Rendering Fashion, Fabric and Prints with Adobe Photoshop

Customer Reviews:

Rendering Fabric and Prints in Photoshop.......2007-03-12

Okay, this book has some great bits in it, but it's also full of a lot of "fluff." I wish it was more concise. I don't think it's worth what I paid for it. I can't say I would recommend it unless you are completely lost and want sections devoted to definitions, the textile industry, other printing methods, etc. I'm a Fibers student looking to go into the textile industry as a repeat artist, and I was hoping this book would cover more computer/program techniques. I learned better shortcuts and methods on my own than I did from this book. Do yourself a favor and find someone (or another book) that can cover Photoshop for you.

A BIG MESS!.......2005-03-24

Absolutely not worth the price it is being sold for. i agree with other reviewers that half of the information is totally not required.Plus the CD's are a mess as half of your time is wasted in searching the relative images in the CD for the excercises and some of them are completely missing!!! I could not render half of the fabrics as per the instructions since as they are very unspecific & confusing.So many pages have been wasted in giving a brief of textiles which is a different subject altogether and the one who would want to use this book has to be thorough with textiles. The information on textiles also is too brief & confusing.Aslo there were too many examples & mini biographies of people who are successful CAD/Textile designers which was totally not required.I hopped & jumped & skipped throughout the book expecting something useful but in vain.I finally gave up and returned it.Please do not waste money on this book.I really would like someone to come up with a more specific and useful book for using such important softwares like Adobe Illustrator & Photoshop specifically for rendering fashion as I desperately want to learn this. I expected that this book would be a good substitute (as this is the only book i hv found till now that uses photoshop to render textiles) for the highly expensive CAD courses here in NY. But unfortunately i was thouroughly disappointed. Can someone please suggest me any other good books related to Adobe Illustrator & Photoshop for rendering fashion, textiles & prints?????Suggestions are welcome - nins25@gmail.com

a necessary evil.......2005-01-24

this is one of only two refrences currently avlaible on the subject. (a third is coming soon)
there are a lot of editing problems, and missing files. extremly frustrating when you are trying to work thorugh the exercises.
but, i took the basics that it offered and ran with it.

it is a pricy book, but i would recommend it (as it's cheaper then the other book available) as of now, and seen the new book. hopefully a new addition will be released minus the mistakes. so that it can be more useful refrence for those of us intrested in this subject.

i'd also like to see some information on advanced techniques. and more info on using a drawing tablet.

the title is also misleading, as all you learn is how to render textiles.

Very Basic Instruction NOT Inspiration.......2005-01-02

This book should have been 1/2 the size and 1/2 the price. I nearly returned it, but since there are so few instructional books on Photoshop geared towards textile/surface design available on the market, I stuck it out.
I'd throw out half the content. Too much text is spent explaining the textile industry. While it is important to understand the textile trade/printing process, that's not what I wanted when I bought this book. Much of the book focuses on "Basic Design" principles, putting together a portofolio, presentation boards, the future of digital printing etc... like a Textile Design 101 class. Some people might find this helpful ... I found it infuriating.
This book is NOT about inspiration. The exercises are drab, the illustrations and sample files are plain and artless. Sometimes key information about where to look for tools is missing or mis-labeled. One section refers to a Demo plug-in to use, but it doesn't name the plug-in and there are no plug-ins found on the CD. There are product placement "advertisements" that annoy me. And the author assumes from the get-go that the "student" has access to a flatbed scanner and other expensive hardware; clearly a textbook geared towards a shared studio/lab classroom situation.
The CD is a disaster. NONE of the file folders or names referenced in the text relate to the CD content. Most of the files are there, but not in any logical order and with different file names. When the author references a file in an exercise, you can spend more time looking for the file than actually performing the exercise. There are multiple copies of some files and it's missing other files altogether. Chapter 3 is the first chapter where exercises with CD files begin, but the Chapter 3 folder is empty! There are tons of images of "Student" work that is completely uninspired and seems more like a way to get the author's favorite student "published".
This is an unsophisticated and horribly uninspired text. I kept it because there is so little available geared towards textile design.
My background is in Fine Arts with an advanced understanding of textiles including weaving, sewing, handprinting textiles and traditional croquis painting. I am very computer literate and am not afraid of software. I've never been able to merge my hands on painting etc to the digital realm and have been looking for instructional aids to help with that. I had high expectations and wanted a fairly sophisticated reference book. I feel like I'm sifting through a lot of chaff for a meager meal. I guess I'm hungry.
I'm determined to break through to learn to utilize a very sophisticated product (Photoshop) for my needs. I'll get my inspiration elsewhere. I gave this book 2 stars only because there is some value in working through the exercises which are specifically geared towards pattern and textile design.
> If you are looking for inspiration, don't buy this book.
> If you know you'll be dissuaded and frustrated by disorganized and missing references to files and tools - don't buy this book.
> If you're new to design and don't understand textiles, I'm not sure you will be well-served by the presentation of the "Basics".
> If you buy this book, glean what you can and ignore the discouraging mediocrity.

