"Mythology" covers all the major and most minor Greek, Norse and Roman gods, goddesses, stories and locales. Edith Hamilton makes no pretenses that this is all there is to say on mythology, but she gives a reader a fine start.

Hamilton puts them into sensible structures so beginners can learn in a context which are easy to understand. She provides major section titles helping readers get straight to the required story, like "Stories of Love and Adventure" You'll find "Cupid and Psyche" as a chapter.

Chapters are named mostly by story like, "The Trojan War."

She quotes from the sources, so the reader knows how it is she got her information.

Character-driven in format, readers can look up a name, find the subtitle with that name, and read why that character matters. She writes narratively, sounding a little like "Cliff's Notes." This is a good thing, because the poetry from which these myths are drawn can be overwhelming.

Nicely organized is the geneological table section. It looks like a family tree, in a English royalty kind of way.

As a writer, I use it for a quick reference guide. I usually only need a few nuggets of information, and she gives me plenty. I first acquired it high school, using it to get out of those tough jams when I did not understand books like "The Odyssey," by Homer.

More than mere reference, "Mythology" is good reading for no other purpose than serendipitous curiosity.

I fully recommend it.

Anthony Trendl

Edith Hamilton's Mythology: Timeless Tales of Gods and Heroes is a very basic, very popular and very good text for the introduction of Greek and Roman mythology. In our Western culture, the term 'mythology' is most often equated with these tales, and this book, first written before World War II, has helped to reinforce that equation with the current generations of readers.

Those looking for the mythological stories of other cultures will be disappointed -- with the exception of a brief section on Norse mythology at the end (about five percent of the entire volume), it covers nothing outside the Greek and Roman pantheons. Of course, part of the difficulty of approaching mythology of other cultures is that, in many instances, it is not mythology to them; or, in the case of mythology, one needs a firmer grounding in the culture and religious aspects of that culture before the mythology becomes accessible.

Hamilton (raised, as I was astonished to discover, in Indiana, where I currently reside) studied at Bryn Mawr, and had a distinguished teacher career in addition to writing this useful text. Hamilton's writing is not complicated and very easy to follow -- this has made this text one used in high school and undergraduate courses in Greek and Roman mythology more frequently perhaps than any other text produced in this century.

Hamilton begins the text with an essay giving an overview of what mythology is, and what the purpose of it was.

'Through it,' she wrote, 'we can retrace the path from civilised man who lives so far from nature, to man who lived in close companionship with nature; and the real interest of the myths is that they lead us back to a time when the world was young and people had a connection with the earth, with trees and seas and flowers and hills, unlike anything we ourselves can feel.'

She proceeds with a brief history of the development of Greek mythology, the origins of the stories lost in the mists of time. She tells of the influences of Greek thought on subsequent developments in thought and religion: 'Saint Paul said the invisible must be understood by the visible. That was not a Hebrew idea, it was Greek.' Unlike most religious constructs, the Greek mythological world tried to make sense of the greater life of the universe in terms that were very human indeed, with a minimum of mystery. 'The terrifying irrational has no place in classical mythology.'

This is not to say, of course, that there were not terrible stories and fantastic creatures -- indeed, the mythological stories are full of them -- Gorgons and hydras and chimaeras dire. But these are mostly metaphorical (and were understood as such), and primarily used for a hero to be made (this same idea has pervaded to the most recent Mission Impossible movie).

Hamilton proceeds after this essay to describe the members of the pantheon, the major and minor gods and goddesses, the ideas of creation, the heroes (human, semi-divine and divine), stories of love and devotion, justice and injustice, and, of course, of warfare, victory, defeat, and courage. Those heroes before the Trojan War, perhaps the Greek-mythological-equivalent of a world war, had battles and dire circumstances to fight and overcome. The Trojan War figured largely in the mythological frameworks of Greece and Rome -- all the gods and goddess were involved in this conflict, it seemed, as were many of the heroes of Greek mythology.

Hamilton, writing in a fairly conservative period of time, and in a fairly conservative culture, sanitised the mythological stories to a large extent. The Greeks were a very human and often rather bawdy bunch; the Romans were even moreso. Much of the sexuality in the mythological stories is omitted, save to demonstrate the less-desirable aspects. Quite often, undergraduates who study mythology are astonished to discover, if they had used Hamilton's text in an earlier high school setting, that there is a lot more sex and violence in the 'real' stories than they had been previously exposed to.

