The authors have created an absolutely perfect and delightful work on Nabokov's butterflies and all the resulting interfaces. Nabokov has always preoccupied me and, fortunately, I also have a deep interest in nature - particularly in butterflies and birds. Thus, this book, which develops everything from Nabokov's biography and literary use of butterfly and other nature motifs to their place in modern science and today's biodiversity crisis, was wonderfully eye-opening and informative. It's my bet that few people appreciate how big a story Nabokov's science actually is. It is not only a major part of his biography, previously untold, but also a linkage of his life's scientific work to major questions confronting scientists today. As with his literature, Nabokov turns out to have been a pioneer. It is only a pity that Nabokov did not have two lifetimes, one for literature and one for science.

I had heard about this book before its release and I was not disappointed. The authors seem to have an uncanny sense about Nabokov's oeuvre. I have long had an interest in Nabokov's writing but was fascinated by the prospect of a book that would finally tell the story of his work, and its importance, in science. What is great about this book is that it reads with a plot, from the beginning-- which tells Nabokov's story as a scientist before his fame in literature-- to its end, which tells the story of the scientists who completed Nabokov's work nearly 50 years later. The latter includes exciting treks across remote areas of Latin America in search of Nabokov's Blues. The authors also tell us about Nabokov's fascination with butterflies within his own literature and, at the end of their book, provide what appears to be the first major assessment of Nabokov the scientist. In their opinion his contribution was far more important than ever previously appreciated. A great book.

What is intriguing about this book is that it has taken an entire volume of previously untapped material-- Nabokov's scientific work and the stories of and from the scientists who have studied and completed Nabokov's pioneering work in science and woven an entirely new story about a personage who might have been considered previously well-known. Who would have known this story was around? It reminds of Sobel's Galileo's Daughter which also uses the same tack-- takes the correspondence with his daughter, previously untapped, and weaves a whole new story about Galileo! The authors of Nabokov's Blues have extra luck in that, since they are demonstrating for the first time Nabokov's acumen in two very different fields, science and literature, they can take the opportunity to interweave these two worlds, which they do in a fascinating and intriguing way. What is so compelling about this book is that its story has just not been told before. Just when you thought you knew something about Nabokov, here comes his science! and, with gusto. A great book.

A little over 2 years ago, I was diagnosed with stage 3 lobular breast cancer. I was given this book shortly after the diagnosis by a nurse in the hospital where I work. It is the nuts and bolts of breast cancer, from the staging to the procedures with clear drawings, specific detailed information, and personal notations from women who have been where we are. It went everywhere with me-from chemo to radiation and the multiple surgeries I had. With this information, I had to face very few surprises. The drains left in place after the mastectomy are explained in detail. Radiation is presented clearly and realistically. There are photographs and drawing of how the chest looks after a mastectomy. The book takes some of the fear out of cancer treatment and replaces it with knowledge and advice. if you can only afford one book on the subject of breast cancer, this is the one I would recommend.

"Be A Survivor" is a must-have resource for any woman diagnosed with breast cancer, and her family and friends. It's filled with information and beautiful graphics, yet it is warm and personal. Most important, it's objective--based on information from experts across the country, rather than on one doctor or one medical center. Dr. Lange, whose wife was diagnosed with breast cancer, wrote the book from his perspective as a physician specializing in patient-education, and as a husband and father who has "been there."

I found the book very informative, easy to read and understand and treatments are current with what I am going through. The photographs and diagrams were very good. I would highly reccommend it to anyone as the first book you purchase about Breast Cancer.

