Realm of Algebra by Isaac Asimov is a short introduction to the basics of algebra. It's only about 150 pages, outlining concepts, running through examples and pulling together things you've already learned in arithmetic. The beginning of the book demystifies algebra, then Asimov goes on to show you how to work out all the a's, b's, x's and y's. This is not a textbook and it's not a workbook; it is a basic introduction to the subject. Asimov is a great writer and he actually uses English sentences to explain the formulas.

If you are taking algebra for the first time or brushing up some rusty math skills, this is a great book to have. You'll definitely come away having learned a thing or two. If you are a publisher, please resurrect this book. It deserves to be in print. (There are used copies out there for (dollar amount), but an alternative book is Algebra Unplugged by Ken Amdahl. That one is more basic, but still very good.)

Concur with all previous reviewers; why wasn't this required reading when I learned (or was supposed to have learned!) algebra in school! Outstanding little book possessing far more wisdom and information than its small (paperback) size would seem to indicate. A real collectors piece!

I'm not a math whiz by any stretch of the imagination, and had a fear of math when I was 12. But I picked up this book by Asimov, and learned algebra on my own that summer! It was so easy to understand, and the concepts were so clearly delineated. I'm looking for this book for my 12 year old son, and am sad that it's out of print. I know he'd love it and learn as quickly as I did. I wish they'd reprint this book, ASAP. I can't even find it in our local library. The card catalog says it's lost--yeah, right. I'm sure someone decided to keep the book because it's so good, dang it.

It is truly amazing that someone with this gift of writing and background could rise cto a position of prominence and responsibility within Salomon Bros. Moreoever, to have maintained his career despite Kaufman, Merriweather, Gutfreund and others truly speaks to the value of a Brooklyn disparate youth. Worth reading.

While clearly the work of a deranged, borderline sociopathic personality, it's a great collection of stories. I laughed hard enough to burst capillaries in my head, which I think is causing hair to grow back (a nice side benefit). I recommend this for everyone except for kids who live in my neighborhood, who definitely don't need any new ideas.

I enjoy this book not only because of all the hilarious experiences in the author's life, but also because of the warmth loving feeling he had treasured each event. I am touched by his sincerity.

Este libro es la chispa de la cual surguio una de las mas grandes historias de CF. Esta historia describe a la humanidad desde dentro una actualidad ficticia hasta un futuro muy lejano. Este libro se situa en ese futuro y tiene todos los elemantos para que se puedan escribir otros libros en torno a el. La idea de una ciancia historica, del los viajes por el hiperespacio y de sociedades en planteas enteros bajo techo es maravillosa. Aunque Asimov no tiene una prosa muy elaborada, no toma pretenciones y solo cuenta una buena historia.

El inicio de una trilogia sensacional, nada en la obra de Asimov se compara a Fundacion, y sus secuelas. El propio Isaac, ha declarado que su carrera se divide en un antes y un despues de esta obra. Inspirado en el ascenso y posterior caida del imperio romano, Asimov imagina una sociedad humana dentro de unos 20.000 años, en la que la decadencia y la corrupcion empiezan a destruir al grandioso Imperio Galactico. Un libro para recomendar, con personajes grandiosos entre los que se destaca el genio de la Psicohistoria, Hari Seldon.

Esta es una excelente historia de ciencia ficción. La posibilidad de predecir el futuro mediante un modelo matemático del comportamiento de grandes grupos de gente, echa a volar la imaginación. Los héroes de esta historia son personas con grandes cualidades, pero con defectos, que toman decisiones en ocasiones asertadas y en otras equivocadas, que al final forman parte de un plan establecido por Hari Sheldon, muerto hace muchos años, para establecer un nuevo imperio galáctico luego de la caida del actual, predicha por él. La segunda parte de esta historia es del mismo modo excelente, y la intervención del Mulo le da un tono mítico, como en las obras de homero, en esta secuela aparece un personaje que esta fuera de toda predicción y afecta de grán manera el plan Sheldon. Lee toda la serie es muy buena!!!

It's always hard to talk about Holocaust; it's unbearable to look at pictures of people tortured there. This book is such a masterpiece it does not go into engrossed misery, it's about a guy ending up with 3 wifes as a result of a terrible war... It's funny and ironic - no conclusions - it's all up to the reader to think about it...

