Customer Reviews (8)

Great and funny
The art work is so much better.I like the story in the other comics but I get hung up on bad art work.I also think Lord Fanny is the greatest and seeing her more is just a plus.

As things get worse for the Invisibles, things only get better for us!
The third volume of The Invisibles--my personal favorite--opens with the brutal interrogation of King Mob. As his teammates rush to his rescue, Jack Frost, who deserted the team in the previous volume, goes home to Liverpool. Jack, driven over the edge by the memory of the soldier he was forced to kill in Vol. 2 and the knowledge that he is the next messiah, could care less about his friends. Yet when forced to experience the collective suffering of all humanity by the mysterious sentient satellite Barbelith (which is a whole other story......), Jack changes his mind. Finally accepting responsibility for once in his life, he decides to face his fears and help his friends.

Jack performs some feats reminiscent of both Buddha and Jesus and, in the end, saves the day. At the beginning of the series, Jack was angry, disaffected, self-centered.... basically, he was a teenager. Now--and it's this growth of character within Jack that draws me to this volume of the series in particular--he's grown up, accepted his destiny, and is willing to put himself on the line for those he cares about. Jack's evolution as a character is the focal point of The Invisibles' first three volumes--after this, he takes a back seat. But all is well. Jack is simply taking everything in while the rest of the team has their crazy adventures. You see, Jack's been enlightened, and he doesn't necessarily buy all the rhetoric that the Invisibles are selling.......

It's Morrison's willingness to push his characters to (and over) their boundaries and subvert even the subverters that makes The Invisibles a classic must-read.

Well this IS the most psychedelic trade...
...and it remained my least favorite one, neck to neck with Kissing mr. Quimper story. It is , basically, telepathic interogation of battered and bruised King Mob and Invisibles to the rescue. Since I didn't like it so much, well, get it only if you wanna see it through the end.

The Invisibles continues to astonish!
After somewhat losing its pace in Apocalipstick (I didn't care much for Jill Thompson's artwork and Lord Fanny's origin story, but it was overall a good read) the Invisibles gets back on track with this stunning addition to the title. King Mob and Lord Fanny have been captured by the Archons and are being tortured by the ruthless Sir Miles. Meanwhile Boy, a (female) member of KM's Invisibles cell, searches for Jack, the next Buddha, and Ragged Robin meets up with the voodoo rapstar Jim Crow (he has the coolest gun!). It was when Boy found Jack that the Invisibles became my favorite comic ever. The part where Barbelith (I'm not going to try to explain that...charcter?) forces Jack to feel the pain humanity has gone through (the Holocaust, famine, disease, war) is the most touching and convincing scene I have ever read in any book. Paul Johnson's rough artwork is a perfect match for Morrison's writing in the issue. So buy this volume, and then buy them all, for the Invisibles is truly an experience.

The Invisibles, Book 3: Entropy in the UK
After the sometimes-underwhelming art of the previous two collections, Phil Jimenez's artwork in the first half of Book 3 of the Invisibles is sort of like a slap to the face: vibrant, detailed, masterful.Luckily, he later became the regular artist on the series, but here he only illustrates the opening arc, a three-part saga that details King Mob's torture at the hands of Archon agents, and which also provides this volume with its title.

In a way, this is the true beginning of what the Invisibles would soon become known for: fast-paced ideas and action, and an onslaught of mysticism, fringe science, and conspiracy theories.I've never been sure if it was Jimenez's amazing artwork that lead to this, or if Morrison finally thought his readers were "ready" for the big time, but regardless, from here on out things happen, and events unfold at a maddening pace all the way until the final volume of the series.

Having been captured at the end of Book 2, Invisibles King Mob and Lord Fanny are at the mercy of Sir Miles Delacourt, straightlaced and overbearing agent of the demonic Archons.Here, finally, we get to know a bit more about King Mob, as Delacourt invades his mind and sorts through his past.This is full-on psychedelia, as King Mob attempts to defend himself in the guise of fictional character Gideon Stargrave, a mod super-spy from the `60s (and author Michael Moorcock's Jerry Cornelius in all but name; something Morrison readily admitted).This results in Delacourt waging a mental war against King Mob's psychic defenses, with the Stargrave segments providing some outrageous cross-dimensional action sequences.Very heady stuff, with lots of mystic ideas dropped, this arc is easily one of the high points of the entire series.