Extremely stimulating, uses Galileo to motivate Newton's laws instead of postulating them. Treatment of Bertrand's theorem is beautiful, but contains one error (took me 2 years before I realized where..). However, I know of only one physicist who successully worked out all the missing steps and taught from this book. I know mathematicians who have cursed it. I used/use it for inspiration. The treatment of Liouville's integrability theorem, I found too abstract, found the old version in Whittaker's Analytical Dynamics to be clearer (Arnol'd might laugh sarcastically at this claim!)--for an interesting variation, but more from the standpoint of continuous groups, see the treatment in ch. 16 of my Classical Mechanics (Cambridge, 1997). In my text I do not restrict the discussion of integrability/nonintegrability to Hamiltonian systems but include driven dissipative systems as well. Another strength of Arnol'd: his discussion of caustics, useful for the study of galaxy formation (as I later learned while doing work in cosmology). Also, I learned from Arnol'd that Poisson brackets are not restricted to canonical systems (see also my ch. 15). I guess that every researcher in nonlinear dynamics should study Arnol'd's books, he's the 'alte Hasse' in the field.

Arnold shines for clarity, completeness and rigour. But, at the same time, he requires a remarkable intellectual effort on the part of the reader (at least a physicist or an engineer). Some readers might see this as a book of math rather than physics, but that would not be fair: Arnold always stresses the geometrical meaning and the physical intuition of what he states or demonstrates. You can take full advantage from the effort of reading this book only if you master a wide range of mathematical topics: essentially differential geometry, ODEs and PDEs and some topology. That's not always true for engineer or physics students at the beginning graduate level. For that kind of readers, Goldstein is a much better fit. Arnold can (and maybe should) be read afterwards.
On the other hand, the exercises, although not very numberous, are very well conceived and help a lot to deepen the comprehension of the text. Also, the order of the topics is linear and very effective from a didactic point of view. The exposition is clear, concise and always goes straight to the point. Thanks to these features, it is one of the most effective books for self-teaching I ever happened to read.
From a physical point of view, the domain of applications is essentially limited to discrete systems. Furthermore, the electromagnetism and relativity are not even cited, although they can be viewed as the logical completion of classical mechanics (see, for example, Goldstein). But the extreme generality of the approach largely balance the more restricted physical domain. In my opinion, the best book you can read on the topics.

After reading Arnold, I know no other authors of classical mechanics.

Far from dry theology, Lossky interacts with the Orthodox tradition with expertise knowledge and a genuine faith in the reality of the Father's activity in this world through His Son and Spirit, in the context of the Church. The book is worth buying just for the introduction, which outlines the meaning of theology in the Orthodox Church. Is Christian theology just neo-Platonism? Is God transcendent just because we are limited in our understanding? Is grace created or uncreated? Is deification (theosis) a Hellenic leftover or the meaning of union in Christ? Why was Christ incarnate and what does the Holy Spirit do? What do we say about how God is in Himself and how God is in relation to creation? Lossky tackles these and other pertinent subjects in this masterpiece. You will not read this book and remain unchanged, not because Lossky is such an original and innovative thinker (he is that), but because Lossky faithfully interprets the Tradition. The rest of this review is taken from the jacket of the book itself.
"Vladimir Lossky established himself as one of the most brilliant of Orthodox scholars in the years between his departure from Russia in 1923 and his death in 1958. His uncompromising faithfulness to Scriptural and patristic tradition, coupled with his constant concern for an articulate Orthodox witness in the West, make his works indispensable for an understanding of the theology of the Eastern Church today. In this classic study of Orthodox theology, Lossky states that 'in a certain sense all theology is mystical, in as much as it shows forth the divine mystery: the data of revelation...the eastern tradition has never made a sharp distinction between mysticism and theology, between personal experience of the divine mysteries and the dogma affirmed by the Church.' The term 'mystical theology' denotes in the realm of human experience, that which is accessible yet inaccessible; those things understood yet surpassing all knowledge."
While it is not an easy read at all, it is well worth the time spent in praying and thinking through the subject from an Eastern perspective.
Other books of interest include: "The Orthodox Way" and "The Orthodox Church" by Kallistos (Timothy) Ware; "Byzantine Theology" by John Meyendorff; any Georges Florovsky books; "The Roots of Christian Mysticism" by Olivier Clement; The Gospel of St. John; Jaroslav Pelikan's 5 volume series "The Christian Tradition"; "New Seeds of Contemplation" by Thomas Merton; "The Mountain of Silence" by Kyriacos Markides. Enjoy!

