Used price: $2.20
Collectible price: $10.59
Buy one from zShops for: $3.99
List price: $15.00 (that's 30% off!)
Used price: $8.65
Collectible price: $9.53
Buy one from zShops for: $9.85
List price: $45.00 (that's 56% off!)
Its authors caveat is that "science can only operate as a work in progress without perfect knowledge, and we much therefore leave a great deal out from ignorance --- especially in a historical field like paleontology, where we must work with the strictly limited evidence of a very imperfect fossil record." It's that fossil record, that the book presumes is accurate in its layer-by-layer record through time, that requires scrutiny. The oldest fossils are found in the bottom layers and the youngest in the top layers of rock, but little or no evidence is presented to provide skeptical readers information they can decipher for themselves as to the accuracy of fossil dating by rock layers. Are we to believe, without exception, that the fossil record is progressive from bottom to top? What about fossilized trees that protrude through millions of years of time? They are conveniently omitted. Michael Benton of England's Bristol University, one of the book's contributors, says "All the periods in the geological time scale receive their names in recognition of obvious changes in the fossil record." Yet, to the contrary, Benton adds, "the history of Earth's crust has been far too violent to preserve much more than a random sample."
Its general editor, Stephen Jay Gould, is magnanimous in his promotion of a single theory of man's origins, from monkeys he and most other fossil hunters say.
There may be missing pieces to the paleontological puzzle, but the bone diggers cliam they have finally filled in the evolutional blanks and can conclusively attest to the idea that life evolved from simpler single-celled organisms into modern man. The book's most ardent opponents are taken head on by Gould: "The lack of fossil intermediates had often been cited by creationists as a supposedly prime example for their contention that intermediate forms not only haven't been found in the fossil record but can even be conceived." But Gould holds a trump card. He says: "a lovely series of intermediary steps have now been found in rocks.... in Pakistan. This elegant series, giving lie to the creationist claims, includes the almost perfectly intermediate Ambulocetus (literally, the walking whale), a form with substantial rear legs to complement the front legs already known from many fossil whales, and clearly well adapted both for swimming and for adequate, if limited, movement on land." Oddly, the book never shows a drawing of Ambulocetus, but does have an illustration of a skeleton of a 400-million year old fish with a small underside fin bone the authors claim "must have evolved" into legs in four-legged animals. Man's imagination is not found wanting here. Out of millions of fossils collected and stored in museums, is Ambulocetus the main piece of evidence for evolutionary theory?
Richard Benton says that Charles Darwin had hoped the fossil record would eventually confirm his theory of evolution, but "this has not happened," says Benton. Darwin hoped newly-discovered fossils would connect the dots into a clear evolutionary pattern. The book attempts to do that with its fictional drawings of apes evolving into pre-humans (hominids) and then modern man. Yet the book is not without contradictions. It says: "It remains uncertain whether chimpanzees are more closely related to modern humans or to the gorilla."
The horse is shown as evolving from a small, four-toed to a large one-toed animal over millions of years. There are different varieties of horses, yet there is no evidence that a horse ever evolved from another lower form of animal, nor that horses evolved into any other form of animal.
Another evolutionary puzzle that goes unexplained in the book is the pollination of flowers. How did bees and flowers arrive simultaneously in nature? What directed the appearance of one separate kingdom of life (insects) with that of another?
The book describes 6 1/2-foot millipedes and dragonflies with the wing span of a seagull, but gives no explanation for them. Life was unusual in the past and not all forms fit evolutionary patterns. Consider the popular supposition that life evolved from the sea onto land. That would make more advanced forms of intelligence land bearing. But the aquatic dolphins defy that model, since they are among the smartest mammals.
The book maintains an "out of Africa" scenario for the geographical origins of man, but recent fossil finds in Australia challenge that theory and even the book's authors admit that "a single new skull in an unexpected time or place could still rewrite the primate story." Consider Java man (Homo erectus), once considered the "missing link" and dated at 1.8 million years old. Modern dating methods now estimate Java man to be no more than 50,000 years of age, a fact that was omitted from this text.
