This translation is perhaps as good as they get -- it reads well, rythm and cadence are flawless. And yet, a comparison of two versions side by side serves as a useful reminder that even the best translation is merely an approximation of the original. It is also evident that sometimes very substantial compromises in content are needed to preserve the structural integrity of the poetic form.

The English text, as beautiful and touching as it is in its own right, unfortunately does not reflect the very noticeably rougher texture of the Polish original. Polish text, still mostly comprehensible to the educated Polish reader, sounds distinctly archaic, and "resists" contemporary reader's temptation to read fast, as if it deliberately tried to slow him/her down.

Alas, gone as well are many poetic devices of the original, such as clever metaphors and word plays. E.g., in the fragment of Lament 2, reproduced on the amazon website, lost is the original's play on the word "piórko" (feather) which can be both a child's toy, and a poet's quill in "Jeslim kiedy nad dziecmi piorko mial zabawic"; similarly, the contrast of the SOUND of the poet's lament and the empty SILENCE of death ("plakac nad gluchym grobem", literally "to WEEP on a SILENT grave") is awkwardly lost in an admittedly smooth sounding, and more emotional "to weep on a small daughter's grave".

The fairly unfortunate "maritime" metaphor ("Looms like cliff above some wild and rough / Shore") is perhaps more in line with the Irish or English poetic tradition, but is totally out of place in Kochanowski's poem, and it unwisely replaces a wonderfully archaic, yet entirely comprehensible, and often quoted "moja nienagrodna szkoda" (literally, and in awkwardly too many words, "my loss, which no prize shall repay").

Still, given the original's complexity, the task both translators decided to tackle must have been daunting indeed, and the result is stunningly beautiful. Despite some lost or awkward metaphors, the essential core of the work, which is its profound emotional charge, comes across as strong as in the original, and so the 5-star rating is entirely deserved.

Additionally, both poets-translators probably deserve a 6th, honorary star, for taking on an important task, several centuries overdue.

I discovered this collection in a Slavic Literature class where it was required. I was deeply touched by these words of a father in mourning for his daughter; feelings expressed in the 16th Century that translate as if they were written today. Last week I was discussing Polish literature with a Holocaust survivor. When I mentioned Kochanowski's "Treny" (Laments), she got tears in her eyes and gasped- how did I know Kochanowski? She quoted a phrase in Polish, then said she always thinks about "Treny" when she thinks of her mother- it was her favorite- who was killed in Auschwitz. Today, when I gave her my bilingual copy, she held it to her heart. I could hear her heart crying when she said "thank you." Words of a daughter in mourning - and a human connection spanning four centuries.

This impressive, 3-book set offers a large number of chapters, covering a wide array of advances in the physics and chemistry of electrodynamics being made by leading researchers from around the world. Individual chapter authors have been carefully selected to ensure authoritative treatment of each topic. Editors Prigogine and Evans have published widely on many of these topics. Of particular note is the more than 600 papers by Dr. Evans on higher-order symmetry, non-Abelian EM, which are referenced throughout this book set. The application of standard gauge theory of high-energy physics to the development of higher-order symmetry, non-Abelian EM is given as a starting point from which derivative developments are explored further in this outstanding book set. Parallel developments embracing the O(3) and SU(2) gauges are presented, indicating many important commonalities and results. In-depth treatment of potential theory is given, including the concept of fieldless EM based solely on potentials. Of major note is the novel development and derivation of higher-order symmetry, non-Abelian EM from the basic Einstein irreps embraced by the Sachs theory of general relativity (GR). It is shown that EM and gravity are both derivative from a common set of irreps in this Sachs-Evans theory. In theory, it is shown as a further derivative from Sachs-Evans that useable energy is possible to be extracted from the "active vacuum" by way of "non-symmetrical regauging." These, among other noteworthy advances, are intellectually refreshing and stimulating and will, no doubt, engender further research and development of computer-hosted simulations and new experiments, many of which are suggested and described, to provide more convincing proof. Industrial applications are further suggested -- such as Radiatively-induced Fermion Resonance (RFR) showing potential performance enhancements for medical and other applications of imaging techniques. Because of the significance of these wide-ranging advances, this 3-book set is highly recommended to all physics and chemistry researchers in academe and industry alike.

