4 comments about The Systems View of the World: A Holistic Vision for Our Time (Advances in Systems Theory, Complexity, and the Human Sciences).

1. 
   Systems thinking is more than another new field of scientific and philosophical research. It leads to a new world view, integrating the sciences of nature and man. It is a world view for our times, explaining some some of our most cherished successes and some of our most distressing problems, and showing ways to resume progress toward new achievements. Knowledge of systems thinking is a key to understand modern developments in areas such as physics, business management, ecology, politics, natural resources, etc.
   

   Ervin Laszlo is one of the most important contributors to the development of systems science and philosophy. With "The Systems View of the World" he achieved a remarkably accurate condensation, in a hundred clearly written and pleasantly readable pages, of the fundamental ideas of systems thinking.
   

   The book begins contrasting the systems view of the world, based on integration an understanding of relationships, with the atomistic view of the world, based on decomposition and understanding of parts. He proceeds presenting the concept of system, leading the reader through a series of distinctions and examples. It is interesting to remark that Laszlo does not present a definition of system, coherently with the idea that system is a basic, primitive concept.

   
   Laszlo follows with the explanation of the systems view of nature, summarized in four propositions, which are developed and exemplified:
   1. Natural systems are wholes with irreducible properties;
   2. Natural systems maintain themselves in a changing environment;
   3. Natural systems create themselves in response to self-creativity in other systems;
   4. Natural systems are coordinating interfaces in nature's holarchy.
   

   The book's final part deals wit the system's view of ourselves. To do this, Laszlo begins from our cosmic origins, proceeding to the appearance of matter, life, consciousness and finally culture. He emphasizes the importance of values and explains why even traditional values, in spite of their permanent character, must be reformulated to meet the requirements of our times. Laszlo shows how the systems view of the world has a place for freedom and differentiation in an integrated world. He finishes the book stressing the role of religion in human life and proposes that the systems view of the world may offer some openings for conciliation of science with the different religious traditions.




2. If you would like to learn about systems theory with minimal background knowledge, this is an excellent book! It shows how we are all inseperable parts of nature and that everything we do to everyone and everything else influences ourselves as well. It shows us how nature is organized into many levels of whole units. It eloquently shows how we are all parts of larger whole units made of smaller whole units. It is just a wonderful book that reminds us of our connection with the rest of the universe. If you are interested in systems theory, I also recommend another super-fascinating book called "The Ever-Transcending Spirit" by Toru Sato that discusses this in relation to human consciousness. It is also one of my favorites! I am sure you will feel that these books are well worth the money.



3. Ervin Laszlo, one of the greatest minds contributing to systemic theory, has done an excellent job of introducing this construct which takes one "outside the box!" Opening the door to bring heightened awareness of Self and the universe, Laszlo presents systemic and holistic thinking in invitng simplicity, while facilitating the exploration of the same. The world which Laszlo opens to the reader is a world that can inspire visionary thinking, leading us to a more peaceful, understanding existence. I strongly recommend anyone to follow Laszlo into a world of holism, growth and new paths to a more peaceful world!



4. I enjoyed reading this book which elaborates on systems theory and natural systems. I only wish the politics could be left out. I am interested in the science not the liberal slant characteristic of academia.

5 comments about Fundamentals of Physical Acoustics.

1. I find this book clear and concise. This is the reference I use most often at work when I want insight into the physics behind a noise or vibration problem.



2. I think this is one of the best books on Physical Acoustics.
   I would recommend this book to anyone starting to learn acoustics. This statement does not mean that advanced students should not go for this book, as it also covers advanced materials.
   
   My opinion about the book can resumed as follows:
   
   - Clear and concise
   - Very good presentation
   - Relatively easy to follow
   - Very good for self-studying (plan to study the book is recommended by the author)
   - There is a derivation (or instructions on how to get) to almost every equation in the book.
   - Not too theoretical. Many practical interpretations of the mathematical results are given. (percentage of mathematics well balanced)
   - The author makes apparently difficult material simple!
   
   From this book one can jump to more advanced texts (Theoretical Acoustics by Morse and Ingard and Acoustics - An Introduction to its Physical Principles and Applications by Pierce).
   
   Fundamentals of Acoustics by Kinsler et al is also a good book for a beginner, but I think this one is much better.
   
   Moral of the story, I really like this book!
   
   Ps: This is an opinion of a beginner on Physical Acoustics more interested in air applications, that never had lessons about this topic. I don't know if my opinion will change as my knowledge on this field increases:) I doubt it!



3. This book is geared towards graduate and upper undergraduate students in physics and engineering. The first nine chapters of the book are restricted to plane waves. Thus the first half of the book introduces the reader to a wide variety of acoustical concepts such as propagation, reflection, transmission, refraction, normal modes, horn theory, absorption, and dispersion. All the while, the first half of the book keeps mathematical complexity to a minimum. The second half of the book relies more on advanced mathematics and is a survey of advanced topics dependent on the reader understanding the first nine chapters of the book. For the second half of the book, it will be helpful if you know calculus as well as differential equations. Each chapter has plenty of exercises so you can practice what you've learned.
   
