This fascinating little book -- originally published in French with the subtitle "The Figures of Time from Kepler to Thom" -- deals generally with discoveries related to dynamic systems. The first chapter recounts the history of results related to the granddaddy of dynamic systems: celestial spheres and their orbits. It's a gripping account that places Kepler's and Newton's breakthroughs in context, so that their importance is all the more appreciated. By the end of the 19th century, scientists believed they could accurately predict the location of any planet at any point in time, past or future.

But as Ekeland so well conveys, the haughty hopes of scientism would soon be dashed. The second chapter describes the difficulty -- nay, the impossibility -- of making the required calculations to any accuracy. This is perhaps the most startling part of the book. Even if you have a math and physics education, you may not be aware of the results of Henri Poincaré, who showed among other things that there is no closed-form equation or non-divergent series for expressing the positions of three orbiting bodies in space (the so-called "three body problem"). Ekeland also describes Poincaré's qualitative results, which demonstrated the fractal character of planetary orbits. He then goes on to describe Lorenz's discovery that dynamic systems modeled by even a few simple differential equations exhibit chaotic behavior: a small perturbation in the initial conditions can lead to a vastly different outcome over time. This result re-enforces Ekeland's point that dynamic systems cannot be simulated computationally with any accuracy.

The third chapter describes the results of René Thom's catastrophe theory, which explains why a small change to the configuration of a system can cause it to change states rather dramatically (Thom calls such shifts catastrophes). Ekeland is careful to point out that catastrophe theory applies only to dissipative systems, that is, systems in which stable equilibria are reached due to the dissipation of energy (usually through friction). He also uses a somewhat skeptical tone in describing the more far-fetched areas to which catastrophe theory has been applied by Thom and its other proponents. Nonetheless, catastrophe theory is certainly interesting and does make intuitive sense.

This book is an all-too-rare literate popularization of mathematical ideas. Indeed, literary references abound, especially in the final chapter, which is a long analogy between dynamic systems and Homer's epics The Iliad and The Odyssey. Although I found this analogy a bit strained, I highly recommend the book's first three chapters. In addition to clearly describing a wide variety of mathematical results (using relatively few equations and copius illustrative figures), it also contains a number of surprising little gems. The foreword by Felix Browder is also excellent, putting the rest of the book into appropriate context. Finally, Ekeland has included two fascinating appendices describing other results related to the book's theme, but in slightly more detail.

All in all, this relatively short book (138 pages) packs quite a whollup! I strongly recommend this book to anyone with even the least bit of interest in mathematics or physics. ...

Occasionally you encounter a book about a subject that you know reasonably well, or least think you do, only to discover that you had little understanding after all. When I first read Ivar Ekeland's "Mathematics and the Unexpected", I was absolutely startled. I knew some physics and math, and I had always assumed that differential equations and physics accurately described nature. Differential equations and physics seemed to go together like bread and butter. Ekeland quickly showed me that I had not really thought about the way differential equations are used in physics.

Ekeland has written a book about mathematics, not a mathematics book. "Mathematics and the Unexpected" does not require familiarity with advanced mathematics and celestial mechanics, and yet Ekeland discusses both topics. The thoughtful reader, rather than becoming confused, will come away with insight into some of the most exciting work in mathematics in the last thirty years. I suspect, however, that the reader knowledgeable of more advanced mathematics will be even more appreciative of Ekeland's achievement.

This is not a new book. Ekeland received the Jean Rostand Prize in 1984 for this outstanding work of scientific popularization. He discusses classical determinism, impossible calculations, deterministic but random systems, unstable but stable systems, and dissipative dynamic systems as he positions us to understand catastrophe theory. In the 1980's catastrophe theory was more controversial as some early proponents had either applied the theory inappropriately or exaggerated its capability. Ekeland concludes with a thoughful critique of catastrophe theory.

I encourage anyone interested in pursuing more recent works (popular or technical) on chaos theory, fractals, or nonlinear dynamics to first read "Mathematics and the Unexpected". Ivar Ekeland has produced "a cultured text with the rare combination of deceptive simplicity and powerful insight" that provides a solid foundation for exploring many contemporary topics in mathematics. The phrase in quotes is from the London Times. This is definitely a five-star book.

As a mathematician who doesn't generally enjoy popular math books, I found Mathematics and the Unexpected to be quite pleasant reading. Instead of being a treatise on the enjoyment of puzzles, I think it conveyed much of how mathematics is integral towards human understanding of the world around us. I have recommended it to my non-mathematician friends, to the point that my copy is on permanent loan.

