Games of Life: Explorations in Ecology, Evolution and Behaviour (Penguin Science)

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Amazing Combination

A fine and funny introduction

A Superb Introduction to Contemporary Evolutionary Theory

Pretty good...

informative , funny and easy to read

Games of Life: Explorations in Ecology, Evolution and Behaviour (Penguin Science)
Karl Sigmund
Manufacturer: Penguin (Non-Classics)
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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Evolutionary Games and Population Dynamics

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ASIN: 0140242090

Customer Reviews:

Amazing Combination.......2003-08-13

If you found this book, you are probably either very persistant or very lucky - when I put in the title it doesn't even come up in the first several pages on Amazon's own search engine. In any case, you have come across a real gem.

This book is an amazing combination of mathematics, science, reason and wit. It is a great way for those of us who are not particularly well-versed in biology or math to learn a considerable amount of important knowledge in a short time. Sigmund manages the impossible in this very well-written book: to explain his rather complex subject thoroughly, but concisely, without becoming tedious or condescending.

I found it humbling that someone could be such a good natural writer (I believe English is not even his native tongue) and to have such mastery of a technical subject. While this is not a casual read, it is consistently intriguing and thought-provoking and well worth the effort.

I also find it rather amazing that this book is not a best-seller (at least as far as any book dealing with mathematics and biology can be). It's hard to believe there is anything else out there that attempts to bring scientific knowlege to the uninformed with such profound success.

I would say that the best thing about this book to me was that it showed the inherent logic of life. In this regard, the chapter on the "prisoner's dilemma" was particularly enlightening as to the underlying cause of much of human behavior.

In sum, a brilliant, well-written book that might challenge you, but won't make you reach for your calculator.

As a p.s. years after my original review - while this is out-of-print, it is evidently still in demand. I was hoping to buy a used hardcover edition for my library and can't find any available. The cost of buying even secondhand paperback copies is astronomical. Perhaps another edition is in order???

A fine and funny introduction.......2002-12-17

I'm sorry to see that this book is out of print at the time of this writing. I hope it gets republished.

For one thing, it's funny. Karl Sigmund is a mathematician, and he has a mathematician's sense of humor. (I mean that as a _good_ thing.)

For another, it's very informative. The topics of the chapters are widely scattered -- John Horton Conway's game of Life; predator-prey systems; the Prisoner's Dilemma and the evolution of cooperation -- but what they have in common is their relevance to evolutionary biology, ecology, and psychology. And I don't personally know of any other single volume that introduces _all_ of them to the lay reader -- let alone that does so as well and charmingly as Sigmund's book.

I originally set out to review it because I had just written a review of William Provine's _The Origins of Theoretical Population Genetics_. These two books work pretty well together: Provine gives a "diachronic" account of the historical development of the field (or at least one of its major subfields), and Sigmund gives a "synchronic" account of its present state (or nearly so; the book was written in 1993). Between the two of them, they ought to give the interested reader a pretty healthy sense of what's so intellectually captivating about this field.

Well, if that sounds good to you, pick up a used copy of Sigmund's book. Or maybe, by the time you read this, it will be back in print.

A Superb Introduction to Contemporary Evolutionary Theory.......2000-07-21

In "Games of Life" Karl Sigmund has written a book that manages to be informative, thought provoking and witty as well. He has managed to pull together a number of areas into one cohesive thread; contemprary topics such as complexity in population dynamics, game thoery as applied to natural selection and self-reproducing automata are discussed in a suprisingly clear and intuitive manner. Readers interested in artifical life, the dynamics of population, self organized complexity will find this a stimulating and entertaining read.

Pretty good..........1999-07-02

This book is unfortunately "all over the place", which prevents it from adding up to a cohesive whole. However, it is still a treasure trove of great little tidbits, all dealing with evolution/systems theory in some way, but coming from widely different disciplines and locations. This alone recommends it.

informative , funny and easy to read.......1999-05-16

You'll learn a lot with this one! How can an Austrian Mathematician be so funny?A clear guide to the state of the art in biology.Sigmund makes connections with computer programming,human behaviour,sex, altruism.No unnecessary tedious explanations,complex only when it must be. In short a great book and a great teacher. Do not miss this one!!

