I got new ideas when I read this book.

I was very pleased with this book and read it from cover to cover.Besides having a fascinating text it's loaded with beautiful pictures, including a set of pictures of Anne Rice doing a publicity shoot in one of New Orleans's cemeteries.I really wasn't that familiar with the history of the burial grounds in New Orleans and I learned a LOT from this book. I would strongly recommend it to anyone who's into cemeteries, funeral history, and Anne Rice!

I would never have went to New Orleans without visiting at least one of the famous above ground cemeteries - I was not disappointed! The history behind them is fascinating. They're built above ground, so that when there is any kind of flooding, the bodies don't float away since New Orleans is 700?ft below sea level. What was really neat to me though, is that one tomb, could and would be used for many generations of the same family. I thought it was a comforting thought to know that you wouldn't be burried alone, but in the exact same place as your ancestors. I think New Orleans people celebrate death, not that they're glad someone is gone, but that they're glad they had the chance to live and love them! There is just a kind of magic about the cemeteries, especially St. Louis #1, the oldest cemetery in the area. The photo's in this book capture that magic! Unfortunately, the section on #1 is small. This book includes many of the cemeteries including St. Louis 2 and 3, and Metairie, which is one of the nicest and most [costly] ones. I highly recommend this book for it's information and photography! If you go to see #1, it is in a not-so-good crime area that is improving, but make sure you go with a tour! The tour guides always have some interesting extra info!

We travel to and through Louisiana quite a bit. Because of this, I tend to pick up books about Louisiana, particularly Louisiana history. I bought this book because I liked the pictures. However, once I began reading this book, I realized that there was much more to the cemeteries than interesting statues. I can honestly say that I enjoyed reading this book and found it as informative as it was interesting.

This book begins with an introduction about cemeteries in Louisiana and then covers different cemeteries in Louisiana. Generally there is a history of the cemetery, an accounting of some of the more famous people buried in each cemetery and a lot of information.

For someone visiting Louisiana, particularly someone who is considering a tour of the cemeteries, this book is a must.

Not only are Lie algebras interesting and important from a mathematical standpoint, an in-depth understanding of them is essential if one is to fully comprehend the physical theories of elementary particle interactions. All of these theories, from quantum field theories to string theories, to the current research on D-branes and M-theories, are dependent on the theory of Lie groups and Lie algebras. Because of its relaxed informal style, this book would be a good choice for the physics graduate student who intends to specialize in high energy physics. Those interested in mathematical rigor would probably want to select another text. Because of space restrictions, only the first thirteen chapters will be reviewed here.

In chapter 1 the author begins the study of SU(2), the group of unitary 2 x 2 matrices of determinant 1. He does this by first considering the matrix representations of infinitesimal rotations in 3-dimenensional space. "Exponentiating" these matrices gives the finite rotational matrices. He then shows that the consideration of products of finite rotations involves knowledge of the commutators of the infinitesimal rotations. Viewing these commutators abstractly motivates the definition of a Lie algebra. He then shows that the rotation matrices form a (3-dimensional) 'representation' of the Lie algebra. Higher-dimensional representations he shows can be obtained by analogies to what is done in quantum mechanics, via the addition of angular momentum and are parametrized by spin (denoted j). The representation of smallest dimension is given by j = 1/2 and corresponds to SU(2). He is careful to point out that the rotations in 3 dimensions and SU(2) have the same Lie algebra but are not the same group.

The constructions in chapter 1, particularly the concept of "exponentiating", are central to the understanding of Lie algebras in general. This is readily apparent in the next chapter wherein he studies the Lie algebra of SU(3), the 3x3 unitary matrices of determinant 1. SU(3) has to rank as one of the most important groups in elementary particle physics. The (abstract) Lie algebra corresponding to the commutation relations of this group have various representations, the 8-dimensional, or "adjoint" representation being one of great interest. The author finds the famous 'Cartan subalgebra' of the Lie algebra, shows that it 2-dimensional and Abelian, and how eigenvectors of the adjoint operator can form a basis for the Lie algebra, as long as this operator corrresponds to an element of the Cartan subalgebra. Further, he shows that the eigenvalues of this operator depend linearly on this element, and then defines functionals on the Cartan subalgebra, called the roots, and they form the dual space to the Lie algebra. Dual spaces are familiar to physicists in the Dirac bra-ket formalism.

