This is a classic book that everyone should read for the sheer genius of declarer play and defence. Remember these hands were played at this elevated level AT THE TABLE against world-class opposition. It is a shame that Amazon doesn't have this book. For people desperate to read this and who don't want to pay high used prices, it is available new at Baron Barclay's for about twenty-five dollars.

This book deserves us to read it more than three times. Which level the best bridge are? You can find it in this book.

I agree. This is a large collection of hands that were played double-dummy AT THE TABLE. Many themes and combinations come up including squeezes, deceptive plays and defense.

WOW! I was just given "The Center of Attention" as a holiday gift and was stunned as I opened each page. The cover did not do the contents justice. Some of his concepts seem simple enough for someone like me to replicate. The photograpahy and lighting was beautiful. This is a book to keep out for others to enjoy as well as a perfect gift for anyone with an eye for beauty.

Aside from a brief text forward, The Center Of Attention is a splendor-filled book that eschews mere words and devotes itself entirely to photographs of eye-catching and heart-stopping tablescapes using flowers, vegetables, and other plant themes as created by master floral designer Ron Morgan. Powerfully enhanced with a wealth of full-color photographs by Pamela J. (works of art in and of themselves), The Center Of Attention fully captures Morgan's beautiful floral design masterpieces ranging in a wide variety of moods from fresh spring morning to somber candlelight evening. The Center Of Attention is enthusiastically recommended for serious and dedicated students of floral design, as well as the non-specialist general reader with an appreciation of skilled and artistic flower arrangements.

This book is incomparable! The unbelievable arrangements, table settings, colors, photography and creative layout make this book "one of a kind". This book is for everyone from the novice to the professional floral designer. Every page is breathtaking and is truly instpirational......Ron Morgan is a genius!

This book is funny and interesting. I would recommend this book to anyone who loves a wacky story. This book is about a boy who broke his crazy inventor cousin's 4,000 something dollar camera. He ends up entering a chicken-eating contest to try to win the grand prize. The grand prize will help him pay off the money he owes his cousin. This book will have you laughing the whole way through. If you happen to see this book in a library you should really pick it up and read it!

This book is just great. You have to read it. Very interesting and fun.

Hi, this is Mr. Garden. I would like to say that this is the best book ever for young adults. It was very good and it is the best humorous book since Mark Twain's "Huckleberry Finn." I have read this book almost 14 times and I think this book is better than the well-known kids book Harry Potter. Don't buy this book in paperback. It deserves hard cover. --Mr. Garden

This book is awesome for children and adults. I gave this book to a child once and he took it to school. Kids were lining up just to see the book. No more Standard American Diet Pyramid brainwashing. This book is one of a kind. And it will be hard to find soon. Pictures are amazing. Text is easy and true to the core. It will make you change your food habits. Even if it's just for a day or 2. Vegan or meat eater you will LOVE it. America is waking up to health. ...
And just an update: the kid I gave the book to - changed his diet and now is working on his family members.

This educational book utilizes a comic-book format to explain which food is nourishing and healthful. And which is worthless and damaging. Glass Man, whose transparent body allows us to see when he has eaten the right or wrong foods, takes us on the nutritional journey. Along the way we will meet the deadly Mucus Gang, whose members are on the Most Wanted List for making people weak and sick. These are the repulsive Meat Monster, Sugar Demon, Dairy Goon, Starch Creature, and their grotesque leader, the Mucus Destroyer. We'll see the unhealthy results from a diet of this poison: a clogged system, premature aging, failing organs, disease. Who can protect us? The Health Guardians! These are the heroes known as Fruitarian Fighter, Grain Crusader, Vegetarian Warrior, and Seafood Gladiator. Their live, wholesome foods can knock the Mucus Gang out of our bodies. This is a unique book, as informative for adults as it is for children. The colorful cartoons and humorous text contain sound principles of nutrition. Kids will get a kick out of the yucky junkfood monsters and the stalwart healthfood supermen. I wish at least one of the latter could have been portrayed as a superwoman. But that's a minor, ahem, "beef" over a highly recommended vegan book.

