Scott Hall Books

I would highly recommend any engineering student to read this book. It is worthy to buy and keep it on your library. This will be one of many most useful books you have ever considered in your engineering career.

This is a systematic and well organized introduction. I used it with managers and students not just engineers. What was important was not just to follow an algorithmic approach but to imbue a way of thinking. It simply is not true that everyone has formed the discipline to use their mind following these or similar heuristics. We may stumble on them naturally, I agree. But for many people this is a useful revelation. In addition to the book, they have produced software to engage you in learning the problem strategies. Compared to many other books on the subject, this book has enough real world examples and strategies that it is not just pop psychology or wishful thinking or one more brainstrom with web-like diagrams.

This is mainly a to stress that problems can be solved with an open minded approach such as the authors recommend. Unlike the cry baby whose essentially useless review shows that he has not and never will solve any real world problems. Probably a disgruntled ex student who got a D-.

I used either this book or a similar one for my freshman engineering class. The reading and technical difficulty was appropriate for me in that class. Having worked at TRW, a little at GM, and now at Intel, I believe the concepts taught in this book are quite useful, and are practiced often by engineers at "engineering" companies. The problem is this book is usually read by students in their 1st year, then for the following 2 - 3 years of undergraduate schooling, students essentially sit in lecture classes learning concepts of science and technology. Come senior year, students are then expected to implement the lessons from this book as part of doing their capstone project, as if they even remember this book.

Written by two engineering professors as a book for beginning engineering students, the problem solving concepts contained in this book are appropriate for anyone working in any field; not just engineering. The problem is it does not introduce students to the reality of life as a working engineer and does not help students choose which field of engineering they like to join. The question begs then as to what is the reality of life as an engineer... Excluding engineering professors, here is what I picture as the realities of being an engineer:

1) Technology constantly changes. Part of being an engineer is always deciding which changes to adopt and which to ignore. For example, at my biweekly group meeting in Intel, our manager shows us new automation software that we as a group must decide whether or not we want to adopt. We don't write these software, but we have to decide whether or not we want to use them.

2) Our skills are not needed. Doctors will always be needed, because people always get sick or hurt. Teachers will always be needed, because people always need to be taught stuff. But as engineers, many of the services and expertise we offer society can be done without. If the price of gasoline keeps going up, a lot of engineers who specialize on combustion engines are going to find themselves obsolete. Likewise, the rank of analog engineers working at Motorola have dwindled over the past decade. Therefore, part of being an engineer is having to constantly learn new skills.

3) We are very replaceable. For example, a family physician obtains and sustains his business by spending quality time with each and every of her patients. Very few people, once they find a family physician they like, will switch to another one. The same concept applies to dentists, car mechanics, hairdressers, tailors, vets, babysitters, home repairmen, insurance agents, etc...

But engineers by and large work on producing a physical item; i.e. a computer, a car, a knee implant, a radio, etc... Outside of bridges, airplanes, power plants, etc... the final purchaser of our product will never come into contact with any of the engineers who helped designed or produced it. Therefore, price becomes more important in the purchasing of engineered products. The products engineers make must therefore improve with time. Continuous improvement is the key phrase here.

4) Related to the previous item, the personal relationships engineers work with are quite different than those of other occupations. Specificaly, if I am a vet, and one of my customers does not like my work, she won't come back again. Simple as that. In extreme cases I might get sued. Likewise if I am a teacher, and students and parents constantly complain about my teaching, I might get moved to another school, or assigned to teach different classes, before I get fired.

But as an engineer, a) our skills are so specialized and b) the products we produce can be so easily quantified in metrics, we in general are subjected to more (not necessarily harder) standards and guidelines. As an engineer, my customer is not Joe on the street, but is another engineer farther down the "assembly line" who has certain specifications he has for the product/service he expects, but who does not have the ability to fire me or find a different supplier. Therefore, engineering companies have produced a whole system of procedures, data collection systems, automation software, tracking software, and work practices oriented around quantifying and qualifying the work of engineers. The goal of course is to maximize the efficiency and effectiveness of every thought, word and motion by evey employee. This is something that many individuals find hard to respect or appreciate when they first join Intel. In essence, working as an engineer means working not in a fishbowl, but in an aquarium tank; multiple eyes can and will look over you while you navigate the waters with other fishes present.

