This is one of the best, most insightful analyses of racism, its causes, and its consequences that I've read. Definately a keeper.

As one who wishes to know more about the "nuts and bolts" of jazz, I always insist on reveling in the research conducted by these, the finest jazz authorities on the planet. Unlike the contributions of Ken Burns and others of his genre, this is the real stuff written by the real guys. Very Highly Recomended!!

I thought this book was really good. I think it's really good for someone who needs to go to the eye doctor, but is afraid to go. I also think this book is good for someone who likes Rugrats and has just begun to read on their own!

Many papers in many different topics related to evolutionary computation. The conference is organized around independent "demes" with the goal of ensuring diversity and respect for emerging ideas. The standards for reviewing are relatively high. However, there are some papers that obviously fell though the cracks, which is probably inevitable in a conference of this size.

Mamet, in the introduction, calls these "three and ten minute plays some of the best work I've ever done, but what are they good for?" Many of these plays, especially "Four A.M.", "Cross Patch" and all of the short plays in the "Vermont Sketches" series are between two and five pages and are brief but powerful stories from the man who wrote "Glengarry Glen Ross" and "American Buffalo". One of these, "The Spanish Prisoner", was recently developed into a box office hit starring Steve Martin and Campbell Scott (directed by Mamet himself). Most of them were openers for his plays, and one or two were published in the New York Times. Overall, a very good series of short plays, stories and monologues.

I highly recommend this book to anyone that is interested in gaining an insight into the history, practices and literature of the Jewish people.

The book is broken down into 4 parts. In Part 1, Rabbis Goldberg and Rayner explain each phase in Jewish history from Abraham to the holocaust. With regards to their analysis of the biblical period, I was very impressed at their genuine concern with true history rather than just relying on scripture to provide the details. When dealing with each period, they refrained from giving painstaking details and rather delivered a good overview. Those wishing to satisfy their curiosity for details are able to consult the bibliography for further reading.

In Part 2, the Jewish literature for each period is reviewed including the origin of the Torah and an overview of Rabbinic literature such as the Talmud and beyond.

Parts 3 and 4 deal with the theory of Judaism and Jewish practices. These are excellent for those who are being introduced to Judaism for the very first time, or for those who could do with some revision or brushing up on some of the important rituals, laws and festivals.

Overall, I must say this book is informative and a pleasure to read and remains an excellent reference book.

The Racial State by David Theo Goldberg (Director of the system-wide University of California Humanities Research Institute and Professor of African American Studies and Criminology, Law and Society at the University of California - Irvine) is an astutely written, scholarly account that blends political and social theory, in a meticulous and deftly written study of the intersection of race and the formation and government of nation-states. Challenging the reader to reconsider long-held preconceptions, The Racial State is an erudite and very highly recommended college-level study which breaks new ground in its seminal analysis of human, social, and governmental behavior.

This edition is an updated version of the authors earlier book written in the wake of the 1996 Anti-Terrorism Act. Remember that Act? That was the one passed in response to Oklanhoma City and gave "sweeping new powers" to federal authorities, so that such a horrible act of terrorism, would never, ever, never, never happen ever again!

Now with 9/11 and the "Uniting and Strengthening America by Providing Appropriate Tools Required to Intercept and Obstruct Terrorism" (U.S.A.P.A.T.R.I.O.T) Act (how much time, do you suppose, does it take to come with these acronyms?), the authors are back with a critical look at a drive towards what has very little to do with counterterrorism and quite a bit to do with increasing and centralizing power.

In the past 12 months we've had proposals for a national ID card, a missle defense system, legalized torture, suspension of writ of habeas corpus, a "homeland security" infrastructure that is heavily reliant on security technologies of dubious value. Basically the only thing that has changed that would have prevented the 9/11 are locked Cabin doors and the newfound general awareness that "cooperating with the hijacker" might not be the best policy for passeners.

Also along the way, a steady trickle of stories of missed opportunities, ignored warning and frustrated investingations have come out regarding the FBI and others to use the powers they already do have.

The bulk of the book deals with FBI misdeed during the Cold War and proposes an unfashionable counterrorism strategy that emphasizes the responsibility of actors, not ideology. Basically, trying to treat terrrorism as a crime not as war.

The proposals are a little narrow. Terrorism of the sort represented by al Quaeda is international, not just national. The fight against it will share more with racketeering and global criminal networks. And a world court is needed. I'm not sure if dealing on a purely "case-by-case" basis will do the trick.

Nevertheless, the authors have offered a well reasoned case and in the current climate when we are asked to give up so much with only the assurance of "trust us" we would do to heed their call.

