Impressively presented by Ralph C. Wood (University Professor of Theology and Literature at Baylor University), Contending For The Faith: The Church's Engagement With Culture is a drastic call for Christian churches everywhere to revitalize their role in pointing humankind toward God's way, especially in the face of self-interest pressures exerted on every side of the raucous modern world. Examining neo-conservative and neo-liberal alternatives, presenting means to craft a Christian educational culture, regard for romance in a world where sex is used by the media to sell everything from cars to cigarettes, and much more, Contending For The Faith is a thoughtful and thought-provoking manifesto which is commended to the attention of all Christians, regardless of their creed or denomination.

This volume covers the waterfront of image processing from a reasonable introductory level. Refreshingly, it is much more than a cookbook. The authors pay attention to the physical principles that imaging and image manipulation are based on. With many quality images and examples, there is much for the less mathematically inclined to cut their teeth on while brushing up on their advanced math skills. The inclusion of many well chosen problems makes the book a valuable volume in a student's library. The book's associated web-site is a major bonus for the reader. I did find that some of the figure captions were challenging to interpret but the problem does not seem pervasive. Overall, I liked the book. It is a valuable addition to the image processing literature and to the image processing textbook selection.

I've been a senior researcher in Image Processing for more than 20 years, and my opinion of the book Digital Image Processing of Gonzalez and Woods, is that it is significantly superior to current books on image processing. The contents of the books are in the mainstream of work in this field, and the level of coverage is complete and written at a level that makes it an ideal textbook for seniors and first-year graduate students. The experience of the authors shows through in the way the material is presented and illustrated. The complementary web site is an outstanding teaching aid.

As a computer engineering senior with a strong interest in image processing and vision, I found this book very helpful.

The exemples are varied and interesting, the maths are easy to understand and the design is very clear. Obviously, it supposes the reader has some mathematical background, but nothing impossible for an undergraduate student.

It is also very complete: it goes from very basic image processing concepts (defining pixels, the RGB format) to more complex topics like pattern recognition and wavelet compression.

This book gives a good introduction to argumentation theory and its twists and turns over the course of its existence. I found it helpful to get started, especially coming from a completely different field. It gives the essence of Toulmin and Perelman and Olbrechts-Tyteca but I would have liked to see a bit more on Austin and Searle.But then again the references mentioned are very extensive and can be followed up. All in all a good book if a bit pricey for students (whatever happened to the paperback cover?)