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Chimpanzee Cultures: With a Foreword by Jane Goodall
Manufacturer: Harvard University Press ProductGroup: Book Binding: Paperback Similar Items:
ASIN: 0674116631 |
Book Description
Do chimpanzees have something akin to culture? Bringing together studies of behavioral variation within and among chimpanzees and bonobos --the sibling species of the genus Pan--this book provides the basis for answering this question. In Chimpanzee Cultures, the world's leading authorities on chimpanzees and bonobos chronicle the animals' behaviors from one study site to the next, in both captive and wild groups, in laboratory and field settings.
Customer Reviews:
Scientific papers on chimpanzee culture.......2003-11-06
I recommend this book only for those seriously interested in chimpanzees and primate social structure. Others will find this book too dry and scientific, especially when compared to the more anecdotal books written by Jane Goodall.
Great summary of chimpanzee behavior.......1998-12-21
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The Elements of Polymer Science and Engineering: An Introductory Text for Engineers and Chemists
Alfred Rudin Manufacturer: Academic Pr ProductGroup: Book Binding: Hardcover ASIN: 0126016801 |
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THE ELEMENTS OF POLYMER SCIENCE AND ENGINEERING: AN INTRODUCTORY TEXT FOR ENGINEERS AND CHEMISTS
Alfred Rudin Manufacturer: Academic Press, 1993 ProductGroup: Book Binding: Hardcover ASIN: B000KNTE90 |
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The Elements of Polymer Science and Engineering: An Introductory Text for Engineers and Chemists
Alfred Rudin Manufacturer: Academic Pr ProductGroup: Book Binding: Paperback ASIN: B000OH7T58 |
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Solutions Manual for the Elements of Polymer Science and Engineering: An Introductory Text for Engineers and Chemists
Alfred Rudin Manufacturer: Academic Pr ProductGroup: Book Binding: Paperback ASIN: 0126016828 |
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Submodular Functions and Optimization, Volume 58, Second Edition: Second Edition (Annals of Discrete Mathematics)
Satoru Fujishige Manufacturer: Elsevier Science ProductGroup: Book Binding: Hardcover ASIN: 0444520864 |
Book Description
It has widely been recognized that submodular functions play essential roles in efficiently solvable combinatorial optimization problems. Since the publication of the 1st edition of this book fifteen years ago, submodular functions have been showing further increasing importance in optimization, combinatorics, discrete mathematics, algorithmic computer science, and algorithmic economics, and there have been made remarkable developments of theory and algorithms in submodular functions. The 2nd edition of the book supplements the 1st edition with a lot of remarks and with new two chapters: "Submodular Function Minimization" and "Discrete Convex Analysis." The present 2nd edition is still a unique book on submodular functions, which is essential to students and researchers interested in combinatorial optimization, discrete mathematics, and discrete algorithms in the fields of mathematics, operations research, computer science, and economics.
Key features:
- Self-contained exposition of the theory of submodular functions.
- Selected up-to-date materials substantial to future developments.
- Polyhedral description of Discrete Convex Analysis.
- Full description of submodular function minimization algorithms.
- Effective insertion of figures.
- Useful in applied mathematics, operations research, computer science, and economics.
- Self-contained exposition of the theory of submodular functions.
- Selected up-to-date materials substantial to future developments.
- Polyhedral description of Discrete Convex Analysis.
- Full description of submodular function minimization algorithms.
- Effective insertion of figures.
- Useful in applied mathematics, operations research, computer science, and economics.
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The Marquis de Sade: A Life
Neil Schaeffer Manufacturer: Knopf ProductGroup: Book Binding: Hardcover Similar Items:
ASIN: 0679404074 Release Date: 1999-03-30 |
Amazon.com
His immortality may be of a scandalous variety, but the fascination still exerted by Donatien Alphonse François de Sade (1740-1814) is evidenced in this, the third biography of the man to appear in a scant six months. Francine du Plessix Gray (At Home with the Marquis de Sade) and Laurence Bongie (Sade: A Biographical Essay) take arguably more original approaches, but American academic Neil Schaeffer's thorough, carefully researched and argued book is more likely to appeal to the general reader who knows little of Sade beyond the perversion to which he gave his name. In fact, Schaeffer contends, the marquis was hardly a textbook sadist: he liked to be beaten at least as much as he enjoyed inflicting pain, which was a pastime he pursued primarily in his books' scatological fantasies. The author generally attempts to temper Sade's dreadful reputation, placing his escapades with prostitutes and menservants in the European tradition of aristocratic libertinism and pointing up the witty irony as well as the obscenities in works like The 120 Days of Sodom ("the most radical novel ever written"). It's not exactly a pretty picture, but Schaeffer makes a plausible case that the man imprisoned by both royal and revolutionary regimes posed more danger through his unfettered imaginings than through anything he actually did. --Wendy SmithBook Description
A wholly original, compellingly human portrait of the "divine Marquis," the enigmatic legend whose name is synonymous with brutal perversion and desirous cruelty.Customer Reviews:
Not so interesting book about an interesting man........2004-11-01
Not your average French Aristocrat.......2003-03-29
Power and the intricacies of paranoia.......2001-07-31
One would not be remiss in calling the Marquis the father of libertinism. His life and work exemplifies the libertine ethos, that is, "rules are meant to be broken, that the laws of religion and society are artificial limitations without intrinsic value, and that the only law is the law of nature that authorizes any action for the sake of pleasure." (359) The irony, however, is that the king of libertinism spent the majority of his life behind bars, pushing the bounderies, breaking the rules of imposed morality with only his pen and an imagination geared to fulfil his every bent desire. As Schaeffer points out, the greater irony was behind the 18th century pomp and circumstance of the French aristocracy, de Sade's '120 Days of Sodom' barely scratches the surface of how these priviliged wigged lunatics really spent their time. De Sade's true nemesis was a woman: Mme de Montreuil - de Sade's mother in law. She wanted the man out of the way and she succeeded without question.