Games of Life: Explorations in Ecology, Evolution and Behaviour (Penguin Science)

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Games of Life: Explorations in Ecology, Evolution and Behaviour (Penguin Science)
Karl Sigmund
Manufacturer: Penguin (Non-Classics)
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000OIWT8E

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Games of Life: Explorations in Ecology, Evolution, and Behaviour
Karl Sigmund
Manufacturer: Oxford University Press, USA
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000OKV6PE

Book Description

During the past decade, the field of polymer degradation and stabilization has become a subject of central importance in polymer science and technology. This book provides a fundamental source of information designed for those with only a basic understanding of the background of the field.

International Conference on Advances in the Stabilization and Controlled Degradation of Polymers

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International Conference on Advances in the Stabilization and Controlled Degradation of Polymers

Manufacturer: Technomic Pub Co
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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Polymers & Macromolecules | Chemistry | Science | Subjects | Books

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Polymer Analysis and Degradation
Alfonso Jiminez , Guennadi E. Zaikov , and Guennadi
Manufacturer: Nova Science Pub Inc
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

General & Reference | Chemistry | Science | Subjects | Books

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Book Description

One of the most important features of the technical progress of this century has been deep and wide penetration of polymeric materials into all fields of human life. But, more than a half century of their use has revealed some shortcomings common to all of these materials. Probably the most important of these is the tendency of most synthetic polymers to degradation. Polymer degradation is, in fact, a series of chemical and physical transformations occurring in the polymer during service, processing or storage, which causes deterioration in valuable properties.

Many factors are responsible for polymer degradation, including heat, UV radiation, biological agents and many others. These factors, either separately or together, cause complex processes including cracking, depolymerization, cross-linking, oxidation, etc. They may cause considerable and often quite rapid deterioration of polymer properties leading to a sharp decrease in their useful life.

This volume is organized to provide a wide coverage of new and traditional polymers and their behavior during degradation, as well as the important chemical and engineering aspects of these materials relative to processing and performance in various applications.

Book Description

Professor Ralph Kleinman was director of the Center for the Mathematics of Waves and held the UNIDEL Professorship of the University of Delaware. Before his death in 1998, he made major scientific contributions in the areas of electromagnetic scattering, wave propagation, and inverse problems. He was instrumental in bringing together the mathematical and engineering communities working in these fields, and actively collaborated with a number of colleagues from both communities. It was in Professor Kleinman's memory that leading researchers in the fields of wave propagation, scattering, and applied mathematics gathered for an international conference at the University of Delaware in November 1998. This Research Note comprises papers on these topics presented at the conference along with other contributions by Ralph's colleagues. The papers consist of authoritative overviews by experts in their fields and new results from leading researchers. With many of the contributions multidisciplinary in nature and presentation of recent advances, Analytical and Computational Methods in Scattering and Applied Mathematics will prove of interest to engineers working in electromagnetics and wave propagation and to applied mathematicians working in partial differential equations and inverse problems

Book Description

Three stories are told: a young Southerner wants to become a writer; a turbulent love-hate affair between a brilliant Jew and a beautiful Polish woman; and of an awful wound in that woman's past--one that impels both Sophie and Nathan toward destruction.

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One of the two or three finest novels about the Holocaust, Sophie's Choice encapsulates through Sophie's anguished story the sweep and brutality of history. The basis for a famed and honored movie with Meryl Streep (Academy Award Winner), the novel has ga

Customer Reviews:

DEVASTATING.......2007-09-22

While the movie version of this book features an indelible performance of Sophie by the lustrous Meryl Streep, Styron's novel is in all ways richer, thicker, yet more taut and horrifying than the movie could ever be. This is one those books you become invested in; you can't put it down yet it draws you closer to the flame. It has never left me after 20 years. One of the all-time best novels about World War II, with almost tangible descriptions of places you know - like Brooklyn - and places you hope you never know - like Auschwitz.

Other Books.......2007-09-03

Sophie, a woman, is a concentration camp survivor. This has left her, not unsurprisingly, with a lot of problems.

This carries over into her life in the United States, and the relationships she has, in particular with one man. He is also an unstable and broken individual.

This is not set up to be a happy story.

Powerful, poignant - a modern classic.......2007-08-22

The cover for the edition I read looks like a romance novel, and the first third of the book reads like one, albeit a tortured one.

Then the core of the story is revealed, with Auschwitz and all its horrors taking center stage. I have read books with brief mentions of the camps, and of course seen Schindler's List, but this was by far was the clearest rendition of the evils performed there.

A hard read at times, but a necessary one.