5) Automated devices and machinery. Engineers by and large are constantly working with automated tools of various sorts, sizes and dangers. Many of these tools are worth more to the employer than the engineer; so discipline and the ability and willingness to follow specific operating procedures is an absolute must for practicing engineers. At Intel, engineers get fired for operating a tool without having the proper certification, permission and documentation.

These then are the facts of life for engineers, and none of these are covered in Fogler's book.

I read about half of this book before setting it down in disgust. The book is targeted to working engineers that are confronted with unique challenges on regular occasion. As such, I would have expected the authors to know a bit more about real word problem solving.

The authors basically postulate that any person, of any ability can solve any problem if they employ a problem solving heuristic. While a nice idea, and certainly politically correct, this is simply not the case. A good (adequate) engineer looks at a failed design or unique problem and without sitting down in a group brainstorming session or plotting his creative solution process on paper, she mentally decides what is important and then asks the necessary questions, performs the necessary calcs, researches the appropriate topics, etc.. I've never seen a talented engineer plot his problem solving approach on paper when confronted with a problem. Those engineers that actually employed a heuristic never solved the problems presented to them and ultimately lost their jobs. Either you know your material or you don't. You're either creative or your not. You have a strong work ethic paying sufficient attention to detail, or you don't. Period. Exercises (like those that the authors suggest) to increase your capacity for creativity are foolish, unnecessary and ineffective. (If you don't believe me, check out the book. You'll get a good laugh.)

The authors are clearly young academics that have no real information to offer the public in this book. While I believe that they meant well, I truly believe that neither of them has actually ever solved a real problem and they are therefor not qualified to sell a book on this topic. The accurate information that they do present is obvious to the most average of high school students. Consequently, this material can hardly be used in an argument to redeem this book's worth.

One good thing about the book: The authors include quite a few real-world examples and case histories that are both entertaining and insightful. The authors should have published a collection of these stories and omitted their useless dribble. (About 60% of the examples are useful. The remaining examples are over-simplified with significant details omitted. The authors regularly neglect important factors including: economic factors, regulatory body concerns, availability of resources, and others when they cast blame on the problem solver. This further indicates that the authors read a lot, but don't actually have any breadth of experience to draw upon) (If, indeed, the authors do have real problem solving experience; then I wonder how effective they were in industry. The way they tackled the problem of writing a book, I wouldn't hire either of them to sharpen my pencils.)

One last point to counter their foolishness: As dangerous as it is to make assumptions when a problem statement is sufficiently vague; it is the in-effective (and unemployed) engineer that doesn't draw upon his experiences to form a reasonable set of assumptions. The engineer that does otherwise takes three months to fold a drawing. I'd really like to see the author(s) work in the field; I need a good laugh.

Thats how I felt reading this book! It was like Scott wasn't happy with his second book, so he rewrote it again! At least, the first 80% of the book was rehashing history already covered in the second book.

To give him credit, he didn't go into expansive detail in areas where he did in the second book, but it was so frustrating reading of exactly the same events as the second book, except from someone else's point of view. Very exasperating in fact. And unlike the second book, he somehow lost that fantastic ability to tell the story through the characters.

This book focuses on Barbie Batchelor, a retired missionary lady who lived with the Layton's Grandmother until her death. There is nothing wrong with telling the story through Barbie, except we already know most of it from the second book and somehow, Barbie's account doesn't add much to it - although we learn more about her!

When finally the book moves on into the future, it is well and truly 80% over and just glosses over the future, almost like its stampeding through Barbie's breakdown. There are hints of what to expect in the forth book, and given the precedence set in these three books, I suspect the beginning of the 4th book is going to be rehashing in expansive detail the material glossed over at the end of the 3rd book.

Quite honestly, I think this book could have been just about completely dumped from the quartet (maybe some of the better description replacing some of the duller descriptions in the 2nd book...), and we'd have been none the wiser!

The four volumes of the Raj Quartet overlap and complement one another, while at the same time forwarding the main storyline of the slow twilight of the British ascendancy in India, always with the rape of a white girl by Indian men as the central lodestone everpresent in the background, the nightmare which is seldom mentioned but which none can drive from their minds. Events occur, are discussed, witnessed as newspaper reports, court documents, interviews, vague recollections from years later, or perceived directly by the main characters. Then the next volume will take two or three steps back into previous events, and these same events will be perceived from another angle, perhaps only as a vague report heard far away across the Indian plain, or witnessed directly by another character, or discussed in detail long after their occurrence over drinks on a verandah. This may at times seem like rehashing, indeed as one reads the four volumes one will be subjected to the account of the rape in the Bibighar Gardens many times over; but what will also become apparent is that additional details, sometimes minor variations in interpretation and sometimes crucial facts, are being added slowly to the events discussed, as though the window to the past were being progressively wiped cleaner and cleaner with successive strokes of Scott's pen. In this way he draws the picture of the last days of the Raj not in a conventional linear fashion, but recursively, and from multiple angles. One gets the clear impression of life in India during the first half of the 20th century as similar in nature: Fragmented, multifaceted, largely dependent upon perspective and experience and never perceived whole or all at once.