As a study of character and the way the human mind reacts while incarcerated, this book is a revelation. Of course, similar to most criminals, de Sade believed himself to be innocent; his predicament was always someone else's fault. To a large extent, he was right. But paranoia is a strong emotion, an exaggerated fear of the world against you: jailed for decades for no apparent "real" reason, one's mind will find a reason. Conspiracy theories provide answers and meaning to one's life - or at least an explanation for one's suffering. De Sade's theories, understandably, went beyond the pale. If anything, this biography is a fine study of how far a creative mind will reach for answers when backed against a wall. The letters between de Sade and his wife, Renee, while in prison, would be substantial material for any in-depth study or research project on the intricacies of paranoia. Renee would be the subject of another biographical study of equal stature to de Sade. What a fascinating individual. Reading only the fragments of these letters in the book is worth the time.
The Marquis de Sade would like us to believe that he is a martyr, a victim of hypocricy and social power. This book certainly argues this view well. But de Sade is about extremes; taking our base desires and making them realities, and philosophically justifying these base desires as natural. This argument doesn't work, because to live in society we must abide by the social contract - otherwise there is no society. De Sade, through his literature, showed us how far the imagination could travel to its darkest depths. Compared to the horrors of the twentieth century, however, de Sade's sexual and cruel exploits seem almost quaint.
Reading this book is well worth the effort, if one is interested in the nature of power, the intricacies of paranoia, and an honest account of a man of letters who ranks amongst the best. Neil Schaeffer should be commended.
Too much psychology.......2000-02-17
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At Home with the Marquis de Sade: A Life
Francine du Plessix Gray Manufacturer: Penguin (Non-Classics) ProductGroup: Book Binding: Paperback Similar Items:
ASIN: 0140286772 |
Amazon.com
Lending his name to the term sadism, and synonymous with pornography and sexual perversion, the infamous Marquis de Sade was inarguably mad, bad, and dangerous to know. But the very qualities that were repellent in the man make for fascinating reading in Francine du Plessix Gray's biography, At Home with the Marquis de Sade. The pitfalls of writing about such a scandalous subject are obvious: Sade is so completely associated in the modern mind with extremely degrading sexual escapades that any book about him risks being tarred with the same prurient brush--how does one discuss the Marquis without mentioning such loaded topics as whipping, sodomy, masturbation, blasphemy, or orgies, for example? The answer is, one doesn't; but Gray's focus in this biography is less on Sade's sexuality than on his relationship with the two most influential women in his life: his wife, Pélagie, and his mother-in-law, Madame de Montreuil.It seems even a sadist can love, and in his own way, the Marquis de Sade loved his wife. Even more remarkable is that Pélagie apparently returned his affection devotedly for many years, despite frequent scandals, jailings, and even an affair with her own sister. Gray draws extensively on letters written by Sade, his wife, and his mother-in-law to paint a vibrant picture of an unorthodox marriage, a period of great political upheaval, and a complicated bond between mother and daughter. Gray also places the Marquis's writing in a context that, while forthrightly characterizing it as "the crudest, most repellent fictional dystopia ever limned, the creation of a borderline psychotic whose scatological fantasies have grown all the more deranged in the solitude and rage of his jail cell," also acknowledges its "recklessness and daring" as well as its influence on later writers from Swinburne and Baudelaire to Octavio Paz and Luis Buñuel. Sex, art, religion, and politics--At Home with the Marquis de Sade addresses them all with the intelligence and insight one has come to expect from Francine du Plessix Gray.
