Product Description
Say good-bye to that jumble of tools, muddle of magazines, and forest of fabric! Systemize your cluttered space with an expert’s ideas on planning a functional and beautiful home quilting studio—a place where creativity wins over chaos.

· Create the quilt studio of your dreams with dozens of ideas for making your time more enjoyable and efficient

· View before-and-after photos of real-life makeovers for small, medium, and large spaces—all on a range of budgets

· Find fantastic storage solutions for fabric, scraps, patterns, books, tools, and more ... Read more

Customer Reviews (48)

Powerful little book of ideas!
I love looking at how people organize their sewing rooms.This was a great resource book for me.It will make you want to reorganize your sewing space too!Lots of pictures and ideas.

Quilting Space not so perfect.
I was anxious to receive this book because I had read the other reviews, and wanted to see for myself.I agree that the other Sewing Spaces BookDream Sewing Spaces: Design & Organization for Spaces Large & Small that I have is better.I wouldn't really recommend this one Creating Your Perfect Quilting Space: Sewing-Room Makeovers for Any Space And Any Budgetover that.I love books, and Sewing Places and Spaces books are among my favs.I'll keep this one, but if someone wants it I'll definitely give it away.

Review of Creating Your Perfect Quilting Space
This is a fabulous book!The pictures alone are worth the cost of the book to me.I am going to reorganize my sewing room as soon as our contractor installs an egress window in it. (My sewing room is in our basement.)I can hardly wait to use the suggestions in this book to help me have a neater, more usable and attractive sewing room.I highly recommend this book for anyone who sews.

Very helpful for me
I really enjoyed this book.I got a lot of great ideas and I immediately put some of them into use.I do like that the author gave examples of different quilting room makeovers and added up the cost of each.They ranged from very inexpensive to expensive.By using the worksheets, I was able to pinpoint what I wanted and needed in my own area.I was able to do what I needed for around $200, but I bought new cabinets from Home Depot and put them together myself.If I had been able to find something similar at a yard sale, I am sure it would have been even cheaper.The reason I went to Home Depot is that I already had another piece from there and the cabinets were an exact match which now looks great.

One of the best ideas I got was to make an ironing space higher than my regular ironing board.I got a board cut to my cabinet's top and covered it with padding and fabric.It really looks great and my husband even uses it, too.

Creating Your Perfect Quilting Space
Enjoyed the book and the pictures, which are worth a thousand words.The prices for doing these rooms, however, can be reduced with some thought and the thrift stores. ... Read more

Product Description

Jim Palmer's critically acclaimed Divine Nobodies was only half the story - the deconstruction and shedding of a religious mentality that hindered his knowing God. In his next book, Jim takes the reader along into the wide open spaces of exploring and experiencing God beyond religion. Jim writes, "It is no secret that God can be lost beneath the waving banner of religion. Divine Nobodies is my story of how this happened to me. Sometimes you have to disentangle God from religion, even Christ from Christianity, to find the truth. With the help of some unsuspecting nobodies, I uncovered a new starting line with God. As I've put one foot in front of another, I've experienced God in ways that are deeply transforming."

Customer Reviews (16)

Only The Devil Within?
Don't get me wrong....I loved Divine Nobodies; it really spoke to my heart.I was
cruising through Wide Open Spaces and kind of experiencing it as "Divine Nobodies
Light" when I hit the chapter "The Devil Wears Levis 501 Jeans".Mr. Palmer seems to be trying to convince us that there is "no personal Satan", rather that
what we experience is "our non-spiritual self".I had to reread the chapter to
try to figure out what I was missing. It is pretty clear that Jim is discounting
all Scripural reference to the Satan who rebelled against God, who roams the earth "making war with the rest of her offspring, who keep the commandments of God and have the testimony of Jesus Christ" Rev 12:17.The Satan who tempted Christ in the desert....how many other occasions do I need to reference?

C.S. Lewis said (paraphrased) "We make two mistakes in regard to the Devil.We either blame him for everything or we blame him for nothing."Jim Palmer falls into the latter camp.I believe that this chapter plays into the Evil One's first line of defense....."I really don't exist."That gives him license to run roughshod over you.Our response, according to Jim Palmer, is "Oh, it's just my non spiritual self".Yes, we battle the "flesh", but what he is asking us to believe is not in any way supported by Scripture.

wide open spaces
I really enjoyed this book.I've felt this way for along time.
It's good to know that there's other people that feel the same way.
Especially someone who has so much knowledge about the bible.Thank you Jim Palmer for writing this book.

A New Spin On "New Age/New Spirituality" Beliefs
Unfortunately, we can now add Jim Palmer to the long list of New Agers.Namely, Leonard Sweet (who endorses this book), Brian McLaren, and Eugene Peterson (whose New Age version of the Bible "The Message" is quoted extensively in this book).There is so much twisting of Scripture and so many different versions of the Bible used in this book to support the author's reasoning that I really do not know where to start.

I knew this book would try to completely destroy 2000 year old Christian orthodoxy before I was finished with the Introduction.Repeatedly, Mr. Palmer refers to Christian orthodoxy as "religion."Several times Mr. Palmer talks about the "box" that we put Christ in, but then puts Christ in a New Age/New Spirituality box to replace it.In fact, on page XVI Palmer states, "sometimes you have to disentangle Christ from Christianity to find the truth."Excuse me?Christ being conceived by the Holy Ghost, His work on the cross, His sinless life, nature, and His attributes are spelled out very clearly in the words of the Bible.And when I say the Bible, I am referring to literal translations of the ancient manuscripts such as the KJV.The MESSage and the AMP are quoted, among others, and they in many places have the opposite intended meaning of the majority of the almost 5700 available ancient manuscripts. Comparing these texts verse by verse proves this.

Throughout the book Mr. Palmer continuously talks about "experiencing God" and "accepting Christ involves receiving and living my identity in Christ as love."Loving people and being kind to them are part of the fruits of the Spirit, but there is never any mention in this book of serving Christ through witnessing to the lost.He is more interested in serving man, but calling it serving Christ (To wit: volunteerism, which is noble, but is not serving Christ).It seems by his own words that Mr. Palmer was disillusioned in his studies in divinity and never recovered from it.He states, "I'm discovering that a significant element of living the Christian life is following my feelings."That is a dangerous road to travel since our feelings often betray us.We are to be led by the Holy Ghost and be instructed by Him.

On page 186 he completely changes Jesus Christ's own words to fit his thesis. "I am the way...", to Mr. Palmer means, "the Christ-way unveils a different way to live."A different way to live?This is one of the foundational verses in the Bible.Christ said, "I am the way, the truth, and the life.No one comes to the Father but by me."Jesus Christ is saying that He is the only way to everlasting life, period.Jesus Christ was not referring to changing how we live in this verse.Unbelievable how Mr. Palmer totally corrupts Christ's own words.

He also ascribes human characteristics to Lucifer and his minions.He states, "the sinful nature is the nature of someone who is guided by the human consciousness."This is a typical New Age belief and could not be further from Biblical instruction.The Bible states that Lucifer walks about, seeking whom he may devour.We are to walk in the Holy Spirit and not rely on any divine "consciousness".He even states on page 133, "deciding what's true is an individual, personal judgment that comes from the heart or the God-life within us."Again, another New Age belief with no mention of the Holy Spirit which guides us in all Truth.This is nothing but Relativism/Postmodernism in a new package.Remember, the Holy Scriptures state that the heart is inherently wicked when we are not led by the Holy Spirit. One gets the impression that Mr. Palmer believes that every human being on earth is indwelt with the Holy Spirit, which obviously is not Biblical.Strangely, on page 132 Mr. Palmer even denies the Truth of the Bible.Jesus Christ himself said, "Thy Word is truth."Either Jim Palmer is wrong or Christ is wrong.Since Christ cannot lie (it's not in his nature), Mr. Palmer is the one in error.

Unfortunately, there is no clear presentation of the Gospel in this book.In fact, on page 75 Mr. Palmer states, "I've never liked the word repent".Those are the words of someone that is trying to work out their own salvation.From this statement and many others, it seems that he has a problem with Christ's own words of everlasting condemnation if we are not believers in the shed blood of Christ on the cross for our sins.Sadly, there is no testimony of a personal conversion and trust in Christ.In fact, there are many instances in this book where Mr. Palmer appears to be pantheistic and panentheistic.

I could go on and on about the New Age terminology in this book, the contextual misuse by Mr. Palmer and other New Agers of Psalm 46:10: "Be still, and know that I am God."If Psalm 46 is read in it's entirety, it is obvious God is telling His people to not be moved, nervous or troubled.Not to go to a quiet place and practice contemplative prayer or Yoga, which leads to the Hindu "Namaste".

Mr. Palmer seems to be a genuinely intelligent and sincere man, but he is deceived as to what the Gospel of Christ means and the teaching of it.There is absolutely nothing more important than where we will spend eternity.Although their design proves the Father, Son, and the Holy Ghost exist, they do not dwell in the trees, plants, shrubs, oceans, lakes and other earthly things.The Holy Ghost (God) only dwells in believers in the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ.Contrary to popular belief, the Kingdom of God is in heaven and cannot be ushered in by man and his efforts.The title of this book should honestly be, "Wide Open Spaces: How and Why I Left Christianity And Joined The New Age/New Spirituality/Quantum Spirituality Movement".I am not attempting to be facetious with that description.