   Although the coverage is not as broad as Kinser's book on acoustics, this book does a much better job of explaining the foundations of acoustics including the math, which can get quite involved. I really love how Blackstock makes use of figures when explaining concepts and adding in the mathematics to the figure explanation in a way that you will remember the material. My advice is that if you are looking for a good introduction to acoustics, this is the book to read. Once you conquer this and you want something broader that goes into such topics as nonlinear acoustics and underwater acoustics, you probably want to look at Kinsler's "Fundamentals of Acoustics". The following is the table of contents:
   
   1. Introduction
   2. Detailed Development of the Acoustical Wave Equation.
   3. Reflection and Transmission of Normally Incident Plane Waves of Arbitrary Waveform.
   4. Normal Incidence Continued: Steady-State Analysis.
   5. Transmission Phenomena: Oblique Incidence.
   6. Normal Modes in Cartesian Coordinates: Strings, Membranes, Rooms, and Rectangular Waveguides.
   7. Horns.
   8. Propagation in Stratified Media.
   9. Propagation in Dissipative Fluids: Absorption and Dispersion.
   10. Spherical Waves.
   11. Cylindrical Waves.
   12. Waveguides.
   13. Radiation from a Baffled Piston.
   14. Diffraction.
   15. Arrays.



4. I knew I liked this book when I read section C of the introduction:
   
   "How is the wave equation derived? Three common physical systems that carry waves - the electrical transmission line, the flexible string, and the compressible fluid - are considered in this section."
   
   I needed a practical book to help me when I somehow volunteered myself to perform some acoustic experiments at work. They kind of said "Hey, you're a physicist. Can you do this?" And then I said "Uh... sure." I read through what I could find in Halliday and Resnick, a book I like for its simplicity. But then I needed something more complicated, so I bought Morse and Ingard, which was way too much. Then I found this book.
   
   And its a good thing I did. The book uses the wave equation to solve each of these problems, and if you pay attention, you can assemble a nice, general approach to solving problems of this nature, and you'll have a list of analogous variables when you're done. The whole book is written like this. It's not an ASM Handbook by any means, but it is more practical than Morse and Ingard, has more drawings and diagrams, and I was surprised to find one of the cleanest, simplest descriptions of Bessel functions I've seen yet. The book addresses the complex problems without doing endless integrals, and it whenever possible it works through the problem and doesn't rely on phrases like "the reduction of step X to step Y is left as an exercise for the student" in its derivations. I appreciate this - it makes the book more friendly as a reference text.
   
   Also, when I was a graduate student I never paid attention to literature references in text books because I (naively) considered them to be outdated. But a literature search is one of the best tools I have available to me in the working world - if you have access to a literature database, you will find the literature references at the end of some chapters to be very useful.
   
   Consider it a useful reference text, and probably a practical textbook as well.



5. Having only got through the first few pages I can say that it is well written and written in a style that explains everything clearly.
   No complaints at all.

5 comments about The Social Atom: Why the Rich Get Richer, Cheaters Get Caught, and Your Neighbor Usually Looks Like You.

1. It seems like yesterday that I picked up a book that would shape the way that I would look at the social world forever. That book was the "Sociological Imagination" by C. Wright Mills. In that particular book, Mills attacked the status quo of social theorists who created "grand theories" without understanding the way that social interactions actually occurred. From the moment that I finished his book as I worked on my masters degree I had scrutinized every attempt that another theorist has made at explaining the world, carefully watching those who would try and imprint their own values into wayward theories which sound good to some people, but fail miserably to contain the truth.
   
   Then along comes Mark Buchanan who writes this amazing book "The Social Atom." He presents a rather intriguing argument that we could understand the world far better if we examine patterns more closely. Initially I was skeptical that a physicist could apply his education into social theory, but Buchanan's comments about feedback were enough to open my eyes to the genius of his book.
   
   I firmly believe that anyone who is involved in the social sciences should give this book a thorough reading. I think it has the potential to help us understand our world and maybe help us make it a better place.



2. "The Social Atom" presents some basic ideas from the field of agent-based behavioral modeling, with examples and applications like stock market pricing, residential segregation, and inequality of personal income. The approach has been around for a while (it got started in the 70s), but now that more work is being done it is a good time for a popular book on the subject.
   
   The strong points of this book are: 1) clear writing for non-scientists, and 2) interesting examples like those mentioned above. However, the book is very simplified, non-quantitative, and lacking in details. Science writing for the popular market is always a trade-off between "too hard" and "too easy," but many readers will want and expect more information than this book provides.
   
   That said, for readers without a science background, this book would be an interesting and understandable introduction to the agent-based way of thinking.