This book was given to my children as a gift after my family turned vegan. The book has a great message and presents it in a very non-threatening easy to understand way! I highly recommend anyone reading it to a little one to put them on the right path for healthy living.

But this has been the most useful of all of them. Simple. A good introduction. I recommend it highly.

Practical advice. Good illustrations. I would recommend the book, especially for a beginner.

Creating Japanese Gardens has been a helpful tool in the process of killing my lawn. If you've read my other reviews, you may wonder why a person with a cactus garden would need a book on Japanese gardens? Think hybrid between a Zen garden and a cactus garden. The basic plan for the garden was constructed with the help of this book. Everything I know about Japanese gardens comes from this wonderful little text. Most of the elements of a Japanese garden appear in my front yard, but with heavy substitution of Southwestern icons for Japanese icons. Trade Mexican-style chimneys for Japanese lanterns; trade coyote for Buddha; trade the traditional plants of a cactus garden for the traditional plants of a Japanese garden. The paths use redrock flagstone and the stones in the dry stream and other places in the garden all come from western deserts and mountains. It's been hours and hours of dirty fun. I do have a request-if you buy this wonderful book and intend to put a traditional Japanese garden in your yard with the traditional Japanese elements, please make sure your climate is wet enough to support the garden without excess added water.

The Dancing Chain by Frank Berto dvanhook 06/18/01 01:48 pm EDT rating:

An invaluable reference document for vintage bicycle enthusiasts! It is well and thoroughly researched and fully illustrated with photographs and beautiful line drawings of bicycles and bicycle parts as they have developed over the past one hundred years. It also contains a many helpful and interesting graphs and charts. This beautiful book is as complete and authoritative as is possible, but is very readable even for those with no technical background. It is certain to become a collectors item and was published as a very limited edition.

I am very glad I purchased this book. This book involves much more about the history of bicycles than the title may lead you to believe.

For over 30 years, since my freshman year at UCLA, I have been an avid recreational and utility cyclist and "gear-headed" bicycle collector, tinkerer, and restorer. Since I always enjoyed Frank Berto's technical articles and insights on the design and operation of bicycle transmissions, I eagerly awaited publication of "The Dancing Chain." I was not disappointed! This well-illustrated and well-researched tome is the only comprehensive reference I have ever seen on the history of bicycle transmissions. It is a great read for any bicycle fan with an interest in history or technological evolution. My only nit-picking gripe is that the organization of the chapters sometimes makes it a little difficult to follow the chronology of a specific product line or manufacturer, although the material is all in there. I share Berto's appreciation of SunTour's innovative slant planograph rear derailleur design, which has since been almost universally copied by the competition.

BOOK REVIEW by Richard Desper of:
The Dark Side of Shakespeare: An Iron-fisted Romantic in England's Most Perilous Times
A trilogy by W. Ron Hess

