Subjects:  1. 1945-1989   2. 1989-   3. Globalization   4. History   5. History & Theory - General   6. International Relations - General   7. Political Science   8. Politics - Current Events   9. Politics/International Relations   10. Security, International   11. United Nations   12. World politics   13. Current Events / International   

Subjects:  1. Afghan War, 2001-   2. Army   3. Commando operations   4. History   5. History - Military / War   6. Iraq War, 2003   7. Military - United States   8. Military Science   9. Political Freedom & Security - Intelligence   10. Political Freedom & Security - International Secur   11. Science/Mathematics   12. Special Forces   13. Technology   14. United States   

Subjects:  1. Corrupt practices   2. Criminal Law   3. Criminal justice, Administrati   4. Criminal justice, Administration of   5. Essays   6. General   7. History   8. Justice, Administration of   9. Legal Reference / Law Profession   10. Police corruption   11. Political Science   12. Politics/International Relations   13. United States   14. Political Science / Constitutions   

Customer Reviews (267)

Next...
Readers who've been giving 4 or 5 stars to this book or others in the series amaze me. No doubt a fair percentage of them watch the daytime soaps that run for 20+ years...

Quantity doesn't mean quality. Another review stated that an author writing a "series" keeps going until he "runs out of ideas." NOT TRUE. A series should be as long as it needs to be without meandering. LOTR was three books (4 if you count The Hobbit) but every page meant something, served a purpose, moved the story forward. WOT treads water.

Is Jordan getting paid by the page? Or by the word? Where ten words could suffice, Jordan uses two hundred and fifty.

I have just enough interest in these characters to keep me reading the series, but I don't need page-long descriptions of everyone's hair, breeches, chin, face, skirt, expression, cleavage, skin color, sweat, shoes, etc. Or the furniture, paintings, murals, carpet, ceilings, gardens, horses, inns, dust and brambles around them.

Why does every character we meet, however minor, need a first name, last name, physical description, brief history, etc.? If there's an innkeeper, just call her "innkeeper," not "Mistress so-and-so, a Taraboner, with a high-pitched voice and a round face, not beautiful but handsome, wearing a dress which would have put any Domani woman to shame, a low neckline displaying considerable cleavage, and black, curly hair falling to her shoulders, with a gleam in her eye, blah blah blah."

NO ONE CARES.

I have given up keeping track of people, especially the 200 different Aes Sedai and the 450 servants we've met along the way. I no longer care where the countries are in relation to one another, or who rules them, or who leads the armies, because it simply doesn't matter.

Perhaps Jordan alone isn't to blame. We keep buying his books. And who the heck is the editor? I will be moving on to 7 and 8, eventually, but I feel no sense of urgency since apparently this story will never end.

The struggle to unite the nations for the Last Battle
Book Six of Robert Jordan's "The Wheel of Time" series, Lord Of Chaos is a two cassette, 2.75 hour, digitally mastered, abridged audiobook that continues the story of Rand al'Thor and his struggle to unite the nations for the Last Battle when the Dark One will break free into the world to spring the snares laid by the immortal forsaken to the detriment of an unwary humankind. Robert Jordan is an accomplished and original author whose popularity increases with every title he writes. Highly recommended, this flawless audiobook production is enhanced with the narrative talent of Mark Rolston.

Great Book!!
Lord of chaos is the book that truly defined the wheel of time series. It does not just follow Rand, Mat, Egwene, Elayne, Nynaeve, and the others, it truly opens your eyes to the darkness surrounding them all. It shows what the Dark One can do as the Lord of the Grave with resurrecting the forsaken. I read this book in five days. It keeps you on the edge of your seat. It is the BEST ONE YET!! ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Fantasy - Epic   2. Fantasy - Series   3. Fiction   4. Fiction - Fantasy   5. Fiction / Fantasy / General   

Customer Reviews (10)

The best beginning SPC book on the market
Dr. Wheeler has given a major contribution to the field of statistical process control in this work. With depth and breadth of material, Wheeler has created a simple yet powerful guide to a topic that at times can be quite intimidating to the statistically untrained. With his simple and illustrative presentation style, this book is easily accessible to all levels of practitioners - professional statisticians will enjoy and benefit from the book as well as novices in the field. While only taking two or three hours to read, it is a treasure-trove of information and we have successfully used it as a textbook in a basic seminar in statistical process control. I think this is an important and landmark piece of work, quite worthy to be mentioned in the same breath with works from legendary figures in the field such as Deming and Shewhart

Great book for understanding SPC and process control
My manager at work recommended this book to me as I was about to begin an SPC project. This book was a lifesaver. Wheeler has made SPC easy to understand. As a beginner, I found the work invaluable and I still use it for reference material today