Acts 8:36,37--And as they went on their way, they came unto a certain water: and the eunuch said, See, here is water; what doth hinder me to be baptized?And Philip said, If thou believest with all thine heart, thou mayest. And he answered and said, I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God.

sigh....
My "box" of religion was shattered 20 years ago.I spent the first few years trying to put it back together, but I began to realize that each broken piece I picked up was not consistent with the Kingdom of Light, so the task became odious."Wide Open Spaces" gave me the freedom to lay down my guilt-driven labor, and realize that God moves and succeeds at His mission quite effectively outside the boxes we build for Him.I feel like my soul drew a big sigh of relief!

Divine Nobodies in Wide Open Spaces
Are you struggling to find God in your religion? God is in relationship, not in religion. For a long time, I couldn't figure out why I wasn't "getting it"....I'd go to church every Sunday, led Bible studies and other study groups, knew all the Christian lingo...but felt like a fraud and felt like something was missing.Something definitely was.Jim Palmer found it and he writes about it in both "DivineNobodies" and "Wide Open Spaces". He's living in the questions of his life ("What if God isn't a belief system, a set of doctrines?"), and he's really good at asking the questions that matter.If you are a seeker, you will love both of his books. Although you can read either one first, I'd recommend reading them in the order they were written, "DivineNobodies" published in 2006, then "Wide Open Spaces" in 2007.Also, check out his website/blog at [...]. ... Read more

Product Description
The man celebrated as "the Christopher Columbus of Mars" brings us to the very brink of human exploration.

Using nuts-and-bolts engineering and a unique grasp of human history, Robert Zubrin takes us to the not-very-distant future, when our global society will branch out into the universe. From the current-day prospect of lunar bases and Mars settlements to the outer reaches of other galaxies, Zubrin delivers the most important and forward-looking work on space and the true possibilities of human exploration since Carl Sagan's Cosmos.

Sagan himself said of Zubrin's humans-to-Mars plan, "Bob Zubrin really, nearly alone, changed our thinking on this issue." With Entering Space, he takes us further, into the prospect of human expansion to the outer planets of our own solar system--and beyond.

"An exhilarating and informative ride." --The San Diego Union-Tribune

"Robert Zubrin is a true engineering genius like the heroic engineers of the past." --Frederick Turner, American EnterpriseAmazon.com Review
Humans are not native to the Earth. So posits astronauticalengineer Bob Zubrin in the opening of Entering Space. We'renative to just a small sliver of it, the spot where our speciesoriginated in tropical Kenya. We set out from that paradise about50,000 years ago, north into "the teeth of the Ice Age," and all theground we've gained since then has been thanks to our tenacity and ourtools.

Zubrin reasons that it's time we cover a little moreground. Written with a boyish enthusiasm and formidable techieknow-how, Entering Space urges us to realize "the feasibility,the necessity, and the promise" of becoming a space-faringcivilization, of colonizing our own solar system and beyond. AndZubrin, author of the influential and widely acclaimed The Case for Mars,knows his stuff--NASA adapted his plans for near-term humanexploration of Mars, and Carl Sagan gave the author no less credit:"Bob Zubrin really, nearly alone, changed our thinking on this issue." Entering Space plots the second and third phases of humanity'scourse--now that we've mastered our own planet, Zubrin says we mustfirst look to settling our solar system (beginning with Mars) and thento the galaxy beyond.

With its practicable visions of using"iceteroids" to terraform Mars and harnessing the power of theoutlying gas giants ("the solar system's Persian Gulf"), EnteringSpace succeeds at making the fantastic seem attainable, the stuffof science fiction, science fact. --Paul Hughes ... Read more

Customer Reviews (41)

Zubrin does it again. Another great book.
Dr Robert Zubrin is a masterful past rocket engineer, president of the Mars Society and great writer. Read A Case for Mars (5 stars), Mars on Earth (5 stars) and How to Live on Mars (3 stars). His second book Entering Space ( Case For Mars was first) is well written and an easy read. Finished it in 2 days.

A few parts of rocket formulas are a little technical and the first few chapters are a little slow to get going but after that his book is a rocket ship. Wonderful. Plus there are several futuristic beautiful colored artwork pages showing some of the things he describes.

Robert lists civilization into three categories. #1 Beginning of mankind to complete communication global network and space program a little more advanced than today. #2 Man's exploration and colonization of the solar system. moon observatories, research center, Mars colony, asteroid mining, outer plant Helium 3 harvesting for using a deuterium/he3 mixture for fusion reactors, moving ice asteroids for water, metal gathering of asteroids, and a sling shot effect around Jupiter and/or Saturn is discussed. Much much more. #3 Galactic exploration. He goes into possible propulsion systems to take us to the stars using present understanding of physics without going into the obscure and way out theories.

The Mars Society is discussed as well as the HAB ( Mars research station) to be built on Devon Island in the far north Arctic. They actually do it. Read his #3 book Mars on Earth (5 stars).

Again in Entering Space Robert talks about "Mars Direct" which is the safest and most economical way of sending a crew of 4 to Mars and back and allowing them 1 1/2 years to explore the Red Planet.

If NASA ever goes this "Mars Direct" route (and it should) I strongly believe Dr. Zubrin should get a Nobel Prize. I was so impressed with Dr. Zubrin's writings, his "Mars Direct" idea and the back breaking hard work he and others did on Devon Island . Plus being interested in the expansion of the human race and Mars colonization ,I became a paid Mars Society member.

Important work
Although this may be some of Zubrin's more speculative work, it is in the main backed up by his sound technical foundation in engineering and physics. However, the real importance of this book is in Zubrin's willingness to speak out against the status quo, and put his vision into a form suitable for a wide audience.

In particular, his ability to tie in the future of space with the past Enlightenment values and traditions of exploration, expansion, freedom, and democracy. Without these goals, we doom our descendants to a crowded, resource poor, stagnant, and depleted civilisation.

The optimism and achievability of the essentials of Zubrin's vision more than make up for any frustrations he expresses at things that he sees as hindrances.

Zubrin's got it goin on.
If your really into realistic ideas and plans for space exploration and future human travels then you must read this book.I'm no math or science major but Zubrin writes to a happy medium that anyone with the enthusium for the topic can easily follow along with.Great book full of brilliant designs and superb desciptions.You'll be daydreaming for weeks after reading this one.

Great balance
It is a great balance between scientific technospeak and general ideas.It's easy to follow though, because if you aren't really into and/or understand things like velocity and chemistry, you can continue reading and he explains it in another way.As you read it, many of the questions that pop up in your mind are soon answered.He does sound a bit bitter and frustrated on some NASA related manners, though it seems understandable.However, I do sense a hint of derision about the other sometimes important aspects of the federal budget that is sometimes annoying.He makes a convincing case about the ability and necessity of going into space.

The single most authoritative book on the potential human future in space
Astonishingly imaginative and technically authoritative, this is the single best and most important book that exists right now on the possibilities for the human future in space. Full disclosure: I have written articles for books Zubrin has edited. Dr. Zubrin, a Ph.D. in nuclear engineering with master's degrees in physics and aeronautics and astronautics, probably did more than any other single person to change everyone's thinking, including NASA's, about human missions to other planets, with the mission architecture he came up with for sending humans to Mars.

With Entering Space, he lays out a full overview of the human exploration and settlement of space, beginning with a penetrating look at the lack of progress in our human spaceflight capabilities over the past few decades, and progressing through manned missions to the Moon, Mars, the asteroids, throughout the solar system, and then to other star systems. His vision is of a thousand people on Mars a hundred years from now, and millions of people on thousands of planets a thousand years from now. There are plenty of other books covering at least some of these topics, to wildly varying degrees of plausibility. But Zubrin has the technical expertise to walk through the physical and engineering arguments to show how thoroughly plausible his ideas are.

His wide-ranging attention also extends to economic evaluations, historical analogies, and references to past ages of exploration and to Enlightenment ideals of freedom and democracy. He embraces confidence in science and the human capability to engineer our surroundings to our benefit, rejecting the now common pessimism toward those ideals. The result is an encouraging outlook: the world is what we make of it - whichever world that may be. ... Read more

Product Description
In these hectic times, it's important to create space for God. This second edition helps us develop a fuller life with God. Using the art of Van Gogh and the writings of authors such as John Calvin and C. S. Lewis, Don Postema has crafted a series of meditative readings and spiritual exercises that will enrich your spiritual journey. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (6)

Study, Reflection and Art
I worked through this book in 1994-5 when I was going through a very difficult transition in my life.The part that has stayed with me in the last 13 years is choosing to be thankful and grateful each day and writing what you are thankful for down.

Between the spiritual discipline of thankfulness, the weeks of taking time in them morning and evening to pray through the Psalms, and the art and poetry in the book, I was able to come out of a dark period of my life when new appreciation for the small things each day and an increased observation of life and the world around me.

Spiritual Enlightenment
This is my second time in the study of Space For God.It achieves the fact how important we should take time to experience God in our lives.The only way is to make space for Him.Don Postema gives excellent points on how to do this.

For leaders, I recommend the Leader's Guide.It helps in bringing your class together for a rich bible class experience.

Make space for this book in your life!
This devotional guide is essential for sane living in today's world. I ordered this copy because I have loaned my original to a friend and hate to ask her to return it; I hope she's enjoying it as much as I have for many years.

It's perfect for restoring a parched, or even slightly dry, spiritual life; it's also perfect for starting each day regardless of spiritual condition.

Draws me gently into prayer
This is a tremendous resource.I am currently on my second copy of this book.Unlike many spirituality books, this one is not in any way preachy or directive.Postema provides artwork, hymns, reflections, scriptures, and excerpts from various sources, all of which can serve as a jumping off point for the reader's own reflections and prayer.Rather than telling us, "You should pray more" he gives us materials that draw us into wanting to pray.

