Average customer rating:
- Highly recommend
- The Bedrock of Instruction in the Irish-Style Flute
- The Complete and Essential Tin Whistle books
- It does deserve 5 stars but...
- Excellent, and not just for fluters
|
Mel Bay The Essential Guide to Irish Flute and Tin Whistle
Grey Larsen
Manufacturer: Mel Bay Publications, Inc.
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
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Mel Bay The Essential Tin Whistle Toolbox
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The Complete Irish Tinwhistle Tunebook (Oak Classic Pennywhistles)
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Mel Bay O'Neill's Music of Ireland
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The Clarke Tin Whistle: Deluxe Edition (Book & CD)
ASIN: 0786649429 |
Book Description
For the beginner to the highly advanced player of Irish flute, tin whistle, or Boehm-system flute. Features a simple and penetrating new approach to understanding and notating ornamentation that goes beyond any previous method, exploring ornamentation techniques never described in print before. Also includes adaptations for Boehm-system flute players, guidance on breathing and phrasing, 49 ornamentation exercises, history and theory of traditional Irish flute and whistle music, and 27 meticulous transcriptions of recordings by these important Irish flute and tin whistle players: John McKenna ,Tom Morrison, William Cummins, Séamus Ennis, Willie Clancy, Paddy Taylor, Paddy Carty, Grey Larsen, Josie McDermott, Matt Molloy, Cathal McConnell, Mary Bergin, Donncha Ó Briain (Denis O'Brien), Desi Wilkinson, Breda Smyth, Seán Ryan, Conal Ó Gráda, Micho Russel, Joanie Madden, Kevin Crawford, Catherine McEvoy, and Seamus Egan. For those who don't read music, almost all the! exercises, examples and tunes appear on the two companion CDs. "Grey has, through his research, patience, and diligence, completed a work on Irish flute and tin whistle that I feel is essential reading for anybody interested in getting it right." - Matt Molloy, Irish Flute player with the Chieftains.
Customer Reviews:
Highly recommend.......2007-05-19
Irish flute and whistle style is sometimes difficult to explain, even face to face with an instrument in-hand. Grey Larsen has managed to do it in a book. The Essential Guide is thick and a bit overwhelming at first glance, but it is well organized and can be tackled one chapter at a time. It is a complete treatment of Irish style and ornamentation, incuding correct rhythms and very effective fingerings. Larsen has explained intricate techniques like double-cut rolls and crans clearly and effectively. He has also written chapters on articulation, breathing, and even on how to translate Irish techniqus to silver flute. If you're only going to buy one book on Irish flute and whistle, this should be it.
The Bedrock of Instruction in the Irish-Style Flute.......2006-08-29
This is one of the finest books of musical instruction for any instrument that I have ever read. Grey starts the book with the assumption that the reader knows next to nothing about the Irish style flute and its traditions. Layer by layer he inculcates you into the playing style and the musical heritage of Irish pipers and flutists. He has developed a logical, comprehensive notation system showing the learner how to accurately reproduce the rapid fluttering ornamentations used by Irish pipers/flutists/pennywhistlers. Virtually every aspect of making music with a wooden flute (or pennywhistle) is covered, including ergonomic hand and body positioning, musical breathing, fingering exercises, but mostly how to get THE SOUND of that gorgeous instrument, the Irish-style flute. Grey is a keen observer and analyst who apparently compiled notes for years in order to write this book. This is a labor of love from a great teacher and performer. It will be the foundation of instruction for Irish style flutists for many, many years to come.
The Complete and Essential Tin Whistle books.......2004-09-12
They are both very good books but not really aimed at a complete beginner. These are more for someone who is trying to build a better foundation to their basic playing. Especially if you are trying to undestand ornamentation. These books have very good clear explanations and plenty of exercises to practise them.
If you buy the Essential Guide then you do not really need to buy the Essential Toolbox as most of it is contained in the Essential Guide.
