Wang Books

From the standpoint of a 15 y/o homeschooled student: I enjoyed taking this book very much, I was able to understand the whole book without having to look elseware for any instruction from anybody. The only thing I would reccomend for it would be more examples in the explinations.

This is a very unusual calculus textbook, in structure, content and order of presentation. In terms of structure, the sections are very short with a large number of problems at the ends of the sections. What is unusual about the problem sets is that explicit review problems over previous sections are included. For example, at the end of section 69 there are problems from sections 47, 26, 68, 50 12 and 18. Since the subject of section 69 is integration by parts and the problem from section 26 deals with interest computation, there does not need to be a logical connection between the two. This is most unusual and I am not convinced that it is of value, in fact I consider it detrimental.
The content is also weak, most of the explanations do not extend beyond the basics. Instructors attempting to provide a rigorous explanation of the principles of calculus will most likely need to find some supplemental material.
Finally, the order of presentation is unusual. For example, lesson 70, which starts on page 361, covers the properties of limits. Rules such as "The limit of the (sum, difference, product, quotient) of two functions is the (sum, difference, product, quotient) of the limits of the functions", are mentioned in this lesson. Since this lesson comes after derivatives and integrals, which are based on limits, have been used for some time, I found the order very odd.
In conclusion, you can teach non-rigorous calculus classes using this book, but the unusual features mean that I would not consider using it as a textbook.

It was more than an incident. It was a deadly assault across the 38th parallel. It was the Korean War. In the fear and frenzy of battle, those who had served with heroism before were called again by America to man the trenches and sandbag bunkers. From Pusan to the Yalu, they drove forward with commands too new and tanks too old, brothers in war, bonded together in battle as they had never been in peace.

In the summer of 1804, while Napoleon is asembling a fleet and army at Boulogne in preparation to invading England. Captain John Valcourt Justice of the Royal Navy is sent to stop him.

Note: the other review setting this book in Korea in the 1950's is some sort of error by the poster.

I happened to pick up this book recently since it seemed to be at the junction between applied mathematics and economics. The author did not disappoint. He explores the world of economics through game theory and goes on to show how the current economic thinking has some serious flaws. It was very enjoyable and really opened my eyes to many common economic errors. For instance, conventional thinking is that when there are multiple vendors for a given product one has a much better chance of getting a lower price. The author shows how this is very unlikely. I used to be a big supporter of free trade and I am not any more. Excellent book and a must read for any intelligent person.

Interesting empirical findings and theoretical arguments but not compelling enough to revolutionize microeconomic theory, offering a useful supplement to mainstream economic theories, pointing out the well-known limitations of competition in particular and rational-actor models in economics in general. It does a fine job pointing out anamolous distortions in various market outcomes but not in explaining them well. The book carries scant predictive weight and offers either ambivalent or erroneous policy prescriptions, leaving many more questions unanswered than did the neoclassical paradigm. It did not actually change my mind on issues. For example, I supported free trade prior to reading this book and still support free trade after reading it, and the existing serious research on this topic confirms that the net impact of free trade for the peoples of nations is positive and beneficial, even though there are "losers" who will be worst off - but excessive protectionist support to the "losers" is inefficient, very costly, and ultimately futile. Still, competition can produce perverse outcomes: for instance, although deregulation has been more beneficial than harmful (e.g lower prices, increased access to air travel to more people), the greater competition it has generally helped to foment has led to tighter markets in which shocks to production costs (e.g. rising fuel costs) cannot be easily passed onto air-travel consumers, so increased production costs have to be paid for through other means, such as reduced amenities (e.g. meals, leg-room) for lower-price consumers, longer wait times in ticket lines, baggage delays, increased congestion, etc. - the problems air-traveling folks have been recently complaining about. In the end, the book reluctantly understands that the benefits from competition (and I would say rational-actor modeling of mainstream economics) exceed its costs.

This is a very technical analysis of the structure of Wang Bi's Laozi commentary, and it is clearly written. As a general reader (non-sinologist) I was able to read it, my interest in Wang Bi had been sparked by John Lynn's translations of the Laozi and Yijing commentaries, and Alan Chan's "Two Visions of the Way". But at the end of the book, I had the feeling of being unable to set the sinological data of Wagner in the broader context of the Chinese culture of the time. Presumably because Wagner is writing for specialists or post-graduate students who already know it. Having a strong personal interest in philosophy, I found this book insensitive to the philosophical issues. I know that Wagner published another book on Wang Bi's philosophy, but I feel that the philosophical issues should not be separated from the subject at any time. A great example of detailed technical sinology with a sensitivity to philosophy is the Brooks' recent "Original Analects" study.

