Grady is a very smart kid and because of it he is asked to spend a couple of weeks with a famous botanist. They are planing to save the forest with special trees. Grady discovers away to speak with the trees with different sounds. He finds out that the trees aren't helping the environment, they're killing it. When people figure out what grady is doing, he runs away. He camps with some indians. Grady teams up with the indians to try to save the rainforest. Can they do it, or will they fail?

2-time national science fair winner, 13 year-old Grady Jacobs is kind of a nerd in school because he is "smart," but doesn't seem to care too much about it. He is going to spend the summer with a famous botanist, Dr. Phillip Carter, in the Amazon rain forest. They have to try to save the rain forest with some new type of "super tree," before it dies out. His job is mostly to cook, but he discovers something amazing, a system of sounds that lets him to control the trees, kind of like a language. He then discovers that Carters "super trees" aren't helping the Amazon, they're hurting it. Hurting it to the point where they're killing it. When some one finds out about what Grady is doing, and the experiments he is taking, he runs away from Carter's camp, and camps with the Urah-wau Indian tribe. Can he stop Carter from using his "super trees" in the rainforest?

This book is a new twist from Rob Thomas, who dabbles in the sci-fi aspect. The story is straight forward...and continues the running themes of "fitting in" and not being singled out for teenagers. Grady uses his mind and is a very pro-active character willing to do what is needed to be done, and Grady's subtle humor will appeal to most of Thomas's fans. Grady is a wonderful character and I was very glad to get to know him...despite the "childish" cover it is worth your time and effort, especially for the visual descriptions of the rainforest.

I am currently taking a Quant Meth class which is using this as the textbook. By far, this is the worst textbook I have ever encountered as a student. It is hard to understand and the answers that are given in the back do not explain how to get to the final solution. Because the problems are not paired (that is 1 is not like 2, 3 is not like 4, etc.) and the only answers are to the EVEN problems, you are basically lost. There is a website for the 9th edition that is "under construction" currently, so there is no help there. This is not a book conducive to learning. Teachers and colleges - PLEASE think twice before you choose this for your curriculum. Both you and your students will be miserable!

I am a professor using this book to teach a graduate level Quantitative Methods math class. This book is hard to understand for the students. Exercises included at the end of the chapters are hard to figure for the student based on what is presented in the text alone.
For the instructor, no teacher support is available except a solutions manual. All other texts I have used provides sample lecture material, additional cases, etc. This text provides no such support with a useless web site.

De una manera muy agradable, los autores nos ofrecen un gran paquete de conocimientos matemáticos aplicables a los negocios. Con ejemplos claros y un diseño que facilita su lectura, este libro es una verdadera joya para quien desee ampliar el uso de herramientas matemáticas en la gestión empresarial. Desde toma de decisiones hasta PERT/CPM.