A must have for the pi gourmet. Ever since reading Beckman's "History of Pi" years ago, I have had a love for pi. Finding Blatner's "The Joy of Pi" only added to it. With "Pi-Unleashed", Arndt and Haenel help to sate the appetite for more pi left by the first two books. While Beckman weaves the tale of pi as only he can in his book, and Blatner does indeed bring joy to the pi lover in the way he pulls together so many aspects of pi, Arndt and Haenel help to satisfy the number junkie who likes to experience pi, not just read about it. This book was so good that after giving it a good sniffing, I just had to roll all over in it to get its scent all over me. The book covers the many roads to pi, from the oldest arctangent series and product series to the latest series used for calculating hundreds of billions of digits. For the algorithm junkie, it has 17 whole pages of nothing but pi formulas, followed by thousands of digits of pi in decimal and hexadecimal as well as continued fraction format. The mathematics is deeper than Beckman or Blatner, but nothing beyond college level. The CD that comes with the book contains 400 million digits of pi along with a whole slew of programs on pi or high precision numbers that I just had to dig into. I know I will be spending many weeks chewing on all the wonderful new bones offered in this book.

In fact there is not much to say. Robert Frank is probably the greatest photographer alive, his bool The AMericans being the true bible of the second half of the 20th century. here we have a collection of well-known and less-known pictures displayed in a fascinating scheme bringing about unheard of parallels and feedbacks. It is a deeply moving book showing that photography can be a lot more than just pictures here we talk of passion, emotion, life and death. Frank is at his best suggesting rather than displaying. Some of those pictures will bring tears to your eyes

As if among the happenings in reality behind the stage, which audience don't usually get to see, the book is full of interesting facts revealing a mysterious society, bringing us there to feel and experience, to be part of it... eventually to reach a more complete understanding we have been looking for.
A very good book for people who are interested in that part of the world, and that kind of world, or, some different kind of world.

of a major topic too little known in the history of logic. Few authors have the linguistic know- ledge for a balanced account of Chinese logic, both native and Buddhist, as well as the necessary comparisons with Indian and Greek traditions. It would be ungrateful nit-picking to find the author's handling of the relation between language and reasoning unsatisfying in a work which will stand as the major orientation for future study.

this is a long overdue collection of Sophie Taeuber-Arp's works. lots of color illustrations. very nice.

Why should one read books about a political system that is dead and gone? The answer is, of course, that it is not so dead and gone after all. Communism may have collapsed as a political force, but the countries of eastern Europa are still full of the people it has created. People who have just been released from prison are like an ownerless dog, Hein's narrator says, constantly looking for a new master to caress and beat them. Maybe that is how quite a lot of people feel after the Iron Curtain has come down... Peter Dallow has just been released from prison in the East Germany of 1968; he had played the piano in a political cabaret, and a tango about the ageing ruler of the country had so infuriated the authorities that all members of the group are sentenced to spend two years in prison. Dallow still feels he was innocent, because he wasn't even a member, he had just stepped in for the man who usually played the piano. Hein's book is about the months after Dallow's release from prison.

The mood is similar to the one in Coetzee's "Disgrace": Dallow used to be a lecturer at Leipzig university, and his attitude towards his students seems to have been one of contempt and cynicism. Now he is in a state of disgrace, people feel uneasy in his presence and want to get rid of him. The Communist state, however, will not let go of him: The authorities, the secret service, the police, are annoyed that Dallow does not want to live on as if nothing had happened. Nobody could escape the system, no matter how hard he or she tried. Actually they keep trying to force Dallow to return to his post at the university. Maybe people like him are even more useful for a dictatorship than those who never got into trouble: Dallow is broken and cynical, he will never resist the government again; in contrast to practically all the people around him he is completely indifferent towards the hope for reform embodied in the Prague Spring.

Dallow's perspective offers a shocking picture of the state of human relationships in his country: Here too cynicism abounds. Love is only mentioned once - as an impossible dream. Sex is regarded as a purely physical need ("I feel like having sex with you."), and young girls gladly trade it for a place to spend the night. People leave each other just like that. Most characters seem to be scarred after lost battles. This, of course, is Dallow's perspective, and he refuses to cherish any hopes at all. Maybe Hein wanted to show what East Germany was like without the hope for change. The book was first published in 1989, when this change was finally happening...

"The World in the Evening" is the story of Stephen Monk in the years before and during World War II. After his second marriage implodes, he retreats to his former home, a Quaker town in Pennsylvania, where he is forced to reflect on the whole of his life: his first marriage, his affairs, his inability to emote truthfully. Years ago, Stephen & his first wife travelled to the Canary Islands, where Stephen had an affair with a young man. After that ended in disaster, his first wife died, leaving Stephen confused and adrift. In the Quaker town, with family, and with friends in the form of a gay couple and a German refugee, Stephen confronts himself and ultimately finds inner peace. Isherwood's magnificent novel is as captivating and moving as it is beatifully written. The way the story ends is so full of hope and beauty that it will leave the reader feeling the same as Stephen.

Anyone looking for a chronicle of the American wilderness in its infancy would do well to start here. There is great charm in the journals of 1820, where the spellings are still Audubon's own, and the flavor of the times -- especially regarding life on the frontier, and concerning everyday life in old New Orleans -- is everywhere. With his "Bird Biographies" of everyday varieties, as well as descriptions of now-extinct species, such as the Carolina Parakeet, and Ivory Billed Woodpeckers, this book is a treasure not just for nature lovers and bird aficianados, but for lovers of history as well.

Beware! Once you start reading Arnold's book you will not want to put it down, whether you like it or not. And it's a good thing too--This book is a desperately needed one for those of us who keep on rationalizing why it is we don't make our lives more available to children.

Arnold's message is as clear as it is convicting: our children--their souls, their very lives--are endangered and we--indifferent, self-seeking, hard working adults--are to blame. Arnold asks us to look at our lives and society more honestly and to turn away from the "American Nightmare" and toward our children.

Arnold challenges the notion that we are off the hook as long as we provide for our childern's physical and intellectual needs. He debunks the myth that what our children need most is opportunity to pursue the "good life." He challenges as well as inspires us to make our world one in which children can truly be children. Finally, he asks us to consider where are real priorities lie and whether or not our children actually matter.

In addition to the many pearls of wisdom on what it means and what it takes to find a child's heart, Arnold provides a truly inspiring vision of how our world--including our families--can be a place of so much greater joy if only we would put our children first. Arnold moves us beyond analysis and diagnosis to real life solutions, both personally and socially. I cannot recommend this book highly enough.

As a professional who works with children, I must say that this excellent book boldly confronts many of the problems children face today. Some of the issues are age-old, such as the child who does not fit in, while other issues like Ritalin and school violence have grown in recent years. In a hopeful, yet realistic way the author gives sound advice for all of us who interact with children. I will treasure and use this resource in my work, as well as in my family as my own child grows. Parents and anyone who works with children, I highly recommend this book!

There's nothing more heart-warming than a baby's first smile or a four-year-old's innocence and love. And there are few things more heart-breaking for parents than seeing a teenager drift away into isolation, rebellion, and hostility. Reading Endangered won't guarantee success in parenting, but this book offers more real, practical help than anything else I've seen. The advice is not theoretical, not religious, and not easy to follow, because it requires sacrifice from parents. But if you love your children enough to spend some effort, Endangered will give you a lot to think about and try out.