This is an excellently written book with clear examples of how to apply statistics to everyday experimental settings. Box delves deep enough into the underlying theory to give an engineer such as myself an appreciation for the "reality" of the mathematics, but sticks to concrete examples and putting theory into practice. Each chapter follows the previous one, but each is also reasonably self-contained. Terminology is easily clarified with a quick use of the comprehensive index.

Additionally, don't let the print date fool you... the book is timely.

This book was published in 1978 but as other reviewers have noted its practical methods and advice are timeless. George Box and Stu Hunter are both very famous statisticians who are also great teachers and lecturers. Bill Hunter is now deceased. All three authors have made major contributions to the design of experiments. The book is written for practitioners and in the simplest language possible. Emphasis is placed on practical designs and not optimal designs because optimal designs are very sensitive to model specification.

It does not include the robust designs of Taguchi which came later and could easily be included if the authors choose to revise it.

More than twenty years after its publication, this seminal work is still the undisputable "Bible" for users of statistical experimental design. The practical insights sprinkled throughout this book are invaluable especially to non-mathematical statisticians. This book will never be out-of-date!

This was the best book I ever read! The book was about were Tucker (a mouse) and Harry (a cat) to go to help their friend Chester (a cricket) save his home and the home of other animals on the countryside. My farviote character was Tucker a very nice and smart This is a great book it got me to read all the other books in this series and I never read. You won't be disapointed!!![.]

This was the best book I ever read! The book was about were Tucker (a mouse) and Harry (a cat) to go to help their friend Chester (a cricket) save his home and the home of other animals on the countryside. My farviote character was Tucker a very nice and smart This is a great book it got me to read all the other books in this series and I never read. You won't be disapointed!!!!!!!!!!

I wanted to read this book because the book I read before Tucker's Countryside was the Cricket in Time Square. This book is the sequel to the Cricket in Time Square. When I read that there was a sequel to the Cricket in Time Square I looked for it in my bookcase to see if I had it. When I found it I began to read the back of the book and it seemed interesting to me.

The book was about a bird named Robin took Tucker mouse and Harry cat to Connecticut where their old friend Chester cricket lived. They found each other and Chester showed them around the countryside. They found out that his home was going to be destroyed by the bulldosers to make room for the new homes. The towns people won't have a place to play either. Now it is up to Tucker mouse and Harry cat to save the land.

My favorite part of the book was when Harry cat found this girl that would take care of him. This part is my favorite because the girl reminds me of myself because I have five cats and three of them are strays. Harry cat was going to stay at the little girl's house, but he decided to go back to Time Square with Tucker mouse towards the end of the book.

If you can't get to the stream, river, lake or ocean to angle for the fish of your choice, this book is a great way to pass the time. There isn't an angler alive who wouldn't enjoy spending a few hours (or days) in the camps, cabins and dens shown in this book. If you love to collect fishing related items, the book will be a true delight. Buy it. Read it cover to cover. Then put it in handy place to pull out when time and circumstance don't permit a trip to your favorite waters with rod and reel.

In its syndicated "Gift Ideas" column for Dec. 11, 2000, Washington Post reviewer Annie Groer wrote: "For those whose motto is 'I'd rather be fishing,' THE ANGLER'S LIFE: COLLECTING AND TRADITIONS should not be the one that got away. Author Laurence Sheehan and photographer William Stites have created a paean to the art and artifacts of piscatorial endeavor....This book could make you grab your rod and waders and head for the nearest stream."

My husband and I received a copy of "The Angler's Life" as a present, and we just love it. If there is a fisherman in your life, this is a must-have gift. When this talented team produced "Living With Dogs", another title I love, I spent hours scouring flea markets for dog art, dog bronzes and dog plaques---I even got a dog! Now with "The Angler's Life", I find myself scouring flea markets for fishing signs, fishing creel baskets, fishing postcards and lures. The decorating ideas for displaying fishing paraphernalia in the book are endless, and aesthetically pleasing. My husband, who fly fishes in the Gulf of Mexico, keeps it on top of his book stack for easy access.

I am a university professor currently trying out the book in my senior/graduate-level Advanced Software Engineering course. Its working out very well so far, and I plan to use the book again for the next offering of this course during the fall semester. I've also had one of the co-editors come give a guest lecture in my course, which was very well received. I'll admit, though, that I'm rather biased - since I advised this co-editor's PhD dissertation.

