I really expected to like this book. God, infinity, Kabbalah -- how could you _miss_?

It was okay, I guess.

So what happened? Well, frankly, although the biographical information on Georg Cantor and Kurt Goedel is pretty good and the mathematical history is reliable, there's no real meat in the discussions of either infinity or the Kabbalah. Every time I thought Aczel was really going to get rolling and make a profound connection, he sort of petered out and changed the subject.

It's too bad, because Aczel really does have an important point lurking in here: the mathematics of infinity really does provide a window into the Ein Sof, and there probably is a connection (both historical and deeper) between the Kabbalistic and the Cantorian uses of the Hebrew letter alef. I'd have enjoyed some more thorough exposition, even at an elementary level, of both sides of this equation.

But for that, the reader will have to look (for infinity) to Rudy Rucker's _Infinity and the Mind_ or (slightly more elementary) Eli Maor's _To Infinity and Beyond_, or (for the rest) to any of numerous sources on Kabbalah. This book is only about a quarter-inch deep.

On the plus side, though, I will say that this isn't a bad book for somebody who has never encountered the subject(s) before. Just don't expect a lot of specificity; Aczel usually doesn't offer much more than vague allusions.

The author does a very good job at showing how Cantor was intrigued by the infinite. He gives a chapter on Kabbalah to give the reader information on the concept of infinity. He does this to give the reader background on how awesome such a concept is. The book tells how Cantor went insane trying to understand the infinite. He was hospitalized with depression many times when he came to close to the infinite. What intrigued me most about the book is Cantors mathematics. Cantor was trying to show by this discipline what it means to be infinite. He writes about lower and higher sets of infinity. To make the reader understand what this means, we turn to philosophy. What does it mean for instance, when we say that God has infinite knowledge? Most people would probably say that God has knowledge of endless things. This is true. In a deeper sense though it means that God has infinite knowledge of infinite things. In other words, if we took a subject like mathematics, God would know infinite knowledge of algebra, infinite knowledge of calculus, and so on. Such knowlege truly boggles the mind. Cantor went insane because he was trying to go above his head. He was trying to limit the infinite to his understanding, and this is impossible. What is limited can never take in the infinite. All we know is that God cannot make a contradiction, but trying to understand the infinite can never be done. All we can do is take in small doses at a time. This book is one math book I highly recommend. It makes for the most intresting reading. It is far more fascinating then any fiction.

This is easily the best book on mathematics this year. Amir Aczel has done it again, after Fermat's Last Theorem and God's Equation. Here he tackles one of the most difficult areas in mathematics--set theory--and weaves a very readable narrative including elements of Jewish mysticism and psychology. This book deals with the tormented life of Georg Cantor, the first person in history to understand the nature of infinity. Read it! I will say no more, so I don't spoil your enjoyment.

If you're not familiar with Sebald's work, you should read his 'Rings of Saturn' or 'The Emigrants' first. This book, although similar in reflective style, is a bit more introspective than the other two. 'Vertigo' is a kind of a travelogue of the author, and I use the term 'travelogue' loosely. His memories of various places intersect with the travels and events of other people in different periods of time, namely Stendhal, Kafka and Cassanova. This novel is really hard to summarize, and I don't think one should. The most rewarding part of reading this intellectually kinky little book is trying to make heads and tails of it in the end. If you want fast-paced storyline, or exotic occurrences, look elsewhere. But this man's slow, hypnotic prose alone was enough to captivate me til the end. I believe Sebald is a pioneer of contemporary fiction. He bends forms, defies categorization. He subverts fictional truths with real truths and vice-versa, and if it takes putting a picture of his real passport in the book for the sake of documentation, he will do that. (Which he does.) I can't wait to read more of his stuff.

Although it as only now come out in English, "Vertigo" preceded "The Emigrants" and "Rings of Saturn", and was the first book in which Sebald developed his unique prose style. There are four sections of varying length. The first is devoted to the French writer Stendhal crossing the Alps with Napoleon; the following one shows us the familiar Sebald persona in Italy; the third is about Kafka's trip to the same country; the last and most moving one has the narrator return to his native Bavaria. To those who know Sebald, no more needs to be said. To the others, one might try to give an idea by saying that Sebald's style could perhaps be explained as a kind of civilized interior monologue; it always implies the awareness that writing cannot imitate the way we really think, yet it uses the associations that come to the narrator's mind to make the texutre of the narrative immensely satisfying and touching.

