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- A Thorough, Thoughtful Assessment of Richard II
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Richard 2 and the Revolution of 1399
Michael Bennett
Manufacturer: Sutton Publishing
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Binding: Hardcover
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ASIN: 0750922834 |
Book Description
This is a full-length study of the last years of Richard II's reign and the circumstances of his overthrow by Henry of Bolinbroke in 1399. This title is suitable for anyone interested in history and the monarchy.
Customer Reviews:
A Thorough, Thoughtful Assessment of Richard II.......2000-06-18
Michael Bennett's new book about Richard II is thorough and thoughtful, much like his previous books on the Wars of the Roses. Many previous studies of Richard II have focused on the possibility of his decline into insanity. Bennett's book does not dwell on this at all, rather focuses on his actions and the consequences. The period around 1399 is very convoluted and Bennett sorts it out well. Since most accounts of the abdication/deposition were writtern by Lancastrian sympathizers, it was very interesting to read a well-reasoned, balanced account. (By the way, the Amazon entry for the book is incorrect; it should be Richard II and the Revolution of 1399 - not 1339!)
Amazon.com
Royal Robbins is one the pioneers of American climbing. His competitive spirit helped him change his sport forever. But it was his relentless desire that helped him push back the boundaries of what anyone had previously thought possible. Pat Ament has diligently chronicled Robbins's life and achievements by taking us from his Boy Scout days, to his triumphs in the Yosemite Valley, to his postscript career as a formidable kayaker. But the main focus is Robbins's years in Yosemite, where he went after whichever route the world said couldn't be climbed. We follow him up the Washington Column, Half Dome, the Nose of El Capitan, and on a solo ascent of the Leaning Tower. Ament also plays historian by laying down the foundations of the American climbing scene, transmitting a feel for Yosemite during its golden age--when the world had not yet crushed "the valley" in its clumsy grip. Moreover, he allows us to appreciate what went into setting the routes we climb today by giving detailed accounts of the first ascents. It is humbling to know that the routes we struggle on were first protected by slinging wires through machine nuts called "stoppers." And you get a real sense of the dedication when you know that Robbins' friend and fellow pioneer, Yvon Chouinard, was first creating pitons from shards of old Ford axles. Ament's style is constricted at times, and the biography often reads more like a textbook, but if you fancy yourself a student of climbing history, this is your textbook. And the life of Royal Robbins is certainly a prerequisite. --Benjamin Tiffany
Book Description
220 b/w photos 6 x9 The definitive biography of a rock climbing legend With rare photos of Robbins and other premier climbers in action A classic work on a seminal era of American rock climbing In one of the most important climbing books of the decade, Colorado climber and author Pat Ament has written a superbly evocative and lasting biography of this most influential figure. The American Alpine Journal Royal Robbins, more than anyone, defined American rock climbing in the early days of the sport. A colorful, influential, sometimes controversial figure, he was the first in America to climb a 5.9 route, the first to make a big wall Grade VI ascent (the Northwest Wall of Half Dome), the first to find and conquer new routes up El Capitan. This biography, originally published in 1992, is now returned to print as part of Stackpoles new Climbing Classics series. Rich in climbing lore and anecdote, the book reveals in both text and photos how a master climber made some of his most challenging climbs. Aments prose also captures the spiritual allure of the sport. Pat Ament, an expert climber himself who opened some of the first 5.11 routes in Colorado, is the author of numerous books and articles on climbing and is also a poet and filmmaker. He lives in Westminster, Colorado. Climbing was, for many people, something in which to dabblea romantic dilettantism. For Royal, it was a way of lifea consciousness closely related to the religious impulse. Although agnostic, his discipline was toward mental, technical, and spiritual virtuosity. He was deviled with resistance against less competent climbers who were trying to bolt the spirit out of the game. He found any hint of dishonesty deplorable. His searching, as he wrote in an article, was for the highest human expression. In Yosemite, indeed there was a spiritualization of adventure.
