Reviews Written By: A14OMACQFBC2P3provided by Amazon.com |
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 | Data Structures and Algorithms (Addison-Wesley Series in Computer Science and Information Pr) | |
 | "Let's not get too excited" | 2008-03-26 |
| Hyperbolic remarks about this book will mislead you into thinking that this book is absolutely unique, when it's not. The material here is standard and present on many, many algorithms and data structures book. Furthermore, this book is dated, as it uses Pascal. It has very little relevance for today's world of collections of data structures made by experts (on Java, C#, Eiffel, Smalltlak, etc.) which are resources you need to know how to tap into to be more productive. And as a last point, algorithm analysis is not the strong point of this book either, as it is just a late chapeter in the book and gets nowhere near advanced (i.e., real) algorithmic analysis (for which you will need higher math, such as calculus and probability). Nevertheless, it's a good book but I don't know if you should buy it instead of that other, nice and new book using Java 5.0 using generics. | ||
 | Linear Algebra and Its Applications | |
 | "Unsurpassed clarity - and this book just got better!" | 2007-09-15 |
| Professor Strang has taught Linear Algebra for many years to legions of one of the United States' top institution. So give him some credit, for starters... This book is inimitable in its clarity and in how it yields so much insight. I have many books on Linear Algebra and I think this book is worth its weight in gold. I know of no other book that teaches the fundamental subspaces so well. The book covers standard material in Linear Algebra (and then some) and has a strong matrix-oriented flavor (as opposed to a book giving an algebraic treatment - look for Valenza if you want that). I don't understand what some of the complaining is about by some reviewers. The book is not abstract enough, not formal enough? No first treatment in Linear Algebra is or should be - that is Linear Algebra 2. Besides, matrices are pervasive in all fields of engineering, physics, applied math and other disciplines and later on the student will advance to even more complex issues (such as numerical linear algebra) and they simply cannot afford not to have seen the standard matrix treatment. In fact, that would be the reason it's so widely taught - because it's so useful. It's no use delving into abstract treatment if one doesn't understand the most basic facts about why it is that you can solve a system of linear equations. Best of all, his lectures now can be seen on MIT's Open Courseware site. I have used this book since the second edition. I believe this 4th edition is the best edition yet. Unlike some other books on the market, this new edition is a fully thought-through new edition (Strang has been restructuring his book throughout all editions, ever making this more clear and insightful). Not bloat at all. I wholeheartedly recommend it. In fact, I believe you might get hurt using some other books that are on the market that do a very lousy job on teaching this subject (such as Lay). This book is the gold standard. | ||
 | Classical Dynamics of Particles and Systems | |
| "I doubt students using this text can tackle dynamics" | 2007-04-28 |
| I doubt students using this text will be as capable in tackling dynamics problems as one would assume. Give the Physics student fed on a regular diet of this book one of those swirling, mechanical-arm problems and they'll probably be dead in the waters. This is probably one of those books that create the illusion of mastery rather than develop real skills.
Springer has a real good series on classical mechanics nowadays. That's my tip. Disclaimer: gave up on this book and never really used it, because I think it sucks and life is too short. | ||
 | An Introduction To Mechanics | |
| "Not really that great" | 2007-03-31 |
| With all the raving reviews, I thought I could ditch all my introductory mechanic books and hit home run. This book was hyped in the reviews. Apparently, people got all excited because it was used at MIT way back when. It isn't such a good book, really. The writing style is too compact and, frankly, the math is unsatisfactory. And some diagrams are just confusing. And anyone that atempts to cover 3D rigid body motion without a proper treatment of frame of reference is bound to fail, as they do, IMHO. Maybe people like to struggle hard and imagine they are really bright, I don't know...Yes, perhaps it is a book for the smart weenie that thinks he knows it all. That is what he thinks... If you want a more formal approach at a higher level (maybe the reason you're searching?), take a look at Roberto Tenenbaum's Fundamentals of Applied Dynamics book (by Springer), or Newton-Euler Dynamics, by Mark Ardema (Springer). But be warned that they will place hefty time demands on an overburdened undergrad (so, you may be sort of between a rock and a hard place - either learn too little from your average overpriced chock-full of colour illustrations textbook, or go crazy really trying to understand how it is that a coin rolls, when no one is asking you that. Did curiosity kill the cat?) (Readers of Portuguese/Spanish may like to know Tenenbaum's book is on its 3rd edition in Portuguese). If you insist on spending cash on this book, be sure to buy a version for the non-US market (a lot cheaper). Last time I saw, they had some in Argentina. :-) | ||
 | Combinatorics : Topics, Techniques, Algorithms | |
| "Sigmas all over the place" | 2007-03-31 |
| This isn't your usual "urn-has-3-red-balls-and-5-white-balls" sort of combinatorics book. It's sigma notation all over the place, if you know what I mean.