Enlightening
I am a non-technical, non-mathematician, steeped in Deming-oriented Continuous Improvement, which I teach at university-level. This is simply the best (and easiest to read) book on the subject of 'control-chart' based SPC. It's in a class all by itself. It's an enlightening book about Life. It will change the way you look at and understand phenomenon. I wish Wheeler would write a series of such books, treating the rest of mathematics in as enlightening and cogent a fashion. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Business / Economics / Finance   2. Business/Economics   3. Production & Operations Management   

Customer Reviews (9)

Leaves a lot to be desired.
The author is a good writer, BUT, where in this piece of nonfiction are the index, bibliography, and footnotes. There are other books on the same subject that one should spend money on, not this one.

Outlaw Sea
Disappointed. Title is great, but content is lacking. Mostly an excruciating recap of some notable maritime tragedies rather than a discussion of the issues associated with governance of the seas, UNCLOS, inability of coastal states to manage their coastlines, flags of convenience, etc.

A Free Sea, and a Dangerous One
As Melville knew, we look to the sea as a symbol for freedom, and "freedom of the seas" is proverbial. But freedom at sea can lead to such manifestations as piracy, and not just in the swashbuckling days of yore; it could also lead to corporate irresponsibility and malfeasance. William Langewiesche's _The Outlaw Sea: A World of Freedom, Chaos, and Crime_ (North Point Press) collects and expands upon his previous magazine articles on this theme. All of us are dependent upon international trade, and few of us understand how it works or in what ways it is working badly or dangerously, unless we hear about a capsizing or an oil spill. There are a lot more of those than we hear about, and a lot more crime on the sea than even governments acknowledge. Langewiesche's book is a fine way for lubbers to get to know how traditional maritime freedom is endangering them.

Before World War II, ships were customarily built in a country, were registered in that country, flew the flag of that country, and sailed for the profit of businessmen in that country. Ironically, the United States began the current anarchical system in a pretense of neutrality during the pre-Pearl Harbor war, registering in Panama ships bringing needed supplies to Britain. The practice became widespread in the succeeding decades, with many ships now sailing under "flags of convenience." They might be registered in countries that have no navy and even no coastline, and the countries involved can get relatively small fees, which are actually almost pure profit. The countries don't pursue administrative niceties like taxes, labor laws, safety inspections, and so on, and the corporations which own the ships don't mind avoiding such things, either. Among the cases described here are a too-old ship (with full inspection documents) broken in half by stormy seas. Pirates can take advantage of the lax laws by making a ship disappear; capture, repaint, rename, and reflag the vessel, and it vanishes from the seas. Seas are big, ships leave no tracks, and patrol ships and aircraft can see only a tiny percentage of any hunting ground. Policing the oceans from such attacks is not now possible.

The longest episode in the book tells of the _Estonia_, a giant luxury ferry that sank in the Baltic in 1994, with a loss of 852 of 989 passengers and crew. A victim of faulty design, poor maintenance, or even a bomb (none of the extensive investigations afterwards has satisfied everyone), the narrative here of well-chosen characters trying to escape from the swiftly-sinking ship is fast and terrifying. The book ends with a part of the maritime business that few people ever consider: what happens to the worn-out ships? Salvaging used to be a thriving business in our country and others; reclaiming the metal and reusing it was good for profits and good for the environment. However, showing the same pattern of lack of regulation and reduction of the job to the cheapest source available, shipwrecking has gone to places like India, where poorly equipped and poorly paid workers are glad of the job, even if it means almost constant danger from the unplanned movement of heavy objects or the inhalation of poisons. The shipping industry, Langewiesche writes, is "not exactly a criminal industry, but it is an amoral and stubbornly anarchic one." This is a deeply disturbing book, written with cool detachment. Technology and international organizations have not made improvements in the way the vital global trade is conducted. Profits are more important than anything, the sea promises the freest of trading, no one seems to be learning from the lessons described here, and no one should expect these dangerous situations to be changed anytime soon. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Industries - Transportation   2. Maritime History   3. Merchant marine   4. Nationality   5. Political Freedom & Security - Terrorism   6. Shipping   7. Ships   8. Ships & Shipbuilding - General   9. Terrorism   10. Transportation   11. Water Transportation   12. Political Science / General   

Few writers distinguish themselves by their ability to write about complicated, even obscure topics clearly and engagingly. James Gleick, a former science writer for the New York Times, resides in this exclusive category. In Chaos, he takes on the job of depicting the first years of the study of chaos--the seemingly random patterns that characterize many natural phenomena.