Customer Reviews:
Excellent overview of a Living Legend.......2003-07-14
I just finished the book and have been inspired to, once again, return to the craigs. I think Pat Ament did an excellent job of providing insight into a man who many consider a living legend and certainly a pioneer in the field of rock climbing. I gained many insights into Royal as a person and I have been reading climbing literature since the early 70's. Pat Ament not only highlighted many of Royal's more positive characteristics but was balanced in presenting the other side of the man also. Royal is certainly a colorful character and has been much criticized for many of his comments and attitudes about climbing. This book helped me understand why he said and did what he did and I came a way with an even greater appreciation of the him (not to mention his wife, Liz - someone needs to write a book about her!) Thank you, Pat Ament, for your dedication to the sport of climbing, to Royal Robbins and for giving us an incredible insight into both. Keep writing! My only criticism, if it is one, is that the book needed to be about 5 times longer to do justice to the subject and the subject matter. I would have liked to have had more detail into much of the subject matter but found I was, instead, taken on to the next adventure, year, etc.
Spirit of the Age.......2003-01-30
I was the original publisher of Spirit of the Age--Pat Ament working with us as the author. Despite our past, business-oriented differences, I find Pat to consistently write with incredible creativity and accuracy, especially in the case of "Spirit of the Age."
As his publisher through a number of projects, I can categorically say that Pat Ament is one of the most creative talents I have ever encountered across ALL genre of writing. His ability to put the reader "within the story" and to express the "spirit" of his story sets Ament apart from most writers, especially moutain-genre authors.
Thanks for a chance to comment.
Sincerely,
Gary Gabelhouse, CEO
Fairfield Communications, Inc.
I am now just ordering this book........1998-08-04
I feel driven to respond to the colorful commentary with regard Pat Ament's rendition of Royal Robbins. Particularly to those in Pennsylvania that appear to "frequent" these pages. I hope the Keeper of these reviews will find my remarks suitable enough to post. I am a climber who began as a 16 year old wannabe in 1970. My partner then, Kevin Givens and I were both raised in Modesto, California. Of course Modesto was Royal's headquarters. Kevin was one of Royal's first employees at Robbins Mountain Shop in Modesto when it had just opened. Kevin and I spent hundreds of days through the 70's seeking the prize we called 5.11. Although, I did not "know" Royal, I certainly had my share of encounters with him. Kevin and I were a small part of those great days in the 70's when all the doors that had been opened by Royal Robbins, Warren Harding, Layton Kor, Yvon Chouinard, Chuck Pratt, Tom Frost,and all, made it possible for us to realize what can be done. Fo! r that, all climbers in my generation are grateful I'm sure. Everyone of the individuals that we all tried to emulate, were in the Valley because of those who pioneered the sport in Yosemite in the late 50's through the 60's. Ask Lohn Long, Jim Bridwell, Ron Kauk, John Bachar, Dale Bard, Ray Jardine, John Lackey, etc. what drove them to be in the Valley in those days. I am certain that all would say someone else's name. Someone perhaps on the list of names I just mentioned. Our heroes.
Pat Ament, I knew who you were then. I know who you are now. I appreciate your attempts at describing your renditions of any climber that had inspired me to climb. You were one of them too. Right along with the names I have already mentioned. I too would find it disheartening to here the negative remarks coming from someone who "never knew who you were then". I thought every climber knew who you were. I got my first taste of your writing through John Gill:Master of Rock when it was f! irst published back in the 70's. Rather that focus on your ! writing talents, I found it thirst quenching to simply have someone describing the life and talents of these pioneers in this sport we love so dearly. I suggest that others do the same. Thank you dearly for your published words about these climbers and of the climbing that took place in the days when style and ethics mattered. I miss them. By the way Pat, you were an awesome climber then. I am sure you still are. I remember all of those frozen moments in books and magazines of you on some crux somewhere in Colorado or the Valley. Thanks for your words and love of climbing.