"The Craft of a Chinese Commentator" is the first, and probably by far the most accessible, of Rudolf G. Wagner's three volumes on Wang Bi (226-249; Wade-Giles transliteration, Wang Pi), and his commentary on the "Laozi," or "Daodejing" (Wade-Giles, Lao-tzu, Tao Te Ching). The text of the "Laozi" usually translated by Western Sinologists is the edition known as the "Wang Pi text," and three English translations of the "Wang Pi Commentary" had appeared when this book was published.

Wang Bi, although occasionally dismissed by those who prefer religious readings of the "Tao Te Ching" as a logic-chopping "born metaphysician," is probably by a wide margin the traditional commentator most admired by Western scholars. Unhappily for the serious study of his commentaries, that isn't saying much. An almost Protestant zeal to get at the "real meaning" of a Chinese Scripture by stripping away layers of what is presumed to be obfuscation has combined with the recognition that many "received" interpretations were, in fact, politically motivated, to make the whole subject seem of minor importance to serious scholars. (Arthur Waley, although, or because, he was aware of the importance of commentary in the Jewish tradition, explicitly tried to by-pass the Chinese equivalents as much as possible.)

Rudolf Wagner finds it necessary to point out in "Craft," that, although the fact was generally ignored, it had already been demonstrated that the "Wang Pi text" of the "Laozi" did not match the commentary, and was in fact a much later edition, with several layers of added corruption. And the text of the Commentary itself was not in the best shape either! Demonstrations of these matters, and their solutions, however, is postponed.

One main focus of this book is the investigation of the traditional accounts of the young genius, who, in a very short life, changed the direction of study of both the "Laozi"and the "Yijing" (I Ching; or, less familiarly, the "Zhouyi," "'Changes' of the Chou Dynasty"). Wagner clears away a good deal of mythologization; and, of even greater value in some ways, deals with what the legend-making process tells us about how Wang Bi was perceived.

We learn how a very young man came into possession of one of the greatest private collections of manuscripts in all of China, a matter of great importance when the Imperial libraries were destroyed in an age of upheaval; how being a provincial nobody probably saved his life when his more highly placed friends were wiped out in a purge of the "Pure Speech" movement (sounds very modern); and how his early death was attributed, not to the authorities, but the outraged spirits of the Han commentators he disdained -- and whose works are now lost.

There is also a literary and linguistic side of the study, analyzing Wang Bi's understanding of the stylistic features of classical Chinese which function to some extent as the written language's grammar (a category which some Chinese have been only too glad to follow some Westerners in denying is relevant; a position finally abandoned, although its traces remain in the literature). I found this fascinating, although harder to follow than the biographical and historical material. Presumably a reader who actually knows Chinese, particularly Classical Chinese, would find it less of a strain. Or maybe not; Wagner seems to be challenging some assumptions embedded in how the language is taught.

Wagner's description of what he calls the "Interlocking Parallel Style" (IPS), and Wang Bi's use of it as a reading technique, and in his own exposition, seemed to me to be convincing. Of course, I at first associated the term Parallel Style with ancient western poetries (Biblical Hebrew, Old English, and others), and not all the connections I was making were helpful to following the argument. Wagner's translation of Wang Bi should make it clearer whether this concept is as useful as it seems to be in examples provided here. (To anticipate a comment below, for whateve it is worth, I think it does.)

The actual substance of Wang Bi's "Laozi" commentary, and his philosophy, are given only a cursory treatment in "Craft," for the very good reason that they are the subject of two later books, then already being prepared for publication. One of these, "Language, Ontology, and Political Philosophy in China: Wang Bi's Scholarly Exploration of the Dark (Xuanxue)," I have yet to try reading.

I am working my way, slowly, through Wagner's "A Chinese Reading of the 'Daodejing': Wang Bi's Commentary on the 'Laozi' with Critical Text and Translation," which establishes a critical text of two works (one long thought lost) by Wang Bi, with translation and commentary, and a reconstruction of the Laozi text he was using, based on other Chinese editions, and the ancient manuscripts excavated at Mawangdui and Guodian, the former of which, in particular, seemingly have a common ancestor with Wang Bi's preferred text, although not identical to it. So far, the Interlocking Parallel Style approach does seem to clarify the translation, even if Wagner's method of displaying it on the page is at first a little distracting.

I can report, therefore, that "The Craft of the Chinese Commentator," although it can stand alone, proves to be the essential introduction to this larger, and much more technical volume; and I assume it has the same relationship to "Language, Ontology, and Political Philosophy."

Victor Stater, the author of "Duke Hamilton is Dead," writes with a peppy affection for his subject, which is ostensibly, the legal calumnies of two peers of the realm, fighting it out over a hefty inheritence. But Mr. Stater goes beyond the legal intricacies by throwing in a wealth of rich social and anecedotal material about a period in British history that has always seemed a bit tame -- the later years of the Stuart dynasty. With merry Charles II gone, and his Catholic brother James II forced off the throne, the late 17th and early 18th century Britons were ruled by the rather dull William and Mary, and then Mary's unfortunate sister Anne (who bore over a dozen children, only one of whom survived, and that one, a severally handicapped child, died at 11). Mr. Stater makes this era come alive through the framework of the contentiousness of the Earl of Mohun and the Duke of Hamilton, both striving for political power, both intriguers and both dead set on paying for their political ambitions with a disputed inheritence. All in all, a lively look at the period with a wealth of juicy details. But the foremost lesson to be learned here is that, whether it be 1700 or 2000, politics is still a game reserved for the very wealthy.