3. In this book Buchanan makes the astute observation that humans are much like the atoms that physicists study. His assumptions are accurate when put in terms that atoms, like people, are complex and yet simple structures that when left on their own behave in certain, predictable ways. The author points out that if you join two or more atoms together something completely different can emerge, yet there are still patterns in their behavior that can be predicted. He suggests that if our goal is to be able to predict human behavior; then it is these observable and researched "social atom" patterns that we need to study (p.10).
   Buchanan proposes that the social sciences have failed to enlighten us on the subject of human behavior by erroneously looking too closely at the individual instead of looking at the patterns of behavior, given a societies rules and values (p.17). He also suggests that the economists perspective of "self interest" is even more outdated; using theories and rules of behavior that do not exist in reality, but only in economists minds and classrooms (p.17-18). His thought is that we can uncover the patterns that influence human behavior and find a balance for predictability that has as of yet, alluded us.
   Buchanan sums all of his theories and evidence together to basically prove two points;
   1. That human behavior can be studied from a scientific, empirically researched, position. 2. That we can indeed predict human behavior; and therefore the economy.
   Overall The Social Atom is an intelligent and witty book, written by an intelligent and witty man. Buchanan takes a fairly dry and boring subject and makes it more fun to look at. He does not write in the scholarly tone of a physicist; he uses everyday language that can be understood by anyone willing to venture into the topic of predicting human behavior.
   The research he uses to support his hypothesis is current and entertaining to read, though a bit redundant by the end of the book. I do not find that his ideas for predicting human behavior as a hard science are new, though his reflections seem to put it into a well thought out plan of action. He is not the first person to use the term "social atom," nor do social scientists study one person and pass those conclusions onto the rest of humanity. In their defense, social scientists have been studying patterns in behavior for years.
   The book can be read by the multitudes and perhaps give them humorous insight into the field of economics and social science and how these "experts" on behaviorism and prediction think. His feeling that human behavioral patterns can be studied as a hard science, as much as patterns in physics can be, is enlightening... but then I never thought it couldn't be.



4. I bought this largely on the strength of the jacket blurb by Mike Davis, which began "Seldom has a book so infuriated me yet kept me tightly gripped to each page." As it turned out, I shared his fury at the author's arrogance, overwriting, meandering, and frequent self-indulgent screeds. As it also turned out, I was not gripped by the book; on the contrary. Though there are certainly nuggets of insight, the book is poorly written and poorly argued. Other reviewers have commented on the free use of straw man arguments and gratuitous digs and on the incoherence of style; I won't repeat their criticisms, though I certainly mean to second them. I barely recognized familiar economic views through the filter of the author's scorn, and found his jejeune comments about post-modernism appalling: no, one does not have to BE a sympathizer with it, but one DOES need to offer a nuanced and sympathetic view of the theoretical perspective one intends to diss. And it is one thing to claim to have found problems with 'rational man' presumptions, and thus to want to emphasize other factors bearing on decisions--as Kahneman so brilliantly does--and quite another to claim that one has identified the SOURCE of these other things...and still another to claim (without argument) that the source is to be found in evolution, as it is understood by the evolutionary psychologists. The wholesale embrace of evolutionary psychology was not defended, nor does the author seem to have any awareness that there are powerful criticisms of both the methodology and substance of evolutionary psychology notably those that claim that it alternates between offering utterly empty hypotheses and utterly ungrounded ones. The weakness of the writing, the weakness of the argument, and the arrogance of the author overshadowed the few, small, good things in the book. As several other reviewers have pointed out, one can find those good things in other places, with clearer presentations and more cogent argumentation.



5. As an avid reader of the late, great Isaac Asimov's fabulous "Foundation" novels in my miss-spent youth, I was thrilled to read this book. I see it as the first faint glimmering of the possibility of developing the kind of social science which Asimov described in his novels. Buchanan does a great job at exposing the failings of current economic orthodoxy and points to an entirely compelling way forward toward a future of evidence based social policy making -- the current lack of which seems to be pushing us rather strongly in the direction of a new Dark Ages.

4 comments about Mastering Music at Home.

1. I stumbled on this book at a book store and it was a lucky find.It's new so it's up to date with current trends in software plugins.If you are just getting into so called mastering like me this is a must have.There is a good balance between areas dedicated to software versus hardware approaches,interviews,history and current trends in technology,etc...
   This is more basic than Bob Katz book on the same subject,so if you are just getting started on home mastering and want a comprehensive overview of everything involved I highly recommend this book.If you are more advanced maybe take a look at the Katz series.
   If you are planning on taking the software/plugin approach to mastering then this is the one book that addresses everything.In fact,in the interviews mastering engineers recommend starting with software even though very expensive hardware is better right now.Allthough you could probably find most of the info in this book scattered all over the internet it's great to have it all in one place.



2. I want to preface all my following comments by saying this is NOT a BAD book. I think many new Mastering students will learn from this book. However, don't expect to get any deep hidden secrets. You will get a lot of helpful and well articulated tips from this author and the very highly respected and accomplished collaborators. Worth the money.



3. Whether you want to learn to master your home recordings or not, this book is a must-have for any home studio. The information in this book will give you a good understanding of just what mastering entails which can translate into you making better recordings in the first place, so you would benefit even if you ultimately have your recordings professionally mastered. However, the focus of the book is to help you to learn to master recordings yourself!
   