suggested guidelines for your review section.......1998-08-01
I am actually the author, and not a reader, but I must make a final comment... in the running discussion that has ocurred at this site. I notice still more from the Springhouse fellow. His entire mentality is summed up in his latest comment that Jim Perrin would say something he (Perrin) doesn't believe. Perrin is a man of integrity and says what he means. Perrin is also astute and knows what he is talking about. As for Mr. Springhouse having a little trouble with my writing in the book, that's fine. But why is he wasting time airing his thoughts, especially such general thoughts, in these review sections? Is he aspiring to be a reviewer? No one cares whether he likes or dislikes my work. And that is my point. It is so easy for someone who has no credibility and perhaps no writing ability himself to throw out some very general comment with nothing to support it. I am not afraid of criticism. But I like to see honesty and good, intelligent criticism. I like to see balanc! e and perspective. That is, no general comments. Only specifics and examples. Show me a line, for example, that is poorly written. Or show me a factual error. If there is some way the book fails, keep that in proper perspective with the other ways that the book succeeds. As for the criticism that I have played Royal too much as a hero, well I spend quite a bit of time in the book pointing out his imperfections and struggles with people. His greatness, as expressed in the book, simply mirrors the hundreds of contributors to the book and their opinions. I had to juggle an incredible amount of information from hundreds of people and could only hope to come away with a small vestige of my own voice. A whole lot of the climbing world sees Royal with the same respect that I do, and they--who truly knew him--respect what I have done, but I think I have kept such respect in a good balance with his human qualities and imperfections.--Pat Ament
We hit a nerve........1998-07-17
Boy!!! What a reply. Where to start? First of all, I feel that the other books I mentioned gave a better "feeling" of what Royal was about. I say this because after reading "Downward Bound" I got the impression that Harding admired Royal's ethics , style, courage and climbing ability that he himself could not match. Yet, he could also poke funny at his character. Royal is human, and all humans have good and bad qualities. Ament concentrated on Royal's good qualities which tended to make Royal seem super-human or even god like. It de-humanized him. Was Royal truly like this? I can only judge from what I've read. Roper probably focuses on Royal's negative qualities, who wouldn't after Royal called Roper a "chicken-s--t", but he also gives the impression that he admired the man, and Jones, I believe, passed fiction off as fact. Finally, as far as Ament's writing and my judgement of the same, I can only say what I like and dislike. I'm just a ! ! climber and a reader, not a professional critic. I thought Ament's writing in this biography was poor. It just didn't flow well for me, and that's about as specific as I can get. You read the book, then you can agree or disagree, maybe for even more specific reasons. I haven't read anything else by him, so maybe this is a poor example. I certainly don't think Ament is "stupid" and have no reason to be "mean-spirited", as I didn't even know who Pat Ament was. It seems that a nerve was pushed because Ament has to spout off about his grades in college writing of all silly things. The statement about Perrin's introduction is one of the funniest things I've ever read. What was he going to say? "Here's a real mediocre writer, but let listen to his talk anyway." As far as all these "smart people" liking Ament's writing, good for them. Pat, everyone isn't going to like your writing, get over it. Who care's what mean-spirited people say anyway. P! ! .S. I saw the Horse Whisperer too, at least part before I w! alked out. What all this has to do with a review of a biography is beyond me, but what do you expect from a second-rate thinker anyway?
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Omni's Screen Flights, Screen Fantasies: The Future According to the Cinema
Danny Peary
Manufacturer: Olympic Marketing Corp
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Binding: Paperback
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ASIN: 0385192029 |
Book Description
From Queen Latifa to Count Basie, Madonna to Monk, Hole in Our Soul: The Loss of Beauty and Meaning in American Popular Music traces popular music back to its roots in jazz, blues, country, and gospel through the rise in rock 'n' roll and the emergence of heavy metal, punk, and rap. Yet despite the vigor and balance of these musical origins, Martha Bayles argues, something has gone seriously wrong, both with the sound of popular music and the sensibility it expresses.
Bayles defends the though, affirmative spirit of Afro-American music against the strain of artistic modernism she calls 'perverse.' She describes how perverse modernism was grafted onto popular music in the late 1960s, and argues that the result has been a cult of brutality and obscenity that is profoundly anti-musical.
Unlike other recent critics of popular music, Bayles does not blame the problem on commerce. She argues that culture shapes the market and not the other way around. Finding censorship of popular music "both a practical and a constitutional impossibility," Bayles insists that "an informed shift in public tastes may be our only hope of reversing the current malignant mood."