It does deserve 5 stars but..........2004-09-01
...it probably isn't the book to start out with. That's not to say it doesn't have alot to teach because it does. There are lots of exercises and runs and they are on the 2 cds as well. I think you may want to have played a few months before getting this book. There's another book put out just after this one that seems the better one to start with. That is the Tin Whistle Toolbox book. This book here though, the Essential Guide..., has over 30 songs at the end, also on one of the cds, and these are great to learn and play. Some are played on the Irish Flute, which is an octave lower than the tin whistle and not easy to play. What is a little easier is the low whistle which is essentially an Irish flute with a whistle attachment so it's not hard to produce a tone but it is more difficult to play than the regular whistle. It's kind of funny because some of the tunes as I mentioned are played in this octave lower form and so are some of the exercises, and just at random. This is ok though if you have a hankering to play the Irish Flute or Low Whistle because you can get a feel for how they'll sound on these. Since they are an octave lower they are also easily relatable to the regular whistle. There are a couple of good chapters in the book on the Irish Flute specifically related to technique. There's hardly a mention of the Low Whistle so if you're thinking of getting into that check out another book just on the Low Whistle. There is one I see on Amazon if you type in Low Whistle. It also has a cd. Getting back to the Tinwhistle Toolbox book. It's supposed to have more exercises suited for beginners and although it has parts of tunes, for an extra $15.00 you can buy a third book with all 18 tunes complete that are only excerpted in the Toolbox book. Yikes! There's a Teach Yourself Pennywhistle set with a book cd and video if you search in VHS on the Amazon site that's really good if you're just starting out and the Tinwhistle Tunebook by L.E. McCullough has 4 cds and over 100 tunes that are great for learning and for experienced players as well. This is a better bang for your buck than The Essential Guide. That said The Essential Guide is quite a book and if they lower the price or you get it thru a second party seller for less you may well want to get it.
Excellent, and not just for fluters.......2004-03-09
The first few chapters, in which Larsen covers the basics of Irish traditional music, are required reading for anyone wanting to participate in this musical culture, especially if not born into it. The rest of the book is a must have for fluters and whistlers, and will also prove extremely helpful to Uilleann pipers. There hasn't been as thorough an examination of how Irish music works, from any perspective. He introduces a new, clear way of notating tunes that will become the standard. As technical and scholarly as the content is, Larsen is never dry or academic. The two CDs are an added bonus.
Average customer rating:
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Mel Bay The Complete Irish Flute Book
Mizzy McCaskill , and
Dona Gilliam
Manufacturer: Mel Bay Publications, Inc.
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
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Celtic Music for Flute (Book/Audio CD)
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Mel Bay The Essential Guide to Irish Flute and Tin Whistle
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Mel Bay O'Neill's Music of Ireland
ASIN: 0786665890 |
Product Description
While the wooden simple-system flute is traditionally used in playing Irish music, a growing number of folk players have adopted the silver flute as a viable alternative. Here for the first time, The Complete Irish Flute Book presents the silver or Boehm flutist with a method for learning authentic Irish ornamentation! This thorough guide provides detailed fingering charts, exercises, and technical essays for learning to execute ornaments in the in the Irish style. Through a wealth of hornpipes, reels, jigs, set dances, and slow airs and songs. This book focuses not only on musical accuracy, but stylistic authenticity as well. The companion CD contains 26 of the 101 tunes from the book.
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99 Irish Dance Tunes for Flute
Manufacturer: Alfred Publishing Company
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Binding: Paperback
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ASIN: 0769221319 |
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The Irish Fluter 12 Pieces for Flute Based on Reels, Jigs, and Other Traditional Melodies
Colin Fleming
Manufacturer: Mel Bay Publications, Incorporated
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: 0786643668 |
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Mel Bay The Irish Flute
Roger Holtmann
Manufacturer: Mel Bay Publications, Inc.
