There are a fair number of Newton biographies, this one is the most comprehensive and thorough, with a full treatment of the development of Newton's scientific and mathematical thought. What is remarkable is how rapidly Newton mastered the essentials of the techniques of his contemporaries, quietly reaching the forefront of knowledge, this in a few years, and without much prior training before his arrival in the world of Cambridge, where he flowered at once despite the almost defunct educational status of this university. The myth, however, of the annus mirabilis needs replacement with the reality of the anni mirabili, next to the near abandonment of mathematics for some years as Newton's concerns passed to encompass something broader than pure physics and his deskdrawer 'calculus' still embedded in geometrical formalisms. The final composition of the Principia in the wake of the coaxing forth of De Motu is grounds for thunderous applause for Halley who had the presence of mind to grasp who he was dealing with and the politic manner needed to communicate/negotiate with the reclusive prime mover of theory. His great work complete Newton is off to rescue the coinage at the Royal Mint,thence to the forgettable episodes of the priority quarrel with Leibniz. This work is slow but superb on all aspects of Newton's life.

This is the most authorative biograghy of Newton, the greatest genius of all time!! No need to add more words to praise him. Though the book runs over 900 pages, you would be reading the book breathless until the last page!!! ( similar view from other readers. )

This is in the same class as Ray Monk's Wittgenstein biography or Martin Gilbert's Churchill.

I couldn't put it down until I was at the back page, many dozens of hours after I began!

It left me exhausted but enriched!

This sets a standard by which the modern science biography should be judged.

Westfall says something to the effect that the more you know about a person, the closer you get to them, but in Newton's case, the more we learn, the more mysterious he becomes.

You won't be disappointed.

I sometimes read these to my sick and elderly dad at bed time. He loves them. When he's not doing well, is worried about his health, is afraid to close his eyes, the stories work their magic. As I read, he sometimes clucks, murmers "oh, yes," and makes other happy and endearing sounds--just great to hear. If he's still awake at the end, he goes to sleep, fearlessly, with a smile on his face.

Although this set of 36 stories is recommended for reading level 4 to 8 years old, Singer would rightly say that story tellers "write not only for children but also for their parents, they too are serious children." Singer considers children as the best readers of genuine literature, by nature inclined to mysticism, and with their own particular logic and clarity they rely on nothing but their own taste. With an array of supernaturral characters (devils, gnomes, hobgoblings, prophets, imps, saints, and demons) Singer fulfils a mosaic of fantastic imagination, colored by a rich folklore, addressing moral issues that concern the child and the adult as well. Stories such as "Zlateh the Goat," "Popiel and Tekla," "The Power of Light," amongst others, have a universal appeal because they address eternal questions. For Singer, now matter how young a child might be, he is a philosopher and seeker of God. An adult will surely enjoy these tales, and if he can share them with a child then his pleasure will be doubled!

Over the years I've read this book to my daughter several times. As most children, she has her favorites and never tires of those. You've got demons and witches and holy men who fight evil. You've got moral lessons that teach without preaching. All written with compassion and a deft hand. Adventure abounds. Excitement rules the day. You'll find yourself speaking with a Yiddish accent in spite of yourself! And, me, an African American woman! Good books know no color. Pure magic.

The stories here address Jewish themes, but they also address more universally human themes. The best science fiction is as much about the characters and their motives as about technology. The truly sublime stuff gives us an insight into how technology affects the character's motives.

The stories in this book range from the merely great to the truly sublime. Most are humorous and these tend to be the most memorable. This book has quickly become an old friend I pick up when I don't have the energy to read a new book.

I read this book in its first release over twenty years ago. I lent my book out to many of my friends and eventually lost track of it. I just had to have another copy so I bought it once again. "Unto the Fourth Generation" was my introduction to Isaac Asimov and led to my love of his writing over the years. "Look, You Think You've Got Troubles" by Carol Carr is a humorous look at futuristic bigotry ... I think of it as a jewish Archie Bunker in space. All of these short stories are excellent and I look forward to re-reading each and every one of them..

Have you ever found a book that you simply fall in love with for no reason at all? I will confess, WANDERING STARS has enchanted me.

STARS is a book that transcends its target market. It is more than science fiction, more than Jewish. Its themes are universal, its stories are written for those of us who are solidly human.

That such a diverse group of writers could contribute to such a well-rounded anthology is not this book's biggest surprise. The laughter you hear rippling over each page takes that honor.

For the most part, these stories do not fit my definition of "mystery." With the exception of one very neat little Sherlock Holmes pastiche, there usually are no detectives and no whodunnits. The stories feature tales of crime, intrigue, and suspense with surprising plot twists. And the literary genres are as varied as the authors. Some of the stories would even be at home in fantasy and science fiction anthologies.