Customer Reviews:
Book on American classical music - her modern interpretation is a stretch..........2007-03-20
It may just be me, but in reading the entirety of this book, especially regarding the sections on "nihilistic" punk and industrial music, I get the strong feeling that Martha Bayles has never listened to the music she is condemning, and is name and band dropping just to be worldly and topical.
I also get the feeling (I don't know for sure) from the tone of this book that she herself is not musically inclined or plays any instruments; an attribute that I would assume would be a necessary requisite to comment on such a subjective and passionate subject.
blame it all on art...........2005-11-15
When I was a freshman in high school, I attempted to do a theme paper on "The History of American Poetry". Thankfully, my English teacher counselled me into narrowing the scope of my subject.
This book purports to analyze the whole history of American popular music. It takes a sprawling subject and tries to put it under the microscope to isolate a few viruses that the author believes have infected pop music. Ms. Bayles identifies three strains, which she believes emanated from European avant-gardism in music (Serialism), art (Fluxus, or Conceptual Art), and literature (Decadents, the Beats etc.). These three worms infiltrated the otherwise perfect apple of African-American derived music, and threatened to spoil it by substituting 'shock'for authenticity.
Bayles seems to be saying this: that only inspired innocents (those who wouldn't 'play God themselves') can produce authentic pop music. Once the musician eats from the forbidden tree of knowledge, say, by having the slightest brush with an Art School, then he or she becomes a threat to the culture at large.
Bayles credits African musicians with the ability to assimilate the rhythms and sounds that are useful to them, and to disregard or discard the rest. Don't most pop music consumers today, equipped with ipods, do the same? They cherry pick what they like, and filter out the rest. Eclecticism in practice, and it doesn't preclude art.
I reject the blanket assumption that once a musician or artist becomes exposed to "art schools" or revolutionary theories, they can produce nothing authentic.
Musicians and artists might read Bayles book for a few head shakes, then put it aside. It isn't music, it's dry analysis, and it's destined for the dustbin.
Score: Martha Bayles 1, Arnold Schoenberg 0...........2004-10-07
Martha Bayles doesn't care much for the twelve-tone scale or the 20th-century European composers (and she's not very fond of amplification either -- watch out, Leo Fender, you're next!). In the best tradition of American Bandstand, it's gotta have a beat or Martha's not dancin' to it. While most readers of "Hole In Our Soul" would probably agree with Martha's basic premise that art trumps artifice for authenticity, her argument that popular culture has been ruined by the artist's need to shock us is less secure. (Artists have been trying to shock people since -- well, Martha herself takes it back to Apollo vs. Dionysus). Great art and music still finds its audience, regardless of how many people hooted during Stravinsky's "The Rite of Spring" in 1914. Her dismissal of European high culture and its ruinous effects on rock'n'roll reads like a misguided attack on dead white males (say hello to Kurt Cobain, unacknowledged-European-influenced art-rocker).
What Martha tends to miss here is the role of technology. The spread of popular culture continues to be a result of mass-marketing and reproduction techniques, like vinyl albums or compact discs. When she flays for-profit corporations as a culprit it seems a too-easy target, since it's the popular artists that subsidize the older catalogue. Conservative theories like Bayles's always presume some other golden era when things were more balanced, more "correct," but this balance never really existed. Popular culture is always a jumble of influences. (It does seem miraculous, though, when you hear a great song on the radio; no matter what your "pop" standard -- from Scott Joplin to Gershwin to the Beatles -- it makes every song around it sound like junk). In the best oral tradition you can hope that Bob Dylan (or in Martha's case, Robert Johnson) is your next door neighbor and can pop in to sing you a song. Most of us aren't that lucky. That makes everything else -- the record, the marketing, the sales chart -- the artificial, "popular" part.
Randy Gelling misses the point of the book entirely........2003-08-28
Did Randy Gelling read the same book I did? He's taking Martha Bayles to task for rejecting in a "reactionary" manner "anything that may express true dissatifaction with the status quo." Bayles seems to consider the blues one of the two highest forms of American music (the other being jazz), and so much of the blues is trenchant social criticism ý as she makes clear many times in her book.