   Author Mitch Gallagher manages to demystify much of the art of mastering. He has a knack for presenting technical information into laymen's terms in a way that does not water it down. His writing style keeps it interesting too, which is a neat trick for so technical a subject.
   
   There are interviews with pro mastering folks loaded with insight and tips. But not only do you get to read about these tips and techniques, but you get to hear them to! The included CD contains samples of music these folks have mastered. Even more cool, the pre-mastered songs are also included, so you can hear the difference. Plus, you can try to master these tracks yourself and see how close to the pro masters you can get them to sound!
   
   There's even a section on Separations Mastering, where groups of tracks (e.g. guitars, bass, drums, vocals) are mastered individually before summing. It's a very flexible technique, and Mitch interviews the premier pioneer of it, John Vestman. The CD contains a sample of a track done with Separations Mastering along with the raw separation tracks for you to practice on.
   
   Regardless if you want to master tracks at home or just improve your home recordings, this book will give you a great understanding of what mastering is, and what can and can't be done with it. And it manages to do this in an easy-to-read style that is both informative and enjoyable.



4. this book clearly defines basic mastering techniques such as compression, equalization, etc, along with some general methodology for each. the interviews with well-known mastering engineers are also helpful.

5 comments about Introduction to the Creation of Electroacoustic Music.

1. this book has some very good aspects and some not-so-good ones; mainly, the chapters on computer music and MIDI production are swiftly going out of date, and there is no way to keep it updated without yearly appendices to the text itself. the book covers analog tape recording and splicing in good detail, especially for someone trying to do it on his/her own with no official teaching of it. pellman's listening guides are excellent as well.



2. It's good that Sam has written down so many of his ideas, becuase he could never remember them if he didn't. I found this book was good. for reading.



3. This book covers everything you need to know about Music and new technologies field. From physics of sound to complex MIDI network technology and it ends with perfect chapter of Audience in Electroacoustical Music. There are also etudes (excercises) which makes you practise what you have learned.
   The only chapter I don't like was the "Composing Electroacoustic Music", which is really not enough for people who really intend to compose serious music. First he starts with the basics of music and on the next page you see 12-tone row and advanced 20th century compositional techniques. There are no Beethoven, Debussy etc. that made a lot for Schoenberg's 12-tone system. But there are other books that will teach you that.
   Even if most of the text is out of date, it's one of Introductional books to this field of music.
   I believe it is a School Book in the university in US where mr. Pellman teaches.
   At the end... even my 50 years old father understood the text in the book. It's very well written and understandable for the most uneducated newcomers.



4. With the Electroacoustic Music (EAM) field continuing to take hold in the popular sectors of consumerist American society, it is not surprising to see a growth of instructional manuals, DIY tomes, and textbooks surfacing. For most purposes, Pellman's reduced text stands out as being rather accessible, if not downright cogent, as a primer for the EAM genre in terms of explicating digital sound basics, acoustical properties basics, and elementary compositional methods.
   
   The section of the book speaking about MIDI is outstanding. Pellman's accurate reproduction of the MIDI 1.0 Specifications through a rudimentary lens is the best portion of this text as he guides readers through the ins and outs of operational messages, control and data functions, and practical applications. Also, the chapters on MIDI are well-appointed with diagrams and photographs aplenty, leaving little doubt in the mind of the reader about which his generally clear text speaks.
   
   Not all of this book is as eye-pleasing, easy-to-follow, or even up-to-date as it should be, however. While historically important to do so, Pellman spends far too much time on working with magnetic tape. There are very few institutions still working with magnetic tape, and for the casual or amateur music maker, an Otari 4-channel reel-to-reel is conspicuously absent from his or her studio, making home or casual usage of these chapters worthless. Pellman should keep the historical aspects here and make a cursory overview of how tape was manipulated, but leave well-enough alone after a small hat-tip.
   
   From a pedagogical standpoint, there are two rather serious issues that surface. Primarily, Pellman attempts to instruct compositional approaches to EAM through using serial (dodecaphonic) rows. This is a nasty snafu on the author's part largely because this will subconsciously say to students that "everything you do in this field has pitch." Not so at all. Also, for those people who use this text and cannot read music (or could care less about Schoenberg), these lessons (along with the quick and painful "here's a grand staff, now read music" page) will be largely lost. In terms of continuity and placement, should Pellman want to retain these lessons, they should come much later in the work - after all: the book's implicit intentions are to introduce the fundamentals and concepts, not necessarily compositional approaches. The second issue is the seeming confusion (from my students, that is) that arises during discussions of modular synthesis. Here, Pellman speaks loudly about VCOs, VCAs, VCFs, et. al., and peppers the discussion with topics and terms that should also be used in tandem with discussing modes of digital synthesis and reproduction but never mentions them again outside of the chapter dealing with analog synthesis. Frankly, the chapter on analog synthesis and modular synthesis is far too long without discussing much of their applications to digital machines and media.
   
