Expansion Books

Please send me the disk of the Super Vga Programming Secrets book. Thank a lot!

An excellent overview of the migration of several families from North Carolina to the area of the Arkansas River Valley around what is now Russellville, Arkansas. It was written, by the way, by a descendant of my Great Great Grandfather's younger brother. It is a story, based on historical facts, of a large extended family, how they lived, what they believed, the challenges they faced and how they overcame them. I found it very interesting.. but then, it's my family!

From the looks of it, its a sound blaster use and programmers guide, meant for early DOS/Windows machines, it contains descriptions of interrupt calls used to program the card from assembly. I did take a 8086 assembly class, so I can say that much about the book. I can't tell you if it is still relevant, but it looks like it would be easy to read. It also covers midi sequencing and the MPU-401 interface. If you still have a serial port on your machine and dos sequencer programs, this book might help describe how to get a midi sequencer working on a old pc. Midi sequencers never need more than a basic computer to work, even some had used Commodore 64's for sequencing and composition. It's when you sample sound that a faster computer is needed.

The journals, diaries, and other primary accounts of the men and women that settled the American West occasionally describe exciting events, but more commonly these historical records detail the routine life of an isolated settler surviving in a harsh and unforgiving land. I marvel at the courage and perseverance exhibited by so many common men and women.

In "Wild Animals and Settlers on the Great Plains", Professor Fleharty has compiled primary accounts (not reminiscences penned years later) from newspapers and diaries to detail the impact of settlers on the native fauna of Kansas during a short, critical period, 1865 -1879. His reports, while specific to Kansas, can be generalized to the settlement of the extensive Great Plains of western America.

I was pained by some of the detailed accounts of uncontrolled hunting, of unwitting habitat destruction, of seeming obliviousness to the irreversible changes that were occurring. The newspaper accounts seemed so real, because they were.

Professor Fleharty does more than report the decline of the buffalo, bear, deer, antelope bobcat, and other animals during this period of intense settlement. He also shows, again from primary accounts, that a concern for the diminishing wildlife gradually developed, leading to hunting regulations and protective legislation. Our modern understanding and appreciation for protecting wildlife and the environment did not suddenly emerge a few years ago, but evolved steadily from these early concerns.

The strength of this book - its extensive quotations from newspapers and other primary sources - is also its weakness. I commend Professor Fleharty for his extensive research. However, as might be expected, many of these reports are similar, some even repetitious. Some, possibly a sizeable fraction, could have been relegated to an appendix, or possibly footnotes.

Possibly because Dr. Fleharty was trained as a zoologist, and not as an interpretive historian, he seemed reluctant to offer interpretations and extrapolations based on the rather sparse and anecdotal reports. And yet, as a zoologist willing to undertake historical research, his interpretations and insights, even speculations, would have been very interesting indeed.

If Dr Fleharty does revise this interesting book, I would like more discussions on how and why things happened. Tell us more about animal population dynamics in Kansas from 1865 to the present. What other ecological trends were set in motion during this short, catastrophic period? Could more steps have been taken earlier to mitigate the negative impact of the extensive settlement on the Great Plains?

Also, while I recognize that we cannot recreate the Great Plains of the 1860s, I am curious about Professor Fleharty's views on the ongoing movement to create large, natural grasslands preserves in the mid-continent. We cannot change the past, but we may be able to shape the future.

The book was very interesting and informative. It also had great pictures! However, as a teacher wanting to use this book in the classroom, I was disturbed to find misinformation in it. On page 58 it states that Martha Jane Canary (Calamity Jane) is buried next to Wild Bill Hickok in Deadwood, Arizona. Well, I've visited Calamitiy Jane's buriel sight (beside Wild Bill Hickok's) in my hometown of Deadwood, SOUTH DAKOTA.

After setting the stage in volume I, Roosevelt falls into a hero worship of the famous names of the frontier and a larger than life portrait of the average, rifle-slinging frontiersman and backwoodsman (words Roosevelt equates with superheroes). While it would be improper to say that Roosevelt strictly confined his second volume to the little details, every page seems to resound with the latest Indian skirmish, a gruesome tomahawking, a white foray or retaliation, and the daily peril of Indian attacks. The American Revolution finds frequent appearance as the guiding backdrop to this volume, with the result being the repeated treatments of the British encouraging the Indians (through payments and promises) to set upon the American settlers. Overall a more specific volume than the first, I left the book thinking the whole nothing but an endless series of Indian battles.

I have found it helpful and inciteful with the more difficult differential equations that can be attempted.