Singer establishes a tragic situation, then has the nerve to make a comedy. Nobody else could achieve this delicate balance. If you're interested in exploring Singer, start here. Then read his posthumously published novels: The Certificate, then Shadows on the Hudson. If you don't like them, I'll give you your money back.

This novel is the story of a Holocaust survivor and his attempt to juggle three women in mid-20th century New York City. Although there are some amusing moments, this is not a book to be taken lightly. The devastation these people have suffered because of the Nazis has all but left empty shells. Singer's style in this novel is quick-paced and straightforward with remarkable dialogue.

There is a hunger in everyone for something...the type and intensity of the hunger just varies from person to person. This book explores many types of hunger and a wide range of feelings experienced, if not readily admitted to, by everyone. When I read this book, I wasn't quite sure what to expect.'Hunger' is mysterious, haunting, and intriguing on many levels...and entertaining too! As I read deeper, into and past the words, I found myself wondering what I would do were I in a particular character's shoes or thinking "Hey! I know how that feels!" It's a journey well worth the taking down an interesting literary trail...though I'm still wondering where the ghost town heroine ends up.....: )

The first time I opened the cover of 'Hunger' I anticipated a "nice interesting little book". Since I had just finished Margaret Atwood's 'The Robber Bride' I did not expect anyone to measure up to Atwood's genius for reaching inside and stirring up the old emotive cauldron. I STAND CORRECTED! After the first dozen pages, I knew I was in for the emotional ride of my life. It seemed as if Ms. Miller had somehow gotten her hands on the journals I kept during my late 20s and 30s. So many times I too had longed to escape. With 'Hunger' I found the perfect hideout in the ghost town. It can be a bit disconcerting facing old foes, but it has certainly been a growing experience. You can escape from everyone but yourself and that is the one spirit you must face up to. I am now on my third reading. 'Hunger' is not a book for the shallow of heart or mind. But anyone willing to step out on that literary tightrope will be richly rewarded.

I felt the writing was almost surgical, folding back layer after layer of ego and emotion to explore the essential self. Her focus is on women's sexuality and self image, but she doesn't shy away from exploring, and honoring, the masculine. Very courageous. The question of, "who am I when no one else is around?" at the center of the title novella is one I'm sure everyone has asked themselves. Miller answers mystery with mystery. The reality in this story seems more flexible than ours; I was thoroughly intrigued. Six short stories continue to address issues of self, sex, and society in the second half of the book. I found the writing so compelling I wanted to read them one after another -- but I also wanted to savor them one at a time. There's so much to enjoy and think about here, it definitely did not leave me hungry.

I though Galileo's Daughter was the best book I read last year, and this one is a close second. Only James Gleick has the self-confidence and skill to synthesize the life of Newton down to 191 succinct and fascinating pages. The average author, full of himself, would probably write about 1,191 pages and you wouldn't be able to lift the book. This is a masterpiece of time, space, light and color. A reader in motion will tend to remain in motion. It was just great, I read it in one sitting. I hope this starts a trend!

I'm not a mathematician; I'm not even much good at arithmetic. Once when trying to count backward from 100 by 7's I started with 97, went to 93, and gave up. Of course I was lying in a hospital bed, but even at my best I wouldn't have gotten far. I tell you this because I approached "Isaac Newton," by James Gleick expecting to read the introduction, pick up a few bits-and-bobs, and bail out. What a surprise to find myself reading even while walking to the bus stop. Thank you, Mr. Gleick for a fascinating biography that doesn't bog down in numbers, but still imparts the scientific information salient to Mr. Newton's life.

Isaac Newton was a piece of work. A scientist, but also a student of biblical prophecy; a chemist, but also an alchemist; a public figure as well as something of a recluse; a fountain of learning who refused to publish. Isaac Newton was a man of his times, and Mr. Gleick points out the very interesting paradox that Newton lived in a pre-Newtonian world. Of course he would be filled with contradictions. Even so, Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz, Newton's contemporary and a philosopher/mathematician in his own right who found himself at odds with Newton by independently inventing differential and integral calculus, told the Queen of Prussia that "in mathematics there was all previous history, from the beginning of the world, and then there was Newton; and that Newton's was the better half."

If you would like a better understanding of the laws of nature we take for granted, and an understanding of the life and times of the complicated man who formulated them for us, then I recommend this highly readable (and mathematically understandable) biography.