I particularly recommend this book for anyone who is feeling hesitant about God or the church or who has become jaded toward a lot of what they hear from the church and Christians, but who is not quite ready to throw in the towel.This is a beautiful gentle book that will help open your heart to God if you let it.I have found that despite a great deal of hesitation about many "things religious," I can usually only read a page or two of this book at a time, because as I begin to read I feel a tremendous desire to pray and connect with God, and I abandon this book in favor of prayer.I think this is as it was intended to be.

The formatting of the book is very helpful.It has very large margins and lots of space around the quotes, which facilitates writing and/or journaling directly in the book.I've found it very helpful to write my reflections into the book as I go along, and have found there to be ample room for this.I also like the way there is a lot of art interspersed with text.There are times when I just can't read "religious" text, but can look at a Van Gogh painting and allow God to speak to me through it.

Overall, I highly recommend this to both those who are struggling but drawn to God, and those who are deeply committed to the daily practice of the Christian faith.

Worth adding to your personal library.
A friend loaned this book to me. I have been blessed many times throughout the collection of quotes and art the author has culminated and shared.I was extremely pleased to learn this is a very affordable book.Pick oneup--it'll warm and strengthen your heart. ... Read more

Product Description
A witty collection of 1950s Space Age poetry for the scientific minded individual, accompanied by unusual black white line drawings. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (20)

A Space Child's Nostalgic Review.
I own 5 copies of this book.
We had it when I was a child, back in the 50s.
When I was in 3rd grade, we had to memorize a poem, and I memorized "The Theory that Jack Built".
Do I love this book for it's bird-person drawings? For the scientific, psychological, and sociological insight? For its eclectic vocabulary? Nope. For me, it was just my favorite book. All of those things were great. It even has a wonderful glossary and footnotes. I think my love of words began with this book. First you should read your children the "plain, ordinary" nursery rhymes a few times, just so they can appreciate these parodies. Then hit them with this book. They'll love it. Buy copies in case it goes out of print again. One for each hoped-for child and grandchild. Get an extra copy for yourself, and an extra copy to cover with your name, address, email and phone number so you can lend it to people. I laughed, I cried, I memorized every poem in this book.

splendid
The Space Child's Mother Goose what a fantastic book for children, it would've been thenumber one choice had it not been for "folk of Feodora's Lane" which is exceptionally the best book since the first harry potter- my daughters own words, but please buy the both books which i have done, well done to all involved.

Fantastic Book!
This is one of the classics that never gets old.It deserves to be read over and over, and passed on through the generations in your family.
Enjoy!

Wow .. did we really allow children to think like this
Probable-Possible, my black hen
She lays eggs in the relative when
She doesn't lay eggs in the positive now
Because she's unable to postulate how.

Timeless Parody of the Timeless Original
One of the guilty pleasures of reading Old SF, is seeing just how badly the imagined futures of the past tend to hold up, "..as the room-sized master computer blinked and clacked in the background, our hero picked up the heavy handset and dialed the number of the rocket taxi company on the black and white rotary video phone...", but you will have to forego such joys with this surprisingly modern half-century old wonder.Not to worry, though, because the timeless hilarity more than makes up for it!

Contained within its covers are some 45 hysterically modernized Mother Goose classics with a few originals tossed in, charmingly illustrated by Marian Parry's deceptively simple line drawings, ending with a useful though slightly warped glossary to help you (or hinder you as the case may be) in getting the jokes.(Some recourse to an unabridged dictionary or a good encyclopedia may also be required.)Open the book, and you will enter a marvelously twisted universe in which Miss Muffet's arachnophobia is eased by a force field, Little Jack Horner extracts cube roots, three men go to sea in a Klein bottle, and Jack builds a Theory.

Defects?None that I can think of!One can argue that many of the in jokes will not be gotten by young children but such is true of the original nursery rhymes: Heavy Words Lightly Thrown: The Reason Behind the Rhyme.Frederick Winsor tragically passed away while working on a sequel, but one might hope to someday see an expanded edition containing whatever he managed to produce before his death.Meanwhile, thanks to Purple House Press, here is a back in print book you won't mind reading over and over to your children...

in fact your children might have to remind you to quit giggling about it all to yourself and share the fun! ... Read more

Product Description

In 2001's critically acclaimed Avatar novels, author S.D. Perry set the tone and the course for the continuation of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine®, a controversial television phenomenon hailed by TV Guide as "the best acted, written, produced, and altogether finest" incarnation of Star Trek®. Since then, the DS9 saga has grown in complexity and momentum, attracting an ever-growing audience to novels about which one reviewer raved, "In these pages, DS9 truly lives again." Now, following her triumphs with Avatar and Rising Son, S. D. Perry returns for a landmark tale celebrating DS9's tenth anniversary year.

On the eve of Bajor's formal entry into the Federation, First Minister Shakaar was assassinated, derailing the induction and plunging the planet and station Deep Space 9™ into chaos. Investigation into the murder revealed the presence of a parasitic conspiracy threatening not only Bajor's future with the Federation, but the very survival of both. At the same time, the fracturing of Bajor's theology has put its people on the threshold of a startling transformation -- and the consequences now rest on the shoulders of Colonel Kira Nerys, who months ago defied the religious authority of her planet by making public an ancient heretical text that challenged the very foundation of the Bajoran faith.

Now, after a harrowing and historic voyage of exploration in the Gamma Quadrant, the weary, wounded crew of Starship Defiant is at last coming home. But the joy of their return is short-lived as the crew becomes swept up in the crisis aboard the station, with many of them confronting personal issues that force them to make life-altering choices. Among those is a grief-stricken Commander Elias Vaughn, who reaches a crossroads in his life's journey and learns the true purpose for which he was Touched by the Prophets...as well as the ultimate fate of Captain Benjamin Sisko.

And...somewhere on Bajor...a child long awaited is about to be born. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (37)

DS9 Continuing Story
There isn't much I can really talk about without spoiling it for others so without talking about the plot of the book I will just tell you to go out and buy it. There have been about 10 or so books that have continued the DS9 story since it ended after season 7 and this book is about the 10th or so. I recommend you read the others b4 reading this one because this one is what we like to call in the Star Trek universe as a Nexus.

Read the other books first then this one. It is truly worth the wait. You will not be disappointed.

Extraordinary - Perry Does It Again
With Unity, S.D. Perry - the best of all Star Trek novelists - brings the story she set up in Avatar to fruition. Not only is it the culmination of the Star Trek: Deep Space Nine relaunch novels thus far, but it is another high point in the series as a whole. If Deep Space Nine had had an eighth season, this would have been its finale, and it's a stunner.

S.D. Perry has an understanding of the characters that elevates these stories beyond simple adventures. She understands how each character views the world as well as their relationships with each other. I got almost embarrassingly emotional during the last 75 pages of this book, actual goosebumps on my skin at one point.

A lot of ground is covered in these 300 pages, but it's clear from the very beginning, in which a helpful summary of the post-finale novels reminds us of where we are, that Unity will address all the story-lines we've been following. A great deal is resolved by the end of the novel, but not everything - which is great news, as it means there is more to come. With authors like S.D. Perry and the others who have (for the most part) done a great job in the relaunch novels, the DS9 franchise is in great hands.

I COULD NOT PUT THIS BOOK DOWN!!!
I received this book on Saturday, November 14, 2009 and started reading it IMMEDIATELY!(I had been trying to find this book for almost a full year and it was worth the wait!)

I don't want to give away any plot spoilers but suffice it to say, the story had me keep turning the pages to find out what's going to happen next!!!!I finished reading the book in 24 hours and have started re-reading it!!!!This is one of the BEST Deep Space Nine stories yet!

Awesome
I really enjoyed this book, every last word of it.I loved the Gamma Mission Series, but didn't care very much for "Rising Son". So i was a little worried this would dissapoint as well, but I was soooo wrong. Great Great Great!!!

Superb conclusion to an extended storyarc:
One of the finest Star Trek books I've ever read; this one finishes the first storyarc continuing the Deep Space 9 saga beyond the end of the series. It ties up all of the subplots that had been ongoing throughout the "Mission: Gamma" series and before: Shar's problems with his bondmates, Bejor's admission to the Federation, Ro's and Quark's uncertainty about their places in a Bejor within the Federation, Vaughn's relationship with his daughter, the attack of the alien parasites, Jake's return, Kai Opaka's return, Ben Sisko's return, and many others are all brought to a head and sewn up into a nice, neat package. Granted, there is still room to continue the story, but this particular storyline is concluded very smoothly. ... Read more

Product Description
DK presents exciting new covers for 13 of your favorite Ultimate Sticker Books: Animal, Baby Animal, Ballet, Bug, Bulldozer, Dangerous Dinosaurs, Dinosaur, Ancient Egypt, Farm, Pony, Shark and Whale, Space, and Truck. Annotated with factual information, each book contains more than 60 full-color, reusable stickers so children can create their own fun scenes. ... Read more

Product Description
From Walter Jon Williams, the celebrated and influential author of Hardwired, Voice of the Whirlwind, and Angel Station comes Implied Spaces, a new novel of post-singularity action, pyrotechnics, and intrigue. Aristide, a semi-retired computer scientist turned swordsman, a scholar of the implied spaces, seeking meaning amid the accidents of architecture in a universe where reality itself has been sculpted and designed by superhuman machine intelligence. While exploring the pre-technological world Midgarth, one of four dozen pocket universes created within a series of vast, orbital matrioshka computer arrays, Aristide uncovers a fiendish plot threatening to set off a nightmare scenario, perhaps even bringing about the ultimate Existential Crisis: the end of civilization itself! Traveling the pocket universes with his wormhole-edged sword Tecmessa in hand and talking cat Bitsy, avatar of the planet-sized computer Endora, at his side, Aristide must find a way to save the multiverse from subversion, sabotage, and certain destruction. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (23)

An Enjoyable Page-Turner
Implied Spaces is an enjoyable page turner with so many new an intriguing ideas coming at you it can be hard to keep up. You might think that you've picked up maybe the fifth or sixth book in an ongoing series, the backstory is so rich and complex. But no, it seems that Implied Spaces is just an incredibly fast-paced, deeply immersive stand-alone.