"Vertigo," the third of W. G. Sebald's works to appear in English translation, is a disorienting narrative that conflates history, memory, dream, and imagination. The result is another literary tour de force from the author of "The Emigrants" and "The Rings of Saturn," a remarkable work that is difficult to classify, but reinforces Sebald's deserved reputation as one of Europe's most original and preeminent contemporary writers.

"Vertigo" begins with an historical figure, in this case Marie Henri Beyle, better known to literary history as Stendhal. In the opening section ("Beyle, or Love is a Madness Most Discreet"), our third person narrator relates certain of the amorous adventures of Beyle during his travels in Italy, beginning with his first arrival in that country at the age of seventeen as a soldier in Napoleon's army. The year is 1800 and the historical record is drawn from Beyle's own notes of his experience, written more than three decades later at the age of 53. As if foreshadowing the vertiginous unreliability of the narrative to follow, the narrator (Sebald?) relates as follows: "The notes in which the 53-year-old Beyle, writing during a sojourn at Civitavecchia, attempted to relive the tribulations of those days afford eloquent proof of the various difficulties entailed in the act of recollection."

The third person narrative shifts, in the second section, to a first person relation of travels in Austria and Italy by our narrator beginning in the year 1980. It is an unreliable narrative, confounding dream and reality, past and present, in a text that seems to have a mysterious, underlying hermeticism. Thus, while aimlessly wandering the dark streets of Vienna, the narrator often thought he saw someone he knew walking ahead of me. "On one occasion, in Gonzagagasse, I even thought I recognized the poet Dante, banished from his hometown on pain of being burned at the stake." Similarly, in the dark, misty, maze-like streets of Venice, "there sat, and in fact very nearly lay, a man in a worn green loden coat whom I immediately recognized as King Ludwig II of Bavaria."

In a remarkable, resonant passage that writes another layer on the palimpsest of literary renderings of Venice, Sebald writes: "As you enter into the heart of that city, you cannot tell what you will see next or indeed who will see you the very next moment. Scarcely has someone made an appearance than he has quit the stage by another exit. These brief exhibitions are of an almost theatrical obscenity and at the same time have an air of conspiracy about them, into which one is drawn against one's will. If you walk behind someone in a deserted alleyway, you have only to quicken your step slightly to instill a little fear into the person you are following. And equally, you can feel like a quarry yourself. Confusion and ice-cold terror alternate."

In Venice, too, the narrator muses on the dark history of the Doge's Palace, reflecting, in particular on the early nineteenth century writings of the German Franz Grillparzer and on one of the victims of the harsh justice carried out in that palace, Giacomo Casanova. Grillparzer, a lawyer, ponders that "the resolutions passed here by the Council of State must be mysterious, immutable and harsh." It is a thought that brings to mind Kafka's "The Trial", among other things, and it is not surprising that, in the next breath, the reader learns that Casanova's memoir of his imprisonment in the Doge's Palace was first published in, of all places, Prague.

From here, the narrative shifts once again to the third person, this time in a section entitled "Dr. K Takes the Waters at Riva." It is, again, a purportedly historical narrative of Franz Kafka's trip in 1913 from Prague to Vienna and then on to Italy, where he visits Venice, Verona and Riva, a city on the shores of Lake Garda. Kafka's journeys mirror those of the narrator in the second section of the book and the dreamlike repetitions, doublings, doppelgangers which re-occur throughout "Vertigo" provide a deeply entwined narrative for the careful reader. Thus, in a passage that, in some sense, is a trope for the entire text, Kafka stands on the porch of the Pellegrini Chapel in Verona, a place where the narrator himself related he had stood in 1980 in the previous section of the book: "When Doctor K. stood in the porch once again, on the threshold between the dark interior and the brightness outside, he felt for a moment as if the selfsame church were replicated before him, its entrance fitting directly with that of the church he had just left, a mirroring effect he was familiar with from his dreams, in which everything was forever splitting and multiplying, over and again, in the most terrifying manner."