When delving into the life of the putative poet/playwright "William Shakespeare", it may well be said (irony intended) that there is less to the man than meets the eye. Neither the background, qualifications, nor the historical record seem to support the historical William Shakspere as the Bard, and historical research leave us with a number of "lost years" unaccounted for in his life. Ron Hess has undertaken a somewhat parallel task - he has examined the facts about the 17th Earl of Oxford, most likely the actual identity of the author "William Shakespeare", and shows that there is much more to the man than meets the eye. Indeed, it would seem, if we believe Mr. Hess, that there is much more to the "Shakespeare enterprise" than we had ever imagined.
The "Shakespeare enterprise" is a key concept in Hess's book. In his own words, '... The real question of importance should first be, "WHAT was Shake-spear?"' In the First Folio, Ben Jonson calls Shakespeare "Soule of the Age! ... Thou art a moniment (sic) without a tomb!" suggesting Shakespeare's purpose, that of defining the character and tone of an age. The written works are only part of a larger project, with Oxford playing an international role embodying a mythical hero, the "Palladin of England", which Hess identifies (through Greek etymology) with Pallas Athena as the "Spear-Shaker". Hess identifies that project with a long-term alliance involving the earls of Sussex, Oxford, and Pembroke, along with Lord Hunsdon and Lord Effingham, all with key roles at Court and in the London stage. According to Hess, beginning in the 1570's, 'The alliance controlled the public and semi-public stages, but I argue that the private homes of those in the alliance were where the "Shakespeare" plays each were "originated".' The alliance used stage plays as a public relations part of its efforts for promoting its desired goals, both in the earlier period when the author was anonymous and later on when the pseudonym "Shakespeare" was introduced.
Mr. Hess's book abounds with notes, appendices, references, and a bibliography which attest to the extensive research involved in its preparation, a level of research which would seem to be unmatched by orthodox Shakespeare scholars. He speaks with logic and clarity, as when he debunks the orthodox "voice of authority" in such matters as the dating of the plays. He deftly skewers their inconsistent logic, for instance, as to what standards are to be accepted or disdained as it suits their purposes in one instance vs. another. His writing style exudes candor, freshness, and openness - he works by presenting the evidence, offering alternate interpretations (including his own, of course), and inviting the readers to draw their own conclusions. And for those who have found his speaking style entertaining, this has translated into his written work as well, resulting in a colorful presentation, which abounds in Hess's rich personal literary images.
Hess dwells extensively on Oxford's possible role in international intrigue, juxtaposed in the 1570's against Don Juan of Austria, natural half- brother to the King of Spain and the great military leader of the day, a role perhaps not as far-fetched as it might seem at first glance. It has long been noted that the "Shakespeare" plays abound with topical references dated to that decade, including allusions to Don Juan. To what extent Oxford was an active player abroad in these intrigues remains to be clarified, but it is clear that he was an active player where it counted a great deal - in molding opinion first at Court, then in the world at large. For perception, image, whatever one might call it, counted a great deal in those days, even as it does today.

BOOK REVIEW by Richard Desper of:
The Dark Side of Shakespeare: An Iron-fisted Romantic in England's Most Perilous Times
A trilogy by W. Ron Hess

When delving into the life of the putative poet/playwright "William Shakespeare", it may well be said (irony intended) that there is less to the man than meets the eye. Neither the background, qualifications, nor the historical record seem to support the historical William Shakspere as the Bard, and historical research leave us with a number of "lost years" unaccounted for in his life. Ron Hess has undertaken a somewhat parallel task - he has examined the facts about the 17th Earl of Oxford, most likely the actual identity of the author "William Shakespeare", and shows that there is much more to the man than meets the eye. Indeed, it would seem, if we believe Mr. Hess, that there is much more to the "Shakespeare enterprise" than we had ever imagined.
The "Shakespeare enterprise" is a key concept in Hess's book. In his own words, '... The real question of importance should first be, "WHAT was Shake-spear?"' In the First Folio, Ben Jonson calls Shakespeare "Soule of the Age! ... Thou art a moniment (sic) without a tomb!" suggesting Shakespeare's purpose, that of defining the character and tone of an age. The written works are only part of a larger project, with Oxford playing an international role embodying a mythical hero, the "Palladin of England", which Hess identifies (through Greek etymology) with Pallas Athena as the "Spear-Shaker". Hess identifies that project with a long-term alliance involving the earls of Sussex, Oxford, and Pembroke, along with Lord Hunsdon and Lord Effingham, all with key roles at Court and in the London stage. According to Hess, beginning in the 1570's, 'The alliance controlled the public and semi-public stages, but I argue that the private homes of those in the alliance were where the "Shakespeare" plays each were "originated".' The alliance used stage plays as a public relations part of its efforts for promoting its desired goals, both in the earlier period when the author was anonymous and later on when the pseudonym "Shakespeare" was introduced.
Mr. Hess's book abounds with notes, appendices, references, and a bibliography which attest to the extensive research involved in its preparation, a level of research which would seem to be unmatched by orthodox Shakespeare scholars. He speaks with logic and clarity, as when he debunks the orthodox "voice of authority" in such matters as the dating of the plays. He deftly skewers their inconsistent logic, for instance, as to what standards are to be accepted or disdained as it suits their purposes in one instance vs. another. His writing style exudes candor, freshness, and openness - he works by presenting the evidence, offering alternate interpretations (including his own, of course), and inviting the readers to draw their own conclusions. And for those who have found his speaking style entertaining, this has translated into his written work as well, resulting in a colorful presentation, which abounds in Hess's rich personal literary images.
Hess dwells extensively on Oxford's possible role in international intrigue, juxtaposed in the 1570's against Don Juan of Austria, natural half- brother to the King of Spain and the great military leader of the day, a role perhaps not as far-fetched as it might seem at first glance. It has long been noted that the "Shakespeare" plays abound with topical references dated to that decade, including allusions to Don Juan. To what extent Oxford was an active player abroad in these intrigues remains to be clarified, but it is clear that he was an active player where it counted a great deal - in molding opinion first at Court, then in the world at large. For perception, image, whatever one might call it, counted a great deal in those days, even as it does today.