After this storyline, the narrative slows down for a moment as we have a single-issue peek into Boy's background.Boy, the black female martial artist Invisible, was never Morrison's strongest creation.In fact, he eventually admitted this, and basically dropped the character toward the end of the series.Therefore, her spotlight issue, "How I Became An Invisible," is probably my least favorite story in the Invisibles canon.It hints at interesting developments that later become integral to the series (shadowy government agents taking innocent black Americans prisoner, and shipping them off in mysterious trains), but Morrison ruins it all by having the characters speak in some of the most fake "black" dialog ever.You can tell he's out of his element, a Scottish writer creating "urban" dialog for inner-city black Americans.It doesn't really work.

Things get back on track after this, with the narrative picking right up after the events in the opening arc.Though King Mob and Fanny have defeated Sir Miles, they're still trapped in a building that's crawling with enemy soldiers and ultraterrestrial beings.The remaining Invisibles cell (Dane, Boy, Ragged Robin) call in reinforcements, and fellow Invisibles Jim Crow and Mr. Six show up to help.This results in a multi-issue storyline that features all sorts of high-concept action, as the Invisibles wade through hell-on-Earth protective spells and defend themselves against cancer-inducing nanoweapons.

The book ends with a single-issue look at Division X, the swaggering British counterpart of the X-Files (Mr. Six is one of the three members of Division X, incidentally).This story seemingly has nothing much to do with anything else in the series so far, until much later, when the themes brought up here are developed.The story does feature the first appearance of the impish, demonic Quimper, a frightening little creature who will cause the Invisibles much trouble in future volumes.

As mentioned, Phil Jimenez provides the art for the first half of the book, with Steve Yeowell filling in the other half.This is pleasing thematically, as Yeowell started off the series, and his finishing up the first major arc makes sense.However, I've never been the greatest fan of his work.The Boy/Division X issues are penciled by fill-in artists: one scratchy, the other Todd McFarlane-esque.

This trade paperback wraps up what was the first volume of the Invisibles comic run.After these issues, DC/Vertigo halted publication for a few months, and Morrison revised his approach to the story.After this, no longer would the story come off as methodically-paced as it had in earlier issues (the Marquis de Sade storyline in the "Say You Want a Revolution" trade in particular); instead, the series would feature nonstop action, sex, and ultraviolence.Some say this new approach was a "watered down" version of the Invisibles, but I say that's hogwash.The stories collected in this book are great, true, but the best was yet to come for the Invisibles.
... Read more

Product Description

This book presents the first cohesive treatment of Information Theoretic Learning (ITL) algorithms to adapt linear or nonlinear learning machines both in supervised or unsupervised paradigms. ITL is a framework where the conventional concepts of second order statistics (covariance, L2 distances, correlation functions) are substituted by scalars and functions with information theoretic underpinnings, respectively entropy, mutual information and correntropy.

ITL quantifies the stochastic structure of the data beyond second order statistics for improved performance without using full-blown Bayesian approaches that require a much larger computational cost. This is possible because of a non-parametric estimator of Renyi’s quadratic entropy that is only a function of pairwise differences between samples. The book compares the performance of ITL algorithms with the second order counterparts in many engineering and machine learning applications.

Students, practitioners and researchers interested in statistical signal processing, computational intelligence, and machine learning will find in this book the theory to understand the basics, the algorithms to implement applications, and exciting but still unexplored leads that will provide fertile ground for future research.

Product Description
"By combining recent advances in the physical sciences with some of the novel ideas, techniques, and data of modern biology, this book attempts to achieve a new and different kind of evolutionary synthesis.I found it to be challenging, fascinating, infuriating, and provocative, but certainly not dull."--James H, Brown, University of New Mexico

"This book is unquestionably mandatory reading not only for every living biologist but for generations of biologists to come."--Jack P. Hailman, Animal Behaviour, review of the first edition

"An important contribution to modern evolutionary thinking. It fortifies the place of Evolutionary Theory among the other well-established natural laws."--R.Gessink,TAXON ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

Seminal and thought provoking; I highly value this book
This is a very technical book, but it was well worth the effort for me. I first read it 8 years ago, and I still re-read it about once a year to ponder the implications. It is a refreshing, challenging, and potentially revolutionary view of evolution. While it may not prove to be the final understanding of this topic, it is a solid attempt to provide a thermodynamic underpinning for the law of Evolution.

