If you don't feel like reading Simom Schama's 600+ page EMBARRASSMENT OF RICHES, or Israel's 1100+ page THE DUTCH REPUBLIC, Simon Zumthor's DAILY LIFE IN REMBRANDT'S HOLLAND may be the book for you. Zumthor's book was written in French, and first published in English the early 1960s. My paperback copy was published in 1994 by Standford University as part of the "Daily Life" series.

If you're not particularly interested in the politics of the 17th Century, or the military action that took place during the various wars (which Schama and Israel cover in more detail), and you want to delve right into the everyday lives of the people, Zumthor's book allows you to do so. Zumthor covers everything from clothing to food to employment to housing to you name it--all those things all of us do that make up our daily lives.

The section on the artistic elements of Dutch society is relatively short, and Rembrandt is really only mentioned in passing, but you do get an impression of what he, and Vermeer, and other painters probably experienced as they went about their business. Rembrandt and the other painters were not seen as "artists" but rather as "painters" and as such were members of guilds--Medieval organizations that were organized by various occupational groups and still thrived in the first part of the 17th Century in the Netherlands. Zumthor spends some time discussing how the guilds worked and how they were regulated by not only their members but the towns and villages.

Zumthor also provides much interesting information about Dutch church life, community life, and home life and the obsession of the people with cleaning -- stoops, linens, clothes, but according to Zumthor, not always bodies. The Dutch in the 17th Century were a complicted folk, and although I have read Schama and Israel, I enjoyed this book. It's great background reading, especially if you wonder how your own ancestors lived. Read it with Poortvliet's illustrated books, however, as it lacks illustrations (my paperback copy did).

This book is appropriate for race fans of all ages. Novice race fans can quickly learn about the long career but short life of this late great Nascar champion. This book was released before Earnhardt's death; however, knowing the untimely end of this legend's life makes his triumphs all the more special.

The better part of this book is a series of dated quotations from the former VP. This would be the "Fair, Unbiased" part. A great deal more of the book is acerbic commentary, and quotes from Quayle's enemies. While the commentary is rooted in fact, the obvious loathing of the book's central topic takes away from the rest of the book, which is valuable reference in answering anyone who asserts that Dan Quayle was leadership material. The book is appreicably brief, and there is gobs on information here nonetheless.

Sharon Spencer's novel "Dance of the Ariadnes" tackles the complexities of modern relationships by juxtaposing the lives and desires of two creative women, a Slavic actress, Divna, and a confused American artist, Miranda with the cycle of Greek myths involving Ariadne, Dionysus, Theseus, Phaedra and Hippolytus. Divna has yet to recover from her tempestuous yet now semi-defunct relationship with ex-husband Gypsy folk singer, Dionysios. Miranda, living and painting on Korchula, a small island off the coast of Yugoslavia is confused by the emotions and passions generated from a recent love affair with Dionysios whom she does not know by name, but thinks is a primitive islander.
The two women who are otherwise strangers, meet in Iraklion near King Minos' fabled labyrintine palace; symbolically they dance together on what they think is the dancing-floor of Minos' daughter, Ariadne, and bond as only two women can. As dual faces of the mortal woman turned goddess, they unravel and analyze their snaggled feelings regarding Dioynysios. Simultaneously, they form klews containing the threads of their own existence which enable and enpower them to wind through the Labyrinth of their future lives.
Throughout the novel, the women change faces. Miranda is always Ariadne, at once abandoned by Theseus and thus captivated and immortalized by the god Dionysus (the symphonic and colorful gypsy wedding).
Earthy Divna also personifies Ariadne; but it is she who abandons, she who is most generous with her love and understanding of the passions of the others around her. She toys with love; her boy-toys are numerous, yet, she is also imprisoned by Dionysus--she has his children and carries yet another child. Towards the end of the novel, she becomes Phaedra, Ariadne's sister and wife of Theseus. As in the myth, she becomes irrationally enamoured by Gerard--Hippolytus, Theseus son by the Amazon Antiope, but the association has no happy ending,Phaedra/Divna/Ariadne emerges from the experience (an intense water sequence reminiscient of the 'white bull' death of Hippolytus) still carrying her child and her memories.
The flow of the novel is quick and light. The reader senses the passion of both women in the erotic dream, reverie and reality sequences which never bore. The novel always intrigues and teases; the reader is curious about both women and the man that touches both their lives. Spenser succeeds admirably in creating a sense of the unknown and mythical that needs not be explained only savored and enjoyed. Would love to discuss this novel with someone who has read some of Spencer's other works or had the privledge of hearing her lecture.