This is a great story of a decades long feud that spans (and influences) events such as the Golden Revolution, the Union of Scotland and England and the Restoration. Using the conflict between Baron Mohun and Duke Hamilton as a base, the author explores the changing nature of the aristocratic lifestyle and the British social stucture. The political infighting between Tories and Whigs in the larger international context was particularly fascinating. While the narrative flow is generally solid, I was lost for a bit in the second chapter that covers the history of a property at the center of the feud. In addition, the numerous names an aristocrat could use made for some confusion. That being said, the book is overall readable and quite entertaining.

The idea was great indeed. Sounds like it's going to be a very interesting, and probably funny, book. Comparing these three peoples promises big rewards, especially if the writer is Salvador de Madariaga.

But no, my friends. Keep looking. The great man Madariaga has written here a book that seems to be oriented to the commitee for the nobel prize instead of for the regular bench-park reader or waiting-room 'curioso'. In a very analytical fashion he starts by showing us his modus operandi: how he is going to dissect the national features of the three peoples. It's very visual, his chart and everything. It promises... but alas! by page 18 your joy will turn into sorrow, and maybe even into irritation. Long sentences, with abstract terms and twisted pseudo-intellectual jargon load the pages irritatingly.

I wished the author would give us some example from real life, but no, everything is theoretical. What an opportunity missed to have written a good book, the man had the genius to do it, no doubt about it. But maybe because he was still too young, and his travels abroad, as the important diplomat he was had gone up to his head mercilessly. He should have written this book in his later years. How true that youth is a disease everybody has to go through, and that not everybody get ovcer completely.

Oh, and was his analysis right? Sure. If you care to read the whole brick through. Synthesis, dear Madariaga, economy of language does it.

Madariaga's analytical framework gave me a starting point for understanding the factors underlying the economic and political success of the U.S. and the problems of Latin American countries.

It was informative. I felt like there was too much about certain topics. I did enjoy reading it.

I had the pleasure of being taught by Julie Jeffrey as an undergraduate student at Goucher College. She taught me to look at American history from many different angles, especially the view of the "bit players" in history, those unsung, unrecognized men and women whose impact was as significant as those of the "main cast", just not nearly as well documented. "Civilizing" the West 1840-1880 is a great example of Professor Jeffrey's ability to uncover the contributions of women -from all walks of life- that helped shape the American West. Meticulously researched and written, I found the book had an easy flow and makes a compelling read. An excellent book in a genre usually dominated by the biographies of larger-than-life personalities.

I have always enjoyed this book, but I feel Mr Shipman could have done a similar book on Silent Stars. Unfortunately, like too many authors he despises the thing that he says he admires. The silent era is crying out for a similar detailed account of the actors who made the film industry what it is today. Another criticism is that there are too many personal opinions which sometimes border on snobbery. It is wrong to judge stars of the twenties and thirties with the attitudes of today. The film star industry started with Florence Lawrence and so should all books on films.

Mr. Shipman has put together the definitive guide to the stars that made their mark before WW II. From Abbott and Costello to Roland Young this book covers most of the major stars. If you buy only one reference book on vintage Hollywood's greatest make it this one. You won't be sorry

While pictures and text are generally good, coverage of anatomic variations, new imaging technique and advanced practice techniques is limited. This book,while useful as background for the novice, remains inadequate as a primary guide for the inexperienced physician. Experienced physicians may find its scope and depth insufficient for their purposes. Reading the book does not substitute for the performance of such procedures on cadavers or patients under the guidance of an experienced physician such as would be acquired in formal residency or fellowship training or in approved CME courses.

A small but concise book that guides pain intervention specialist in doing the right procedure.An excellent book for the Master Neurosurgery(USM) residents and those subspecializing in pain therapy.The instructions are straight to the point.I recommend this to any residents involved in pain management.

This book covers most of the image processing steps that can be used to build an OCR system. It is a good refence if someone is new to OCR or is doing an OCR and is looking to improve the results.

It contains 31 chapters, begins from image processing methods, and OCR stages all the way to post processing stages. At the first glance I thought it was a collection of papers in some conference, but then I found that it not, although each chapter has the look and feel of a paper (Abstract, Introduction, ..., References) it seams that the editors has selected separate authors to write each chapter of the book as a stand alone. This book is more like a reference book than a page to page reading. It covers most part of the OCR system, and has dedicated special chapters for languages like Chinese, Japanese, Korean Hangul, and even Arabic Characters.