Well... The book is not bad but chapter III lacks clarity...
Chapter III is supposed to give mathematical insights into genetic algorithms. It starts by proving the schema theorem (which is OK) and then tries to cover the math related to GA's. This chapter is very difficult to follow. Unless you are familar with GA's and the math related to them this chapter is difficult to understand

This is an academic textbook rather than an industrial handbook, (which, as an engineer I prefer). The early chapters present the theory of how and why genetic algorithms work. While covering the theory of why GAs work and the various dos and don'ts relating to their application, there is little practical help in the book on how to implement a GA to solve real life problems. The textbook feel is continued by the presence of questions and programming tasks (without answers).

The book includes many examples of problems solved with GAs, however no details are given of the implementation and the examples are presented mainly to describe the evolution of GAs.

One the plus side, book includes the code, (in Pascal) for a Simple Genetic Algorithm, (SGA), and a Simple Classifier System, (SCS). The full code is presented in the appendices, but the key sections are developed and explained in the main body.

One seldom finds a book as well-written as this one. The underlying mathematics are explained in a very accessible manner, yet with enough rigor to fully explain the "partial schemata" theory which is so important to understanding when and where GenAlgs can be applied. It is the lack of coverage of this theory which causes so much misunderstanding and disappointment in the power of genetic algorithms.

But beyond the background math (which makes up a small part of the book) this is really a tutorial on implementing GenAlgs, and it is an excellent one. The sample code is great, and the implementations are developed throughout the book, allowing the reader to implement simple (but functional) algorithms after reading only the first few chapters, but building to very sophisticated and modern techniques by the end of the book.

A great find.

For one thing, if you are interested in this book, chances are that you are taking a class in computer architecture and are required to buy it. If that is the case, all of the high-brow comments won't do you any good. You are forced to suffer through this monstrosity. That was my position. Fortunately you will be able to get a more modern edition with all the thousands of typos and errata fixed, or so you hope. Problems at the end of the chapter, you ask? Get that blade ready to cut your wrists. Yea, it's simple math. You'll never use anything more than multiplication and division here, but I submit that it is almost impossible to answer some of these questions without first knowing what the answer is. The examples in the chapter do next to nothing to prepare you for the exercises, and later in the book, the questions get so complex that there must be 25 variables to consider. If the author was trying to trick you, he could throw all sorts of extra things just to trip you up. You would dutifully find something to do with them. A professor that tries to teach this entire book in a semester is a maniac, but they all try. Also they may try to go out of order on you with the chapters. Beware. Worse still is trying to go in order. Chapter 4 alone will stop you cold. I honestly think you can devote an entire semester just to some of these individual chapters. The book assumes you are very smart. You need to be someone with both a degree in EE, CS, and who has work experience dealing with hardware. My bottom line is that I am trying to warn you about what you are getting yourself into with this book. It is no easy read, no quick fix, no Bible of computer architeture that would allow you to use it as reference material in your job. If you were to look something up, it would take you a day and a half just to remember back to what the hell they were talking about. Somebody needs to do a better job than these geniuses.

It is true that this is _the_ reference book for computer architecture. However, that has nothing to do with it being a well-written book. Its popularity may be attributed
to the lack of books on the same topic which allowed it to become
the standard textbook in many universities. This is how I came to have to suffer through it in a college graduate course.

Contrary to what some of the previous reviews described, this book is not conceptual at all. One of Patterson's main points is, to put it bluntly, why bother theorizing when you can benchmark with a set of most heavily used real programs for the intended application? The computations involved don't go beyond what one needs to balance a checkbook. And the few "laws" such as Amdahl's Law, is so common sense that it's sad that a name is attached to it. All of these are minor complaints, however, compared to the terrible writing style. I don't expect a technical writer to be polished or even engaging. But at the very least s/he must be coherent and to-the-point. In several chapters especially in the second half of the book, the authors would ramble on for pages without getting anywhere. Phrases or even paragraphs could have been taken out to clarify the content. It almost seemed that the authors were trying to fill enough pages just to get paid.

In short, this book does not live up to its reputation but anyone interested in computer architecture will probably have to endure it until a better book comes out.

The complaints of one of the reviewer are perfectly justified in the sense that using this book as your first one in "computer architecture" will probably make you leave the subject very soon. This is an advanced book discussing the problems of computer architecture but with the "instruction set" point of view. The intent of this book is not to teach you basics in computer architecture!

For introductory textbooks, rather go to the other one from Hennessy and Patterson "Computer organization and design : The hardware/software interface" or Tanenbaum's "Structured Computer Organization".

However, with considerations about the scope of the book, it is excellent even if not easy. I don't think there something better on the market in the subject.