Book 3 is the shortest of the four volumes, and may almost be termed a "chamber novel," focusing as it does on the peripheral character of Barbie Batchelor, a retired missionary and lodger at the Laytons' ancestral home. Barbie is an instantly recognizable character: The kind of person who always lurks about the edges of society, awkward, embarrassing, barely tolerated by her peers. Book 3 covers much of the same time period as Book 2, this time from Barbie's point of view and also from that of Teddie Bingham, Susan Layton's husband. Teddie meets Ronald Merrick while on duty and more of Merrick's character and history is filled in. Book 3 then moves beyond the point at which Book 2 ended and continues Barbie's story, her eventual ouster from the Layton's home and slow descent into illness and madness.

This is by far the best and most important book in Scott's Raj Quartet (though you need to have read the first two to appreciate it). The character of Barbie Batchelor makes this the masterpiece that it is. Scott's ability to create a sweeping historical, political, and philosophical panorama through the mind of such a seemingly marginal figure -- a retired missionary teacher of no great brilliance, who may be slowly losing her mind -- is a real achievement.

Each volume of Scott's The Raj Quartet has its own beauty and power. This volume could perhaps be said to view of India from the English point of view... although that viewpoint is, like India itself, always shifting, sometimes hallucinatory. The character I love most in this volume is the missionary, who comes to live in Rose Cottage... she is a link between the first volume, and the symbolic picture "The Jewel in the Crown", and the post-war India to come. To say what happens to her would give away the story... suffice to say that Scott's powers of characterization are as brilliant as ever. If you have read the first 2 volumes, you are already hooked, and will hardly need this review to read on!

The Raj Quartet is one of the finest works of literature I have read. Don't miss it.

TOWERS OF SILENCE by Paul Scott is the third book in the Raj Quartet and continues the story of the last days of British rule in India as told mostly from the perspective of English people living in India during this period. The "towers" of the title are many things including quite literally the place where the dead of a particular Indian relgious sect are laid out and their bodies exposed to carrion who devour them. Metaphorically, the towers may represent the place to which the mentally ill retreat after they witness what they believe to be the death of God.

In TOWERS at least two people appear visably "mad" -- Susan Layton and Barbie Bachelor. Others may be equally insane but these two defy established conventions and disrupt the equilibrium of those around them to the point they must be incarcerated.

Susan has been made a widow by the death of her new husband. She is pregnant at the beginning of the book and gives birth to Edward shortly after a terrible experience with another death. Afterward she suffers from postpartum depression.

Barbie is an ex-missionary--now retired--who has lived with Old Mrs. Mabel Layton for the past five years. Suddenly, Barbie finds herself without a home and with no relatives or close friends. She exhibits behavior deemed odd by the establishment. Barbie also has an uncanny way of pointing to the truth others refuse to acknowledge -- except Sarah Layton.

Once again, Sarah reacts very negatively to the obviously bizarre Ronald Merrick whom she visits in a Calcutta hospital in place of her sister who is too ill to travel. Sarah first met Ronald when he served as best man at Susan's wedding. He has since been wounded in a failed attempt to save Susan's husband who died in combat in Maylasia. Merrick provided his spin on the events at Mayapore to Sarah in DAY OF THE SCORPION. Sarah does not believe he tells the truth. In a conversation with Barbie Bachelor, Sarah exclaims regarding the Mayapore incident (first described in JEWEL IN THE CROWN but retold several times from many different perspectives), "Someone should be haunted by it." The four books of the Raj Quartet are haunted by the events in Mayapore in August 1942.

Barbie Bachelor becomes aware that Sarah has seen the Manners child in Srinigar. She feels the presence of the "unknown Indian." In the end she feels and sees too much. She writes to her friend Miss Jolley, "After many years of believing I knew what love is I now suspect I do not which means I do not know and have never known what God is either."