Excellent book!!.......2004-08-02

Excellent Textile and Fashion Textbook
A must buy for anyone in the textile or fashion industries. Beginners will find all the info they need to begin a career in fashion textiles and advanced users of textile cad will find techniques to solve many fabric related issues of CAD design.

The book has been fantastic insight to using Photoshop as textile design software. The enclosed CD has many easy to follow examples that are outlined in the text and a second CD has a 30 day evaluation version of Photoshop.

The portfolio and resume tipsalone are well worth the $60!

Rendering Fashion, Fabric and Prints with Adobe Photoshop

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Rendering Fashion, Fabric and Prints with Adobe Photoshop
M. Kathleen Colussy; Steve Greenberg
Manufacturer: Prentice Hall
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Adobe Photoshop | Digital Photography & Video | Computers & Internet | Subjects | Books
ASIN: B000OI9D74

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Rendering Fashion, Fabric, and Prints With Adobe Photoshop
Steve Greenberg
Manufacturer: NY
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Adobe Photoshop | Digital Photography & Video | Computers & Internet | Subjects | Books
ASIN: B000N7EN6M

Book Description

Favorite athletes from sports such as baseball, basketball, football, tennis, skiing, gymnastics and track-and-field are presented here.

An American Bookseller Pick of the Lists, New York Public Library -- Books for the Teen Age.

Customer Reviews:

Great book for drawing enthusiasts.......2005-02-14

This is probably one of the best in the "How to Draw series..." The pictures in this book are very easy to follow and results can be expected. The book seems to have a "thesis" if you will, the goal is to teach the patron how the muscles of the human body are to be drawn, and how they move in different actions and by the end of the book you can expect to be very good at it.

Be sure to do each drawing numerous times, you will see your improvement and get motivated for other drawings.

I recommend this book to everyone; even the most novice of artists can enjoy it.

In My Humble Opinion

Lots of fun for athletic artists.......1998-10-07

I liked drawing hockey, basketball, football, karate and fencing the best. It was easy when you followed the diagrams. Now I can draw them better without the book too. I liked learning how to draw all the sports, but I haven't got all of them yet. (Susie - age 8) The book provided good visual step by step drawings to follow, to show how the body parts can be added and changed. There was a lot of variety of sports depicted. It kept her attention for quite awhile! (Her mom)

Great!.......1998-09-13

I bought a book called Draw 50 Athletes. First I started with the easy things. Then I started working on harder things. Then I could draw anything. This book is good for kids who like drawing and sports. I think this book is good for kids and I recommned it.

The creative way to draw the human figure

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The creative way to draw the human figure
Arthur Zaidenberg
Manufacturer: Cornerstone Library
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Unknown Binding
ASIN: B0007EDIRQ

Figure indication for the artist, art director, and layout man;: An easy, thorough way to learn to indicate the human figure

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Figure indication for the artist, art director, and layout man;: An easy, thorough way to learn to indicate the human figure
Harry Dreve Schorr
Manufacturer: Watson-Guptill Publications
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Unknown Binding

General | Drawing | Arts & Photography | Subjects | Books

Drawing | Instructional & How-To | Arts & Photography | Subjects | Books
ASIN: B0007DVS5Q