It contains 2 profound and provocative hypotheses:
1) Information stored in living creatures' DNA can be modeled as a hierarchy of information stored at the different structural scales of the genome. This is based on the work of Prigogine to unify classic energetic entropy with informational entropy. (they call this Hierarchical Information Theory)
2) assuming that 1 is true, if you calculate the entropy stored in the hierarchy across a given population of a specie, the entropy will rise at the rate predicted by standard formulations of the 2nd law of thermodynamics rate as the population reproduces and evolves.

I found the critique in the 1-star review to be far off the mark. Apart from the ad hominem critique of the authors as non-biologists, the 2nd law of thermodynamics does not include a 'quality of energy' or 'quality of information' measure, as (apparently) asserted in the cited critique. While many people (and scientists) incorrectly view the law as implying that the quality of energy diminishes over time, a more correct view states that energy (or information) will become less _available_ over time, with fewer and fewer states accessible. This is precisely the point of the theory propounded in this book - to describe evolution without recourse to non-physical quantities such as information 'quality'.

Entropy controls all physical processes, including biology
The laws of thermodynamics dictate that the trend of the universe is towards an increasing state of disorder (entropy increasing). However, that only applies to the entire universe, it is not a violation of the laws to have local increases in order. Therefore, the order that defines living creatures is not a violation of the laws of physics; the increasing entropy of the sun more than balances the decrease in entropy represented by life.
The authors argue that the variety created by the process of evolution is an inevitable consequence of the increase in entropy. There is some obvious justification to their point. New species evolve via changes in genetic structure, some of which is due to recombination and other changes are caused by random alterations in the DNA, which leads to mutation. Since the genetic material that contains the blueprint for a living creature is a compact, highly ordered collection of information, random changes would be an increase in entropy. There is also a great deal of evidence indicating that aging is at least partially due to an accumulation of errors in the DNA, which can be interpreted as an increase in entropy. Since aging and death are necessary preconditions for evolution to take place, the argument that entropy is a driving force for evolution is a sound one. However, that means less than it may appear at first thought. Since an increase in entropy is such a powerful force in the universe, it is a part of every physical process.
A great deal of ink is also spent in describing the role of information in evolution. The authors are also on a sound footing in this area. When a species goes extinct, at least some of the information coded in their genetic complement is lost. This can also be interpreted as going from an ordered to an unordered state, which is an increase in entropy.
While I don't agree with all the arguments put forward in this book, the authors make many very fundamental points regarding the theory of evolution. As near as we can tell, an increase in the entropy of the universe is inevitable. One could argue that by definition, God is a violation of the second law of thermodynamics. Therefore, any theory of physical processes over time must include the role of entropy, which is what the authors do in this book.

A blizzard
of mathematical equations from information theory with little or no physical substance. One of the authors (Brooks) appears to be a misplaced mathematician who formally became a zoologist. It should be remembered that General Relativity was first submitted for publication by a mathematician (Hilbert) ahead of a physicist (Einstein)by a matter of weeks (but essentially by theft from Einstein, being a former mentor of Einstein)and dismissed in favour of the physicist as lacking any physical insights.

The late Volkenstein succintly criticized the book in his outstanding book "Physical Approaches to Biological Evolution"
as follows:

"As useless as the book cited above is the book 'Evolution as Entropy'by Brooks and Wiley. The basic proposition in this work is that speciation is controlled by the stochastic premises of the second law of thermodynamics. One may only regret that in the 43 years since the publication of Schrodinger's work [the book 'What is Life?'] a book has appeared whose authors do not understand the role of the second law of thermodynamics in living nature...the authors are concerned only with the amount of information and, hence, with entropy. But, by confining oneself to these concepts alone, one can hardly say anything about evolution...in the world of living things the quality or value of information is often of decisive importance...No appropriate methods have yet been worked out for estimation of the quality of information...

The problem of the origin of valuable information is very important to biology. It can be expressed by the formula:

V = log(P/P0)
where P and P0 are respectively the probabilites of achieving a 'purpose' before and after the information is received.