BOOK REVIEW by Richard Desper of:
The Dark Side of Shakespeare: An Iron-fisted Romantic in England's Most Perilous Times*
A trilogy by W. Ron Hess

When delving into the life of the putative poet/playwright "William Shakespeare", it may well be said (irony intended) that there is less to the man than meets the eye. Neither the background, qualifications, nor the historical record seem to support the historical William Shakspere as the Bard, and historical research leave us with a number of "lost years" unaccounted for in his life. Ron Hess has undertaken a somewhat parallel task - he has examined the facts about the 17th Earl of Oxford, most likely the actual identity of the author "William Shakespeare", and shows that there is much more to the man than meets the eye. Indeed, it would seem, if we believe Mr. Hess, that there is much more to the "Shakespeare enterprise" than we had ever imagined.
The "Shakespeare enterprise" is a key concept in Hess's book. In his own words, '... The real question of importance should first be, "WHAT was Shake-spear?"' In the First Folio, Ben Jonson calls Shakespeare "Soule of the Age! ... Thou art a moniment (sic) without a tomb!" suggesting Shakespeare's purpose, that of defining the character and tone of an age. The written works are only part of a larger project, with Oxford playing an international role embodying a mythical hero, the "Palladin of England", which Hess identifies (through Greek etymology) with Pallas Athena as the "Spear-Shaker". Hess identifies that project with a long-term alliance involving the earls of Sussex, Oxford, and Pembroke, along with Lord Hunsdon and Lord Effingham, all with key roles at Court and in the London stage. According to Hess, beginning in the 1570's, 'The alliance controlled the public and semi-public stages, but I argue that the private homes of those in the alliance were where the "Shakespeare" plays each were "originated".' The alliance used stage plays as a public relations part of its efforts for promoting its desired goals, both in the earlier period when the author was anonymous and later on when the pseudonym "Shakespeare" was introduced.
Mr. Hess's book abounds with notes, appendices, references, and a bibliography which attest to the extensive research involved in its preparation, a level of research which would seem to be unmatched by orthodox Shakespeare scholars. He speaks with logic and clarity, as when he debunks the orthodox "voice of authority" in such matters as the dating of the plays. He deftly skewers their inconsistent logic, for instance, as to what standards are to be accepted or disdained as it suits their purposes in one instance vs. another. His writing style exudes candor, freshness, and openness - he works by presenting the evidence, offering alternate interpretations (including his own, of course), and inviting the readers to draw their own conclusions. And for those who have found his speaking style entertaining, this has translated into his written work as well, resulting in a colorful presentation, which abounds in Hess's rich personal literary images.
Hess dwells extensively on Oxford's possible role in international intrigue, juxtaposed in the 1570's against Don Juan of Austria, natural half- brother to the King of Spain and the great military leader of the day, a role perhaps not as far-fetched as it might seem at first glance. It has long been noted that the "Shakespeare" plays abound with topical references dated to that decade, including allusions to Don Juan. To what extent Oxford was an active player abroad in these intrigues remains to be clarified, but it is clear that he was an active player where it counted a great deal - in molding opinion first at Court, then in the world at large. For perception, image, whatever one might call it, counted a great deal in those days, even as it does today.

