A good way to read about mathematical philosophy. A bit dry and heavy in parts. I don't know a lot about postmoderism but am learning, as many of the people I read and write about are postmodernists. People seem to rave about postmodernists but even though some are maybe out to lunch which is bad because they have responsiblilities for the disabled as psyhciatrists, they have some interesting points for thought. Don't get blind sided by postmodernism, study first year calculus at least in your fine arts degree.

I actually read this book at the recommendation of Gregory Chaitin (another reviewer) in one of his books. I have a great deal of respect for Chaitin, and it suprised me that he would recommend a peice of what I considered to be "postmodern rubbish." When I read this, I was really suprised. The author is not at all flakey (if this is what you're looking for, I recommend Sokal & Bricmont's "Fashonable Nonsense").

Rather, the author actually does explain interesting ideas in an understandable way. The author apparently understands mathematics well enough to write about it, which is something missing from a fair number of philosophers who talk about mathematics. If you are looking for a new way of thinking about what mathematics is, then I highly recommend this book.

This wonderful book digests more than a century of
Western philosophical thought and interconnects it with
the recent controversies over the foundations of mathematics.
Unlike Sokal & Bricmont's Fashionable Nonsense, which is
very unsympathetic to the French Postmodern school, Tasic
is quite sympathetic to them. Indeed, he manages to
extract and explain the basic ideas of many, many philosophers
and intellectuals who had previously seemed quite opaque.
Highly recommended! An exceptional and important book!
---Gregory Chaitin, IBM Research Division,
author of Conversations with a Mathematician

a satirical, very funny and clever dystopian novel

For irony and surrealism this story is a ten. It is, again, a wrenching look at Soviet life, and another Voinovich masterpiece. I won't retell the plot because another reviewer did that well. The society of Moscow in 2042 is based on the droll equation - "Output=Input", and whatever one receives is directly proportional to what one turns in in the way of output. And this is just what it sounds like. Read this book and hope it doesn't happen.

The famous dissident writer Vladimir Voinovich wrote this book a couple of years before the downfall of the Sovient Union. So, in how far this satire about life in the communist "Moscow Republic" of 2042 is still relevant?

I would not exclude the alarming possibility that Russia might still evolve in something like the nightmare of "Moscow 2042".

In this book the Russian author Kartsev, living in München in 1982, makes a time travel to the Moscow of 2042. After the "Great August Revolution" the new leader "Genialissimus" has changed the Soviet Union ... up to a certain point. After Lenins dream of a world revolution and Stalins experiment of 'Socialism within one country', Genialissimus has decided to build "Communism within one city", Moscow. The ideology has changed somewhat, into a hotchpotch of marxism-leninism and Russian orthodoxy (Genialissimus himself is also patriarch!) The decay, from which the Soviet Union suffered, has gone further and further. The rest of the Soviet Union, where people barely survive, has been separated by a Berlin type of wall from the "paradise" of Moscow, where communism has been (sort of) realised. Within the wall everyone gets everything "according to his needs". Only their needs are not decided by themselves, but by the wise Genialissimus. And of course, most people have "ordinary needs", but a chosen few have "extraordinary needs". For the first class, life is dismall even within the priviliged "Moscow Republic". At last, the situation gets so desperate, that people throw themselves in the arms of a "liberator", a fellow dissident writer and (kind of) friend of Kartsev, the extreme Slavophile Sim Karnavalov(probably inspired by Solzjenytsin), who enters Moscow on a white horse and proclaims himself Tsar Serafim the First. Now a new kind of nightmare starts...

This novel is a masterpiece of satire, almost as funny as "The life of Iwan Chonkin" and "The pretender to the trone" of the same author. In my opinion, Voinovich is entiteld to the next Nobel prize for literature.