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Celtic Music for Flute (Book/Audio CD)
ASIN: 0871669099
Release Date: 1983-03-30 |
Product Description
Irish favorites with piano accompaniment and sug- gested guitar chords. Titles include: A Visit to Ireland; Ballahaboy Fair; Bridget McBride; Captain O'Neill; Comely Jane Downing; Crossing the Stream; Fare You Well; For Ireland I'd Not Tell Her Name; Garryowen; Green garters; Kelly the Rake; Kiss Your Partner; Kitty of Coleraine; Larry O'Gaff; Mary's Return; Miss Johnson; My Love is Fair and Handsome; Nora O'Neill; O'Donnell Aboo; Shule Aroon; Tady's Wattle; and many more.
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Music for Three (Irish Music, Fiddle Tunes and Traditional Pop Favorites, vol. 7 , part 1 flute or oboe or violin)
Daniel Kelly
Manufacturer: Last Resort Music Publication
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Spiral-bound
ASIN: B000UCDFQO |
Product Description
Music arrangements for trio with interchangeable parts. Content consists of Irish music, fiddle tunes, traditonal pop favorites.
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Music for Three (Irish Music, Fiddle Tunes and Traditional Pop Favorites, vol. 7 , part 2 flute or oboe or violin)
Daniel Kelly
Manufacturer: Last Resort Music Publication
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Spiral-bound
ASIN: B000UCDGDG |
Product Description
Music arrangements for trio with interchangeble parts. Contents consist of Irish music,fiddle tunes and traditional pop favorites.
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Three Irish Folksong Settings: Voice and Flute
Manufacturer: G. Schirmer, Inc.
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
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ASIN: 0793504309 |
Book Description
Recorded on RCA 60395-2 RG by Robert White, Tenor, and Ransom Wilson, Flute. Contents: The Salley Gardens * The Foggy Dew * She Moved Through the Fair. Duration: ca. 10 minutes.
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True Tree Tales with Celtic Roots!: Stories and Tunes to Make You Grow (Jerry & Nancy Bell Vol.2) (Featuring Irish Harp, Scottish Bagpipes, Flute, Tin Whistle and Tenor Banjo, Vol. 2)
Jerry Bell , and
Nancy Bell
Manufacturer: Jerry & Nancy Bell
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Binding: Audio Cassette
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ASIN: B000N67SDI |
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The Mountain Road
Manufacturer: Coleman Heritage Centre
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: 0953074110 |
Product Description
This compilation of tune (to which there is a companion CD sold separately - ASIN B000FAIHO6) is a learning aid and is part of the development of Traditional Irish Music School at the Coleman Heritage Centre, Gurteen, County Sligo. The versions of the tunes are written in the style they are played in the South Sligo area. The work and researh was undertaken by Colm O'Donnell, Gregory Daly and John Carty. Jackie Small edited the publication.
The tunes are shown with standard and AMC notation, and notes on their associations with musicians. There are 58 tunes including: Apples in Winter, Boys of Ballisodare, The Boys of the Lough, The Carracaste Lass, Chaffpool Post, Colonel Rogers, The Devils of Dublin, Down the Broom, Fred Finn's, Gatehouse Maid, George White's, James Murray's, Jim Donoghue's, Kiss the Maid Behind the Barrel, Lakes of Sligo, Mamma's Pet, Michael Preston's, Michael Reilly's, Paddy Jim Franks's. The Sunny Banks, Tom Ward's Downfall, Williw Coleman's Jig.
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Naughty Nineties (Mainstream Sport)
King
Manufacturer: Mainstream Publishing
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ASIN: 1840181915 |
Book Description
Martin King, author of Hoolifan, his account of 30 years of being in and around the notorious Chelsea gangs of the 1960s, 70s and 80s, brings his story up-to-date in this book. Ironically, he finds that although football hooligans are now a minority, their maturity, experience, and dedication are higher than ever. The firms are smaller but far more dangerous. The style and character of the mobs have changed as has the author, who finds himself evolving from participant to observer as the decade wears on. Despite the picture painted by the media of soccer violence in previous decades, only in the 1990s is it truly highly organized. Most of the confrontations occur away from stadiums, sometimes on days when no matches are being played, so King questions whether "football hooliganism" is in fact the correct description for such activity.