She certainly is no apologist for Springsteen; she states more than once in her short (less than a full page) passage on him that she considers his musical abilities "limited." What must have annoyed Gelling was Bayles' acknowledgment that many, many people enjoy Springsteen's music. I agree with the point she somewhat obliquely makes in that acknowledgment: if he's been pleasing both a loyal fan base and new, young ears for three decades, that's good enough, as far as such things go. Why the heck do we need to read a "lowdown" on the political implications of his discography?
I haven't listened to enough BoyzIIMen to see if Bayles might be right in that they're a cut above New Kids on the Block or other vapid boy bands. Gelling's exclamation point after the band's name seems to say, "What a ridiculous idea! They're a popular, mass-culture group, so OBVIOUSLY they must suck."
Which is just the attitude that Bayles tried to combat by writing "Hole in our Soul": that if your music pleases the ear and you treat your audience with respect, you're a "sell-out;" and that the uglier and more inaccessible your sound is to the average person, the more "sophisticated" it is, and behaving obnoxiously on- and offstage only adds to your "mystique."
In my opinion, it's a GOOD thing Bayles is "no Adorno." Popular music has most definitely suffered from all the tone-deaf and talentless people who took it up in the recently departed century because they had a "point" to make, usually a left-wing one but often, and especially in the case of Brit art-school types who fancied themselves "bad" boys and girls, an aggressively anti-social one. Not to mention that crowd's compulsion to "deconstruct" everything and anything, especially things that are "too" popular and "insufficiently" radical ý an attitude that's poisoned the atmosphere of U.S. college campuses for at least the last decade.
Sure, Bayles quotes conservative social critics like Stanley Crouch and Allan Bloom, and sure, she decries the hate, violence, and mechanical sex that characterize lyrics in much of punk and rap. But what she decries the most is violence done to music itself. The central point of "Hole in Our Soul" is that the most important thing about music is how it *sounds*: whether it moves people to laugh, cry, dance, or sing along... and it's a point Gelling seems to have missed entirely.
I'm only giving "Hole in Our Soul" four stars, however, because there is a bit of tunnel vision in it. Bayles seems to think that a "funky" sound -- polyrhythms and other musical elements integral to the blues -- is the only source of magic and wonder in music, especially American music. Sure, a bluesy sound is a terrific thing and tremendously important to the nation's music, but there are certainly musical traditions in this country that stem more from Europe than Africa, and they're as vital and lively as anything that came out of the Mississippi Delta or Chicago's South Side.
Traditional English and Celtic music has enjoyed a renaissance in recent years on the coattails of the folk resurgence, and it's as much a part of this country as it is of the United Kingdom, given how many of our forefathers and -mothers came from the British Isles. While so much of "Celtic" music is indeed overly precious -- "airy-fairy," as the more hard-bitten pub players might put it -- a virtuoso blazing away on the fiddle has no trouble bringing an audience to its feet.
Then there's Mexican and Mexican-influenced music. While Tex-Mex is part country, and country owes a huge debt to the blues, I don't hear that big of an African-American influence in it. And the further south you go into Mexico, of course, the truer that is. Then there Jewish influences that aren't particular admixed with black ones. And polkas brought over by Central and Eastern Europeans. And so on, and so forth. Perhaps Bayles merely categorizes these genres under "world music," but it's a world within our borders, not without.
Finally someone who agrees with me!.......2002-07-02
Ms. Bayles book is a joy to read. She hits the pulsebeat of much of what is wrong about popular music today and why. It is refreshing to find someone who really examines the sixties counterculture and is honest about it. Her thoughtful insights into the positive influence of the Beatles and Motown are fresh and honest, lacking the usual gushing that tends to go with these subjects. She also has an insightful chapter on rap music, intelligently pointing out the problems with "gangsta rap". Ms. Bayles is not afraid to criticize such "icons" as Madonna, Jim Morrison and Frank Zappa. Her section on disco is very amusing. Fans of the group Chic beware! She also has one of the best sections about 1950's rock that I have ever read. She is not afraid to debunk many myths about rock music that have been maintained over the last few decades. She is also quick to point out that there are many talented artists out there (Paul Simon, Van Morrison, various jazz artists and others) who are still making meaningful music. A wonderful read for any music lover.