This is not a purely technical book. Instead, it focuses as much on the scientists studying chaos as on the chaos itself. In the pages of Gleick's book, the reader meets dozens of extraordinary and eccentric people.For instance, Mitchell Feigenbaum, who constructed and regulated his life by a 26-hour clock and watched his waking hours come in and out of phase with those of his coworkers at Los Alamos National Laboratory.

As for chaos itself, Gleick does an outstanding job of explaining the thought processes and investigative techniques that researchers bring to bear on chaos problems. Rather than attempt to explain Julia sets, Lorenz attractors, and the Mandelbrot Set with gigantically complicated equations, Chaos relies on sketches, photographs, and Gleick's wonderful descriptive prose. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (78)

Mathematical and philosophical thriller
Gleick's "Chaos" will change the way you look at the world. Not once, not twice, but three times, I found myself, jaw agape, staring through the text into infinity and pondering the immensity of what I had just read. This is as much a testament to Gleick's powerful prose as it is to the profound implications of chaos theory.

Gleick accomplishes an impressive feat in his chronicle of chaos' brief history. He skillfully interweaves the characters, their ideas, and the interactions among characters and ideas into a seamless story so as to give the reader an accurate sense of how chaos theory evolved over the course of a couple of decades.

While "Chaos" does not delve into the mathematics, it provides enough detail for readers with technical backgrounds to make the appropriate connections and develop a more complete understanding of chaos. Gleick also provides a thorough list of endnotes for additional reading.

Enjoy. This book will both entertain and astound you.

Excellent and exciting glimpse into chaos!
Chaos is a profound book. It provides you a new pair of glasses that changes completely how you look at this world. For anyone with even a little background in mathematics and physics, or rather a taste for science, this book provides a stimulating compilation on emergence of non-linear science. The story is written inbibing the usually unsung scientists as heroes of a vibrant saga of discovery, eccentricity and revolution of ideas!

Personally when I first read this book an year ago, I was able to comprehend that non-linear dynamics and chaos present a new set of tools to describe systems in all realms of science. The study of chaos contains key to understanding our nature better. Complexity is beautiful in form and patterns in chaos both awe and fascinate! An year later I am still trying to understand the technical details and mathematicals of chaos and nonlinear dynamics, but I feel an excitement for which I must thank Gleick! And not surprisingly, I have now moved to research with an open mind about possibilities in domains of nonlinearty.

Like I Ching said, "Before the beginning of great brilliance, there must be chaos". Maybe as Gleick claims, Chaos will be rated just below relativity and quantum mechanics as the key discoveries of last century!! Read it: it is fun!

an excellent introduction
First, the plusses. The book reads easily, and Gleick is careful to explain all the concepts he introduces so that a layman reader will understand. There is a lot of history in this book, where Gleick first explains the person who made the discovery before he explains the discovery itself. These sections can be tedious to a reader interested in the science, not Edward Lorenz' personal habits, but it works well to steady the pace of the book, and to give the non-scientific reader a breather before diving into more scientific concepts.

You can't always have the best of both worlds, though, and so at times, a more scientifically or mathematically reader will be frustrated with the lack of detail concerning some of the interesting concepts developed here. For example, Gleick mentions fractional dimensionality, but fails to really explain it well, probably assuming that it is beyond most of his readers. This is probably a safe bet for layman readers, but left me very frustrated in places. Also, Gleick's writing (praised as "novelistic") gets overly melodramatic in places, and the reader gets the distinct impression that he's trying too hard to make this book accessible.

But even despite these flaws, this is an excellent introduction to chaos theory, and worth reading for scientists and laymen alike. This book makes you want to learn more about chaos theory, and does a good job at making chaos accessible. It was written over fifteen years ago, though, so a more recent book on chaos would be a good supplement. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Chaotic Behavior in Systems   2. Dynamics   3. Mathematics   4. Physics   5. Science/Mathematics   

Customer Reviews (16)

A beautiful account of how God's love is ever present.
I could not put this inspirational and comforting book down. As a wife of a Marine in First Battalion, Fifth Marines, I can honestly say that I'm impressed by the accurate accounts of both the people involved and events that occured during OIFI. Lt. Carey Cash's book comforted me with heartwarming stories and descriptions of the undeniable,loving presence of God in their lives during trying times. This book has it all- letters from home; prayers and scripture; love stories; tales of God's presence; accounts of 1/5's experiences during the war; friendships strengthened;and hope when faced with adversity. This story shows how in the midst of eye-witnessing the suffering of the Iraqi people, grieving over fallen fellow Marines, and fearing what the days may bring, God's love and grace gave them all strength and courage to face each day.