Of course, one of the primary aspects of the mythological tales was not to explain the cosmos or to build complex theological constructs (reason did these, often with help from the myths, but not using the myths as the basis), but rather the illustration of moral truths -- those of honesty, virtue, and courage as primarily valued in Greek and Roman society. Evil befalls those who do not lead a moral life; rewards come to those who do. Of course, there is a bit of whimsy in the cosmos -- bad things happen to good people, etc., even in ancient Greece. The fluctuating personalities of the gods (and the number of them) ultimately gives a satisfying explanation (if not a satisfying reason) why such things might occur.

Hamilton's book is a good one to use in teaching, but it must not be considered the final authority on any of the topics it addresses. Nonetheless, it has earned its place in the pantheon of influential books, and will most likely continue to be so for some time to come.

I've done quite a bit of reading about greek (and roman) mythology and I still enjoyed this book. They way the myths are writen is so good that I could almost feel myself back in ancient Greece, observing the scenes. I also enjoyed the quotes from the original source where the myth was told (e.g. The Odyssey, The Illiad, etc). Overall this is a good basic classical mythology book. Even people who already know these myths should read this book if only for the delightful manner in which they are told. For someone who cannot match a roman god to his greek conterpart this might require flipping back to the first chapter. If you pay attention the first time you read it you shouldn't have any trouble with this.

Near the end of the book there are a couple norse myths. That's it. If your looking for a book that has myths from more than just Greece/Rome you'll be disappointed. However if you looked at the table of contents and noticed the lack of other cultural myths (and still wanted to read the book) you should be extremely satisfied. I know i was...

I used the textbook written by the same author in class, which was one of the most dense, example-less books I've ever read. The prep book is slightly better, explaining things clearly and briefly, but sometimes it does lack in depth. It should review more of the basics, even if they are elementary, such as how to write functions, or the order of accessing multiple functions. It was annoying to have to go online in the middle of a practice test to get the Marine Bio Case Study questions. But what really bothered me was that there were no EXPLANATIONS for the practice test multiple choice questions, only a list of one-line hints for about 10 out of 40 questions. I really can't learn from mistakes if they don't explain why the answers are right/wrong.

Let me start off by saying that I got a 5 on the APCS AB exam in 2001 and we used Litvin's C++ for You++ as well as this review book. It gives good practice part II questions (The radix sort question was almost exactly like the AP question), but the multiple choice questions are too long and more difficult than the actual AP questions. They also didn't match up in quantity - there were more Big-O questions on the AP and fewer in the book, while there were more stack and queue questions in the book and fewer on the AP. The explanations for the sample questions scattered throughout the chapter are good, but the typical student would have been unable to draw the conclusion reached by Litvin by only reading the text before the question. Much better than C++ for You++ as a textbook, but as a review book it fails to prepare a student for the Multiple Choice section of the test.

I took the APCS AB Exam and got a 5. My teacher did NOT know any of AB material. After using this incredible book by the Litvins, in addition to the Barron's Teukolsky review book, I was incredibly prepared. Highlights of this book: the Big-O notation of common algorithms and practice tests. I recommend using the Barron's Teukolsky book to learn the material (if you don't already know it) first, then use this to review the material, using the Barron's Teukolsky book's practice exams, and then using this book's practice exams. The practice tests in this book were HARDER THAN THE AP EXAM for me.

I give my highest recommendation for this outstanding review book.

Allen Steele's "Coyote" is actually a collection of stories and novelettes that have appeared in Science Fiction magazines over a 2-3 year period. They are strung together in a cohesive story about a group of rebels who escape the earth, which is now governed by an ultra-Conservative coalition. Ultimately they wind up on a new world called Coyote on which they build a small community they name Liberty. Steele enters new writing territory with this book. He has traditionally written books set on the Moon or on near-Earth venues in the not-so-far off future. This one travels far ahead.

One thing I liked about this is Steele's attention to detail. There are plenty of "new world/new colony" Science Fiction novels out there. Many of the ones that I have read just brush over things like building toilets. Steele often discusses the lack of these day-to-day necessities and the impact on the characters.