Customer Reviews:
A voice in the dark..........2006-02-19
Overall, I'm pleased with this book. It is a 2nd Ed. product, so the contemporary buyer should keep that in mind. In most cases, it provides rules applicable to 1st and 2nd Editions, so you will have to make converstions for use in 3rd Edition L5R RPG.
There are some minor editing issues, but in most cases, common sense will fill in any blanks. The biggest drawback for this product is all of the rules elements require access to "The Way of the Samurai" and "The Way of the Shugenja". Without those 2 sourcebooks, all the rules portions except for a few creature stats are not going to be useful. The back cover neglects to mention those two essential references, though it does mention other required sources.
There are no "secrets" per se. The book is an account of factions within the Shadowlands, approximately covering the period from after the Lying Darkness into the Four Winds period. It gives a general overview of The Lost, the Shadow Dragon and other remanents of the Lying Darkness, and bloodspeakers (both in the Shadowlands and a few hidden cells within the Empire). There is some passing mention of goblins and ogres, but trolls, hags and oni are notably absent.
More than anything, this book serves as a reference for running a game with "corrupted" players, not as any sort of adventure setting for standard characters. (There are a handful of adventure hooks, with the majority being appropriate for corrupted characters, particularly if characters have become The Lost.)
Of the 8 chapters, the first 6 all begin with the flavor text that we've come to expect, all connected in some way. Chapter 7 has flavor text, but is somewhat jarring in that it is a complete change of setting, characters and venue from the preceding 6. Chapter 8 was appearently given no thought in this direction, being devoid of any flavor text. (Which is ironic in that Chapter 8 was the one I deem most useful as is, not needing one of the aforementioned references.)
Overally, this is a good reference point for a solid GM and a dangerous weapon for GMs that only think they're good. A novice GM will probably feel overwhelmed by this source as the only detailed info is the section on the Wall of Bone, so don't expect an out-of-the-box adventure such as "Tomb of Iuchiban". If an "evil" campaign is in your future, this book is a must-have. If you're going to run a campaign IN the Shadowlands, this will be useful, but not necessary. Any campaign within the Empire won't use this book at all unless you want to focus on bloodspeakers. Heed the call of Fu Leng accordingly...
Book Description
This rigorous but brilliantly lucid book presents a self-contained treatment of modern economic dynamics. Stokey, Lucas, and Prescott develop the basic methods of recursive analysis and illustrate the many areas where they can usefully be applied.
After presenting an overview of the recursive approach, the authors develop economic applications for deterministic dynamic programming and the stability theory of first-order difference equations. They then treat stochastic dynamic programming and the convergence theory of discrete-time Markov processes, illustrating each with additional economic applications. They also derive a strong law of large numbers for Markov processes. Finally, they present the two fundamental theorems of welfare economics and show how to apply the methods developed earlier to general equilibrium systems.
The authors go on to apply their methods to many areas of economics. Models of firm and industry investment, household consumption behavior, long-run growth, capital accumulation, job search, job matching, inventory behavior, asset pricing, and money demand are among those they use to show how predictions can he made about individual and social behavior. Researchers and graduate students in economic theory will find this book essential.
Customer Reviews:
A reader.......2006-04-28
I have never, e*v*e*r encountered a worse book in any field in my entire life. Ok, so chapter 4 and 9 are cute - but you know what, you really don't need to write a book to publish 30 pages of material that is actually worth reading.
I had a clever teacher who once said: "If you want to pick mushrooms, go to the forest" - well, if you want to learn Math, take the bus and head to the math department. The presentation is completely unclear, there is no motivation and the math is treated in a ridiculusly simplified way.
According to SLP, to prove a theorem, all you need to do is make assumptions - no need to motivate why you make them - that would be overkill, rather leave it to the reder to motivate (as an annoying exercise).
I dream of the day a Mas-Collel of macro economics comes around and writes a comprehensive macro book. Until this day, I am left wiping my behind with chapter 1-3; 5-8; and 10-End. Oh well.
