This a very nice and comprehensive travel guide. I have no doubts of takeing it to my trip. The only BIG MISS in it, is that thera are no www pages or e-mail references for hotels, restaurants, museums, guideing services etc. etc.

Marek Hlasko's novel spans a fictional, although based on own experiences, journey through dingy hotels and bars of 60's Israel. This is the story of two Polish marriage con men on a search for a wealthy woman. The angle of their 'con' is the most twisted part of the plot.

The story is set against a surreal view of then young state of Israel. The starved characters pass through over-priced tourist resourts, visit Polish Jews making a new life in the Promissed Land, fight thieves, drunks and the endless heat of the summer nights.

Read this book - Hlasko opens doors and windows to a fantasy that just might have came true for him.

Chris Jurewicz

For anyone interested in the transformation of Eastern Europe from communist rule to free statehood, this work proves an invaluable resource. Author Tomasz Jastrun, now 50, wrote this collection of poetry during the 1980s beginning with the rise of the Solidarity movement, thru the period of Poland's martial law, his imprisonment at Bialoleka and finally, as a free man. Much of Jastrun's poetry is dark and despairing; the angst conveyed within them goes beyond hopelessness: "Because nothing makes any sense/When everyone's home gets ground to rubble/There is no corner left for feeling." Jastrun frequently ponders the absurdity of the Soviet "house of cards" (communism) and sighs "Times like these/The absurd is so close." The second section of poetry--the shortest of the 3--tells not only of the hardships endured when in prison ("ribs sticking out from lack of freedom") but continues to exhibit spiritual despair. Poignant religious imagery is seen in poems like "Last Supper" and "Leaving Prison." The last section of poetry deals with his release from prison, coping with his father's death (a famed writer in Poland as well) yet still contains echoes of despair as seen in "The Captive Dream" where he writes "The 80s slope down like Flatlands/Into the depths of God knows what." The final 20 pages of the book is devoted to prose essays, most which were included in Kultura, a Polish emigre monthly journal published in Paris. The switch in tone between the prose and poetry sections guarantees quite a surprise for the reader. Of course, as many of the essays were written after the disintegration of the Soviet Union, this alone may account for the lighter touch seen in many of the essays. At any rate, be sure to check out Jastrun's sardonic and witty description of the 1997 meeting in Warsaw between celebrated writers Milosz and Szymborska. Translator Bourne does a tremendous job in preserving the tone, flavor and nuance Jastrun conveys throughout his work. Many of the poems seem already written in English, they are that fluid and readable. Bourne occasionally includes brief historical footnoes with certain poems to help place it in historical context for, like much Polish literature, Jastrun draws on incidents from Poland's past history, letting English readers realize that his turbulant life and experiences were certainly not created in a vacuum.

I was hoping to use this for self-study.
The only real way to learn is through examples, but then
they have to be the right level of examples.

If you arr a finance guy and wana-be finance quant guy/gal - this book will be of no use.

This is an excellent book for anyone who can use maths at degree level. Forget complex analysis, this is far and away the best book for a good subject...

JH

If you want to learn the basic theory of stochastic processes and Ito Calculus, this book (combined with measure integral and probability from the same series) is THE best place to start. All textbooks should be like this.

Heartwarming book from the perspective of a preschooler classifying [a budding librarian!] the creatures in her house, two cats and three people.

"Two who lick each other. Five who kiss each other."
"One who sings loud at night." (one of the cats)
"One who sings loud in the morning." (Dad)

All of her cat-egories (sorry) are just exactly the categories a preschooler would come up with:

"Four who like to eat fish...two who like to eat mice. Only one who likes to eat beets."

And the pictures...perspectively-challenged, muddy pastel-ie montages from Bogacki...are perfect. If you haven't discovered his solo work, seek it out. This would make a great game starter for a family OR a storytime OR a classroom.

The most notable aspect of this charming picture book is the picture design, with old- world appeal vying with playful humor to create a perfect background for the whimsical text. Five family members are presented, with three humans and two cats sharing certain qualities and just as often showing their differences. The text is presented as part of the page design and draws the reader into the illustrations.
One who sings loud late at night
And one who sings in the morning.
The illustration on the left shows the male cat (with grey hair) yowling on the windowsill and the male human (with grey hair) singing into the mirror as he shaves. The story is told from the viewpoint of the one child in the story, one of three with orange hair.