As we have seen, interesting results can be obtained with the aid of the tentative definition of information value as the indispensability, non-redundancy of information. However, the transition from static information theory, in which time does not figure, to dynamic information theory, which includes reception and memorizing and, hence, time and semantics has not yet been realized in physics.

The molecular theory of orgasmic evolution has not yet been united with the synergistic approaches and its development is beset with formidable difficulties... The key problem of evolutionary theory is the relationship between genotype and phenotype studied at different levels...As we have seen, this problem is missing in systems that are studied in the Eigen theory." ... Read more

Product Description
This text presents a comprehensive approach to entropy, recognizing that it is a concept often misunderstood. Beginning with an historical classical viewpoint, a statistical view then follows to give a more physical picture. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Excellent, brief survey of thermal physics--macro & micro.
Teachers and college students: here is a clear,friendly intro. to thermodynamics and statistical mechaniocs. (Don't be deceived by the title--it is not a specialist tract on entropy, that is only a convenienthook for author to hang a title.)Prof. Dugdale has a fine instinct forpicking out the important highlights at the college-level.A quick andeasy read (compared to standard textbooks).

Should be ideal asrefresher for the teacher and as textbook supplement for the student.(Probably it is too brief for a textbook for a one-quarter course, unlessteacher supplements with extra material and adds a few more problems atchapter ends.)

I was grateful that there were only a fewproblemsat chapter ends -- and not too hard, either; this made it lessguilt-inducing for me just to read the book w/o doing the problems, sincetime did not permit the latter.My understanding did not suffer noticablyfrom this "casual" approach.

There are original touchesthroughout, including a most fresh discussion of the second law enlivenedwith extracts from Carnot's own discussion of his ideal engine. Historicalasides such as these are a rare item in a Physics book and reading this Ibegan to see what a treat I've been missing all these years!

The bookhas 3 sections: Part I on macro thermo, Part 2 on stat. mech, and a shortPart 3 on low temperatures.A well-balanced presentation, and at anaffordable price. ... Read more

Product Description
An overview of science, the scientific world, and critical, scientific thought for the nonscientist. Teaches the most sacred principles of science, the first and second laws of thermodynamics in such a way that anyone can understand, and not be confused or taken in by the confusing barrage of information society is constantly churning out. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

back to basics helps scientists, too
I admit nearly passing on this book because of its goofy title. But I'm trying to return to the simple things in life, now, including the fundamental laws of physics. These, at least, have remained steadfast and reliable as I've gone through various stages of confusion and confoundment. Since entropy is one of these reliable consistencies in life, I was looking for a kind of "Entropy For Dummies" introduction. This looked like it fit the bill.

The fact is, it exceeds my expectations in every category. If you're a scientist, please take a look at this volume. Not only does it give clear presentations of otherwise complex concepts that are helpful in your own thinking, but you will probably know many others whose lives could be greatly improved by it.

Seriously, this book should be republished with a more sober title. It's a good solid treatment of information that every curious mind in the world needs.

It's a treasure!

Lively- for a scientist.
Not usually a great reader of science, I stumbled across this book at my local library, books on entropy not usually a primary concern of my reading list. But I was pleasently suprised with the fluidity and - yes!- wit with which Kirwan writes. He deserves praise for explaining a topic as dry as critical thinking in such an engaging manner. This is an excellent book for laymen and I wish more scientists would learn to write as well as Kirwan. Heartily recommended for the scientifically challenged who need a break from the usual fare of histories and novels. And yes, it turns out entropy is quite important. Who would have guessed?

Science for non scientists
This is an excellent book for non scientists interested in Nature. It reads very well. Would be a great textbook for a course "science for non majors" or "introduction to science". Wonderful present for your teenager. ... Read more

Product Description
Can recent developments in thermodynamics and information theory offer a way out of the current crisis in evolutionary theory? One of the most exciting and controversial areas of scientific research in recent years has been the application of the principles of nonequilibrium thermodynamics to the problems of the physical evolution of the universe, the origins of life, the structure and succession of ecological systems, and biological evolution. These sixteen original essays by evolutionists, ecologists, molecular biologists, physical chemists, physicists, and philosophers of science provide the best current summary of this developing research program.