This is an exciting three parts review which introduces the emerging field of non-Abelian electrodynamics and its role in unifield field theory.

Maxwell-Heaviside theory is extended and developed to reveal many new insights. It is shown how in its accepted form this theory, of a hundred or so years, cannot properly explain simple optical and interferometric effects. Non Abelian electrodynamics,however, successfully describes a series of known phenomena and makes new predictions - such as the possibility of extracting energy from the vacuum and the interdependence of electromagnetic and gravitational forces.

The three volumes are well presented and balanced covering the traditional approach and introducing the new theoretical developments from a number of starting points. It is seen how generally they produce the same overall consistent results (which are mostly embodied in a general theory of Mendel Sachs).

Physical consequences are evaluated and supporting experimental evidence reviewed or referenced where it is available.

Aspects of this reviewed work are already being described as landmarks in scientific development.

Dr Gareth Evans, December, 2001

This is a treasure house, containing one of Witkacy's best short plays (The New Deliverance), one of his best long ones (Janulka, Daughter of Fizdejko), plus extracts from the novels, from critical and theoretical documents (notably on Pure Form, Bruno Schulz and the various drugs with which the author experimented); letters to his friend Malinowski; and the hilarious Rules of the S I Witkiewicz Portrait-Painting Firm, which constitute an object lesson for any artist wracked by the horrors of commercial compromise. The book is conveniently divided into segments according to the progress of Witkacy's career, and each segment has a good biographical chapter by the excellent Daniel Gerould, who seems to have done more to get Witkiewicz known and appreciated in the English-speaking world than most writers can manage to do for themselves. The Witkiewicz reader is both an ideal introduction and a great addition to this reviewer's still-too-small library of Witkacy-in-English. More, please...

The Witkiewicz Reader is an indispensable collection of plays, personal letters, critical writings, fragments, and biographical information from the life of Stanislaw Ignacy Witkiewicz. It contains his darkly surreal plays; his touching letters to his friend Bronislaw Malinowski, the anthropologist; and his innovative critical writing regarding his Pure Form theory of art. This is a well-deserved tribute to a criminally under-appreciated genius whose tragic suicide as the Nazis invaded Poland took from the world a truly gifted playwright, painter, and philosopher.

"Carnival" is an entertaining and fascinating journey into the imagination of one of Science Fiction's true literary geniuses, edited and annoted by someone who has been there. Editor Michael Kandel, who has translated many of Lem's works, offers the reader a broad sample of Lem's stories, ranging from the serious (Return from the Stars) to the hilarious (Cyberiad). Interspersed with these stories are the editor's notes on Lem's life, style, and philosophy. For those who are already fans of Stanislaw Lem, the notes provide insight into the stories, characters, and author. For those who are not yet fans, this collection provides a great introduction to an author who will soon become a personal favorite. If you can find this book, buy it at any price

Transposed to England, with a few specifically Polish references removed, this is one of Witkacy's easiest and most entertaining plays. Like most of his best work, it's a lunatic parody; unlike some, it parodies only one genre, the "country house" drama of conflicts and secrets within a well-to-do family. Thus much of the dialogue takes the form of debates, with the mother's ghost, over tea and toast, over who her various lovers were and what they and her husband may or may not have done to her. The Geroulds' translation is as fluent as always, and there is a long and very fine introduction. An extra and unexpected bonus in this edition is the inclusion of several of the author's paintings and drawings, quite a few in colour. Like the play (and like most of the rest of Witkacy's work), they are grotesque, downright peculiar, and well worth a look.

There is a huge collection of Ethiopian Icons, starting from the 15th century. They are wonderfully illustrated and described. You'll learn a lot about this ancient christian country and it's history!

Zenon Mroz is considered to be a leading authority in the field. In this book, he makes a major contribution to the theory of plasticity by generalizing his 1967 multi-surface hardening model. He accomplishes the generalization by making all surfaces of the model move--an innovation he conceived in 1991 at the Tucson conference on Constitutive Laws of Engineering Materials.

