A brilliant book. But the dismissal of group selection, while at the time warrented, must be reevaluated in light of work done in the field. If you read Williams you also may want to look into David Sloan Willison.

You will find a very good book about the misinterpretation of Darwin's texts and ideas. This book is about being a careful reader, too.

The significance of George C. Williams analysis in "Adaptation and Natural Selection" lies in his detailed argument of why natural selection functions on the level of the individual and not the group. His defense of Darwinism rewrites the generally held assumption that adaptation characterizes species and populations, and emphasizes the role that natural selection plays in shaping the individual genotype. He thus makes possible the explanation of evolution without the use of terms such as 'group selection,' 'population adaptation,' or 'progress.' While Williams acknowledges that group selection plays a significant role in some of earth's biota, such as the eukaryotes, individual selection characterizes most organisms which reproduce sexually (xii). In the process of showing why individual selection vis a vis group selection is significant, Williams also, significantly, argues that the term adaptation cannot yet be understood in terms of any principles or procedures.

The significance of Williams' starting point - a clarification of what an adaptation is and isn't - is definitional. An evolutionary 'adaptation' has specific meanings: 1) Adaptations should only be called 'functions' when shaped by design and not chance (8); 2) the level of organization of an adaptation shouldn't be higher than that admitted by the evidence (19); 3) only natural selection could have given rise to adaptations (8). Thus the scientific study of an adaptation awaits more developments in biology.

Williams argues that natural selection operates and is effective only at levels measured statistically (22), for example, in terms of rates of random change, quantitative relationships among sampling errors, and selection coefficients (37). Mendelian populations selected for at the level of alleles exclusively meet these requirements (24). For Williams, natural selection of alternative alleles operates to choose between worse and better options at the level of individuals in a population (45).

Genetic, somatic and ecological factors, i.e. the environment, contribute to selecting for genes. Thus, environmental factors don't directly affect populations (58).

Williams identifies processes relating to the genetic system, such as sex-determining mechanisms (156), stability of genes (138), diploidy (126), introgressive hybridization (144), and the way sexual and asexual reproduction in the life cycles are distributed in the life-cycle (133) as short-term adaptations. Group survival, therefore, is a chance consequence of the these adaptations, as well as related errors such as mutation and introgression. In chapter 5, Williams also suggests that decent evidence does not exist for other mechanisms of evolutionary change or other genetic system adaptations, thus highlighting the exclusive role of natural selection in shaping life.

Reproductive physiological variations of organisms seem designed to maximize organisms' reproductive success. Instances such as unbridled fecundity (161) and sex differences in reproductive strategies all suggest that an individual organism's reproductive strategy is oriented to replicating its own genetic information and not the groups' or the populations'.

The significance of Williams' analysis of social adaptations (193) suggests that the benefits of cooperative social adaptations leading to cooperative relations among related individuals rest on a genetic basis; cooperation with individuals of alternative genetic information is less significant. For Williams, therefore, benefits to groups are consequences of incidental statistics; harmful group effects may accumulate in a similar way.

Williams concludes (251) by arguing that there are no established guidelines to answer the question "What is the function of an adaptation?" The approaches he outlines are significant because they lay the groundwork for further developments in biology to understand what an adaptation is in terms of individual selection.

A sentimental treatment of Therese's life; I'd look for something more vigorously written, and perhaps for a more contemporary treatment.

As a little girl, I must have read this lovely book at least a dozen times -- the 'divine romance' of little Therese and the difficult life of a cloistered Carmelite convent. Every page thrilled me -- her 'vision' during a childhood illness, her anguished parting from her beloved sisters as they entered the convent before her, her fervor and innocence. Although written in the style of another era, this book captures some profound truths about the nature of children's spirituality, and is a classic from another and more challenging era of Catholic devotion. It is now my pleasure to buy it for my goddaughter for her First Communion; this young lady, with her love of high drama in literature, will no doubt love it as well!

What I loved about this book was I learned about Saint Therese and her "little way" inside a sweet easy read novel rather than an biography on her. Now I can't wait to read the deeper "reads" but this book I read in 2 days and fell in love with her and her family. Her family taught me how my family could model hers. I truly fell in love with this book and have bought it for friends who have loved it--and their older children. I can't wait to read it to my 4 and 5 year old boys in a couple more years when they can have a story read to them without pictures.

Very well-researched, with a wealth of primary source material (perhaps too much!), this book is quite academic and dry. Rather than a traditional biography, the book is more a study of various aspects of the reign of Edward VI (e.g. policies on religion, economics, land use, etc.) first under the leadership of Edward Seymour, Duke of Somerset, and later, John Dudley, Duke of Northumberland. I did not feel that I really learned anything about these three figures as people. "Fans" of Tudor history, having read a biography or two of Henry VIII and Elizabeth I, are likely to be disappointed in this book. It is much more geared to the historian with a serious, even professional, interest in the period.

