As a critic once said of Henry James, Jacobs and Levy have chewed more than they bit off. There is (as another reviewer points out) no follow-up on how their factors have behaved in the decade or more since they did some of the pioneering work on factor models. Overall, the book has about 10% as much information useful to a practitioner as appears in Grinold & Kahn's authoritative text.

This book is great for people who want an overview of the opportunities available in numerical evaluation of stocks. However to say that this is a book on quantitative techniques is probably not the mest description. There is extensive use of regression analysis but more hard-core 'quant' people will probabliy be disappointed. It is clear that the book is written by investment professionals focusing a lot on traditional evaluations parameters such as P/E, P/B etc. Interesting points include purification of return signals, and an extensive discussion of long-short techniques.

The most important thing that I (an individual mutual fund investor) came away with was an understanding of the reasons why actively managed mutual funds cannot consistently beat their underlying benchmarks if they take a "stock picking" approach. Since this is the approach taken by most mutual fund managers, it is not surprising that more than 50% (often much more than 50%) do not beat their benchmarks. I also found it interesting how with sufficient breath and depth, engineered portfolios offer higher return and lower risk than the S&P 500.

It is easy to see how "alpha transport", when properly used, can also help maximize returns while minimizing risk. However, I imagine there have been, more often than not, improper use of alpha transport which did just the opposite (minimize return and maximize risk). Obviously not included in the text is the "proper usage" or algorithms for "disentangling equity return regularities". I imagine the authors keep such information close to their chest and constantly update them as old algorithms become part of the efficient market.

The work provides a guide to modern methods of equity management, and for those interested in the state-of-the-art, I highly recommend this book.

This book does present a fairly comprehensive guide to the country of Israel. If not for its strong political biases, alluded to by other reviewers here, it would be a book worthy of recommendation.

As a personal disclaimer, my serious charges against this book are not labeled by a "crazy extremist." I am Jewish, but I support Palestinian statehood, within the framework of real security for Israel. And I believe you can criticize Israel without being anti-semitic. However, some of this book's statements are simply intolerable.

The egregious behavior of the Palestinian Authority, Hamas, etc. is consistenly explained away, given context, etc. whereas almost all criticisms of Israel are given without emphasis at all on the context, namely that of consistent use of terrorism against it by internal and external forces, numerous wars of aggression by other Arab countries, etc. In addition, there are highly offensive remarks throughout the textincluding, a joke about desecrating a Jewish grave, a ridiculous and offensive discussion of the "Jewish Lobby" in America (Yes, Mr. Winter, there is a Pro-ISRAELI lobby in America, supported by many Jews and Christians) but there is no unified "Jewish Lobby" representing the beliefs of all, or even most Jews as a religion or people. In addition, The author recommends a couple of books that are only a step above "The Protocols of the Elders of Zion" in terms of the way they slander Jewish people. Full criticism of the many biases in this book would take far more space than I have here. Suffice it to say that until this guidebook drastically changes its editorial attitude, I would go elsewhere for less-biased information about Israel.

It is my opinion that the Footprint series is great! The Footprint Israel handbook gave alot of useful information, yet tried to write the book so that it wouldn't go out of date so fast. Thus, there is a lack of information on backpacking and student travel specifics.

My issues with this book: 1-Monty Python's Life of Brian wasn't 'that' good. Why do they have to constantly mention it? This was irritating. 2-People who want a travel book on Israel don't want to read pro-palestine/anti-israel propoganda. This was somewhat annoying.

Overall, a good read, and definately take it with you, keeping it handy, when going to Israel. Take the feeble attempts at humour with a grain of salt. Try to ignore the palestine bias in the content. Palestine is not a perpetual victim. With this in mind, enjoy this edition. It is usefull.

I've just returned from three weeks in Israel and the PA areas, using the Footprint as my primary sourcebook. Here's what I liked and disliked. Likes: - I haven't seen a more comprehensive selection and description of sites to visit. - Notably good Introduction, Background, Hiking, and History sections. - Lots of Monty Python references (in fact, if you didn't enjoy "The Life of Brian," you may not appreciate this guidebook). Dislikes: -The lack of a good Index largely negated many advantages of the comprehesiveness. - Despite its comprehensiveness, it ignored much of value. Many maps were inadequate (I got way lost arriving in Haifa with their map), and the Internet section was weak (except for PA sites). I found my favorite hotel (the Kibbutz Ginnosar) and the best source of Christian travel info (Jerusalem's Christian Information Center) barely mentioned. Many travelers to Israel now visit Petra, and the Handbook should have done more than just recommend you buy their Handbook for Jordan. - The Handbook was frequently wordy, and best suited for someone with lots of time on their hands. - Sure, we all need to be Politically Correct these days, but I thought the Handbook overdid the "Big Bully Israel, Poor Innocent Palestinian" tack. -The Handbook was pretty hefty and I think too much volume dealt with topics that quickly change, such as the quality of budget hotels and restaurants. SUMMARY: Travel guides are a highly competitive area. This one was reasonably good, but next time, I may just go back to the Lonely Planet and some current internet info. Because of the comprehensive descriptions, the Handbook would make a superb backup if you have room in your luggage.