I was charmed and enthralled by Tommy "Butch" Bond's life story. Frankly, my expectations of show biz autobiographies is not high: Everyone seems to be so intent on blowing his or her own horn. Bond is a refreshing exception.

First of all, I think the Little Rascals walk on water. Hundreds of years from now, some extraterrestial on the Moons of Jupiter with all z's and x's in his (its?) name will enjoy these short films as much as I did when I was growing up. They are universal in their appeal. We still haven't got to the point in our society that a Stymie, a Farina, or a Buckwheat can live next door to a Spanky, an Alfalfa, or a Butch. Hal Roach's Little Rascals were way ahead of their time.

Of course, we all know what happened. MGM bought Our Gang from Roach and trashed the whole concept. It was time to move on and -- like so many child stars -- turn to booze, drugs, or crime. But wait a minute! Butch escapes the cliche and turns to radio, film, and even TV. And he marries the Texas beauty queen and lives happily ever after. Bond has this talent for reinventing himself and going from one positive experience to the other.

Now who would have thought that the one member of the Little Rascals you should have grown up emulating was Butch the bully?

This is a book that is not only well written: It will make you feel good about life.

Tommy does an excellent job of telling the adventures of his life! Recommended reading for every fan of this fine man!

The book of Tommy Bond has great insight into the Little Rascals and old Hollywood. It gives you the sense of being there, and gives info that you could get nowhere else for a inside account.

This book was so interesting that I could not put it down! A lot of books I read are very interesting, but few are such that it is hard to put them down and pick them up to continue. I read DD: 522 in just two days. It is very well written and fast-paced. Told in the words of those who experienced it, it seems as if "you are there"with them. They should make a movie of this book. It has elements of "Titanic" and "Saving Private Ryan"--i.e., the drama of a sinking ship and the horrors of war. I was even kind of "sad" when I finished it...I wanted it to continue, but of course it couldn't because the story ended. I cannot recommend this book too highly. (I have even started to read it for a second time already!)

I knew the family of a crew member of the Luce. His first Destroyer the DE Haven was sunk.

His next Destroyer was Sunk: the Twiggs

His last Destroyer was sunk: Luce

He died not long ago with no sort of recognition for all this at all...it sure is a waste..so what good are books..Tin Can Sailor

When I first started reading this book I could not put it down. It is very well written from the very words of the survivors of the sinking. I laughed at some of the situations the men got into and I also cried at the horror of battle. The book graphically illustrates with startling clarity what men under attack go through. Get this book, read it, and you'll want to tell all your friends and family.

The authors of this book define theoretical computer science as the mathematical study of models of computation, and they do an excellent job of detailing the major results in the theory of computation as related to mathematical logic. Mathematicians, programmers, and philosophers will find the book an effective one in which to learn computability theory, and it serves well as a textbook for courses in the subject.

After a brief review of elementary mathematics and mathematical logic in chapter 1, the authors move right into the consideration of computable functions in chapter 2. They choose a particular abstract programming language in which to study the computability theory, which is built from variables, and programs that can be built from lists of instructions. Examples of programs are given, which have a Fortran flavor, with examples of computing partial functions. Unfortunately, a plethora of GOTO statements appear in the programs, and throughout the rest of the book, which is surprising given the publishing date. The use of these GOTO statements in the book is a major annoyance.

Then in chapter 3, the authors discuss primitive recursive functions, beginning with a treatment of composition, followed by the all-important concept of recursion. The class (PRC) of primitive recursive functions is introduced, and shown to be computable. The primitive recursive predicates are introduced, followed by a proof that the existential and universal quantifiers over an element of a PRC class are also PRC. This is followed by a discussion of minimalization and Godel numbers.

The next chapter is very interesting, wherein the famous halting problem is discussed and related to Church's thesis. The authors stress, most importantly, that an algorithm cannot be defined outside of the choice of a language, and therefore Church's thesis cannot be proved as a theorem. The authors also introduce recursively enumerable sets and show, via diagonalization, that non-recursively enumerable sets exist. They give an interesting example of a function that is computable but not primitive recursive.