Name this flower: A simple way of finding out the names of common plants without previous knowledge of botany : with 371 coloured drawings representing ... their natural size, and 2797 other figures

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Name this flower: A simple way of finding out the names of common plants without previous knowledge of botany : with 371 coloured drawings representing ... their natural size, and 2797 other figures
Gaston Bonnier
Manufacturer: E.P. Dutton & Co
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Unknown Binding

Ways of Drawing the Human Figure: A Guide to Expanding Your Visual Awareness (Ways of Drawing)

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Ways of Drawing the Human Figure: A Guide to Expanding Your Visual Awareness (Ways of Drawing)

Manufacturer: Running Pr
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

General | Instructional & How-To | Arts & Photography | Subjects | Books

Drawing | Instructional & How-To | Arts & Photography | Subjects | Books

Figure Drawing | Instructional & How-To | Arts & Photography | Subjects | Books

General | Drawing | Arts & Photography | Subjects | Books

General | Arts & Photography | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 1561385395

Drawing for everyone;: The natural way to draw expressively

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Drawing for everyone;: The natural way to draw expressively
Arthur J Frank
Manufacturer: Barnes
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Unknown Binding

General | Drawing | Arts & Photography | Subjects | Books

Drawing | Instructional & How-To | Arts & Photography | Subjects | Books
ASIN: B0007E76OW

The human figure: The development from the Egyptian to the Greek way of presenting it in paintings, drawings and reliefs. From a lecture delivered before the Art History Society in Oslo, December 1946

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The human figure: The development from the Egyptian to the Greek way of presenting it in paintings, drawings and reliefs. From a lecture delivered before the Art History Society in Oslo, December 1946
Else Christie Kielland
Manufacturer: Aschehoug
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Unknown Binding
ASIN: B0007JGLDE

The right way to human figure drawing and anatomy

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The right way to human figure drawing and anatomy
Arthur Gladstone Jackson
Manufacturer: Emerson Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Unknown Binding
ASIN: B0007IY5I8

Ways of Drawing Figures (Ways of Drawing)

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Ways of Drawing Figures (Ways of Drawing)
Valerie Wiffen
Manufacturer: Cassell Illustrated
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

General | Instructional & How-To | Arts & Photography | Subjects | Books

Drawing | Instructional & How-To | Arts & Photography | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 0289801575

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Funny!

A fantastic Get Fuzzy Collection

NOT JUST FUNNY

Not for the casual fan

Good old Bucky

Blueprint for Disaster: A Get Fuzzy Collection
Darby Conley
Manufacturer: Andrews McMeel Publishing
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Comic Strips | Comics & Graphic Novels | Subjects | Books
General | Comics & Graphic Novels | Subjects | Books
General | Humor | Entertainment | Subjects | Books
Look Inside Entertainment Books | Trip | Specialty Stores | Books
Similar Items:

Say Cheesy: A Get Fuzzy Collection, Vol. 5

The Get Fuzzy Experience

The Dog Is Not a Toy: House Rule #4

Bucky Katt's Big Book Of Fun: A Get Fuzzy Treasury (Get Fuzzy)

Scrum Bums: A Get Fuzzy Collection (Get Fuzzy)

ASIN: 0740738089

Book Description

You have to wonder what kind of pets cartoonist Darby Conley had as a child. If they were anything like Bucky Katt and Satchel Pooch. . . well, life in the Conley house must have been interesting to say the least. The wacky triumvirate of Bucky, Satchel, and Rob are back in the fourth Get Fuzzy collection, Blueprint for Disaster, and ?interesting? doesn?t begin to describe their antics. Rob Wilco is the mild-mannered ad executive caretaker of Bucky and Satchel. Satchel is a sweet and naive shar-pei-yellow-Lab cross, while Bucky is a Siamese with ?cat-titude? to spare. Bucky and Satchel get along like, well, like cats and dogs. Like a beleaguered parent, Rob constantly must thwart Bucky?s schemes and protect the unsuspecting Satchel. His pets? mischief continually disrupts his attempts to meet women. You try explaining to your date why your cat thinks he?s a gangsta rapper and your dog is filming his ?crib? for MTV. Would anyone live with humans who behaved like this?Bitingly funny with a wry sense of the absurdity of life with pets, Get Fuzzy appeals to everyone who has ever lived in a mixed-species household. Blueprint for Disaster is sure to be yet another Get Fuzzy best-seller.

