It is too bad that this book was not published by one of the major publishers of statistics books. It is a very important but largely overlooked treatise on model selection procedures for regression and time series. The authors are experts in this area who have made important contributions to the theory. There is a wealth of techniques for model selection and there has been much confusion about their properties and usefulness. This book covers most of the methods, is very much up-to-date and clears up much of the confusion right in the first chapter!

Techniques for univariate regression, autoregressive time series models, multivariate regression, vector autoregression, cross-validation, bootstrap, robust regression, nonparametric regression and wavelets are all covered. Many practical examples are given to illustrate the methods and there are also a number of useful simulation studies that appear in the book. The final chapter (Chapter 9) covers extensive simulations comparing many of the popular model selection criteria for both time series and regresion modeling.

My only disappointment is the omission of the recent developments in Bayesian model selection. At least the authors mention this omission upfront in Chapter 1 and provide good references to the literature.

Emily Hahn was an American expatriate in China during the 1930s. She came to know the Soong sisters, who in their day were among the world's most famous and powerful women. This book, written in 1939-40 is an entertaining, informative introduction to the Soongs. At the time it was published, The Soong Sisters created a storm of controversy and provoked powerful emotions. It was one of the first biographies of the Soongs, and it continues to be one of the best. Critics charged Hahn had "gone easy" on the Soongs; Soong supporters said the book was a "hatchet job." The real truth lies somewhere in between. Hahn is a witty, engaging and perceptive writer. For that reason, The Soong Sisters is still good read, and it provides a contemporary perspective on three of the personalities who shaped post-war China.

While traveling in India and Nepal I spent an extended time in researching the folklore around Gesar Ling through interviews with his direct descendents and his reincarnation (Namkha Rinpoche) in Kathmandu. Alexandra David-Neel's book "The Super Human Life of Gesar of Ling" proved to be extremely valuable, and fairly accurate with respect to the information I gathered.

Despite David-Neel's association with Madame Bolovsky's "Theosophical Society" this book still retains a great deal of credibility. The introduction details an encounter she had with an emissary of Gesar Ling which seems to be derived directly from his reputation as the regional protector deity of the Dege region of Tibet.

Her easy writing style makes this book accessible to the academic and the casual reader. I enthusiastically recommend this book to anyone interested in the more obscure writings on Tibet.

Easy to follow pictures with each step summarized and detailed for Tai Chi idiots. This book was wonderful to use and I have been using it for my class outline that I will be teaching at an Adult School, in Fresno, CA. View

I would just like to say that from the cover of the book, it is misleading from the Brothers Grimm version of Cinderella. There isn't a pumpkin, mice, a glass slipper, and there is only one horse. I think that the illustrator needs to check the actual Grimm story.

It saddens me to see the review (above or below) which clearly has nothing to do with this audiotape but which may discourage people from trying these cassettes. This is an EXCELLENT version of the Cinderella story--as are all of the Monterey Soundworks versions that I have heard so far.

My daughter and I listen to these tapes during her 40 minute drive home from school each day, or on her way to skating, karate, etc., since we live in the New Jersey suburbs and spend a lot of time in the car. All of the Monterey Soundworks tapes are faithful to the original stories, and facilitate listening because there are different voices for each role. That means even very young children can distinguish points of view and get access to stories otherwise reserved for older listeners.

In the case of learning disabled children, this feature is even more pertinent, and has led us to collect all of the Monterey soundworks tapes available.

I highly recommend in particular this version of Cinderella, as it is universally enjoyable and comprehensible and makes the monotony of driving in even rush hour traffic a more pleasant experience.

Yeh Shen is a Chinese version of Cinderella. The sweet and gentle girl has a fish for a pet. The sister and mother are still the villian in this story, but goodness wins out. The unique twist to this version make it a wonderful addition to any collection.

This book was "recommended" for an elective course in particle physics for PhD students at OSU. Having little to no experience in the field (besides simple modern physics topics like bubble chamber examples and time-dilated lifetimes of particles, etc.) I was hoping that I would get a better introduction. The book offers no such thing. It jumps right in with "Basics in Field Quantization" (which is hardly comprehensive) and then blows through everything in high gear. Considering that most students in physics haven't seen particle physics in their core sequence of coursework, I would not recommend this book for a course in particle physics unless the requisites for the course explicitly state that the student should have experience with field theory and an understanding of group theory. This is definitely a poor source for a student who is seeing the subject for the first time. For those who are more experienced in particle physics, I would expect that this book is a good reference, though I cannot say that for sure because I am not a member of such a group.

I also purchased the book of solutions to problems in this book. It sheds some light on the topic, but not much. Nonetheless, I won't sell this book because sometime down the road I might find it and its companion to be useful.

