This is the most comprehensive compilation on combinatorial optiomization I have seen so far.
Usually, Papadimitriou's book is a good place for this material - but in many cases, looking for proofs and theorems - I had to use several books:
(*) Combinatorial Optimization Algorithms and Complexity by Papadimitriou and Steiglitz.
(*) Integer and Combinatorial Optimization by Nemhauser and Wolsey
(*) Theory of linear and integer programming by Schrijver
(*) Combinatorial Optimization by Cook, Cunningham, Pulleyblank and Schrijver
(*)Combinatorial Algorithms by Kreher and Stinson

This book, on the other hand, contains so much information and so many proved theorems - it's the richest resuorce in this topic, in my humble opinion.

Using it as a graduate level textbook for an *introduction* to combinatorial optimization is kind of hard - as although it's richness, some topics are described without enough detail or examples (like the topics on network flow and bipartite graphs) - yet the authors probably assumed some previous knowledge in those topics.

I prefer using this book as a reference rather than and intoduction.

The heavy mathematical notations in this book might scare some readers, but no-fear! You quickly get used to it, and appreciate the greatness in the notations, as they make the theorems more short and to the point. On the other hand - getting back to this book for a quick review on some subject might force you to flip pages for a fwe minutes, just to remember the notation again.

The authors intended this book to be a graduaet level textbook or an up-to-date reference work for current research. I believe they accomplished both targets!

Excellent exposition of the point of view of the founder of the Gestalt School, Twardowski. For those who are interested in the epistemological foundation of the austrian school, and particularly on its economic branch (Menger, Mises, Hayek), this book is very important.Because of the importance on the school founded by Menger and because a lot of economists (even libertarians)are ignorant of the philosophical ground that support Menger's thought to read this book is something obligatory. With Cavallin one can have a real guarantee of seriousness and depth and profound knowledge of the matters as well.

If you are an investor who is worried about inflation, this is the best book you will ever read.

It explains what really happened during the 1923 German Inflation, and exposes the flaws of current macroeconomic theory which, I'm sad to say, have even fooled the Federal Reserve. This book explains the real meaning of Government Deficits and Debt, and the Trade Deficit. Sadly, publications from the Federal Reserve about the Debt show that they do not understand it!

If you think the Government Deficits and Trade Deficit are inflationary, you are DEAD WRONG!! Just wait until we get a Trade Surplus in America, and you'll be experiencing 1923 Weimar German inflation.

This is one of the few investment books that will make you rich, if you read it before the American Hyperinflation of the 2000's comes.

Before this book came out, the bible of the scientists in the field was either Guinier's or else, Warren's book on X-ray diffraction (both books by Dover). I think Jens Als-Nielsen's book will replace these as far as introduction to the field is concerned, because the other two books (especially warren's black book) are pages of equation after equation. Elements of Modern X-ray Physics, in contrast, is much more readable (it has colors even... wohooo). Also it covers recent techniques suxh as scattering from liquid interfaces that were not covered in previous books. Trade-off is that the book does not cover any crystallography. Author's say in the preface that they feel there are other adequate books on this subject (guinier's book prevails).

Interesting note: Book is written not with conventional text editors but with some type of Tex/LaTex.

This collection of studies is, unfortunately, not light reading (especially for those lacking a solid grounding in statistical methods). Nor, like many of the pro-gun tracts, do the studies included set out clear and definitive conclusions.

What it does is present a number of studies and articles by those scholars who the NRA would label as "gun grabbers" offering evidence that challenges many of the more widely disseminated pro-gun arguments and pseudo-scientific works of authors like John Lott.

For example, while John Donohue's article presents a rather compelling case that Lott's conclusion (summed up as "More Guns, Less Crime") is deeply flawed he notes:

"If one had previously been inclined to believe the Lott and Mustard results, one might now conclude that the statistical evidence that crime will rise when a shall-issue law is passed is at least as compelling as the prior evidence that was amassed to show it would fall. However, there are still enough anomoliesin the data that warrent caution."

That's quite different from Lott's certitude in "More Guns, Less Crime" and, given the evidence, it is Lott's certitude that should be called into question, even before the conclusions about which he is so certain.

One other example merits particular note. That study, by Steven Raphael and Jens Ludwig, challanges the effectiveness of one program that is the "darling" of both the NRA *and* the Brady Campaign -- Richmond's Project Exile. The study concludes that the drop is actually something more akin to "regression to the mean" -- where the implementation followed a particurly steep risee in homicides and the subsequent drop is more attributable to the return to the "normal" rates than the increased focus itself. What the study doesn't mention is that, in 1997 (the base year used in hyping the program's success), homicide rates in Richmond had risen so steeply (contrary to other Virginia metropolitan areas) that Richmond's homicide rate exceeded Washington, DC's.

