The Cosmic Dance: Science Discovers the Mysterious Harmony of the Universe by Giuseppe Del Re, Foreword by Thomas F. Torrance (Templeton Foundation) focuses on a new worldview, emerging from the science of the last decades of the second millennium. Its metaphor is the cosmic dance, or the harmony existing between systems that are so strongly interdependent that they behave as a single entity. This dance image hints at a general, evolving pattern in which all objects in the universe participate-like the ordered chaos of an African open-air market. Some of the chapters discuss the nature of processes in the universe, including chaos and chance in the game of life. The reconciliation of variety and unity are addressed in reference to the space-time continuum and the unified field of relativity theory. Del Re continues the investigation into an exploration of the origins of freedom and ethics, suggesting that science indicates that the human species may have a specific task in the universe: building a bridge between matter and spirit. Del Re ponders alchemy, the significance of symbols, and the meaning of the soul. Woven throughout a variety of esoteric and scientific inquiries is the underlying sense of the unifying principles of science and a spiritual outlook. The questions raised are issues that will be discussed by an emerging network of scientists and spiritual seekers, and this book will add a valued and informed perspective to these conversations. The Cosmic Dance is a playful book that takes a broad view of the subject of science and religious aspiration. Del Re wants us to keep an open and playful imagination about how we think and experiment with the universe. The book may please some who are naturally inclined to an esoteric science and irritate material reductionists if there are really very many of them left. If there are this book is to braod in its humanistic reach to engage them to reconsider their entrenchment. For the rest of us The Cosmic Dance is a pleasure to read. "This book is intended to take you on a voyage through the main ideas and discoveries of contemporary science, from physics to biology; a voyage aimed at finding out how the wonders the scientists have discovered can contribute to a wholesome personal outlook on life and the universe. "The times are over when our voyage would have been a royal visit to the empire which human ingenuity has conquered for our welfare and pleasure; it will be a humble and patient search for the meaning of the greatest concepts of science in the context of poetry, history, and philosophy. We shall be guided in our exploration by an ancient, recently revived idea: that all there is participates as if it were in a great harmonious Dance." from the preface.

The Cosmic Dance: Science Discovers The Mysterious Harmony Of The Universe explores how the image and metaphor of dancing helps us come to terms with evolution, randomness, irreversibility, and the emergence of new information -- including the conception of the universe as a complex system made up of complex systems. From atoms to planets, solar systems to galaxies, and the choreographed evolution of ecosystems and human beings, The Cosmic Dance views such phenomena as interacting wholes, and apparently chaotic systems can work well. Author Guiseppe Del Re examines the nature of complexity, order, and organization while referencing scientists, philosophers, and literature. The Cosmic Dance examines the place of man in the scheme of things, including human ethics, morals, mind, soul, and psyche. A fascinating, informative, and at times inspiring blend of philosophy and science, The Cosmic Dance engages both the mind and the imagination that will be read with deep interest by scholarship and the non-specialist general reader alike.

The theory is presented good enough and basic principles are clear. Appendix on the end of each chapter are helpful in understanding what is really going on in physics view. However,
it is confusing for some very simple calculation errors here or there. And units being used when writing the book are obscure,especially in the magnetism part. Good book for reference but not the best for learning.

I have found this book very very nice. It is a book devoted to the explanation of Solid State Physics. The languague is clear and essential but, in the same time, complete. The main physical idea are outlined in an very impressive way. It is interesting that each chapter is self-consistent so you can use it as text-book on the subject or for some specific topic related to your research interest. It's surely the best book on Solid State Physics that I have never read.

The book has a solid theoretical explanation of most of the popular graph drawing algorithms. So, if you want an explanation of these algorithms from a mathematical point of view, this book is for you.

If you are like me, and want to approach these problems from an 'algorithmic' viewpoint. I.e I want to know how to write planarization, Orthogonal layout algorithms... This book will disappoint you big time...Most of the algorithms are presented in a mathematical form (not a psuedocode form).. It is a huge leap to convert algorithms in this book to code.

Overall, I rate this book a 3 because, it is the ONLY book on this subject. Therefore, I cant compare it with anything else.

