Agent Books

I will not be as lengthy as the other review (to date) because it is outlined and described well. What I will add is that I have read many, many books about change (throughout career and in Masters program at BYU for Organizational Behavior) and this one is hands down the most practical and applicable to real life I have found. You will NOT go wrong buying this book, even at full price!

One of the many benefits of visiting Amazon.com's "Books" section is having the opportunity to check out Customer Reviews, many of which include suggestions for other sources. The Amazonians themselves include a sub-section which I consult daily and greatly appreciate: "Customers who bought this also bought..." I mention all this at the outset because I think it is a serious mistake (or at least silly) to characterize any one book on a given subject as THE book to buy. This is especially true of the subject of change agency. Without any effort, I can immediately think of at least 10-12 which are brilliantly developed, eloquently written, and of enduring value. I include this book among them. Does it ask most of the right questions? Yes. Are all of its answers definitive? No. The subtitle is precise and accurate: This book offers a thoughtful and cohesive guide to "developing high-performance people and organizations."

After an introductory chapter ("Becoming a Change Agent"), the authors organize their excellent material within three Parts: Beyond the Smoke and Mirrors; then Philosophy, Practice, and Responsibilities of a Change Agent; and finally, Integrating Resources, Roles, and Competencies. By the time I reached the end of this book, I realized that one of the greatest benefits to be derived from it is especially relevant to owners/CEOs of smaller companies. A majority of those I have worked closely with are the only change agent in their respective organizations. This book will help them to develop change agency competence among many of those whom they supervise. Of course, the book will also be of great value to senior-level executives in large organizations, including non-profits.

For me, one of the most entertaining as well as informative chapters in the book is Chapter 4 ("Beware of Flying Monkeys and Poison Poppies") in which the authors suggest correlations between the adventures encountered by Dorothy and her companions en route to the Emerald City and what all managers encounter in today's business world. "Flying monkeys are those unexpected characters, events, and situations that jump up and attack you at the most untimely moments.....Flying monkeys come in all shapes, sorts, and sizes. They can be people, events, activities, and attitudes....Perhaps the most important potential monkey for you to be aware of is the cultural flying monkey. [As the authors have explained earlier in the book], culture is defined as the underlying beliefs, values, and assumptions held by members of an organization and the practices and behaviors that exemplify and reinforce them. In other words, 'the way we do things around here.'" In Figure 4.1, detailed information about "Miscellaneous Flying Monkeys" is provided within an ingenious grid. With regard to "poison poppies", the authors suggest that so many change initiatives fail because managers are "seduced by the promise of a quick fix", a short-cut, etc. Time and again when retained by a corporate client to help solve problems, I find that the client's managers are preoccupied with the symptoms of problems rather than focused on determining the causes of those problems. Stated another way, many managers seem to think that wet highways cause rain.

The authors begin Chapter 11 with a quote from John Kotter ("A good rule of thumb in a major change effort is: Never underestimate the magnitude of the forces that reinforce complacency and that help maintain the status quo") and then use Figure 11.01 to illustrate what they call a "Holistic Model for Change Agent Excellence" featuring the brain, the heart, courage, and vision. All are necessary to overcome the aforementioned "forces." More specifically:

1. Provide strong, highly visible, and personal leadership

2. Institute employee involvement early and often, at all levels

3. Build a clearly articulated, shared vision

4. Provide frequent, consistent, and open communication

5. Leverage talented, and trusted employees as co-change agents

6. Set measurable operational and behavioral goals

7. Celebrate successes and re-address shortcomings

The authors carefully explain each of these "Seven Keys to Successful Organizational Change" in detail and then shift their attention to what they characterize as a "list of absolutes in the quest to develop gained wisdom": Tap into the wisdom of the "elders" in the organization, build a wisdom war chest", patiently and progressively wield your wisdom-based influence on an organizational level, and finally, share wisdom with others on an organizational level. The authors no only explain how; they also explain why.

Appropriately, the authors conclude their brilliant book as follows: "As in [italics] The Wizard of Oz, Dorothy's vision was to somehow return to her beloved Kansas. By casting her eyes on that goal, she was able to energize and solicit support for friends and foes alike along her journey. In the end, she achieved her goal, as you will in your effort to [italics] becoming a change agent." Through their book, the authors can accompany you on your own journey. The Yellow Brick Road to high-performance people and organizations awaits. Let the journey begin!