These short-short stories can give you a few morsels of entertainment at odd moments of leisure in a hectic day's work, or you can curl up in your armchair and bite off huge chunks of reading pleasure in the evenings.

If you're looking for a good book to pass time, pick this one up. My favorite story is "A Feline Felony" by Lael J. Littke. Jerome Kotter was a cat. He walked, talked, and acted like a human though. He grew up living a pretty happy, normal life except for one guy, Benny Rhoades, who made Jerome's life miserable. Jerome survives school and gets a nice job with a nice secretary. He fogets about Benny. One day Benny shows up and he has gotten a job in the mail room. Jerome can't believe it. Latter that week, Jerome and his secretary, Marie, were settled down for a pleasant evening when Benny burst in. He had a gun! Jerome didn't think, he leaped into the air, Benny . . . you'll have to read the story to find out what happens.

I loved this book. If you need to pass some time, and don't want to get involved in a lengthy novel, try this out. Perhaps I should not have said "Horror and Humor" but some of these stories made me chuckle. I love them, and would recommend them and other 100.... collections.

If their is a comic strip more fabulous, I beg the smarmy bitchy gods of fashion to allow me an eensy, weensy peek at it! Its an insider's delight, for certain. But one need not get every joke to really lap it up... One only need love camp, satire and neuroticism to enjoy this! It helps if you have a clue about gay culture, (but, please, why would you be reading this review if you didn't? And, really, SHAME on you if you don't know anything about the life!), a FABULOUS clever witty mind, and you've set foot in NYC (or even Bountiful, Utah. Major double points for moi!) Seriously, I couldn't get enough of this comic strip, and decided (after being halfway through it) that I had to have it, and am so relieved it is not out of print. Get thee to your checkout cart with plastic in hand!Go, go!!!

Isaac Mizrahi has done it again. He truly is a genious, not only in the fashion world, but also in writing. The illustrations are gorgeous and anyone who reads this is sure to fall in love with the lovely and innocent Sandee.

These comics are Smarvelous! I cant wait for a Movie! Every bit was entertaining!

The preface to "The Life of Isaac Newton" starts with "Few men have lived for whom less need exist to justify a biography." To this I would like to add that few books have been written which need to be read more than the "Life of Isaac Newton" by Richard Westfall.

A thorough research of the life and work of one of the greatest geniuses who ever lived, if not the greatest, Westfall paints a vivid picture of the life of Newton from childhood to old age. He describes Newton as not only a scientific genius, but as the person who revolutionized science, and thus influenced the way of thinking, and indeed the way of modern life.

Newton, to be sure, was not an easy person to live with, nor was he a perfect human being. All this however pales in comparison to his superior intellect and deep understanding of nature. The book gives ample accounting of Newton's two great works "Opticks" and "Principia" and how these two have influenced the world he lived in, and the effects they left forever since.

This book is a necessary reading not only for those interested in science, but for all who want to have a glimpse into the way of life in the 16th and 17th centuries, and especially the way science and philosophy spread throughout the world.

Read it!

Shab Levy
Portland, OR 2002

This is a condensed version of "Never at Rest: Biography of Isaac Newton" by the same author. In this new version he took away details that he thought were interesting just to the specialist, so this book was written for the general public (and it indeed succeed to be non-technical).

What is really important about Westfall's work is that he is the only REAL biographer of Isaac Newton, since he was the first (and the last) to make an intensive research about him, seeking Newton's ancestors, tracking all his way through; collecting letters from everyone that had a comma wrote by Newton. Sure, this is the full biography of Newton and everything that you read aside is based on this one (if it's not wrong). The goal of this biography is to be impartial: you certainly won't find the author arguing that Newton was a bad person or glorifying him; he will just narrate and point out the true, the facts, the letters, leaving the interpretation with you. My interpretation is: Newton was a great man, not only because he was a genius, but as an example of humanity. You can disagree... as long as you know the facts; not being influenced by some biographical essay that has more adjectives than verbs.

I couldn't agree with reviewer #1 more! As a doctoral engineer, I thought I knew everything about that greatest scientist that ever lived. But I was wrong. Westfall taught me plenty about his life and times.

This is the book we have all been waiting for. The authors do an amazing job of describing, in understandable terms, how to perform meaningful microarray experiments. I highly recommend this seminal work.

This book is an excellent educational source for the rapidly exploding field of bioinformatics, particularly in the area of functional genomics- i.e. teasing out the functions of the thousands of genes in the genome. Described in clear detail are many approaches to the complex analysis of RNA expression array data, including the appropriate situations for use and advantages and pitfalls inherent in each approach. The reader will learn biological theory integrated with mathematical concepts. The authors also clearly have a lucid understanding of the technical strengths and weaknesses of microarray technology.