Read this book. We have implemented an intensive at-home ABA program with our autistic son which started when he was 31 months old. In 3 months, he has progressed from avoiding eye contact and interaction, and not using his hands at all for anything except eating/drinking, and being easily distressed to: smiling and interacting with family members and friendly outsiders in a variety of environments, normal play at the neighborhood park, and normal play with many toddler and preschool toys, including 12-piece peg puzzles. He was almost totally mute at the start of the program and now happily vocalizes while playing and interacting.

Like many parents facing autism we were skeptical of Lovaas' methods. What we are coming to realize, however, is that many critics of the method (including ourselves, previously) have NEVER seen it done! Punishment is not the goal--positive reinforcement is. A good ABA therapist will want your child to: 1) be successful and, more importantly, 2) to enjoy his/her success. To use the words of a previous parent reviewer, you lovingly insist on your child attending to you (as you would with any strong-willed toddler or child if you were, say, changing their diaper against their "better" wishes!) and over time you then present a series of teachable moments where your child is first taught the simplest of actions or tasks, the primary purpose of which is to be able to then positively reinforce your child for a "job well done," with a hug, a tickle, a toss in the air, accompanied by tons of verbal praise and maybe a tiny bit of candy. Little by little, the success enjoyed in all of these teachable moments leads to learning more complicated and relevant tasks and actions and gives your child a sense of purpose and self-esteem, ultimately communicating to him that interacting with the world around him is a good and pleasurable thing, not something to avoid with disturbing withdrawal or bizarre self-stimulatory behaviors. I urge all parents of autistic children to read this book in conjunction with LET ME HEAR YOUR VOICE (by Catherine Maurice) and seriously consider this therapy; then, sit in on a session of an established program involving another child before saying no to it. Careful reading, research, and discussion of The ME Book and current ABA literature showed us that the aversives and punishments emphasized by Lovaas' critics are typically used in situations where the autistic child/individual is caught in a behaviorial "loop" involving repetitive, severe, self-inflicted injury or seriously threatening behavior to others, with this behavior often unwittingly reinforced by concerned caregivers having the best of intentions. Read this book, find an experienced ABA therapist, check references, and ASK YOUR QUESTIONS. Seeing is believing.

The concepts within this book are up-to-date even though this book is 20 plus years old. The research shows that this method works! This method is successfully used today to help many delayed children reach their potential and if done correctly, a large number even recover with minimal or no symptoms. Before you buy anything else, buy this book and learn as much as you can from it, then start applying it immediately. I personally know at least a dozen parents of autistic children who have reported a complete recovery after 2 years of completing this intensive program! There are a few other helpful books such as those by Catherine Maurice that you can buy after reading this. However, no other book will give you the foundation to start from as this one will. Anyone who refuses to apply or accept the principles contained in this book, is doing SERIOUS damage to developmentally delayed children. ... Do whatever you can to get a hold of a copy of this book and the videos if you can. Your child depends on you!!

Although scorned by some, the Lovaas method works. When you are faced with an autistic child who does not understand or respond to any verbal instruction, what do you do? The worst thing a parent can do is nothing! The problem will not cure itself, and parents must act decisively and quickly. As previous Lovaas research has shown, the earlier a child receives some form of intervention, the more positive the outcome will be. In our case we were lucky; we began a home-based program using this book when our child was 20 months. Our child made such progress that in four months he went from being totally mute to being able to say and recognize (1) the numbers 1-10, (2) the entire alphabet, (3) about 20 obejects, and (4) 5 colors. We know several families with autistic children who used other therapies; sadly their children have not made nearly the same progress.

Please be aware that using this book will be easy for most parents. You do not placate the child but lovingly demand that he interacts with you. The first sessions will be difficult. But keep in mind that this book will give you various ideas and valuable methods to help you get through to your child. REVIEW: Although scorned by some, the Lovaas method works. When you are faced with an autistic child who does not understand or respond to any verbal instruction, what do you do? The worst thing a parent can do is nothing! The problem will not cure itself, and parents must act decisively and quickly. As previous Lovaas research has shown, the earlier a child receives some form of intervention, the more positive the outcome will be. In our case we were lucky; we began a home-based program using this book when our child was 20 months. Our child made such progress that in four months he went from being totally mute to being able to say and recognize (1) the numbers 1-10, (2) the entire alphabet, (3) about 20 obejects, and (4) 5 colors. We know several families with autistic children who used other therapies; sadly their children have not made nearly the same progress.