I could not really find one clear lead character although there are plenty of antagonists. Among those are a Colonel loyal to the old government. Deadly flying creatures called boids. The elements of the new world. The inner demons of those haunted by a past way of life. The two characters who have the biggest "parts" are Wendy and Carlos. I find the obscure reference to the trans-gendered synthesizer artist Wendy Carlos almost ironic as this is a person who explored new genres of music.

The one flaw is the change in presentation. The first several chapters are written in present tense, which I found distracting at first but easier to follow later. Then half-way through the book it switches to past tense. Generally I found this to be a pretty good read and I am glad that I was able to read it over a few days rather than over three years in various magazines.

Coyote is the fourth moon for a Jovain gas giant orbiting a star 46 lightyears from earth. This is the destination of the colony ship URSS Alabama, and its rather interesting crew of hijackers, soldiers and colonists.

Seventy years in the future, the United States has gone through a third revolution and the result is repressive regime that has abrogated all rights except for the party elite. The Alabama is a monument to the new regime.

Captain Robert E. Lee (a great great grandson of the CSA General) conspires to launch the Alabama with a slightly different crew than envisioned by the current government. They succeed (with difficulty) and commence a 230 year journey to Coyote.

Coyote is both inviting and deadly. This is an adventure story that brings forth the rugged frontier spirit buried in the American soul and the colonists rise to the occaision.

Allen Steele just gets better and better and better. Don't miss his latest novel!

#1 Harriet, of course, has beaten everyone to summarize the book, but I think some other criticisms here aren't fair.

I really don't understand the reaction of the previous reviewer to Allen Steele's politics. Yes, a lot of Allen Steele makes me believe he's a pro-union, 1950s, Harry Truman-style Democrat. I doubt Steele and I would agree on much, but his politics are open and clear. He makes a dig at Newt Gingrich and Jesse Helms. So what -- are we Republicans that thin-skinned? I'm not.

Secondly, the idea that this is just "Legacy of Heorot" is silly. Legacy... a brilliant book... was a story about a bad alien with stranging mating habits (something Niven himself mentions in the acknowledgments to Legacy. Coyote is a story about -people- colonizing a new world. If there are similiarities from that, it's only because Steele, like the authors of "Legacy" did his homework.

I would have loved a tad more of Steele's excellent visual descriptions --- the gas giant around which Coyote orbits is mentioned a handful of times, but I never grew tired of the descriptions.

Are his politics distracting to the story? Not at all. Is the story worth reading? Darn tooting! Does this story ring true, does it hang together, is it entertaining? Absolutely.

Well, the Pharmer's Almanac isn't as bad as the laughable "Go Phish," but then that's not saying much. They're currently the only book of Phish setlists out there, which is why they're as popular as they are. If there were other books it would be harder to recommend them, since hopefully the others would have far less factual errors -- which wouldn't be very hard. Don't get me wrong, it's a useful book, especially if you don't have access to similar material on the Web, but there's significant room for improvement.

So many of the reviews are completely meaningless: "Dude... I got so drunk at this show. I forget what they played, but IT ROCKED! " Ok, I'm exaggerating, but many of the reviews have little musical content. For me, I want show reviews to discuss the improvisation and the music, to indicate whether it's a show I should try to get a copy of. Finding out how drunk the reviewer got would just be an added bonus. :-)

Hopefully, as more books about Phish come out, the additional competition will give us books that have less mistakes and better content. Also, and this may just be me, I find it hard to give my money to the people that stole other Phish fans' hard work compiling the setlists document oh so many years ago. (For anyone who missed it, the short version is that the original Pharmer's Almanac was simply a hard copy of a document that other people had put together and were distributing for free online. The fact that anyone would claim it as their own work and charge for it outraged the online Phish community. The current version is certainly far more than that, and significant original effort has gone into it, but they still haven't lived down their earlier "scandal.")

Sorry, didn't mean to go off on a rant there. :-)

The bottom line: If you don't have access to setlists, reviews, and stats because you don't have web access, and absolutely *need* them (which I can completely understand), this book will hold you over. If you have alternative means of getting that information, it may pay to wait for something better to come along.