The best-written character lost in dreck.......2007-08-07

In academic discussions, I have heard the nature of Sophie's actual 'choice' for decades. I decided I ought to read a book from which the central choice is so often quoted.

For those interested in Holocaust Studies, this is not the book you're looking for, and I urge you to seek out nonfiction accounts; this is a novel about a young American man's postwar intimate relationships and (sexual and creative) maturation.

For those who, like me, have heard of Sophie and her choice, I must say that in her, Styron creates a fascinating and, sometimes, brilliantly executed character. Her own Polish identity, her anti-Semitism, her choice-making moments throughout her life, and her compromised sense of self are facets of a richly dimensional character. Styron's struggles to write about an abused and damaged woman sometimes fail quite badly, though; especially (but certainly not only) those of us who've been abused may notice how he often mischaracterizes the felt experience.

The reason for my two-star review, however, is one I share with others; the main character of Stingo, which certainly seems quite autobiographical at times, takes up far more of the narrative and is far, far less interesting than Sophie, unfortunately! How could the author not tell, when finished, that his title character was much more compelling? I do believe I understand the ways he attempted to interweave the narratives of the different characters, but for most of the book, I wished this sighing, beer-drinking, horny boy would step aside so I could hear more of Sophie. Perhaps it is merely that I can't identify with the main character at all, perhaps [mild spoiler follows here] it's that at some point he invariably wishes to hit and/or rape every young woman with which he meets up, but for the most part, it's that he's just not that interesting. And although the two main characters profess a disdain for Freudianism, the whole book is so laced with layman's psychobabble that it added to my tedium. All in all, this was a somewhat tiresome book featuring one gripping character who, alas, is not the main character.

A 20th Century Materpiece.......2007-06-10

This is probably my all-time favorite book. I originally read it several years ago and I read it again every year or so. The first time I could hardly put it down. At times funny and tragic but, always mesmeriziing. It is the story of a Polish-Catholic woman with a terrible, almost unbelievable secret and her relationship with her drug-addicted lover and the young writer who becomes their friend and ultimately relates Sophie's story.
The subject matter may make some readers uncomfortable but, it is worth the effort for not only the story but, for the wonderful skill in the use of the language Styron uses in telling it. I would recommend this book to everyone.

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Sophie's Choice - A Novel
William Styron
Manufacturer: Random House [ NY
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
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ASIN: B000JD2FCO

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Sophie's Choice
William Styron
Manufacturer: Bantam Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Contemporary | General | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 0552116106

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Sophie's Choice.
William. Styron
Manufacturer: Random House c
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000KIPU3E

William Styron's Sophie's Choice: Crime and Self-Punishment

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William Styron's Sophie's Choice: Crime and Self-Punishment
Rhoda Sirlin
Manufacturer: University Press of America
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0761821821

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Sophie's Choice

Manufacturer: Bantam, 1980
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000HFWVQY

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LA Decision De Sophie/Sophie's Choice
William Styron
Manufacturer: Grijalbo Mondadori Sa
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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The Other Choice: A Comprehensive Guide for Women with Uterine Fibroids

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Dr Bartsich is the fibroid KING
Some Decent Info But You Can Do Better
There are better books about fibroids
Simple yet Amazing!

The Other Choice: A Comprehensive Guide for Women with Uterine Fibroids
Sophie Bartsich , and Ernst G. Bartsich
Manufacturer: Xlibris Corporation
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Health, Mind & Body | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 0738826065

Book Description

Until recently, the general approach of medicine has been "if something is falling, remove it." The key for a patient is not to make "a Supreme Court decision," by taking the number of doctors who say yes versus the number who say no. The objective is to become as well informed as possible and make a decision based on your own preferences and the knowledge that you acquired through appropriate research.

Dr. Stanley Birnbaum There once were some solid arguments in favor of hysterectomy versus a myomectomy. Today, many of these arguments are obsolete. Still, gynecology remains a male-dominated specialty, where the bulk of surgeons still hold a "proprietary view of women's bodies." "Doctors respond to what their patients want," and patients now want the whole story.

Customer Reviews:

Dr Bartsich is the fibroid KING.......2006-11-21

All I will say is this...I have struggled with fibroids for years and Dr Bartsich is a gift...he is the best doctor/surgeon you can ever ask for. If you struggle with fibroids he is the doctor you want.