One of the many SF tropes in Implied Spaces is the idea that every person can "upload" to some sort of a computer so that, if they die, they can be brought back to life with all memories, emotions, and personality traits in tact. This technology is even used for long distance space travel, in which people "upload" into a small ship and leave their bodies behind. This is interesting, to be sure, but I found the characters cavalier attitude toward this process, and toward death itself, a bit disturbing. If you die, you are in fact dead. I'm not sure how the idea that an exact copy of you will be walking around, using your stuff, and interacting with your loved ones is supposed to be in any way comforting.

And one very minor quibble about the typesetting. The book uses a double space between sentences. While this may be how many of us learned to type in the 80s and before, it is certainly a no-no in publishing and makes for some jagged looking copy. Night Shade Press, please take note!

Excellent Zelazny Knockoff
I've always liked the work of Walter Jon Williams. His very first book, Knight Moves, was a Zelazny knockoff but he soon moved on to Cyberpunk and high tech sf. This book returns to the earlier form, with a preternaturally competent hero whose life spans centuries. Zelazny's heroes usually (though not always) worked in the shadows. Their actual identities were often unknown to the people whose lives they manipulated. Our hero in this book, Aristide (real name Pablo Perez) started life as a top computer scientist, participated in the establishment of the artificial intelligences which now run civilization, and spends much of his time as a vagabond swordsman investigating the "implied spaces," the spaces that grow naturally out of the artificial building of pocket universes.

On one such adventure, Aristide runs across a plot to take over all the Universes. After alerting the authorities, he volunteers to be a secret agent on a pocket Universe from which many kidnapping/brainwashings seem to have taken place. He sets up a persona named "Franz Sandow," an obvious homage to Francis Sandow, the protagonist of Zelazny's excellent Isle of the Dead. In Zelazny's book, Sandow was a "worldscaper," who could call upon mystical, even godlike powers to do his work. In this book, Aristide is almost as powerful, but his power depends upon his alliance with Endorra, one of the great artificial minds that run civilization.

My only complaint is the deus ex machina nature of the ending. Aristide gets a brilliant revelation about the nature of the Universe that the minds are able to use to come up with new technology. More than a little too pat, but still, I loved the concept, I loved the characters and I loved this book.

Too far-removed from reality to be compelling
When death is only a temporary inconvenience, any threat rings hollow. It felt like he was relying on the whiz-bang technology to keep people interested, rather than compelling characters or storylines.

fantastic!
This novel was like my personal energizer bunny. It just kept compelling me to keep reading. How can you go wrong with pocket universes, matrioshka arrays, wormholes, immorbid societies, clones, customized bodies, and AI pets? Sure it's a mashup of a lot of current SF ideas but that what makes those ideas great - they are worth reading about more than once. And yes it does appear to be a reworking of Aristoi but I loved that book too. And, thank you, it does actually qualify as entertainment - it doesn't end on a low note or ask the reader to supply the ending. And finally it stitches together a number of the things the author clearly enjoys writing about which translates to fun for the reader (and probably to tax deductions for those scuba trips!).

Daunting concepts.
Massive AIs, incorporating planetary masses. Renovations on a stelar scale. Nannotech. Pocket universes. Neural reprogramming by tailored nano/virus. Effective immortality. 'Rebooting' oneself. Avatar-clones. War. When death is only an inconvenience; when the worst thing you can do to a fellow sentient is remove his free will; when designer universes allow those with access to sufficient energy and computational power to create their very own paradise - or hell; when mankind becomes little less than gods; what happens when one of the most brilliant of the new gods goes a bit insane?

This is not, perhaps, William's best work - I found my self, like the protagonist Aristede, to be a bit too detached from events, but the sheer magnitude of the invention in the story setting is staggering. This novel barely scratches the surface of the possibilities, and opens many disturbing-yet-fascinating avenues for speculation. Fortunately, Williams declines to follow up on any but a very few of the possible threads, though the ones he did follow are hair-raising enough. If he'd followed too many, the story would've been lost, and become instead a travelogue through WJW's imagination. That's a fascinating - if no small bit daunting - prospect, and not for the faint of heart, nor does it belong in this novel. Kindly, WJW stays to the story, and it's a good one, if a bit less engaging than it might be - Aristede is simply too jaded and yet not sufficiently tortured, to make the most engaging protagonist. No Elric, he.

Yet, I wonder - does the Williams flinch from some of the darker implications created in his story? Or did he deliberately leave his own implied spaces for us to explore? ... Read more

Product Description
Danny, his brothers, and the rest of the clubhouse crew are at it again. Since returning their dangerous snake and reptiles to the wild, they’ve found a meteor "from Mars," as Neil, a visiting neighbor, has determined it. So begins a quest to find flying saucers and make contact with Martians. But such top secret work can be tricky when the "Martians" come looking for their lost meteor. School Library Journal calls The Dangerous Snake and Reptile Club "an appealing tale.... Throughout the story, readers see how well the youngsters work and play together, and allow their imaginations to take them on a super adventure." Now, with a telescope, crystal radio, and amateur chemistry set, the gang takes part in a second uproarious true tale of brothers, best friends, and the extraordinary adventures they create. Use the secret alphabet at the back of the book to decode Neil’s mystery letter or to create messages of your own. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (5)

A true revelation for kids brought up in the electronic era
In Space Station Mars, Daniel San Souci captures, with precision and great humor, the entertainingly hyperbolic world of a child's imagination. Intelligently written and delightfully illustrated, this is a wonderful "look back" for parents and a true revelation for kids brought up in the electronic era.

Aliens Have Arrived!
Space Station Mars
By Daniel San Souci

Danny tells the story about the 'Clubhouse' boys.A scary movie ignites the imagination of the six boys. Suddenly, they see signs of space invaders, and aliens all around them. They see a UFO, a meteor and hear strange messages in secret alien codes.

Doning their homemade, protective gear, they head to the clubhouse to test for radiation.

Will the boys be safe from invading forces? Will they unravel the codes in time to save the planet?

Kids and adults, alike will enjoy "Space Station Mars," and having fun with the clubhouse boys.

Jill Vanderwood, Author
Through the Rug
Through The Rug: Follow That Dog (Through the Rug)
These are great read-together books for this age!

Space Station Mars
Wonderful children's book with great stories that children of all ages will enjoy!! We have purchased the whole series for our daughters.

Aaround great read!
After Danny and his friends see a Martian movie, they spend the night in their clubhouse where their imaginations run wild. Before long they are seeing flying saucers and radioactive meteors. Upon further examination, and with the help of whiz-kid Neil, they determine that the meteor is safe. But when an odd shape appears on the horizon, the boys determine the aliens want their meteor back. Thankfully, they have Neil around to act as their ambassador so the aliens can leave in peace.

Space Station Mars is full of wonderful, whimsical childhood imagination, and plenty of humor. The beautiful illustrations reflect not only what they boys are seeing, but what they hope to see and what really is. This mom sees what life used to be and the children only see fun. Our gang can't wait to get our hands on the rest of the Clubhouse Books.

An all-around great read for any child's library.

Armchair Interviews says: This series is sure to be a winner.

Kid Will Be Kids
This book is breath of fresh air for the younger reader.It gives the reader permission to use their imagination to the fullest.The books of this series also work well as read alouds. ... Read more

Product Description
This is the eighty year history of developing reusable lifting--reentry spacecraft. From the early works of Eugen Sanger in Germany to the Cold War developments in the United States, and finally to the ultimate experiment--the Space Shuttle. To celebrate the 20th anniversary of the first Space Shuttle launch, this greatly enlarged third edition adds many previously uncovered early designs, details the latest modifications to the operational vehicles, and provides expanded coverage of the first 100 Space Shuttle missions. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (25)

Awesome!


This book is fantastic! The details it gives are incredible and if you are a serious Shuttle fan and want to know the cool, rarely released technical stuff, you need this book! I can't put it down! It also has beautiful pictures!

F A N T A S T I C
Since I purchased this book, I cannot put it down. The detail, the diagrams, the pictures, the print quality and the sheer amount of information are just staggering. With Space Shuttle mission STS-133 (the 134th and last Space Shuttle mission) scheduled for completion by Discovery later this year, I will eagerly look forward to revised update by Dennis R. Jenkins which chronicles the entire National Space Transportation System program. I personally thank him for such excellent work and am quickly becoming a huge fan having recently purchased Magnesium Overcast and Hypersonic on a recent holiday to the USA.

The only Space Shuttle book you will ever need.
This large hard cover publication is an absolute must own for your NASA library. Amazing in depth-detail written with regard for the layman. The only issue for me was the very small amount of colour photos. If your buying this book for reference e.g. model kit building (as I have), it's brilliant because you will become intimate with the shuttle & it's workings. You will come to appreciate the complexity of this iconic space-craft & thus be motivated to capture it's power in your model kit. I would recommend this book to the enthusiast & to anyone with a passing interest in the shuttle/program, BRILLIANT!