Please be aware that using this book will not be easy for most parents. You do not placate the child but lovingly demand that he interacts with you. The first sessions will be difficult. But keep in mind that this book will give you various ideas and valuable methods to help you get through to your child. END

If you are looking for a basic introduction to proteins and their form and function--or if you are looking for a good text to review protein chemistry--there is none better than Branden and Tooze. I have a Ph.D. in biochemistry, and routinely reccommend this book to everyone from undergraduate students taking biochemistry to graduate students and professors looking to review knowledge they've forgotten. This book has the perfect combination of clear explanations in ordinary english (rather than in complicated jargon) and full-color, easy to interpret diagrams. I fully intend to buy a second copy, since my current copy is perpetually on loan to friends/students. Buy two for yourself!

I used this book for an class in structural biology. I really liked the book because it went into alot of detail about each aspect of protein structure and the drawings were very pertinent to the text. The language is not too technical, so if you don't know much about proteins, you can start from the beginning and not have a problem understanding. They take you through the jargon slowly, so that by the end of the book, you've learned alot and can probably read a journal article in this field.

This book does a great job in introducing all the various nuances of protein structure. Throughout the book specific examples of proteins are given that exhibit features described in the text. One thing that makes the book especially instructive is the large number of illustrations used to explain key points. Usually a motif or domain was illustrated in ribbon schematics as well as with topology diagrams, making it easy to see connectivity within protein structures. I have been working as a protein biochemist for the past several years and recommend this book highly.It is appropriate both for experienced scientists who might want a refresher, or for a beginner who needs a firm foundation in protein structure.

One small thing I encountered several times in the book was redundant sentences, as if the editors missed some things periodically. This is hardly worth mentioning, and did not detract from the overall usefulness of the book.

Actually, I preferred the first (2 volume) edition of this work and used the first volume along with Whittaker and Watson to teach first semester math methods to physics and engineering students. This book provides the most readable, systematic approach to boundary-value problems, based on Weyl's lemma. Not to be compared with the usual cookbooks on math methods because it shows you how to construct nonstandard orthogonal expansions, not merely the usual Fourier, Bessel and Legendre variety. Also very good on Dirac's delta funaction. For second semester, for years I also used Bender and Orszag.

G is called 'the Green function' and not 'the Green's function' (one does not say 'the Bessel's function').

This is a classic text. The authors not only knows much more than is in the book but also has a clear idea about the applied side of math. A close competitor is Sobolev's book on PDE's.

My review is based on having used Dr. Rutherford's book the past consecutive 7 semesters (incl summer) at Hawaii Pacific University's Travel Industry Management program.

The compilation of articles is ideal for us because chapters are short, but comprehensive and interesting enough to retain student attention. 95% of my students are foreigners, and my average class size is 30 students from at least a dozen countries.

Chapters have numerous references, and all the chapters have challenging case studies except Finance.

This particular construction lends itself to a variety of delivery techniques, as stated in the Preface.

My wish list for the 3rd edition would include: an instructor's manual or workbook, a testbank of questions, e-book version, reducing the content on Marketing (almost double the amount of information in other chapters), and adding a section on Information Technology.

Students, educators, and hospitality professionals will enjoy a favorable ROI on this purchase.

As soon as Dr. Rutherford's 3rd ed came out, I continued to use his text book for two more semesters and 1 summer, under the same conditions described in my review of his 2nd ed.
Hotel Management & Operations, 3rd ed is the premier hospitality reference for students, educators, professionals, and researches.
The reservations I still have with the 3rd ed (see comments for 2nd ed) is that Dr. Rutherford did not have plans (confirmed via E-mail) for any of the following: an instructor's manual or workbook, a test bank of questions, an e-book version, and reducing the content on Marketing (almost double the amount of information in other chapters).
It is great that Denney added a much-needed section on Information Technology.
The great new additions include "As I see It", "A Day in the Life", and a variety of new articles for each departmental section. These articles, as are the original ones in the book, are also written by working professionals in the hospitality industry. There are now 536 pages vs 462 pages: the additional 74 pages are a good contribution to the 3rd ed.
Educators should have no hesitation using Hotel Management and Operations, 3rd ed, but must ensure the actual text reading is appropriate for their target market. Students, educators, and hospitality professionals should continue to enjoy a favorable ROI on this purchase. With my ESL (English as a Second Language) student body, however, I was hard pressed to continue using this textbook. I decided to design such a CD-ROM workbook, Making Hotel Operations Work! (Summer 2002), and Dr. Rutherford wrote the Preface.