The next chapter extends the results to strings of symbols instead of just numbers, and the authors introduce programming languages for doing string computations. One of these is the famous Post-Turing language, which they use to discuss the halting problem, with a variant used in the next chapter on Turing machines. The authors discuss the famous halting problem for Turing machines in this chapter. This is followed in chapter 7 by a discussion of productions and simulation of nondeterministic Turing machines. A very lucid treatment of Post's correspondence problem is given.

Things get somewhat more complicated in chapter 8, where the authors attempt to classify unsolvable problems. It contains one of the best discussions I have seen in the literature on oracles, and the authors give a very clear treatment of arithmetic hierarchies.

The second part of the book reads more like a book on compilers, as the authors delve into the area of grammars and automata. Regular languages, deterministic and non-deterministic finite automata are discussed, and Kleene's theorem, which states that regular languages and finite automata define the same languages, is proven. The context-free languages, so familiar from the study of compilers, are discussed also, along with a proof that a context-free grammar can be reduced to a Chomsky normal form grammar. Pushdown automata, needed for accepting context-free languages, are treated in detail. The authors give a good explanation here as to the additional facilities needed for a finite automaton to decide if a word belongs to a "bracket" language. Chomsky hierarchies are also discussed, and the authors motivate nicely the need for a linear bounded automaton to accept context sensitive languages.

Part three of the book is an overview of mathematical logic, and begins with a treatment of the propositional calculus. The satisfiability problem is discussed for this system, along with how to reduce formulas to normal form. The important compactness theorem is given a very detailed proof. Predicate calculus is then discussed, and Herbrand's theorem, which effectively reduces logical inference in predicate calculus to a problem of satisfiability of universal sentences, is proven. This theorem is fascinating and has important applications to automated theorem proving, as it ties together semantic and syntactical properties of a formal system. The Godel incompleteness theorem and the unsolvability of the satisfiability problem in predicate logic is proven.

In part 4, issues in computational complexity are addressed, the measure of complexity given in terms of the Blum axioms. This is a very abstract way of introducing complexity theory, as it introduces measures of complexity that more general than time and space complexity. The fascinating gap theorem, comparing program performance on two computing machines via complexity measures, is proven. This is followed by a detailed discussion of the speedup theorem, which essentially states that there is a wildly complicated recursive function such that for any program computing this function, there exists another program computing the function that works a lot faster for almost every input. The polynomial-time computability is discussed along with the famous P vs NP problem, with the discussion given in terms of Turing machines. Examples of NP-complete problems are given.

The last part of the book covers semantics, with operational and denotational semantics defined and compared. The emphasis in this part is on programming languages and constructions that one would actually find in practice, and so the preceding chapters on computable functions must be extended. The concept of an approximate ordering is introduced to allow for the instantaneous of a computation at some point before its completion. The denotational semantics of recursion equations and infinitary data structures are discussed, with the latter put it in to deal with the sophisticated systems that are constructed here. The discussion here is very involved, but the authors do a fair job of explaining the need for these types of data structures. The same is done for operational semantics, and the authors finally show that the computable numerical functions are actually partially computable. They then show the existence of computable irrational numbers.

This is not a common book on Computability and Complexity as Hopcroft-Ullman, Sipser or Papadimitrou. You won't find here too many words describing topics: you'll find the power and elegance of a superlative mathematical approach from one the best authors of the century in the field. Conversely, you'll find here a detailed and elegant treatment of the whole history of computational models that starts at the Primitive Recursive Functions, something you won't find in the other books above mentioned.
A special note goes to the chapter on Blum's complexity, which is about the only good place where I found it and from where I studied for my course on Complexity I.
For this reason the book requires quite more attention than others, but it really worths all the time one can spend reading it. Truly understanding Computability and Complexity as Professor Davis teaches them with this book is in my opinion a definitely high achievement, bringing the sensation that you grasp it totally, with no space for ambiguity or weakness.

I first learned computability from this book and I loved every minute of it. It has lots of material and is superbly written. In fact, I think the chapters on logic are the most painless way to learn that subject. There are many other books around on this subject, but this is the ultimate!