The first step in the methods.......2006-02-23
This book is a first great step into the theory and results that you need to really understand the technicalities behind current research on Dynamic General Equilibrium Macroeconomics.
Further, it's an excellent complement of Sargent and Ljungqvist's Recursive Macroeconomic Theory.
Essential.......2004-11-08
Essential for understanding modern macroeconomic theory, for better or worse. Chapter 4 on Dynamic Programming under certainty and bounded returns is beautiful. I recommend using this book in conjunction with Sargent's RMT.
tough, terse, but worth the fight.......2004-08-31
This is a really challenging book, worth fighting through. Some of the exercises are impossible without outside help, so for self-study the solutions manual by Irigoyen, et al is *essential*.
Good as research reference, but not in mastering the field.......2004-05-13
As a research economist or graduate student, especially if working in economic theory or dynamic macroeconomics, it is difficult to overstate the value of this book as a handy guide for a set of essential facts (re: theorems) regarding the existence of solutions to dynamic programming problems or markov decision processes, as well as characterizing the properties of the set of solutions.
That being said, this is not the book a budding theorist wants to learn techniques from (For the mathematical prerequisites: measure theory, topology, probability, stochastic processes, hilbert spaces, there are better treatments in the math literature. For dynamic programming in discrete time itself: Bertsekas and Shreve's 1978 text is far superior). Though I am not an expert in macroeconomics, I believe Sargent's sequence of books is a better source for learning the how-to-do, while keeping the economic questions crystal clear: neither of these is a strong point of this book.
Book Description
This solutions manual is a valuable companion volume to the classic textbook Recursive Methods in Economic Dynamics by Nancy L. Stokey and Robert E. Lucas. The exercises in the Stokey and Lucas book are integral to the text, and thus, a reader cannot fully appreciate the text without understanding the results developed in the exercises. This manual provides detailed answers to the central exercises in Recursive Methods.
The authors' selection of exercises is designed to maximize the reader's understanding of Recursive Methods. Solutions are presented to every question in the core chapters on recursive methods, as well as most questions from the chapters on mathematical background. Some questions from the chapters on applications of these techniques to economic models have been reserved so as to provide instructors with a crucual "test bank" of questions.
Efficient and lucid in approach, this manual will greatly enhance the value of Recursive Methods as a text for self-study.
Customer Reviews:
hmmm.......2007-08-26
I found the solutions to part 3 weird. the proofs don't seem to be too logical. luckily I had math classes and don't have to learn the necessary analysis from the book. If you intend to do so, you need to be really smart with good error correction... In my opinion economists should not try to teach math.
Book Description
This digital document is a journal article from Review of Economic Dynamics, published by Elsevier in 2005. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Media Library immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.
Description:
We apply recursive methods to obtain a finite dimensional and recursive representation of an equilibrium of one of Townsend's models of 'forecasting the forecasts of others'. The equilibrium has the property that decision makers make common forecasts of the hidden state variable whose presence motivates them to pay attention to prices in other markets. Thus, the model has too few sources of randomness to put decision makers into a situation where they should form 'higher order beliefs' (i.e., beliefs about others' beliefs). In Townsend's model, they know the beliefs of others because they share them. We attain our finite-dimensional recursive representation by applying methods of Pearlman, Currie, and Levine [Economic Modelling 3(2) (1986) 90].
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- Robert the Burgundian and the Counts of Anjou, Ca. 1025-1098
- Royal Family Years of Transition
- Royal Subjects : A Biographer's Encounters
- Royalty Revealed
- Secret Memoirs of Catherine II and the Court of St. Petersburg: During Her Reign and that of Paul I, by one of her Courtiers
- Sihanouk: Prince of Light, Prince of Darkness
- Telling Lives: From W.B. Yeats to Bruce Chatwin
- The Bachelor Duke: A Life of William Spencer Cavendish 6th Duke of Devonshire 1790-1858
- The Betrayal of Liliuokalani: Last Queen of Hawaii 1838-1917
- The conqueror of Culloden: Being the life and times of William Augustus, duke of Cumberland, 1721-1765
Books Index
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