Crave Details?They're In Here
"Space Shuttle: The History of the National Space Transportation System. The First 100 Missions." Long title. Big book. Loads of detail. A treasure for shuttle geeks like me.
This book is packed with mission details and hundreds of rare photographs. One shows a close up of one of the struts that holds the shuttle onto it's 747 carrier. On it are stenciled the words: "PLACE ORBITER HERE. BLACK SIDE DOWN. LEFTY LOOSEY, RIGHTY TIGHTY." Where else are you going to find things like that? It's all here. Pictures, histories, charts, and diagrams. Like the missions chronicled inside, this reasonably-priced book will take some time to analyze and review again and again so you can catch all the details.

Great book for your library or for reference
I bought this book as a keepsake, but have found it very informative. Shuttle workers and space enthusiasts alike will enjoy this book. ... Read more

Product Description
In a triumphant career spanning more than thirty years, Anne McCaffrey has won the devotion of millions of fans. Now she has written the exciting and long-awaited addition to her classic Pegasus series--and the perfect link to her bestselling Rowan saga . . .

For an overpopulated Earth whose resources are strained to the breaking point, there is only one place to look for relief: straight up. With the successful completion of the Padrugoi Space Station, humanity has at last achieved its first large-scale permanent presence in space. But there are those who, for motives of their own, want Padrugoi to fail. Standing in their way are the Talented, men and women gifted with extraordinary mental powers that have made them as feared as they are respected--and utterly indispensable to the colonization effort. Now, as sabotage and attempted murder strike the Station, it's up to the Talented to save the day. Only who is going to save the Talented?

Pegasus in Space is the tale of Peter Reidinger, first Tower Prime!Amazon.com Review
Anne McCaffrey is best known for The Dragonriders of Pern, but her loose Talents series about superpsychics has been running almost as long. It began with the near-future To Ride Pegasus, continuing a couple of generations later in Pegasus in Flight. Book 2 introduced a crowd of new characters, notably the paralyzed boy Peter whose telekinetic talent can move not only his body without help from his ruined nervous system, but--with practice--even lift payloads into orbit.

Pegasus in Space follows directly, with mayhem and mutiny, at the opening of a manned space station, which Peter and talented friends helped build. Further hassles ensue during his training for space haulage work: obstructive bureaucrats, crooked suppliers, murder attempts, and skillful sabotage. McCaffrey specializes in feel-good adventure SF, full of romance, warm friendships, and hearty meals. Somehow her villains never quite convince, though, and their evil deeds are so rapidly annulled that the story rarely builds up much suspense. Meanwhile, the orphan girl Amiriyah who's adopted into Peter's family has a mysterious, subtle talent of her own, one that we soon guess will change his life. Our young hero's ambitions foreshadow later far-future books in the series (beginning with The Rowan) in which "kinetics" hurl cargo across huge interstellar gulfs. While most people think his talent needs careful conservation, Peter has already teleported supplies to the moon and has secret plans for Mars, the asteroids, and the moons of Jupiter. It all makes for an agreeable, lightweight read. --David Langford, Amazon.co.uk ... Read more

Customer Reviews (43)

A well crafted link.
Book arrived quickly and in good condition.The book was well written, revisiting many characters from "Pegasus in Flight".It neatly closes the gap between the Pegasus series and the Tower and the Hive series.I thoroughly enjoyed this and plan to reread the whole series from start to finish following the chronological order of the plot (as opposed to the order they were published).Recommended.

Tedious and Disappointing
I loved McCaffrey's "Dragon" series; enjoyed the "Brain Ships"; and found the first two "Pegasus" books (a third the length of this one) interesting. This one, however, was overlong and unbelievably tedious. It is a character-driven (not story-driven) book; a series of thinly-connected vignettes, apparently meant to spotlight the psychic personalities of whom the author seems overly enamored. This style is often seen in fanzine-writing (I know this because I've done it); but it is an indulgence less often seen in a writer this accomplished.

As a reader I was NOT enamored of these characters, who seemed superficially one-dimensional (for the number of pages allotted them!). The "villains" were positively cartoonish; and the circumstances of their "menace," unconvincing.A felon, convicted or heinous crimes against persons, "sentenced" to unsupervised "janitorial work" aboard a space station? Are you KIDDING me?!?No government could be that stupid -- not even a liberal one.

I didn't finish the book. Found myself speed-reading through the middle third, scanning down the middle of the pages hoping SOMETHING believable would happen; gave up on the final third. This was a waste of my time & money.

A great read if you're into SF...
but should be read after "Pegasus in Flight". As with the best of McCaffrey I finished the book too quickly - so reread it immediately!

The Talents make space travel practical
This is the longest and last (to date) volume of McCaffrey's "Saga of the Talents," published 27 years after the first (To Ride Pegasus), 10 after The Rowan, and a year after The Tower and the Hive (Rowan).Her objective was to tie together the chronologically earlier with the later books in the series, while still (as she points out in her Acknowledgments) trying to stay true to the parameters put in place when she wrote the first short story about the Talents in 1959.

In the late 21st Century, humanity is finally making serious attempts to colonize the stars--and none too soon, for Earth is overcrowded and many people live in miserable conditions in vast tenement blocks.Central to the space program are the "parapsychics," the 0.03% of the species who are born with special gifts--the empaths, telepaths, kinetics, precogs, and dozens of lesser talents.Among them is 15-year-old Peter Reidinger, who is a quadriplegic and an enormously powerful telekinetic: given a generator to get in "gestalt" with and draw power from, he can "toss" just about anything, regardless of its size, shape, or mass, to just about any destination, as long as he has a picture of that destination to focus on.He dreams of someday being able to hurl colony ships to distant systems, if he can only, like Archimedes, find "a place to stand"--for in this future the constraints of the speed of light mean that without instantaneous telekinetic transport, colonists must spend centuries in cryogenic suspension and colonies will quickly begin to lag technically behind the homeworld, with news and inventions unable to reach them any faster than that speed.Peter's foster sister Amareeyah has a special gift too, though it's not as showy as his and indeed takes a long time to be identified.

The first great test of Peter's powers comes when his friend Gen. Johnny Greene wangles invitations for him and two others of the Talented to the ceremony marking the inauguration of Padrugoi Space Station--a function for which everyone thought they'd been overlooked.As it turns out, they hadn't--the oversight was 100% deliberate--and it's only their presence that prevents the bitter and jealous Construction Manager, Ludmila Barchenka, from successfully fomenting a mutiny and seizing control of the facility.Because of the part he plays in this action, Peter gets a leg up into the space program--and finds that as his work takes him regularly to Padrugoi and the Moon, he's in peril from enemies old and new, including a couple of very nasty and well-connected figures from Pegasus in Flight.And all the while, as he grows older and his powers mature, he must also search for ways to make his dream come true.

McCaffrey inserts several links to the present in her story: two of her colony ships are the "Andre Norton" (named after the early sf writer who probably inspired most of the author's generation) and the "Arrakis;" Peter conscientiously does his daily "Reeve exercises" to keep muscle tone in his paralyzed body (the novel is dedicated to actor/activist Christopher "Superman" Reeve).And although her future Earth is now unified and at peace, terrorists remain a thorn in everyone's side.The book is lengthy and not notable for action, but given its purpose as stated, that's probably inevitable.Though I didn't like it as well as I have the Pern, Doona, or Brainship books, my deep interest in psychic powers guaranteed that I would find it interesting, and certainly it succeeds on its own terms.

Pegasus in Space
All books by Anne McCaffrey are amazing! She makes her characters real, not just words on a page. ... Read more

Product Description
The climactic chapter in the Revelation Space saga destined to "solidify Alastair Reynolds's reputation as one of the best hard SF writers in the field" (*SF Site). ... Read more

Customer Reviews (61)

Not up to the previous two books
I am a Reynolds fan. I loved Revelation Space. But I did see the trilogy go slowly downhill. While it is still worth reading, I do feel Mr. Reynolds let us down a bit. I liked Revelation Space because it was snappy and lean. Things happened for a reason, to move the story forward. Concepts were introduced and explained enough to carry us along and keep us interested. There were no wordy and lengthy explanations and descriptions. The story elements came together at the end. But things have changed throughout the course of the trilogy. And the very things that I liked about Revelation Space were forgotten. I have to agree with the criticism of other reviewer and add some of my own.
- The entire Hela digression is useless to the story. We mount this whole expectation about Hela containing the secret to defeat the Inhibitors, and then, quite literally, we chicken out of it. So why did we go through all of that in the first place?
- The book builds expectations for all the wrong things. The cache weapons must be the ace in the sleeve, since everybody wants them, right? Wrong, they are no better than normal weapons (sometimes worse, since they can shoot only once) and make no difference whatsoever in the whole conflict. Aura must be the Messiah that will turn things around thanks to her superior knowledge, right? Wrong, she's actually wrong more often than she's right. And how about our Inhibitors? They just disappear in some unspecified manner.
- Too many wordy descriptions. Mr Reynolds, when you describe the fancy, completely invented weapons and propulsion systems, just saying "It's really advanced and pretty cool too" will suffice. Yammering page after page at how alien, and weird, and awesome they are gets old soon. Sometimes he even runs out of words to describe his own inventions! The machinery in Haldora is "too complex to understand, let alone to remember". The hypometric weapon is so complex that it gives you a headache just looking at it. What?
- The ending is, obviously, either an example of a deus ex machina or that the author just got tired of writing. I don't know which possibility is the worst.

I will continue reading Reynolds, and I still recommend the trilogy, but I certainly feel this book is inferior to Revelation Space.