W. Atsiyem

Its hard to decide on a rating because this book will better suit some Phish Phans then others. The bulk of this book describes every show Phish has done and also which songs were played at which concerts and how many times. If you are a phan who has the time to go to a lot of Phish shows and you are into collecting tapes of Phish shows then this is the book for you. If you are type like me who has most of their albums but doesn't have the time or interest to go to alot of concerts or bootleg searching then you'll probably find much of the book boring. The book does contain some interesting factoids on the members of Phish and some interesting stories from phans including the one who drove in a severe snowstorm risking life and limb to get to a Phish concert. I wish the book would have contained more information on the band members themselves, the meaning of the song lyrics, and some color photos. In short, whether or not you will like the book depends on what sort of information you are seeking out.

Unbelievably, a Phish book accessible to newly-hooked phans and yet one which remains a must-have to any hard-core taper, trader, phact-nut or odinary dedicated phishead. Whether it is to learn more about the band's history, the hidden meanings of songs, or to find out at which shows did "The Landlady" segue into "Destiny Unbound" or how many times did "Antelope" close off the first set (mmmmh....pie graphs...), it's all in there. As an addicted tape-trader, I'll admit that this book is never more than an arm's length away from my tapes: has always proven useful when in need to check/doublecheck/research setlists and get a second opinon on a particular show. People will notice that some early show reviews haven't changed from the book's previous edition, but hey! "If it ain't broken, why fix it ?"

The angry reader's review was an interesting summation of the somewhat disappointing ending the Steele suddenly 'slapped' in there, as the angry reader put it. I don't know, I did like the book and the long explanation of Alec's situation, but the ending was definitely an anti-climax. That Alec would stay on 'The Andy Garcia' for 70 years while tending to the dewars was disappointing for sure. Alec's MINN, Chip, was quite a funny presence, and the Superiors in the novel were engaging as well. I think that Alec's transformation from spoiled rich 'kid' to 'hero' (as the back of the paperback said), was impressive in its own right. However, I failed to see how Alec was a 'hero' in the end, and once again, Steele should have thought harder about it. Oh well....

I can't recomend this book highly enough. Steele manages to paint a suitable bizarre enough picture of the future that you could see it happening. The strong science and brilliant character development, as well as some truely original and entertaining storytelling all combine to glue this book to your hands. I couldn't put it down. This is easily one of the best sci-fi books I've read!

First, I thought it was neat how part of the novel was located in the Saint Louis area, I know some of the places in the book as I grew up there, and I am also a fan of cryonics, so this book and I have a lot in common. I enjoyed the description of how a cryonic suspension works, it seems realistic for the most part.

Some other reviewers gave this book poor ratings, I read a lot of science fiction and I consider this novel to be excellent, the ratings from those other reviewers are questionable to me. For me this novel was a page turner, in fact I devoured it. Steele is very adept with including human interst in the story, with technology in the background as it should be. Character development and plot are first rate, and I will have to disagree with some of the other reviewers again as I thought the ending was very much acceptable. This would make a great science fiction action movie with a bit of cerebral stimulation thrown in! This is good stuff. Steele has the main character, Alec, suspended via cryonics after a fatal accident, and he is re-animated at some point in the future, no more details here so I won't be a spoiler, but if you read it I think you will agree with me that this is a fascinating account of what may someday actually take place, with Steele's no-holds-barred style, my kind of writer indeed, and with the recent Ted Williams cryonic suspension in the news this novel takes on new immediacy.

I took the author's course (at Wharton) on the subject when his book was in its early stages. I went very carefully through the notes (chapters of the book), and I learned a great deal (which is why I have purchased the final product). Given that I had previously used Musiela and Rutkowski ("Martingale Methods in Financial Modelling") in a Columbia graduate course, this was a considerable feat.
Steele, a Wharton Statistics professor, uses financial applications to motivate stochastic calculus from a particular perspective. I have no doubt that he sees stochastic calculus as a field that exists outside of finance and that he does not intend to teach the reader finance theory. His goal, I believe, is to offer a text that is more readable than the classic text of Karatzas and Shreve ("Brownian Motion and Stochastic Calculus"). In my opinion, he has accomplished this goal.
Protter ("Stochastic Integration and Differential Equations: a new approach") does an excellent job, as he is clear and develops the theory in greater generality (using semi-martingales). However, his text is highly theoretical and offers no finance applications. Duffie ("Dynamic Asset Pricing Theory") and Musiela and Rutkowski (above) do not offer the reader the necessary stochastic calculus background.
Lastly, this is a non-trivial subject. For people who do not sit down by themselves and put in the required hours, the outcome will be disappointing.