The first part can be used for undergraduates and the second part is more advanced. The book is broad in scope because, as the author explains, so is the subject matter. The chapters have "techniques" and "algorithms." It's not a book that has a slew of examples of combinatorial problems (like so many), but leans toward mathematical sophistication in formalizing the techniques. This is either a feature or a bug, depending on what you needs are. For instance, it's not very often that introductory books present derrangements next to Fibonacci numbers. Or explain how calculate the average number of comparisons that Hoare's Quicksort does with a differential equation for the recurrence relation in the context of finite fields. It sounds scary, I know, but if you look at the explanation, you'll see you should have been born a nephew to this author. In case you like Knuth's Concrete Mathematics you will like this book too (there's some overlap, because both are concerned with the analysis of algorithms). Knuth's book works more on skill-building, and I think Cameron's book is better for theoretical explanation. Disclaimer: I haven't worked with the whole book (because of a lack of time - "Ars long, vita brevis", as they say). | ||
 | Physics for Scientists and Engineers (with PhysicsNow and InfoTrac) | |
 | "Wow. All the colours blinded me." | 2007-03-30 |
| Wow. The book was so illustrated and so colourful, I got distracted. And, boy, do they like to write...I guess it also combats illiteracy! I foresee a crucial change in forthcoming editions: the style of the guy's pants in the elevator will go out of fashion and they will have to issue a new edition (it will cost more, however, because printing technology will allow you to see the guy in 3D). I personally find the "features" in these American-style textbooks to be nothing but distractions. Besides, the level of physics students went down, not up, as physicists will tell you. So how are the pedagogical "features" helping? Accordingly, in truth, the level of the books went down. The reality is that they're targeting a certain niche market here, keep that in mind. Granted, this book has been around. But, for real, it's overpriced and if that is what they made you buy, well, I'm sorry. On the bright side, you could be using Halliday's, in which case you'd be even worse off. Seriously though, this book is representative of a slew of books that are full of fluff and overpriced. If you feel adventurous, get yourself something with less colour and more math, straight out of the 70s, like Alonso and Finn, or McKelvey and Grotch. I garantee you will get to calculate the apparent weight of fishes in elevators. Besides, come to think of it, hey, all the good math and physics books from Springer and Kluwer are in black-and-white! | ||
 | Introduction to Operations Research | |
 | "No solutions to the exercises - the downside..." | 2006-10-28 |
| I haven't read the whole book, only selected chapters. Good book with thorough explanations (but may be considered by some too long winded). Very wordy in style, but OTOH has many examples (very important!) The style is for practioners - it's not a math or algorithms book. The bad side: no solutions on the back of the book, and no solutions manual to buy. Only instructors have access to the solutions manual. So, for self-study, you might want to look at the competition...ISBN: 0534380581 | ||
 | FreeBSD Unleashed (2nd Edition) | |
| "If you're new to FreeBSD, you will like it." | 2006-09-08 |
| This book isn't for me.
You would think a FreeBSD book in 2006 will tell you things like how to keep your system safe with binary updates, or walk you through a decent CUPS installation, or mention using OpenBSD's firewall tool. It's just the same-old same-old. There's little here that can't be learned from the Handbook or Greg Lehey's The Complete FreeBSD. And both are free. To be fair, there is new stuff here, like installing the official Sun JDK port for FreeBSD, or using portupgrade, but I expected a little more thoroughness and variation in choices in the areas of security, ports and printing. Also, I think a chapter about contributing to the FreeBSD ports tree would have been good to have. However, if you're new to Unix/FreeBSD, than I think you will enjoy the chatty style instead of the rather more terse style of The Handbook. | ||
 | Ditch Medicine | |
| "Fantastic book for physicians in extreme situations" | 2006-06-15 |
| There are situations, particularly amongst doctors living in the Third World, or even in very remote areas (of any country), that are presented to her, whether or not she is a surgeon. Even if she is a general practitioner, it is the doctor who is duty-bound to help, for she is the most qualified of all and to whom folks will turn to when such situations occur. If she is a Pre-Hospital Care Provider, in disaster or war situations, it is up to her to provide advanced medical procedures, before the patient makes it to the distant hospital. This is a book for those extreme situations, where action must be taken, at a time when conditions are not the ones one would wish for. If you think you might be in that situation, if you plan to stay 6 months in the Amazon jungle amongst the indians near a zone with land conflict, or you plan to work as a GP in catastrophies, I think this is a book you might want to have. The surgeon guy might not be around when you need him most...There are times for administering pills, and there are times that require a ligature. Of course, you *know* that. This isn't really a book for surgeons, as they're already skillfull in this stuff. I definitely think the GP in the situations I depicted will benefit, even though the book is directed at paramedics (a correct procedure is a correct procedure). It's packed with priceless practical information (even simple information: how to do a ligature; the suture tie; etc). The chapters are: 1) Small wound repair; 2) Care of the infected wound; 3) Decompression and drainage of the chest; 4) Intravenous therapy; 5) Emergency airway procedures; 6) Anaphylactic shock; 7) Pain control; 8) Amputations; 9) Burns; and 10) Nutritional and emotional support. The book is depicted with pictures of real situations from the field. | ||