   From a purely aesthetic point of view, many of the photographs and illustrations are a bit too dark or poorly contrasted (all internal images are in black and white), making it difficult, in some cases, to stare an inharmonic spectrum down the barrel without squinting. For as much as the publisher is asking people to pay for this book, they could include at least a few token color images (especially when dealing with things like waveforms viewed in an editor or pictures of spectrographs and sonographs).
   
   Anymore, most of the basics of digital music and EAM can be found online or in other texts. There are certainly more cost-effective solutions to satisfy the aural appetite, as well. But, for absolute beginners who want a solid grounding in MIDI, get confused by serial composition and fuzzy images, and are willing to pay nearly one hundred dollars for something worth perhaps half that amount, this book is right up their alley.



5. Excellent work about EA Music... we need this kind of books with a lot of useful information...

5 comments about Linear Systems (Prentice-Hall Information and System Science Series).

1. This book is exhausting to read. A far better source to learn linear systems is _Linear System Theory and Design_ by Chi-Tsong Chen.

   There are numerous other books that cover certain topics in Kailth's book much better, too. Look at _Optimal Filtering_ by Anderson and Moore, _Linear Optimal Control Systems_ by Kwakernaak and Sivan, _Digital Control of Dynamical Systems_ by Franklin, Powell, and Workman, and even _Digital Control_ by Franklin and Powell.




2. If you are an engineer with least span of attention, this book is certainly not for you. But if you are somebody who likes things to be concise and profound, and takes thrill in riding through theoretical maze, only to wonder in the end at it's simplicity and completeness, you would love this. I would say, second chapter on State-Space theory is the core of the book. Helps you to look at systems from different view-points, elaborating on different proprerties a system can and should have, meanwhile relating one with the other, filling the reader with sheer joy by giving him a complete picture.

   Huge list of references at the end of every chapter and a brief appendix on Matrix algebra adds further value to this ultimate book on Linear System Theory.




3. This book is that dangerous combination of being theoretical without being rigorous. It's very deep and subtle, and it is not unusual to ponder a particular point for several weeks, as no derivation or explanation is given. Many statements are just thrown out there for the reader to figure out for himself. I have now read the book more or less from cover to cover, and that's how it has been, but I have to say, in the end it is worth it. I now truly feel that I know a lot about linear systems.

   It's really not possible to read this book without having a number of other references around: linear algebra (Strang), abstract algebra (Artin), control theory (Brogan) and multivariable systems (Kaczorek) were most useful to me.

   This book is excellent in that you will find results in here that you would not find anywhere else, including recent results and some developed by Kailath himself. On the other hand, frankly, the somewhat haphazard presentation style is a real impediment to understanding. In summary, this is a very good book, but you will have to work very hard to get something out of it.




4. I used this book along with _Linear Systems_ by Antsaklis and Michel. The latter book is better organized and easier to read, although (like this book) it is a bit dense. As another reviewer noted, Kailath's style is a bit hard to follow, so unless you're already familiar with some concepts from theoretical linear algebra, systems, and/or control theory, I would not recommend using this book alone as an intro to Linear Systems Theory. Nevertheless, it is a very thoughtful and useful book and should be on your shelf if you have a real interest in systems and controls.



5. The book is very nice, although the cover seems to be not so robust (too thin).
   But I'm satisfied with the product.

5 comments about Apple Training Series: GarageBand 3 (Apple Training).

1. An excellent training program for Macintosh's Garageband home recording studio for beginners. Easy to follow and use, but quite comprehensive at the same time. I wouldn't expect less from Apple.



2. I did not know what GarageBand was until I explored the icons on my new MAC. Needed help here. Logged on to Amazon.com and found Mary Plummer's book GARAGEBAND 3. I am learning the program by doing the lessons in the book, supplemented with CD lesson files. I am truly excited because it has opened a new world--creating music tracks. Each lesson is a building block, and Ms Plummer's instructions are easy to understand and follow.



3. I bought it so I could learn Garage Band 08 and thought initially that a lot of the information would be pertinent to the newest version of Garage Band 08. There are probably a lot of similarities and many aspects of the program that this book could help with, but when all is said and done, it is not the newest version that it teaches and knowing how eager I have been, in trying to learn about this program, I "jumped the gun", sort of speak. That is the thing about newer today, older tomorrow, you have to be careful only to buy the updated version and not the old one. I did not mean any disrespect by giving it 3 Stars for in reality I will never know how good of a book it is. I only wrote the review to point out that the new Garage Band 08 requires the updated book to go along with it. Happy Holidays and God Bless America!



4. Having been given an Apple iMac complete with the GarageBand application, I was intrigued but at the same time a little apprehensive about trying it out. However, GarageBand 3 by Mary Plummer made it all so easy.
   I decided to first do all the lessons; the instructions are clear and easy to follow, so it was a pleasure. I did sometimes take longer than the estimated time to do each lesson.
   On completion, I had gained a comprehensive knowledge of all that this wonderfully creative program can accomplish, and was even enlightened as to what a podcast is. And if I forget again, the book is always at hand to remind me. I would have liked some comments about the advantages, if any, of other programs such as Logic.
   My main interest with GarageBand lies in composing music, and this book introduced me to its many fascinating possibilities. So thank you, Mary Plummer. I must finish this now, to get back to Garageband....



