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Now, just let me say, I LOVE THIS SERIES! I especially love the character of Taliesin. He is my favorite from all of Morrison's books and possibly from any others I have ever read. His voice is exceptionally distinctive in the telling and very consistent. He is a very unassuming character, terrified out of his wits most of the time and sure that everyone knows it, yet is completely honest about this fact. I love the style of these books too. The prose is perhaps a bit cumbersome when you first begin reading but it is defiantly an epic tale, every event fraught with dan from now 'till nevermass, and all the characters with the seeds of greatness in them, Arthur most of all. I love this particular universe because it is so imaginative, Celtic legend mixed with sciencficiton in a successful blending.
Now, the Kirkus reviewer has a point when he says that Patricia Kennealy-Morrison has a "general air of self-importance". He hits the nail right on the head. She is continually prating on the virtues of the Kelts. How they are so much more evolved than "other societies I could name" in that they have magical arts, no rape, varying marriage laws, and women are considered equals. It is an attitude hard to avoid throughout her books, but this is the only detraction I will make and, you will admit, not a very serious one.
If you have read the Copper Crown and its counterparts you will be intrigued when you discover that the writing style is completely different from the first triology. This is writen in first rather than third person. It is rare that an author has such talent as to switch styles. The style change means that you will never tire of the Keltiad. Instead of boresdom you will find love for the lore as past history links all the books together.
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And, of course, the Friedberg numbering scheme is the standard method of referencing notes among collectors and dealers alike.
It should be noted however, that the values given for the notes are very rough approximations (very conservative). This is especially true for the UNC grade(MS60-64). There are no values for GEM notes (MS65+).
If you're looking for a comprehensive note reference with ball park values, this book is for you.
There aren't many anecdotes or interesting bits of trivia, but as a guide and catalog it is top notch.
Not everything S. writes about in this book (or for that matter any of his other books) is relevant or interesting or correct - you may want to skip his physical theory of colors, for example. But the reader does get a sense of the range and brilliance of his multilingual mind. Many of his thoughts are timeless and true everywhere in the world.
S. caught my attention not because I'm interested in philosophy generally - I most certainly am not - but rather because he was one of Einstein's heroes, and Einstein is one of mine. Einstein loved to quote him, and apparently had his picture hanging in his office.
Interestingly, Hitler also counted S. as his hero. The only book he took to the front as a soldier in the First World War was Schopenhauer's masterpiece, and later as Fuehrer he quoted S. in long, rambling paragraphs in his own table talk. One wouldn't normally expect much in common between the greatest mind who ever lived and this anti-intellectual warmonger. Hitler was an antisemite, so perhaps that's one reason why he was attracted to S. But S. was most liberal and generous in his misanthropic hatreds - one doesn't find him discriminate for or against any particular group. Perhaps Hitler didn't know about the far more damning things S. had to say about Germans?
S. influenced many philosophers, such as Nietzsche and Wittgenstein, but I'm not familiar enough with philosophy to elaborate on this point. He also inspired many other creative minds who were not actually philosophers: Richard Wagner (a fanatical devotee to S. and to whom Hitler was also a fanatical devotee), Leo Tolstoy, Thomas Mann, Sir Winston Churchill (mentioned S. in his autobiography My Early Life), and the quantum physicist Erwin Schroedinger, among numerous others. (Notice that the last three were Nobel prizewinners?) Even the sharp-tongued and critical Wolfgang Pauli (another Nobel physicist) took him seriously. If you want to know why S. was so influential, then this is a good place to start. Parerga is easier to read than his other books, with the exception of his two essays on morality. Try to get Vol. I as well, but if you must choose, get Vol. II - it's longer and has a good index, and a good index is always useful in any book.
Start with Parerga; then after you're familiar with his philosophy, move on to his main work. But don't forget his Essay on the Freedom on the Will - which stands alone as a real masterpiece in all philosophy, even more outstanding than his other works.
Originally published in 1851, these essays created an explosion of interest in Schopenhauer when they were reviewed in England the following year, so Schopenhauer, who died at the age of 72 in 1860 enjoyed the pleasure of recognition in his old age.
