The author of this book attempted to tackle a very interesting subject but, to the English-language readership's chagrin, did not seem to bother to have the English-language edition of the presumably Dutch original either translated into proper English or proof-read. The result is a linguistic hodge-podge which precludes any kind of meaningful reading. Trying to decipher what the author is trying to say is often an extremely frustrating experience. This book has shocked and saddened me.

Pavlov's dogs could have been trained to write a better textbook on Matlab computing then the author has done. In fact, I believe this book was written and produced by 1,000 monkeys instead of an esteemed Cornell professor. The examples in the book rarely work and I believe that any careful reader will realize that anyone who gives this book a positive review is a complete tool that probably has nothing better to do than to make excuses for his domestic partner's poor job at crafting such an overpriced waste of tree pulp. It seems to me that professors @ Cornell should stay out of the publishing industry because they just can't seem to get anything right. As for the positive reviewers of this text, I believe they should get some of that South African homegrown Viagra "on tap" and have "a thought-provoking and exciting" time for once in their sad sad lives.

I am in the professors class and the lectures are just as incomprehensible as the book. This book uses mathematics to obscure mathematical concepts beyond recognizability. Its unfortunate that this book has wiped out any interest I might have had in numerical analysis. It is not a good reference for anything except for how to write a terrible book. Specifically, the code doesn't make sense and is often inconsistent, the explanations are scanty, typos are abundant, and any knowledge to be had is lost in the muddle. Don't bother with thisbook.

This book invites the reader to build exploratory environments with MATLAB in which various mathematical experiments can be performed. Very interesting examples are investigated and good exercises are presented. I was amazed to see negative reviews and poor ratings. Yes, there are a few typos and little errors. But these should not stumble a serious student. A person who follows the book, builds the environments, experiments with the programs and the mathematics will learn a great deal.

Mr. Van Der Leeuw's book is incredibly clear in one thing - his enviable ability to turn a deaf ear and a blind eye. The worst breech of one's responsibility as a scholar is the inability to record objective reality, a failure that is in itself remarkable in the book. Aside from all the overt signs of successful braiwashing that the author has apparently undergone by his Azeri counterparts, he makes such glaring historical and political errors in the book that even a person with no background in history or political science (such as myself) will immediately pick up on them. The range of errors is almost anecdotal, I have never read a book that makes so many on such few pages. I would recommend that Mr. Van Der Leeuw consults a few relatively objective sources - beginning with a simple Britannica consultation about basic facts in the region and revises the book, unless amusement and harmless ironization is the objective of his writing.