Customer Reviews:

Funny!.......2007-09-27

these books just crack me up, my only complaint is they are too short! I never want to put them down, and read the whole thing in one sitting.

A fantastic Get Fuzzy Collection.......2007-08-11

I won't go into how fantastic this comic strip is, but it is easily my favorite comic strip of all time. :)

For the uninitiated, there are 6 collections so far and three treasuries. The seventh collection is not yet released.

Please keep in mind that each treasury is two collections put together, so as far as I know the treasuries are the same as two of the collections, except I believe the treasuries have the Sunday comics in color while the collections have them in black and white.

In chronological order, the collections are:

1. The Dog is Not a Toy: House Rule #4
2. Fuzzy Logic: Get Fuzzy 2
3. The Get Fuzzy Experience
4. Blueprint for Disaster
5. Say Cheesy: A Get Fuzzy Collection 5
6. Scrum Bums
7. I'm Ready for My Movie Contract: A Get Fuzzy Collection (not yet released)

The treasuries are:

1. Groovitude (encompassing collections 1 and 2).
2. Bucky Katt's Big Book of Fun (encompassing collections 3 and 4).
3. Loserpalooza (encompassing collections 5 and 6).

These comics are beyond hilarious, and I would highly recommend them to pet lovers/haters of all ages. :)

NOT JUST FUNNY.......2007-05-29

What is so wonderful about GET FUZZY is that it is not just funny, it is well drawn. As a cartoonist, I appreciate good artistry. Somehow, despite the confines of small panels, Darby Conley manages to create very expressive poses and remarkably charming facial expressions. Even when a particular comic strip is only slightly amusing, the artwork scores a 10. (Little details are great, such as the pear logo, instead of an apple, on Rob's laptop.)

I don't know how cat lovers feel about Bucky, since he's not a very nice kitty. I favor dogs, so I am delighted when the feisty feline gets his comeuppance. Satchel, the mutt, has a wide-eyed innocence that makes him lovable.

Some story lines in this volume: Bucky loses a tooth, Burger comes to visit, Bucky and Satchel go on the Judge Judy TV program.

You gotta love it!Cattle Capers

Not for the casual fan.......2006-04-08

This book is not for the casual fan. If you cherish those moments where Bucky says something particularly out there or Rob is particularly sarcastic in his reply, step away slowly. This book is for those who enjoy long storylines that for the most part link together (Bucky spends a week trying to snare, and, consequently, getting his butt whooped by a ferret, which leads him to sue the ferret on Judge Judy). I know that I am not a casual fan, but I still find the irreverent, laugh out loud humor better than long storyliness. If you are like me, I would reccomend Say Cheesy and Groovitude.

Good old Bucky.......2006-02-19

Once again Bucky, Satchel and Rob shine again in this collection of cartoons. If you have or have not read the comic strip before, buy this one. As usual this had me laughing from start to finish. Well worth anything you may pay for it. You can read this many times and never get tired of the antics of Bucky. Good buy.

Book Description

In 1999, two amateur Jane Austen scholars staying at an English estate stumbled upon a hidden cache of manuscript pages and made the literary discovery of the century -- the lost sex scenes from Jane Austen's novels. Published here for the first time, the lost pages display Emma taking self-satisfaction to a whole new level, and reveal Henry Crawford's thorough exploration of "brotherly love" at Mansfield Park. If you've ever wondered what really happened in the drawing rooms of Austen's beloved characters, Pride and Promiscuity will satisfy your curiosity...and a whole lot more.

Customer Reviews:

Tripe........2007-08-03

I bought this under the mistaken impression that it was factual. Yes, I read the introduction and faux authentication by "Elfrida Drummond" who it turns out is the author's husband. Nowhere before the commencement of the book did it say that this was a farce. That's what upset me. Once I found out the truth there was no reason to continue reading it. If it wasn't written by Ms. Austen, why continue? If Ms. Eckstut had been forthright about how she billed the book, I think many of us would have been more forgiving.