Mobile Object Systems: Abstracts Introduction This book presents a collection of papers dealing with different aspects of mobile computations. Mobile computations are computations that are not bound to single locations, but may move at will to best use the computer network's resources. In this view, the network becomes a single, vast, programmable environment. Among computer scientists, many feel that this approach will have a profound effect on the way we design and implement distributed applications, and they agree that we are witnessing a paradigm change. However, this new and exciting paradigm requires advances, both theoretical and applied, in fields such as programming languages (where we need a sound semantic foundation and efficient implementations), operating systems and software safety and security. Some of the first steps towards a programmable Internet are documented here. This book follows a particular approach to mobile computation. It emphasizes the synergy between mobility and object-oriented programming, hence the title Mobile Object Systems. Mobile object systems, in our view, are self-contained and autonomous groups of objects. They carry out a computation for an end-user in some initial computational environment and may dynamically change their environment for one that is on a remote computer. There is a close relationship between mobile object systems and research on so-called mobile software agents. In both cases, the focus is software mobility, but we prefer the terms mobile computation and mobile object systems as they are more accurate descriptions of the technology, while mobile agents has a fuzzy meaning that overlaps with artificial intelligence research. The papers in this book are more concerned with problems of software mobility per se. Nevertheless, the terms are quite close and are often used interchangeably even within the present work. The starting point of this book was a number of discussions and presentations given at the second International Workshop on Mobile Object Systems (MOS'96) held in 1996 in conjunction with the European Object Oriented Programming Conference (ECOOP'96) in Linz. The core of the book is made up of reworked versions of the submitted papers. However, we wanted to broaden the scope of this volume and survey a large portion of the research in this rapidly expanding field. We invited a number of researchers to contribute reprints of important papers or to write entirely new pieces. This book is the result. Overview The book is organized in three parts: (I) Foundations, (II) Concepts, and (III) Implementation, followed by an appendix. We detail the content of each part next. Part I of the book contains chapters giving background and motivation for the research on mobile computations. The chapter by Cardelli is a brief introduction to the issues and challenges of mobile computation. It is followed by a reprint of a paper by Tsichritzis, written twelve years ago, which describes many of the features we are looking for in mobile object systems using the animal world as a metaphor for mobile computations. The chapter by Waldo et al.was written in 1994 and convincingly argues against transparency in distributed computing. To some extent it motivates the work on mobile computations, as mobile computations naturally suggest making mobility and location visible to the programmer. The chapter by Chess et al.investigates advantages and disadvantages of mobile computations by looking at their application. The last chapter, by Tschudin, contains a philosophical and philological discussion of messages and instructions. Part II contains descriptions of systems and concepts for mobile computations. The chapter by Cugola et al.analyzes languages that support some form of code mobility, trying to compare them and get at some of the basic principles of those languages. The chapter by Acharya et al.presents Sumatra, a Java based environment for mobile applications. The chapter by Bharat and Cardelli presents Visual Obliq, an implementation of mobile computation based on Obliq. The chapter by Tschudin presents a messenger environment. The chapter by Mira da Silva discusses the relationship between persistence and mobility. The chapter by Vitek et al.considers security for communication between object systems. The chapter by Kato looks further into security issues. The chapter by Ciancarini and Rossi presents an architecture for coordination and communication on wide area networks that can be used between mobile computations or plain Java programs. Part III contains papers detailing implementation considerations and techniques. The chapter by Knabe looks at the trade-offs between different representations of agents and efficiency. In the second chapter, Franz presents a particular representation called Slim Binaries which is particularly well suited to mobile code, as well as a more general dynamic code optimization technique. The chapter by Dugan describes the implementation of mobility of polymorphic data in a strongly typed programming language. Finally, the paper by Dðmel discusses the implementation of a system that allows Java programs to interact with Telescript agents. We would like to thank the program committee of the MOS'96 workshop, Joachim Baumann, Luca Cardelli, Paolo Ciancarini, and Doug Lea, for their help and excellent reviewing. February 1997 J. Vitek and C. Tschudin Geneva and Zurich ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Objectworld D. Tsichritzis An environment is outlined in which programming objects collect and disseminate information, using analogies from the animal world. Objects have their own rules of behaviour. They coordinate their activities by participating in events. Objects get born, move around, communicate and receive information and, eventually, die. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Mobile Agents: Are They a Good Idea? David Chess, Colin Harrison, Aaron Kershenbaum Mobile agents are programs, typically written in a script language, which may be dispatched from a client computer and transported to a remote server computer for execution. Several authors have suggested that mobile agents offer an important new method of performing transactions and information retrieval in networks. Other writers have pointed out, however, that mobile agents introduce severe concerns for security. We consider the advantages offered by mobile agents and assess them against alternate methods of achieving the same function. We conclude that, while the individual advantages of agents do not represent an overwhelming motivation for their adoption, the creation of a pervasive agent framework facilitates a very large number of network services and applications. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ A Note on Distributed Computing Jim Waldo, Geoff Wyant, Ann Wollrath, and Sam Kendall Much of the current work in distributed, object-oriented systems is based on the assumption that objects form a single ontological class. This class consists of all entities that can be fully described by the specification of the set of interfaces supported by the object and the semantics of the operations in those interfaces. The class includes objects that share a single address space, objects that are in separate address spaces on the same machine, and objects that are in separate address spaces on different machines (with, perhaps, different architectures). On the view that all objects are essentially the same kind of entity, these differences in relative location are merely an aspect of the implementation of the object. Indeed, the location of an object may change over time, as an object migrates from one machine to another or the implementation of the object changes. It is the thesis of this note that this unified view of objects is mistaken. There are fundamental differences between the interactions of distributed objects and the interactions of non-distributed objects. Further, work in distributed object-oriented systems that is based on a model that ignores or denies these differences is doomed to failure, and could easily lead to an industry-wide rejection of the notion of distributed object-based systems. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Instruction-Based Communications Christian Tschudin This papers explores a mode of communication that is based on instruction rather than interpretation. Starting from Shannon's (interpretative) communication model, I link instruction±based communications to mobile code (messengers), to ªsignsº as they are defined in semiotics, and to the virus theme commonly found in cell biology, computer science and literature. Virus±codes are conjectured to be more powerful that the equivalence codes studied by Shannon. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Analyzing Mobile Code Languages Gianpaolo Cugola, Carlo Ghezzi, Gian Pietro Picco, Giovanni Vigna The growing importance of telecommunication networks has stimulated research on a new generation of programming languages. S