 | Linear Algebra | |
| "Great for math and physics undergraduates" | 2006-05-13 |
| I guess I just love this book. It's exactly as advertised: rigorous yet practical. What sets this book apart is that it'll make you fluent in rigorous mathematical notation, as a side-effect. You'll begin reading more advanced material after this. You'll be writing your matrixes in sigma notation in no-time! On the whole, this covers what any other LA book does (could it be any different?). I think here and there it could have provided more proofs.The approach is always finite-dimensional. It's a book geared for students having a matrix-oriented approach and yet wish to remain with a foot on the more mathy side of the learning experience, aiming at "the next level" of mathematical maturity. For maths and physics undergraduates, I guess. | ||
 | Advanced Calculus of Several Variables (Dover Books on Advanced Mathematics) | |
| "Excellent buy. Exceedingly clear presentation." | 2006-05-13 |
| Some people think Dover books, being cheap, ought to be bad. In fact, this Dover series specializes in "salvaging" great titles that went out of print and are of great intellectual/pedagogical value. Such is the case again for this title. Very well written. Of course, C.H. Edwards is notorious for his book on the history of calculus. Exceedingly clear. I started reading it while taking Calculus II, in search of some more elaborate perspectives. It is that clear. Chapter 1 is a brief incursion in some topological aspects. Chapter 2 directional derivatives, differentials. Ch3. Chain rule. Ch.4 Critical points. Ch. 5 MANIFOLDS (patches ?! ) and Lagrange multipliers (and this is around a bit over page 100!). Ch 6 Taylor's in one and Ch. 7 several variables. Ch 8 Classification of critical points. Part III begins with Newton's method and contraction mappings. Then goes to Multivariable mean theorem, Inverse and Implicit Mapping Theorem. Ch 4 (III) is Manifolds in Rn and finishes with higher derivatives. Part IV is Multiple Integrals, n-dimensional integrals, Riemman sums, Fubini's theorem, Change of Variables, Improper Integrals, Path Lenght and Line Integrals, Green's theorem, some applied problems, Line and Surface Integrals. Book end with Differential Forms, Stoke;s theorem, Classical Theorems of Vector Analysis, Closed and Exact Forms, Normed Vectors Spaces, Variational Calculus the Isoperimetric problem. Lots, lots of bangs for your bucks. Because of the breadth of the exposition, clarity and price, it's a must-have. You can kind of draw a parallel between this and Hubbard's Vector Calculus, Linear Algebra and Differential Forms. Both kind of span the same space. Of course, being older, it doesn't have the same computational flavor as Hubbard's (but then again, it's not really about numerical methods, is it?). | ||
 | Linear Algebra | |
| "Great for math and physics undergraduates" | 2006-05-13 |
| I guess I just love this book. It's exactly as advertised: rigorous yet practical. What sets this book apart is that it'll make you fluent in rigorous mathematical notation, as a side-effect. You'll begin reading more advanced material after this. You'll be writing your matrixes in sigma notation in no-time! On the whole, this covers what any other LA book does (could it be any different?). I think here and there it could have provided more proofs.The approach is always finite-dimensional. It's a book geared for students having a matrix-oriented approach and yet wish to remain with a foot on the more mathy side of the learning experience, aiming at "the next level" of mathematical maturity. For maths and physics undergraduates, I guess. | ||
 | Linear Algebra | |
| "In defense of this book" | 2006-04-26 |
| The number of people dissing this book is absurd. This is a great book, at once useful and rigorous, both notation-wise and in terms of proofs. Not only that, notorious institutions use or have used this book. A fine blend of theory and practice, has proves that resemble those in more theoretical books (and not even as much as a Mathematics student would want), and at the same time uses matrices throughout. Has several real-world applications and a wealth of exercises. But for some students, for some courses, judging from the reactions, it seems to go way over their heads. The author doesn't baby you into "believing" the theorems. I agree with a reader that this book is compromise, but IMHO a good one. The lot of Linear Algebra books can usually be divided into two heaps, one abstract and algebra-oriented, where matrices are just a special case, and another one that is almost matrix-only throughout, usually of more use to engineers and other applied fields. This book tries to bridge that (since there isn't really a "divide"). Some colleges can't afford to cater to all the different needs students have, and end up just lumping the students together in a class. I believe this book is a welcome addition to those students that want a matrix approach, and yet would appreciate a more mature and abstract outlook. The book, however, does suffer from dense typographical layout. It could use side notes to ease students into some topics or to "translate" notation, and a more relaxed spacing, and there could be more illustrations (where they apply). In short, it needs a makeover. Maybe something in what the Germans call the "American textbook style." Something that screams: "HEY, YO, PAY ATTENTION TO THIS POINT!", because it looks as if there's a substantial percentage of students that won't get it just by solely reading the text. In order to read this book, you must accustom yourself to a more rigorous notation than the other books (e.g., working with Sigma notation for matrices), which in itself is something one gains from using it; and you also should have taken a decent course in Analytic Geometry. I said course, not something meddled with your Calculus class. There are nice exercises to be resolved using something like Matlab (or the open source Scilab from INRIA), for instance, regarding applications in graph theory, with "huge" 9x9 matrices. This book is an intellectually honest endeavor that tries to keep itself afloat the 1 billion books of Linear Algebra for College students that have poor Mathematics. It's not the best book in the world (haven't found it yet), but it's neither one of the worst, as some responses here will lead you to believe. There should be more books like this. Blame your education (or lack thereof), not the author. | ||