Not worth my time........2006-04-26

I was hoping to find this book amusing, and, well, I didn't. I pride myself on a fairly decent sense of humor, and I guess that if you're going to "go there" (as in, write up "lost sex scenes" from Jane Austen's novels) you might as well go all the way, and this book simply did not do so.

Pride and Promiscuity : The Lost Sex Scenes of Jane Austen [Parody].......2006-03-27

Yes, I have a sense of humor. No, there wasn't any humor in it.

Not at all in the style of Jane Austen.......2004-12-29

The premise of this parody of Jane Austen's work is intriguing, if rather unlikely. An amateur scholar discovers some lost manuscripts of Jane Austen's, presumably risky scenes she was forced to cut from her novels by her editor. After the discovery she contacts a renowned Austen scholar who on the basis of stylistic comparisons pronounces the manuscripts authentic. This part of the book is very entertaining as it makes fun of academic procedures and the propensity of some scholars to focus on issues of grammar and style.
The main part of the book contains the supposedly lost sex scenes from Jane Austen's novels. Though superfluously the text reads like in the style of Jane Austen, a closer look reveals that it is quite badly written in rather stiff prose not the least reminiscent of Jane Austen's language. As to the content, this is even more disappointing; I am no prude and I like my sex scenes hot and steamy, but these were just revolting and lame. Also, the author completely misses one of the main attractions of Jane Austen's novels, which is exactly that the reader is not told everything. I think the great tension between Elizabeth and Mr. Darcy results from the fact, that we as readers can only guess at what they do behind closed doors.
If you cannot get enough of Jane Austen and want to know more about her "real" life, then read her letters, there she is more open and more acerbic then in the novels. Sadly, this book definitely does not live up to its promise.

Keep Your Corsets On ; Not Funny.......2004-11-13

Very disappointing. My daughter and I are Austen fanatics, and the idea of x-rated parodies of Jane was too delightful to pass up. Sadly, they are trite and predictable, and not funny for the most part. In a fit of madness, I bought each of us a copy of this tripe, and that was two too many. The idea had great promise, and it was a very clever idea, but the execution was poor. Try and find this on sale or at a garage sale. It's not worth the full price.

Pride and Promiscuity: The Lost Sex Scenes of Jane Austen

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Pride and Promiscuity: The Lost Sex Scenes of Jane Austen
Arielle; Ashton, Dennis Eckstut
Manufacturer: Fireside/Simon and Schuster
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000OP21MG

Book Description

Indelible Shadows investigates questions raised by films about the Holocaust. How does one make a movie that is both morally just and marketable? Film scholar Annette Insdorf provides sensitive readings of individual films and analyzes theoretical issues such as the "truth claims" of the cinematic medium. The third edition of Indelible Shadows includes five new chapters that cover recent trends, as well as rediscoveries of motion pictures made during and just after World War II. It addresses the treatment of rescuers, as in Schindler's List; the controversial use of humor, as in Life is Beautiful; the distorted image of survivors, and the growing genre of documentaries that return to the scene of the crime or rescue. The annotated filmography offers capsule summaries and information about another hundred Holocaust films from around the world, making this edition the most comprehensive and up to date discussion of films about the Holocaust, and an invaluable resource for film programmers and educators. Annette Insdorf is Director of Undergraduate Film Studies at Columbia University, and a Professor in the Graduate Film Division of the School of the Arts. She is the author of Double Lives, Second Chances: The Cinema of Krzysztof Kielowski (Hyperion, 1999) and Francois Truffaut (Cambridge, 1995). She served as a jury member at the Berlin Film Festival and the Locarno Film Festival, and is the panel moderator at the Telluride Film Festival. Insdorf co-hosts (with Roger Ebert) Cannes Film Festival coverage for BRAVo/IFC.