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The Naughty Nineties: A Pop-up Book for Adults
Manufacturer: HarperCollins Publishers
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ASIN: 000411891X |
Average customer rating:
- Watch out for pop-up blockers!
- Getting Hot
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The Naughty Nineties Mini Pop-up
Peter S. Seymour
Manufacturer: Price Stern Sloan
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Binding: Hardcover
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ASIN: 0843135220 |
Customer Reviews:
Watch out for pop-up blockers! .......2006-01-31
Cute pop-up book. The saucy subject matter doesn't go beyond the bare boobie level, opting for frisky over ferocious.
Getting Hot.......2001-07-10
I got this book when my husband and I started to slow down in the bedroom. We are still young and still newlyweds. The book really helped us spice things up in the bedroom. It is very educational and can show you a lot of new things. If you are able, get this book. You will not regret it.
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THE NAUGHTY NINETIES
Unknown
Manufacturer: COLLINS
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000S5J82S |
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The naughty nineties
Angus Wilson
Manufacturer: Eyre Methuen
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Binding: Unknown Binding
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ASIN: B0006CR93I |
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The Naughty Nineties -
Peter Seymour -
Manufacturer: Price Stern Sloan Publishing-
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Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000P13PO2 |
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Naughty Nineties a Saucy Pop U
Rh Value Publishing
Manufacturer: Random House Value Publishing
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: 0517421305
Release Date: 1987-09-09 |
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The naughty nineties, 1890-1900 (Canada's illustrated heritage)
June Callwood
Manufacturer: Natural Science of Canada
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Binding: Unknown Binding
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THE NAUGHTY NINETIES.
Angus. Wilson
Manufacturer: Book Club
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Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000O8TW52 |
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THE NAUGHTY NINETIES.
Angus. Wilson
Manufacturer: Book Club Associates
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ASIN: B000O88NG6 |
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Selling Radio Direct
Michael C. Keith
Manufacturer: Focal Press
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ASIN: 0240800915 |
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One hot dish: the RCA Digital Satellite System is the best-selling new consumer-electronics product in history. (Cover Story): An article from: Indiana Business Magazine
Bill Beck
Manufacturer: Curtis Magazine Group, Inc.
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Digital
ASIN: B00093KCJ2
Release Date: 2005-07-28 |
Book Description
This digital document is an article from Indiana Business Magazine, published by Curtis Magazine Group, Inc. on March 1, 1995. The length of the article is 2082 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.
Citation Details
Title: One hot dish: the RCA Digital Satellite System is the best-selling new consumer-electronics product in history. (Cover Story)
Author: Bill Beck
Publication:
Indiana Business Magazine (Magazine/Journal)
Date: March 1, 1995
Publisher: Curtis Magazine Group, Inc.
Volume: v39
Issue: n3
Page: p8(5)
Article Type: Cover Story
Distributed by Thomson Gale
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Advertising by Charities: A Practical Guide to Raising Money by Press Advertising, Direct Mail, Posters, Radio and Television Appeals and Telephone Selling
Ken Burnett
Manufacturer: Directory of Social Change
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Binding: Paperback
ASIN: 0907164196 |
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Selling Radio Direct - On Target for Women?
Michael Keith
Manufacturer: Focal Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000OPM5A4 |
Average customer rating:
- Non Fiction
- You want this, even if you don't know you want this.