Philosophical, mystical, this book must be read in succession with the others in the series. You will never forget these people.

There's a lot words, but no substance. Whenit takes you 3 chapters to get to the point where you can begin to move from generalities to specifics, well, maybe the reader should have been consulted in the design of the outline.

The authors should have paid more attention how they present this issue. Maybe the book was written in very tight schedule. The book repeated itself many times and was really badly edited. The content itself was ok, however nothing really new and not enough good reasoning. All these same concepts are presented in the other literature of UCD and HCI. I suggest Eric Schaffer's book.

From one who has been in the HCI/Usability field for 20+ years, finally a book that documents a sound and thorougly researched approach for interweaving the best-bang-for-the-buck usability engineering techniques throughout the design and development process. The UCD approach documented here focuses on solving real business problems. A critical book for those wanting to implement a sound user-centered design approach in companies.

I am a certified professional ergonomist(software specialist) with over 25 years experience. I wish this book had been publish 20 years ago - it could have saved many hours of work. In a very practical and clear way, this book presents a blueprint for how to integrate the UCD usability process into a project so that your product matches customer needs. The book gives clear step by step instructions on the methods for understanding your customer's requirements and developing a product that matches those needs. The book presents the process in a simple, thorough, cook-book way. Sample forms and case studies are plentiful. In addition to the process, it also covers practical issues such as how to sell UCD to your organization and the cost benefits of UCD. If you are a beginner you will have no trouble understanding the book. If you are an experienced practitioner you may find the material can save you some work. The sample plans, forms, presentations, and project templates alone are worth the price.

As a usability specialist for the past 14 years, I gravitate toward books that I can actually extract from and use their contents, rather than just reading descriptions of a process. The book emphasizes the importance of a multi-disciplinary team and steps us through the different phases of the UCD process. It also includes a great FAQ section. The CD that comes with the book includes movies addressing the various stages of a user-centered design process and many other resources. This is a must-have book for all those involved in developing products and services that people can easily use.

I got this book as a required textbook for one of my class. overall its easy and good read, not boring. pretty informative too.
and it is useful for new film students from foreign/asian countries.

Well I got this book for a class. It turned out to be an interesting book though. It had alot of interesting facts and for being a testbook it was not soooo dry to read.

I do not think this book was as good as some of the other textbooks I have reviewed for use in my History of Cinema class. The one reason is that the book deals with history through an auteur approach, detailing each filmmaker. The current focus is typically a hybrid approach; using historical details, the business of film, and theory to teach the subject matter. Filmmakers are used as ways to interpret the consequences of that history. I was also surprised when a few major films were left out of the book, mostly foreign lesser known filmmakers. But how can you not discuss Rashomon when discussing Akira Kurosawa? This should not be a top choice for college level film classes.

A survey of both American and International cinema, the text provides a thoroughly illustrated history of film ranging from the early works of the Lumiere brothers to the recent Magnolia. Authored by an English professor, the writing is organized, concise, and most importantly, interesting.

Upon finishing the book, I garnered a certain respect and appreciation for film and filmmakers, something that had not occurred to me with others texts. For example, it details the struggle of the German cinema during the time of the Third Reich. The reasons such acclaimed artists such as Fritz Lang and Leni Riefenstahl were being exploited for their abilities, and conversely how other talents were being suppressed for their rebellion. As I read more, I learned how political figures and movements often parallel cinematic output, and the awesome power that the silver screen can have on influencing the masses.

I highly recommend Flashback to anyone who has even the slightest interest in film. The copious amounts of photographs breaks up the text nicely, and there is certainly something for everyone.

I just finished checking out this book. Very well layed out: breaks down the history of film in a decade-by-decade fashion, further distinguishing american films from international cinema (which I particularly found a little pointless, but...) In general, I found the author's criteria to be well in line with those of a "smart" (or critical, if you may) moviegoer. Not a table book or a bed-side book, however: it is a textbook for a college-level film class.

After completing all necessary examinations for the class this text was required for, there was not enough information for me to glean to produce an adequate business plan which was the major project for my class. Should I continue with my degree plan, I have been informed that I need to contact my instructor for the next class prior to writing any major works for grades. A real disappointment.

If you are you need this book! This is a time tested book published by emminent textbook publisher Prentice Hall. It includes a dedicated web site, and numerous useful links to relevant small business sites. I found the complete chapter summaries with quizzes particularly helpful to my do it yourself learning methods; this 4th edition is packed with easy to use teaching and learning resources! I now own my own business and still find this book a great reference. Fully indexed at about 600 extra big pages, it covers just about everything. You may not need another business book!