I can't believe that so far this book has only received 2-star customer reviews--perhaps these folks just don't get the charm of this book and are unusually critical. In fact, this title has received glowing reviews from many publications, including three *starred* reviews: Horn Book, School Library Journal, and Booklist. I plan to add it to my library collection.

Neighbors by Jan Gross, is a highly emotional and thought provoking book that ivestigates the slaughter of Jewish citizen in a small Polish town, by Polish citizens, on July 10, 1941. Individuals who may be familiar with the horrors of the holocaust will still be shocked by the disturbing brutality that is depicted in first-hand accounts given by the citizens of Jedwabne.
Although Neighbors is a short, fast-paced book that can be read in an afternoon, Gross does not skimp on important and complex historical information that sets the scene for the tragedy at Jedwabne. Gross thoroughly discusses the actions that take place before WWII, for example, the dynamics of the Soviet occupation of Poland, and resulting impact such events have on the Poles' perceptions of Jews. Gross's primary concern is to understand the psychology of such a tragedy: why would one half of a small town brutally torture and murder the other half; what possible motivations could drive people to such inhumanities? Descriptions of the atrocities are extensive and graphic, and although they may help reader understand the horror of the event, they can also make reading difficult.
Neighbors is an important book because it makes the Holocaust more personal to students. Students are able to realize that the real evil that allowed the Holocaust to occur may not have sprung from prominent Nazis and their twisted ideologies, but rather from the hearts and minds of everyday people, who were willing to turn their backs on their fellow humans or embrace the horrors of Nazi propaganda and mass hysteria.

This book is worthwhile for those who need apparent support for their anti-Polish prejudices. It includes the Germans, who would be all too happy to try to dilute their guilt, as well as western Europeans (notably the French, Norwegians, etc.) who were the big league collaborators with the German Nazis. Even if Gross was entirely correct, many more Jedwabnes would be needed for the Poles to even approach the level of guilt of the western Europeans. No wonder that positive reviews of this book were written by buck-passing western Europeans. It also serves as one more symptom of how Holocaust education has departed from historical truth. The fact that some politically-correct Poles may support it does not change this fact. However, the most striking thing about this book is the lack of logic in several of Gross' arguments. For instance, Gross tries to deny the extensive Jewish involvement in Communism by pointing out the (correct) fact that many Jews were deported to Siberia along with the Poles. This would negate the large Jewish collaboration with the Communists only if one Jew would never betray another Jew. Using the same illogic, one could argue that the Judenrat never existed vis a vis the German-made Holocaust. Gross' selective presentation of evidence to support his position is little better than his logic.

Some readers of Polish heritage find it hard to accept and are surprised, that Poles, and not Nazis, killed Jews in a village. Sadly, they have a knee jerk reaction, they deny it and insult this book's author. Many Americans were surprised to read about the white pogroms against blacks in Tulsa Oklahoma and Rosewood Florida decades ago. But at least they never called these events lies.

This book presents a generalized discussion on how Poles, with Nazi prodding, burned 1,600 Jews alive in a barn in the northern Polish town of Jedwabne (85 mile NE of Warsaw) in July 1941. Deniers will say it wasn't 1,600, but suffice it to say, at least 200 bodies were recently dug up in part of the barn in June 2001. Seven Jews survived, hidden by a Polish woman. The book tells us how the mayor exceeded the Nazi command of July 10, 1941 to kill the Jews, but spare some tradesmen. The villagers killed nearly everyone, and not just those that may have supported the Soviets, if any (see Gross's "Revolution from Abroad" for a study of pre War Soviet atrocities in Poland). It followed massacres of Jews in two neighboring villages (probably under the leadership of SS-Obersturmfuhrer Hermann Schaper). Polish documents listed some 92 Jedwabne villagers by name who participated in the murders. Some villagers played music while the Jews screamed and burned. The massacre was planned by the town's city council and mayor. It was so grotesque that the town butcher declined to participate. Some Poles brought wagons to carry away Jewish booty. The book contains about 30 pages of photos and 47 pages of footnotes.