- For Both Jai Alai and Computer Enthusiasts
- Mathematical modeling done right
- An Interesting Mathematical Tale
|
Calculated Bets
Steven Skiena
Manufacturer: Cambridge University Press
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ASIN: 0521009626 |
Amazon.com
You could just as easily call this book How to Bet at Jai-Alai and Win! But that's only half the story. While Calculated Bets might indeed help you make a buck down at the fronton, it's as much concerned with the power of mathematical modeling and computer programming. The story of accomplished mathematician Steven Skiena's longtime obsession with this obscure Basque sport, Calculated Bets uses straightforward mathematics and real-world examples to divine the statistical mysteries behind playing--and, more important, wagering on--jai alai. (Which goes a long way toward explaining why Cambridge University Press is publishing what's basically a book about gambling.)
A self-styled "mild-mannered professor," the conversational Skiena (The Algorithm Design Manual) delivers on his book's many promises, from explaining how mathematical models are "designed, built, and validated" to providing lucid discussions of such topics as market efficiency and the difference between correlation and causation. Even better are his riffs on why real programmers hate Microsoft (hint: it's not jealousy) and the beauty behind interesting curves. In the end, Skiena even puts his money where his mouth is: using a modem, he sets loose an auto-dialing program called Maven that he and his grad students cooked up, sending it off in the wee hours of the morning to cull the Web for stats, play each match a half-million times, and then automatically wager a $250 stake. --Paul Hughes
Book Description
Calculated Bets describes a gambling system that works. Steven Skiena, a jai-alai enthusiast and computer scientist, documents how he used computer simulations and modeling techniques to predict the outcome of jai-alai matches and increased his initial stake by 544% in one year. Skiena demonstrates how his jai-alai system functions like a stock trading system, and includes examples of how gambling and mathematics interact in program trading systems, how mathematical models are used in political polling, and what the future holds for Internet gambling. With humor and enthusiasm, Skiena explains computer predictions used in business, sports, and politics, and the difference between correlation and causation. An unusual presentation of how mathematical models are designed, built, and validated, Calculated Bets also includes a list of modeling projects with online data sources. Steven Skiena, Associate Professor of Computer Science at SUNY Stony Brook, is the author of The Algorithm Design Manual (Springer-Verlag, 1997) and the EDUCOM award-winning Computational Discrete Mathematics. He is the recipient of the ONR Young Investigator's Award and the Chancellor's Award for Excellence in Teaching at Stony Brook. His research interests include discrete mathematics and its applications, particularly the design of graph, string, and geometric algorithms.
Download Description
This is a book about a gambling system that works. It tells the story of how the author used computer simulations and mathematical modeling techniques to predict the outcome of jai-alai matches and bet on them successfully - increasing his initial stake by over 500% in one year! His results can work for anyone: at the end of the book he tells the best way to watch jai-alai, and how to bet on it. With humor and enthusiasm, Skiena details a life-long fascination with computer predictions and sporting events. Along the way, he discusses other gambling systems, both successful and unsuccessful, for such games as lotto, roulette, blackjack, and the stock market. Indeed, he shows how his jai-alai system functions just like a miniature stock trading system. Do you want to learn about program trading systems, the future of Internet gambling, and the real reason brokerage houses don't offer mutual funds that invest at racetracks and frontons? How mathematical models are used in political polling? The difference between correlation and causation? If you are curious about gambling and mathematics, odds are this book is for you!
Customer Reviews:
Non Fiction.......2007-09-03
A university guy looks at mathematically modelling a local sporting event to see if he can beat the odds. He discovers some ineffiencies because of the structure of the game of jai-alai. It is very small stakes betting, but he does come up with something that works.
However, being parimutuel, with very small pools, if there were ever two people doing the same thing at the same time it wouldn't work for anyone.
You want this, even if you don't know you want this........2005-06-07
Steven Skeina, Calculated Bets (Cambridge University Press, 2001)
The first thing you need to know about Calculated Bets is that it is, by far, the most readable book you will ever pick up from Cambridge University Press. One wonders, in fact, how Skeina got past the stuffiness factor that distinguishes so much academic publishing to get this book released. A distinguished university putting out a book on, for all intents and purposes, building a system to bet jai-alai? And yet, I know it exists, as I have held it in my hands and read it.