Testimony of God's grace
I read this book in one night, thoroughly captivated by the descriptions of yes, war, but mostly the stories of our Marines' hearts and how they were changed during the course of Operation Iraqi Freedom. You travel the road with them, through fear and courage and amazement when they see God's hand protecting them in battle. This puts a new perspective on the war and definitely encourages the reader in trusting God and knowing how to pray for our military. Cash seems to be respected by all in 1/5...including me now that I've read his book.

Humbling in God's presence
Chaplain Cash does an excellent job of describing the awe of being in God's presence even in the harshest environment imaginable. He also shows what a good Navy Chaplain can do to help a unit come to grips with its own spiritual needs. May our Lord Jesus be glorified by the witness this book provides. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Biography   2. Biography / Autobiography   3. Cash, Carey   4. Chaplains, Military   5. Christianity - General   6. Iraq War, 2003   7. Military   8. Military - Iraq War   9. Personal narratives, American   10. Religion   11. Religious   12. Biography & Autobiography / Military   

Customer Reviews (28)

A "Must Read" book!
Review of Sync: The Emerging Science of Spontaneous Order, by Steven Strogatz

Reviewer: Mark Lamendola, IEEE Senior Member and author of over 3500 articles.

Two thumbs up! This entertaining and informative book is one of the few I would read twice. You know those lists of books you'd want to have if you were stranded on a desert island? Sync made my list.

While Sync is fact-filled, it's far from dry. Throughout the text, Strogatz made me laugh out loud-reminding me very much of the engaging, "can't put it down" writing style used by Bill Bryson (author of Rediscovering America on the Appalachian Trail and The Lost Continent).

Strogatz takes a complex topic, and explains it in a way that even folks with no innate interest in the topic will find enjoyable. I learned quite a bit about how and why everything from atoms to planets will suddenly act in unison-or not do so. My newly-gained understanding of the relationship between sleep cycles and body temperature cycles has already helped me make some positive changes. Then there's the explanation of traffic....
Not once did Strogatz use an intimidating equation-or any equation at all. Instead, he treats the reader to rich metaphors, analogies, and examples. And instead of dry history on how sync got where it is today, Strogatz shares the frustrations, peculiarities, and human drama of the people behind the developments. Strogatz keeps a pace that is more in line with a Tom Clancy novel than a book focused on a science topic.

The ending made me go back to the beginning-to the dedication, actually. I never cared about dedications, before. However this one really meant something to me after I read Sync. Strogatz dedicated Sync to his departed friend Art Winfree, without whom Strogatz would never have taken his fabulous journey and without whom such a marvelous book would not have been possible.

SYNC a "group mind"
Have you ever wondered how a flock of seagulls can synchronize as though it had a "group mind"? Or even stranger, how various pieces of machinery can appear to conspire together?
Prof. Steven Strogatz shows lucidly, and without written math, that there is a solid mathematical basis leading toward a natural tendency for everything from atoms and galaxies to living organisms to synchronize their behavior and spontaneously form ordered structures. Beginning with the uncanny spectacle of thousands of fireflies flashing in unison, and demonstrating the same principles, heart cells, and civilizations, Sync is filled with fascinating accounts of seemingly - mysterious self-organizing behavior. And computer studies have shown that this appears to be built into nature itself. A unifying theme is "coupled oscillators", as basic a concept as vibrating guitar strings, and how different notes can vibrate parts of the room walls. Such resonance effects exist in all the Universe, and weak though they may be they can produce profound effects in a large group.
After reading Sync, you may initially feel that synchronous "group mind-like" behavior in everything from fireflies to economic cycles is less mysterious, knowing that there's a mathematical foundation. But upon reflection, the mystery even deepens: mathematics is the study of possible relationships among pure numbers, yet when applied to simple vibrating objects, the results pertain to both "dumb" particles and intelligent humans. And while Prof. Strogatz sticks to known science, I'm left speculating on exactly what's so "dumb" about nature!

Find out the origin of sync!!!
The craving of nature for synchronization is fundamental. To understand the origin of this basic trait of nature you should also read Eugene Savov's book Theory of Interaction the Simplest Explanation of Everything. It appears that oscillations are intrinsic property of every bit of reality from atoms to galaxies and the universe as whole. Everything vibrates at frequencies of its own as shown in the theory of interaction. This qualitatively new theory reveals why the vibrations become faster deeper into the structure of every body. For example, your heart beats faster than you breathe. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Life Sciences - Biology - General   2. Science   3. Science/Mathematics   4. Self-organizing systems   5. Synchronization   6. System Theory   7. Science / Biology   8. Chaos (Physics)   9. Chaos Theory (Mathematics)   10. Mathematical Physics   

Customer Reviews (27)