Creativity, invention and language are brought out as unique human characteristics. Yet the true uniqueness of man is not emphasized. Humans biologically stand apart from animals in so many ways. Humans can be tickled whereas animals cannot. Humans shed emotional tears, animals do not. The book does not dare venture beyond structure and function, beyond cells and DNA, to ask the question posed by philosophers --- does man have a soul? The Bible speaks of a soul 533 times, this "book of life," not once.
Gould's temple is science. He calls the scientific method "that infallible guide to empirical truth." Science works by elimination. It can only work from experiment to experiment, eliminating what is not true. It can say what is probable, it can never say what is true. Gould appears to begrudge the shackles of science by stepping outside its boundaries in overstating what it can accomplish. Whereas creationists await the day they will stand in judgment before God, for the evolutionists Gould says "Someday, perhaps, we shall me our ancestors face to face." Imagine, standing there looking at a man-like monkey skeleton.
One cannot fault the flaws in this book. After all, it was written by highly evolved apes.
And please don't buy some creationists' claims that this is science fiction. The contents of this book is based on material from thousands of scientific articles in peer-reviewed scientific journals such as "Nature" and "Science", representing the fruits of the hard labour of paleontologists from all over the world. And the fossil record, even if it is convincing in itself, is far from the only support for evolution. Independent evidence for evolution can also be found in biogeography, development, molecular analyses (gene DNA, junk DNA, mtDNA etc), anatomical analyses, and even field observations of new species evolving. This large amount of evidence is why evolution is considered an established and undisputable fact. Of course, if one rather than facts wants comic book fantasies such as humans coexisting with dinosaurs and evil scientists conspiring to hide the truth, then one should look for creationist books instead. Or comic books.
List price: $14.95 (that's 30% off!)
Used price: $10.42
Buy one from zShops for: $10.42
List price: $35.00 (that's 30% off!)
Used price: $19.60
Buy one from zShops for: $21.00
Answers here are in the subject. Andrew Carnegie was once the richest man in the world. At the height of his wealth he had $100 billion dollars in today's dollars. Bill Gates had $50 billion at the height of the stock market bubble.
By the time he died Carnegie gave almost all of his money away. Carnegie was the first of the super-rich to become famous for his giving and tried to justify himself and build a philosophy around it.
That philosophy centered around Herbet Spencer's theories of social darwinism that justified his accumulation of money through a fight to the death against competitors and cost cutting that brought slave wages to many of his workers. Krass notes that the money Carnegie committed to libraries in the 1880's was almost the same that he spent on wages.
Carnegie wrote an important essay called the "gospel of wealth" in which he tried to explain his position in society - calling people like himself people who rose to the top due to superiority and whose wealth they used as a "trustee" for the better of society.
That essay is Carnegie's central importance in history - he provided the philisophical underpinning for the "robber baron."
Krass's book is the first major biography of Carnegie written in 30 years. It provides an excellent window into the era that Carnegie lived in and the more open and individualistic capitalism of the times. After Carnegie big business would be dominated by "trusts" and the "finance capitalism" of interlocking directorates and bankers. At one time the bank of Morgan had a person sitting on the board of directors of the 30 largest companies in America.
But Carnegie orgininated the modern foundation and giving programs of the super-rich which continues until this day.
Krass starts his book off with a discussion of the wide disparity between Carngies money and his treatment of his workers. As the book goes on though his portrayal of Carnegie mellows. In fact if you just read the first few pages and stopped you wouldn't get a good idea of what this book is really like. However, those first few pages give you an idea of what drew Krass to Carnegie - the role of the super-rich in society and the contradictions that they reveal. Although Carnegie thought he was superior to most people he believed he had a responsibility too.
Used price: $4.27
Collectible price: $10.59
Buy one from zShops for: $10.00
This is the best book i have read in 2001. (it was published in march 2001 here) and i enjoyed it more than i think i have ever enjoyed anything. Hill's plotting is superb, and his characters equally sublime.