This writing by Pozner provides an honest look into his life personally and his perceptions of the U.S., world, and the Soviet Union, as a Soviet citizen. He was not the average Soviet citizen however. He was one of the fortunate few who were allowed to leave his country and spend time abroad. He was afforded the rare glimpse of American life and culture during his time there in the 1930s. This obviously is a part of him, as is his other numerous experiences. In addition, he also candidly shared his personal life with us. (When he saw his old-flame coming the opposite way on an escalator, for example). Pozner is down-to-Earth and it's easy for a reader to like and to relate to him.

I read this book when it first came out and went over it again recently, 14 years later, finding it in an old box of mine. His writings prove that he had good instincts on where his nation and culture, and the world was heading at the time he wrote "Parting with Illusion." He has the oration and writing ability to explain his viewpoints as well as the perceptions of many Russians when he wrote this book in 1989. He discussed Stalin and his legacy, and the graft and corruption that crept into the USSR, becoming commonplace by the 1960s.

Now, 14 years later, I wonder: where is Vladimir Pozner? I haven't heard or seen him since the late 1980s or perhaps early 90s.

At the time, he was articulate, and an astute observer of current affairs. Possessing a gifted knack for passing his observations on.

Today, in 2003, where is he now?

A truly excepional book and my all time favorite... An incredibly personal account of an extraordinary life of a true citizen of the world ... along with an insightful look into the drama of modern Russian history.
Pozner talks about his childhood, his parents, first glass of vodka and his first love, his marriages, career, spiritual and political struggles...
Plus a personal account of WWII, Stalin's purges, the Thaw, the Iron Curtain and Perestroika.

This book was a present to me when I was a senior in college and what a gift it was! The Russians often painted as the cold number one enemy came to be just as human as anyone. The author's struggle between being a journalist in a communist country certainly makes me, a journalist in a world that protects free speech, feel very humbled and fortunate.

It's humanity's greatest test when one is forced to question your own country's integrity. Yet the author has succeeded in standing by his principles. Extremely educational (and easy reading for students) for those who are not familiar with Russian history and diplomacy. It's been years since I read it and I look forward to picking it up again.

I am a software engineer and I am tired of the "robotic"science fictions that ignore the things around and make a fiction that prevents to prject anything that we see, enjoy and relish. Most of the science fictions warn and frighten you about the future and present reasearch. That makes people take science negatively. This book, however is different. It enters the system like a slowly cooked steak. Personally, I enjoyed it a lot. I have a lot of interest in all the sciences and I think, this book contributed a lot to that.

I wasn't a big fan of Russian authors. During my visits to a bookstore in India, I found the title "Plutonia" appealing and bought the book because it was very cheap: 3 US cents.

You may have heard of Jules Verne's "Journey to the Center of the Earth". "Plutonia" is similar but updated; a story of Russian scientists who travel into the northern Arctic thinking they will discover some unknown land and it will be a part of Russia. However, they experience some inexplicable events during their travels: an extremely continental deep depression into the earth's surface near the Arctic, and warm, fertile lands near the "North Pole", and the strange position of the Sun. Plus, the strange behavior of the barometer, the compass and the altimeter. They also find primitive animals long extinct from Earth.

The explorers realize that they have traveled to the earth's inner surface. After that, the more they go into the inner surface, which they now call "Plutonia", the more they travel back in time and experience the flora and fauna of the different stages of Earth's history. The author, V. A. Obruchev, takes the reader through a journey that is so realistic.

The book is not only about dinosaurs; the scientists have some fun too. The explorers get robbed by ants, yes ants, and they have a hard time figuring out who robbed them in that unmanned land. Later, they have an encounter with the primitive people. The best part about the scientists is the decisions they make; they are very knowledgeable and find the most effective and quick solutions or explanations to any problems, plus, they have a good sense of humor. After all, they are scientists. V. A. Obruchev, himself a geologist, is a very good author and "Plutonia" is the best si-fi book I've ever read.