Fractals in review
As an avid student of Chaos Theory and Fractals, I found this book to be similar to his other one. Williams eludes to using fractals in his analysis but makes no reference to fractal dimensions, Koch curves, monsters or any of the original theories as proposed by Mandelbrot. He does present some scaling principles and their application to Elliot Waves, but this is under the assumption that the Elliot Wave is correct or that you believe in it. I do agree with some of the money flow theories Williams proposes, which is probably the most clearly explained and substantiated part of his trading theory. For a more scientific approach to fractal analysis, I recommend "Fractals and Scaling in Finance" by Mandelbrot and for software, "Fractal Finance" by Tetrahex. Both of these follow a similar system, although Fractal Finance does use a MACD which appears similar to Williams.

Excellent presentation of a complete trading methodology
This book provides a clear description of an excellent trend-following trading plan. Novel indicators are introduced and explained. Although some of the indicator definitions are hard to follow, I received a rapid response from Dr. William's company through e-mail answering my questions about one of the indicators. Although the book frequently refers to the Investor's Dream software sold by Profitunity, the concepts of the trading plan are fully disclosed and can be implemented in other technical analysis software. The aspects of the book relating to psychology are also sound and informative. This is definately one of the best books on trading that I have read.

Can Not Recommend
Nothing more than an infomercial for his business - selling software to support the methods. The "fractal" method that he presents appears to be backwards i.e. sell an up market, buy a down market. Also he discusses his trend lines by color and all of the plates are in grey scale. You can figure it out but it does take away from the desired effect. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Bonds   2. Business & Economics   3. Business / Economics / Finance   4. Business/Economics   5. Commodities And Commodity Exchanges   6. Commodity futures   7. Finance   8. Futures   9. Investments & Securities - General   10. Stocks   11. Business & Economics / Investments & Securities   12. Chaos theory   13. International trade   14. Investment & securities   15. Psychology   

Customer Reviews (12)

Hands down the best book on finance I have ever read.
Reviewed by Michael P. Corning

Edgar E. Peters wasn't satisfied with the Efficient Market Hypothesis (EMH). With the publication of his first book, Chaos and Order in Capital Markets, John Wiley & Sons, New York, 1991, he went public with his concerns about its underlying assumptions and with its empirical shortcomings. That book, a manifesto really, was followed last year by Fractal Market Analysis: Applying Chaos Theory to Investment & Economics (FMA). Where his first book broke ground, FMA has laid the foundation of a new conceptual infrastructure of capital markets.

Risk From The Past
Much of Peters argument is based on two things: one hundred three years of daily Dow Jones Industrial Average data, and Rescaled Range (R/S) analysis. He begins FMA by demonstrating that capital market returns in the United States are not a truly random walk. Instead, he contends they are a biased random walk and indicate a long memory process; they are persistent. Specifically. he characterizes their short term behavior (less than 1,200 days) as a stochastic nonlinear process and their long term behavior as a nonlinear dynamic, or chaotic, process. As a result, he enlarges the definition of risk to include a phenomenon he discovered about persistent processes: they are mirrored by antipersistent ones. If persistent processes are less random than random ones, antipersistent processes reverse themselves more often than random ones. An early insight due to this discovery is that risk in not merely the deviation from an expected value, viz., standard deviation, but the velocity of the second difference of price changes.

Peters offers the Stable-Levy, or fractal, frequency distribution as a more faithful representation of capital markets. When two key variables are fixed at certain levels, the normal distribution becomes a special case of fractal distributions. To hear that the random walk is a special case should be no more surprising than to hear that visible light is a special case of the electromagnetic spectrum. It is not so much a matter of losing something; instead, vast amounts of knowledge remain invisible as long as the old assumption remains intact and tools tuned to the different frequencies remain undeveloped. Instruments tuned to gamma, X-ray, infrared, and radio frequencies have shown astronomers far more about our universe than the special case of visible light ever could.

Both these facts, that finance time series are not random and that the Gaussian assumption is a special case of fractal distributions, suggest that:
1. major rethinking about risk and diversification is necessary,
2. new statistical tools need to be created, and
3. very exciting discoveries are in store for us.

Risk in the Present
While examining the same historic data at different time scales, Peters made another discovery. He found that the frequency distributions of investment horizons ranging from 1-day to 90-day intervals had the same shape. As a result, he concluded that capital markets do not have a characteristic time scale (an important attribute of fractal systems). Instead, he suggested that this phenomenon represented what he called "self-similar risk."

In Peters' view, investors don't struggle against each other trying to attain an above average rate of return (at the expense of the seller) as much as they sustain each other and diversify each other's risk by keeping the market liquid. As long as long-term investors remain long-term investors, they are willing to step in and buy securities that are unwanted by traders on shorter investment horizons.