Aside from his historical importance (which takes many, many forms) Schopenhauer in these essays is indispensable for anyone who wants to understand philosophy because:
He provides brief and generally accepted analyses of western philosophy from Plato to his own time,
He integrates Eastern philosophy into his own system, and into his analysis (the first major philosopher to do so),
He cross references all of his ideas to a vast corpus of literature (which in this version are all cross referenced and translated),
He is, practically alone among the great philosophers, a GREAT WRITER, by which I mean that he is simple, direct, and writes with sometimes great poetic imagery and also savage irony and wit (Hegel and his followers, people who abuse animals, feminists, or those who abuse the Judaeo-Christian tradition for hypocritical purposes get very rough treatment from Schopenhauer.)
He offers -- in his essays on writing and style -- a veritable manual of how to write well which frankly anyone who writes should consult. He also punctures with brutal humor the journalists and philosophers who destroyed the German language
for pecuniary purposes: all these comments can be carried over whole to the PC and "post-modernist" wars of our own time.
He is practically encyclopedic: virtually every intellectual current of the first half of the 19th Century is discussed in detail, from spiritualism to slavery (Schopenhauer wasn't sure of the first, but was strongly opposed to the second.)
He offers an actual study on how to live a better life, in the "Wisdom of Life" (Aphorismen zum Lebensweisheit), which is a better guide to living well than any other such guide that have been churned out regularly for the past several decades.
Criticism: Yes, Schopenhauer also puts down women, also occasionally non-whites and Jews. Then again, he is most savage with Anglican parsons and people in general, so accusations of racism, etc. simply don't add up to much. He was a misanthrope: no doubt. And he had a terrifically amusing way of expressing it.
A further plus: These Eric Payne translations were originally published in 1974 by Oxford in hardback, with some remainders given a boring cyan colored soft cover in the late '70's. The paper used then was very heavy, and stiffened and browned in a big hurry. This has been reprinted on lighter paper, acid free, and is a much more pleasing set. Volume 2 is the only one available right now, Volume 1 should be out by Christmas: get them while you can!
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The other reviewers have just about said it all: in short, this is a GREAT book!
I would just like to add that it is good to have ONE book that over ALL the essentials of Linux as compared to those who cover just PARTS in one book and more PARTS in another (just to sell more books?).
I own MANY books on Linux, but if I were forced to discard them all but ONE, THIS is the one I would definitely KEEP! When you have the BEST, why mess with the REST? :o)
Lloyd W. Cary
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I run Slackware and Debian so I wasx hesitant that I saw Red Hat, SuSE, and Caldera featured, but that didnt matter. An non-distributipon-specific, clearly written explanation is given and then they take small detours into each of those distributions, pointing out specifics to those (usually under X).
I began this book in chapter 8, User Administration and continued through. I am self-taught which has it's own merits, yet tends to leave holes in my "home-grown Linux Education". This book filled in the gaps and have made me an much more competent Linux user/administrator.
I can not write as a new Linux user so I can not honestly say how this book would be for some one totally new to Linux (although my guess is that it wouldn't be a bad choice to start off with!)
When in the company of other Linux users, I find they talk about things without explaining what they are, where they are found, what they do, or what other options may exist. Those are the kinds of holes I had in my Linux education. Now, init, X configuration, mysterious configuration files, and many advanced topics that I had desperately been trying to understand and piece together, are all much clearer to me now thanks to this excellent book.
In summary, this book has helped this Linux user to sort out and relate the commands and configuration that once "kept me in the dark".
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This book was originally published under a longer title: Fundamental University Physics (Reading, Mass., Addison-Wesley (c) 1967-68). It was divided in the following three hardback volumes: volume one: Classical Mechanics and Thermodynamics; volume two: Waves and Fields; volume three: Quantum and Statistical Mechanics). It was reprinted for several years until a new edition came in in 1980-83. This new edition left the book's strenghts essentially unchanged, and simply updated the earlier edition. The same way, this current textbook (Physics, 1992) leaves essentially untouched the classical as well as moderns strengths of its original predecessors. It is up to date up to 1992 - for example the chapter on space exploration has a lucid discission of the VEEGA Galileo mission based on information available at that time.