Well, not quite.

I think this book is the sequel-in-spirit to The Mathematical Tourist, and the prequel-in-spirit to Jungles of Randomness (if I have the publication order right). This and Tourist are about a scattering of research topics in modern mathematics; Jungles of Randomness focusses more on probability, etc.

I've met an awful lot of people who hate math and profess not to understand how anyone could endure it willingly. (I'm a math major.) Well, I used to be one of those people. Peterson's books, among others, convinced me that could be exciting topics in math, that math could be *fun.* Not that I have any hope of touching said research topics in the near future, or understanding them in any depth--but it gives me something to look forward to.

As for people who don't think they can understand this--well, I probably didn't when I read this and its "prequel" in high school. I'd just gotten through some basic calculus. But Peterson's writing is lucid and entertaining; he does a good job of giving the reader a flavor, if not the details, of the topic he covers.

And hey--if you can't make it through all the text, there are an awful lot of neat color plates and diagrams to entertain you. (To this day I have an inordinate fondness for drawing approximations to Menger sponges during math lectures.)

While this work could more aptly be named Islands of Truth in an Ocean of Mystery, that in no way detracts on the quality. The author, long a reporter for Science News, is one of the best expository writers in mathematics, and this book reflects it.
Particularly impressive is the conciseness. A partial list of the topics includes: turning a sphere inside out, knot physics, tiling the plane, packing spheres, fractal images, snowflake creation, matchstick mathematics, how to design a concert hall so that the music is properly reflected, computer chess, and chaos. While your curiosity is piqued and you hunger for more specific information, you do feel satisfied. An extensive bibliography is included. There are a large number of pictures, sixteen in color. Any bright high school student will have no trouble understanding the material.
An outstanding example of math written for the layman, yet with something for the professional, this book can definitely be tagged with a "must read" label.

Published in Journal of Recreational Mathematics, reprinted with permission.

Peterson basically tracks the development of astronomy from its early, incorrect (e.g. geocentric) days to the revelations of Copernicus, Keppler, and Newton. From there the focus is on how Newton's mathematical, deterministic laws of motion and gravity were found to be too simplistic. Rather than a complex but predictable universe, numerous instances of controlled chaos exist--for example, Saturn's moon Hyperion cannot have its motion completely predicted but it moves within defined boundaries.

Not being terribly interested in astronomy I found the book to be a bit long-winded. Peterson does a reasonably interesting job of placing astronomers and their discoveries into historical and cultural context; I just didn't particularly want to know such information. Conversely, the details on the type of chaos and the implications of its presence seemed to be in short supply compared to what I would have wanted to know. Nonetheless, the book presents its arguments clearly and quickly enough that armchair astronomers or chaos theorists should find perusing it worthwhile.

I read this book several years ago and write now from memory. I enjoyed it immensely. It provides a history of the discovery of chaos in Hamiltonian mechanics by Poincare', and includes the more recent extremely interesting work on chaos in the solar system by Sussman and Wisdom, including the construction of their special computer constructed to simulate solar orbits without accumulating floating point errors. The background is that we still, today, do not understand the 3-body problem in classical mechanics, except that Poincare' taught us that the orbits may be either chaotic or regular. Newton frustrated himself working on the problem (sun-earth-moon) and finally gave up.

When I first saw the title of this book, I thought "Oh, no, not another chaotic chaos book". There are tons of popular math, physics and astronomy books out there that maybe are useful for people who don't know any math, but who are totally confusing to people who know a bit about the topics. Why? Because the authors themselves are totally confused.

But fortunately there's a small handful of scientists who can write. Ivars Peterson is one of them, and I when I saw that he was the author, I knew right away that this was just the thing I needed for the 5 hours airport stopover that was ahead of me!

This book tackles business process reengineering from an information technology perspective. While I personally disagree with some of the assumptions made by the author, there is a lot of value here for ANYONE involved in process improvement initiatives. In fact, I believe that some of the insights provided by this work are available in no other book on the subject - making this book indispensable for process improvement managers and consultants. If you have any questions, please feel free to email me - adamleft@webspan.net.

Only two reviews here?? This book precedes Ivar Jacobson's role in UML, so it may be slightly redundant today, but it is an excellent use cases book, and it still comes down from the shelf now and then.

With Booch's OOA/D and Rumbaugh et al's OMT of the same mid-90's era, Jacobsen's Use Cases complete a set of the most powerful contemporary approaches to software development prior to UML (no coincidence that they joined forces at Rational!).