Disapointing
I just want to add to what has been already said by my fellow reviewers that in my opinion this book is a very good idea so badly mistreated that it deserves to be rewritten from scratch. Reading this book is, at its best moments, uninteresting.

From Ultimate Potential to Ultimate Letdown
When I'm reading multiple books simultaneously, it's usually because I've relegated one to my "before bed" pile. Absolution Gap, the conclusion of Alastair Reynolds's Revelation Space series, was one of those. Unfortunately, it's also one of the longer books I've attacked in a couple months, and half an hour per night hardly pays quick dividends. Even worse, Reynolds' writing style is copious and unrelenting; I felt every single one of those pages.

I'm saying the novel is immense, folks. Stick with me, here.

The conclusion of this series is difficult to comment on. Once again, there are multiple plotlines interwoven, but two primarily stand out in a way not seen in previous entries. This time, two concurrent timelines separated by about 100 years slowly converge, giving ample time to provide character motivation, sufficient background, and foreshadowing.

The Inhibitors, now actively eradicating humanity, have finally caught up with Skade, who has also located Clavain, Scorpio, and the rest. While they work to find a method of escape or defeat these foes, a man named Quiache invents a religion based on watching Haldora, a gas giant, periodically vanish from the vantage of its moon, Hela. Aura, Khouri's daughter by Thorn from Redemption Ark, is apparently the key to contacting beings known only as the Shadows, which supposedly can defeat the Inhibitors. And Rashmika Els searches for her lost brother among the cathedrals that circumnavigate Hela in an effort to always keep it overhead.

These things really are the core of what's going on, and while the novel sets up all of the counter-plotting admirably, it does so very slowly to build ambiance. Very Slowly. Glacially, even. And frustratingly, there's almost no payoff for it. There are a couple mild surprises in store in the last few chapters, but even these were excessively telegraphed and predictable almost halfway through the novel. The conclusion is also a staggering cop-out. All of the preparation our characters perform, all of their investigations, new technologies, and even the Shadows and Wolves themselves, are effectively hurled into the nearest landfill, and an ending completely out of right field is bolted on as an afterthought.

This is probably the worst betrayal I've felt after finishing a space opera of any length. The characters' efforts are unimportant; the antagonists ultimately moot; the conclusion is only tangentially related to the rest of the novel. Reynolds invoked deus ex machina here, but did so by alluding to a circular time loop which is supposed to tie everything up in a neat, depressing little bow. Instead, it cheapens the struggles of every character introduced in the novel, reduces their travails to drab, pointless endeavors full of eloquent prose that accomplishes approximately nothing. If you're a fan of Neal Stephenson, some argue his novels lack clear endings--this is ten times worse.

Alastair's writing is as amazing and elaborate and cohesive as usual, but his pacing and plotting leave much to be desired. I actually feel robbed, an emotion none of his other books have imparted. Taken with the greater context of his other novels, this particular entry also seems oddly isolated; almost none of the established universe makes a single appearance except as an elusive location to evacuate before the Wolves arrive. It's all so pointless, and the vast amount of time it spends being pointless just makes it more aggravating. Luckily The Prefect more than redeems this bomb, so I'm not too trepidatious about pursuing Alastair's future work.

Absolution Gap relates to it's predecessors as "Return of the Jedi" did in comparison to the first two "Star Wars" films...
A lot of other reviewers seem to fixate on an apparent Deus Ex Machina at the conclusion of this book- but I did not find it as jarring as some, for reasons that I will discuss below. In short though, the potential reader should be aware of the critical response to this book, and it's rather controversial ending...

If you have read the first book in this series, Revelation Space, and if you're okay with the conclusion, then the end of Absolution Gap shouldn't pose too many irritations of the "convenient authorly sleight-of-hand" variety. Revelation Space ends with several main characters being saved from imminent destruction by a plot twist that has echoes of Dave Bowman's trip into the monolith, crossed with the terrible epilogue of Stephen Baxter's Titan (being neither as profound as the former or quite as ludicrous as the latter). In contrast, the ending of Absolution Gap is set up over time, with hints of a new alien menace being littered throughout the book, and while it feels like there probably should be another book between the end of the story proper, and the epilogue, it does nothing to diminish this story which is about the lives of Scorpio, Aura, Clavain, etc. and how they have responded to the threat of the Inhibitors.

Because the focus of the text is locked in on these characters, and the changes they have gone through, the enigmatic and somewhat open ending does not hinder the satisfying character-arcs of the individuals that have grown and changed over multiple volumes in this series. In many ways, Reynolds pushes his characters in directions that we the reader may not want him to (something reminiscent of what Herbert did in Dune Messiah (Dune Chronicles (Econo-Clad Hardcover))), but none of their actions seemed out of character.

Like many hard sci-fi novels, there are familiar themes that stir beneath the surface of this book- prescient children (along the lines of St Alia of the Knife/Leto and Ghanima Atreidies) that harbour prophetic insight; the mind virus of religion and the political ends it can be put to; the almost fetishistic descriptions of ever more exotic weapons and technology; plenty of alien BDOs (big dumb objects) that litter the cosmos waiting to be discovered, stolen, or activated. But Reynolds is better than most at infusing enough world-building novelty (drawn, no doubt, from his scientific expertise) and characterization, and while Banks's last few sci-fi novels have reeked of self-indulgence, Reynolds covers much of the same ground but still retains a certain freshness in his approach to writing. Reynolds is certainly not for everyone- but if you have liked his other books, then this one should prove to be enthralling, if a little uneven.

Surprise, the end!
Only the quality of the ideas in the story save Absolution Gap from the ignominy of a one star review.

A continuation of the storyline from Revelation Space and Redemption Ark, Absolution Gap starts out with one of Reynold's characteristic jumbled chronologies (necessary when dealing with slower than light travel and interstellar distances) and on a good foot, with the "discovery" of one of the critical locations in the novel, and the reintroduction of older characters from the previous stories.

Then he kills those characters off, and introduces a couple of new ones who lead the storyline to a conclusion they decide to abandon 10 pages before the end of the book, in favor of something from the middle of left field.And then surprise, it's 400 years later, and oh by the way, we won that war we've been building up to in the last three books.

In short, Absolution Gap ends about 100 pages too early, and in a highly disappointing fashion.I suppose it's still worth reading, because the technodrivel details are pretty neat and mostly well thought out, but just be prepared for the end to emulate an artificial black hole suddenly appearing in your living room. ... Read more

Product Description
Maintaining the standard of excellence set by the previous edition, this textbook covers the basic geometry of two- and three-dimensional spaces Written by a master expositor, leading researcher in the field, and MacArthur Fellow, it includes experiments to determine the true shape of the universe and contains illustrated examples and engaging exercises that teach mind-expanding ideas in an intuitive and informal way. Bridging the gap from geometry to the latest work in observational cosmology, the book illustrates the connection between geometry and the behavior of the physical universe and explains how radiation remaining from the big bang may reveal the actual shape of the universe. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (11)

Orientability in Manifolds
I can't give him five stars as good as Jeffery Weeks is, because the book doesn't even mentions Bianchi's manifold types. I also missed a discussion of his own manifold classification scheme and his program Snap Pea.
I bought the book so I could understand his low volume M003[3,-1] Weeks space. It ,too, isn't mentioned. He did give some coverage to the dodecahedron type of hyperbolic manifold.
He probably should have left cosmology out as he seems to have very little idea of particle formation during the early universe?
There is no doubt that Jeffery Weeks is a brilliant geometer, he just seems to have limited his background not to include fractal/ scaling theory, gravitational physics or Lie algebras?
What makes this book so good is his coverage of orientability in Manifolds. The only real physical evidence that nature may have orientablity incorporated is the parity of the electron, some asymmetry in mesons and times arrow in thermodynamics. His ideas and the dialog in the text about the expansion of space and what there was before the big bang is sophistry ( that is the bad teaching before philosophy)
and not science or mathematics. That he presents it is a shame on his thesis adviser who was supposed to have made sure he knew what meta-mathematics and metaphysics were?
I think it is a well written book and should be read by
those wishing to understand modern manifold theory,
it just isn't complete and he just assumes he knows much
more than is actually known.

Magic book on Topology for educated commons
This is a great book for anyone who is interest in Mathematical Topology and Cosmology Topology. This book does not require a reader to have strong mathematics knowledge. It only requires a reader to have patience to think and solve some problems in the book. The most brilliant point in this book is using diagrams to illustrate the Topology concepts, such as Manifold. This help the reader to get a "feeling" of some really difficult concepts inTopology. This book should be a classic like "Flatland".

chris tam
hong kong

The joy of math
I have a bachelors degree in Math.

As Feynman said, what we really mean by math is careful reasoning.This book brings you the joy of careful reasoning, guided by an expert.

Perhaps what turns some people off math in school is that the supreme example of careful reasoning is the mathematical PROOF.(Or perhaps it's just that most math teachers are so poor.)A proof tends to look dull and ponderous on the outside, and a student can easily miss the beauty of the underlying ideas.On the other hand, for your own amusement you can figure something out to your own satisfaction, without necessarily constructing a watertight proof.This book helps you do just that.

Many newspapers contain Sudoku problems, often with the reassuring claim that no math is required!People who hated math in school can be seen working happily on Sudoku puzzles, for the sheer joy of exercising their ability to reason carefully.The same ability would bring them far more joy while reading this book and answering the puzzles/exercises sprinkled throughout.