 | Linear Algebra, Mathematica Labs | |
| "In defense of this book" | 2006-04-26 |
| The number of people dissing this book is absurd. This is a great book, at once useful and rigorous, both notation-wise and in terms of proofs. Not only that, notorious institutions use or have used this book. A fine blend of theory and practice, has proves that resemble those in more theoretical books (and not even as much as a Mathematics student would want), and at the same time uses matrices throughout. Has several real-world applications and a wealth of exercises. But for some students, for some courses, judging from the reactions, it seems to go way over their heads. The author doesn't baby you into "believing" the theorems. I agree with a reader that this book is compromise, but IMHO a good one. The lot of Linear Algebra books can usually be divided into two heaps, one abstract and algebra-oriented, where matrices are just a special case, and another one that is almost matrix-only throughout, usually of more use to engineers and other applied fields. This book tries to bridge that (since there isn't really a "divide"). Some colleges can't afford to cater to all the different needs students have, and end up just lumping the students together in a class. I believe this book is a welcome addition to those students that want a matrix approach, and yet would appreciate a more mature and abstract outlook. The book, however, does suffer from dense typographical layout. It could use side notes to ease students into some topics or to "translate" notation, and a more relaxed spacing, and there could be more illustrations (where they apply). In short, it needs a makeover. Maybe something in what the Germans call the "American textbook style." Something that screams: "HEY, YO, PAY ATTENTION TO THIS POINT!", because it looks as if there's a substantial percentage of students that won't get it just by solely reading the text. In order to read this book, you must accustom yourself to a more rigorous notation than the other books (e.g., working with Sigma notation for matrices), which in itself is something one gains from using it; and you also should have taken a decent course in Analytic Geometry. I said course, not something meddled with your Calculus class. There are nice exercises to be resolved using something like Matlab (or the open source Scilab from INRIA), for instance, regarding applications in graph theory, with "huge" 9x9 matrices. This book is an intellectually honest endeavor that tries to keep itself afloat the 1 billion books of Linear Algebra for College students that have poor Mathematics. It's not the best book in the world (haven't found it yet), but it's neither one of the worst, as some responses here will lead you to believe. There should be more books like this. Blame your education (or lack thereof), not the author. | ||
 | Linear Algebra, Mat Labs | |
| "In defense of this book" | 2006-04-26 |
| The number of people dissing this book is absurd. This is a great book, at once useful and rigorous, both notation-wise and in terms of proofs. Not only that, notorious institutions use or have used this book. A fine blend of theory and practice, has proves that resemble those in more theoretical books (and not even as much as a Mathematics student would want), and at the same time uses matrices throughout. Has several real-world applications and a wealth of exercises. But for some students, for some courses, judging from the reactions, it seems to go way over their heads. The author doesn't baby you into "believing" the theorems. I agree with a reader that this book is compromise, but IMHO a good one. The lot of Linear Algebra books can usually be divided into two heaps, one abstract and algebra-oriented, where matrices are just a special case, and another one that is almost matrix-only throughout, usually of more use to engineers and other applied fields. This book tries to bridge that (since there isn't really a "divide"). Some colleges can't afford to cater to all the different needs students have, and end up just lumping the students together in a class. I believe this book is a welcome addition to those students that want a matrix approach, and yet would appreciate a more mature and abstract outlook. The book, however, does suffer from dense typographical layout. It could use side notes to ease students into some topics or to "translate" notation, and a more relaxed spacing, and there could be more illustrations (where they apply). In short, it needs a makeover. Maybe something in what the Germans call the "American textbook style." Something that screams: "HEY, YO, PAY ATTENTION TO THIS POINT!", because it looks as if there's a substantial percentage of students that won't get it just by solely reading the text. In order to read this book, you must accustom yourself to a more rigorous notation than the other books (e.g., working with Sigma notation for matrices), which in itself is something one gains from using it; and you also should have taken a decent course in Analytic Geometry. I said course, not something meddled with your Calculus class. There are nice exercises to be resolved using something like Matlab (or the open source Scilab from INRIA), for instance, regarding applications in graph theory, with "huge" 9x9 matrices. This book is an intellectually honest endeavor that tries to keep itself afloat the 1 billion books of Linear Algebra for College students that have poor Mathematics. It's not the best book in the world (haven't found it yet), but it's neither one of the worst, as some responses here will lead you to believe. There should be more books like this. Blame your education (or lack thereof), not the author. | ||