The data miners have arrived and are pitching camp around the genomic wellsprings of data opened up by DNA microarrays. To extract the good stuff, however, experiments must be designed and analyzed with care.

This book gathers the pragmatic, candid, useful advice from the pioneers that you'll want to have if you want to join them.

As a music teacher I was really excited to find this book. It combinds two seperate worlds into one. Sometimes deaf or hard-of-hearing students never get to experience the world of music, but this book is GREAT at introducing them to music and a famous, deaf, musician. I really like this book and would recomended it to any teacher to help implement music in their deaf ed. class.

My children loved this book. They have just started to read independently, and I enjoy watching them read and watching their hands move as they easily follow the drawings for signed words. They are fascinated with it, and I think the motion as well as reading makes it even more enjoyable. The story is entertaining, and the use of a balloon or stocking feet to feel sound vibrations is very clever.

We are not part of the deaf community, but books like this one will help to build a positive attitude in my children toward the deaf community.

Moses' deafness does not prevent him from enjoying a concert nor impede his communication with his classmates; they are deaf too. Their ideas flow freely among each other in American Sign Language. Afterwards, they interact spiritedly with the deaf percussionist who bears more than a passing ressemblance to Evelyn Glennie, the true-life celebrity deaf musician. While the kids have a stimulating field trip, we see that where there is language (no matter the form) and understanding, deafness is no disability. In fact, they go confidently into a domain one would think a bastion of hearing people -- the concert hall -- both as patron and star performer. Could the lone deaf child struggling in an all-hearing school have it this good? With light-hearted watercolor illustrations, this book is a uniquely positive portrayal of deaf children, at home in the "hearing" world and with themselves. Destined to be a watershed work, it may very well be the only juvenile trade book currently on the market addressing deafness without obliging the protagonist (of any age) to be an isolated individual in a social sea of moving lips, bereft of the playful and loving relationships many deaf children enjoy in a portable environment where signing is the preferred means of communication.

I like this book, it is very attentitive to small details, the resulting paintings are very naturalistic and often very dramatic as well. The artist knows about nature and it shows.
The illustrations are absolutely gorgeous and you just sit there, stuck and fascinated.

The book is using acrylic paints, but the book can be absolutely and utterly recommended for oil and watercolor as well. Even if you aren't an artist it is well worth just for browsing on the coffee table... Buy it, steal it, borrow it, just Get it.

In contrast to the abundance of books on oil and watercolor painting there are few high quality books on acrylic painting. This book however helps fill that gap. The numerous photos of step-by-step techniques for painting everything from backgrounds to various types of fur (dry, wet, patterned, white) to eyes, feathers, leaves, grass, clouds, water, waterdrops, rocks, snow, special effects and a gallery of textures is a feast for the eyes. If not for the close-up photos I would think Mr. Isaac was painting in oil.

The author covers composition do's and don'ts, balance, repetition, lighting, getting a correct pose and other tips for integrating the subject into the scene. The numerous demonstrations list the supplies used for each painting followed with step-by-step details of composition and techniques. The end of the book shows a gallery of some of Isaac's paintings and an index. These techniques can be used by anyone wanting to paint wildlife scenes in an opaque manner - not only acrylics. I've sat with this book open beside my paintings and continually used these techniques for several wildlife paintings I made in casein, Chromacolour and even alkyd. This is a book to be used, not read then stored away on the bookshelf. Get it and see your wildlife paintings improve.

This book like the artist is top notch. It's hard to find a book done by a world class artist. Terry Isaac is such an artist. Any one of the concepts presented in this book it worth the books price. All aspects of his thought processes and painting technics are revealed. Terry shows step by step examples of how he created works that he exhibits, not stuff whipped out to create a book. If your looking for a book on wildlife painting or landscape painting your not going to find a better book.

Isaac Deutscher is the only one capable of writing such a great book about one of Russias' greatest man. This book is made up of three parts, three components. The Prophet Unarmed, The Prophet Armed, and the Prophet Outcast are combined to create a monumental book on a monumental man.

This is an excellent biography of Trotsky, and, despite the fact it takes up 3 books, it makes up excellent reading and gives one understanding of not just the life of Trotsky, but the reason for many of the peculiar changes that happened in the USSR in it's early days. It leaves the reader quite well informed, and one gets to meet quite a few revolutionaries through the book, including Zasulich, Axelrod, Plekhanov, and Parvus. Get it!

This is a great and very informative book, you never get tired of reading it