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Indelible Shadows: Film and the Holocaust - Second Edition

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Indelible Shadows: Film and the Holocaust - Second Edition
Annette Insdorf
Manufacturer: Cambridge Univ.
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000LBUNH8

Book Description

INTRODUCTION

This book is a guide to the most interesting radio programs in the world. Such a guide was never necessary before, because you couldn't get all the radio stations in the world, only the dozen or so in your town. Now the Internet, as it has changed so much else, is changing that. If you are one of the millions of people who have already checked out Internet radio, you know what an astonishing variety of great radio is out there. You could get lost forever exploring it all. This book is designed to help you find radio you love, and reduce the time you spend stumbling around looking for it. If you have never tried Internet radio, this book is also a getting-started guide, showing you, step by step, how to get connected.

The potential of Internet radio is amazing. Every day more stations come onto the Net, every day their streams improve, every day they figure out how to make their web sites more helpful to listeners. Every day you can find some great new radio program you never knew was out there, and fall in love with radio all over again. Radio is changing into something completely new, more powerful, more various, and more useful. The change is not complete. Those of us lucky to live in high-bandwidth neighborhoods feel it first, while computer users in the United Kingdom, for example, not only have limited bandwidth, but mostly still pay for it by the minute, holding back the day when it becomes practical for use as radio. But if the timing of the change is yet to be seen, its shape is already clear.

The one great limitation constraining radio throughout its history has been geography. Except for a few hobbyist "DXers," trying to catch skipping signals in the night, listeners have been mostly limited to radio stations in their own neighborhoods. You may remember a great radio station in the town where you used to live, or one you heard on vacation, but you could never listen to them from where you are now. Well now you can. That is exactly what Internet radio allows.

So it is no wonder that both the number of listeners and the number of stations on Internet radio is exploding. Every day, 200,000 new listeners tune in. Most broadcast stations have found their way to the Internet by now, so if you remember a program you once heard in Paris, it is probably on the Net. Far more exciting than the sheer numbers is the breadth and depth of the programming. Freed from the economic and legal restraints that limit what is on the airwaves, Internet radio offers something for nearly everyone.

Whether you're interested in learning Portuguese, scoping out the latest in African music before it hits the stores, or getting first-hand news from the latest flash point of confrontation, there is a radio station broadcasting live right now to bring you just what you're looking for. And in addition to broadcast stations that extend their signal over the Internet, the ease of Internet radio has also led to a boom of Net-only stations, such as the poetry-intensive station a professor hosts from his office in an English department.

Customer Reviews:

Internet Radio.......2003-05-25

Internet Radio offers information on access to thousands of radio stations, world-wide and in almost every cultural category. Radio listeners who suffer from weak reception of local stations or do not share the taste or politics of local broadcasters will find a treasure of choices.

The author's politically-correct and lefist politics are evident in his diatribe against "Right-Wing" radio stations (p.269) and in other sermons dispersed in his text. Some stations may not have been listed for those listeners.

However, readers will discover a vast choice of radio stations, delivering music, talk, drama, analysis and windows on cultures the world. Methods for connection and ratings of broadcasts abound.

Recommended.

Book Description

This delightful collection from the magician of math introduces readers to magic squares, the Generalized Ham Sandwich Theorem, origami, digital roots, an update of the Induction Game of Eleusis, Dudeney puzzles, the maze at Hampton Court palace, and many more mathematical puzzles and principles.

"Gardner is often the clown prince of science. . . . His Mathematical Games column in Scientific American is one of the few bridges over C. P. Snow's famous 'gulf of mutual incomprehension' that lies between the technical and literary cultures."—Time

Customer Reviews:

great book of puzzles.......2000-04-02

Martin Gardner comes through again with a great book of puzzles. There is a lot of material here to keep you thinking for quite a while. One of the better book of puzzles I have seen.

