I have no clue how to play chess, but that did nothing to inhibit my enjoyment of this book. Everything that one needs to know is explained by Fred Waitzkin superbly, yet the book focuses not on the chess, but on the people who play it. Waitzkin is such a powerful writer because he invites the reader into his life, zooming in on every detail, making us love his family as much as he does, allowing us to get as involved with chess as he is. We examine the homeless men in the park, who play expertly, treat Fred's prodigal son tenderly, and suddenly disappear. We meet parents who will do anything to help their children win chess tournaments. We look at all these people for whom chess is life. But it doesn't matter that it's chess - it could be anything. Waitzkin writes about relationships, capturing the essence of the characters. The book is much better than the movie, which oversimplifies the story, and loses that personal feel. You'll find your heart racing fast as you read whether or not little Joshua Waitzkin will win the chess championship. This is one of the most amazing books I have ever read.

The book is an excellent collection of essays related to the Shapley value. Much of what is there is difficult to get from journal papers, since the papers, including the seminal ones, were published in rather obscure journal. This is a good buy for a specialist in game theory.

Absolutely beautiful book wonderfully written and put together! Do not hesitate a moment to buy this! I've spent the past 3+ years constantly looking at this book (Plus its companion book) and I do not grow tired of it! It is pure bliss sometimes to look through it!

Smile And Jump High!: The True Story Of Overcoming A Traumatic Brain Injury is the moving and compelling testimony of Shannon, a young woman who suffered a near-fatal auto accident. A devastating brain injury forces Shannon to embark on a grueling four-year journey of gradually re-learning simple physical skills, walking, talking, and coping with residual effects that drastically impair her problem-solving ability, behavioral temperament, and more. The inclusion of citations from personal journals of close friends and family members bear testimony to a long struggle culminating in triumph and rebuilding one's life from the ground up. Smile And Jump High is very highly recommended reading, especially for anyone having to come to grips with the recovering process necessitated by catastrophic injury or illness.

An entertaining and thoughtful journey through the career and the mind of this prolific celebrity designer. Illustrates hundreds of furnishings, objects, interiors, and architectural projects; some of which are documented here for the first time. Clean and interesting graphic layout by Keith Lovegrove captures the spirit of the "Starck aesthetic". Conway Lloyd Morgan's essays and commentaries by Starck himself do much to explain the inspiration and creative process of this enigmatic and controversial most-modern designer. Numerous books about the work of Philippe Starck have been published over the past several years, some on par with this one however, at the published price (and even less through amazon.com) this is a wealth of entertaining information for a small price.

Karl Taps.

Lloyd provides an excellent and detailed presentation of techniques for the analysis of categorical data. This is an advanced course intended for graduate statistics students in the US and masters level students in the British and Australian systems.

Each chapter in the book is well written and has real examples to illustrate concepts. At the end of each chapter is a section summarizing related references to the literature by sections in the chapter. This is then followed by a large set of exercises that can be used for homework or test problems. Many of the exercises incorporate data from interesting real world problems. Many of the problems can be solved with the software GLIM. Other software including Minitab, SPlus, StatXact and LogXact are used from time to time. Manuals for the software and some S algorithms are provided on a Wiley web site set up for the text and described in the Preface.

Chapter 1 starts out with the basic parametric theory of statistics including maximum likelihood, asymptotic distribution theory, hypothesis testing and goodness of fit measures. It also includes a section on transformations of data and parameters.

Chapter 2 describes categorical data and the general multinomial model. The Poisson model is also discussed and goodness of fit procedures are described. Confidence intervals and hypothesis testing are also included. A connection between the multinomial and Poisson models is given.

Chapter 3 deals with the special case of binary data. Contingency tables and binomial models are discussed. Methods for comparing two or more binomial populations are covered as are the testing of independence in a 2x2 contingency table and the comparison of several 2x2 tables. Generalized linear models are introduced here as a tool for dealing with these problems. Lloyd is careful not to gloss over important issues and he includes discussion of hidden factors. Simpson's paradox is covered in Section 3.6. Asymptotic chi-square distributions are often needed for these unconditional tests.

Chapter 4 covers binomial regression models, issues of overdispersion and the use of the normal general linear model as an approximation. Weighted least squares using the inverse of the variance for weights is presented. Chapter 5 adds nonparametric smoothing to the tools for binary data.

Chapter 6 covers Poisson regression models. There is also some discussion fo the treatment of ordinal data as well as categorical data in Chapter 6. Models for incomplete data are also treated in Chapter 6. Log linear models and multinomial logit models are also considered in Chapter 6.

Chapter 7 deals with the simpler conditional tests. These tests are sometimes preferred because of their simplicity and because they have properties of exactness due to the conditioning on the observed data that reduces the class of possible probability models. These procedures have the advantage of being distribution free as well as exact but also have the slight disadvantage of being computer-intensive. Lloyd is careful to point out the advantages of tests based on conditional inference and the available software that makes these techniques very practical. However, he should also be commended for pointing out that the conditioning argument is not universally accepted. A point that is often neglected when dealing with permutation tests like Fisher's exact test. The chapter also includes an interesting section on saddlepoint approximations that can be used to get a good analytic approximation to the exact procedure.

Good features of the book include, the careful and clearly stated theoretical ideas and the wide range of applications used to show practicality of the methods. Important questions related to outliers and missing data are properly covered.

This book is the amazing story/history of the LRDG, a WWII special forces unit that would probe the desert waste lands to conduct reconnaissance, pathfinding missions, mapping and survey ops as well as limited direct action missions, against Italian targets of opportunity. The unit also ferried the SAS into operations. This book is fabulously written and structured makes the read quite fast and easy. This story covers the LRDG birth in the desert as long-range patrol unit to the LRDG. It covers the personalities, evolution of the unit; operations, equipment and an inside look at many of the tactics and procedures employed at that time for mobility operations. Excellent book if you would like to see the roots of modern special operations. Well worth the read.

This is a well-written and interesting book on the history of astronomy. The book is divided into 18 chapters, each of which makes a comfortable evening's reading. Another plus is the general quality of the book's construction, most notably its sturdy cover and binding and thicker than average paper. This is a book that will last a long time. The only downside is that it appears that Amazon does not offer a discount to the book's list price. I have also bought The Story of Mathematics by the same authors. I am about half way finished with that book and have enjoyed it very much, although not as much as Astronomy. I plan to also buy their Story of Physics when I am finished with Mathematics.

This little book is very cute with bright, colorful graphics; it teaches the value of sharing! My three-year-old daughter loves it!

This is a wonderful comprehensive instuction manual for teaching a child the art of piano playing.