From Kafka's 1913 experiences, the final section of Vertigo relates the narrator's return in November, 1987, to his childhood home in the Tyrol. It is the most introspective and personal section of "Vertigo," but still remains tied to the text that has gone before, resonating with themes, enigmas and uncertainties that make "Vertigo" a puzzle-palace of literary and historical renderings.

I could say much more about "Vertigo," tie many more passages and themes together, make a plethora of textual allusions and connections. This would do nothing more, however, than demonstrate the richness of Sebald's imagination, the density of his writing, the dream-like dislocations and uncertainties of his original and unclassifiable literary enterprise. If you read no other book this year, read "Vertigo" or "The Emigrants" or "The Rings of Saturn"; just be sure to read at least one of W. G. Sebald's books because you will not be disappointed.

The book is actually a manual for the authors' geometry library, which is provided in full as source. The example programs are excellent.

Unfortunately I bought the book with the intention of using it as a reference for implementing such features as CSG and kinematics. The book itself is not a particularly good text on the subjects, partly due to the weak English used, and partly due to the majority of the book being devoted to describing the use of the library. The two subjects I was looking for were among the better described in the book.

If you're looking for a completely written "bookware" geometry library you'll probably be completely happy. However, be aware the if you're looking to implement the effects described yourself, the best way to learn is by reading the source (which there is plenty of).

There are plenty of good graphics programming sites with better explanations than here on the web for free. However there are few libraries as complete. The book's price is also reasonable, considering the ammount charged by some bookware authors.

This book provides a computational geometry visualization library, covering topics that I had a hard time finding good resources for. Solid modeling, swept/extruded surfaces, and boolean operations are all explained. Overall, I liked the presentation; my only complaints are that the book reads a little like a translation (the authors are apparently Austrian) and that the sample programs on the CD(and there are a lot of them!) could be a little better documented.

This book is for people who need to learn about advanced geometry, and are not scared to look at some code in the process (not all is explained in detail in the book). The book describes data structures and methods used in the code (which you receive on the accompanying CDROM) to create and manipulate complex geometrical objects. This book is not about OpenGL programming, though the code uses it to display the results.

WARNING: The authors started programming the library in PASCAL. They used the p2c translator to create the C code for some 'older' parts of the code. Also the older parts are written in GERMAN. This is what I find the only flaw in this book, because it makes it harder to read it in some cases.

I'm looking forward to version 2.0 of this book which is probably released somewhere in spring 2001.

This book is a great place to start a yoga exercise regimen. By no means is the book comprehensive, but you will get an excellent primer in the concepts of physical fitness behind yoga and make a reasoned judgment as to whether or not it is for you. If you choose to pursue yoga further, the book will give you enough theory, both physical and philosophical, to avoid feeling uncomfortable when you walk into your first class. If not, the book gives a sufficient variety of exercises, as well as two full routines and ideas on how to create your own- plenty to keep you in shape and occupied without any further instruction.

I think it's safe to say that an actual live demonstration of yoga, along with instructions tailored to you personally will always be preferable to an 'instruction manual', but as far as books go, I've yet to see a better guide.

This book was extremely well-written so that even a novice yoga practitioner could understand the descriptions. Special attention was given to protecting a sensitive back, valuable information for our population in which most everyone suffers back problems at some time. The illustrations were very clear and appropriate to the text. This is truly a book that would be able to inform even a "dummy" yet it is still appealing to a more experienced yoga participant. Overall very intelligently written and entertaining.

I have never used any of the ___For Dummies series and felt silly buying this one, but lost all regret once I cracked it open. The most approachable and useful book on yoga yet. I drag it with me on all my travels and am secure it merits the additional weight in the carry on. Most definitely worth the investment in money and time, an instructional book that actually instructs!

I was really surprised to see my Singer cheri having written a book about Hegel. Why Hegel? Why the vulgarisation of philosophy? Who is supposed to read it? I did, 'cause I said to myself that this might be a kind of joke, but unfortunatelly it was not. But I will never understand why do we committ this kind of "litterature". Do not judge Singer using this book. He has much more to say.