 | Multivariable Mathematics, Fourth Edition | |
| "For the 1968 version. The 1972 version? The new version?" | 2006-03-22 |
| I've seen the editions of 1968 and 1972, and it looks to me as if the book has gotten worse with time. The 1968 version, which one reviewer claimed Spivak praised, was more of a Mathematics book than the one from 1972. This one looks more mainstream; it looks like many other books, while the latter was more advanced, and had _more_ illustrations (to be honest, I haven't counted...) Less epsilon-deltas. On the other hand, numerics crept in the 1972 edition. How is this possible? Sales pressure, I guess...Calculus book have gone down that road too. Let's hope someone clarifies whether this last edition is really worth getting. | ||
 | Multivariable Mathematics (3rd Edition) | |
| "For the 1968 version. The 1972 version? The new version?" | 2006-03-22 |
| I've seen the editions of 1968 and 1972, and it looks to me as if the book has gotten worse with time. The 1968 version, which one reviewer claimed Spivak praised, was more of a Mathematics book than the one from 1972. This one looks more mainstream; it looks like many other books, while the latter was more advanced, and had _more_ illustrations (to be honest, I haven't counted...) Less epsilon-deltas. On the other hand, numerics crept in the 1972 edition. How is this possible? Sales pressure, I guess...Calculus book have gone down that road too. Let's hope someone clarifies whether this last edition is really worth getting. | ||
| Calculus and Analytic Geometry | |
| "More complete than other mainstream texts." | 2005-12-04 |
| I used the 5th edition. This is a standard textbook. It is a bit more detailed than the competition (because it was written by mathematicians, I guess). Calculus books all cover standard topics. Where they differ is in the quality of the exposition and the bag of tricks they teach. You want a book with both, and this might be it. It's on the recommended reading list of the Mathematical Association of America as the first choice - as in "***" - for introductory Calculus (i.e., not "advanced") (see: http://www.maa.org/BLL/calculus.htm). | ||
| Calculus and Analytic Geometry | |
| "More complete than other mainstream texts." | 2005-12-04 |
| I used the 5th edition. This is a standard textbook. It is a bit more detailed than the competition (because it was written by mathematicians, I guess). Calculus books all cover standard topics. Where they differ is in the quality of the exposition and the bag of tricks they teach. You want a book with both, and this might be it. It's on the recommended reading list of the Mathematical Association of America as the first choice - as in "***" - for introductory Calculus (i.e., not "advanced") (see: http://www.maa.org/BLL/calculus.htm). | ||
 | Linear Algebra and Its Applications (3rd Edition) | |
| "Use your time wisely - avoid this book" | 2005-12-03 |
| Filling a book with applications is no good when you compress the theoretical material. This book, although nice on the application side, falls short when the going starts to get rough. This book has chapters that are not even worth reading, like the chapter on Eigenvectors and Linear Transformations. In general, the explanations are so short or lack demonstrations to a point where you end up memorizing theorems (a demonstration is not a paragraph in cursory English saying "blah, blah, as we saw previously, blah, blah, blah." If you doubt me, do that on an exam and see what the professor writes in red ink, later). Is that what you want ? The serious student will then waste his/her precious little time trying to fill in the gaps with other books. I'm not even talking from the standpoint of abstractness and rigour. I'm just saying explanations are lacking. A reviewer said some problems are hard to do with the text, and 98% are done by rote. This is correct. The "hard" problems are hard because the book is lacking in abstraction. Another reviewer said this book will please engineers more than mathematicians. I feel this is correct too. Applied mathematics students should also avoid this book. I don't think this book prepares you for "the next level", where you'll be working with real problems. I don't see this book preparing the student for computational linear algebra, and I don't think there's nearly enough matrix theory here. Also, I think the book has that American textbook style where things are broken into small pieces and fit into nice-looking boxes and the text tends to loose its flow and you tend to loose the conections. It's not a good writing style for my taste. It's kind of like a Calculus book. They lie to you first, and then they teach you "Advanced Calculus" and "Analysis." Personally, I don't like that approach, because I think it's a time waster. And, you might not get a second chance to ge it right as an undergraduate (this is true for engineering students at my institution). Quickly immerse yourself in "Matrix Analysis and Applied Linear Algebra" by C. D. Meyer and avoid this book; or, another great book (and everybody says so, because it is), Gilbert Strang's "Linear Algebra and Its Applications." The virtues I see on this book are carefully chosen illustrations that help to convey meaning to the theorems by geometric aid and the intertwined applications "appetizers." All in all, though, it'll do you more harm than good. Students who enjoyed this book have probably haven't read any other. This review refers to the 2nd edition. | ||