This book represents a comprehensive and conclusive study of an important Tudor figure. An academic study of a less well-known English monarch, this book is a fitting epitaph to a leading historian of our time.

I made the trip to Bodie and bought the book at the museum. There are many interesting stories that are touched upon, but with few details. If you are interested in an overview this is an excellent source. The Author has written several other books on various aspects of life in Bodie and I intend to buy them to broaden my knowledge. I wish the pictures were of better quality. They are ok considering the paper quality but the half toning and resolution could be improved.

Bodie State Historic Park, off of Highway 395 in the High Sierras between Bishop, California and the California/Nevada state line, is a place where spirits still wander the dusty streets and abandoned buildings. There are no ice cream parlors, souvenir shops or video game arcades occupying what were once historic buildings. A boomtown, most of Bodie's buildings were hastily erected wooden structures barely capable of surviving the punishing winters. The few buildings still standing serve as park rangers' quarters and a museum that sells books and video tapes about Bodie and other ghost towns. The only creature comforts are restrooms and a drinking fountain.

Bodie is best visited in the summer, when even the warmest days are more like spring at lower altitudes. The journey begins on a paved road that seems to be leading to nowhere. The last 3 miles of the road leading to Bodie are unpaved but still navigable without the benefit of all-wheel drive. I made my first trip in a Renault Alliance, a dicey form of transportation at best. Once the pavement ends, you are now travelling on the same dusty stagecoach trail that brought hopeful miners and their families to Bodie while providing escape for those whose dreams were shattered there.

After paying a small entrance fee to the park, the first stop for many is the Bodie cemetery. A stone angel with downcast eyes marks the grave of a young girl named Evelyn. Its base is often ringed with flowers, toys, balloons and tiny stuffed animals. Another resting place sought out by visitors is that of prostitute Rosa May, whose life was chronicled after years of relentless research by author/publisher George Williams III (See "Rosa May: The Search for a Mining Camp Legend", also available from Amazon.com).

Small groups are given tours of the Standard Mill works. The park rangers who escort these tours plunge right into the history of the place, playing the role of the mill manager or his wife welcoming newly hired workers to the rigors of life in Bodie.

For the princely sum of $4.00 a day, you could work the bottomless shafts of the mines or accept a starting position scraping accumulated mercury out of the settling pans in the mill. Chances are, since either occupation meant a short life, you'd spend that $4.00 as quickly as you earned it, gladly paying a quarter for a lavish meal at one of the hotels and blowing some more on a few belts of whiskey in the saloons that outnumbered the general stores and churches. If you had the presence of mind to save up five of those dollars, you'd head down to Bonanza Street, just behind Bodie's Chinatown where those $5 bought a night's companionship.

A trip to Bodie leaves a lasting impression. It calls you back. It might even haunt your dreams. As you walk Bodie's streets and try to locate landmarks in this book, a breeze will kick up. It strikes the back of your neck and you feel a chill, even though it's the middle of summer. For a few fleeting moments, you sense what life might have been like when 12,000 men, women and children roamed these streets and called this place home. And as the breeze passes on and this mysterious feeling subsides, you wonder if you had only imagined it or if someone from another time whispered it in your ear.

If you're planning a trip to Bodie, or if you never make it there, George Williams's book is the closest you will come to walking the streets of a true ghost town.

The history of the society of Jesus, by William Bangert S.J. could become a little bit boring book, with a overwhelming list of dates and facts, unless you look into it, wheter you are catholic or not, reasons and historical conditions to explain the long life of organizations like this one. With this narrow scope of interests you will find the book very interesting, and at some chapters, extremely fascinating.

Preaching under siege in England when the queen Elizabeth ruled ferociusly the matter of religious unity, making formal concessions to the gallican values the Paris parlament defended in France, trying to teach in germany in the middle of the messy and sad war of 30 years, learning chinese and teaching western mathematics and astronomy in China(still they were getting permissions to preach there), civilizing natives in the middle of endless forests in Brazil and Paraguay, and so on, around a world plenty of risks and wonders, the jesuits stamped their labour with three marks. One was an impressive apostolic action, their hallmark. Other was their ahead-of-their-times christian humanism. And above all, a profound comon spiritual ideal. This history shows they have preserved these three marks through their almost five centuries of life, based( and developed from) the St. Ignatius view.

The Society of Jesus passed along striking events that affected it along universal history: the challenge of protestantism,the enlightment age,the suppresion in 1773 under the presure of Borbon kingdoms (and the later restoration in 1814), the french revolution and its aftermath, and a nineteenth century plenty of political and social changes in the world, announcing a new awareness of reason, freedom and national interests, many times aroused with violence. And against everything the Jesuit order continue working on, loyal to the Ignatian view, against all their mistakes, by fitting their organization, their policies, their members capabilities, to the reality of the world where the people they wanted to serve used to live, ad majorem Dei gloriam.

