The author gives a comprehensible introduction to the field of Case Base Reasoning (CBR). He starts with an overview to the various techniques and algorithms to be used with CBR and formulates practical criteria when to use them and when not (e.g. adaptation). Very usefull are the differences to other AI approaches and the criteria to check the applicability of these methods. A chapter on CBR software tools reviews a series of available tools and development shells. Practical examples, especially on helpdesk applications show how CBR has been used successfully in projects. All in all the book demystifies CBR and encourages the use of it for building up decision support systems.

This book is easily the best of its type, there is no other introductory book on CBR available! I bought this at AAAI-97 and found it extremely easy to read and sensibly layed out. It provides a good comparison of CBR with other AI and IS techniques and clearly explains what CBR's unique strengths (and to be fair) weaknesses are. A sensible range of application case-studies both academic and commercial are described and a wide range of CBR tools are described and compared. The book concludes with some methodological guidelines for building case-based systems. I would have no hesitation in recommending this book to undergraduate and postgraduate students who want an approachable introduction to CBR. The book will also be invaluable to commercial developers who are thinking of deploying a case-based system. Finally, the book's remarkably extensive bibliography, which is categorised to make finding references on specific subjects easy to find, will mean that ALL researchers in CBR should buy this book - it will save you days in the library. To conclude, an excellent book that will satisfy a wide range of readers

I work for major telco in Hong Kong and we've been applying KM for several years across the business. This book solves a problem I've had. When a new person joins our team or we go to a new business unit I am asked often to provide book to introduce KM. I've found this hard because so many are all theoory and management stuff. Our people want practical example thay can relate to. This book does that through set of case studies from a range of country and industry. The case studies are detailed in a technical way and let people see what a KM system looks like when implement.

Excellent, just the book I've been waiting for. We are now very keen to try CBR (case-based reasoning) on one of our next projects and this book gives lots of practical advice as well as telling us where to go for further information.

This book is excellent. If you're tired of reading KM books that just say "KM is good" and that you need to "empower knowledge workers" then this book is a very refreshing change. The book is easy to read (even though writen by an academic) and is centred around a set of case studies from companies you've actually heard of (Microsoft, General Electric, Deloitte Touche, etc.). The case studies really inspire confidence that you actually could implement a KM system and live to see the benefits. Ian Watson writes a couple of chapters at the front which introduce the main ideas behind KM from a technical viewpoint, not a mangerial view, and then you're off into the case studies.

All the case studies use a technique called case-based reasoning that I'd never heard of before. I was fascinated to come across a business intelligence technique I'd never seen mentioned before that actually seems so simple and usable (I've just read the author's previous book on CBR which is also very good).

The book gives you plenty of practical ideas of how to implement a successful CBR KM system and I've been able to pursuade my mangers to start a KM project. This book is currently doing the rounds at work and (almost) everyone loves it.

I've bought too many of these books before which have disapointed because either they are just full of management speak and guru-buzzwords or they are so techie you need a PhD to understand them. Basically this book is practical, sensible and above all useful.

Since Amazon didn't post an editorial review, here's the description from the book to help you decide if this book is for you: This book contains three of Ian Watson's novels: The Book of the River, The Book of the Stars, and The Book of Being. From the flyleaf: "From time immemorial, the Black Current has defined Yaleen's world. Separating the eastern bank from the unknown western side, it cuts the river -- and the world -- in half, a black strip running down the river's center, from the towering, unscalable Precipices where it seems to ooze out of the solid rock, to the depths of the ocean: huge, mysterious. and alive. For like the goddess some believe it to be, the Black Current is aware. It allows men on the water only once, a second try invides madness and death. Only women are granted the freedom of the river, and Yaleen years to experience that freedom. So, in search of adventure, she drinks the black essence of the Current and joins the River Guild, beginning a series of voyages that will take her farther than she had ever imagined. For no one really knows what the Black Current is, and no one has ever crossed it. No one, that is, until Yaleen's brother Capsi dsicovers a way to get to the western side. The deadly consequences of the forbidden deed thrust Yaleen into the center of a maelstrom of events that could end the world as she knows it. For the long silent Black Current has been watching, planning, growing into consciousness. Now after patient eons, it is about to act. As the far shore called to her borther, the Black Current will summon Yaleen. Young, terrified, yet determined to save her world, she answerss it's challenge -- and discovers a being who can turn death into paradise ... a being who wants to become a god. But even gods have foes ..."

An excellent source-book for anyone studying Middle English. It compiles an extensive selection of excerpts which demonstrate the ways in which medieval English writers struggled with the concept of writing in English, and defended their use of the vernacular. The accompanying essays range from excellent to mediocre, but the texts themselves make the book worth buying. By compiling texts about medieval literary theory, this book begins to fill a major gap in medieval studies.

This is a treasury of generally interesting stuff about London. There are 8 chapters, covering Architecture, Art, Fashion, Festivals and Religion, Food and Drink, Music, Sports and Leisure, Theatre. Lavishly illustrated, and designed in a very modern way, it is a really interesting look at various cultural traditions and the people that make up modern London. It gives you a real feel for the vibrancy of compolitan, multicultural, multiethnic, multifaith nature of London, rather than an anodyne view of "little white Englanders".

Not a travel guide, but a book anyone planning a trip would find interesting, or anyone interested in this great city.