 | Introduction to Computational Molecular Biology | |
| "Detailed broad overview of algorithms" | 2005-11-16 |
| We used this book in a bioinformatics class. It can take a whole semester to discuss this little book. The approach here is algorithmic. It explains fundamental bioinformatics algorithms in detail. In comparison to Pevzner's Computational Molecular Biology, it's more practical, and has less mathematical formalisms. This book peaks inside the black box of bioinformatics algorithms. It's rigourous and for mathematics and computer science folks, and some material is difficult. Biologists may have a hard time with it, because of algorithm analysis and the required familiarity with graph theory. On the other hand, computer science folks shouldn't really take the introductory chapter on biology seriously. Take a look at its Table of Contents to see what it covers, there's no point repeating it here. Must have for anyone interested in implementing bioinformatics algorithms. On the other hand, if you're a biologist simply interested in how to use bioinformatics in your work, e.g., BLAST, there's no point reading this book. | ||
 | Matrices and Linear Algebra (Dover Books on Advanced Mathematics) | |
| "Cheap, formal, well written" | 2005-11-11 |
| On my desk right now, books by: David C. Lay, Terry Lawson, Sheldon Axler, Klaus Jänich, Robert Valenza, and this one by Schneider and Barker. I tend to go back again and again here. I'm using this book as a supplement for the textbook in my class. Some of the books cited above don't quite fit the bill because they're so different from the linear algebra for engineering you so often see in classes. But this one is excellent for a matrix-heavy approach. This book is "bare bones", indeed, but it is very well written. Some might not be used to definitions, propositions, theorems and lemmas but in this case this makes it a whole lot easier for finding (and referencing) the important results. The notation is careful and formal, but the explanations are crystal clear. On the back cover it says it's geared towards students "outside the field of mathematics" but I think they say that because it avoids a purely algebraic approach (like in Valenza where e.g. Ker is defined in the context of group homomorphism). The approach is the one of matrixes, matrixes everywhere (row echelon algorithm, etc.) There are, however, no "modern" applications (such as networks, or ecology) as examples. Another reviewer complained about the difficulty in exercises. While you have "drill" ones, you do have more conceptual ones, but I think they're on par with the text. There are no pretty illustrations here, and you will see that you don't need them. In some other books, material might be presented in a wordy manner, but in this book, you just say "ah, so what so-and-so is saying is just Theorem number X.X.X in S&B." On the whole, this is an excellent acquisition for your undergraduate library. It is cheap and good. What more do you want? | ||
 | Vector Calculus | |
| "Rejoice if your university made you use it!" | 2005-10-24 |
| First of all, what is this book about? It's just your regular multivariable calculus stuff, what some would have as calculus 2 (others as calculus 3). That being said, from the standpoint of someone forced to live the horrors of another calculus 2 book, where the explanations are simplified to the point of not making any real sense, this is a *much better* book, because at least it attempts to give more detailed explanations, instead of shoving definitions. However, they don't appear to be exceptional and, in fact, some stuff is, well, condensed. I liked the rigor in the notation - very important to get used to healthy habits. I do think it falls a little short of the Essence-Which-a-Calculus-Text-Must-Have, which is to relate the stuff to Physics and applications in a strong way. To reach that goal without dumbing down the explanations and theorems, or making the mathematics so detached from the applications that you loose the connections between the abstractions is a balance that falls upon an author to achieve. After all, Calculus was invented because of Physics (on that note, I liked McCallum's et al. Multivariable Calculus, which was taylored precisely with that aspect as one of its goals - but it's less mathematically advanced). My guess is that there has to be a great calculus book for undergraduates out there, somewhere. I'm not sure this is it (Vector Calculus, Linear Algebra, and Differential Forms: A Unified Approach, by Hubbard & Hubbard seems to be getting raving reviews). It's also very nicely illustrated. As I looked more carefully, I came to realize great care was invested in crafting the illustrations - they are a notch higher in quality and really convey imporant information - you know, just the little details, or complexity, that really make a difference (but let's not get all hyped up about it - today, any modern book is - but this is book is very nice). So, in a nutshell, although I can't vouch for the outstanding quality of the book, my message to those that complained about this being the textbook chosen at their alma mater is: rejoice! You've got a better book than I did! Note: this review is about the 3rd edition; have only consulted the text (i.e., did not work through the whole book in a class). | ||
 | Vector Calculus | |
| "Rejoice if your university made you use it!" | 2005-10-24 |