Book Description
A remarkable and unparalleled portrait of the Marquis de Sade and the two women who endured his peculiar geniusCustomer Reviews:
The Sorrowful Sade.......2006-05-16
Fair, focussed and informative........2005-09-22
More about the women and not the man...........2005-01-10
The letters of Life.......2004-07-18
In the Gray..............2004-07-16
Thoroughout the book, Gray looks upon her subject rather bemusedly. Horrified at his misogyny and cruelty, she appears skeptical, if not downright cynical towards his occasional outbursts of kindness. In Gray's opinion, Sade was an overgrown child who never grew up to learn the fundamental lesson of 'civilization,' that of controlling our individual passions for the good of the whole. This Freudian-inspired thesis underscores the whole work, where Gray acts like the condescending aunt to a naughty nephew.
The strongest link in the book is Gray's examination of the women in Sade's life, foremost, his docile, all-forgiving wife, Pélagie, and his conformist, propriety-mongering drill sergeant of a mother-in-law, Madame de Montreuil. We get a sense of Sade's relationship with women, caught between the Scylla of Pélagie's adoring meekness and the Charybdis of the Madame's censuring strictness. Sade navigated his whole life between these two extremes, worshipping the one, loathing the other. But to view women as equal, suffering human beings just like himself was impossible. Sade needed both the angel and the harpy.
Where Gray's psychoanalysis proves weakest is with the discussion of Sade's complex and confused sexuality. She never really addresses the question of where his desire fit in. Homosexual? Bisexual? Heterosexual? Pansexual? Sade seemed to include all at once. Whilst such terms were the product of the 19th century, Gray remains silent on where to put the Marquis. Instead, she, like her Enlightenment predecessors, focuses on the sexual acts of Sade's varied repetoire: masturbation, flagellation and of course, 'sodomy,' which she incorrectly attributes to anal sex alone. Even more importantly, she never explores the reason for his being burned in effigy after his bisexual orgy in Marseilles which set him down the road of infamy. He was sentenced to death for having sex with a man, his valet, not for the horrible cruelties inflicted upon two young prostitues. The Ancien Regime tolerated the abuse of women while condemning the 'crime' of homosexuality. And herein lies a key to further examining the Marquis. Were his shocking exploits and even more outlandish writings the outlet of sexual energies he could only express at the pain of death? Gray includes nothing about this paranoid homophobia of Ancien Regime France and of European history as a whole. Instead, she rests her case on the very questionable thesis that civilization is the only bulwark against barbarity. Two devilish European wars of destruction might prove otherwise. Perhaps civilization's 'necessary suppression' breeds the seeds of barbarity itself.
Such questions and many more are left to the reader's musings, while the troubled Marquis never really leaves the page. Gray imprisons him once more in a quagmire of 'original' materials, while the man himself silently rattles his chains at us. 'At Home With the Marquis De Sade' journeys down the hitherto unexplored side-streets of the 'divine' marquis' existence, but ultimately fails to bring him to life. For that, I guess we'll have to wait.
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At Home with the Marquis de Sade: a Life
Francine du Plessix Gray Manufacturer: Penguin Books ProductGroup: Book Binding: Paperback ASIN: B000O3TWEI |
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THE CURSE OF THE UNDEAD: Excerpts from Justine; The Bleeding Nun; The Vampyre; Morella; Excerpts from Carmilla; Excerpts from Dracula; For the Blood is the Life; Softly While You're Sleeping; The Bogey Man Will Get You; Blood; Vanishing Breed
M. L. (editor) (John Polidori; The Marquis de Sade; Matthew Gregory Lewis; J. Sheridan Le Fanu; Bram Stoker; F. Marion Crawford; Evelyn E. Smith; Fredric Brown; Robert Bloch; Niel Straum; Edgar Allan Poe) Carter Manufacturer: Gold Medal - Fawcett Books ProductGroup: Book Binding: Paperback ASIN: B000NRSBUG |
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The Life and Ideas of the Marquis De Sade
Geoffrey Gorer Manufacturer: W.W. Norton ProductGroup: Book Binding: Paperback ASIN: B000TZC3HO |
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The Life and Ideas of the Marquis de Sade
Geoffrey Gorer Manufacturer: Greenwood Press Reprint ProductGroup: Book Binding: Hardcover ASIN: 0313200238 |
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The Life and Ideasof the Marquis De Sade
Manufacturer: Norton ProductGroup: Book Binding: Hardcover ASIN: B000GSIW60 |
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Life Magazine, March 11, 1966, 3/11/66 Batman on Cover , Mad New World of Batman , Superman & Marquis de Sade
article on Adoption by Shana Alexander ProductGroup: Book Binding: Paperback ASIN: B000JD1S0O |
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Marquis De Sade a Life
Neil Schaeffer Manufacturer: PENGUIN PUTNAM * TRADE ProductGroup: Book Binding: Hardcover ASIN: B000SNNK1A |
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Marquis De Sade His Life and Works
Dr Iwan Bloch Manufacturer: Castle Books ProductGroup: Book Binding: Hardcover ASIN: B000JP0D44 |
Product Description
About the strange life of Marquis De Sade. Has 128 pagesBooks:
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