The 2nd (second) Scientific American Book of Mathematical Puzzles & Diversions

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The 2nd (second) Scientific American Book of Mathematical Puzzles & Diversions
Martin Gardner
Manufacturer: Simon & Schuster
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000HMUUO2

Scientific American Mathematical Puzzles & Diversions-Second Book

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Scientific American Mathematical Puzzles & Diversions-Second Book
Martin Gardner
Manufacturer: Simon & Schuster
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000Q39J3K

Second Scientific American Book of Mathematical Puzzles and Diversions

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Second Scientific American Book of Mathematical Puzzles and Diversions
Martin Gardner
Manufacturer: University Of Chicago Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000OP7QOY

Amazon.com

With the stock market breaking records almost daily, leaving longtime market analysts shaking their heads and revising their forecasts, a study of the concept of risk seems quite timely. Peter Bernstein has written a comprehensive history of man's efforts to understand risk and probability, beginning with early gamblers in ancient Greece, continuing through the 17th-century French mathematicians Pascal and Fermat and up to modern chaos theory. Along the way he demonstrates that understanding risk underlies everything from game theory to bridge-building to winemaking.

Book Description

A Business Week, New York Times Business, and USA Today Bestseller

"Ambitious and readable . . . an engaging introduction to the oddsmakers, whom Bernstein regards as true humanists helping to release mankind from the choke holds of superstition and fatalism." -The New York Times

"An extraordinarily entertaining and informative book." -The Wall Street Journal

"A lively panoramic book . . . Against the Gods sets up an ambitious premise and then delivers on it." -Business Week

"Deserves to be, and surely will be, widely read." -The Economist

"[A] challenging book, one that may change forever the way people think about the world." -Worth

"No one else could have written a book of such central importance with so much charm and excitement." -Robert Heilbroner author, The Worldly Philosophers

"With his wonderful knowledge of the history and current manifestations of risk, Peter Bernstein brings us Against the Gods. Nothing like it will come out of the financial world this year or ever. I speak carefully: no one should miss it." -John Kenneth Galbraith Professor of Economics Emeritus, Harvard University

In this unique exploration of the role of risk in our society, Peter Bernstein argues that the notion of bringing risk under control is one of the central ideas that distinguishes modern times from the distant past. Against the Gods chronicles the remarkable intellectual adventure that liberated humanity from oracles and soothsayers by means of the powerful tools of risk management that are available to us today.

"An extremely readable history of risk." -Barron's

"Fascinating . . . this challenging volume will help you understand the uncertainties that every investor must face." -Money

"A singular achievement." -Times Literary Supplement

"There's a growing market for savants who can render the recondite intelligibly-witness Stephen Jay Gould (natural history), Oliver Sacks (disease), Richard Dawkins (heredity), James Gleick (physics), Paul Krugman (economics)-and Bernstein would mingle well in their company." -The Australian

Customer Reviews:

Against The Gods, a highly recommended book for MBA.......2007-09-18

The reason that I bought this book was because it was highly recommended by the teachers at my MBA class.

They were not kidding, from head to toe its very good and kept my attention till the end. It has been of great help to me. Aside the history content it helps you to think on how to mitigate risk and how improve the opportunities.

So Close to Wonderful.......2007-08-14

Bernstein does an adequate job bringing the concepts together, but this is not a page-turner. I found myself reading on for the promise of insight, and he offers some, but the writing is a bit dull.

Unpretentious and pleasant.......2007-07-10

Bernstein is an interesting writer since he is the consummate finance insider- a practioner, regulator and academic. This range helps and harms the book - in his efforts to render the history of risk, he delves into anecdotal caricatures while amusing definitely smack of basis risk with the underlying ideas that are provocative enough! I found the behavioural finance and derivatives section to be rather basic but then realised the book was written in 1996. It's a pleasant read but a more pragmatic introduction to probability is the infinitely witty Cartoon Guide to Statistics.

Are you risk-seeker or risk-averse?.......2007-07-01

According to this book you are both, it only depends on the point of view that is presented. I enjoy the book from the beginning to end, especially the last three chapters. The history and analysis of rational behavior is enlightening, to anyone who has ever thought about the process of decision.