"The Mystical Theology of the Eastern Church" is by no means an easy read, but it is well worth it. Lossky covers some of the most essential and profound concepts in Orthodoxy, some of which differ greatly from western Christianity. Without a firm understanding of these concepts one really doesn't have a firm understanding of the Church's teachings. This is a classic work which should be read by all.

Vladimir Lossky's book is one of substance and theological depth describing the Eastern Orthodox's emphasis on "mystical theology." The Orthodox position of apophatic theology (describing God in negative language) and theosis (growing in union and holiness with God) are dealt with by reviewing the Eastern Church's traditions and teachings about herself in relation to God.

It is important to note that Christian doctrines such as the Trinity are not spelled out as isolated abstract ideas, but instead, as they relate to humanity and the Church. All the chapters in this book are great, but of special interests are the chapters on the "Trininty", "Uncreated Energies", "Image and Likeness" and "The Way of Union." A book the enlightens and challenges not only the mind, but also the soul.

The prize is an unfinished short story, "The Admirable Anglewing", at an immediate stage of note-taking on index cards. It's an intriguing dead end, identifiably a two-strata Nabokov, but with a strikingly scientific directness not elsewhere seen.

The bonus is an unpublished continuation of The Gift (tr. Dmitri Nabokov), which formulates a general expression of evolutionary theory in a clear and useful way, as it relates to a larger understanding of problems in taxonomy, probably omitted for the same reason "The Admirable Anglewing" was dropped.

Notes for The Butterflies Of Europe, much of Nabokov's lepidopterological work (Russia obviously lost a lepidopterist of genius), "butterfly" excerpts from the fiction, and much, much more.

"From the age of seven, everything I felt in connection with a rectangle of framed sunlight was dominated by a single passion," wrote Valdimir Nabokov. "If my first glance of the morning was for the sun, my first thought was for the butterflies it would engender." This was certainly an unusual way in which to view the world and one that not many readers, even those who adore Nabokov, have shared.

In fact, the ferocity of Nabokov's obsession with butterflies has only just begun to become clear with the publication of this gorgeous new book, a volume of heretofore unpublished and uncorrected writings on the subject of butterflies, edited by Nabokov's biographer Brian Boyd, together with Michael Pyle, an expert on butterflies. All translations were done by Nabokov's son, Dmitri, who has lavished his time and talent on his father's work for several decades.

Even those of us who cannot get enough of Nabokov and cannot praise him highly enough may find more than 700 densely-printed pages on the subject of butterflies a little much. As much as we love Nabokov, do we really want to read page after page of his highly technical descriptions of the various species of butterfly? Are these writings really important, from a scientific viewpoint? Is there any connection between Nabokov's passion for butterflies and his extraordinary fiction?

Although most people would probably answer "no" to the first two questions, the answer to the third is a surprisingly enthusiastic, "yes."

In his wonderful introduction, Boyd begins to elucidate the connections between Nabokov the writer and Nabokov the lepidopterist. We come to understand the novelist more completely and precisely by coming to understand that science that gave this unique author "a sense of reality that should not be confused with modern (or postmodern) epistemological nihilism."

It was while dissecting and deciphering his butterflies that Nabokov came to the conclusion that the more we inquire, the more we can discover, yet the more we discover, the more we find we do not know. The world, Nabokov says, is infinitely detailed, complex and deceptive.

Nabokov's important writings on butterflies are reproduced in this volume, but thankfully, in reduced form. And other kinds of writing by Nabokov have been blended over the scientific prose, beginning with the luminous meditation on butterflies from Chapter Six of Speak, Memory.

The poems, memoirs, letters, diary entries, criticism and fiction that make up this beautiful volume cover a period from 1941 to 1947, when Nabokov was at his most obsessive...as far as butterflies are concerned. This obsessiveness, however, is gorgeous to behold, as in a letter from Nabokov to Edmund Wilson about a lecture trip he made to Sweet Briar College. "The weather...was perfectly dreadful and except for a few Everes comyntas there was nothing on the wing." It always came down to butterflies.