Covers the full spectrum of component-based software engineering, from the basics to legal aspects. Contains one of the most authoritative collections of essays and whitepapers on the subject between two covers. I have used this book as a basis for component-based development, and have also used it as the foundation for a SQA initiative because the material also addresses quality. Many of the essays support a software reuse strategy, which is an added bonus. Another use of this outstanding book is as a resource for in-house training in many aspects of software engineering outside of the component-based domain. It's that comprehensive and complete. I recommend using this book with Successful Software Development as the two primary references in mature development organizations.

This 818 page collection of 42 papers and articles is a definitive work on component-based software engineering. Regardless of your area(s) of interest, there is probably a chapter that addresses it. More importantly, each chapter is written by a top expert in their subspecialty.

Instead of giving a chapter-by-chapter description, I am going to cover the chapters that I found useful. To begin, Part II, chapters 1 through 3 gave me a quick primer in software components and highlighted the need to think in a different frame when dealing with component-based development. If you are new to CBSW then the 48 pages devoted to the basics are worthwhile reading.

Part II's five chapters on making a business and technical case for components is outstanding and the authors cover every facet. I found Part III, which covers software engineering practices, particularly useful. The value to me was the status of CBSW engineering on a global scale because I am currently providing consulting services to an India-based company that specializes in components. For this reason I also found Part IV's eight chapters on managing component-based software systems especially valuable.

The real eye-opener [for me], however, was in Part VIII, which devotes four interesting chapters on aspects of legal and regulatory issues as they related to software development as a discipline, and component-based software engineering specifically. In particular, chapter 38 on software component standards and certification was enlightening. I was also enlightened by chapter 39's fascinating discussion on commercial law applicable to component-based software, and the effects of the Uniform Computer Information Transactions Act (UCITA) on component-based software development and marketing.

This is an excellent book that covers the entire landscape of component-based software engineering and, although is a weighty 818 pages, is not difficult to read through. Each chapter is really a paper or article, so each is standalone. If you are dealing with off-shore development in any way, the book is especially valuable, and if you are doing CBSW in-house, the key differences between this approach and other development approaches are highlighted and will give you sufficient information with which to approach CBSW intelligently and effectively.

According to George Gilder, tv as we know it , will soon become antiquated and we will only see it in the Smithsonian. What Gilder is talking about is giving back the power of choosing programming to that of the viewer.

Fiber and wireless, he is amazingly correct in predicting the technology trends, can't wait to see what he is going to talk about in his next book.

George Gilder has been hailed as one of the foremost science and technology writers for Forbes Magazine. His book, Wealth and Poverty, was one of the "Bibles" of '80s supply-side economics. Although I may not totally agree with his economic views, his extensive research of telecommunications and how this vast and intertwined conglom of industries affects humanity is unquestionably thorough, thought provoking, intellegent, and timely. Some craggy rocks which potentially ground Gilder's predictions of a tidal wave on the technoscape are FCC auctions; mis-directed consumer advertising; lack of consumer education on what cell phone towers "really" are (you know, fear of radiation, cancer scare, etc.), and the inability of competing telecoms, cable companies, computer megopolies, etal to install fiber-optic cable and satellites at a break-neck enough pace. All I know is, wherever TCI has tried Internet services, the "Alpha Test" consumers not only wouldn't give it up after the test was over, some people would not move to an area where they couldn't purcase the service! So readers: Ride premiere prognosticator Gilder's technowave, and be one of the first to hang ten in a prospective post-Mellenium promised land! And be sure to pick up his other books, such as Microcosm. I believe he is updating this for 1998, and he's "write-on" in his first edition. Surf's up!

I enjoy reading Kurzweil because he's an adventurous thinker. This book is particularly fun because some other fine minds take him to task. Ray holds up well because he's a reasonable thinker. Although some of his predicitions seem outlandish, they may not be. You can't read this book without engaging in a lot of interesting visualization about the future. Some of it is frightening, but there is hope as well. Will the future runaway on it's own or will we be in charge? I don't know, but I'm sure thinking about it, now.