Mike Steele has used the material in this text to teach stochastic calculus to business students. The text presupposes knowledge of calculus and advanced probability. However the students are not expected to have had even a first course in stochastic processes. The book introduces the Ito calculus by first teaching about random walks and other discrete time processes. Steele uses a lecturing style and even brings in some humor and philosophy. He also presents results using more than one approach or proof. This can help the student get a deeper appreciation for the probabilitist concepts.

The gambler's ruin problem is one of the first problems that Steele tackles and he uses recursive equations as his way to introduce it.

Brownian Motion, Skorohod embedding and other advanced mathematics is introduced and emphasized. After motivating the stochastic calculus and developing martingales Steele covers arbitrage and stochastic differential equations leading up to the fundamental Black-Scholes theory that is important in financial applications. It is not fair to criticize this book for lack of applicability. It is strickly intended to develop a firm theoretical background for the students that will prepare them for a deep understanding of financial models important in applications.

I am not enough of an expert in this area to know if Professor McCauley's criticism in another amazon review of this book is valid, but I do think he is a little too harsh in criticizing the ideology that Steele presents. The ideology is what makes Steele's lectures stimulating and interesting to the students.

Written in an unassuming and humorous style with practical examples and interesting excercises. If you want to learn Stochastic Calculus without forgetting why you wanted to learn it, this is the book. After wading through the books by Durrett, Oksendal and Revuz & Yor, I can say with confidence that for those whose first interest is finance, but who want to actually use Stochastic Calculus, this is the place to start. That is not to say that it is light on the mathematics side, but where possible the financial applications drive the discourse. From a mathematical standpoint, this book covers much of the same material as the delightful "Probability With Martingales", by David Williams. From among finance books I am familiar with, "Financial Calculus : An Introduction to Derivative Pricing" by Rennie & Baxter takes a similar, but less mathematical approach, however I find the explanations in this book more transparent and the excercises more relevant--In the end you will know much more about Stochastic Calculus if you choose Steele.

Being a time-travel stories fanatic (just check out my previous reviews if you doubt that), I was really intrigued when I heard about Chronospace. In fact, I dedicated an entire day to just sit at home and read it (I haven't done this in years!). Imagine, UFOs are really not extraterrestrial vehicles but are actually time machines used by historians from the future who want to study the past. Sounds good, even if somewhat unoriginal, no? Well, the entire book was a mixture of good ideas, but the end product was bad. It's as if the author couldn't make up his mind what he wanted to write about. Time Travel, aliens, paradoxes: these all sound like good ingredients, but SOMEHOW Mr. Steele has managed to get it very, very wrong.
The plot: Franc Lu, a 24th century historian, is being sent back in time to view what happened on the Hindenburg: witness first hand the destruction and what caused it. But somehow, he makes some changes, causing history to diverge and a paradox to be created. A parallel storyline tells about David Zachary Murphy, a scientist working for NASA at the end of the 20th century. David came up with the (correct) theory that UFOs are really time machine. How do both these threads join together? Just barely, and not in an interesting way. Read the book if you want to find out.
To summarize: I DON'T recommend this book. There are far better time travel stories, which cover very similar ideas in a superior way. (check out Joshua Dann's books if you want a glimpse). The reason I'm not giving this book one star is because it did capture my attention for about a third of the book, I was still convinced it might turn out to be a decent one, until this hope shattered.

I am pleased to be the first one to review the new book of fellow New Englander Allen Steele. I enjoy time travel stories immensly, especially those that make sense. This is a magnificent experiment in taking two parallel time streams and crashing them together in a creative, intriguing way. Steele has essentially expanded upon his award-winning short story "Where Angels Fear To Tread" and given it a new beginning and a new ending. It's not often that I read a book that has a cameo appearance...in this case it's the well reknowned writer/scientist Gregory Benford. And fans of sci-fi magazines will like the many references to Analog Science Fiction/Fact magazine. But you MUST read this book from cover to cover to get all of your answers. I was reading along for the first 100 or so pages and enjoying the story that was building. Then suddenly the main character, David Zack Murphy, seems to develop all new characteristics. At first I was shouting "What the...?" But it was resolved in the end in a splendid fashion. "Chronospace" is gripping and tough to put down. The only reason I didn't give it 5 stars is because Mr. Steele needs to scold his editor over a couple of missing words and at least one punctuation mistake. But if that's all I'm nit-picking about, that says a lot for the book and its story.