The book has sparked a national debate in Poland. The massacre was never fully investigated, although perfunctory trials were held after WWII. The book tells how a monument was erected that blamed the Nazis and Gestapo for the murders, even though in 1949, 22 Poles were arrested for the murders. Another trial was held in 1953. Older Poles continue to think it was the work of "bandits." Poland's Prime Minister Jerzy Buzek and President Aleksander Kwasniewski have read the book and asked the nation to ask for forgiveness (although Deputy Antoni Macierewicz is now suing the President for defamation to take back the lie that Poles killed Jews). Because of this book’s publication, in May 2001, the head of the Catholic Church in Poland, Jozef Cardinal Glemp, acknowledged Polish involvement in the crime, but of course, Cardinal Glemp also said that the Jews should apologize for bring Communism to Poland (what?). Cardinal Glemp will pray at All Saints Church on Grzybowski Sqaure in Warsaw, across from Warsaw’s synagogue, but maybe he will have All Saints get rid of some of the books they sell in their store, books like “Spot the Jew” and “Jews and Freemasons Working Together.” By the way, in June 2001, due to this book, the barn was exhumed and in it was found the charred remains of a statue (as the book mentions, a statue of Lenin was burned with the Jews), as well as many many house keys and the effects of men, women and children.

If you like ODE's in the context of engineering applications, this book is for you. Unfortunately, if you're interested in analyzing and modeling some practical dynamic system, this is probably of no use. It mainly describes systems for which there are already known closed-form equations describing the dynamics, and shows where and why chaos comes from. It may help you if you're dealing with a mechanical system that can be easily modelled by a set of ODE's but it is not analytic enough to be useful for poeple involved into modeling and analysis of a completely new dynamic system for which no equations already exist.

I think that books on "chaos theory" are far better like : "Chaos theory tamed", "Fractals, chaos and power laws"...

For people interested in time series analysis whith chaotic looking data, please don't skip the exceptionnal : "Nonlinear Time Series Analysis" from Kantz and Schreiber ! This is an absolutely amazing book : if you need one book for helping you to analyze your data, this one will do the job !

"Chaos for engineers" probably doesn't deserve the time and the money, unless you want to get some "chaos theory culture" in the context of engineering applications.

Unfortunately, Fodor's chooses to flatter sites/hotels/restaurants that are not even worthwhile in this adjective-laced and over-priced guide. Many of the "magnificent," "remarkable," and/or "extraordinary" sites mentioned in this guide were far from it. It lacks any candor or frank descriptions. That's not all, it gives no directions to hotels or restaurants and once again describes substandard food as "wonderful." I am also curious to know where these rocket scientists came up with their definitions of nice, clean and exciting. The book is a bust, go with another guide, it was a waste of my money. If it could get 0 stars -- it would.

I found this book difficult to use. The descriptions of city sites are sorted alphabetically. Therefore, you have to know the name of a specific site in the correct language to find a description. If you don't speak Polish, Hungarian, etc, it's difficult to find what you're looking for. There are only a few maps of major cities in the guide and therefore it's difficult to find any locations outside of the major cities. This book does provide some decent descriptions of restaurants. The upside to the book is that it is the only one that I've found that covers such a diverse group of countries. I just wish that it was organized better and that it had more maps.

The chapter authors are obviously well-acquainted with the areas they cover. They have done a very good job supplying tips for the traveler. The writing is lucid, and the compilation reader-friendly, evincing a masterful job by the editor(s) in revising and coalescing the material.

In summary, this book is a disappointment. It presents a lot of material in an inaccessible way and doesn't provide solid explanations/proofs for a lot of material. It is also largley mathematical as opposed to the far superior 'Martingale methods in finance' by the same author, which takes the time to talk about applications to finance. As a credit derivatives quantitative analyst I was already familiar with the material in the text and that is the only reason why I understood it. It attempts to bridge the gap between theory and practice but in my opnion achieves neither.

This is another typical book written by mathematician, and for mathematician. What can one learn from this book? Basically not much. If you don't really know much about credit risk, you still won't know after much after you read the book. If you are a quant, this book definitely won't help you much.

Who might need this book? If you are a mathemtician with research interest in probablity, AND you like the book "Martingale Methods in Financial Markets" by Musiela and Rotkowski, you might want to buy this book.