Mobile Object Systems: Abstracts Introduction This bookpresents a collection of papers dealing with different aspects ofmobile computations. Mobile computations are computations that are not bound to single locations, but may move at will to best use the computer network's resources. In this view, the network becomes a single, vast, programmable environment. Among computer scientists, many feel that this approach will have a profound effect on the way we design and implement distributed applications, and they agree that we are witnessing a paradigm change. However, this new and exciting paradigm requires advances, both theoretical and applied, in fields such as programming languages (where we need a sound semantic foundation and efficient implementations), operating systems and software safety and security. Some of the first steps towards a programmable Internet are documented here. This book follows a particular approach to mobile computation. It emphasizes the synergy between mobility and object-oriented programming, hence the title Mobile Object Systems. Mobile object systems, in our view, are self-contained and autonomous groups of objects. They carry out a computation for an end-user in some initial computational environment and may dynamically change their environment for one that is on a remote computer. There is a close relationship between mobile object systems and research on so-called mobile software agents. In both cases, the focus is software mobility, but we prefer the terms mobile computation and mobile object systems as they are more accurate descriptions of the technology, while mobile agents has a fuzzy meaning that overlaps with artificial intelligence research. The papers in this book are more concerned with problems of software mobility per se. Nevertheless, the terms are quite close and are often used interchangeably even within the present work. The starting point of this book was a number of discussions and presentations given at the second International Workshop on Mobile Object Systems (MOS'96) held in 1996 in conjunction with the European Object Oriented Programming Conference (ECOOP'96) in Linz. The core of the book is made up of reworked versions of the submitted papers. However, we wanted to broaden the scope of this volume and survey a large portion of the research in this rapidly expanding field. We invited a number of researchers to contribute reprints of important papers or to write entirely new pieces. This book is the result. Overview The book is organized in three parts: (I) Foundations, (II) Concepts, and (III) Implementation, followed by an appendix. We detail the content of each part next. Part I of the book contains chapters giving background and motivation for the research on mobile computations. The chapter by Cardelli is a brief introduction to the issues and challenges of mobile computation. It is followed by a reprint of a paper by Tsichritzis, written twelve years ago, which describes many of the features we are looking for in mobile object systems using the animal world as a metaphor for mobile computations. The chapter by Waldo et al.was written in 1994 and convincingly argues against transparency in distributed computing. To some extent it motivates the work on mobile computations, as mobile computations naturally suggest making mobility and location visible to the programmer. The chapter by Chess et al.investigates advantages and disadvantages of mobile computations by looking at their application. The last chapter, by Tschudin, contains a philosophical and philological discussion of messages and instructions. Part II contains descriptions of systems and concepts for mobile computations. The chapter by Cugola et al.analyzes languages that support some form of code mobility, trying to compare them and get at some of the basic principles of those languages. The chapter by Acharya et al.presents Sumatra, a Java based environment for mobile applications. The chapter by Bharat and Cardelli presents Visual Obliq, an implementation of mobile computation based on Obliq. The chapter by Tschudin presents a messenger environment. The chapter by Mira da Silva discusses the relationship between persistence and mobility. The chapter by Vitek et al.considers security for communication between object systems. The chapter by Kato looks further into security issues. The chapter by Ciancarini and Rossi presents an architecture for coordination and communication on wide area networks that can be used between mobile computations