| First of all, what is this book about? It's just your regular multivariable calculus stuff, what some would have as calculus 2 (others as calculus 3). That being said, from the standpoint of someone forced to live the horrors of another calculus 2 book, where the explanations are simplified to the point of not making any real sense, this is a *much better* book, because at least it attempts to give more detailed explanations, instead of shoving definitions. However, they don't appear to be exceptional and, in fact, some stuff is, well, condensed. I liked the rigor in the notation - very important to get used to healthy habits. I do think it falls a little short of the Essence-Which-a-Calculus-Text-Must-Have, which is to relate the stuff to Physics and applications in a strong way. To reach that goal without dumbing down the explanations and theorems, or making the mathematics so detached from the applications that you loose the connections between the abstractions is a balance that falls upon an author to achieve. After all, Calculus was invented because of Physics (on that note, I liked McCallum's et al. Multivariable Calculus, which was taylored precisely with that aspect as one of its goals - but it's less mathematically advanced). My guess is that there has to be a great calculus book for undergraduates out there, somewhere. I'm not sure this is it (Vector Calculus, Linear Algebra, and Differential Forms: A Unified Approach, by Hubbard & Hubbard seems to be getting raving reviews). It's also very nicely illustrated. As I looked more carefully, I came to realize great care was invested in crafting the illustrations - they are a notch higher in quality and really convey imporant information - you know, just the little details, or complexity, that really make a difference (but let's not get all hyped up about it - today, any modern book is - but this is book is very nice). So, in a nutshell, although I can't vouch for the outstanding quality of the book, my message to those that complained about this being the textbook chosen at their alma mater is: rejoice! You've got a better book than I did! Note: this review is about the 3rd edition; have only consulted the text (i.e., did not work through the whole book in a class). | ||
 | Calculus, Multivariable | |
| "Here's why you should consider buying this book" | 2005-10-22 |
| As you browse books in Amazon, you might think: "oh, yet another Calculus book." First, let me begin by putting this book in its proper context: it is a Calculus 2 book, but not an Advanced Calculus book. But this book has some qualities that set it apart from the heap of Calculus books. First of all, it is the fruition of a Harvard-based consortium with a grant from the National Science Foundation to write a "new" Calculus book. What's new about it? Well, it is based on an "old" philosophy, that I'll paraphrase from the Preface: Calculus was invented to solve problems! So, using Calculus, you can reduce complicated problems to simple ones. Central to this unified, application-oriented approach, every topic is presented numerically, geometrically, and algebraically. Every time, every topic: numerically, geometrically, and algebraically. Now, all contemporary authors of Calculus text would claim to be doing the same. But this way of approaching the subjects is here by design, as a very core characteristic of the text. The result is that you begin to look at the problems as something more than nuisances to be solved by rote learning (gone are the days students got to read Apostol at their first iteration through Calculus...really learning, instead of having dumbed down explanations that, in fact, make learning *harder* - I wasn't one of the lucky ones...) Somehow the authors were very precise and sensitive in identifying "gotchas" in the student's first iteration through multivariable calculus. I discovered this book a bit too late in my Calculus 2 class. But this is a cheaper book than the ones that cost over $100. You should buy it, even as a supplement. Again, keep in mind this is not Advanced Calculus and neither was it meant to be. And insofar as "mathematical rigor" is concerned _at this level_ it is the same - and IMHO even a little better - than some other very popular books. | ||
 | Multivariable Calculus, Student Solutions Manual | |
| "Here's why you should consider buying this book" | 2005-10-22 |
| As you browse books in Amazon, you might think: "oh, yet another Calculus book."
First, let me begin by putting this book in its proper context: it is a Calculus 2 book, but not an Advanced Calculus book. But this book has some qualities that set it apart from the heap of Calculus books. First of all, it is the fruition of a Harvard-based consortium with a grant from the National Science Foundation to write a "new" Calculus book. What's new about it? Well, it is based on an "old" philosophy, that I'll paraphrase from the Preface: Calculus was invented to solve problems! So, using Calculus, you can reduce complicated problems to simple ones. Central to this unified, application-oriented approach, every topic is presented numerically, geometrically, and algebraically. Every time, every topic: numerically, geometrically, and algebraically. Now, all contemporary authors of Calculus text would claim to be doing the same. But this way of approaching the subjects is here by design, as a very core characteristic of the text. The result is that you begin to look at the problems as something more than nuisances to be solved by rote learning (gone are the days students got to read Apostol at their first iteration through Calculus...really learning, instead of having dumbed down explanations that, in fact, make learning *harder* - I wasn't one of the lucky ones...) Somehow the authors were very precise and sensitive in identifying "gotchas" in the student's first iteration through multivariable calculus. I discovered this book a bit too late in my Calculus 2 class. But this is a cheaper book than the ones that cost over $100. You should buy it, even as a supplement. Again, keep in mind this is not Advanced Calculus and neither was it meant to be. And insofar as "mathematical rigor" is concerned _at this level_ it is the same - and IMHO even a little better - than some other very popular books. | ||
 | Elementary Linear Algebra with Applications | |