It many ways, it's a shame that the book isn't written for a wider audience, because the gun debate is one where the loudest and most self-certain voices carry more weight among the public than the most reasoned ones.

Not your basic Oprah-like happy reunion of adoptee and birth-family, this book details the very rocky and painful teen and young adult years of an adoptee as she searches for her identity and hopes to find it with her birthmother.

Jen allows us to peek into the mind of a teen suffering genealogical bewilderment, a syndrome experienced by adoptees. In Explication, we share with Jen through her painful teen years, the joy and loss of her first love (a fellow adoptee), and the reunion with her birthmother and birthsisters.

A compelling read, neither my daughter or I could put the book down. I highly recommend this book, whether you are an adoptee, a birthparent, or just looking for a good read.

Jens Lund's book is an excellent and thoroughly-documented study of commercial fishing in the Ohio River Valley. We are fortunate that he documented the occupational traditions associated with fishing because the industry is under stress and rapidly changing. Lund provides rich descriptions of virtually all aspects of commercial fishing, from the various species of fish in the rivers to the variety of boats used and built in the Ohio River Valley and extending into ways of using nets, lines, and fish traps. The book is valuable for folklorists, historians, anthropologists as well as biologists and anyone interested in relationships between environmental concerns and culture. I would recommend this book highly and encourage readers to also look at important studies of maritime folklife such as the book "Beautiful Swimmers," which deals with crabbing in the Cheasapeake Bay and "Gladesmen," which deals with fishing and hunting in the Florida Everglades.

This book is not only about food, but is also a thoughtful evaluation of what governs our food choices. What is your unique template in choosing how you will be nourished? This is not a small or casual decision. It encompasses life and death consequences.

As people today begin to understand better and more fully the importance of diet and its relationship to one's physical, mental, and spiritual health, the value of vegetarianism is coming into its prime as scientific research provides large quanties of information on the benefits to be gained from the plant world.

This book examines what current research is discovering about the benefits of plant foods and how this fits into nature's design plan regarding optimal body function and health of body, mind, and spirit. It also explores the criteria one uses to make food choices, and how what we eat becomes part of a much larger view of the way we see the world and our place in the scheme of things.

I read this book several years ago and am now buying it because I just couldn't forget it. It explains the extremely sophisticated technology of the so called "primitive people" who lived in the arctic. American and British explorers were always freezing to death with their "advanced" civilization, while these people lived and worked skillfully and in tune with their environment. It is a lovely book, well illustrated and well written, too.

Jen Van Meter's first creator-owned book tells a story of an in-your-face, punk rock family living in today's society, illustrated by Christine Norrie (CHEAT) with flashback sequences by Chynna Clugston-Major (BLUE MONDAY) and additional artwork by Andi Watson (DUMPED, BREAKFAST AFTER NOON).

The book introduces the reader to Dirk Hopeless and Nikki Savage, two legendary punk rockers from the 1970's, now living in the present day with their youngest daughter Zero. When Zero wakes up one morning to find their house ransacked and her parents allegedly kidnapped, she calls up her older brother and sister Twitch and Arsenal for help. They soon realize they won't be able to find their parents without the help of their older brother Rat, who has given up the punk lifestyle and now lives a life of normalcy working for a premier coffee corporation. Rat, however, wants nothing to do with his estranged family and is convinced he has left the punk rock lifestyle behind, forever. Now its up to Zero, Arsenal and Twitch to revert Rat to his old ways and rescue their parents from their captors.

Jen Van Meter's writing is excellent and by the end of the book you really know these characters. You'll immediately want to pick up the second book, GROUND ZERO which focuses more on Zero.

The book uses flashbacks incorporated into the main story illustrated by Chynna Clugston-Major to give you even more insight into this unique family. The book also includes a bonus 16 page full-color section featuring stories of the Hopeless-Savages kids visiting the Principal's office and how their punk rock father reacts to it (illustrated by Chynna Clugston-Major), the family going to the kid's school's parent/teacher night (illustrated by Christine Norrie), Arsenal's karate match (illustrated by Norrie with Andi Watson), and a look into the Hopeless-Savages family over a span of 20 years through the eyes of their neighbors (illustrated by Norrie).

Before The Osbournes were popular, there was HOPELESS SAVAGES - a hilarious adventure story by four of comics' most promising new writers and artists. The most critically acclaimed book of 2002, it was even nominated for an Eisner Award.