Chapters in the book's first part - by Steven Frautschi, David Layser, and Dilip Kondoputi - explore the application of the second law of thermodynamics to physical evolution and the origins of life. Those in the second part - by Lionel G. Harrison, Lionel Johnson, Eric D. Schneider, and Jeffrey S. Wicken - take up the thermodynamics of ecology and evolution; Johnson and Wicken criticize neoDarwinian orthodoxy and present alternative theories relating thermodynamics to evolutionary ecology. In the book's third section, E. O. Wiley defends the theory that phylogenetic evolution may be predicted from a general version of the second law reformulated in terms of information theory, and Daniel R. Brooks, D. David Cumming, and Paul H. LeBlond also defend that controversial theory.

The book concludes with a series of essays that evaluate these contributions and point out their implications for biology, philosophy, and the social sciences.

The editors are all professors at California State University, Fullerton. Bruce H. Weber teaches chemistry and biochemistry, David J. Depew teaches philosophy, and James D. Smith teaches zoology. A Bradford Book. ... Read more

Product Description

All papers have been peer-reviewed. World renowned experts gathered in symposium style to explore the role of the second law and entropy in quantum theory, cosmology, biology, nonequilibrium, and energy. Their exciting discussions about recent advances and open fundamental challenges, paint an excellent state of the art of frontier research about thermodynamics in science and engineering.

Product Description
This book is based on the premise that the entropy concept, a fundamental element of probability theory as logic, governs all of thermal physics, both equilibrium and nonequilibrium. The variational algorithm of J. Willard Gibbs, dating from the 19th Century and extended considerably over the following 100 years, is shown to be the governing feature over the entire range of thermal phenomena, such that only the nature of the macroscopic constraints changes. Beginning with a short history of the development of the entropy concept by Rudolph Clausius and his predecessors, along with the formalization of classical thermodynamics by Gibbs, the first part of the book describes the quest to uncover the meaning of thermodynamic entropy, which leads to its relationship with probability and information as first envisioned by Ludwig Boltzmann. Recognition of entropy first of all as a fundamental element of probability theory in mid-twentieth Century led to deep insights into both statistical mechanics and thermodynamics, the details of which are presented here in several chapters. The later chapters extend these ideas to nonequilibrium statistical mechanics in an unambiguous manner, thereby exhibiting the overall unifying role of the entropy. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Good for Amazon!
I had ordered this book along with other two (Quantum Mechanics: A Modern Development and The Physics of Atmospheres just in case you were wondering). By the time I received the order it wasn't placed in the usual Amazon's cartoon box, and bigger was my surprise when I opened the package and found that all three books were wet. Shortly after noticing this issue I informed it via e-mail to Amazon and they sent to me a new order (yes, that new one arrived in a proper condition). Having sent those three damaged items back to Amazon I was completely refunded the total costs of the mailing. Things like this one make this company a reliable one. Good for Amazon! Concerning the author of this reviewed book, I own another two books written by him, namely Foundations of Statistical Mechanics: Volume I: Equilibrium Theory (Fundamental Theories of Physics) and Foundations of Statistical Mechanics: Volume II: Nonequilibrium Phenomena (Fundamental Theories of Physics). I just wanted to share this information with you and truly understand that this is not a proper review, so please come back later for it... ... Read more

Product Description
Doctor, watch out! As Dore stood by, he saw the Doctor backing slowly into the corner where he would meet his fate. Initially defending himself with a torch, the Doctor searched frantically for a new method of defense. The crimson mass is lunging forward using long, tentacle-like attachments: what is that thing?Slowly the subhuman blob comes in to focus, and Dore realizes . . . it's a colossal radish! This is a monster never before wrestled with; what are they going to do?After reading this vegetative tale, you won't look at your garden the same way again.. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

The River of Life, the River of Story
Can I really be the first reviewer of this funny, sometimes infuriating, always enjoyable & satiric science-fiction novel, the first in George Alec Effinger's all too short career?

Don't mistake "satiric" for glib snarkiness, though. This is definitely a young man's novel, particularly a young man who came of age in the late 1960s/early 1970s, influenced by the times & the New Wave in science-fiction. It merrily plays with the tropes of the Quest, while exploring the nature of stories & storytelling -- and with the young author's erudition in full flower. But it's never annoying. You can feel Effinger's enthusiasm & delight as he spins his tale (within a tale).