This book contains mostly routine exercises of the subject. If you want to dig a bit further and sharpen your skills: try Krasnov's A Book of Problems in Ordinary Differential Equations. Language: English
ISBN: 5030009493

I have not read this book, but if it is anything like the author's previous attempts at writing it will leave you feeling angry. I read his advanced calculus book and it was awful. I found 16 mistakes on one page! This was the first book on advanced calculus I read and I was unable to follow the logic sequence. It wasn't until later after reading other books and mastering the subject that I discovered why. The examples were full of major errors. Not only that but he wastes a great deal of space repeating assumptions before each new section. As a result the actual material covered is sparse.

This is a very good introduction to partial
differential equations.It contains the most
common methods in PDE namely: characteristics
method, Fourier method, Green method, finite
difference methods, variational methods and
finite element method. I have used it as a
textbook or suplementary text. It is really
an undergraduate text which provides a wide
introduction to PDE. I have a copy and recommend
it to every person interested in learning PDE.

This is one of the more poorly written Schaum's outlines I have encountered. The theory is very murky and the author gives no clear direction as to where he is going with this material and what it all means. PDE is a hard enough subject without working a bunch of meaningless problems that leave you wondering what it is you are supposed to have learned. Instead, I suggest you read "Introduction to Partial Differential Equations with Applications" by Zachmanoglou and Thoe in order to understand the mathematical underpinnings of PDE. Then read "Partial Differential Equations for Scientists and Engineers" to get a thorough feel for how PDE is used to solve real-world problems. Both books usually sell used for under $10 each, making them cost-effective alternatives to this Schaum's outline.

I bought two copies of this book so that my grandson and I could read and discuss it. My two purposes were 1) teach him about Alexander the Great and 2) show him how scholarly history books, as opposed to history text books, are written.

This book has served as a good example of a bad example.

To be charitable, I see that the copyright belongs to the Estate of Norman Cantor and was published after his death. I will assume that his illness led to the low quality of this book. Otherwise, I must assume he was a piss-poor professor.

For the sakes of New York University, Tel Aviv University, and the Rhodes and Fulbright organizations, besides Mr. Cantor's reputation, the Estate should never have published this book in its present form.

I am very disinclined to read any other works of Mr. Cantor's.

This is the worst book ever written on Alexander. There are historical inaccuracies on nearly every page. Heresay and universally discounted legend are presented uncritically alongside historically accepted fact.

Is it possible to make the life one of the most compelling men who ever lived into an incredibly boring biography? Cantor does it somehow. I barely made it through half the book, it was so tediously written. Worse, much of the facts were oversimplified to the point of being wrong. It's not even smart enough to be a children's book, although it's written at that level of diction. Please don't make it your choice.

This is a great little history, and I hope the publishing industry gives us more of them.

It's amazing how much of history was created by teens and twentysomethings. Alexander and his army were like a punk rock band gone wild. He drinks and debauches his way through half a continent. He must have had extraordinary health given the punishing environment and the many battle wounds. He is a master builder and does have a command of battle strategy (if not his army).

I found the comparisons to Ceasar and the speculation of how Alexander would have done against the Roman army thought provoking. Not mentioned is that Ceasar earned the support of his army, Alexander just expected it and was unable to keep it.

There is an interesting the analysis of his "greatness" at the end and a description of the other major biographical works.

This book is a gem, in large because the analysis of the "greatness" of Alexander in the fifth and closing chapter is designed to generate thought, debate and ideas for every student of history.

"The impact of Alexander on the Mediterranean world has always been a subject for debate," Cantor notes, and proceeds to add provocatively to that debate. Alexander, like Achilles, Caesar, King Arthur, Abraham Lincoln, Winston Churchill, embodies the spirit of the times and the people of their eras. Alexander and Achilles were heroic; Caesar and Arthur were innovators; Lincoln and Churchill gave words to enhance the decency of great nations.

Lincoln, to cite an example, did not invent democracy in America. However, when he defined democracy as government "of the people, by the people, for the people", he greatly sharpened and enhanced already existing attitudes. Alexander did the same in his time; he did not invent war, but he set an ideal seldom matched and thus established the warrior ideal for much of the Mediterannean. King Arthur does the same with his round table; Churchill gives credit to the British people for stopping Hitler.