Risk of the Future
In spite of the highest discipline, crashes happen. The EMH demurs. Crashes and stampedes are not efficient concepts. Copernicus had a similar problem. By placing the Sun at the center of the solar system, he was able to explain the wandering behavior of the planets-except for Mars.

The EMH finds itself in a similar predicament. As long as it clings to its simplifying assumptions like a jealous lover, it will never be able to explain why crashes and stampedes happen. The FMH, on the other hand, not explains why, it begins to construct a world view which explains how they happen, as well.

In the long term, Peters conjectures, capital markets behave like nonlinear dynamic systems. Their time series have all the requisite attributes; among them, sensitivity to initial conditions, and a fractal dimension. In addition, through the use of R/S analysis, Peters can identify the nonperiodic cycles, known in chaos theory as attractors, so characteristic of chaotic systems.

It may be this latter feature that will have the greatest impact on our understanding of risk and our techniques to minimize it. Though he does not explicitly suggest it in Fractal Market Analysis, he has speculated in earlier papers that sufficient understanding of the nonlinear dynamics of capital markets may provide a theoretic basis for market timing and tactical asset allocation.

Final Thoughts
I conclude this review with a few of my own comments about risk.

First, we risk making two types of errors when faced with a new and provocative world view. Type I: We too quickly appropriate a new idea or theory. Type II: We too quickly dismiss a new idea or theory. With Type I errors we agree without understanding; with Type II: we disagree without appreciating. The former is naive, the latter is insolent. With Type I errors we are not fully utilizing our critical faculties; with Type II errors we are forgetting our intuitive. Ignorance is non-market risk. We have an obligation to our clients to diversify it away, and the best way to do that is with an open and critical mind.

Finally, at the risk of overstating it, I would have to describe both of Peters' books as inspired. I say that because they not only informed me, they enlightened me. They changed the way I see the world, and they affected me at an emotional level. I have never before encountered a book at once so intellectually demanding and accessible. For me, the measure of a great book is taken in the number of times I return to it and the degree of new understanding each reading yields for me. In my library, Peters has few peers.

Readers interested in a more in-depth discussion of Fractal Market Analysis can find it on the World Wide Web at http://www.oara.org/mpc/fma/.

Michael P. Corning is the Quality Assurance Officer at Chuck Jones & Associates, Inc., Portland, Oregon. The opinions expressed in this review are his alone and not necessarily those of Chuck Jones & Associates, Inc.

This review was taken from a complete review first published in the Journal of Financial Planning, October, 1995

Gets you up and running with chaos theory for time series
This book includes a very detailed description of how to apply some chaos theory techniques - primarily R/S analysis - to time series data. With this technique, one can gauge whether a time series is completely random, completely predictive, or a mixture of these.

This book glosses over some conceptual topics such as Efficient Market Theory and the Fractal Market Hypothesis in favor of details to perform a rigorous statistical analysis. These conceptual topics are better covered in Peters' earlier work "Chaos and Order in the Capital Markets".

For the analytically oriented reader, there can be much frustration as equations are often initially presented in sloppy and unusable forms with undefined parameters (hence 4 of 5 stars). However, these are subsequently broken down and presented in a step-by-step manner that will allow most readers to implement his techniques.

Overall, this is an excellent introductory book for the practitioner or economist, not so great for the non-technical reader.

This book is a disappointment
As a market analyst for an oil company, I spend considerable effort in trying to find new ways and theories to "decode" the markets and overcome uncertainty. I had hoped Mr. Peters book would offer a model of analysis to test and hopefully use.

Unfortunately, the deeper you get into the "meet and potatoes" of this text, the more disappointing it gets. This book offers nothing. Readers less skilled in the subject matter might attribute this to their shortcomings or lesser math skills. Readers well-versed in this subject matter will easily determine that this text is a waste of time... ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Business / Economics / Finance   2. Business/Economics   3. Chaotic behavior in systems   4. Fractals   5. Investment Finance   6. Investments   7. Investments & Securities - General   8. Marketing - Research   9. Mathematical Economics   10. Mathematics   11. Business & Economics / Investments & Securities   12. Chaos theory   13. Investment & securities   

Customer Reviews (1)