This is truly a word puzzle, he lays out the clues for you along the way, but in such a way that you dont realize youre being fed clues (and in some cases red herrings) When you get to the end, it all makes some kind of glorious sense, and you wonder how stupid you were for missing all the little hints.
This IS his best d&p. and perosnally, it is probably my favourite book ever. (i speak nay in jest). the characters in this book are superb, especially Hat Bowler and Rye Pomona. They are rather simple, (alright, only Hat is, Rye is as deep as the maraianas trench) but his simplicity is compelling. He holds some kind of innocence, a son-like quality, which just makes you care for him and want it all to work out well for the poor lad.
It was a great book, until the end. Upon which it became a SUPERB book! Hill really outdoes himself with the end (and i really really hope they didnt change it one iota in the american version, as they sometimes tend to do, because it really was a great ending). For pages he's tricking you, then suddenly you see it all. You're in shock, then he explains it, making you feel like an idiot for not spotting it sooner.
Really, you should read some of the previous d & p books, as there are some vague references to them. You can probably get by without having read them, but if you read An Advancement of Learning, it will certainly help you.
As ever, Dalziel brings forth many a chuckle. But in this book he seems to take a back seat, becomeing much more the overseer of events, taking on a somewhat god-like quality. He isnt always right there, but his prescence and influence can almost always be felt.
This is, in short, nothing less than a superb book. If you miss it, you are definitely missing out, on a great reading experience.
You dont even have to like word puzzles. Whatever sort of book you like, this is one not to miss. Under any circumstances.
and just revel in the ending
There are only a few times in my life that immediately upon finishing a book, I've turned to the beginning and immediately reread it, but this book definitely warranted it. The puzzles within puzzles within puzzles were brilliant.
The book begins with a librarian and his assistant reading the entries for a local writing contest. One anonymous writer's submissions claim that two recent accidental deaths were actually murders. The police are skeptical, but some a third death occurs which is undoubtably murder, and Dalziel and Pascoe know they have a serial killer at work, a killer whose obsession with word games prompts his readers to call him the Wordman.
This is more than a simple mystery novel, but a wonderful exploration of words and meaning and storytelling. Even as the characters point out how words can twist and mislead, Hill twists and misleads us in those exact ways, even until the harrowing climax, and the wrenching unexpected twist that follows, and the brilliant last line that caps everything that has gone before. Hill is a master of words, and there is not one placed wrongly in this entire elaborate puzzle of a novel.
Used price: $0.01
Collectible price: $0.95
Buy one from zShops for: $0.67
When this book was published in 1992, it was dismissed by the establishemnt as being a pack of lies, but ultimately they, and the public too, discovered that it wasn't when Charles admitted his infidelity with the redoubtably ugly and gauche Camilla Parker Bowles, and when, in her astonishingly frank Panorama interview, Diana candidly shared the harrowing details of her eating disorder, bulimia.
This book succeeded on many levels. It certainly exposed the shocking truth about the Royal marriage and portrayed the Royal Family, for the first time ever, not as cherished icons but as ordinary individuals with more than their share of character defects (and this means Diana, too!) But it ultimately succeeded in its portrayal of an immature twenty year old girl, who won the hearts of the world when she kissed the Prince, only to have him become a toad, to the beautiful, compassionate symbol of kindness, caring, and humanity that she was when she was so tragically snatched away from the world. For it was the publication of this book that enabled Diana to seek a new life for herself, and in doing so she developed the character traits that enabled us all to fall in love her, this time more completely, again and again and again.
Used price: $8.50
Buy one from zShops for: $12.28
List price: $59.99 (that's 30% off!)
Used price: $31.99
Buy one from zShops for: $34.99
The chapter on XML Schemas was the worst, in my opinion. This is a very important subject, but it is given the same amount of space as much less important topics. As a result, the author of this chapter tries to cover too much in too little space and ends up being quite confusing. Examples are thrown out followed by only partial explanations, and the author forgets to do some basic things like showing a sample XML document to match the sample XML Schemas in the examples. If you need to understand XML Schemas, skip this chapter and go directly to "Professional XML Schemas," which is very well written book on the subject.