5. Well written and easy to understand (unlike many books on home recording). It's broken down into step by step tutorials which, if followed, will teach you all the basics as you progress through the book. Highly recommended.

5 comments about Introductory Guide to High-Performance Audio Systems: Stereo - Surround Sound - Home Theater.

1. I got Harleys' "Complete Guide to High End Audio" before the "Intro Guide to High Perform..." although I ordered the "Intro" first. Wasn't to arrive for a couple of months so I couldn't wait to find things out & got the earlier "Complete..." Confused? Well, anyway this newest is basically a condensed version of the 'Complete". So if you have it you really don't need this. If not this work is going to get you all the high points and teachings of the other. Either way one or the other will get you started understanding the complexities of sound. Very useful & helpful info!



2. This is a very good book on explaning equipment options and definitions of new audio terms. However, quite redundent.



3. The author does a very credible job at covering the universe of high-end audio. It's a very good companion to the first book which was geared towards experienced audiophiles. This book is designed to be more of an introductory 'course' to music lovers who may not yet be 'hooked' on the joys and frustrations that come with the hobby but it does include sufficient new or different thoughts and comments so as to appeal to more experienced audiophiles as well. Whether you start with this volume or Harley's first and more in-depth book, if you love music and have not experienced high-end audio - get one of the books, read it - get some great stereo gear (and the books guide you in how to choose)and dive into your favorite recordings. You'll discover great new sounds you may not have ever heard before.



4. The book is very informative, but can be used as guideline only.
   I will take it as " Dummy for Audio system "



5. I found that chapter 12 answered my questions on room design for optimal acoustics, and speaker placement. If you would like to gain audiophile knowledge this is definitely the book for you.

5 comments about Complexity: Life at the Edge of Chaos.

1. The scope of complexity science is vast, encompassing many disciplines. This book focuses on how the new idea of complexity relates to biology by discussing the idea with many leading biologists of the day. Other reviewers were put off by the book's lack of definition of what complexity is, and the lack of resolution as to what terms such as "edge of chaos" mean. But that is exactly the point. These terms do not have clear definition today. Complexity is a very immature field, frequently pursued at the visceral level. It is hard to define what it *is*, but frequently easy to identify it where it exists. I can understand the other reviewers' concerns with the lack of definition, and can only suggest that because of the narrower focus (biology), this is an appropriate second book on complexity.

   As a second book, narrowly focused on the question of complexity in biology, it is outstanding. Specifically, the question is one of how self-organization (complexity) relates to evolution and what this means for natural selection. Complexity is frequently talked up as the unifier of the sciences. Lewin takes a balanced approach, taking the time to talk to complexity theorists and understand their ideas, then talking to mainstream biologists to see how the ideas relate. His conclusion shows no inherent bias. Where other books on complexity show extreme (perhaps undue) enthusiasm, Roger Lewin's concusion is decidedly "wait and see". I found his insights to be on target and relevant.

   I mentioned that this is a good second book. For an introduction to complexity, read John Holland's "Hidden Order". For a history of the Santa Fe Institute and some of the personalities there, read Mitchell Waldrop's "Complexity". Either or both of these would serve as an adequate introduction to this book.




2. I am not a scientist. I am, however, interested in a wide variety of subjects and fascinated by complexity. I am not referring now to the book, or the subject but the expression in the real world of all that there is to know and understand. How can anyone live and not recognise at the deepest levels of their understanding that everything that exists does so in dependence on other things that exist and that this interdependence, because of the number of dynamic variables, cannot be described otherwise than a complex system. It is at this point that anyone who has read the book or who is a part of this book will protest that I have missed the point. I have not. This book isn't about a vague subjective comprehension of all things being related. It is much more scientific than that. I have started off this way because I am aware that in the hustle of everyday life-the place where most readers of books reside-the subject of the science of complexity is beyond even the periphery of what might occur to them as a topic to take an interest in, let alone find relevant. Having a general, non-expert appreciation for the immense complexity of which we are a part is an appropriate mindset to bring to any reading of the subject. The book is deserving of a wider appeal than for just new wave idea groupies.

   I find Lewin strikes the right balance with his reader presenting difficult concepts with elegant clarity yet providing enough detail to challenge the reader. To make the material too simple would leave the concepts incoherent-to provide too much would leave the reader behind. He also presents a balanced view of the subject. There are detractors in the scientific community. They are heard from. Lewin develops various concepts directly related to complexity rather cleverly. We are given a piece of concept that is added onto later in a different context providing us with a kaleidoscopic way of thinking of the material. It is all connected but our focus shifts slightly giving us a new view of the subject. In the beginning there were Boolean Networks. Other concepts follow: edge of chaos; complex adaptive systems; emergence. If anyone has ever wondered even in passing why is it that discrete bits of biota or data that do not amount to much in themselves can produce not only something more complex when put together but something that is more than the sum of its parts then Complexity is of interest to you.