Is a very good guide in interesting writing style an practical aproach in small business management today.

This is probably the worst book on Group Theory a beginner could buy. If you're not a beginner, the book is dated and quite pedantic. The book lacks historic motivation, it lacks algebraic and geometric motivation, it lacks combinatorial and number-theoretic motivation -- so what then is it's motivation? Good question. It even lacks a comprehensive bibliography. If E. Galois was alive, I'm sure he'd ask for a duel with W.R. Scott for the pedantic way he's treated the subject. But don't expect to even find one paragraph about E. Galois in this book, It's utterly devoid of historic comment.

I give this book two stars because it's a cheap Dover edition, and as such doesn't hurt the pocket book much. But trust me, there is no want of better books on the subject. Try the classics on Group Theory by Hall, Kurosh or Zassenhaus before you try this one.

This book is fantastic in my opinion. The ball gets rolling right away, and proceeds in a concise, rigorous fashion all the way to the end. "Pedantic" would be precisely the wrong word to describe the book. "Rigorous" is more like it. It doesn't bother for one second with the "hold my hands..." approach and certainly wastes no time on extraneous motivational stuff. For that, perhaps one should try Tony Robbins.

As a physicist, I first learned group theory from Tinkham's excellent "Group Theory and Quantum Mechanics," also a Dover, which is geared on all cylinders toward physical applications. There are times however, I want nothing but mathematics in all its stirling beauty. Definitions -> logic -> theorems. No namby-pamby stuff.

I had such a great time reading this book. If you have a soft spot for the prestineness of mathematics, I suspect you will enjoy this book as much as I did.

"Group Theory" (W.R.Scott) is an excellent textbook, with an axiomatic, temperate style which avoid useless gossiping; thanks to such concision, this book contains numerous results generally missing in other courses on the same subject, and often emphasizes interesting variations of some theories.
A great deal of investigation exercises complete this reference work. To my opinion, this book should be recommended to anyone who wants to begin studies on group theory.

In this followup work to 'The Legacy of Narcissus: Moral Dilemmas in Modern Aesthetic Surgery' the author continues, from a philosophic perspective, to examine the activities of aesthetic surgeons. His analysis and conlusions are stimulating and provocative. This work, like the first, is certain to generate heated discusssion among aeshtetic surgeons, physicians and patients. It is likewise relevant and important for the professional philosopher. This reviewer has the fealing that we will see more work in this area by the author. It would be greatly anticipated.

Isenberg is no longer a doctor due to disciplinary actions stemming from gross malpractice, indiscretions with patients, ...and ficticious writings such as this. It's obvious he wrote the review himself. Although it is imperitive to rate this a 1 star or above to be able to leave a review, this deserves nothing! Other doctors should check to see if any of their research is in this so called book and proceed legally to recover any monies made by Isenberg.

In this followup work to a very exciting and thought provoking first effort, Dr. Isenberg continues to explore the philosophic ramifications of the surgeon's world, with special attention to the cosmetic surgeon. In his current work he posits that the cosmetic surgeon does not actually treat any recongnizable disease states, but instead addresses the whims and fancies of otherwise healthy people and attempts to alter their appearence to super normal levels. The motivating dynamics and implications of this process are examined and the conclusions that are drawn, I believe, are both surprising and correct. This work is a definite valuable addition to the field of philosophy and in specific the philosophy of medicine. It is strongly recommended for physicians, surgeons, any health professional, philosophers and social scientists, women studies groups and present and future cosmetic patients.

The book was in good condition but it was not a hard cover book as the ad said.

There is a lengthy discussion, over many chapters, of putting together a marketing strategy. Given space constraints, the issues are well treated. The treatment of pricing strategies may not be as in-depth as one in a text on finance or accounting. But there is enough detail here to be understandable and useful if your background is marketing.

Unsurprisingly, he gives a good discussion of marketing on a global scale.

Over all, Discussion is too lengthy but authors are good and their approach is reasonable as well. Authors approach situation to convince readers with appropriate theory and examples.

- Good book but it requires lot of patience to go through it.

A timely update of Kotler's long running and successful book.