Now, consider George Bush with his Texas swagger and flight suit while strutting across the deck of an aircraft carrier to announce "Mission Accomplished" as if he were a warrior. Alexander, in contrast to the coddled and well-protected life of Bush, survived numerous serious wounds acquired while leading his troops from the front. Whether it's Bush or Clinton or Reagan, there's a vast difference between Alexander and the perspiration and spin of today's leaders. As Canton aptly shows, it's why "the Great" title is retired.

Intended or not, there are numerous subtle parallels between ancient and modern events in the Near and Middle Easts. Alexander was successful because he responded immediately and brilliantly to local events rather than try to rule from afar; instead of being an ideologue, he worshipped every God he met along the route of his conquests.

Because he was handicapped by "faulty intelligence," when he reached Afghanistan and India he realized it was time to listen to his troops, then "cut and run". Why? To quote Cantor, "One of the old soldiers, a man named Coenis . . . . gave the speech of his life, ending with these words: 'Sir, if there is one thing above all others a successful man should know, it is when to stop'. Instead of trying to stay the course, Cantor says "Alexander sulked for two days but then tried to find a way to make this defeat appear to be a victory."

Cantor offers an intriguing psychological assessment of Alexander; not only was he "the supreme exemplar of that old pagan world" but he also knew how to sulk and then accept the will of his troops. Perhaps that is why there are no modern Alexanders; today we tend to look at his heroism, courage, strength and vision but overlook his ability to sulk.

It's a masterful biography, not merely because of what it says about Alexander but also for what it teaches us about ourselves.

I defer to reviewer Peter Lee for the details on this set, but my opinion is less enthusiastic than his.

My main concern with all of the D & D Miniatures made by Wizards of the Coast is that there seems to be no clearly defined reference of SCALE, as there is with lead and pewter military and fantasy miniatures and the higher grade plastic figures from Russia and Britain: a 15mm or 25mm figure from other manufacturers will almost always be in proportion to other figures from the manufacturer (and usually very close to OTHER manufacturers's products, too). I can't tell what the scale of the "D & D Miniatures" is SUPPOSED to be (probably 30mm), but the figures are strangely proportioned to one another within their own product line -- the bare-chested Giants of Legend Scarlet Brotherhood Monk is dispropotionately large compared to both the City Guardsman and the Protectar, and the robed Archfiends Sage is as broad in the shoulders as the Giants of Legend City Guard in armor.

My second and third concerns are with the weapons. Why are the weapons so bizarrely fashioned? The standard Wizards of the Coast fantasy sword has a blade which abruptly narrows in size to only slightly wider than the tang, although in this set only the Human Dragonslayer and Moon Elf Fighter appear to suffer from this certain-to-snap-at-first-contact blade. This design makes no sense. It copies a fashion set in some fantasy art, but is jarringly out of place in figures which seemed designed for melee combat. The weapons are also being used stupidly by the figures, with the point-of-spear-in-the-ground City Guard being the silliest example. This leads to another concern: why did Wizards of the Coast feel it necessary to arm EVERY human or humanoid figure? The Archfiends Expansion Pack figure of the Healer, for example, is carrying a spear (point UP, unlike the idiotic Guardsman figure). If this Healer is a spellcaster, wouldn't it have been more appropriate to equip her with a spell book or put her into a spellcasting pose? If she can't cast spells, why is she in a melee set armed with a spear, anyway? She's not brandishing it point outward, but it still seems extremely inappropriate. It's as disconcerting as seeing a medic with a Red Cross brassard armed with an assault rifle; medical personnel are supposed to be unarmed, by god!

Arming the "Healer" is a very, VERY poor example for Hasbro to set for children. Does Medic G. I. Joe pack a .45 in his first aid kit to shoot "enemy" wounded? I am not one of those silly geese who think D & D leads to devil worship, but I AM of the opinion that children should be raised from childhood to regard certain people -- medical personnel, for example -- as ALWAYS being non-combatants, no matter which side they are on. I get the feeling that if there was a goblin stretcher crew figure set, that the ideal Wizards of the Coast "lawful good" character would hack them to pieces because they are on the "evil" side. That is just plain wrong! There are some lines which simply should not be crossed, even in fantasy role-playing, and the well-armed "Healer" crosses one of those lines. It isn't hard to imagine kids who play with this particular figure growing up to cross that same line in a real life war; therein lie the seeds of the My Lais and Abu Graibs of the future, I'm afraid. Wizards of the Coast should discontinue this figure. It is grossly irresponsible of them to depict medical personnel as combatants.