The book was very well written and kept the action going from start to finish. A very realistic work of fiction.

comparative physiology of heart and intestine of daphnids

Wow what a book! i didnt care for the ending though! graetr characters though!

Paul Quinnet uses his vast knowledge and experience in human pychology and fishing, to creat a facinating disortation. He uses his clinical experiences of human behavior and relates them to fishing life. This book is very difficult to explain to someone who has not read it. I found it very enjoyable to read and use some of his ideas every day. I can't believe that this book is rated so low on the sales scale. One should also read the sister to this book, Pavlovs Trout.

In good evolutionary psychologist form, Paul Rubin tries to explain our existing political behaviors by looking at the Era of Evolutionary Adaptedness (EEA). The EEA is the time during the Pleistocene when humans became humans and our ancestors' innate tendencies were etched into our genes. This analysis benefits from the fact that Rubin is an economist and understands how incentives matter in human behavior. Many other writers lack this insight; most notably the great Richard Dawkins who, after articulating selfish gene theory, tries to wish away his conclusions.

It is interesting that Rubin, a professor of law and economics at Emory, was a libertarian when he began to write this book but ended up questioning the rigidity of that ideology. You can see this come through when he begins the book by dispelling myths on both sides of the traditional political spectrum. He explains that the state of nature is a useless metaphor because humans never existed in such an anarchic state, and also that humans are not malleable, but instead have a certain human nature.

Our species' patrilocality is an important theme that runs throughout the book. Male dominance and the ease with which males could form political alliances in the EEA is key, according to Rubin. But while that ease made some males dominant, it also helped those left out to join together to make sure they weren't too dominant. Rubin also distinguishes between male and female evolved risk preferences and how this affects political behavior today.

Economists assume rationality in their models, but empirical studies would suggest that people don't behave so sensibly. Rubin takes a stab at reconciling this bogeyman of economics by positing that behavior that seems unreasonable today may have been reasonable in the EEA. For example, evolving in a zero-sum world leads to a mistrust of capitalism in today's nonzero world. Also other arguably irrational behavior, like religious conviction, may still be useful to genes today.

In sum, the book is a good survey of the evolutionary psychology literature with Rubin's insights about what it means for political behavior. This is decidedly an academic text, but a good one and ou shouldn't be put off by this because it's very readable--especially if you understand the language of evolution and economics. I would certainly recommend it.

I had the pleasure of being one of the test audiences for this particular book. I'm basing my review on my copy, 1,000+ pages of photocopied draft. I was introduced to it via a full-year course taught by Dr. Temblay and Dr. Cheston.

The book is basically about a couple things: Writing superior Data Types via OO processes and an introdution to OO developement.

The section on datatypes is very good. The datatypes are constructed using string OO processes (the cd contains all the code for the datatypes created in the book) and are a good learning process. There is an emphasis on abstraction and generics in the design which is an intelligent way to do things, and I learned a lot about datatypes and OO through this. The section on formal ADTs, however, I found incomprehensible, but others may have different opinions.

The authors do focus on important OO concepts like UML and use cases, the brief section on software design suggests using the waterfall method. This section is fairly good, and is a decent introduction for a subject that can be fleshed out in further classes. It is still introductory however. For instance, patterns are not heavily mentioned, nor other development practices.

Other ideas focused on were mathematical induction, a strong section on testing, sorting theory and files as well as algorithm timing and reccurence relations.

This is a good book, and most undergrad students could likely learn a lot from it, assuming they are willing to spend a little time learning eiffel.