This is Ray Kurzweil's third book concerning the future of reductionist artificial intelligence design and it's possible effects on us in the decades yet to come. In THE AGE OF SPIRITUAL MACHINES, Kurzweil's previous book, which I enjoyed also, and this volume, he uses technological trends, including Moore's law and other tools, to show that a desktop computer will have achieved human level computational ability around the year 2020. Also, Kurzweil envisions that we will be able, sometime in the next few decades, to scan human brains and download that 'software' into these advanced computers to give them human level reasoning abilities, with the speed of computer neural nets, leaving humans behind, so to speak. Accordingly, it may also be possible to scan individual brains and load that information into an advanced computer (attached to a body of some kind), giving that person a sort of immortality. This is the gist of Kurzweil's argument, I hope I got it essentially correct.

What Kuzweil means by computers someday becoming 'spiritual' is that they may become conscious, and 'strong A.I.' is the view that "any computational process sufficiently capable of altering or organizing itself can produce consciousness." The first part of this book is an introduction to all of the above views by Kurzweil, followed by criticisms by four authors, followed in turn by Kurzweil as he refutes these criticisms.

Personally, I found most of the views expounded by the critics here to be either non-sensical, or 'beside the point'. One critic says that the life support functions of the brain cannot be separated from it's information processing function. Of course it can be, even the effects of hormones can be programmed into a downloaded brain, as well as other chemicals used by brains. Another critic states that possibly evolution is in error, and yet another criticism is that our machines will not be able to contact a divine entity and would thus be inferior.... give me a break, well...perhaps this is all true and maybe pigs will one day fly over the moon unassisted. I could go on and on, but this is the job of Ray Kurzweil and he defends himself admirably in the final chapters of this volume. Kurzweil does mention in this book that brain scanning machines are improving their resolution with each new generation, and eventually will reach a point where they should be able to image individual neurons and synapses in large areas, and allow the brain 'software' to be transferred to a suitable non-biological computing medium, my only criticism of Kurzweil here is that I think he should discuss this technology more, and where it is headed, his next book would be a great place for this.

One final point, it seems to me that when a new idea appears to be difficult and complicated to achieve, the pessimist says: "This is difficult and complicated, and may not work", whereas the optimist says: "This is difficult and complicated, but may work". Only time will tell for sure.

The work, inventions, and opinions of Ray Kurzweil in the field of artificial intelligence have captured media attention and the attention of philosophers and researchers in artificial intelligence. But not only is Kurzweil one of the most brilliant and controversial of all the individuals working in artificial intelligence, he is also the most optimistic. This optimism holds not only for the future technology of artificial intelligence, predicted by Kurzweil to give independent thinking machines in the next three decades, but also for its social impact. Kurzweil believes that artificial intelligence will work for the benefit of humankind, but that this benefit will depend to a great degree on his belief that humans will take on technology that will effectively make them cybernetic.

The controversy behind Kurzweil stems from his recent book "The Age of Spirtual Machines", which is a detailed accounting of his predictions and beliefs regarding artificial intelligence. Many individuals objected to his visions and predictions, and he answers a few of them in this book. In particular, he attempts to counter the arguments against him by the philosopher John Searle, the molecular biologist Michael Denton, the philosopher William A. Dembski, and zoologist Thomas Ray. With only a few minor exceptions, Kurzweil is successful in his refutation of their assertions.

But even if Kurzweil completely refutes the arguments of these individuals, and possibly many more against him, the countering of arguments will not by itself solve the problems in artificial intelligence research. The fact remains that much work still needs to be done before we are priveleged to see the rise of intelligent machines. Kurzweil is well-aware of this, for he acknowledges this many times in this book. He points to reverse engineering of the human brain as one of the most promising strategies to bring in the robotic presence. The success or failure of this strategy will take the mind-body problem out of purely academic circles and bring it to the forefront of practical research in artificial intelligence. The 21st century will thus see the rise of the "industrial philosopher", who works in the laboratory beside the programmers, cognitive scientists, robot engineers, and neurologists.

Each reader of this book will of course have their own opinions on Kurzweil's degree of success in countering the arguments of Searle, Denton, Dembski, and Ray. But one thing is very clear: Kurzweil is no arm-chair philosopher engaging in purely academic debates on the mind-body problem. He is right in the thick of the research and development of artificial intelligence, and if the future turns out as he predicts, he will certainly be one of the individuals contributing to it. He and many others currently working in artificial intelligence are responsible for major advances in this field in just the last few years. Their ingenuity and discipline is admirable in a field that has experienced a roller coaster ride of confidence and disappointment in the preceding decades. All of these individuals have proved themselves to be superb thinking machines.