or plain Java programs. Part III contains papers detailing implementation considerations and techniques. The chapter by Knabe looks at the trade-offs between different representations of agents and efficiency. In the second chapter, Franz presents a particular representation called Slim Binaries which is particularly well suited to mobile code, as well as a more general dynamic code optimization technique. The chapter by Dugan describes the implementation of mobility of polymorphic data in a strongly typed programming language. Finally, the paper by Dðmel discusses the implementation of a system that allows Java programs to interact with Telescript agents. We would like to thank the program committee of the MOS'96 workshop, Joachim Baumann, Luca Cardelli, Paolo Ciancarini, and Doug Lea, for their help and excellent reviewing. February 1997 J. Vitek and C. Tschudin Geneva and Zurich ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Objectworld D. Tsichritzis An environment is outlined in which programming objects collect and disseminate information, using analogies from the animal world. Objects have their own rules of behaviour. They coordinate their activities by participating in events. Objects get born, move around, communicate and receive information and, eventually, die. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Mobile Agents: Are They a Good Idea? David Chess, Colin Harrison, Aaron Kershenbaum Mobile agents are programs, typically written in a script language, which may be dispatched from a client computer and transported to a remote server computer for execution. Several authors have suggested that mobile agents offer an important new method of performing transactions and information retrieval in networks. Other writers have pointed out, however, that mobile agents introduce severe concerns for security. We consider the advantages offered by mobile agents and assess them against alternate methods of achieving the same function. We conclude that, while the individual advantages of agents do not represent an overwhelming motivation for their adoption, the creation of a pervasive agent framework facilitates a very large number of network services and applications. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ A Note on Distributed Computing Jim Waldo, Geoff Wyant, Ann Wollrath, and Sam Kendall Much of the current work in distributed, object-oriented systems is based on the assumption that objects form a single ontological class. This class consists of all entities that can be fully described by the specification of the set of interfaces supported by the object and the semantics of the operations in those interfaces. The class includes objects that share a single address space, objects that are in separate address spaces on the same machine, and objects that are in separate address spaces on different machines (with, perhaps, different architectures). On the view that all objects are essentially the same kind of entity, these differences in relative location are merely an aspect of the implementation of the object. Indeed, the location of an object may change over time, as an object migrates from one machine to another or the implementation of the object changes. It is the thesis of this note that this unified view of objects is mistaken. There are fundamental differences between the interactions of distributed objects and the interactions of non-distributed objects. Further, work in distributed object-oriented systems that is based on a model that ignores or denies these differences is doomed to failure, and could easily lead to an industry-wide rejection of the notion of distributed object-based systems. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Instruction-Based Communications Christian Tschudin This papers explores a mode of communication that is based on instruction rather than interpretation. Starting from Shannon's (interpretative) communication model, I link instruction±based communications to mobile code (messengers), to ªsignsº as they are defined in semiotics, and to the virus theme commonly found in cell biology, computer science and literature. Virus±codes are conjectured to be more powerful that the equivalence codes studied by Shannon. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Analyzing Mobile Code Languages Gianpaolo Cugola, Carlo Ghezzi, Gian Pietro Picco, Giovanni Vigna The growing importance of telecommunication networks has stimulated research on a new generation of programming languages. S