I must disagree strongly with the other reviewer about the Warrior Skeletons. The ones I have are painted nicely, true, but either the injection molding was done poorly or else they were attached to the base poorly -- they are both bent forward so far that they look more like skeletal bloodhounds than anything else. They LOOK as though they were made in Red China by some wretchedly poor schmuck earning less than 50 cents an hour (which they probably were). It will take some unattractive wiring or else a break-and-repair job to make them stand erect.

All in all, though, the figures do what they are supposed to do, which is represent heroes and monsters from the Wizards Dungeons & Dragons product line. Their usefulness as figures for war games outside of the rules published (VERY expensively!) by Wizards of the Coast is greatly diminished by their "buy one hundred packages to collect 'em all!" packaging, which has led to my initial force having one sage to each archer, with no one pointing a spear at the ENEMY. Their usefulness outside of D & D Miniatures rules play is also hampered by the paucity of figures clearly designed to represent the sort of massed levies to be found in a real battle, even a "real fantasy" battle. There should be several figures each for plain old goblins, plain old orcs, plain old human warriors, etc., but there isn't, and the bizarre scale of the figures makes it very difficult to supplement their numbers with the military or fantasy figures of other manufacturers (which are almost all in lead or very expensive pewter, anyway, not the cheap plastic of these figures).

The D & D miniatures DO fill a need for cheap miniature fantasy figures, but that need includes the need for hordes of cheap goblins, orcs, etc., which Wizards seems to have no intention of meeting. They are narrowly focused on supplying figures for the rules which they have concocted and are not supplying enough to use the figures for battles using "De Bellis Antiquas," "Hordes of the Things," or even "Chainmail" rules for miniatures gaming, which is ironic, since D & D was originally just a set of rules for adding fantasy characters to wargames which used the 1970-something "Chainmail" rules.

If Wizards of the Coast were to offer their "common" figures in three-packs or six-packs (the numbers needed for units in their own miniatures gaming rules), my rating for the expansion packs would be higher, but they haven't done so yet, and they seem to have no intention of ever doing so, which forces players who DO want to use units of multiple figures to either buy large numbers of expansion packs (expanding the already bloated profits which Wizards of the Coast brings in for its corporate owner, Hasbro) or else buy them separately on eBay, which, once shipping costs are added, makes each figure cost a couple of bucks apiece -- a huge mark-up for a pennysworth of plastic made by a Chinese wage slave living just above the subsistence level!

Amazon continues to list out of print Wizards of the Coast D&D. They did the same thing with Harbinger starter sets a short time ago. When you place an order they keep pushing the due date back. Why do they bother listing stuff they have no way of getting?

Archfiends is the 3rd prepainted miniature release from Wizards of the Coast and it gets better every time. The quality of miniatures from WotC's prepainted D&D Miniature line has been improved from their prior two sets, and they're still keeping it affordable at $9.99. The details on some figures are really improving. For instance, Archfiends includes a new common "Warrior Skeleton" that looks better than many skeletons painted by professional miniature painters. "Ragnara, Psychic Warrior" is also a pretty slick looking figure. There is an increase in larger figures from previous sets, including four "Aspects" which are popular D&D villain deities with a midlevel power range (around CR 12) which work well in both D&D and the skirmish game. Finally, the popular Forgotten Realms character Drizzt is now a (rare) figure for the Chaotic Good faction.

I've played a lot more of the Skirmish game that the figures are designed for and I'm surprised how much I like it. The combat cards gives some complex play with relative ease, which is a nice bonus. The new figures add quite a bit to the Skirmish game. The "Gauth" has a dangerous 15 fire damage special ability eye ray, the "Githyanki Fighter" and "Erinyes" have a Dimesion Door ability that was previously only availible to the "Hound Archon" from Harbinger, and Lawful Good finally has a dragon with the nasty "Large Silver Dragon".

The set is not perfect. The humanoid figures are still missing a bit of detail, especially some of the elves -- like the uncommon Mialee, Elf Wizard. I'm a firm believer that figures for PCs should be hand-painted anyway, so in my RPG games any of the short-term NPCs are drawn from these prepainted figures and the long-term PCs are hand painted metal figures.

I'm willing to overlook some of the flaws because they're a relatively inexpensive way to build up a large force of painted figures to help a time-crunched DM. Unfortunately, there are rumors that the price of these figures is increasing, which will cut down on their usefulness. With the increased price of Giants of Legend to $19.99 (for 8 figures and 1 huge figure) and I suspect future sets will be around $12.99, I think this is the last easily affordable set.

The merchant advertises "Expansion Packs" but sends you unpackaged singles. This means you have no chance of a rare because he has already taken them out and shipped you his refuse.