I, like many other lovers of the sci-fi genre, thoroughly enjoy time travel stories. Maybe it's the idea of visiting the future or (more likely) returning to the past to witness/change the course of history.

Kage Baker, in her "Company" books, solved the problem inherent in all time travel novels - how to handle changes in the past as they affect the future. She posited that one could not change RECORDED history but could affect else (neat trick). Apparently Mr. Steele does not follow that approach and in a way this is the logical path. There are really two tales here. The first involves the Hindenberg and how its success (or failure) affected world events. The second, more realized line, involves the creation of time travel.

Parts of the tale were excellent - particularly the parts that occurred in Tennessee, my home state. I have been to the very lake described in the book and those awkward meetings between future and present folks are the stuff of time travel novels. What the story lacked was polish. It dragged at times, read clumsily at others, and character development was stillborn. All that aside, the author has created a good yarn that was worth the price.

I was sceptical at first but after reading the book and trying the system, I'm convinced. It does really work. It not only shows you how to win money on roulette, but to also keep your money, which is key to winning. Anyway give it a try, you won't be disappointed.

I've been playing roulette for the past 4 years and I have tried numerous systems (7 in total, 4 of the roulette systems I've tried are from other books I bought from Amazon.com) that give you an advantage but nothing compares to the consistent winnings I've had with John C. Steele's Roulette system. This system really WORKS !!!!! If you have tried other systems and have been disappointed like me, I can pretty much bet your search is over. I love his straight, no nonsense approach to winning at roulette, the book guides thru his easy to learn system, his basic system alone his worth the price of the book, his advance system is bonus money maker.

I thought this book was very informative. It gave specific details on the system... The advanced method part of the system really made me lots of money ($850). I even got my wife into it... I strongly recommend this book to anyone and anybody who loves to gamble.

"A Dream Deferred" is imperative reading for anyone wrestling with the issue of the justice of racial preferences. While Steele believes that racial preferences defy the best democratic principles of our country, this book reaches more profoundly than that argument. Steele offers a powerful analysis of why racial politics remain so compelling, even as their practical effect is to work against their purported goal of freedom and equality. He argues that today's racial politics are the product of a "redemptive liberalism" born in the 1960's out of white America's newfound shame and desperate need to expiate it. This redemptive liberalism kindled a "grievance elite", with whom they struck the bargain of racial preferences, simultaneously providing redemption (largely symbolic) for white America and power (largely symbolic) for the grievance elite. Unfortunately, the policies arising from this bargain are necessarily iconographic rather than truly effective. Worse than that, the dynamics of the resulting racial politics put the appearance of racial virtue at such a premium that principles are sacrificed (the very principles that could foster an actual solution), and critics are a priori denied any moral authority to criticize. Groups formed to address once-legitimate grievances too easily become institutions whose continued self-interest depends on suppressing their members as individuals, and in perpetuating the grievances they are meant to address. Along the way, Steele suggests some interesting parallels to the rise of Soviet communism and Nazi Germany, and makes some interesting distinctions between FDR-style liberal politics and post-sixties liberal politics. He ultimately broadens his analysis to find that the success of racial identity politics has inspired the spread of a whole market in redemption for any group that can claim to be aggrieved. This enlightening diagnosis rings all too true.

Mr. Steele makes an eloquent case that "redemptive liberalism," designed not to actually correct problems but to assuage guilt for past sins, has not solved any of the problems of the black underclass, and in fact, is simply a form of lip service used by liberals and black power mongers. He makes clear, and argues persuasively, that "individual rights," not "group rights" are what made this country great and what the Constitution guaranteed and was designed to protect. (Readers of Ayn Rand's works will recognize the same championing of the individual and individual rights in Mr. Steele's book). I believe the depth of his arguments make a factual, logical, objective, and unemotional debate against his position extremely difficult. If a white author had written this book he or she would have be attacked, dismissed, and verbally lynched by the liberals and black power elite. Mr. Steele defines himself as a "black conservative," which most people would consider an oxymoron. The fact that he is a black man, and therefore could not possibly be considered a racist (as a white person writing exactly the same words would be) probably keeps the liberal media, liberal politicians, and the black power elite from mounting an attack on his work...which in turn simply reinforces his arguments!