We quickly meet the two protagonists: the brothers Dore & Seyt. Dore has been sent forth on a quest up the River, in search of his lost Father. Seyt remains at Home, chronicling his older brother's adventures by simply making them up, chapter by chapter, even as he deals with his many siblings -- particularly the smarmy, detestable Tere. And he keeps us informed of each new chapter's reception by his Family, and the resulting political dynamic, always in flux.

Dore is something of a Candide, a noble & trusting young man ... or is that simply the Dore that Seyt has created in his chronicle? The Romance of the Quest gets a thorough & often hilarious examination -- after all, we're reading chapters entitled "The Radishes of Doom" & "The Hall of the Mountain Thing," and meeting heroic sidekicks named Bucky. Yet even at its most ridiculous, we remain enthralled, wanting to know what happens next -- both to Dore & to Seyt.

Truthfully, it's a rich & wonderfully absurd coming of age novel -- not just for the characters, but for the author as well. Luckily it's been reprinted recently, so it's easily available once more. Science-fiction fan or not, if you're looking for something a little different, a little challenging, and a lot of fun, then you're in for a treat. Most highly recommended!

... Read more

Product Description
Entropy optimization is a useful combination of classical engineering theory (entropy) with mathematical optimization. The resulting entropy optimization models have proved their usefulness with successful applications in areas such as image reconstruction, pattern recognition, statistical inference, queuing theory, spectral analysis, statistical mechanics, transportation planning, urban and regional planning, input--output analysis, portfolio investment, information analysis, and linear and nonlinear programming.While entropy optimization has been used in different fields, a good number of applicable solution methods have been loosely constructed without sufficient mathematical treatment. A systematic presentation with proper mathematical treatment of this material is needed by practitioners and researchers alike in all application areas. The purpose of this book is to meet this need. Entropy Optimization and Mathematical Programming offers perspectives that meet the needs of diverse user communities so that the users can apply entropy optimization techniques with complete comfort and ease. With this consideration, the authors focus on the entropy optimization problems in finite dimensional Euclidean space such that only some basic familiarity with optimization is required of the reader. ... Read more

Product Description
This scarce antiquarian book is a selection from Kessinger Publishing's Legacy Reprint Series. Due to its age, it may contain imperfections such as marks, notations, marginalia and flawed pages. Because we believe this work is culturally important, we have made it available as part of our commitment to protecting, preserving, and promoting the world's literature. Kessinger Publishing is the place to find hundreds of thousands of rare and hard-to-find books with something of interest for everyone! ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Entropy Demistified
This is a book from the old days 1909. It leads step by step through the use of entropy charts in thermodynamics. Computer programs do the same task today with more accuracy but the user does not get a feel for the underlying concept when the computer simply pops up a number. ... Read more

Product Description
Originally published in 1981, this excellent treatment of the mathematical theory of entropy gives an accessible exposition of the ways in which this idea has been applied to information theory, ergodic theory, topological dynamics and statistical mechanics. Scientists who want a quick understanding of how entropy is applied in disciplines not their own, or simply desire a better understanding of the mathematical foundation of the entropy function will find this to be a valuable book. ... Read more

Product Description

Rubinstein is the pioneer of the well-known score function and cross-entropy methods.

Accessible to a broad audience of engineers, computer scientists, mathematicians, statisticians and in general anyone, theorist and practitioner, who is interested in smart simulation, fast optimization, learning algorithms, and image processing.

Customer Reviews (5)

Cross-entropy method
This book provides an excellent introduction to the Cross-Entropy (CE) method, which is a new and interesting method for the estimation of rare event probabilities and combinatorial optimisation.

The book contains all of the material required by a practitioner or researcher to get started with the CE method.The fact that accompanying Matlab code is freely available renders this field especially accessible to new-comers.

The book has a strong practical flavour, and is easy to read. It will be of interest to anybody working in the field of Monte-Carlo simulation and/or stochastic optimisation.

Just read the papers and save your money
The cross-entropy method is an exciting new technique for rare event simulation and stochastic optimization.
The book unfortunately is a 99% copy and paste of the public available tutorials and papers. I bought the book before looking in the internet, so do not do the same mistake by me.