The book contains 27 chapters contributed by highly active researchers in the field. Students, engineers, and scientists will find the book useful and illuminating.

Do you find most sit-coms imbecilic and Monty Python's Flying Circus, well, adolescent? Then what you are looking for is satire. As Ambrose Bierce, the great American satirist of the late 19th and early 20th century put it in his Devil's Dictionary, satire is "an obsolete kind of literary composition in which the vices and follies of the author's enemies were expounded with imperfect tenderness. In this country satire never had more than a sickly and uncertain existence, for the soul of it is wit, wherein we are dolefully deficient, the humor that we mistake for it, like all humor, being tolerant and sympathetic. Moreover, although Americans are `endowed by their Creator' with abundant vice and folly, it is not generally known that these are reprehensible qualities, wherefore the satirist is popularly regarded as a soul-spirited knave, and his ever victim's outcry for codefendants evokes a national assent."

One thing is true. For reasons unknown to me, when you are trying to think of a 20th century satirist, he is likely to be Russian, Polish or Czech. And none of them published anything during the last ten years. Satire seems to be especially flourishing in a repressive environment, be it Austrian-Hungarian empire, tzarist Russia, or communism.

Stanislaw Jerzy Lec (1909-1966), a Polish aphorist, was one of the last grand masters of the art of satire. His brilliant bitter-sweet collection of aphorisms, "Mysli nieuczesane", was first published as a serial in 1957, and English translation by Jacek Galazka followed in 1962. "More Unkempt Thoughts" is a follow-up, published posthumously in 1968. If you can find this gem, give it a chance.

This book covers a wide area of topics in systems and control theory and applications. In addition to the analysis of stability and optimal control in linear and nonlinear systems, the text provides a very good introduction to fuzzy systems, neural networks, genetic algorithms and chaotic systems. As the author states, the scope of the topics presented tries to emphasize the multidisciplinary role of nonlinear dynamics and control. By providing examples where the techniques of fuzzy logic, genetic algorithms and neural networks are used in real life control problems, it is shown how these new approaches complement the classical ones. To this end, Lyapunov's stability theory is employed as the common medium of analysis. This type of presentation facilitates a deeper understanding of the material by bringing the focus of different areas in the context of control and stability problem.
The book is well suited for senior or graduate course work and its comprehensive nature makes it also an excellent reference text for people who are interested in dynamical systems and control theory. A basic knowledge of linear algebra and calculus would be sufficient to understand most of the material covered and a brief mathematical background review is provided in the appendix. The fundamental concepts and how they relate to each other are clearly presented. The detailed worked out examples, taken mostly from literature or practical applications, form an integral part of the book and in some cases, used as a means to illustrate the theory itself. Many exercises, some involving software projects in MATLAB, are also provided at the end of each chapter.
This text offers a thorough and practical treatment of systems and control and provides a solid foundation for anyone in the field and is highly recommended.

This is the daily diary of the man who was the head of the Judenrat (Jewish Council) in Warsaw during the Nazi occupation and most of the ghetto period. Czerniakow was misunderstood by a lot of people, and to avoid this I suggest some background reading about the ghetto first (Emanuel Ringelblum's Notes from the Warsaw Ghetto, Bogdan Wojdowski's Bread for the Departed, John Hersey's The Wall (fiction)). This is because Czerniakow does not give a lot of detail about life in the ghetto (and occupied Warsaw before the ghetto) for the ordinary person. It does not at all mean he was unaware of conditions; he was trying to do an impossible job and please everyone at the same time: the ghetto residents, the other council members, the profiteers, the Polish city administration, the German army, and the SS. That he accomplished any positive goals at all is remarkable and his story must be looked at from that perspective. It comes across clearly that he acted according to his conscience and put his personal concerns last. Without the introductions and the supplementary notes the diary might be difficult to understand, as Czerniakow did not always put down full names or explanations and kept entries brief. It was suggested he may have been afraid of it falling into the wrong hands with good reason. Therefore, I would say it takes a reader with some knowledge of the ghetto period and the Nazi occupation of Poland to get the fullest understanding from this book. I do on that basis give it the highest recommendation.