The book presents the basics of the particle physics. I don't like the first of the book: field theory part is bad. But the rest of the book is very well written. It was very help for me to understand particle physics.

since field theory is not setisfectory in any sense the book seems to present it not as ugly.

For the most part, the book is authoritative about the bounty hunters with the exception of the main character of this book, Aurra Sing. Reason being, after reading the book and the Star Wars website character link on her, there are a couple of essential differences. One, Aurra Sing the figure and character in this book does not carry a scarlet bladed Light Saber. Two, the weapons that she carries are not able to be adequately held by the figure, where in the Star Wars website she carries a Light Saber and six other light sabers that she has gotten from other Jedis that she has killed. I also think that if she is going to be a character in Episode II, they will have to remodel her hands and maybe modify the weapons that she holds to reflect the characterisation of the original creator of this character as found in the Starwars.com link.

Justin Hardman New South Wales, Australia

i'm a 12 year old girl-and i just got into aurra sing and those 3 seconds on the screen type characters.anyway,the book is pretty good-i liked learning about aurra sing.the doll is pretty cool-i like the guns and the outfit and the hair and stuff.i don't like the antennia though.it sticks out to much.in the aurra sing comics it's not as bad!the 2 black guns don't fit in her hands good.the strap for the long gun goes over her well though.i wish she came with her lightsaber!ohh well.i still like the doll and book.buy this book and doll anyway!

When the Aurra Sing: Dawn of the Bounty Hunters set was first released at an eye-popping seventy-five dollars, I, like many others, were a bit put off by it. With the number of unbought items because of this price, however, it became easier and easier to find this piece at an agreeable price. That is good, too, because it has a multitude of redeemable qualities.
1) The 12" figure itself isn't bad crafted at all. The facial features look accurate, the hands and lengthened fingers are well sculpted, and the hair, with a mixture of beaded strands finishing off the effect, make the body design look quite good. It is flawed in a few ways, with a bit of an oversized head (not too badly, but still, at the wrong angle, large), few points of articulation, and the antenna in her head bending a bit too easily and staying that way. Still, the articulation in 12' figures has never been the best, so this is overlookable. Personally, I don't want McFarlane overunfluencing yet another market.
2) The outfitting actually looks good, too, with removable pieces ranging from shells, guns, a weapons belt, boots, and a vest with varied attachments. This is an improvement over many recent releases because it gives more depth to the figure.
3) Her weapon looks quite good and slings over her back well. The look mimics the movie/photos nicely.
4) The book itself, despite some flaws in the bounty hunter storylines, does have a bit of detail to it. An experienced person might even learn a couple of facts, plus there's a listing of many and many a bounty hunter item that's been released over the years.
5) The box itself is actually interesting, depicting the past and the present hunters in all their glory. I liked it because it holds the book and the figure easily, allowing you access without destroying the packaging.
Its a piece that will surprise you, actually, once you have it and get to sit around in admiration. I would highly recommend it.

A very important novel of the 19th Century. How it is included in the best novels of the 20th Century by the New York Times is beyond me. The book was begun more than 30 years before 1900. Although completed in 1872, it lay unpublished for nearly 30 years; presumably until such time as some of its anti-Victorian ideals would be more palatable to the British public.

The story principally centers around the life of Ernest Pontifex, an impreesionable and naive young man who is reared by devout Anglican parents. Their well meaning cruelty shelter Ernest and cause him to make bad decisions and derail his ambitions. As a result of the consequences of these bad decisions, Ernest learns to manage his own life and becomes a success despite his early failures.

Although important in its time, the novel is brutally slow.

The Way of All Flesh covers six generations of strife in the Pontifex family, and spans a period from 1750 to 1880. However, the bulk of the story concerns the life of Ernest Pontifex, from about age 5 up to age 28, and describes his unsatisfactory relations with his parents, his school, his church, his wife, and his friends. Sometimes we feel sorry for Ernest, because many of his problems are caused by unbelievably cruel or thoughtless people, and sometimes we're furious with him, because he himself is the author of at least half of his troubles, but either way his misfortunes make him stronger and move him steadily along the path to maturity. Throughout, the book remains an easy read, although the writing is very witty and often rewards close examination.

Even today, 100 years after the book's publication, a reader finds many things to identify with. Anyone who felt unjustly treated by his or her parents or teachers will find much to sympathize with here. Anyone who has wrestled with the conflict between Reason and Faith will find much to think about here. Given how much change the last century has seen, it's surprising how many of the issues still seem fresh and relevant, and the book definitely makes you think about them. It is easy to see how many people have described reading The Way of All Flesh as a turning point in their lives.