My advice is :- math major = BUY, computer major = PASS, after all this book is not cheap -

To me the book is not useful, because I need to draw graphs in which the distance between two connected vertices is fixed. The book doesn't mention any method to handle graphs with such a restriction, although the chapter on force-directed methods inspired me to use something similar. If you draw graphs without that restriction, the book might be useful to you - that's why I'm careful and give it 4 stars.

I disagree with Viv. R who said it doesn't contain pseudo code, because the book contains quite some of it, though not in every chapter. But even lack of pseudo code doesn't bother me, because for an experienced mathematical programmer that should be no problem.

Well organized, very complete, authoritative. Thanks to the authors for compiling and adding to a most interesting and valuable area of study.

Warned by a previous reviewer, I knew that the text of this edition would be in Italian, despite it being called "Don Carlos".

I also correctly surmised that various original material re-additions such as those used in Act IV of the EMI Classics recording of the Paris Theatre du Chatelet performance in 1996 (Pappano conducting, Alagna in the title role) would probably not appear. The previous reviewer also mentioned that some material used by the Met in performance does not appear.

This is still a very useful edition, but it also suffers in print quality slightly in that some pages of the original Ricordi score require greater scale reduction than others to fit on the page. These pages are noticeably poorer in appearance, with visible breaks in the staff lines. Everything is still readable, however.

It would be nice to see an affordable edition of the full five act score, in French, with the various performance alternatives used today included, at least in an appendix.

First, the bad news: In spite of the "s" in the title, this score doesn't have the orignal French text, but the standard Italian translation by Achille de Lauzières and Angelo Zandarini. As for being "unabridged", it is an unabridged score of the standard five-act "Modena" version, with "notations for an alternative four-act version" (The "La Scala" version of 1884). i.e. it has the alternative version of the title character's aria "Je l'ai vue" ("Io la vidi") for performance in what was originally the second act. None of the extra material from other versions of the opera (such as the opening "Prelude et Introduction" that the Met uses) is included.

Nonetheless, it's good to have a fairly inexpensive edition of this score (my favorite Verdi opera) available.

This book consists of two parts. The first part gives general information about the history and development of the fountain part, plus its side-effects (FP advertising, FP's in arts, influence of FP's on regular life). The second part gives information on 100 pens from the last 100 years. Apart from the excellent photographs, it is very interesting that a lot of Italian/European pens are covered. There are a few inconsistencies in the text, but overall a lot of useful info is given about the covered pens.

It is not a reference book, because of the choices and number of pens covered. However, it is a very beautiful and entertaining book that is very well worth reading. You could even spend an evening just dreaming away with the pictures ...

This book comes has two distinct sections . The first deals with the pen , its history and design(Natch!). It starts with a history of pen technologies used down the ages and takes a look at the pen's role in art and design, and also at the inventors along the way who have brought us the modern fountain pen.

The second part is a selection of pens produced over the last one hundred years and all the major manufacturers as well as some of the long forgotten ones; Nettuno, Ercolessi and Pygmalion to name a few. The interesting thing here is that the pens mentioned are ones off the beaten track and the same old list of names is not replicated here, making this book quite unique. The selection is in chronological order and even a quick read gives a moving picture of pen design over the last century.

The images used in the book are first rate and are interspersed amongst the text , avoiding the boring visuals normally associated with such books.The graphics are also excellent and add to the quality of the book.

Quality is a by-word here , not only are the design and technological aspects of the pen discussed , there is also a wealth of information on pen production dates , company information and marketing and advertising by the different companies.

A technique used in the book to interrupt the narrative , mid-stream by using a different page design to focus on a particular topic discussed in the main narrative can become quite irritating and the book would have been better served by putting these pages at the end of each chapter.

This is a small gripe with what is essentially an excellent book. Eminently enjoyable , unique and with coffee-table quality , this is a must have for any pen collector.

The content seems very thorough and well researched. However, the artwork is beautiful and IT is why I bought this book. This makes a unique coffeetable book.

originally published as "The Complete Book of Mushrooms" by Rinaldi and Tynaldo in 1974 by Crown Publishers.