This is a very good book for anyone wanting to get an insight. Good for the first college course in AI too. It introduces the different areas of AI quite well, and develops logic before doing that. Prolog and LISP are also introduced.

The only reason I wouldn't give this book 5 stars is because
1) The Prolog and LISP features aren't all that great. They could have done better than just explaining what they did.

2) There was very little or almost no depth in the material covered. I wanted to go on reading more about the advanced features, but that never happened. So, I had to go to the library and look for something there.

But a great book for a college course. I wouldn't recommend this for a Grad course in CS...A grad student should be knowing beyond what this book covers.

This is the best general AI book I've seen this far. It introduces all the popular branches of AI clearly. If you are serious about AI, you should own this book...

This book is almost a perfect solution for an introductory AI class, since it presents the chapters on both Prolog and LISP programming. The introduction to those languages is rather detailed, the Prolog chapter takes up about 75 pages while LISP introduction is almost 100 pages long. Without focusing on any particular subject in AI the book tends to be substantial and detailed.

I first read lives of the musicians when I was about 7 yearsold or so. Then, I thought it was terrific. I still do. However, I amnow 12 years old, and now that I have paid more attention to it, I see several faults, but overall it is still a very good book. First of all, their choice of musicians is not the best. I would have recommended Debussy and Schubert, like the Kirkus Reviewer. Some of the composers I have hardly ever heard of, like Igor Stravinsky or Nadia Boulanger. And while Clara Schumann was a great pianist, I think they should have focused more on her husband, Robert, a prolific composer, whose works are among the very best. Also, some of the parts of the biographies are questionable. Frederic Chopin may not have actually been romantically involved with Aurore Dudevant (George Sand), but in love with the Countess Delphine Potocka. The book states that the Waltz in D-Flat, or Minute Waltz, was written for George Sand's dog, when in fact it was probably written for Potocka. However, the book was still very well written, and I enjoyed it, despite the possible mistakes. I recommend this book to anyone who likes music, classical or not. So sit back and enjoy!

I loved this book because it made those musicians seem like real people instead of great-all-star-super-geniuses. It is full of strange little facts about all the famous musicians like Bach,Gershwin,Beethoven and Schmann.

---Megan W.

This book provides interesting insight into the lives of composers. I teach music to elementary and high school students and I read this book to all of my students. They all enjoy learning the details of the composers lives. The book presents the composers in such a way that the students remember the information about the composers. The book does not provide information about what the composers' music sounds like, and that is something I also like to teach. A great book to gain kids'interest in famous composers.

This is an outstanding book that is both well-researched and clearly written. It is badly needed and therefore most welcome for students of the pre-Civil war army and its frontier campaigns. When the Civil War erupted, Brig. Gen. Harney was the nation's third most senior general, behind only Winfield Scott and John E. Wool. He was also the country's most accomplished Indian fighter. Yet he has been forgotten along with Gens. David E. Twiggs and E.V. Sumner. Rollie Adams has rescued Harney from oblivion and in the process sheds light on the behavior of the antebellum army's officer corps as well as on the extraordinary unit -- the Second Regiment of U.S. Dragoons, later redesignated the Second Cavalry -- that Harney led as lieut. col. and col. during 1836-58. Rollie Adams is a realist, and so he brings to the reader's attention not only his subject's long suits (valor, strategic thinking, organizational skills, and innovation) but also the warts (impulsiveness, financial irresponsibility, lack of tact and diplomacy, and a persistent streak of brutality). With respect to the short suits, the army court-martialed Harney four times and a civil court near St. Louis tried him a fifth time for bludgeoning a female slave to death. This was a leader who was a very mixed bag in the sense of a complex (and at times unattractive) psyche and command style. That Harney could overcome these short suits to rise as rapidly as he did is a direct reflection of the pre-Civil War army's willingness to overlook a hopelessly contentious, brutal personality because of its needs for his skills and talents. In a sense, Harney was an officer deeply affected by his long-time mentor, Twiggs, and he in turn impacted the contentious behavior of argumentative officers like his subordinate, Philip St.George Cooke. Small wonder that at one point Harney even went so far as to prefer charges against Gen. Scott for executing the sentence of one of the courts-martial that had convicted Harney! For Harney it all came crashing down with his role in the so-called "Pig War" of 1859 -- a clash in the Pacific Northwest in which he singlehandedly almost brought on an armed clash between the U.S. and U.K. in a border dispute -- and then finally because of his mishandling of the political situation in volatile Missouri at the beginning of the Civil War. This book is not only well-written, it is well made -- printed on highly quality paper with a handsome type design and with page headings/numbers displayed at the bottom of each page in such a way as to minimize reader distractions as happens with conventional layouts. I recommend Rollie Adams' book most highly. It ought to be read in tandem with the recent re-issue of Rodenbough's classic "From Everglade to Canyon with the Second Cavalry" and Durwood Ball's new book "Army Regulars on the Western Frontier, 1848-1861."