V. A. Obruchevs "Plutonia" is a pretty good read! He was inspired by "Journey to the Center of the Earth", and you can tell...but the book has an otherwise original story.

Here is an overview of it:

A Russian scientist seems to think there is a possibility of an underground world, where possibly there are now extinct (above ground) species of animals and plants still alive. Yep, you guessed it, he is right. Anyway, the team that goes there has many adventures dealing with a wide range of animals, from giant ants to wooly mammoths. And theyre not scared to shoot them for meat, either ;-)

This is an entertaining story, although I would imagine animal rights groups would really have a field day with some of the subject matter. Give it a try....it is a little dated, but a truly good book!

I bought this book a while back, and kept it for almost a year before I read it. I wanted to give the book my highest level of attention. Well, it was worth the wait. Shostakovich Reconsidered has a wealth of information for any serious (and not-so-serious) Shostakovich scholar. My only criticism of the book is that Ian MacDonald's (The New Shostakovich) name should be more associated with this book than it is. He has written a sizeable array of articles in this book, and each one has proven to be as interesting as The New Shostakovich. I found the "courtroom" approach to supporting or refuting the memoirs of Shostakovich (Testimony) a little tedious after awhile, but I enjoyed the information nevertheless. I also found that Laurel Fay's book (Shostakovich: A Life) suffers from "selective scholarship" in the eyes of the authors. This should be interesting, as I dive into that book next. . .

A thoroughly researched and well written investigation of the composer-as-dissident. For contemporaries and friends of Shostakovich as well as careful listeners, the composer's dissidence is plainly evident in his music.

One wonders what the counter-revisionist musicologists will make of Shostakovich Reconsidered. Under the weight of Ho's and Feofanov's evidence there is little choice but to remain silent or to torpidly dismiss the book.

According to Terry Teachout in the October, 1999 issue of Commentary, that is precisely what Professor Fay has done in her upcoming biography of Shostakovich.

Certainly (one hopes) not the last word on Shostakovich, but a must buy for all lovers of the great composer.

Shostakovich Reconsidered is a timely publication that puts into perspective all the issues revolving around the defamation of the composer's memoirs (Testimony, edited by Solomon Volkov).

Whichever side of the fence one is on, the book comprehensively gathers all the witnesses and testimonies so that one can understand the entire issue surrounding the controversy. At the same time, the second half of the book presents various interesting essays on the composer and his music and other fascinating materials such as the symposium by Maxim SHostakovich.

On the whole, it is very illuminating. On the subject of Testimony, it could very well be the last word on the subject.

The best reward is that my 10 year old grandson just loved this book that I chose for him on instinct!! I wish there were other books by this author to buy - he really knows how to appeal to young readers - and what a great gift!

My wife and I got the books on tape version of this book for our eight year old son. We were taking a seven hour flight to Europe and needed some quick ideas for entertaining him. He loved the book. Over the course of our stay he would listen to the book at least an hour everyday. In the end we considered putting limits on his listening time, then we heard the book with him. It was wonderful. Mr. Elliott has an excellent sense of humor that was perfect for both our son and for any adults listening. The story was great and never lagged. For parents more concerned with morals, the book has a strong positive message. We would highly recommend it and can't wait for his next book!

The dialogue's zippy, it is a bit zany, a Kafka-like treat for readers age 7 and up. It's also tantamount to impossible not to like David Elliot's funny, upbeat farce.

First off, you can't expect Roscoe to be an average youngster - his parents, Waldo and Wilma Wizzle, are unlikely nurturers. Dad, is a cymbal tester, and Mom is an orphan who graces their dining table with either mashed potatoes or tuna surprise.

But the surprise isn't really in the tuna - it's in what happens to the town's youngsters when a Gussy's Restaurant franchise opens. What happens to Roscoe after ingesting countless "Jungle Drums," the world's largest hamburgers, is downright shocking.

Not to worry though when Roscoe and his best buddy, a vegetarian and amateur anthropologist, put their minds to it, nothing stops them.

