTemplate directly and avoid loosing my one chance at inheritance, I agree with the book examples. The authors are tying to help you understand what kind of support Spring offers.

Stripes with Spring and Hibernate - Now, the book could just end here and be done with it, but no, it continues with the web app. I mean, wow. The book ends with style. It uses Tomcat - and I think it does it to prove a point. You don't need a fancy big server to get J2EE running these days. Stripes is a cool project to work with and I thank the authors for introducing me to a framework I was clueless about.

This book is truly amazing. If you're looking for an in-depth approach to Hibernate take a look at Java Persistence with Hibernate. If, however, you're an impatient developer this is the book for you. I think it offers just enough in-depth theory and it keeps you awake with frequent easy to understand code.

James Elliott, Timothy M. O'Brien and Ryan Fowler; I thank you all for writing this book.

/.Will

Eases the reader gradually through the foundations of ICA and treats various published methods in a contrasting manner. No other reference is needed while reading the book; he even gives the pronounciation of some of the greek letters in footnotes.

This excellent book introduces the reader in the field of Independent Component Analysis providing the necessary fundamentals to understand and apply the different methods. The book also makes interesting links to other techniques. The author has succeeded at writing a very didactic text, not an easy task given the complexity of the matter, and at transmitting his enthusiasm to the reader.
I've enjoyed this book, which has been not only an introduction to ICA but which has brought me into ICA, stimulating my own experimentation with the technique.

Without this book I would never have understood the basics and finesses of ICA. Even if readers ar highly skilled in math reading this book will set out mile'stones' that will enhance the understanding of the ICA- problem, -tools and -possibilities.

Dr. G. Otte

I can't stress how reader friendly this book is. It is by far the best introduction on component analysis. It is written in such a way that those with a weaker math background can understand it while those with years of experience will not be bored, at certain times it even reads like a story.

It addition to being readable the book contains an impressive amount of content for its size. This content is presented in an organized manner, and in such a way that the user can immediately apply the techniques to their own problems.

If you are interested in independent component analysis or one of its relatives I highly recommend this valuable, reasonably price book.

James Stone's monograph is a refreshing new book amongst the many other `new books' on Independent Component Analysis (ICA). The author brings his teaching experience to present the theory and practice of ICA in a highly accessible form using a duplication of words and straight-forward mathematics.

Particular attention is given in the earlier chapters to the description of the linear signal mixing process giving the Reader a good basis for understanding the fundamental assumptions upon which ICA and its application to Blind Source Separation are based.

The book is aimed at the Reader with a technical but not necessarily formal mathematics background. Illustrative examples and functional algorithms in MatLab are frequent and references are made to the author's available electronic resources. As such it is suitable to both the newcomer to ICA, and to the more expert engineer or scientist.

This Reviewer rates this book very highly.