Perhaps some readers do not like Hegel nor Hegelian philosophy. However, it was through reading this brief but informative book, that I came to a much better general understanding of Hegel's intriguing views. Singer really does an outstanding job of explaining complex and frustrating texts to the non-philosopher. Singer's writing is very clear and concise.

This little volume is a surprisingly good introduction to the thought of a very difficult philosopher, well deserving of inclusion in the fine _Past Masters_ series. I say 'surprising' because people who know Singer only from his own contentious views in favour of abortion, infanticide, and 'animal rights' may not realise that he actually *is* capable of holding responsible opinions when he tries. In fact this carefully planned little work is extremely lucid and thoughtful, well worth the attention even of people who disagree with Singer's own egregious and absurd ethical outlook.

Wallace's translation of Hegel's "Encyclopaedia Logic" is terrible. Buy the newer--and much more faithful--translation by Gereats, Suchting and Harris, available through Hackett Publishing Company.

Anyone interested in buying a copy of the so-called 'Lesser Logic" would be better off getting a copy of the newer translation by Harris etc.

This is the book Aleister Crowley mentions to be studied in " Liber OS ABYSMI vel DAATH." Via the reason, this man has gathered all systems of philosophy together into one gigantic fulfilment of bewilderment: if one actually contemplates what he means, one will just cause a destruction of the precepts which had accumulated to the point of fervour, thus causing one to feel worse after experiencing this annihilating tragedy of a text-book. Still, there must be some sort of sufficient synthesis inherent in the reading, as to cause a fantastic foam of brewing thoughts in the reflection mode of the Memory phase of the Mind, utterly beyond mere positive thinking.

Many will agree with me in saying that this is the most difficult text in the canon to read. But the profundity of Hegel's insights and the sheer range of topics he treats in this book are astounding. Whether he is discussing the famous master/slave relationship, epistemology, natural science, law, or religion, Hegel's views are always provocative. As other reviewers have mentioned, this book can be examined historically both backwards to Hume and Kant, and forwards toward phenomenology. But for me, this text is so valuable because I find so much that stands on its own. Hegel need not be seen "in context" to be appreciated. Though now almost 200 years old, Hegel's thesis that he had completed the progress of philosophy by recognizing the necessary development of the universal self-consciousness is still relevant, and not entirely untenable despite its grandiose appearance. This is a book that, in the broad view, does come together as a whole, despite scholars' focus on some parts over others. Even if you don't agree with Hegel, his influence on philosophy was immense, and many of the ideas expanded upon in his other works are given a preliminary treatment here. This is probably not a good book for beginners; unfortunately, Hegel never gave us anything like a primer. But for those with a bit of experience and the sensitivity to understand the subtleties of Hegel's sometimes confusing vocabulary, this is an endlessly rewarding book, Western philosophy at its very finest.

A professor once told me that nearly every major work of philosophy since the time of the Greeks could be pared down to one small pamphlet. The rest is filler. He said this with the exception of Hegel. I disagreed with him about a few more exceptions but I very much agree about Hegel. His works are long and complex but they are digesting a subject that is in itself long and complicated. The nature of human existence(metaphysics) is one that cannot be trimmed down neatly or explained in the language of a children's book. Hegel is very difficult to read, I understand that very well. Hegel himself said that only one person ever understood what he had to say. The works of Joyce, Faulkner and Woolf are also difficult to digest at times but what a sad state literature would be without them. Anyone who dismisses this work without regard is simply stating that they cannot understand it. And rather than say that, they mask their ignorance by attacking the book. Every major new artistic and philosophical movement was approached this way by those who were in the status quo. I had trouble the first time I read this book, but it was more than worth that trouble. Dialectics is one of the most fascinating and important philosophical movements that has ever come along. Most people skip straight to Marx who took Hegel's philosophy and created his own theories. I would however, highly recommend that you read this first and then move on to Marx. Hegel's solving of classical problems in philosophy is outstanding and this book is a must read for anyone interested in philosophy. Don't listen to those who guise their ignorance with attack at this book. It is well worth the time.