Trading Method that works.
I would have given this book five stars if it did not have 'chaos' in its title. The books is not about chaos theory, it is about trading.
The second edition is really a sequel to another book by Bill Williams: New Trading Dimensions. This book completes the trading methods explained by Bill.
Many like me have used his 'Alligator' to identify trading opportunities. However, the Alligator did not provide for efficient exits. This book completes the picture by discussing appropriate exit strategies and also methods for counter trend trading. Just for this piece of advice, the book is well worth its price. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Business & Economics   2. Business / Economics / Finance   3. Business/Economics   4. Capital market   5. Chaos Theory (Mathematics)   6. Chaotic behavior in systems   7. Finance   8. Fractals   9. Futures And Options Trading   10. Futures market   11. Investments & Securities - General   12. Mathematical models   13. Business & Economics / Finance   14. Investment & securities   

Customer Reviews (19)

Simplifing A Complex Field Through A Consistent Approach
Having read the reviews thus far, I can't find anything I disagree with. It's the best technical text I've ever read. Many of the strengths have been mentioned already: intuitive approach, clear and concise, wide range of interesting illustrative examples, etc.

In addition, the consistent use and discussion of trajectories, phase space, stable points, etc. throughout the entire text allows the reader to incrementally build from each previous lesson. Though other books on nonlinear dynamics use these same tools, the vivid explanations and repetitions with incremental differences greatly enhanced the comprehensibility of these topics. I especially appreciate these consistent methods applied to the consolidation of the material in this text after reading books and papers from various authors using different jargon and methods of illustrating the same concepts.

Perfect introduction to Nonlinear Dynamics and Chaos
If you have read about Chaos and Nonlinear Dynamics and you wish to delve deeper into the mathematics behind the theories then this is the book for you. Strogatz is an excellent writer with an uncanny ability to make advanced concepts seem amazingly simple. The exercises and examples make this book perfect for the motivated self-learner. I must warn you however that you had better be at least somewhat familiar with ODE before you dive into this text. I strongly recommend this book!

Chaos on a plate
Strogatz's approach to Nonlinear Dynamics is suitable for anyone equipped with a good basic understanding of ordinary differential equations. He allows the reader to gradually build-up their understanding through a series of illustrations and examples - this is the sort of book that will be indispensable the night before a final year undergraduate Chaos and Nonlinear Dynamics exam. Not excessively mathematical, contains solid explanations and encourages the reader to learn more about this fantastic area of physics. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Chemistry - General   2. Life Sciences - Biology - General   3. Physics   4. Science   5. Science/Mathematics   

Subjects:  1. Body, Mind & Spirit   2. Channeling   3. Metaphysical Phenomena - General   4. New Age   5. New Age / Parapsychology   6. Parapsychology   7. Parapsychology - General   8. Spiritualism - General   9. Body, Mind & Spirit / Channeling   

Customer Reviews (17)

Fractals in review
As an avid student of Chaos Theory and Fractals, I found this book to be similar to his other one. Williams eludes to using fractals in his analysis but makes no reference to fractal dimensions, Koch curves, monsters or any of the original theories as proposed by Mandelbrot. He does present some scaling principles and their application to Elliot Waves, but this is under the assumption that the Elliot Wave is correct or that you believe in it. I do agree with some of the money flow theories Williams proposes, which is probably the most clearly explained and substantiated part of his trading theoriey. I recommend "Fractals and Scaling in Finance" by Mandelbrot and for software, "Fractal Finance" by Tetrahex. Both of these follow a similar system, although Fractal Finance does use a MACD which appears similar to Williams.

Joke
The five stars is only for the cover. However, the content of the book is pathetic. I have read many trading books and several chaos books and I can honestly say this book is neither. I fell for the enlightened self-similar structure cover and wasted my money. Don't repeat my mistake.

If you are interested in chaos and trading, start with Edgar Peters books such as Chaos and the Capital Markets.

The publisher, Wiley, should be ashamed to put out this sort of drivel. Bill Williams is a joke. If you think your trading style is based on your body type, then maybe this book will help you feel better about losing; otherwise skip it and Bill Williams, PhD.'s other lobotomized treatises on trading.

Trader Development
This book really is mistitled. Chaos theory for markets is not presented, so look elsewhere for that. The book does present a good theory for the psychology of trading such as "traders differ on value but agree on price" as motivation and explains the development of traders from novice, intermediate, and advanced (skip master and expert level)and the goals for each level. Unfortunately, the methodology for trading with a Chaos background is not touched upon.