I ordered this book even before publication since I am very interested in the topic and use have been involved in using and implementing option pricing models based on Levy processes.
I am quite disappointed since the book gives details neither on the financial side (incomplete markets, approximate hedging, exotic options...) which is not really the expertise of the author nor on the mathematical side (Wiener Hopf factorization, integrodifferential equations) which is superficially treated, the reader being constantly referred to other books.
The statistics/ econometrics aspect is totally absent and given
only a slight treatment.
For practitioners it is even more disappointing because a crucial aspect, namely NUMERICAL METHODS, is completely absent
and references to recent work on this topic is omitted.
For example, the author does not explain how the models were calibrated to the option prices in the examples he gives and his results are not easy to reproduce.
The only positive point of the book is to give a unified list of different models based on Levy processes which are spread out in the literature.

This book was just what I needed. Theory is nicely explain: not too difficult not too simple. I recommend it.

I like this book very much. It is clear and brings you upto date with the theory in less than 200 pages. No technical details, clear style, a lot of real world examples. In contrast to other very mathematically oriented books (like Bertoin's and Boyarchenko-Levendorvski's), I must say that after reading it you can start applying the models to real world situations.

The book fails to offer a comprehensive perspective and is certainly not the definitive work described in the publisher's promo. The "S.A. Book of the Cosmos" is neither up to date nor does it provide a coherent retrospective view. It flits about from topic to topic and leaves important questions unanswered. In my opinion, there are far better books on cosmology for the casually interested reader: Look for titles by Harrison, Gribbon, Davies, Guth, and Thorne.

This book is not as bad as others have indicated here. It is more an anthology of Cosmology related "essays" from Scientific American than it is an academic treatment of cutting-edge Cosmology.

If you want hardcore Cosmology, look elsewhere. But if you want brief, easy-to-read overviews of current ideas in Cosmology, this should be an enjoyable book for you.

Yes, there is a general lack of pictures, but the color pictures that are present are very nice. Besides, I am more interested in the content of the text.

I found the first three historical essays to be of special interest. One is by Einstein and concerns Relativity. The most fascinating for me is the one by Erwin Schrodinger titled "What is Matter?". This article alone was worth the price of the book for me. Schrodinger's essay helped me to understand, more than any other book, what we mean by the terms matter, energy, and force.

why on earth, no pun intended, would anybody be disappointed in this terrific book that brings together cosmological thought from Einstein to Sagan, all in one package?

This is a rich source for further meditation on the cosmos, nicely designed and illustrated.

I tested in Aug 99 using Petersons, Princeton, and Amazon clep Books to study for the General Natural Sciences Test. None of these books came remotely close to helping me get 1% of the information presented as questions on the real test. Who ever made that test must have taken their information from the smallest corners of the earth they could find to make the questions. I still can't believe the vast difference between what seemed normal study material and what material was tested. Your company should go and take one of those tests and see how far out that test is compared to what you offer and get it in- line or you won't make much money or help people like myself to acheive a passing score using your books. Additionally, the study guide of which the college board offers is very vague. You could help all by re-doing your study material. By the way, I used the same books as mentioned above and tested high on the General Social Sciences Test.

I used the average of the first two reviews so my review will not alter how my predecessors rated the book. I have not seen this particular book, but I have seen (and used) many others and believe there is a complete misunderstanding on the part of the general public as to the benefit of the books.

These books will NOT give you all the information you ever needed to know. It will give you a guide to the type of questions you will encounter, but you must know your subject. I am a librarian and highly recommend my patrons check out a textbook on the subject or buy textbooks that are used in local or national colleges. One on-line source of these titles is from World Lecture Hall at the University of Texas.

Use the textbooks and supplemental information recommended on the individual subject websites in addition to these test books and you'll do well!

This book really made the difference. I am so glad I bought it and used it. Clear information and easy to use. Recommend it to all my classmates.

on page 79, (English test) beginning with #22, the answer key is off. It gives the answer to 21 as D. and 22 is also D. How is this possible when the choices for 22 are F,G,H,J?

This was an o.k. book. It didn't help me very much, but it had good tests. They made a lot of mistakes, which could have been avoided. The writers probably didn't put their best into it.

This is the best book I've ever used to get higher scores on the ACT. It tells exactly what you need to know and study -- and nothing more. I was studying a lot more formula's then I needed to and I didn't realize it untill I got this book. I also wasn't taught a couple of formulas, needed for the math part of the ACT, untill I used this book. I highly suggest this book to anyone who wants to raise their scores.