The geometry of Lie algebras is very well understood and is formulated in terms of the roots of the algebra and a kind of scalar product (except is not positive definite) for the Lie algebra called the 'Killing form'. The Killing form is defined on the root space, and gives a correspondence between the Cartan subalgebra and its dual. The author then shows how to use the Killing form to obtain a scalar product on the root space, and this scalar product illustrates more clearly the symmetry of the Lie algebra. The property of being semisimple is then defined abstractly by the author, namely a Lie algebra with no Abelian ideals. He states, but does not prove entirely, that the Killing form is non-degenerate if and only if the Lie algebra is semisimple.

The treatment becomes more abstract in chapter 4, wherein the author studies the structure of simple Lie algebras, since every semisimple algebra can be written as the sum of simple Lie algebras. The author shows how to obtain the Cartan subalgebra in general, motivating his procedures with what is done for SU(3). He also proves the invariance of the Lie algebra and shows that it is the only invariant bilinear form on a simple Lie algebra. After a detour on properties of representations in chapter 5, wherein he constructs some useful relations for adjoint representations, the author uses these to again study the structure of simple Lie algebras in chapters 6 and 7. This involves the notion of positive and negative roots, and simple roots, and from the latter the author constructs the 'Cartan matrix', which summarizes all of the properties of the simple Lie algebra to which it corresponds. The author shows how the contents of the Cartan matrix can be summarized in terms of 'Dynkin diagrams'.

These considerations allow an explicit characterization of the 'classical' Lie algebras: SU(n), SO(n), and Sp(2n) in chapter 8. The Dynkin diagrams of these Lie algebras are constructed. Then in chapter 9, the author considers the 'exceptional' Lie algebras, which are the last of the simple Lie algebras (5 in all). Their Dynkin diagrams are also constructed explicitly.

The author returns to representation theory in chapter 10, wherein he introduces the concept of a 'weight'. These come in sequences with successive weights differing by the roots of the Lie algebra. A finite dimensional irreducible representation has a highest weight, and each greatest weight is specified by a set of non-negative integers called 'Dynkin coefficients'. He then shows how to classify representations as 'fundamental' or 'basic', the later being ones where the Dynkin coefficients are all zero except for one entry.

In complete analogy with the theory of angular momenta in quantum mechanics, the author illustrates the role of Casimir operators in chapter 11. Freudenthal's recursion formula, which gives the dimension of the weight space, is used to derive Weyl's formula for the dimension of an irreducible representation in chapter 13. The reader can see clearly the power of the 'Weyl group' in exploiting the symmetries of representations.

Very well written account of the theory, with almost all the necessary proofs to get familiar with the it. It's inspired by Jacobson's book, however a lot easier to read. It's out of print, but there is an online copy.

Let me tell you upfront that I haven't read this book, I am pondering on buying it. However I feel that I can compile the previous reponses to this book which may be useful to the other buyers.

Based on the prior reviews, the people who already knew a lot about it (like the guy with 9 years of telecom experience and the guy writing his PhD thesis) have said that it is an excellent book, while the people who are just learning the ropes have really disliked it. Hence my feeling is that this book is good for someone who already knows quite a bit of the telecom protocols, standards, and tools and is planning to learn more about WAN.

By the way, I wish some reviewers abstained from personal attacks (ad hominem) and sticked to the critique of the book. As we all know, authors could be very knowledgeable of the subject but yet do a poor job of making it all coherent (happens to the best of them; it is a difficult job). As a critic it is useful to point out as to where the text lacks and oversaw rather than question the credibility of the author himself. I hope you understand what I mean.

It is true that if you are brand new to networking, this is not the first book you should purchase. And if you are looking for a "how to" book on programming a particular network device go buy one of those cisco instruction books. BUT, if you are a serious academic and want to understand what networks are REALLY all about (queuing and graph theory, etc.) this is one of the best introductory books on the subject. Cahn's preface speaks volumes about the trend in technology education: if all you've learned was how to work on particular products, when something new comes along, you have to start all over again. But if you gain "design sophistication", you will understand how to use new networking protocols and technologies as they emerge. His book is about the *science* of networks, which is timeless, NOT the technology which is much more fleeting.
If all you want to do is design and operate a network that works "good enough" then you don't need this book. But if you want to understand how to design and optimize a network using theory rather than just throwing money at buying more bandwidth, Cahn's book is where you start. I only give 4 stars because the software that comes with the book only works with Windows 98 and is difficult to manipulate. The book itself is a great resource.

Hi there

This book includes more math than practical examples, and is
such more on the theoretical side of network design.

But I think the book is great, and the examples are fruit for
thought, just a pitty some of the other reviewers aren't grown
up so they can recognize it.

I have used it several times for my thesis about IPv6 network design
- even though it doesn't mention IPv6 at all!

Best regards