Furthermore it is quite disappointing if every chapter is written in a highly redundant manner(which follows automatically if every chapter is a paper on its own).

The topic and method is great but the book doesnt add much what the papers wont tell.

A great book about a fascinating method
The cross entropy method (CE) is a modern technique attacking optimization and estimation problems by simulation. It has been introduced by the first author and it iselaborated thoroughly in this book. The reader will find a lucid introductory chapter into the subject followed by the core of the book consisting of a chapter where CE returns an iterative algorithm for adaptive importance sampling simulation, and a chapter where CE is transformed into a randomized algorithm for solving combinatorial optimization problems. The book concludes with several chapters with applications including detailed numerical results and some Matlab codes.

I read the book with great pleasure because it is a well written exposition of a fascinating method containing many illustrative examples and realistic applications. I think that it is appropriate for both practitioners andtheorists in simulation and optimization. While reading the book I got encouraged to apply CE to several other problems because the CE basics seems so simple while the results are marvellous. I am interested specifically in rare event simulation so I focused on reading the simulation part where I found many inspiring new ideas. In fact, I applied CE to a reliability problem and obtained results far better than existing methods. The simulation chapter is the most mathematically oriented, for instance it gives a proof of convergence and it contains recent developments in simulation of rare events with heavy tails.

I can recommend this book to everyone who likes to learn new ways for solving estimation and optimization problems.

The CE Method
Although Cross Entropy is a relatively new methodology in optimization, there has seen an "explosion" of new articles offering theoretical extensions and new applications in the last few years. Hence, this book comes just in time to review the state of the art and help "new comers" enter this field. The method is presented in a clear, easy-to-follow manner and the best part of the book, in my opinion, is the focus on several areas of application where tough problems were already solved with CE. I have recently used this book to support a novel CE application to project management and found it extremely useful. I think it should become a standard piece in the "tool-box" of both scholars and practicionairs interested in optimization.

An excellent text book for practitioners and theoreticians
This is a great book intended for practitioners and "light" theoreticians. It contains precise explanations that show how to use the cross entropy method efficiently for both estimation of rare events and for optimization. The code is valuable and covers a large variety of applications. The book is deductive and easy to follow, and not cluttered with too much notations.

I really liked the applications chapters - easy to follow and show what all the fuss is about. Seems like the kind of book you'd like to have around if you're actually solving optimization problems.
... Read more

Customer Reviews (5)

Best Star Trek Novel Ever Written!
Most Star Trek novels I've suffered through (and I have tales of suffering!) wallow nauseatingly in affection for the original characters to the virtual exclusion of what made the original series (at its best) so much fun: suspenseful and cleverly handled science fiction adventures--plain-old well-told stories!

This book is more than just a rare exception.It's actually a first-rate, polished science-fiction novel in its own right.I'll go further.It's as good as the very best Star Trek stories of the original series (the only worthwhile series in the franchise, as far as I'm concerned).Time travel stories rarely come off, even some written by the better writers in the genre.Only those writers with the knack for taking control of the inherent paradoxes--and indeed those who understand how to exploit them--really pull it off in grand style.I'm tempted to suggest that Poul Anderson, the master of such Time Operas, would have approved, had he read this novel.(Who knows?--maybe he did.)

The Entropy Effect is the best of the best.It recaptures the magic of the original series (something few movies or later TV shows ever managed), and does it to perfection.

Give The Entropy Effect by Vonda McIntyre a try.It's hard to imagine you'll be disappointed.

Classic Trek
I'm still in the process of reading this book and I'm having some difficulty with the way the characters are treated in this story.Having grown up watching classic Trek, I feel that I am familiar with the characters aboard the USS Enterprise...Kirk, Spock, McCoy, Sulu, etc.The way these characters are portrayed in this story feels incongruent with the characters on the TV series.I'm attempting to keep an open mind until I finish the story to see if the treatment of the characters improve.Otherwise, my rating may be lowered from the three stars that I am provisionally giving.

Great Read.
I have always been a big Star Trek fan, but this is the first of the books I have read. If the rest are this good I'll be thrilled. You don't have to know everything about Star Trek to enjoy this book. Whether a fan or not it's still a great book.