David Krumholtz offers a zestful reading of this laugh provoking tale.

An enjoyable and educational CD that helped coalate and organize all the information in a easy to access and visually enticing manner. A great review for the boards.

My wife found this to be a very helpful. I would recommend this for those who is about to take USMLE.

I think, it is very helpful as a quick overview of microscopical pathology and may be very helpful for the USMLE Step 1 exam!

Vladimir Kaplan has been my trainer since I started to play checkers professionally July 1980. I have used every book he has written since his move to New York in 1977 I have won three National Championships using his books. American Pool Checker Association (APCA) Blue Ribbon Champ 1987, Gold Bar Champ 1988, and Junior Master Champ 1994. Fred D Shurn FredDShurn@compuserve.com

With his latest publication American Checkers, The Middle of the Game, Book 2, Vladimir Kaplan has climaxed a series of publications that have established an artistic monument that may never be surpassed. From his entry on the American scene in 1977 a new day was born in American checkers. Any player who explores and utilizes his theories will become a first class player.

This is a great text book for players at an early stage of their checker careers.At this stage players often will have worked hard to get an advantage in the game but are unable to take this advantage to the natural winning ending. This book will go far in correcting that deficiency. All chapters in this book are valuable to the serious student but I highly recommend you do your initial heavy concentration on chapter #2 (the endings), chapter #4 (positional alphabet) and chapter #6 (middle game) then round out your studies with the rest of the book.

The author did a great job in illustrating the basic priniciples and theories of pool checkers

I have never read a book like this one before.
So well written and illustrated. It is forwarded
by Vladimir Ashkenazy. The book starts with a section
about music in non-western civilizations, there it
explains the role of music in early cultures of the world,
From Ancient Egypt, to China; from the Ancient American
cultures, to Africa; and from Oceania to the near east to
the Holy Roman Empire, this section of the book has it all.
Then the book is divided in by order of musical periods
thru the ages. Starting with the medieval era, it lists
key events of this period, starting in the 800's. It mentions
and tells about the great names of the era in music,
including de Vitry(1291-1361) and Machaut(1300-1377).
It also explains such teaching devices as the 'Guidonian Hand'.
Then comes the Renaissance, here, it explains the rise
of humanism, it speaks also of major events of the time.
It also tells a bit about the Reinassance courts of Europe
and the composers of the time:Cristobal de Morales(1500-53)
Thomas Morley(1557-1602), Orlande de Lasuss(1532-94). This
section also speaks of the rise of instruments.
One to the Baroque where the where we are start seeing the
the start of new musical forms and procedures, sucha as the
masque, the music drama, the French grand motet.Also music in tenary form etc. The section on the classical period again famous
composers and musicians, explinations of classicism, rococco, and the instruments of the time.More on composers, specially Mozart and Beethoven.On to the the romantic period where we start
to see development in musical instruments, and styles, we also
see how the orchestra gets bigger. Finally, the book comes to
the early and late 20th century. The book does a wonderful job, pictures and tales of 20th century composers. This is the first
book that I have where I find a picture of John Adams and Sofia Gubaidulina in in the same book, in this book, for the first time also, our contemporary composers are treated with great respect, and as equal to their counterparts of the bygone ages. I picture that I like very much is in PG.324 where Cage, and Boulez shake hands in fron of Massien. The art work is of the best quality.This is indeed a good book that I recomend to every classical music lover, and friend. The amazon.com price is so
affordable, and competitive.

A team of writers and scholars compiled the Encyclopedia Of Classical Music, an in-depth encyclopedia of classical music which packs in over 900 color illustrations to accompany a thorough history and survey which extends from ancient through modern times. Introductions for each major period includes surveys of key composers, changes in musical styles, forms, and analysis of instruments. Recommended CD listings, a glossary and extensive discography and bibliography, and subject and name indexes make this valuable both as a reference and for browsing.