The strengths of this classic book are primarily classic themselves. First of all the book is characterized by consisting of a central backbone of mathematical equations that have been rigorously and carefully derived . Where other books say "it is obvious that eqn. 117 transforms into 121..." the authors here derive the fundamental equations of current physics from first principles as much as possible. It is obvious that rigorous analysis of physical models, systems, and empirical data requires the use of integral as well as differential calculus. While other authors either rely little on calculus, or never bother to use it at all, Alonso and Finn make effective use of calculus as the need arises. (Actually, there are physics texts out there that are not even calculus based... three hundred years of mathematical power and elegance ignored simply because college students today do not have a workable knowledge of basic calculus)
The organization of the book blends classical topics with modern ones in as natural a fashion as possible. For example, in Chapter 7 which deals with the the applications of the laws of motion, the fundamental concepts that govern rocket propulsion are laid out. In chapters 19-20 the special and (less so) general theories of relativity were discussed followed by an exposition of the pronciples of modern high energy and particle physics. One whole chapter is devoted to Statistical Mechanics (which no other introductory book dares or cares to include). This chapter then sets the stage for applications in transport phenomena, thermodynamics, etc.
In other words, the field of Theoretical Physics blends with that of Experimental Physics in this book. The 41 chapters cover the standard material (classical and modern physics) taught to bright students in their first year of university studies. This may seems both laborious as well as intriguing for the young but bright student (i.e. not below 1300 SATII). Once familiar with the basic anatomy of the book, the user should be able to locate modern physics material spread in the 1100+ pages. The book actually ends with a discussion of the attempts at unifying the forces, the success of the electro-weak theory, as well as future GUTs (Grand Unified Theory).
The number, nature and topics of exercices and problems are traditional and well chosen. This helps make the book compact; truly in its 1100+ pages it conveys more information more effectively than 1600+ page books (like the current book's original edition). Actually, pictures have been reduced in size as compared to the first two editions, and they are incorporated in-text, making the book heavily packed with standard physics information.
Naturally, the things that turn off a nontradionalist will turn on the tradionalist when choosing a book for a course or reference or other purposes. This book includes the "standard" information that should be contained in the first year of a physics major's curriculum. It spends proper time explaining key principles. For example it does not attempt to derive a form of Schrodinger's Equation but it uses quantum mechanical principles to illustrate the problem of the particle/s in a variety of wells (primarily in 1D). The in-text problems chosen to illustarate and emphasize physical principles are mostly classical, standard problems. Many have several parts which are designed to "bring up" the reader from first principles all the way to the ultimate applications in physics.
Further, the nontraditionalist may note that this thoroughly black and white paperback lacks the glamorous, color illustrations of current textbooks such as those from Beisner, Serway, Sears, Fishbane, Pasachoff, Giancoli, Halliday, Lea, Hecht, Rex, Nolan, etc. etc. (note: I am listing the above books based on a simple query on physics textbooks on amazon. And not all of the above texts are equally poor or dumbed down! Some, like Pasachoff are actually reasonable texts to teach or learn from).
Followed with a semester in mathematical physics (using texts such as the book by Mary L. Boas), the student of Alonso/Finn will be ready to compete against any students trained in fundamental physics by other authors. The student can make use of this book well after the first year, especially when reviewing general physics material for the GRE Physics Subject Text. Other advanced undergraduate books that are as comprehensive and pedagogically effective for the brighter students include the series on Theoretical Physics by Walter Grenier (e.g. Classical Mechanics II, Electrodynamics, Quantum Mechanics, Statistical Mechanics & Thermodynamics). This certainly seems to be the level of preparation of generations of European graduate students.
All in all a very satisfiying book for first year physics students and beyond.
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of basic concepts in quantum theory. It is a collection of
very nicely written tutorials. They are done by authorities in the field, and cover the main trends. I especially liked Jozsa's
chapter on quantum algorithms. By now there are also good textbooks that can get you started from scratch, such as Hirvensalo, or Nielsen-Chuang. If you have trouble getting hold the original journal articles, World Scientific just came out with a collection of major papers on quantum computation and quantum information, isbn 9810241178. It includes the full text [reprinted] of some of the papers which are cited in the present book; quite a few by the very same authors. That is a big help, as the papers in the subject are scattered and spread out over many different journals, and it might be hard to know where to start when
logging into the arXiv.
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