| "Learn-by-rote Linear Algebra (8th edition)" | 2005-10-19 |
| At my university, David Lay's book is used. They experimented with Anton's (this), and now they're back to Lay's Linear Algebra.Insofar as a Linear Algebra is taught relying heavily on matrixes, I can compare this book with 3 other books: David Lay's; Terry Lawson's; and the one by Hans Schneider and George Barker (Dover book, very cheap). Anton's Linear Algebra has the least theory of all 4. It results in an even poorer product than his Calculus book. Truth be told, I did not use Anton's book, and neither do I wish to. I've suffered too much of his "style" from Calculus, and I saw enough of his Linear Algebra to want to risk jeopardizing my study effort to delve into his book. I'll stick with my other 3 books, thank you very muchIf you must know: as to what regards "theoretical bent", the order is: Schneider > Lawson > Lay > Anton. Applications: Schneider < Lawson ~ Lay < Anton, but only because Anton's discussions are a little more extensive (not by a great margin).Applications really seems to be its strong point, spanning more than 100 pages in a single chapter, with many interesting and somewhat detailed discussions on "Real World" (to use a term dear to Computer Science types) applications: ecology, graph theory, computer tomography, etc. (none of which you'll learn from this book, by the way, each is a field of its own).I can't recommend it, except as a curiosity. | ||
 | Heart of Buddha's Teaching | |
| "A learned and loving book - full of heart" | 2005-10-19 |
| This book explains what the Four Noble Truths are, the Noble Eightfold Path, and other basic buddhists teachings as they relate to your life. For instance, consider the Right Mindfulness: did you know that there are four miracles of Rigth Mindfulness? "The first miracle is to be present (...) in order to get in touch with the blue sky, a flower, or your son's smile.(...) The second miracle of Mindfulness is make the other - the flower, the sky, your son - also be present.(...) The third miracle is that Right Mindfulness nourishes the object of your attention.(...) To love another means to nourish him/her/it with attention.(...) The fourth miracle is that Right Mindfulness eases the suffering of others." Thich Nhat Hanh also explains that when the Right Mindfulness is present the Four Noble Truths and the other seven components of the Eightfold Path are also present. Makes sense! The book is also good for non-buddhists. For example, people who have a superficial knowledge of Buddhism may say it is "negativistic", because the Buddha spoke of "suffering" (dukkha) as an intrinsic quality/experience/fact of this existence (is it not ?). But, as Thich explains, the Buddha also said that cessation of suffering is possible (niroddha)! So Buddha also acknowledged the existence of joy and happiness. So, to say that Buddhism preaches the "everything is suffering and there's nothing to be done", he says, directly contradicts Buddha's preaching! (And, this, of course, is nothing new to buddhists). And so it goes. The Two Truths, the Three Qualities of Dharma, the Three Doors of Liberation, the Five Aggregates, etc. And 3 Suttas. All those teachings are explained as they interweave with each other and with life. If in doubt, do as the Buddha said: do not take any word for granted! - but analyse how those teachings apply to your life. Thich Nhat Hahn wrote a book at the same time learned and simple, for the layman and the initiated, the buddhist and the non-buddhist. The Heart of Buddha's Teaching, no doubt. | ||
 | Mathematics for Computer Graphics Applications: An Introduction to the Mathematics and Geometry of Cad/Cam, Geometric Modeling, Scientific Visualization, and Other Cg Applications | |
 | "Don't. No, no, no." | 2005-10-15 |
| I can't understand the raving reviews. It is weak on math, and has no practical example on CG. Let me give you an example: Chapter 2 (allegedly on "Matrix Methods"), exercise 2.20 (there are 25): Compute the determinant of the following matrix (I'll use Matlab/Scilab notation): M = [ 2 0; -3 2] Are you serious? What about learning Limits and Continuity in one short chapter? No comments...Seriously, if you don't already know this stuff, should you be looking at CG in the first place? After I got this book, I got F.S. Hill's Computer graphics Using OpenGL, which is much thicker, mathematically oriented, and has practical examples in C++, and Parberry's and Dunn's 3D Math Primer for Graphics and Game Development which doesn't attempt so much as Hill's and Mortenson's, but has nice code in C++. There might be better options. Not to mention that one has to buy and study real math books. I give it 1 star as the book falls short of its stated goals of preparing the reader for more advanced study. | ||
 | A Vector Space Approach to Geometry | |
| "Must have if on the road to Linear Algebra" | 2005-09-17 |
| This is one beautiful book. The whole book is one long thread about geometry and vectors. To make this review short, I'll say you absolutely *must* have this book if you want to set yourself on the proper track to Linear Algebra. In fact, this book could almost be considered an Analytic Geometry book 'done right.' But be careful: I said almost. By that I mean that some staple AG stuff is missing. For instance, no long discussions about a plane intersecting a sphere, no quadric surfaces. So it does lack the sort of drill exercises you need to succeed in an AG class - but such stuff is not its purported goal, anyway - but then again, your 'vector 6th sense' will increase tremendously with this book. I wish I had discovered this book while I was having my Analytic Geometry. Now I'm taking a Linear Algebra class and I'm glad I found this book. It also is full of other interesting insights and relations to other topics, including some applications to Calculus (motion) and some topology. | ||
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