This book is also too large and attempts to cover too many obscure topics. For example, it wastes a chapter on "XML Schema Alternatives" when it is clear that XML Schema is the approach that will be used by almost everyone going forward.
Finally, my standard complaint about all WROX books is that the font they use is too small! I feel like I'm reading a telephone book. Give the readers a break by taking out some of the less important chapters and increasing the font size.
In Chapter 1, XML is introduced as a mark-up language and its inherent extensibility emphasized. This is followed by a detailed treatment of XML syntax in the next chapter, with emphasis placed on the hierarchical nature of XML. The authors do include a discussion of Processing Instructions (PIs) for users who want to use XML in this fashion.
Document Type Definitions (DTD) are the subject of Chapter 3, where the authors communicate effectively how DTDs formal grammar is used to specify the structure and permissible values of XML documents. The formal DTD structure is discussed, and the principles behind writing DTDs are effectively outlined. They also discuss the problems with using DTDs.
Data modeling with XML is discussed in the next chapter, with information modeling via static and dynamic models treated in detail, and the authors carefully distinguish these two approaches. The actual designing of XML documents is given a nice overview as well as the role of schemas in XML. This is followed in Chapter 6 by a discussion of the (tree-based) Document Object Model, which overviews how XML documents can be accessed by various programs. Some helpful examples are given on how the DOM can be used to create an XML document programmatically. An alternative way of processing an XML document is discussed in the next chapter on the (event-based) SAX interface. The authors outline in detail the benefits of using SAX rather than DOM. In Appendix B the reader will find the Internet Explorer 5.0 XML DOM 1.0 W3C specifications. In addition, in Appendix C, the specification for the SAX 1.0 interface is given.
The shortcomings of DTD are addressed in terms of XML Schemas and namespaces in chapter 7. Since this book was published, XML Schemas have reached W3C recommendation status as of Nov 2000. The authors give a good overview of namespaces and schemas, with helpful examples. This is followed in chapter 8 by a discussion of how to link and query into XML documents using the XML information set, XLink, XPath, XPointer, XML Fragment Interchange, with XLST covered in the next chapter. For database applications, the authors outline the differences between relational databases and XML documents. A very detailed treatment of how XLST transforms the source document is given, and the authors compare XLS and DOM transformations. An Internet Explorer XSL reference is included in one of the appendices of the book.
More details on the relationship between databases and XML is the subject of chapter 10, wherein the authors show how to store XML and how data can be communicated between different servers using XML. The issues involved when moving data from RDBMS to OODBMS or from Oracle to Sybase, are discussed by the authors. This is followed by an interesting discussion on how to use XML as a distributed component model for server-to-server communications via XML-Remote Procedure Call and Simple Object Access Protocol.
E-commerce applications are discussed in the next chapter, with EDI and its improvement via XML. The business markup language cXML , which allows business to business electronic commerce transactions across the Internet, is also treated in detail.
The authors then finally discuss how to render XML documents more readable and pleasing for the viewer in the next chapter using the style languages CSS and XSL. The discussion is really interesting, for the authors dig a little deeper into the foundations of style languages. The discussion of style languages as rule-based languages is particularly illuminating.
The next chapter is very interesting and its inclusion is actually very surprising, namely a discussion of the Wireless Application Protocol. The authors give an introduction to the Wireless Markup Language and WMLScript. The book ends with four useful chapters on case studies for data duality, distributed applications, a book catalog information service, and SOAP.
There are many applications of XML in many different areas, such as CellML (proprietary) used in cell biology, CML (Chemical Markup Language) for molecular chemistry, IML (Instrument Markup Language) for control of laboratory equipment, BSML (Bioinformatic Sequence Markup Language) for gene sequencing, and MathML for formatting of mathematical equations. I find XML an extremely powerful approach to information reporting and I am currently developing a package called NMML (Network Modeling Markup Language) for use in reporting results in simulation and mathematical modeling of networks, and FMML (Financial Modeling Markup Language) for use in reporting results in the modeling of financial instruments. This book, along with the W3C specifications, has been a tremendous help in the development of these applications.