The well-integrated contents include: business engineering (definitions, the "new company", BPR, risk management), what is business modelling (definitions, traditional ways of modelling- SA/SD, IDEF, SADT, working with business models), object orientation (definitions & modelling), OO business modelling (re-engineering, business context), architecture, reversing the existing business, forward business engineering, an example, building the supporting information system, managing OO business engineering, and scaling up to a large business.

Strengths include the attractive appropriate use of figures, sidebars, references and supporting material; and the depth of proven use cases and applications supporting the credibility of approach. A book you can read cover to cover, or dip into a section for reference. Much of the approach is now included in Rational's UML - so the book still has value for business and software development.

Criticisms include the lack of more fully worked examples, and the lack of checklists (although chapter summaries are good).

Overall a great intermediate-level text (not introductory nor complete enough to be expert) for software developers, engineers, and business information systems consultants.

This is the authoritative reference manual to UML, written by the creators of UML. The reference is complete (at least as far as I can tell).

A CD-ROM is included with the book. This CD-ROM has the complete book as a PDF file, with extensive cross references (as links). I usually hate to read lengthy material on the computer screen and I usually prefer a (paper) book, but the PDF file on the CD-ROM is really great. The cross references makes the PDF file easier to use than the book. (The "standard" document on UML from OMG is also included on the CD-ROM).

The book is written in a formal and boring style. Another thing that makes the book less enjoyable to read is the layout of the text. The lines are too long, and the spacing between the lines is inadequate.

The main part of the book is the alphabetically ordered reference. Before the reference part, the book has a short (85 pages) overview/introduction to UML. When I read the paper book I could not understand who would benefit from this text: the text is too harsh for the novice, but lacks all the details an advanced user would be looking for. However, on the cross referenced CD-ROM this text turned out to be a valuable part.

The book is a very unbiased reference. This is also a weak side of the book. You will not get any advice about good practices, or useful ways to apply UML for different design organizations.

This is silly. Some folks think that the Reference manual stinks and the User Guide is their silver bullet. Others feel exactly the opposite.

The fact is that these books are pretty good. Each book has it's place. I have all three, and all are useful depending on the situation. All have errors and yes the writing can be dry. Get over it. They are still good -- not perfect, but the best i've seen yet.

I think you complainers are looking for the proverbial silver bullet and upset at not finding it, propose to judge on what you don't understand. These aren't they; instead these three books are three lead slugs that complement the rest of my tool-ordinance for some significant firepower.

Ted Rallis

This book, the second in the Rational Amigos' UML trilogy, promises to become the standard UML reference book for those who don't want to wade through the specification. The authors explain in clear, concise English all of the major semantic and syntactic (notation) constructs. Most of the content is contained in the "Encyclopedia of Terms" chapter, which is liberally illustrated with examples and includes many useful summary tables. This is the reference book that I recommend to colleagues and clients who don't have the time or the inclination to read the metamodel specification. It makes an excellent companion volume to the UML User Guide.

This book is considered a classic by many. The key contribution of the book is the introduction of Use Cases for requirements capture. Jacobson also provides some good hints on how to develop an OO design after starting from Use Cases.

There are two big weaknesses with this book. Firstly, the book is vague on the amount of detail that should go into a Use Case. This has led to a great amount of confusion and widely different usages in industry. Secondly, the book provides only weak design guidelines beyond those provided for extracting objects from the Use Cases.

Another criticism of the book is that it is written in a very academic tone, which may be hard to understand for some readers.

Another book that covers much of the same ground but in a clearer fashion is Ian Graham's _Migrating to Object Technology_.

Jacobson's use case approach has had a profound impact on the field of object oriented analysis and design. Use cases represent a powerful means of capturing system requirements and driving the development of object-oriented software. Jacobson avoids software "dogma" and presents a comprehensive, powerful and practical process for OO software development. If you do any work in OO development, you need this book.

Jacobson is clearly a visionary

This book was written in 92 yet continues to be a visionary text. The chapter on Components maps closely to the principles used today in distilling software patterns. The section on testing is key to understanding how to design objects properly (so they can be maintained over time). The appreciation of objects expressed in terms of data (entity) and tasks (operations) is crucial to good analysis and design. What Jacobson conveys is the essence of good software engineering. If you want to understand this book, read it several times as you gain knowledge and experience in the OO arena. Each time you will discover new pearls of wisdom.