A remarkable rational attitude against rational Gods.......2007-05-16

2 crucial ponits in this book:

1.Sociological: Bernstein describes how risk was first imagined as an essentially modern cultural form and significantly operationalized in early mercantile capitalist shipping, where individual losses in rapidly expanding global trade become large enough to encourage their socialization in insurance arranegemnts. This book implies some viable if crude forms measurement and scaling of risk. In his narrative, risk was there waiting to be discovered, carrying its own intrinsic meaning, which the visionaries, through their heroic powers of access to msteries of Nature, were able to reveal to men of commerce and others who could then drive the economic, cultural and technological revolution of modernity. We can note from this account of risk how an implicit normative framework`and a claim of control are advanced as defining features of this new state`of enlightenment. It is this scientific risk discourse which gives total control`of `the future at the service of the present', the implication being that risk`analysis identifies and domesticates all significant future consequences of the`relevant actions. In this way ignorance and unanticipated consequences - lack`of control - lying beyond the reach of existing scientific knowledge, thus`potentially embarrassing in future to risk assessment, are seamlessly deleted.`Risk is thus assumed to define the full sphere of conceivable meaning for considering`new technologies and their implications, and science reveals this`independent meaning. (Reference, Wynne:Reflexivity inside out?)

2. Historical: While it is apparent to historians that both Khayyam and Kharazmi were Persian thinkers, the author in keen to be selective inattentive to this fact such that he argues the system of numbers were imported from Arab world to West whereas it was firstly introduced to Arabs at the time Persia was invaded by them. Hence the author's historic mind-set starts from 12th Century while long before which is 500 B.C. risk used to be engineered among Persians. (Reference, Channel History-Engineering an Empire: Persia)

Against the Gods: the Remarkable Story of Risk

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Against the Gods: the Remarkable Story of Risk
Peter L Bernstein
Manufacturer: John Wiley & Sons
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000ON392Y

Against the Gods: The Remarkable Story of Risk. (book reviews): An article from: National Underwriter Property & Casualty-Risk & Benefits Management

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Against the Gods: The Remarkable Story of Risk. (book reviews): An article from: National Underwriter Property & Casualty-Risk & Benefits Management
Peter W. Rice
Manufacturer: The National Underwriter Company
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Digital

General | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books

Book Description

This digital document is an article from National Underwriter Property & Casualty-Risk & Benefits Management, published by The National Underwriter Company on February 10, 1997. The length of the article is 1800 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

Citation Details
Title: Against the Gods: The Remarkable Story of Risk. (book reviews)
Author: Peter W. Rice
Publication: National Underwriter Property & Casualty-Risk & Benefits Management (Magazine/Journal)
Date: February 10, 1997
Publisher: The National Underwriter Company
Issue: n6 Page: p13(2)

Article Type: Column, Book Review

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Against the Gods: The Remarkable Story of Risk. (book reviews): An article from: National Underwriter Property & Casualty-Risk & Benefits Management
David M. Katz
Manufacturer: The National Underwriter Company
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Digital

General | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books

Book Description

This digital document is an article from National Underwriter Property & Casualty-Risk & Benefits Management, published by The National Underwriter Company on January 6, 1997. The length of the article is 624 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

Citation Details
Title: Against the Gods: The Remarkable Story of Risk. (book reviews)
Author: David M. Katz
Publication: National Underwriter Property & Casualty-Risk & Benefits Management (Magazine/Journal)
Date: January 6, 1997
Publisher: The National Underwriter Company
Issue: n1 Page: p9(1)

Article Type: Book Review

Distributed by Thomson Gale

Against the Gods: The Remarkable Story of Risk.(Review) (book review): An article from: Journal of Risk and Insurance

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Against the Gods: The Remarkable Story of Risk.(Review) (book review): An article from: Journal of Risk and Insurance
Brian J. Glenn
Manufacturer: American Risk and Insurance Association, Inc.
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Digital

General | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books

Book Description

This digital document is an article from Journal of Risk and Insurance, published by American Risk and Insurance Association, Inc. on September 1, 1999. The length of the article is 1029 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

Citation Details
Title: Against the Gods: The Remarkable Story of Risk.(Review) (book review)
Author: Brian J. Glenn
Publication: Journal of Risk and Insurance (Refereed)
Date: September 1, 1999
Publisher: American Risk and Insurance Association, Inc.
Volume: 66 Issue: 3 Page: 517

Article Type: Book Review

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Against The Gods The Remarkable Story of Risk
Bernstein Peter L.
Manufacturer: John Wiley & Sons
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000UECFXQ

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