It's hard to fault a book that includes a spaldeen with it. Yes, a spaldeen--that's the canonically correct term for the pink rubber ball that is supplied with and described by this book. Obviously, the publisher wanted to avoid the sticky situation of the ball's true name, a corruption of the manufacturer's name, Spalding. No self-respecting New York kid would ever call it a pinky ball.

Despite the book's heavy dose of political correctness and Y2K-esque paranoia (basically, it advises kids not to do anything dangerous, which seems to extend to bouncing the ball near a street), this is a great little tome. There's lots of games described for kids to learn, and even a brief history of the ball--the spaldeen is correctly presented as the ultimate evolution of ball technology, which started with ancient Egyptians kid playing with mud they'd roll up into balls.

Hold this book in your hand and, if you're like me, it will evoke some pretty powerful memories of childhood. Not only is it chock-full of the games we Brooklyn girls used to play with our beloved Spaldeens (as well as the ones we were only allowed to watch the boys play) but it also comes with a real live Spaldeen (okay, so it's called a Pinky Ball). There are games I remember playing, like "A, My Name is Alice" and "Hit the Penny," games I don't remember, like "Four Square," and lots of games I knew by other names - regional variants, I guess. Anastasio has done a wonderful job of digging up a zillion games, as well as history, special Spaldeen techniques, and safety tips for the modern world, which is less inclined to make way for kids playing in the street. A comprehensive, well-written treat to read!

This text is divided into three main parts: 1) Mathematical notes, 2) Theory and Methods, 3) Applications. As a reader interested in time series analysis but unfamiliar with singular spectrum analysis (SSA) per se, I was not really sure what SSA was exactly, or what it is suppose to accomplish, until nearly halfway into the book. Very early on, I found no one single sentence, paragraph, definition, or description that clearly defined SSA beyond a "technique based on spectral decomposition."

Although the text is clearly written and well organized, the authors' target audience is not well established. For example, Section I starts with an rather remedial primer on linear matrix algebra, yet Section II already seems to assume the reader has a fairly mature knowledge of statistical inference, hypothesis testing, and principal component analysis (which might be gained from courses on statistical analysis of variance, or ANOVA). The authors also make frequent references to other time series analysis techniques, such as ARMA modeling and Fourier analysis in Section III. Familiarity with ANOVA and other kinds of time series analyses will certainly benefit the reader.

One gets the impression that the manuscript has been enhanced to fill a textbook-sized volume (and would explain why the book dedicates an entire chapter to numerical examples illustrating such things as how to multiply two matrices). The font size is strikingly large for a 6" x 9" textbook, and the layout is noticeably fragmented with lots of section subtitles and large amounts of white space around these section titles. Specifically, each page accommodates no more than 34 lines of 4 1/4" wide text, which I compared with several textbooks this size which usually accommodated 40-45 lines of 4 1/2" wide text (I suspect the 153 page content might have been fitted into about 100 pages just by changing the book layout). Given the quite basic subject matter of the first few chapters, the remainder of the book is but a fairly short survey on the main subject of SSA. The advantage is that its contents can be covered relatively quickly.

The rarity of introductory texts specifically dedicated to this niche subject matter, and the uncomplicated presentation the authors have chosen, make this book a worthwhile, albeit expensive, introduction to the topic. This book has nice presentation qualities, and had it been issued as a thin, inexpensive paperback, this would more easily be a 4 or 5 star book. Similarly, this is a 4 star book for the prospective reader analyzing data related to the atmospheric sciences or climatology (as much of the authors' background materials emphasize these areas). An expanded second edition would be welcomed.

This book is a breath of fresh air for anyone who is attempting teach time series analysis to themselves; especially the Spectral Analysis techniques. The book has three primary strengths. First, it assembles between two covers EVERYTHING that one needs to understand the developement of Spectral Methods. Secondly, the authors write in a very clear manner with no attempt to obfuscate the material. The authors clearly want to teach these techniques rather than satisfy some publish or perish requirements. Thirdly, and perhaps most importantly, the book has detailed and completely worked out examples using actual numbers in the matrices. One may think symbology should be enough but actual numbers make it very easy to trace the logic . This is a terrific tome and destined to becoming a teaching classic. It has generrated the longest series (no pun intended) of "Ah Ha!" experiences for me that I have had the pleasure of in a very long time. Why can not every text explain singular value decomposition the way these authors have? Showing the link between difference equations and differential equations and the segue into them is a work of art. I am very pleased with my purchase

Designed for the reader who already has a basic understanding of chaos, differential equations, and matrix theory, the intention of this book is to guide the reader into seeing the applications of chaos theory within their own area of interest.