Some Decent Info But You Can Do Better.......2003-07-30

"The Other Choice" does contain some very useful information, and I am entirely in agreement with its sentiments about unnecessary hysterectomy and doctors who fail to inform patients about alternatives to hysterectomy. However, it is heavily skewed, in my opinion,in favor of surgery other than hysterectomy - primarily myomectomy - and against other treatment alternatives. The valuable information in this book is readily available, without the prejudices, in at least a dozen other publications. Another reviewer here has mentioned several of those volumes.

All things considered, I really don't like "The Other Choice" much. In fact I find it arrogant in places. Examples of the types of things that led to my feelings follow:
(1) This book criticizes doctors who recommend hysterectomy due to the fact they don't do myomectomies themselves; then it goes on to praise myomectomy (a procedure performed by one of the authors - a gynecologist), and to criticize another procedure, Uterine Artery Embolization (UAE), largely on the ground that it's performed by radiologists and not by gynecologists (in other words NOT performed by the author). To me this is a real double-standard. It's like saying, it's bad for other doctors to say stupid things about procedures they don't offer; but it's fine for me to say stupid things about procedures I don't offer!
(2) It lists "dangerous" side-effects for UAE without mentioning that most of the same side effects apply to myomectomy - side effects of UAE seem emphasized to the hilt, while side-effects of myomectomy appear to be down-played or glossed over. In other words, it is not even handed.
(3) It repeatedly reinforces the misconception that fibroids can "grow back" - when in fact the old ones don't grow back - though you could get NEW fibroids.
(4) The last 45 - 50, of it's approximately 110 pages consist entirely of what I consider to be advertising for Dr. Bartsich and a few other docs, sort of a big infomercial which you have paid to be subjected to.

Additionally, I find this book to be poorly referenced. While there's a little bibliography at the end, I can't tell what sources (if any) the authors are depending on for which information. Even when possibly based on scientific evidence, "The Other Choice" does not seem to me to be at all even handed about weighing that evidence. I like solid evidence to support my medical facts not emotion or theory or hearsay or wishful thinking - or the popular "professional" opinion/argument of the moment (which may or may not be supported by actual scientific evidence). I expect to hear from professional authors what the basis is for their statements. I think that would be the "professional" way to do it. I do not feel that was done here.

This is a tiny book which skims over things in my view - and which I feel is not worth paying for. I think you can get a lot more and better information for a lot less money. Much of "The Other Choice" seems to me more like propaganda than anything.

There are better books about fibroids.......2003-06-18

I've read nearly a dozen books about fibroids over the past two months, and this book has been the least helpful. It's not worthless because it does encourage women to get a second (or third or fourth) opinion about treatment for fibroids. However, "The Other Choice" is not terribly well-written, not altogether factual, and at times is rather sensationalistic.

In my opinion, there are quite a few other books about fibroids and treatment options that are much better than this one. I encourage women seeking information to read "What Your Doctor May Not Tell You about Fibroids" by Goodwin & Broder, "The First Year--Fibroids: An Essential Guide for the Newly Diagnosed" by Johanna Skilling, "Uterine Fibroids: What Every Woman Needs to Know" by Nelson Stringer, and "Sex, Lies, and the Truth About Uterine Fibroids: A Journey from Diagnosis to Treatment to Renewed Good Health" by Carla Dionne, as well as a more general book about women's health, "A Gynecologist's Second Opinion" by William Parker.

Don't forget that knowledge is power!

Simple yet Amazing!.......2001-01-11

"The Other Choice" is a well written, intelligent, and straight to the point book that tells you all you need to know about uterine fibroids not only on a surgical and medical level (not excluding the financial level either!) but also by giving women an emotional and psychological perspective to what it really means to have and to have to deal with these fibroids. Ms. Bartsich's exquisite style of writing is refreshing for those who are tired of trying to make sense of all the jargon found in most medical books. Before she even begins to go into any medical explanations and/or facts, Ms. Bartsich thoughtfully prepared an index for all important and relevant terminologies used in the medical field in regards to fibroids by including a comprehensive definition for each term. I highly recommend this book for all women to read and to discuss with other women who might have had this problem or are currently going through the dilemmas of trying to make a choice in regards to what would be best for them! not their doctor.

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Sophie's Choice
William STYRON
Manufacturer: Random House
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000OPFS7Q

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Sophie's Choice

Manufacturer: Easton Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Leather Bound

Product Description

AUTOGRAPHED Brand new leatherbound book accented in 22kt gold.

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