I really like the lay-out of this book, it's easy to fill in, the illustrations are great and lots of room for pictures. I began filling in the pages and came to a point in the questions that I found odd, it asked how Dad and Grandpa earned their livings, but not Mom or Grandma. Strange, but okay, maybe the original print of the book was from the Cleaver era. As I continued filling in, I came to the sections for background information pertaining to "Dad's Mother's Parents" and "Dad's Father's Parents," but there are no sections for information about Mom's parents. I thought maybe it was a misprint. However I am now at another section about Dad's Parents, how they met, where they were married, etc. But again no section to fill in about Mom's Parents' courtship. It's as though the maternal grandparent's don't matter. When the heck was the original printing of this book?? If I hadn't already written in it I would return it. If this doesn't seem like it would bother you, then the book is a great easy way to fill in memories. However, I happen to think my heritage is just as important as my husbands. Hope this was helpful.

It's a nice book except it doesn't work if you are a single mother. There is a good portion of the book dedicated to memories of "Dad," including when Mom and Dad met, when they were engaged, married, who Dad's parents are, and so on. If it were just a page or two I could work around this by pasting pictures on those pages but it really takes up quite a bit of the book. This isn't something you would know by reading the book's description or other reviews.

This is an outstanding book of memories that far exceeds the traditional baby book. "Mom Remembers" covers not only your child's infancy and toddlerhood, but includes important milestones of your older child's life as well. This book has a comprehensive format that begins with the family tree, sections on the grandparents, parents' engagement and wedding day, and the pregnancy, spanning all the way past your child's high school graduation. There are unique sections for mom to fill out about family vacations and times when the child was ill or injured. The book is beautifully illustrated. In addition, fill-in-the-blank prompts are worded in such a way that a mother could fill in the book even years after the events have past. "Mom Remembers" is the perfect answer for those mothers who opted not to keep a meticulous baby book and now wished that they had done so. This is an extraordinary book of family and childhoood memories that any mom can complete at any time, and it will most assuredly be treasured by your child for a lifetime.

I was eager to try this cookbook but have been very disappointed with the recipes I've tried. Most have had little flavor; some have been downright horrible. I don't know if I had the wrong technique, but I've had much better success with other books. I threw this one away.

I have had this book for several years and find the recipes interesting and healthy. As in any book, there are a few that we aren't using regularly, but as a whole, the book is filled with modern, up-dated casserole recipes that are easy to prepare and fun to eat. I especially like her vegetarian recipes and their creative use of ingredients. Don't be afraid of these recipes and enjoy them!

Great book that has France broken down by areas that one can easily tour in short 3-5 day trips. Lists major sites to see along suggested routes. Gives clear directions and small, well detailed maps. Highlights walks, special sites, and recommendations for children. No wineries, hotels, or restaurants.

this book does not cover any new material learned in even a BAD high school trigonometry course and ninth grade algebra other than polar cooridinates and parametric equations. do not use this above the high school level. there is ALOT of stuff you already know. don't use this book even for a review unless you dont know ninth grade math. the topics of functions are so obvious, yet he covers them over about 7 chapters.

I was primarily disappointed with the lack of rigor. But it has more pretty pictures than math textbooks I remember from high school, in case you need that sort of thing to keep your (or your students') interest. I would rather have paid less for a black-and-white text that doesn't hurt your arms to hold up to read (the dimensions of the book also make that awkward). There are nice little blurbs about various relevant/famous mathemeticians. The book strives to give a lot of real-world examples, and for that I give it 3 stars instead of 2. If you are looking for a book with that kind of emphasis, you may find this to be just what you want. I have to agree with an earlier reviewer that my highschool trig and precalc course were much more detailed and had more depth.

PS: I am still searching for an errata sheet.

I have taught from this text for 3 years now. It is excellent. My students like the text and find the explanations helpful. I would recommend this text to any teacher who is hunting for a good preparation for calculus.

The Editorial Review with complete description of book was NOT on the site yet when I decided to purchase the book... only the info re "About the Author" (which was the only truly humorous part of the book). I don't know. Maybe my idea of satire is skewed, but this ain't it.

Ostensibly written for the naive young woman, this book is, despite its narrowly focused title, actually a tongue-in-cheek manual that covers every aspect of sex you may ever have worried about(and some you may have never thought about). From negotiating "the first time" to dealing with "the aged man," Ms. Levy finds humor in even the most potentially embarrassing or daunting sexual situation. From the creative (what to serve at the titular orgy) to the practical (how to have comfortable sex aboard a cruise ship) to the just-plain-fun (how to take the competition out of sex), especially if you're a reader of a certain age, this book will take you back to a simpler time before sex was fraught with ponderous and scary warnings.

Lorelei Levy has a wry, subversive sense of humor. DOING IT is not a self-help book, but rather a series of 21 satires that pokes fun at the American preoccupation with sex. I found some of the chapters rather raunchy, but I laughed out loud at The Worldly Girl, The Year Prostitution Went Public and Bestiality for Beginners. A good beach book.