Wow! What a great first novel! I can't remember the last time I read a novel and was so disappointed when it ended -- I wanted to keep reading. The characters are well developed and Ms. Poliner's writing style is just a delight to read. An added bonus is that I live in central Connecticut so I recognized many of the landmarks (I too have been in the now defunct Loehmann's communal dressing rooms!). I've already bought several copies for holiday gifts. I'm looking forward to Ms. Poliner's next novel!

From the time I bought it till I finished I read at every available moment. I was sad that there was no more to read when I finished.
I hope there will be more books coming by this author. The scenes and action are vividly described with every nuance and emotion captured in words. I feel I know Hannah and Carolyn and all the other characters.

A lucky find. I haven't read anything I loved this much in a very long time. Mostly stream-of-consciousness and poetry, but with a few really amazing stories mixed in, it spans the entire range of lesbian experience, defying convention in every way possible. I loved the story with Kathleen Hanna in it. I loved the girl who talks to Jesus in dolphin form. I especially loved the odd gender-neutral girl growing up into the classy dyke in pinstriped suits. In fact, I'm not really sure what I didn't love. Everyone should find a copy of this book and read it. It's really that good.

This gave me a fulfilling insight in the lifestyles of lesbian lovers. I recommend this text for anyone interested in life. Especially our beloved First Lady whos lifetime commitment to these issues is unprecedented. Love, CT

For the last ten years, Zach Forrester has excelled at training, worked high profile cases, and faced impossible odds to track and capture dangerous men who make headline news. Now one three year old moppet brings him to his knees with a challenge that exceeds any other: Operation Katie. Now he must learn to detangle fine baby hair, make peanut butter sandwiches with the crust removed, and endear lunch in froufrou restaurants filled with lace and dollhouses. Moreover, he must keep her safe from the man who wants his tiny niece dead. So he takes her to Fossil Hill, Colorado to heal and to find safety a town that once rejected him.

Widow Dana Hathaway raises two children, maintains the Rocking H Ranch and a thriving veterinarian practice. Fifteen years do not weaken the shock of seeing her high school sweet heart again. The years have only honed his dangerous, unpredictable edge. So many times she relived the magic of their Senior Prom and the disillusion of his disappearance the next day without a word of explanation. She wants to maintain her distance to protect her heart. But the contrast of the powerful, protective male and the fragile child touches her profoundly. Worse, he ignites the memory of passion, of burning need. But Zach knows that his past working undercover has made it impossible to give the honesty and commitment necessary for a relationship. Too bad his heart does not believe his head.

Intrigue keeps the plot moving and interest piqued, but the characterizations are what make OPERATION: KATIE truly sparkle. Roxanne Rustand has a gift for capturing the essence of relationships in all their complexity and charm. Zach bears scars both externally and internally that make him a flawed, extraordinary hero. Dana never backs down from her independence, yet can act with courage and passion when circumstance demands. Secondary characters are equally vivid, especially young Katie who demonstrates the behavior to be expected from such horrific circumstances, yet reveals her own appeal and intensity. I absolutely couldn't put OPERATION: KATIE down. Very highly recommended.

For the last decade, Drug Enforcement Administration Special Agent Zach Forrester has successfully worked the nastiest cases. However, Zach faces his most difficult assignment of his life, one he doubts he will survive. When his sister dumped his three-year-old niece on him, Zach must take care of little Katie who misses her mommy. OPERATION: KATIE includes brushing hair and making peanut bitter and jelly sandwiches (the only thing the kid eats). However, the key to survival is to keep Katie safe from someone who wants her dead. Zach takes Katie to Fossil Hill, Colorado so she can be safe.

Talk about a full plate. Widow Dana Hathaway raises two children, manages a ranch, and is a practicing veterinarian. When Zach arrives, Dana is stunned to see her high school boyfriend who deserted her following the senior prom. She does not want him back in her life, but watching him tenderly care for little Katie touches her heart, propelling her to fall in love again. He shares her emotion, but hides it because he believes he is inadequate for her.

Roxanne Rustand furnishes sub-genre readers with a delightful romantic suspense tale that works because the interrelationships between the key characters seem real. The story line is loaded with action yet filled with angst. Dana is a courageous heroine while Zach is a flawed champion struggling with doing the right thing emotionally for Katie. Though the lead couple is charming, the tale belongs to little Katie, who desperately needs adult compassion and love at a time when her mental health is fragile. OPERATION KATIE is a powerful romantic suspense that readers will highly value.