James Gleick's book Isaac Newton presents the life, the oddities and the great discoveries of the man who set the foundations of modern physics. Gleick has a unique talent for rendering science in layman terms. He preserves and sometimes amazingly expands the scope of the original ideas. When I read his book Chaos I wondered - Gleick seemed too vivid and comprehensible for a scientist and in the same time too penetrating for a writer who is not a professional researcher.

Maybe you would like to see what creates the observations described by Newton in his famous laws. Perhaps you have been sometimes puzzled by the enigmatic meaning of your life. Then you should read also Eugene Savov's Theory of Interaction the Simplest Explanation of Everything, James Gleick's Faster and Sync: The Emerging Science of Spontaneous Order by Steven Strogatz. The explorations and discoveries presented in these three books show a path toward a new knowledge in which the laws of Newton and his genius shine even brighter.

This guidebook has been meticulously researched and gives readers the kind of heads-up needed to get in the best schools and find money to pay for it. Solid info and insider coaching for every phase of the process. Invaluale.

This book is outstanding! I should have ordered two copies, because my daughter and I hounded each other for the book. We couldn't put it down. It gives great advice on every aspect of the application process. It gave my daughter the extra confidence that she needed. My daughter took it to school and everyone who saw the book wanted to know where and how to get it. Every student should have a copy of this book. I highly recommend it.

This book is an OUTSTANDING resource for high school students and parents who want a nuts-and-bolts guide to navigating the confusing college admissions and financial aid process with a sensitivity to issues concerning African Americans!!! I only wish that I could have benefitted from the wealth of information included in the pages of the Black Excel African American Student's College Guide back when I was a high school student! I would definitely recommend this book not only for African American high school students, but also for junior high school students who have aspirations to obtain a college education and get into the best school for them! I commend Isaac Black for writing this book and I plan to continue to recommend it to students that I mentor and meet!

I gave this collection of short stories as a housewarming gift. My friend says that this is not bedtime reading, so, WARNING, this collection of short stories can promote nightmares! However, she states that in the daytime, the stories are excellent.

It almost feels like a guilty pleasure, reading these stories and enjoying them so much. No self-willed stylistic twitchings, no self-conscious twisting and burnishing of sentences or opacity. Pure brilliance, sentence by sentence and, more important, story by story, is what the collection comprises. Somehow, Singer writes page turners that gratify the heart as much as the head. Even if you're a fan of post-modern ironists, take a look at these stories. You'll probably love them. And you don't have to have a working knowledge or, or interest in, Judaism. Beware, however. Disaffection for this collection is a strong indication of a mind in search of a soul.

Invidious or not, comparisons between writers--particularly if they inhabit similar genres--are inevitable. Hemingway used the analogy of boxing: Faulkner could go, say, ten rounds with any of his contemporaries but would be knocked out by Joyce. (I'm paraphrasing but you get the idea.) Well, in every book about the craft of fiction I've read, and nearly every interview with contemporary writers, Chekhov is acclaimed as the master of the short story. Singer is rarely mentioned. When he is, it's often with a patronizing wink, as if he were a quaint old boor to be respected more for nostalgia's sake than merit. In fact, Singer is the undisputed heavyweight champ of the short story. His stories seem less crafted than channeled, as if Singer had a pipeline to Heaven and was God's amanuensis. Henry Miller said that reading Singer was like "eating pie." In other words, pure pleasure. He's right, but along with the pleasure, these stories go straight to the soul and stick. It's not hyperbole to say that Singer's stories capture and convey life--and sometimes the afterlife--in all its humor, sadness, beauty and wonder. Buy this book.

Just as the James Bond film From Russia With Love improved on the already good Dr. No, so too does Hokkaido Popsicle succeed in comparison with its predecessor, Tokyo Suckerpunch. FUN - that's still the operative word when it comes to Isaac Adamson's Billy Chaka series. Although the mystery aspect is more than sufficent, I think Adamson's best moments as a writer involve the hilarious comedic set-ups that occur between the protagonist and the outlandish characters that populate his Japanese Chaka-verse. Overall, it's a fun book. (Though I do like it, I hesitate to give it a gushing five-star review. I mean, it ain't Shakespeare folks.)