Excellent Introduction, No Assumptions
This text is non-intimidating as an introduction to topology. Weeks carefully guides the reader through the building blocks of torii, Moebius strips, projective planes, and other surfaces. After working appropriate exercises, the reader gets a chance to visualize 3-manifolds and connected sums. Some aspects of these two topics can be difficult to explain, but analogies are applied to make understanding attainable. Further, figures and illustrations exist throughout the text, and these are definitely helpful for visualizing connected sums and non-orientable surfaces (both one-sided and two-sided).

(I especially like the approach to the Gauss-Bonet theorem using double lunes. It is a carefully crafted derivation with plenty of illustrations to avoid confusion.)

Some may think this text is too simple, but it is a "must read" for anyone who has not encountered topology and who wants to do individual research on the topic. Many texts claim to be introductory texts, but they are actually designed for those who already have a degree in math and who have seen similar subject matter. However, this one is definitely for "newbies." So don't worry.

Interesting book
This is a painless way to learn some advanced topology--or at least to gain insight.It's almost a picture book.Most problems include solutions and require only a few minutes of thought.They are also worth solving.

Now that I understand what is meant be a certain topology of the cosmos, I'm astounded that anybody actually considers it possible.Fascinating. ... Read more

Product Description
Binky is a space cat - at least in his own mind. He's really a house cat who has never left the family "space station." Unlike other house cats, Binky has a mission: to blast off into outer space (outside), explore unknown places (the backyard) and battle aliens (bugs). Binky must undergo rigorous training so he can repel the alien attacks that threaten his humans. As he builds his spaceship, he must be extremely careful with his blueprints - the enemy is always watching.Soon Binky is ready to voyage into outer space. His humans go out there every day and he's sure they need a certified space cat to protect them. But just as he's about to blast off with his co-pilot, Ted (stuffed mousie), Binky realizes that he's left something very important behind ? and it's not the zero-gravity kitty litter. In the first book in the Binky Adventure series, graphic-novel readers will delight in watching where this lovable and quirky cat's imagination takes him. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (8)

hilarious & great attention to detail
Binky the Space Cat is a great combo of a beginner reader & a graphic novel.
Funny, quirky writing about a spunky kitty.A book you will enjoy reading with the kids.

Binky Rocks!
This book was great. I enjoyed it alot. I can't wait to buy it for my five year old niece this Christmas.It was funny and very cute.

An absolute riot...
I'm not a regular reader of graphic novels--as a matter of fact, I'd pick them up only if nothing else is available. (I don't have anything against them, I just find them visually overwhelming for me...) However, this was handed to me by a friend and given the simple format, I thought I'd give it a try. It was so cleverly crafted and so funny, I read it in minutes. A great read particularly for cat lovers, but anyone really could enjoy this book.

awesome adventures of Binky!!!!
We can't wait for Binky's second adventure! This kept my 10 year old daughter, eight year old son and me spellbound for the short duration it took to read it. The illustrations were wonderful and the story was captivating.

This is a hilarious little book that even adult humans may be tempted to read in their top secret place!
Binky had been scrounging around in his kitty food bag and at the very bottom he found an application to become a "Space Cat."It was the perfect way to stop aliens, which his human being family thought were bugs, so he sent away for his instructions on how to become "Space Cat qualified."He'd been waiting for weeks and finally his instructions from F.U.R.S.T. ("Felines of the Universe Ready for Space Travel") had arrived.It was time to slink into a closetand start reading. He even got his "Official Space Cat Badge."He was very special now, quite unlike those regular cats you see hanging around a house chomping on a ball of yarn or walking by with a mouse hanging out of their mouth.YUK!

If he was going to be a space cat, he'd just better get going, do some research and start building his spacecraft.After all if Binky was going to "battle alien creatures" and "explore unknown places" it wasn't going to work if he had to hang around the house, a place he'd never left before.He took very good care of his human beings, but sometime every cat just has to follow his star.Binky got the blueprints out of the package and began to gather up materials to build his very own Rocket Ship.The instruction said this could be accomplished "with Things You Can Steal from Your Humans."Sounded like a plan.Toilet paper rolls, a fork, batteries from the remote. . .into his top secret hiding place in his covered litter box.Was his plan going to succeed or poop out?

This cute, funny and adorable story about Binky, the cat with a dream to "blast off into outer space" will get the most reluctant reader reading and laughing at the adventurous kitty cat.Anyone who wonders what cats really think will know by the time they get to the end of the book.Binky, who appears to be an average cat just like yours, will surprise you when it is revealed how truly ingenious cats are.The artwork, "rendered in ink, watercolor and cat fur," was very appealing.The author has noted that "no aliens, bugs or Space Cats were harmed in the making of this book," save a mosquito and a fruit fly.This is a hilarious little book that even adult humans may be tempted to read in their top secret place! ... Read more

Product Description
A Far-out adventure!

The President of the United States has chosen Stanley Lambchop and his family to become the first humans to fly in the Star Scout, a new top-secret spaceship.

Customer Reviews (2)

Further Adventures of the Formerly Flat Stanley
Stanley Lambchop has already had adventures:first he was flattened by a bulletin board and helped stop a museum burglary, then he and his brother found a magic lamp with a wish-granting genie inside.Still, his parents muse at the beginning of the book, it's nice to have an ordinary day without any tiring adventures.Then the President of the United States calls looking for a boy who has adventure experience for a special mission, and the entire Lambchop family goes on a space adventure!

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While the book assumes the reader has already read "Flat Stanley" and "Stanley and the Magic Lamp", one could read this book first with no loss.The references are quick and complete, and the story line of this book does not rely on them.

This is a good beginning chapter book, as are all the books of the series that we've read so far. Chapters are quick and mainly to the point.While I thought the discussion between the President and the parents was a bit long the remainder of the book entertained my six-year-old son enough that he never mentioned any slow parts at all.In fact, he originally took this book out from the library and was incredibly excited when he was able to get His Own Copy of the book a short time later.

A fun, imaginative little book!

Stanley in Space ROCKS!
My friend ... let Me borrow Stanley in Space. I read the Whole Book in one day. It's about a kid named Stanley Lambchop. He goes on this ship called the Star Scout. That's all I can tell you. But if you want to hear more then BUY THE BOOK. ... Read more

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Customer Reviews (21)

Inspiration and more inspiration
What a great book to get to see a glimpse of the studios of other artists. Some of them are beyond belief...others I could not work in them if I tried....but it is so good to see how other creative people set up their space....there is such a diversity of size, types, and organization. It is a great resource if you are wanting to get more organized, your space more functional or fun. Good eye candy in parts of the book.

Any collection catering to artists will find this a fine survey
Art Making & Studio Spaces is a visual studio tour that considers artists in their unique work spaces. From the relationship between artist and studio to how work space influences art, this blends photos by artists with personal insights that offer budding artists tips on how to set up a private studio. Any collection catering to artists will find this a fine survey.

Come Along With Me
As I study the results of Lynne Perrella's and photographer Sarah Blodgett's national tour of, as I think of it,Places Where Art Happens, I can't help but consider what a long, strange trip it must have been.Yet strange in the sense of non-ordinary, wonderful, unexpected; strange as differing from same-old and ho-hum.Good strange.Magical strange.

Having loved making stuff out of other stuff for many years, seeing where artists work and what they work with has a strong component of inspiration.That is overshadowed by simple awe.

The detailed, vibrant photos take us into what I believe to be the heart of each artist who willingly allowed voyeurs behind the doors of their creative lives.This is not the compendium telling seekers where to find IT, how to do IT or what to store IT in.Like the panoramic Easter eggs of some of our childhoods, we peer through the window at a world within and create our own stories about what may be happening on that planet.

While we are not left puzzled about each artist and each space, for there is plentiful and revealingnarrative to keep us from losing our bearings altogether,we may not find all of our questions answered; for that we would need (1) to visit each space personally, (2) unlimited time to wander therein and (3) a textbook procedural grilling of the artist, who would, of course, explain EVERYTHING.

Each entry produces a unique admiration for the perfect matching of individual and environment.The rooms (spaces is a more accurate name) range from blissful order to what we outsiders might think of as, let's face it, chaos.Yet each has evolved or been carefully designed to match the needs of each artist's process, glimpses of which we are given.We are permitted to gaze upon their meaningful objects, some defined, some more enigmatic.

What I take from the many visits I have already made to the tables, floors, walls, shelves, drawers, hooks, layers and piles that are the riches of ART MAKING AND STUDIO SPACES, is that dizzying reminder that we are at our best when we are mostauthentically ourselves.Each location, private lair of a truly creative soul, reminds us that as diverse as our forms of expression are, the laboratories in which every small step or great leap is refined is equally so. And aren't we lucky to have been invited?

Beautifully put together
Each of Lynne's books have been a joy to read and view and this one is no exception. The photography is spectacular and places me right into each artists world, allowing me to see some of the details that makes each artists work so special.

I came away with many ideas that I can use in my own studio. It is a book I will open again and again to reference and enjoy.