Nabokov's interest in butterflies went far beyond sorting out and naming them. He was much more than a mere tabulator or categorizer. There is something exquisitely metaphysical, even mystical, about his approach to butterflies, something that also tells us of his quest to plumb the depths of nature's complexity. In his obsession, Nabokov sought to understand the sense of design that underlies the the physical world, and he also took enormous delight in the mysteries God chose to hide from human beings, leaving to them to seek them out or not.

As Boyd notes, Nabokov "preferred the small type to the main text, the obscure to the obvious, the thrill of finding for himself what was not common knowledge." His scientific writings overflow with minutiae, with obscure details, lovingly searched out, sorted, underlined, displayed. This preference for the complexity of life also underscores his writings, most notably his massive commentary on Pushkin's Onegin, the gorgeous and imaginative Pale Fire and Ada, a late masterpiece in which Nabokov's penchant for complexity reached spellbinding heights.

While only a small percentage of readers may want to study the scientific articles in this book, their very presence operates in the most subtle of ways to remind us that Nabokov, who referred to himself as VN, was also a student "of that other VN, Visible Nature." In his magnificent fiction, Nabokov offered the world a complete view of the complexity and richness of the human spirit. He might not have been so meticulous and so thorough were it not for his passion for the intricate world of butterflies, so beautifully on view in this book.

12 Exotic Brazilian Butterflies In a high Quality Frame 12.5" x 8.5" (Current bid: $65.00) *12 Exotic Brazilian Butterflies In a high Quality Frame 12.5" x 8.5" (Current bid: $65.00)

I sincerely hope that these other items you recommend to potential buyers of this book, are NOT butterflies that were caught in Brazil and shipped to the USA, nor ideally even butterflies breed in the US especially for the purpose of later gracing someone's wall. Not very environmentally sound at all if the former, and karmically, still just as bad if the latter. I do not think that the editors of Nabakov's Butterflies would support this at all, even if they are all avid butterfly enthusiasts. Leave the butterflies in peace!

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On the 6th of May 1945 men in wheeled vehicles crossed the mosaic floor of the Piazza San Marco in Venice for the very first time in history. They drove around the square seven times in the small, heavily armoured vehicles in which they'd fought their way across North Africa, Italy, and were to travel on to Austria. At the head of this curious band was a man who sported a hook for a hand, and a nom de guerre which was similarly incongruous for a 48 year old Major in the British army. Vladimir Peniakoff, or "Popski" as he became known, was the enigmatic Belgian born son of White Russian emigres, who had until recent years "pursued the ordinary activities of industry" as a discontented sugar refiner in Egypt. Having tutored himself, alone in the Sand Sea but for the navigational instruments of antiquity, he emerged from the wilderness to train the men who accompanied him through the years of turmoil to this long dreamt of moment of victory. "Private Army" is one of the finest military memoirs I have read, and ranks alongside Fitzroy McLean's "Eastern Approaches" and TE Lawrence's "The Mint". This is the authoritative work on Popski's Private Army, but is much more than a Regimental history. This is a superb piece of literature which you will not quickly forget. Read also "With Popski's Private Army" by Ben Owen, a superb companion book to the above.

This book is hard to find but well worth the effort. Peniakoff led a facinating life and this book is a must for anybody interested in World War II special operations.

Vladimir Peniakoff was one of the greatest commandoes to come out of WWII, along with Otto Skorzeny, Claire Chennault, and David Stirling. This very readable account of his exploits in the desert and Italy show the romance of the warmonger, not only of Popski himself but off the PPA as well. The most intriguing parts of the book to me are the parts that show the craft of the warrior, like celestial navigation, trickery Sun Tzu would be proud off, and the romance of forming and leading commandoes. To anyone interested in the very beginings of desert warfare, this is a must read. Tactics formed by Bagnold and Easonsmith are still very relevant today. Plus Popski's adventures with his "Pisspot" give land celestial navigation a face. If you were going to read books about the "Navy Seals" or "Marine Force Recon" ect. read this one, It's very entertaining.