I was impressed with Rollie Adams' Harney biography. It's trite to say that this biography "reads like a novel" and that "I just couldn't put it down," but those cliches are certainly true here. I bought this book intending to dip into it for those parts that would help me with a book I'm writing myself, but the introduction hooked me. I read the entire book through, rereading parts of it in my attempt to understand Harney. Mr. Adams must have had fun researching and writing Prince of Dragoons! He certainly made a larger than life historical figure come alive for me. His search for primary sources for this biography are exhaustive and his interpretations of them perceptive. I recommend this well-written, well-edited book to anyone interested in 19th century military history and to anyone just wanting a "really good read."

GENERAL WILLIAM S. HARNEY: PRINCE OF DRAGOONS, is the first full-length biography of this important American warrior since 1878. George Rollie Adams has combined his skills as an eminent historian and gripping story-teller to bring to print the complete narrative of one of the country's most important, yet relatively forgotten, military leaders. Raised on the Tennessee frontier, General William Selby Harney patterned many of his traits after his neighbor, Andrew Jackson, and like "Old Hickory," often drew criticism from his West Point-trained associates. Yet, when he died in 1889, Harney's military career had spanned seven decades, and he had participated in every one of his country's major wars and military conflicts beginning in 1818. This is an outstanding biography--one that shows the author's years of dedication and research into the life and times of this very important American figure. This book should be nominated for the Pulitzer in biography.

This book gives an intimate look at one of "America's Castles" from inside and out. The history of the building site is covered, as is the design and construction of the buildings. The life and times of W.R. Hearst and his friends and loved ones are presented in such a way as to flesh out the character of the house.

I just finished reading this book, and I'm tempted to pick it up and start all over again. This is one that I'll reread often.

The layout of the book is interesting and eye-catching, but the tints used on the pages sometimes make the text difficult to read. Make sure you sit down with this book in a very well-lit room -- not only will light make it that much easier to read, you'll be able to enjoy the wonderful pictures more easily.

A first rate account of the building of "La Cuesta Encantada" with new information I have not found in other Hearst Castle books or by taking the castle tours many, many times since I was a little girl. Thoroughly enjoyed it. Can't wait to visit the castle again with this new knowledge.

I do not know about you? But I do not notice things in front of my face unless someone points them out to me. When I go to museums I need to go twice once with someone to point things out and again for my own exploration. I used this book for the point out phase. It is more intricate than a biography film.

There are several color pictures (259 illustrations) that point out items of interest, many more with maps and history (157 plates in full color). There is an expansive preface, forward, introduction, and prologue. There are twelve chapters that carry you on a historical tour of the castle.

I am not going to go through the book, as that is why you are purchasing the book and not the review. However on a personal note after looking at the book I went to the castle. I stayed overnight on the San Simeon coast to complete the tours in two days. As with all pictures the pale compared the real thing. However you now can use the book for memories. I did bring a camera. However you are not allowed to use a flash. And I have to admit that Victoria Garagliano is a better photographer. I think the cover shows the most impressive part of the castle. The Roman pool is located inside and under the tennis court. Just like the picture it is cool quiet and reflective. I did want to jump in just for the fun of it.

Now I leave the book on the coffee table so some unsuspecting person (and they are rare) will ask me about it.