I believe so strongly in the conclusions of this book that I am seriously considering sending a copy to every Senator and Congressman in the United States. It's that good and it's that important...for all of us.

"Discussions about race" is almost an oxymoron. The positions most people hold are already fixed and there isn't much of the ability to hear the other side that is required to have a true discussion. Too often we simply look for writings and speeches that support our pre-existing notions, praise them as we find them, and think to ourselves, "If only the other side would just see as clearly as I and this author do this problem would not exist!" Or we find an author with whom we disagree and attack him so fiercely because we somehow feel that if we can debase the author we can debase the view with which we disagree.

Shelby Steele has been misused in both those ways. He has chosen a hard road because he writes sincere, thoughtful, and passionate essays that do not merely support or oppose widely held beliefs. Yes, he is attacked as if he were merely a water carrier for the GOP or praised as if all he were about were attacking affirmative action. He is far more subtle than this! Please take the time to read him carefully because there is so much more to gain from his writing, whether or not you end up agreeing with him.

This book consists of one very long and three shorter essays. I hate to summarize the ideas in the essay because they are more thoughtful than any summary I can give and the mere mention of the subjects involved will likely provoke a polarized response to a position already held. What I will say is that if you force yourself to put aside your already firmly held views ad read these wonderful essays with an open mind, you can find insights that can move you to new thinking and attitudes.

The best advice I can give you is to look for how he is challenging your presently held views rather than only noticing how he is challenging those with whom you already disagree. No matter which part of the political spectrum you currently inhabit, you will find a great deal of challenging and edifying writing here that will provide very nutritious food for thought on this important and sadly painful topic.

This book is an excellent reference book on Common Lisp and will serve the experienced Lisp programmer well in that regard. The author has meticulously documented the features of Common Lisp and its relation with other Lisp dialects, such as MacLisp. Readers who know Lisp only marginally can also benefit from the book, for example computer scientists or logicians with a background in lambda calculus, or programmers with a background in functional or logical programming. Users of Mathematica, Reduce, or Maple could also use the book profitably, as it gives insight on the origin of some of the function calls and syntax in these high-level symbolic programming languages. The size of the book prohibits a per-chapter review, but some highlights of the book include the discussion on data types and scoping in the first two chapters. The author summarizes effectively the kinds of scope in Common Lisp. The program structure in Lisp, namely the organization of a program as a function call or a form is outlined in detail. It is this program structure I believe that gives Lisp its power and makes it a more natural language in which to program, at least from a purely mathematical standpoint. The author stresses that function application is the primary method for generating Lisp programs. In addition, the author shows in detail how a function in Lisp can compute several objects and return them; and here again, the approach taken by Lisp is much cleaner from a mathematical perspective than the one taken by other programming languages.

A very good overview of how Common Lisp represents numbers is also given in the book. The discussion is supplemented with a treatment of complex functions and many graphs are given illustrating their behavior, the graphs being generated by PostScript code by Common Lisp code. Also, there is a useful discussion of hashing in and how to implement user-defined structures in Common Lisp.

Also quite interesting is the discussion on the object-oriented extension to Common Lisp called the Common Lisp Object System (CLOS), which is based on generic functions, multiple inheritance, declarative method combination, and a meta-object protocol. The fundamental objects of CLOS are classes, instances, generic functions, and methods, and the author discusses each of these in detail. The use of CLOS has become important recently in the area of constraint programming and its applications.

While you can use the online ANSI HyperSpec, there are stillseveral Common Lisps which are not fully conformant, and used CLtL/2as their base For these Lisps, this book is a must.

In general, I think this book makes a much better reference than the HyperSpec, and I don't think any other book I've seen can compare. GLS is a terrific writer - very clear with a dry sense of humor that pervades the book, and has a number of useful examples. While there are many parts of Common Lisp that can be difficult to comprehend at first glance (e.g., backquotes) GLS's presentation brings a clarity to the effort that makes it a pleasure to read (and in the case of FORMAT, read again and again! ;-)

Read the index carefully for additional humor! END

Readers should be aware that is is not the official specification of ANSI Common Lisp. This book was published before the standardization work was finished, and the final standard disagrees with this book on a number of issues.

Don't let that stop you from buying this book, though; it is an excellent read, contains a wealth of useful information, and is funny as well. Just make sure you use the standard (available freely on the web as the "Hyperspec") as your authorative reference.