I have had the honour of reading numerous papers by Vernadsky and find as always with genius, a hidden underlaying dimension of truth. The Biosphere is without hesitation a work of scientific spirituality as well as pure scientific genius! In a time when environmental destruction is ramp, and politically controled scientific stupidity proliferates, logical hope and science is at hand. With Vernadsky science personifies a bridge between life and its meaning. Science is indeed the search for truth, and Vernadsky biosphere is a must for youth!!!!!

It's hard to read this book without coming away with the impression of a powerful, original mind at work. Many of Vernadsky's ideas remain unappreciated to this day. In particular, the idea of life as a cosmological phenomenon, as a means by which energy is stored and transformed on a planetary scale, should become increasingly important as the science of astrobiology develops a rigorous intellectual basis.

I'm very happy that Vladimir Ivanovich Vernadsky becomes little by little known for the English speaking public. Although his "Biosphere" has been written over 70 years ago, even now its ideas remain fresh and actual. Indeed, the "Biosphere" provides a new level of thinking which permits us to consider Vladimir Vernadsky as a deepest naturalist of our century. And now I'm looking forward to the time when they will be translated and published his subsequent books - first of all the book on the noosphere: "Scientific thought as a planet phenomenon".

The stories in this book (there are about 65 of them) are for the most part very short. Some of my favorite are his earliest ones, they have been translated from the Russian by Nabokov's son, Dmitri, and they are semi-autobiographical, sweet and so beautiful. Included in this book are a few chapters from Nabokov's autobiography, "Speak, Memory" which were published independently as stories. I would also recommend "Speak, Memory" without reservations. It would be a good book to read after or before this one. They are both so wonderful.

I can't imagine anyone not liking at least some of these stories, especially if you like the genre of short stories and if you are familiar with Nabokov's lucid, detailed prose. Some of them are briefer and sketchier, and some are more like small novels, some are auto-biographical, and some are like fairy-tales. All of the different kinds are good, even my least favorite stories in this vast collection have stuck in my mind. They are lovely. Everyone should own this book.

This collection proves that Nabokov was as great a short-storyist as he was a novelist. In some ways, his short works might be even greater; the concentration of the story form pushed him to achieve some startling feats of linguistic and narrative dexterity.

Some of the early stories are unambitious sketches or modest experiments that don't quite work, but gradually mature masterpieces start to appear, and it continues that way right to the end. Among my favorites: "The Visit to the Museum," "Cloud, Castle, Lake," "Time and Ebb," "Signs and Symbols," "Lance," and of course "The Vane Sisters," with its famous ending of which the author himself says "this particular trick can be tried only once in a thousand years of fiction." And that list is only partial; there's still a lot of this book that I haven't yet read. (As with a box of really good chocolates, I'm trying to make it last.)

Given his super-highbrow reputation, it's easy to overlook the fact that when he's at the top of his game, Nabokov is fun. Many of his best stories take the kind of imaginative leaps you expect from high-grade fantasy or science fiction; and the complexity of his style is necessary to his conceptions rather than vain showing-off. Coming upon this book after reading the normal run of fiction ("literary" or otherwise) was like feasting on rich, multi-layered Indian or French food after eating every day in the local pub.

As banal as it may sound, these stories are true treasures of language. If I were banished to a desert island with only one book, it would be these stories of Mr. Nabokov. His prose stands in a category I believe only two other authors habitate (Joyce & Proust). Each story is alive, from early Russian translations to later English originals (everyone is hereby required to read "The Vane Sisters"). Truly astounding, condensed bursts of imagination.