   This book doesn't have to be the final authority or explain it all to be a very good read. And, in reference to other reviews, novel new ways of approaching scientific inquiry don't come from just anyone. Personalities matter. Putting the subject of complexity in the context of those who have been pursuing its secrets is not only acceptable but adds to our understanding. The implications for the opening up of new ways of seeing what we've heretofore been looking at `through a glass darkly' are incredible. I can see why some of the leading scientists might find the subject worth their time and energy. So many things we wish to fix about how we operate within the system that supports us have proved intransigent to change. Perhaps this is because up to now we have been hampered by a too narrow view of what dynamics are relevant to a particular line of inquiry.

   Lewin has presented complexity as a good mystery novel. It is a non-fiction mystery novel the ending of which has yet to be written.




3. Roger Lewin engagingly writes of his discussions with leaders in the field of complexity, the study of non-linear, dynamical systems in the life sciences. Studies in 'chaos' theory and related fields like cellular automata have led to new formulations of self-organization and non-vitalistic emergence in living systems. Although still considered a fringe element by some of their colleagues, people like Stuart Kauffman, Chris Langton, Norman Packard and others are exploring models of "...common dynamical patterns in the realms of physics, biology, and society..." (193) which may radically change our understandings of evolution and consciousness. A cheering trend toward non-aristotelian directions.



4. Before I read this book I had no idea what Complexity theory was. I picked up a sentence or two in another book about it, and decided to investigate. While Roger doesn't really state what complexity *is*, it is suffice that he tells you what it's all about.
   
   I liked that the book was written as a journey into complexity, rather than throwing data at you. It flowed much more easily than anticipated, so much so I'd recommend it to my less academic friends.
   
   If you're looking for a good introduction to complexity - especially in the field of biology, then pick up nothing other than this book. If you're looking for a more advanced insight into the science, I'd suggest you find something else. Although a magnificent intro, it's not in-depth enough for you to start adapting the idea to your field in my opinion.



5. This was a very intriguing book. The author's method of discussing the topic is by interviewing the various individuals involved in complexity research. It is sometimes a little difficult to follow because it's difficult to decide who is doing the questioning and who the answering, but once past that, the reader will find that the author follows a very coherent outline of the topic.
   
   In general Lewin starts with the inception of the concept by its various originators and the way that they have developed methods (largely computerized programs) to test their hypotheses. He also discusses the difficulty which these individuals met in trying to promote their ideas of complexity, chaos, and self-organizing criticality to the various academic departments to which they were attached. The author interviews a number of the best known scientists for their impressions of the output of the research into complexity. Some meet it with great skepticism while others, though cautious, seem to think that complexity theory has a great deal to say about dynamic complex systems.
   
   Those of you unfamiliar with complexity but have read something on chaos theory or self-organizing criticality (particularly Per Bok's how nature works: The Science of Self-Organized Criticality (Copernicus)) will realize that this is simply another component of the dynamic system, another way of putting mathematics and computer generated programs to use in understanding things like evolution of species and ecosystems, of financial, business, and economic systems, and natural physical phenomena, even historic events (such as the abandonment of the Chaco Canyon Pueblo system.
   
   I found especially interesting the appendices, particularly that dealing with global economics and business. It was interesting to see what the predictions were and what the author and his sources thought businesses should do to make their particular market share more stable in a world economy that is forever changing not only within a specific region or a specific business type but within an entire suite of interacting businesses world wide.
   
   Very worthwhile reading.

5 comments about The Telephone Gambit: Chasing Alexander Graham Bell's Secret.

1. This is an excellent book. I bought it hoping it would give me (a retired electrical engineer with more than a dozen patents) some understanding of the telephone's genesis, which I knew to be a complicated tale with claims that Bell didn't deserve the credit. Frankly I was hoping for a good story and Shulman delivers. He lays out the twists and turns of this story in a remarkably clear narrative, but this is not just another retelling of the telephone story.
   
   Shulman started working on this book only because he made a startling discovery in Bell's lab notebooks. He found that Bell's sketch of his first (functioning) telephone transmitter was nearly identical to a sketch drawn by Elisha Gray in his (supposedly) secret filing with patent office a month earlier. And even more suspiciously Bell had drawn the sketch in his notebook just days after returning from Washington where he had conferred with his patent lawyers and the patent examiner. Shulman has researched in depth if, how, who, and why fraud was committed in the patenting of the telephone, with close attention to how things were later explained in court depositions and testimony. The picture Shulman draws is very convincing that major hanky panky (fraud) occurred in Bell's patenting of the telephone. Shulman lays out the case that Bell had a strong motive (love first, money second) to go along with the fraud, even though he many not have initiated it, and as Shulman argues, his shame and need to conceal his use of Gray's idea nicely explains many of his later actions that have always been puzzling. It all hangs together very well. The case for patent fraud is overwhelming, and Shulman draws the appropriate conclusions.
   