This book presents various mathematical principles in an organization I have not seen before. It starts with the idea of a transformation, then goes on to relate eigenvalues and eigenvectors to general spectral theory, explain how the need for closed function spaces naturally leads to Lebesgue integration (I know about Lebesgue integration before but I didn't know why it was needed), and show how the definition of certain inverse operators leads to distribution theory. This is a very natural way of organizing these principles. While other books, such as Strang's Intro to Applied Mathematics and Rudin's Real & Complex Analysis, provide you with one mathematical "toy" after another (Fourier series, Lebesgue integration, etc.), Keener's book tells you why you need the toy before giving it to you.

This book doesn't clearify anything for you. No examples, No further explanation. It only keeps introduce various theories to you. It can compact theories that other books take 2-3 pages to explain it into 5 lines! I think you can imagine. Obviously, this book is not suitable to be your first book (not the second also). Buy it if you are sure that you are smart enough to understand it!

When an author invites a reader to purchase and read his book the assumption one makes is that the book provides a new or a different insight to a familiar or difficult subject that opens new vistas and level of comprehension into the subject matter. First, writing a book on advanced applied mathematics is quite an endeavor and thus, I applaud the author for such an effort. However, the book overall provides panorama but very little detail and new vistas in critical areas. Thus there does not seem to be a significant reason for this book to have been published because most of the topics have been adequately covered in other sources. Clearly the author set out with a lofty and challenging goal; to present the theory for a very broad range of mathematical tools, topics that in fairness needed a fuller and more coherent development that are not present in the book. However, there are some bright spots for which the book deserves at least two stars. The best written chapters, albeit too short, are Chapters 1-3 and Chapters 6 on Complex variables. But the treatment is neither compelling or original. In chapter 6 the author introduces the reader to orthogonal polynomials and special functions but leaves the reader with such a limited view of these topics as to make the effort at teasing the reader's curiosity quite frustrating. The book is generous with bibliography at the end of each chapter and a great source for further research. Nevertheless, it would an improvement in future editions, if the author points out to the reader which pages of the suggested readings the reader should be focused on for the chapter in which it is being cited as a reference. The author engages in serial titillation by introducing the reader to exotic topics such as Sobolev spaces but quickly retreats stating that many of the operators in Sobolev space lack "self-adjointness" and thus of not much practical use for applied mathematics. (See page 66-67). Similarly, he also introduces the reader to Mellin and Hankel transforms but does not explain where and how they are used and when one these particular transforms are better suited than Laplace and Fourier Transforms. So what is the point here? The treatment of Green functions is too compressed beyond belief for it to be of any significant value. The same goes for the discution of Sturm-Liouville systems. The physical examples are too compressed and for the most part difficult to follow and relate to the theory the author just discussed that ostensibly equips the reader to understand the example.

The discussion of Laplace and in particular Fourier transforms seems not to logically and seamlessly emerge from the previous discussion of the theory of operators. A word on proofs. Some of the proofs are so abbreviated with little explanation following that it is frustrating experience to attempt to follow.

In sum, I commend the author to either expand the length of chapters or consider choosing less topics and develop them more fully and coherently so the book attains depth and eminence.

This is a book with very broad coverage, which is also its strength. It happens to be my textbook for a graduate course when I worked toward my phd degree in engineering. I had a hard time through it, although I had a high grade in this course. Even though, I don't think this book is well written.

As my title said, every chapter in this book can be written as a book. I am not exaggerating. It's true. Since the author condenses so much material into a small book, there is sacrifice certainly. For example, the coverage is not thorough for a specific topic, the proof is too short or even not given...etc. To overcome this, usually you need to consult other books to get a more clear understanding. In addition, I had a bad experience that some examples have nothing to do with what he has just said above. That drove me crazy. The author mentions in the preface that he intends to seek a balance on application and theory in this book. I don't think he gets the job done.

In spite of so many drawbacks, there are still bright sides. For example, the broad coverage is good for me to get into or acquainted with some topics. When you are not understanding what he said, try to find a reference book. That usually helps. In addition, the motivation part is good. He tells you why you need this, why that way doesn't work...etc.

Simply speaking, this book is kind of opening a door for you and then you need to work out the rest not depending on it but by yourself.

If you need a book for self study, this is not the one. If not for that course, I wouldn't force myself reading through it. I think Logan's "Applied Mathematics" is much better for self study at the expense of narrower coverage than this one. This one is better for course use accompanying instructor's good supplement.