"A.I. Movie Celebration! Congrats Ian Watson! Steven Spielberg's blockbuster movie, A.I. - Artificial Intelligence, was based on a screen story by ...Ian Watson!...If you haven't read Watson's science fiction and horror stories, now is the time to try out the works of this master story teller. From 1990 to 1991, Ian worked full-time with Stanley Kubrick on story development for the A.I. movie. Steven Spielberg then took over production upon Kubrick's death." -From Fictionwise.com

I studied with Peruvianist Edward Putnam Lanning, Ph.D. and Richard Patch, Ph.D. or (was it Hatch) at Stony Brook and at Buffalo universities in New York State. Unfortunately both gentleman are deceased from the rigors of their work there I believe. Joel Grossman, Ph.D. who I worked for was a UNESCO archaeologist in Peru from Berkeley U is not despite "The Shining Path". This book is very good and has a high excitement factor. The annual day of agrarian reform, when the "latifundias" (read "plantations") were broken up in 1969, "The Day of the Condor," was celebrated just a few days ago. Long live the Andean condor and please help support the return of the American condor. This book inspires respect for them and the people of Peru. Free Lori Berenson!

A Primer for Preachers by Ian Pitt-Watson is an excellent tool that would help prepare the "proclaimer" to deliver a foundationally sound sermon. It helps the reader to focus on the aspect of what preaching is all about. What is preaching? Preaching is about what God has done and not about what we ought to do. Watson takes the reader through steps on how to make a sermon grow and how to present correct language and delivery. The deep rooted focus of A Primer for Preachers is the story of Christ. The preaching of the Word of God is the Word of God. Watson allows the reader to see that if the scripture is correctly interpreted, the scripture will preach itself! This is an excellent training apparatus that is fully loaded and ready to prepare God's preacher to deliver His Word. I highly recommend this book for all preachers and teachers. Kudos!

Shows at least 1,000 examples of shapes and textures that can give anyone ideas to throw at. Now that I can not have it, I want it! Oh well. Let me know when this book becomes available.Pig in the Poke Pottery

I am only an occasional Warhammer player, but still feel inclined to read all the novels. I'm very glad I have. All Warhammer novels are great, but this is the best of the lot.

Over the 12+ years that it has existed, the Warhammer 40,000 universe has become one of the most detailed science fiction/fantasy/horror settings ever created, via the massive amounts of flavor text contained in all of the publications. The monstrously over-populated hive worlds, the steaming alien jungles, the towering titans, the clunky war machines, the war-loving Orks, the hideous Tyranids, the cthulan Chaos Gods, and the terrifying fascist theocracy of the human Imperium have become a permanent part of my mentality.

Ian Watson, in a dense, poetic stylie, brings this universe to life better than anyone else. His protagonist is Jaq Draco who, after a long career of mercilessly slaughtering the Emperor's "enemies", has stumbled upon a horrifying conspiracy to overthrow the Imperium. He must stop it, but is not quite sure where to start... Along the way, Draco begins to develop a conscience. For a man who lives to kill and destroy, this is the worst thing that could possibly happen... Draco's slow, painful transformation from an unfeeling killing machine to a feeling (and internally tormented) killing machine is one of the best parts of the story (which continues in Harlequin and Chaos Child, both highly recommended).

One of the coolest (and scariest) parts of the Warhammer 40,000 game setting is that there are no good guys. The Tyranids and the Chaos Gods may be terrible, but it is hard to say that the human Imperium is any better. The horribly mutated Judeo-Christian religion which has sprung up around the Emperor is completely and utterly intolerant, calling for the brutal extermination of even the slightest heresy. In order to defend "national security", the Imperial defense forces are perfectly willing to destroy entire inhabited planets. This situation, also, is brilliantly handled by Watson. At the beginning, it is clear that no one has any freedom of thought whatsoever. Only slowly and painfully does Draco begin to develop this freedom, and it does not make him a happy man... And although this Imperium spans a million stars, it is obvious throughout that there is nothing even slightly progressive about it. From the absolute thought control, to the suffocatingly over-crowded cities, to the povery-stricken masses, the overall feeling is that of a reactionary empire in a state of unending decay. Late in the book, Draco visits the Imperial capital on Ancient Earth. Here, in the glorious human homeland, he finds a horribly polluted, horribly crowded world-spanning city, where gang members struggle in vain for meagre civil-service positions, where endless rows of scribes spend their entire lives copying records with simple pens, where people happily kill their neighbors as heretics, and cybernetically-modified cripples live in permanent darkness, knee-deep in sludge, struggling to maintain the city's rusting infrastructure. Next to this life, being enslaved by the Draka seems like Shangri-La.

Since reading this book, I have read many of Ian Watson's other novels, and have loved them all. None, however, have compared to the style, dark poetry, and utter nastiness of Inquisitor. More than any other novel, this one truly proves that game-related fiction can stand its ground against the best the mainstream has to offer. And the sequels are just as good. If remorseless pessimism doesn't bother you, it is hard to imagine a better read.

I am not a RPG Gamer, but a long-time Watson fan. This is an excellent read! A gripping, epic tale of mankind's far-future struggles against weird and dangerous evil beings. Written in a tightly-plotted, delightfully detailed and wonderfully atmospheric prose that is Watson's inimitable housestyle, this is a SURE FIRE GOOD READ.!! Imagine crossing the Spanish Inquisition with high technology, only this time the Inquisitors are the good guys ......... Anyone knows Watson's email? Been trying to compliment him personally for the longest time now ...B-)

What a great book and story. Yea I'm a fan of the game, but the story just adds a whole new aspect to it. I don't usually read many books, or novels, actually none, but this is the only one I've read ever that kept me interested in the story. What was coming around the corner, etc...Read it.