A must for a counting book esp. if your child likes Sesame Street. It is an older book so the new characters like Elmo don't show up. However, you see the Count and Big Bird a lot, also, Grover, Oscar, Kermit, Tully, Cookie Monster. Very little of the books scenes are actually on Sesame Street. You see a merry go round, a farm, a train, cars while you are looking for Big Bird who is semi-hidden in many of the pictures. Its simple and fun and counting books esp. this one had my son counting to 12 at two years old.

I had a kot of fun reading this book.Iliked how flipperat the bigining was swiming in the water near the boat.I also liked how the boy fights to keep flipper.When a huricane comes to shore the boy was scared.They always ate spagety.Iliked the way that They tell the story.

This is a great book to introduce manners to your young children. My two year old loved it & now at 3 we still love it. Each page is a different situation in which appropriate & kind actions are explained. The critters in the scene may want to do something else but they are learning how to be kind & have good manners. It is helpful for my child to see the manners modeled so she will learn what to do too! We love pass the peas please.

The Terrible Truth About Third Grade is super! The main character is a girl named Battabe. Her real name is Jane. She makes up lies to make friends to. But she doesn't have any friends. So eventually none believes her lies. She doesn't do her homework. She even lies to her teacher to get out of trouble. But the teacher never believes her lies. She told the teacher she doesn't do the homework because she reads too much. So the homework was to make a book. The other kids didn't believe she wrote one. She read it in front of the class to prove it. Everyone liked it. A little girl named Susie made pictures to go with it. They showed the pictures to the teacher. I think you would like this book. And don't lie to make friends or get out of trouble. Just be your self!

I didn't find this book to be anything special. There wasn't anything in the book that I couldn't find for free over the net. We found that the person who marries you will already have a wide selection of things to choose from.

This book, while deviating from most of the traditional vows, still did not have what I was looking for. I am a single mom who is going to marry a man who has never been married. There are so many different situations, that one small book could never really do justice to all the possibilities. For people who want a still fairly traditional ceremony, this book would be fine. Keep looking if you want something totally unique

This little book accomplishes its purpose very well, i.e., guiding couples through various possibilities for making their wedding unique and meaningful to them. As a wedding "officiant" I particularly appreciated the inclusion of a format to be used by the couple in defining what various terms, e.g., love, trust, commitment, etc., mean to them. This, when shared with the person performing the ceremony, will help them better structure the message which will accompany the vows -- and make it more meaningful and personal to the couple being married. True, there is nothing in this brief volume which could not be obtained from other sources -- but at this price and convenience, why bother to look elsewhere! The poem: The Worn Wedding Ring, is super appropriate for persons renewing their vows -- "Your wedding ring wears thin, dear wife. Ah, summers not a few, Since I put it on your finger first, have passed o're me and you; And, Love, what changes we have seen, what cares and pleasures, too, Since you became my own dear wife, when this old ring was new!" etc., etc.

This book fills in some background about the movie that might have been cut from the final version. Enjoyable sidelight about the Pinkertons, and also, you understand why the horses were so upset at the start of the movie.

I agree wholeheartedly about the annoyance of "Cindy Crawford hair". Where in the heck did that come from. It took me a while to get back in the mood after that ridiculous anachronism.

After Reading this book, and listening to the Movie, I think that he needs to do A little more movie watching.

I bought this book for my daughter because she really liked the movie and wanted to read the story. It reads very concisely yet has enough meat on its bones to make it interesting. It also contains eight pages of color photographs from the film. Very good!

This book is very good, it tells the story of the Apollo 13 incident in a very simple way. It helps children understand the dangers and responsabilities of space exploration without discouraging children to become part of it.

If you have any comments e-mail me to: leones87@hotmail.com