Harriet Klausner

Professor Hans Winberg taught organic chemistry at my alma mater, Grinnell College [1950's]. Students of my era knew only marginally anything about Dr. Winberg's World War II experiences. We were just impressed to know such an intelligent person. Destination Innsbruck provides all the amazing details of his war experience. Equally important is the detail about the people of Oberperfuss who sheltered him from the Nazis. I can be thankful that the events happened at the end of the war when the outcome, the Allied Forces Victory, was known to all rational people. I thoroughly enjoyed the book and the sense of suspense.

As one of the participants in this mission I must admit reading about my own adventure with continued interest. I didnot realize that I was this brave...! In a broader context it is highly revealing to a younger generation that the three participants in this daring mission behind enemy lines during the second world war was carried out by two immigrants (Freddy and Hans) and one "foreigner". When the war was over, and the CIA arose out of the ashes of the OSS, neither of these three agents was eligble for employment with that agency, since the CIA (in 1947) decided to employ american citizens only... Hans Wynberg Professor of Organic Chemistry (retired)

This book is very informative. Provides information that is useful in the classroom and will also be useful in practice. The information is well organized.

Traction, US, ES, ICe, heat....you name it. Covered here. Good text for contraindications as well as protocols.

I first learned of the entartists while holed up in an underground bunker affiliated with the Tora Bora theme parks and recreation services. It truly is a miraculous advancement in the plight of all repressed peoples, indiginous or otherwise. This is classic jihadism at its delightful best. All future military conflicts should be waged with the advanced technologies of the neighborhood baker. I laughed, I cried, I pied and I pied. Is this a new and sinister al-Qaeda technique for world domination? Has Islam found the tastiest treat of all? A true revolution has been launched, who will be the heirs to this monumental struggle?

This book will be central to any bookshelf of mine. I dip into it whenever I need a reminder that those with massive quantities of both humor and commitment do exist in this world. With a combination of essays, communiques, interviews, and graphics, this book is a pleasure to read. Highly recommended!

This book is a fabulous resource. Concise prerequisite knowledge is provided where necessary, examples are clear and relevant.

This book can be placed in the area of research in AI that brings single agent, centralised techniques to a distributed multi-agent context. The central idea of the multi-agent paradigm is to solve complex problems with a collection of autonomous and possibly distributed agents.

In the first 5 chapters this book gives a thorough understanding of exact inference in Bayesian networks.

In the 6th chapter Y. Xiang introduces Multiply Sectioned Bayesian networks (MSBN), a knowledge representation formalism for probabilistic inference in multi-agent systems. He clearly informs the reader of the constraints that are associated with MSBNs and how they are the unevitable consequence of a few high level choices.

Some of the choices are:
- the beliefs of the agents are represented by probabilities
- the internal representation of an individual agent is a DAG
- the least amount of communication between agents possible

Some of the contraints that follow from these choices are:
- a hypertree agent organisation which prevents agents from communicating with any other agent
- only communication between agents on variables they share between their local models

In subsequent chapters the author introduces algorithms for cooperative, distributed probabilistic inference. First how to compile an MSBN to a linked junction forest (= the multi-agent version of a junction tree) through moralization, triangulation, and the construction of linkage trees. Then, how to perform the actual probabilistic inference in such a linked junction forest.

In the 9th chapter algorithms are shown that allow to verify whether a structure does not violate the constraints imposed by the MSBN paradigm.

Finally, in the last chapter Xiang gives an overview of all the possible extensions and future work, such as dynamic formation, learning, negotiation etc.

The book is clearly written and very understandable, even for people with little knowledge of probabilistic reasoning. In my opinion this is because of the clear and not unnecessarily complicated language and because throughout the entire book the same example is used (monitoring of digital circuits ).
A few points of critique are that some more space could have been devoted to possible applications and related work.

To conclude, a very interesting and clear book on a new and promising paradigm, suited for everyone interested in Bayesian networks and multi-agent systems.

Mark Rubin is the king of chemical peeling and he shares his knowledge

After attending a course on peels, I still had numerous questions. This text has been a big help. And, I haven't even seen the video part yet. I am an OB/Gyn and really enjoy doing these peels; this text gave me more confidence.