And along the centuries crossing the chapters one becomes surprised and admirer of the outstanding people who belonged to this religious order. Some names, without any order: John Carroll, Matteo Ricci, Roberto de Nobili, Claudio Aquaviva, Jose de Anchieta, Antonio de Andrade, Peter Canisius, and more, many more.

Enjoy this book and admire the Society of Jesus.

Not being too aware of the history of this famous religious order, I recommend this book as a general introduction not to the life of St. Ignatius (although there is plenty on his life in this book), but the history of the order -- its evangelization, relationship w/Rome, connections with (higher) education, etc.

The reading style is smooth enough for the average reader not steeped in Church history, but with enough knowledge of world history to follow along.

I have read both hardcover texts by these authors (Undergraduate Econometrics & Learning and Practicing Econometrics) This book follows very closely with the examples presented in the textbook. Unfortunately the book doesn't go into more advanced topics(eg. Poisson, Negative Binomial...). Comparing it to other books, it is much easier to read than Green's Econometric Analysis, but does not go into the greater depth of topics as Green. IMO it helped me learn SAS quite a bit. Four months ago I had no idea how to use it.

I thought that this manual really helped me in my job. It was a great aid to the knowledge that I already had about SAS and has been a wonderful resource for me.

I don't want to say too much about this book. I use it a lot. But I think what is in this book has been said so much more clearly elsewhere. I would rather attack econometrics using Greene's clarity or if I were interested in time-series, I would much rather have Hamilton. It is okay. It was a warhorse for its time. But unless you need it for a class, I think there are better references out there.

Another review stated that Green was a clearer book than Judge et al. No way. This book starts and concludes thoughts without the constant refer to section blah blah blah found in Green. Also Judge et al. is accurate; something sorely missing in Green. Hamilton on the other hand focuses strictly on time series, and forecasting. If you want a solid reference for econometrics this is the most complete and well thought out book available.

this is one of those econometrics (i'll call it "metrics" from now on to save on typing) books which you know has to cover alot of the slow, boring stuff which lecturers expect students to know by the time they take metrics options and hated by undergraduates. having said that, this book does it quite well. one thing i hate in metrics texts is dense mathematical proofs. especially proofs which assume the reader knows other proofs intimately. this book nicely avoids that, dropping in an adequate and useful amount of proofs, especially the Gauss-Markov Theorem and a proof of why OLS estimation outshines any other method in simple regression analysis. the book does this without being overwhelming - in my opinion, mathematics has to be appreciated through discussion and argument, which Hill et al do quite admirably. Also, metrics is about interpretation of results, not just calculating them, and this book keeps that in mind very well from beginning to end. The reason i gave this book 4 stars is simple. when i was doing my last minute cramming for exams, i was able to move through the book quickly and easily, whilst still appreciating the main points, the big picture, and also the subtleties of more advanced topics like GLS, moments-based estimation and distributed lags in a short space of time. the book also comes with useful end-of-chapter "should know" points and problems. the best thing about the problems is the "real-world" nature of the tasks, often drawing on real-life data and economic intuition. using that data and being able to become comfortable with computer techniques is the most vital thing to a beneficial study of metrics. i found gujarati's "basic econometrics" a nice companion to this book (but then again everyone likes gujarati to some extent), but mostly i was satisfied with this book as a stand-alone manual to second-year metrics studies, good for laying the foundations for studies in topics like maximum likelihood estimation and financial econometrics. oh, and it's small and not too heavy. good for carrying around to classes all day!

This book begins with simple concepts and gradually introduces more complex methods at a pace that is very comfortable for self-study. It also can be used in a one-quarter course for undergraduates who have had basic courses in calculus and linear algebra. However, it doesn't give all proofs for the statistical theorems in the text.

Shakespeare has ever been an 'Evergreen Exceptional' Read with its rich Literature, most admirable characters in unforgettable plays. Jennifer's series of Shakespeare plays is an easy read for all ages with lively introductions, story theme, character profile, knowing background, quotations and superbly illustrated pics. Apart from As you Like It, the Jennifer's series include all Shakespeare plays like Hamlet, Romeo & Juliet, Othello, The tempest, Twelfth Night, King Lear, Macbeth and so on. In As You Like it, the intro begins with the Elizabethan country Life details, briefly saying about the country lifestyles, labourers, honest farmers and country amusements. Following chapter says when the play was written and how shakespeare borrowed his story from a romance by Thomas Lodge called Rosalynde and made it so very different and lively. A brief story line 'As You Like It' gives the theme story in brief para styles and highlighted verses from the Play Acts in block forms. All the world's a Stage says about the seven ages of man with wonderful illustrated pic. The play's characters gives a glimpse into knowing them well at a glance. The Life and plays of shakespeare is listed which is very informative. The index section is a handy search on the back page. The Book is great piece for all ages and I recommed that such a collection is worth a pick and must for any home, school or library.

It's sad that they are no longer in print. They were in print just a few months ago. Good book, fiction about a war between Germany & England in the 1880's or so. Well done & easy to read but too short! Much better than H.G.Well's stuff in terms of an interesting story.