The Revolutionary Guide to Qbasic is the best Qbasic book I've seen. It comes with a very helpful disk of utilities, and it is very up-to-date. It has info on programming the sound card, mouse, and much more. There is even a section about how to make a raycaster game and other 3d projects. I highly recommend it.

This book is one of the most useful programming refernces that one could ever hope for. It outlines procedures that I never knew were possible for QBasic such as 3D, advanced data sorts, and sub-operating systems.

Knowing QBasic is an essential part to learning any other Microsoft programming language (e.g. Active Server Pages, which I also have Wrox book for), and what better way to do it than with this book.

A must have for any serious programmer, but not targeted for the newbie programmer. It assumes that you already know a fair amount about QBasic, but will push your programming to new highs.

The Revolutionary Guide to Qbasic is by far the best book out there for programming games in basic. It is filled with chapters on sound and graphics that nearly every other book on the market neglects to include. I make games in my spare time and until now have been picking apart other games and asking more experienced programmers how to write complex sections of code. Well, no more! This book has it all: 3-D scrolling, tile based gaming, creating music, and more. Why buy another book about how to make a loop or print data to the screen? This book it truly the best way to advance your hobby in Basic programming.

This book reminds you that the ultimate focus of the game is to attack the opponents king, and helps you to understand how that can come about in the middle game.

Previously once getting past the opening, it was hard for me to come up with appropriate plans to finish the game up, mostly trying to get small advantages and hopefully trade off pieces to have a superior endgame. This book really helped me understand the tactics and methods associated with starting and carrying out an attack. The chapters on sacrifices and focal points taught me to think about how to weaken a position - after all, giving all your pieces away is fine if the game is then going to be over, a simple concept, but taking that risk is considered a lot less than it should be, at least in beginner-intermediate chess which is where I'm at right now. The chapters on attacking with pawns were especially useful as well.

This is one of the best books I've studied on chess, and in my opinion, it's a must for everyone.

Have you stopped getting any better? Do your attacks always fail? If yes to either of these questions, then Art of Attack in Chess is the book for you. An extremely good book! This is a great book and will teach you everything you need to know on attacking. Whether it be attacking the un-castled king, castled king, fianchettoed castled king, it has it all! The section about the classic bishop sacrifice is amazing. This book also teaches a lot about castling. Whether you should castle king side or queen side, etc. The book is also fluttered with examples. Probably around 150-200. Some are full games (!) and others are just excerpts. I currently own the new edition that was edited by John Nunn. He went over all of Vukoviæ old annotations and added comments where he thought it was appropriate. He also changed the whole thing into Algebraic Notation and added 128 extra diagrams. If I had the old version of this book, the rating would probably be like a 7 or an 8. But this book still has a lot of good information. It is kind of advanced though, so I don't recommend it to beginners. Also once you own this book you must go over all the examples. It'll take some time, but it'll be worth it. I also suggest rereading this book from time to time (after having read more books of coarse). This will help clarify your understanding and help you remember what to do in certain situations. This book is relatively expensive considering what a small book it is ($ is what's printed on the book). But don't be fooled, even though it may seem kind of short, in reality it's loaded with information and will take a while to get the most out of it. So good luck!

PROS:

Teaches You Everything You Need to Know on Attacking

Easy to Read format

Hundreds of Examples and Diagrams

CONS:

Not for Beginners

Slightly Expensive

Summary: An amazing book that will teach you everything you need to know on attacking. If you know your chess and have got the cash, then get this book right now! IT WILL IMPROVE YOUR GAME!

This book is one of a kind! My positional play is strong, yet even though I know my pieces are stronger than my opponents I often cannot find a way to take advantage of it. This book opened my eyes to all the attacking themes found in chess. I just played one of my best games ever 2 days ago, and without this book the spectacular mating attack would have never happened. If you lack attacking skills in the middle game, this is the best book out there. Not for beginners, but great for intermediate players. One of the top 2 chess books I've read (out of MANY). The other being "Modern Chess Strategy" - another essential middle game book - based on the positional side of chess whereas this book is on the tactical side. They complement eachother very well.