Not that great
I wish I had listened to those who wrote not to get this book.I was really hoping for ideas on making my studio better, more workable space and better pictures.This book is just not worth your time.I hate to write a bad review but really it was a waste, I am sending it back. ... Read more

Product Description
In a culture where teenagers are growing up inundated with images, experiences, and media that moves and changes at the speed of light, it's no wonder many of them learn better when they're doing something--- not only listening to someone talk to them.Sacred Space provides dozens of ideas to help students engage in scripture and apply the lesson to their own lives. Whether you're looking to teach a biblical theme, the life of Christ, or a gospel passage, or even when celebrating holidays, you'll find step-by-step instructions to create the space and experience necessary to draw your students into the story. Through art,listening, writing, and multi-sensory prayer stations, your students will experience God's Word in a whole new way.This is more than a toolbox for your ministry---it's a holistic way to approach teaching and communicating God's Word. Inside you'll find everything you need(except the actual supplies!) to create experiences that can transform the way your students encounter God, and help them engage in and learn from the Bible in more meaningful ways. Includes CD. ... Read more

Product Description
For many parents, raising children seems pretty manageable until the teenage years. Then fear, confusion, frustration, and lack of understanding begin toinvade the hearts and minds of these once-confident parents. The 'normal' changes of adolescence seem to be nothing but abnormal to parents who begin to feel like helpless bystanders. But parents don't need to feel alone or paralyzed by these feelings. For nearly twenty years, Walt Mueller has studied adolescents and the culture they're surrounded by. His expertise was put to the test when his own children became teenagers. Now he's bringing wisdom from research and his own experience to help parents through the tumultuousyears of adolescence. With empathy and practical tools, parents will address several important issues, including the questions:* How can I begin to facilitate a smoother adolescentperiod for my teen?* How can I begin to break through the walls ofconfusion, fear, frustration, and misunderstanding?* How can I be a positive and proactive bridgebuilderinto the life and world of my teenager? ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

I found nothing new in this book
This book pretty much covers what we learned in sex-ed in junior high, minus the sex part, and with God thrown in.If you are looking for help in guiding your teen through these years, don't look here.Teens are demanding and rude and smelly, sometimes acting adult and sometimes like children, but they will ultimately outgrow this.Nuf said?I guess so.

A Look Between the Spaces
Humans are strange.We are the only part of God's creation made in his image, yet we are the most screwed up part of his Creation.And to be quite honest, there is nothing that seems more out of whack than a teenager.Yet it is just this jacked-up human species that Jesus Christ came to die for; not the chimps, not the whales, not even the temperature of the climate.Jesus came to redeem mankind from the mess that we are in by our own doing.It is just this message that those whacked out teenagers need to hear, and they need to experience it first through Mom and Dad.

Commenting on Deuteronomy 6:6-9, Mueller says, "God, in his perfect wisdom and plan, has chosen to do his work through the family.God began with a family in Genesis, and God continues to use the family as the primary area for bringing people to himself...God's 'how' for imparting these truths to our children is by a diligent commitment to teach and model wholehearted and single-minded devotion to God 24 hours a day.When God's truths become the central overriding interest and purpose in our lives, teaching them to our children will happen almost subconsciously."

As a youth pastor, there is nothing more valuable to me in my ministry than parents who not only care to see their kid "succeed," but also care about the message of Christ enough to see it become the theme and passion of their children's lives.In "The Space Between," Mueller mixes his deep understanding of the Scripture and how it dances in our lives with his 30-plus years of experience with youth and culture (see [...]) to send an equipping message to parents.This message is one that not only helps parents understand what is happening to their children spiritually, physically and mentally, but it is also one gives hope to parents who feel hopeless through the hope that is found only in the Gospel.

It is not enough to let this generation go through their adolescence on their own.No, parents must stand in the confidence found in Christ alone and help their children through these formative years.Mueller argues that parenting teenagers is not about the moment-specific "solutions" to problems, but about the overall emphasis of the heart of the parent.While it seems that many parents today want to have more of a hands-off approach to parenting their teens (by letting their coaches, teachers and youth pastors do what they were called to do), Mueller calls parents to be what God has called them to be: examples and teachers to our children of what it means to "prayerfully endeavor with God's help and by God's grace to integrate their faith in every nook and cranny of their lives (p.104)." Mueller gives great and biblical advice to parents (and youth workers) on how best to approach these years.It is my opinion that, if parents take heed to this biblically based and youth-culturally informed advice, they will feel equipped to continue the task bestowed upon them at the birth of their child: to train them up in the way they should go. ... Read more

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"The theory is systematically developed by the axiomatic method that has, since von Neumann, dominated the general approach to linear functional analysis and that achieves here a high degree of lucidity and clarity. The presentation is never awkward or dry, as it sometimes is in other "modern" textbooks; it is as unconventional as one has come to expect from the author. The book contains about 350 well placed and instructive problems, which cover a considerable part of the subject. All in all this is an excellent work, of equally high value for both student and teacher".Zentralblatt fuer Mathematik ... Read more

Customer Reviews (15)

I got the book itself in great condition, BUT
Let's get one thing straight...if you're going to buy this book, you need to be prepared to teach yourself some of the material on your own. It's a very compact text, and they cover a lot of material in a matter of a few pages. The author isn't going to hold your hand with lengthy examples and proofs with plenty of space in between paragraphs. In short, this isn't a linear algebra text for pretenders. It's serious, and it takes dedication to work with. If you want a book that takes more time to explain concepts instead of assuming you will get it the first time, I recommend something like "Linear Algebra Done Right".

Amazing.
Even though I am not an undergraduate student (yet), I have to point out that this book is amazing as a first read for one good reason: Halmos forces the reader to prove some nontrivial results that are generally proved in other textbooks.I particularly like the fact that the author refers to infinite dimensional vector spaces in the first few chapters.The famous saying among problem solvers is that "problem solving can only be learnt through solving problems."Due to the fact that a mathematician needs to know how to approach problems on his or her own, he or she must be FORCED to solve problems.Working through this book is worth the time.However, some experience with proofs is a must; other that this, the book is self-contained for those who are familiar with some real analysis.

Linear Algebra Bible
This book is simply awesome; it involves just the right amount of (fundamental) concepts and ideas in linear algebra, presented with the utmost rigor by a master logician.

Good Reading.
Halmos uses informal language and is not afraid to let his feelings show from time to time. There are a couple of exasperated remarks about the formalism that I find very funny. Because of this personal quality of the prose I feel affection for the work that I don't feel for many textbooks.

For me this book was just fine as the introductory text. But I was a physics student and must have had from that a working knowledge of vectors and transforms in orthogonal spaces, and I knew and liked the rigorous approach to math.

I still feel I would not like to be without the book.

A Classic for the mathematically-inclined.Good preparation for learning quantum mechanics.
This was one of the two textbooks (along with Rudin's Principles of Mathematical Analysis) that was used for the hot-shot freshman Math 218x course taught by Elias Stein at Princeton some years ago.

It is a great book, one of my all-time favorites.It requires a bit of mathematical maturity, that is a love of mathematical proof and simplifying abstractions.This book abstractly defines vector spaces and linear transformations between them without immediately introducing coordinates.This approach is vastly superior to immediately extorting the reader to study the algebraic and arithmetic properties n-tuples of numbers (vectors) and matrices (n x n tables of numbers) which parameterize the underlying abstract vectors and linear transformations, respectively.

If I taught a serious linear algebra course using this book then there are a few deficiencies I would try to correct:

1. The polar decomposition is covered but the singular value decomposition (for linear transformations between different inner product spaces) is omitted.This is a pretty big gap in terms of applications, although it's easy to get the singular value decomposition if you have the polar decomposition.

2. The identification of an reflexive vector space with its double-dual was a stumbling block for me when I took the course.There was no mathematical definition of "identify", and so I was confused.Perhaps a good way to remedy this is to give a problem with the example of the Banach space L^p (perhaps just on a finite set of just two elements), and show how L^p is dual to L^p'.

3. The section on tensor products should be improved and expanded, especially in light of the new field of quantum information theory.

4. It would be nice to have a problem (or take-home final) where the reader proves the spectral theorem using minimal polynomials without recourse to determinants, and introduces the functional calculus just using polynomials.It is disturbing to see how many physics grad students are so hung up thinking of eigenvalues only as roots of the characteristic polynomial that they can't understand properties of the spectrum of a self-adjoint transformation A by considering polynmomials of A.

5. I missed the connection between polynomials of a matrix and the Jordan form when I learned linear algebra from this book.Perhaps the following problems would be helpful, and give a proper finite-dimensional introduction to the Dunford calculus (before it is slightly-obfuscated in infinite dimensions using Cauchy's formula):

Problem A: Let P be a complex polynomial, and let A be a linear transformation on a complex vector space, with eigenvalues {z_1,...,z_n}, and let the Jordan block corresponding to z_k have a string of 1's that is at most s_k elements long.Then the value of P(A) is determined by the values of P and its first s_k derivatives at the z_k.(One defines the derivative of a function from C to C by taking a limit of difference quotients, in the same way one defines a derivative of a real function.In particular, the usual rules for differentiating polynomials apply.)

Problem B: (Finite-dimensional Dunford calculus, assuming differentiablity only on the spectrum) Suppose that f:C->C has s_k complex derivatives at the z_k. Define f(A)=P(A), where P is a polynomial with derivatives up to order s_k agreeing with those of f at the z_k.Show that such polynomials always exist.(In particular, f(A) is well-defined by problem A.) Show that (f+g)(A)=f(A)+g(A), f(A)g(A)=(fg)(A), and f(g(A))=h(A), where h is the composition of f and g as functions from C->C.

Problem C: Use B to show that every nonsigular matrix has a square root, as do singular matrices with no 1's in the jordan block for the eigenvalue 0.

Problem D: Are the only matrices with square roots given by problem C?

Except for property (3) above, this is a good book for students who are interested in taking a quantum mechanics or quantum computing course in the future.

If you read this book and like it, then in the future you might want the following graduate-level textbooks:

Bhatia's book "Matrix Analysis".

Reed and Simon's "Methods of Mathematical Physics", especially volume 1 on functional analysis.(This is the infinite-dimensional version of Halmos's book.)

Halmos's "A Hilbert Space Problem Book"

You'll certainly need to learn some analysis before tackling the last two books, though! ... Read more