   So is Bell essentially just a crook who stole Gray's design and deserves no credit? Well it's easy to jump to this conclusion after reading this book, but there's another side to this story. For starters read the Wikipedia article: 'Elisha Gray and Alexander Bell Telephone Controversy'. It explains, based on facts fully consistent with Shulman's book, why (in their opinion) Bell did not steal Gray's invention. My opinion, after reading Bell's patents, researching the design of the first US telephones, and doing some reading of Bell's notebooks (available online from the Library of Congress) is that while it appears that Bell stole Gray's idea in the legal sense (via patent fraud), he didn't steal it in the engineering sense.
   
   The undisputed fact is that Bell and his partners started the telephone business in the US with a Bell designed electromagnetic telephone. By modern standards it was primitive (weak, distorted, and only good for 10-20 miles or so), and it lasted in the marketplace less than two years before being replaced by a telephone much closer to modern phones with a variable resistance carbon transmitter. On the other hand the Bell design was simple (it was a combo receiver/transmitter), easy to manufacture, and most importantly it worked well enough so that thousands of people put down their money to buy or rent one.
   
   Note Bell's electromagnetic telephone design was indisputably his own design. It had nothing to do with the famous seven (disputed) paragraphs written in the patent margin, which described the concept of a variable resistance transmitter. The variable resistance transmitter required another year of development work (by Edison, Blake and others) and was not introduced into the market (by Western Electric) until about a year after Bell's phone business began.
   
   So did Bell 'invent' the telephone? The early phone (and associated telephone exchanges) were the work of Bell, Edison, Blake, and others, but Bell by using a simple, low performance design of his own was able to get to market a year ahead of his competitors and get the US telephone business off the ground. So if there is to be a 'single' inventor, Bell (by virtue of his being first) is the inventor of the telephone.



2. What an interesting story! And how dismaying it is to read how the honorable Alexander Graham Bell compromised himself, and then managed to suppress the truth from his mind in order to enjoy the fruits of his actions. He was in love with the daughter of a powerful lawyer, Gardiner Greene Hubbard, who saw the opportunity to achieve his own agenda by using Bell's invention. Bell was a teacher of the deaf and knew acoustics. He recognized that "undulating currents" were the key to carrying voice via electrical circuits, but did not know how to implement it until he saw a sketch by Elisha Gray, made available to him surreptitiously by the nefarious manipulations of his mentor and future father-in-law, Hubbard. Seth Shulman takes us along in his personal experiences in pursuing the facts, which lead inexorably to the conclusion which he did not want to believe -- that Bell had stolen the basic method of creating a telephone and received the most valuable patent of all time. In fact, Shulman shows that Philipp Reis in Germany had a working telephone in 1863, thirteen years before March 10, 1876, when the story of legend has it that Thomas Watson heard Bell's voice in the first telephone call. I recommend that you join Shulman in his personal adventure and read this most interesting story.



3. The more ridiculous the conspiracy theory, the more people buy into it. The real coverup is not Bell's but the author's. He selectively omits or downplays the following facts: 1) Elisha Gray did NOT file a patent application for the telephone--the same day or ever. A patent application--such as Bell's--was for a completed invention. What Gray filed was a "caveat," a description of a concept that had not yet resulted in an invention. Caveats are no longer permitted and ignorance of the difference between the two types of documents plays into author Shulman's hands. 2) Gray himself long made no claim that he invented the telephone. In fact, he wrote a congratulatory letter to Bell stating that a "mere idea" should not be "dignified with the name invention." 3) All Gray really claimed--long afterwards--was that Bell had improved upon the telephone by borrowing Gray's idea of using acidified water in the transmitter. But Bell had already been experimenting with acidified water and had described its use in a multiple telegraph patent description a year earlier. 4) Bell never used acidified water--the only idea Gray actually claimed was stolen--in his patent application, his 1876 public demonstrations, or his 1877 commercial telephones. So what was "stolen"? All American heroes have had their faults, but creating artificial scandals that libel them posthumously is reprehensible.



4. The central thesis of this book - that Bell stole the intellectual property needed to complete the telephone, was thoroughly destroyed in the review in the Spring / Summer issue of American Heritage magazine by another of Bell's biographers and a physicist who has written on early telephones.
   
   They make two points. First, the central piece of evidence was manufactured for use by the Pan-Electric company, which had corrupted key members of Congress and the Cleveland Administration. These issues were litigated and rejected by courts during Bell's life time, and are not new. Next, the document that Bell supposedly copied dealt with an irrelevant technology that ultimately was never used in the final product.



5. Shulman presents a compelling case for revisiting Alexander Graham Bell's claim as the "inventor" of the telephone. Granted, today "Ma Gray" just doesn't have the same ring(tone), and Shulman's evidence may raise as many questions as it answers. Nevertheless, this is a fascinating read, and Shulman has done more than a modicum of "homework" on the subject. If you've ever been tempted to think history boring, you haven't read this page-turner.