I was very unimpressed when I first encountered Hegel in my history of philosophy courses. I had been very impressed in my studies of Hume and Kant and the problems they were adressing, but then I found Hegel to be completely impossible to comprehend. I sat through my Hegel lectures, rather unhappily, and then moved on with my other courses. But Hegel's notions apparently kept stirring about in my mind, because later I came back to read the Phenomenology in detail, and some of Hegel's other works as well. Hegel's notions have become a significant part of my outlook and have helped me to comprehend other philosophies and events. Many of his notions are full of depth and meaning, but this meaning requires serious work for extraction. I have no doubt that his work could easily be misused, but one can always find ways to misuse any work, so I don't see this as a serious argument against Hegel.

Not a bad book but is not extensive enough to become knowledgeable for cichlids has all the basics in set up different types of cichlids where they are etc, and is a definate read for the novice but needs a more detailed account for a person who already knows the basics

I thought that this book was very helpful in giving me information that I needed to breed my convinct cichlids, and set up the tank accordingly. Though the pictures were appropriate for the subject and well chosen, they were few and far between. I would have much preferred a color photo for every cichlid mentioned, but of course that's just too much to ask for in a book at the price that it was. All in all, it was well written, but needed visual aids of better quality to make it a 5-star book.

This book really tries to lay out what you are going to get into if you want to get into keeping, and possibly breeding, African Cichlids. Though it may leave some wanting more, at $5.56 (USD) it really packs alot of information and is a good summary of what you are in for with this intriguing hobby. Agreed, some of the information might be laid out a little more clearly. But it also presents a great deal more about all aspects of raising Africans that you don't get out of books costing $30, $50, even $100 (list price). I recommend it highly to a beginner. To one who has been involved in the hobby for a while, you may get more from rec.aquaria.freshwater.cichlids. But for the novice, I'd suggest you go for it before you decide to buy fish or a tank. It may help you avoid costly mistakes.

Strathern's book simply reproduces the ignorant prejudices against Hegel that have bedevilled Anglo-American philosophy. Who should read this book- anyone who wants to make a few dismissive remarks about Hegel in order to give the appearance of learning at a cocktail party. Who should not read this book- anyone who might want to learn something from Hegel.

This is a witty account and overview of the life and works of Hegel, a challenge for anyone who thought Kant was difficult. The book keeps its promise to tell you everything it can about Hegel in 90 minutes -- the problem is just that you can't learn all that much about Hegel in just 90 minutes.

Strathern is a master at this kind of work, which mixes biography, critical analysis, historical context and humor all in a concise, informative & entertaining package. He lists a time line for the philosopher, his place in world/philosophic history & a selection of works for furthur reading. This series of books by Strathern is a wonderful course in Philosophy 101 without ever having to go to college, all presented in plain, easy to understand English without being bogged down with philosophy's often confusing vernacular.

Criticizing other's interpretations of the sutra is not the way to expound your own understanding (or lack of it) of this classic yoga text. Yoga is a practical science, not an academic exposition of your point of view. If you want to gain a working, practical understanding of the sutra to deepen your own personal practice, try a translation by one of the Indian interpreters such as I.K. Taimni.

what's so opaque about the aphorisms that writers start to pre-interpret them for you, invariably tinted with their own precepts and ideas? It's a little like somebody chewing your food for you. The aphorisms are not that opaque and its an enjoyable and useful excercise to read them in their simple, bare and clear form, until the understanding comes - your own realizations rather then someone elses. You could read a book like this over the weekend, but I'm not sure it's supposed to be read like that. It seems better you should do the mental work yourself, aphorism by aphorism. There is an effect to this, which could be lost if it's all been solved and explained for you. Therefore I prefer authors that appeared to be going to great lengths to avoid adding too much of their own coloring, like William Q. Judge's interpretation from 1914. That is regrettably only available from Kessinger in bound photocopy format. I wish somebody would make a decent new print of it.

Anyways, Patanjali's aphorisms are worth the time in any form and I shall thank any author who spent his time to bring them to more of us, different introductions will appeal to different people.

I have looked at atleast 8 translations of Patanjali. Dr. Feurstein's is among the best. Particularly appealing is his defining Sanskrit roots, however, I wish he would have had the text in Sanskrit as well as transliteration. At times he gets overly pedantic and I believe misses the meaning of the sutra. It is the problem with all the available translations. Some of his translations don't make sense. Once again a common problem. At times he comes forth with very astute observations. It is not easy to get to Kaivalya from here.