Time and time again
The Enterprise was conducting a very demanding and dangerous scientific study, or rather Spock was conducting a very demanding and dangerous scientific study, the rest of the Enterprise was waiting for him to finish so they could leave, hopefully before the object being studied demolished the Enterprise.It was rather a relief then when they received a priority call to a nearby system.The relief was shortlived and soon the crew found itself dealing with time travel and paradoxes that threatened their lives and perhaps the space/time continum itself.

This is one of the earlier numbers of the classic Star Trek tie-in novelizations, originally issued in 1981, and is one of the best of the series.McIntyre has done an excellent job of portraying the characters and has delivered an exciting plot as well but hasmanaged to avoid violating the cannon set down in the original series and ensuing movies.

This is an excellent novel that would be enjoyable to even the most casual fan of the classic series.

a classic
Vonda McIntyre's The Entropy Effect is a great novel, even if you're not a fan of Star Trek.I'm pleased to have this on my bookshelf for the past 20-odd years. ... Read more

Product Description
From Teflon to Velcro, from bandwidths to base pairs, the artifacts of engineering and technology reflect the broad scope--and frustrating limitations--of our imagination. Best-selling author James Adams takes readers on anenlightening tour of this exciting world, demystifying such endeavors as design, research, and manufacturing. ... Read more

Product Description
This book presents material on three topics, namely the amountof information involved in non-random functions, the amount ofinformation involved in non-probabilistic square matrices (i.e. whichare not quantum density matrices), and a new model of complex-valuedfractional Brownian motion of order n defined via random walks in thecomplex plane. These three subjects, which on the surface have nocommon features, are, in fact, direct consequences of the maximumentropy principle. Moreover, information on non-random functions andcomplex fractional Brownian motion are directly related to fractals.Thus, a unified framework is constructed which encompasses informationwith and without probability, quantum information of square matriceswith and without probabilistic meaning, and fractals in the complexplane. This volume also features many applications.
Audience: This work is intended for theoretical and mathematicalphysicists, but also for applied mathematicians, experimentalphysicists, communication engineers, electrical engineers,practitioners in pattern recognition and computer vision, controlsystems engineers, and theoretical biologists. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

Interesting Ideas
Chalidze has thought a lot about entropy and life. Some very brilliant insights, he cuts a lot of the nonsense away pertaining to entropy. Well worth reading, I enjoyed it thoroughly- a brilliant mind.

Poor book with religious undertones
Skip this book.As an example, pg. 60 states that the law of entropy comes from the first pages of the bible. ... Read more

Product Description
About 120 years ago, James Clerk Maxwell introduced his now legendary hypothetical 'demon' as a challenge to the integrity of the second law of thermodynamics. Fascination with the demon persisted throughout the development of statistical and quantum physics, information theory and computer science-and links have been established between Maxwell's demon and each of these disciplines. The demon's seductive quality makes it appealing to physical scientists, engineers, computer scientists, biologists, psychologists, and historians and philosophers of science. This book, Maxwell's Demon: Entropy, Information, Computing, brings under one cover twenty-five reprints, including seminal works by James Clerk Maxwell and William Thomson; historical reviews by Martin Klein, Edward Daub and Peter Heimann; important contributions by Leo Szilard, Leon Brillouin, Dennis Gabor and Jerome Rothstein; and remarkable innovations by Rolf Landauer and Charles Bennett. Until now this important material has been scattered throughout diverse journals. Maxwell's Demon: Entropy, Information, Computing makes the key literature easily available and helps with the cross-fertilisation of ideas in different disciplines. An annotated chronological bibliography provides a colourful perspective on Maxwell's demon and a rich trail of citations for further study. Available from Princeton University Press in the USA, Canada and Japan. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

excellent reference
This book gives a concise overview of Maxwell's Demon and it's impact on the development of thermodynamics. The book includes important original papers that were key insights into the nature of entropy. ... Read more

Product Description
This book presents an innovative and challenging look at evolution on several scales, from the earth and its geology and chemistry to living organisms to social and economic systems. Applying the principles of thermodynamics and the concepts of information gathering and self- organization, the author characterizes the direction of evolution in each case as an accumulation of "distinguishability" information--a type of universal knowledge. ... Read more