And a good read it is, too. Skeina takes a look at what may be America's most overlooked and underrated spectator sport and how he created a computer program to automatically bet on jai-alai that actually beat the game (and the book's major failing, in my opinion, is that he didn't get farther into the actual algorithms he used), and uses it as an introduction to jai-alai and an introduction to theoretical programming at the same time. It's not a book for programming junkies as, as I alluded to, you're not going to get anything even remotely resembling hard code. It's also not really a book for handicapping devotees, because while Skeina does talk briefly about the basics of the stuff he plugged into those algorithms, he's going to leave you to do all the real work. And yet, despite both of these things, I loved this book. It may just be the novelty of reading something non-fiction from a University press that actually didn't require having a dictionary next to me (I should note here that much of what I read from university presses is linguistic and literary theory translated from obscure Eastern European languages, and poetry that might as well have been written in those languages and remains untranslated). Skeina has produced an enjoyable piece of work that seems almost marketless. That is a shame, because it's a fun book, and well worth reading.
For Both Jai Alai and Computer Enthusiasts.......2005-01-24
This book documents a simple computer program written by the author to exploit statistical advantages made through the Spectacular Seven scoring system for jai alai. The book is a well written summary of the author's interest in the game which lead him to this project. Like the author, I was an avid jai alai fan in the late 80s before the player's strike destroyed the game. The author matched his interest in jai alai and programming to lead graduate students to write subroutines for a Monte Carlo simulation computer program which won him money before he claims to have abandoned the project. The author is a gifted writer for an otherwise dry text as he keeps reasonable amount of humor and style which maintains your interest.
Mathematical modeling done right.......2002-12-30
To knowledge seekers, the ability to understand and beat a system is the entire game. In this book, Skiena describes how he and some of his students wrote a computer program to win money betting on professional jai alai matches. Along the way, he explains the origins of the game and some of the basic rules, the fundamental bets that can be made as well as the meaning of statements such as pari-mutuel betting. His program does work well, in that he quadruples his money in a short time. Once that is done, he gives the money to a university charity, hoping to make his money from writing this book.
The fact that such a program could be created is not surprising. Jai-alai is a sport where individuals compete one-on-one or in teams of two, and the betting patterns determine the payoffs. It is much easier to simulate these types of matchups and predict the outcome than it is for team games. Baseball managers have been doing such modeling for years. If my memory serves me correctly, the first to do it in major league baseball was Davey Johnson, who kept detailed statistics on all pitcher-batter matchups. All of his decisions concerning who to put up to bat were then based on playing the percentages. That is essentially what Skiena does, although with a different twist. Pari-mutuel betting is where those who wager are betting against each other, so the patterns of wagering determine the payoffs. The patterns of betting are also factored into his predictions. These conditions make it possible for someone to make money creating such a system, but only as long as no one else is doing it. If others begin to use the same system, then the players are betting against each other, destroying the opportunity to make a profit. Therefore, his very act of publishing this book probably means that his system can no longer be used to win at jai-alai betting.
This is an excellent example of how basic mathematical modeling is done. Use data of previous results to form a model of what has happened in order to predict what will happen. Skiena writes with a wit and rigor that is rarely seen in mathematics. Very little mathematics background is needed in order to understand the explanations of the behavior of the program and why it works.
I found this book so interesting that I stayed up very late finishing it. It reads like a novel, but teaches you a lot about mathematics. Instructors in mathematical modeling and computer programming can find many interesting ideas for classroom exercises in it. As long as no one takes it too seriously, it is all in good, clean fun.
An Interesting Mathematical Tale.......2002-02-18
It's an enjoyable read. Pretty light on mathematics and software engineering though. You can easily get through this book in an evening or two and refresh some of your thoughts on modeling and statistics. Steven Skiena keeps a web site ...that's worth a peek and has reading material on this work there. Wish the book had shipped with a CD though so you could play around with his model and simulate a few games of Jai Alai for fun.
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