Good filler read for background on trading and personal development. Poor on methodology for trading with Chaos. Perhaps Mr. Williams had an epiphany and contends all trades are done in Chaos, so traders should relax. To borrow a line from another author, "some trades will, some trades won't, so what, next trade please." ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Accounting - General   2. Business / Economics / Finance   3. Business/Economics   4. Capital market   5. Fractals   6. Futures market   7. Investment Finance   8. Investments & Securities - Futures   9. Mathematical models   10. Business & Economics / Investments & Securities   11. Chaos theory   12. Investment & securities   

Subjects:  1. Christianity - Theology - Cosmology   2. General   3. Religion   4. Religion & Science   5. Theology   6. Religion / General   

Subjects:  1. Buddhism - General   2. Business Life - Inspirational   3. Centering (Psychology)   4. Job satisfaction   5. Mind and body   6. Motivation (Psychology)   7. Religion   8. Religion - World Religions   9. Self-care, Health   10. Religion / Buddhism   

Customer Reviews (10)

Wonderful worldbuilding. Well written.
When he gets between a lord's son and his pleasure, cooper Kharl goes from being a respected craftsman to an accused criminal. Ultimately, he loses his entire family and has to flee his native Brysta--but not before a young black mage he had rescued is murdered. Kharl takes the mage's staff. As her reads the fallen mage's book and experiments with her staff, Kharl begins to refine his own sense of order. He may be a simple cooper, but he believes in doing things right--and over time, comes to believe in making things right as well. But it's difficult for a refugee to make things right--you need power to accomplish much. A mage, on the other hand, has real power.

Kharl's problems lead him to befriend beggers, fight pirates, and ultimately battle white mages for the future of one of the kingdom of Austra. Fortunately, he has a knack of finding friends when he needs them and, although he denies it, his sense of order begins to bring him power.

Author L. E. Modesitt, Jr. has created a fascinating world in the Recluce saga. Order and chaos battle one another, yet need each other to survive. The politics of the world are far more complex than good vs. evil, and even the side of 'order' has its own problems. Kharl makes an interesting character--with a love for wood and iron and true caring about others.

Readers new to Modesitt and Recluce may find the novel slow going at first. The problems Kharl faces reveal themselves only slowly and his ultimate (in this book at least) battle does little to resolve the problems that first set him into motion. For me, WELLSPRING lacked some of the emotional intensity of earlier novels in this fine series. That, however, is not to say that WELLSPRING isn't a fascinating adventure and well worth the read.

A Return to the World of Recluce
Three years after the somewhat formulaic "Cyador" books, Modesitt has returned to the world of Recluce, this time to the tale of Kharl, a cooper - a barrel maker - in Nordla, a northern island-continent across the Eastern Sea from Recluce and Candar, the sites of the 11 earlier books. And for the first time, the protagonist is a grown man, with a consort and two teenage children.

While the overall plot remains much the same as the earlier books, there are at least a few important changes from those earlier books. Kharl suffers losses and wrongs not experienced by any of the earlier Recluce protagonists. He is a mature man, not the callow youths we have seen earlier. And his experiences take place in Nordla and in other parts of the world that we've not seen before. But along the way, fans of the Recluce series will encounter familiar characters: Talryn from "The Magic of Recluce," Justen from "The Order War," and several others. "Wellspring of Chaos" occurs some years after the destruction of Fairhaven at the end of "The Order War" and not too long before the events of "The Magic of Recluce."

It's good to see Modesitt stretching a little bit. It would be better to see him stretch a little more. But the story is fun, and the ties into the earlier stories - the destroyed tower of the Duke of Lydiar, for example - is seamless. You don't have to know a thing about the Recluce series to enjoy this book, but if you are familiar with the series you will be delighted at the sly references.

There will plainly be a sequel; Modesitt gets suitable mileage out of a good character. I look forward to it.

Another outstanding novel by L.E. Modesitt, jr.
I enjoyed reading this book very much. I have read every book in the Saga of Recluce. Hope there will be more coming. The Wellspring of Chaos seems well suited for a sequel. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Fantasy   2. Fantasy - Epic   3. Fantasy - Series   4. Fantasy fiction   5. Fiction   6. Fiction - Fantasy   7. Recluce (Imaginary place)   8. Fiction / Fantasy / Epic   

Customer Reviews (2)

Water, Water, Everywhere
It's out-of-print. No one you know has ever heard of this book. No matter: the trouble you may have in finding a copy of Sensitive Chaos will be worth it. The images will remain with you. The text will teach the old dog (you) new tricks. And years and years from now you will still recognize the spiral of water in the things you see, and you'll even feel a little more connected to the world. Beautiful book.

A beautiful and poetic view of science
This beautiful book remains scientifically accurate while describing in poetic and spiritual style the flowing of fluids in nature. A beautiful collection of pictures illustrates how even living things follow the rules of fluid flow as new cells flow forth in the growth process. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. History & Surveys - Modern   2. Philosophy   3. Philosophy & Social Aspects   4. Science   5. Science/Mathematics   

Subjects:  1. Mathematical physics   2. Nonlinear theories   3. Quantum Theory