A point worth keeping in mind: the characters are all described from Ernest's point of view. Several clues tell us that Ernest exaggerates the cruelty of various characters - some of whom seem evil beyond belief, and I think it's quite clear that, at these points, we're supposed to smile at Ernest - not shake our heads at the author. This is most obvious with Ernest's schoolmaster, Dr. Skinner, whom Ernest consistently sees as a pompous fool, but who we also know is very popular with the best students, and who shows other signs of being a much better man than Ernest believes him to be.

The footnotes in my edition (Penguin Classics 1986) are very skimpy, focusing on comparing elements from Ernest's fictional life to Samuel Butler's real one. The failure of the notes to translate passages in French or Latin, or to explain very contemporary references, is inexcusable. (E.g. but for the recent controversy over his Beatification, we'd have no clue that "Pio Nono" was Pope Pius IX.) Hoggart's introduction (1966) is decent but a bit dated, not having weathered as well as the book itself!

I read this book after reading all the reviews on Amazon not knowing what to expect: Incredibly boring or amazing insightful? I have read many books written in that same time period. I believe this to be the most mature work to come out of England in the late 19th Century(although it was published later). I enjoy Dickens, Hardy, and Eliot very much, but Butler makes their works look like grocery store fiction. I can see how many people might be bored if they were expecting a great story. While the story is excellent, it is more a book about ideas. Butler uses his hero to voice his commentary on Victorian ideals. Most of it is still very relevant today, though. I think it will be most relevant for people that have been exposed to the religious right wing who still hold many Victorian values. I enjoyed the characters and the story was compelling. There are many beautiful passages. It was very funny at times and somewhat sarcastic. The narrator reminded me of Hemmingway born 50 years earlier in England. What impressed me the most was Butler's modern style of writing. Much less wordy than Dickens. Dickens would have taken 800 pages to express the same thoughts. I also felt a real kindred to the main character Ernest. This is ultimately a coming of age book which most people will be able to relate to in one way or another (unless you haven't grown up yet). I would recommend it to all serious readers.

When I spend $20 on a cookbook I expect a full sized book with a lot of interesting recipes. So many recipes, in fact, that I'm still trying new ones long after I bought it. "Cooking the Chinese Way" isn't even close to that. It's roughly the size of a children's book and has only a handful of useful recipes. The rest of the book is filled with miscellaneous trivia such as the recipe's names in Chinese, a brief history of Chinese food and obvious tips like "wash your hands before you start." All of it's interesting and it would make a good cookbook better; but as it stands there's as much trivia as there are recipes.

I've been to China and the food was consistently outstanding and it's vastly different from "American-Chinese" food. Since then I've been looking for a cookbook that has recipes for what I ate in Beijing. I thought buying a cookbook written by a Chinese woman would be a safe bet; but unfortunately "The Chinese Way" isn't that book. It's strictly stir fry and rice style recipes. There's not even a recipe for something as common as Chinese dumplings. Why not? What's most ironic is that it contains a recipe for fortune cookies, which I understand is an American invention! I certainly didn't see any in China. All said, there's not much to distinguish this $20 cookbook from those mini-recipe books that you can get at your grocery store for $5.95. This is the first item I've ever returned to Amazon.com.

In response to the first reviewer, I want to point out that this title is a children's book. It offers background needed to give upper grade elementary age children a sense of place. The number and variety of recipes is appropriate for the age range of the intended audience, and boiled dumplings are included, by the way. Recipes for this crowd need to be simple and straightforward. It also offers a glossary of cooking terms and a list of more unusual ingredients and where to find them. There is also a list of safety tips, although there is no reminder to have an adult present when using a stove or sharp knives. Hopefully, parents would have addressed this. Overall, I think this is a good introduction for children ages 10 and above.

I think that the first man did not know anything about this series for kids. it is a good book for begining to learn cooking chinese food. it even says reading level 9-12!!!...

I've been recruiting for over 20 years and using the Internet every day for the last 5. I read the first two chapters of this book and then just glanced through the rest. It is very basic stuff and much of the information is completely out of date now. The author seems to be self-promoting and sounds more like an Internet marketer than a serious recruitment professional.

Very little real solutions...I don't know if the other reviewers read a different book than I did but honestly not that informative and has nothing "new" in it. Nothing in here that one couldn't figure out for oneself just by using common sense and having a better-than-rudimentary knowledge of the Internet.

I am a seasoned strategic internet sourcer who has been online for over four years. I found this primer to be quite informative because it reminded me of many advanced searching and sourcing techniques that are quite useful and not well-known. This book has broad appeal because it can be read by both novices and experieced professionals who rely on the internet to market and grow their businesses.

Poor Richard's Internet Recruiting addresses the key topics that are presented in many of the top internet recruiting seminars.

Lisa Fraimow, Strategic Internet Consultant