The artwork is wonderful.

I bought this book because the Bibiena family were such a profound influence on the spatial perceptions of Piranesi. During the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, this single family, from Northern Italy, created a series of increasingly ingenious stage designs for, especially, the Hapsburgs. Much of what they created was deliberately perishable and is now lost, although the great theater in Mantua survives. This book gives the plates from Giuseppe's book on architectural designs. They are extraordinary, really the culmination of a great Baroque tradition. Particularly effective are the interior designs, which use elaborate perspective in order to suggest infinite space. The presentation of the plates in this book is not especially polished, but still pretty good.

The emerging fields of bioelectronics and neural engineering are opening major scientific and technological avenues in the new millennium. The challenges, belonging to research areas of a strongly multidisciplinary nature, are highly demanding requiring fellows involved to master a diversity of classical disciplines such as physical chemistry, molecular and cellular biology, biophysics and solid state electronics. The book of M. Grattarola and G. Massobrio provides a timely and authoritative text which, in a coherent and unified manner, allows the reader to start forming his her knowledge basis in order to better deal with these new themes. Comprehensive, clearly written and, at the same time, rigorous the book is a must for bioengineers and professionals working bio and nano related fields.

Labeling this book a "novel" does it as much of a disservice as labeling the main character's son Paolo "disabled." In both cases, the labels are limiting. And limits are what the book is all about--the limits Prof. Frigerio feels in his ability to help his son, the limits of the public institutions set up to help the family, the limits of everyone's patience, the limits of Frigerio's ability to identify with his son's problems, and his son's limits in helping the world to know him and his abilities.

More a memoir about Paolo's childhood than a novel, the book sensitively and uncompromisingly portrays the difficulties of raising a child whose abilities are limited in some areas but normal in others. A medical mistake at Paolo's birth has left him unable to walk or talk like other children, though he is intelligent, and Professor Frigerio and his wife must take the lead in finding help for him and for themselves. Early on, a doctor tells Frigerio, "These children are born twice. Their second birth depends on you, on what you are able to give to them." Taking this to heart, Frigerio works to find therapists, support groups, a nurturing school environment, psychologists, and whatever else it takes to ensure that his son has the best possible chance for success.

By turns philosophical, humorous, resentful, and highly sensitive, Frigerio is an acute observer of the reactions of other people, including the medical profession, toward his son, and he speaks to the reader in uncompromising terms. Intentionally or not, however, he remains at a distance, as much an observer as a participant in his son's life, and his wife and older son Alfredo, who are as directly affected as Frigerio, appear infrequently. Paolo's brief appearances late in the book, as he deals with a crank phone call from a teenage girl, with a vacation trip, and with an opportunity to appear on stage give the reader an opportunity to know him a bit as a person, rather than as the almost silent inspiration for this book. The author's dispassionate approach is successful in maintaining the dignity of all the characters, an unusual (and welcome) approach in these tell-all times, though it does come at the expense of some reader involvement. Mary Whipple

"Drawn States of Mind," by Giuseppe Steiner, brings together several of the author's non-verbal poems, or "psychic precipitates," together with his short essay on their creation. The essay has been translated from Italian into English by Guy Bennett, who also wrote an introduction.

Steiner (1898-1964) was an Italian poet who is associated with the "Futurist" movement. In the essay he describes how the non-verbal poems in this book represent the next step in evolution of poetry after "words-in-freedom," an experimental form of poetry that tore away grammar and syntax and mixed the freed words with lines, colors, distorted typographical characters, and other elements.

The "poems" in this book do away with words totally; rather, they are impressionistic drawings that seem like Steiner's own personal ideographic language. The only words in these poems are the titles: "Wonder," "Napoleon," "Acute Physical Pain," "Human Intelligence," "Divine Intelligence," "Thursday," etc.

Overall, this book is a fascinating experiment that, as translator Bennett writes, "calls into question the very nature of poetry and the specificity of the poetic text." If you're interested in avant-garde literature, or in experimentalism in 20th century poetry, you won't want to miss this quirky book.