There is a lengthy discussion, over many chapters, of putting together a marketing strategy. Given space constraints, the issues are well treated. The treatment of pricing strategies may not be as indepth as one in a text on finance or accounting. But there is enough detail here to be understandable and useful if your background is marketing.

Unsurprisingly, he gives a good discussion of marketing on a global scale. Increasingly cheaper communications costs, especially of course email and browsers, makes a global campaign affordable, even for mid range companies.

With the huge US corporate scandals of 2002 and ongoing (Adelphia, Enron, WorldCom...), Kotler provides topical advice on social responsibility of a corporation, and of the importance of marketing ethics.

The book gives detailed accounts off the goings on in and around the batfish.
The book tells you all about the 7 war patrols it goes on and how it gets the grand and glorious title of hunter-killer sub.
The writer was actually on all 7 war patrols.
It is just a personall account of what happens and keeps you guessing what will happen to them next.
It also tells how it got to its final resting place.
It is a very good book.
Be ready for some action.

Good reading.

This review is based on the 1982 paperback edition comprising 276 pages, ten photographs, no charts and no maps. Author Hughston E. Lowder was a plankowner, radio operator and sonar operator on the USS Batfish (SS-310, a thick-skinned boat of the Balao class) for the full duration of its seven war patrols. He describes the boat and crew members as typical, not great. In under two years she earned a Presidential Unit Citation, nine battle stars, sank fourteen enemy ships and damaged two others. In four days in February 1945 she sank three of the four enemy submarines then in Philippine waters. The book presents the facts in a well written readable style with many excerpts from official logs and reports. As the radio operator young Lowder was ideally placed to monitor official traffic and to know what was happening at most times under the boat's three different skippers. The reader can feel the boredom of uneventful patrols, the frustration caused by days and weeks of heavy weather, the nuisance of finding sampans when the boat surfaced, the thrill and disappointment of taking on the Yamato, and the satisfaction of putting down enemy marus and combatants. This is a very good book and I found it impossible to put down.

I think it is a great book. DSP education has suffered by not having this level of material presented and understood before diving into the blizzard of equations that characterises most peoples first exposure to DSP education. Also, its goal of reaching high school students is filling the need of providing a basic literacy in the digital nature of daily life that is sorely needed.

The presentation is clear. It uses aspects of technology that touch peoples lives, so they aren't remote or unapproachable. I think it is very positive in promoting electronics as an area where females as well as males can be comfortable participating. The topic areas were selected to peak interest, the first step toward learning. And although the book intended to lay basic groundwork, it does it with a clear eye toward paving the way to more advanced investigations, and strikes good compromises about the depth to go into, so that introductions are made to techniques that will be major themes in later study.

It is also an attractive book. It is colorful and inviting.

I disagree with another reviewer that it is has hype for engineering. It is compelling and elicits enthusiasm. How can that be a flaw in a textbook?!

This book is the outcome of a collaboration called "The Infinity Project" between Southern Methodist University, the government and Texas Instruments. It is intended to be an interesting introduction to current leading-edge digital technologies. For vehicles it uses digital music (a digital band), digital images (acquiring an image, and a robot eye), digital multimedia records (a digital yearbook and a digital backpack, or personal data assistant), digital transmission, and network design. There is a web site at http://www.infinity-project.org/.

The strong point of this collection of projects is its design orientation. It begins with a distinction between scientists (creators of explanation) and engineers (creators of solutions for needs). It presents math and physics just-in-time, as parts of design problems and illustrates (with fair success) a common paradigm for pursuing such problems.

Weak points of the collection are wordiness, some repetition, and a lack of justification or qualification of some general remarks. For example, a "nine-step" design algorithm is proposed with inadequate development or discussion.

Excessive enthusiasm leads to some annoying hype to support engineering. An example of the book's myopia regarding creativity is a discussion of a design problem to "create a digital system that can produce award-winning movies from scratch by simply using a few suggestive keywords typed in by a user". This project sees creativity in the design of the system, but not in creating a movie - all you have to do is "paint by numbers" using a huge inventory of snipets. Other professions also may feel minimized.

Overall, the book provides a nice feel for engineering, and for the use of math in solving engineering problems. It clearly shows the inquiring nature of creativity and the extension of common sense to penetrate complex issues. The ideas of constraints and trade-offs are made clear.

This book appears aimed at precocious high-school students or at first-year engineering courses either for engineers or for those that want a flavor of what engineering is. The authors have not explicitly stated their target audience, but the infinity web site suggests "high school and early college engineering curriculum".