Bought this book on the advice of a friend just before RETURNING to Tokyo from summer holiday. What a great way to ease back into the Tokyo Metropolis! Isaac Adamson has managed to craft an exciting page-turner that pegs Tokyo and pop culture in Japan to a T. The characters are three dimensional, the plot keeps you glued to book, the twists and turns difficult to predict and...the story (or at least MOST of it) believable. My only disappointment was that I could not get my hands on Tokyo Suckerpunch before reading this book (I have ordered it though). I will be recommending this to my Japanese and Gaijin friends. Oh...great cover! I noticed quite a few Tokyoites checking out the cover on the Chuo train during rush hour. Looking forward to Billy Chaka's next adventure...Gambatte o kudasai!

It's Philip Marlowe as played by Bruce Campbell doing a Lupin the 3rd meets Spike Spiegel from Cowboy Bebop in a Sam Raimi production. Isaac Adamson nailed a genre in his second book. This is not only a really good murder mystery, it's a really good noir tale, an extremely funny story, and a pretty adept caricature of Japanese Pop Culture. Or should that be characterization?

The lines are certainly blurred between the real Tokyo and the hyper-kinetic, overly neon pink, city of all things cute and quirky Tokyo as written by Adamson in Hokkaido Popsicle.

Some would take exception to this book as being "insensitive" to Japanese and Japan by stereotyping. My thoughts are, if you can't make caricatures of teen beat journalists, yakuza bosses and henchmen, strippers, self absored rock stars, or cops with chips on their shoulders then who can you make caricatures of?

This book is a romp from beginning to end. The dialogue and narration is inspired and genuinely funny throughout. The plot is quite well conceived and pulled off. And each and every character is unique, interesting, and given their moment to shine at one point or other during the story.

Billy Chaka, the protagonist, is a great launching pad for a slew of follups to Adamson's Tokyo Suckerpunch and the, in my opinion, better 2nd book, Hokkaido Popsicle. Adamson has created a character you love to love and hate through all of his bumbling, fetishistic adventures.

Chaka is irreverant and driven in his pursuit for the truth, whether it be in his spiritual calling to write bubblegum articles for teenagers in Youth in Asia magazine, or his next murder mystery investigation he gets drawn to like a moth to a flame.

Adamson has developed as a writer since his initial Billy Chaka adventure. There's less exposition, explanation, or asking of permission in the narration where Billy Chaka's wisecracks are concerned, so now you either get Chaka or you don't. Sometimes things can be obtuse, but if you give in to Chaka's mannerisms and thought patterns, it all falls into place naturally and is much more enjoyable.

Adamson has gone all out in crafting the dialogue this time around so that every line is interesting in phrasing and context, making it more rich than his work in his first book, Tokyo Suckerpunch. And it pays off in spaids! Tokyo Suckerpunch gives the reader a nod to what can be done with these characters in this setting, Hokkaido Popsicle takes it and runs!

A wonderfully-written story of spiritual and romantic love.

this book is the greatest book ive ever read. it is a powerfull love story set against the exotic background of seventeenth century poland. the slave has such a strong, compelling story to tell that its appeal is both contemporary and universal.... "it's a beautiful story"

The Slave by Nobel prize winner Isaac Bashevis Singer is probably one of the most profound books I ever read. Yep, no kidding.

The Slave is basically the story of a Jew man stranded somewhere in 18th century Poland by the diaspora. On his own living in a Christian village, our protagonist desperately tries to hold on to his religion by reciting psalms and performing all the rituals to the letter so as to not forget them and offend god. He says that the only way someone could tell he was a Jew was his circumcision - he had none of the garments, scriptures and objects that could point that out. He even would engrave on a stone all that he could remember from the Holy books.

He eventually leaves the village and runs across a number of people of different backgrounds and meets and falls in love with a gentile women. He takes her with him in search of his people and eventually runs into a very "proper" Jewish community. They did everything "by the book", showing immense respect and doing all the right things to be "good". But he soon realizes that so many people were filled with hypocrisy, spite, and deception that you wouldn't expect from such "quality" folk. Of course, he must hide the true former religion (she converts for him) of his wife for it was nearly impossible to convert in those days. And while she is the kindest person, she is soon despised by the community... So even though these people looked perfect on the outside were not nearly as good to the higher being that they supposedly worshipped while the woman that had nothing to do with the community was the kindest person.

Singer, who writes in Yiddish and then supervises the translation, writes a very powerful book that really transcends religion. One might think that this is very "Jewish". Sure it is, but that's not the point. It will make many people look at themselves and make them realize that doing everything "by the book", whether it be religion or just life, doesn't mean that you are inherently a good person. The Slave is a fantastic novel that is fantastically written that I highly recommend.